Tell Me Something Tuesday: Series, stand alone, duology, trilogies...what's your reading preference?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. 

It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life  and me) 

Join in by answering this weeks question in the comments or on your own blog.

If you would like to join TMST and receive periodic emails of upcoming topics, please fill out this GOOGLE FORM. TMST is a laid back meme – join in or opt out depending on your interest in topics or schedule.

Question: Do you prefer to read standalone stories, duologies, trilogies, series? 

Answer: Currently, I'm reading a lot of stand alone stories but I don't have a real preference. 

I did take a long break from trilogies (mostly YA) several years ago. I was reading SO many (I had counted at least 40 I was in the middle of) and was disappointed by middle books that added nothing or bad endings so I just cut hem all out except for a rare few. I've picked a few up lately but I can't even tell which ones. I'm not HOOKED or anything - anxiously awaiting the next book. 

I don't really count romances that are within the same world but feature different couples as a *series*. Each book stands on its own but has the comfort of revisiting old friends. 

I really do like the trend of duologies. It allows for more development but keeps the story lean without a lot of extra filler that doesn't add much more than filling pages.

What do you prefer? Getting lost in a series? Read one and move on? It takes two? The rule of three?

I'm Reading (kind of ) and Now Watching (a lot)...

The slow reading slog continues but I finally (almost) finished a few books!

I feel like I've been reading Barack Obama's A Promised Land all year. I might have been! It is 29 hours long on audio so my first loan ran out at 50% and I had to wait another 23 weeks for loan #2 and that ran out with 3 hours to go and I finally got through it on the third loan. Whew! 

Honestly, the first half covered so much familiar ground if you've read any of his earlier books or Michelle's Becoming - so I wish I had just skimmed over that and jumped to the point of his election and presidency. 

Once I did things picked up and got more interesting, if not depressing. Most of this biography, which covers his first term up to the Bin Laden death, shows how politics were changing (although always a messy, dirty affair) and how powerful yet ineffective any presidency can be. There's just so much going on in the world at any given time, the weight of choices being made is heavy and any given policy, however well meaning, has to make it through the gauntlet of congress and the media talking heads. 

It was enlightening, sobering at times and depressing. Yay!! lol

~ Goodreads

I started this on September 3rd and I'm sooooo close to finishing! Maybe today.

Liv and Jory's parents mysteriously vanish on the day or Liv's emancipation hearing, sending her and and Jory and Twilight one style road trip. 

This is a great book for October and all things spooky. I'll do a full review after but I'm loving the idea of a sister/brother relationship, not having any idea what's going on or where it will lead.

Source: *hides head in shame* an arc from 2019 

Squid Games ~ Netflix - Maybe you live in a cave and haven't heard of this yet lol This South Korean series is extremely gruesome and definitely not for the squeamish. Basically, various people with financial and legal problems at the end of their rope, come together to play the Squid Games - games from their childhood, with a very violent twist (although the kids games were violent too!), for the chance to win a huge pot of money.

At first, the participants try to band together to beat the games but soon realize only one person is allowed to live and win.

Because it's a series, and not a movie, the characters are allowed to develop and the consequences carry more weight as they play out, making some of the twists and shocks more emotional. It's better than most it's you or me gore fests but I can't say I thought it was like the best thing ever like so many others thought.

Black widow ~ Disney - I'm going to be honest. I do nt like ScarJo or Black Widow so I can't say I was all that interested in seeing this but I have Disney+ so...It was good! Really weird kind of story and family dynamic. We thought it was a lot of fun.

Doom Patrol ~ HBO Max This series is on S3 and I had no idea it ever existed lol Brandon Fraser and Mat Bomer are two of it's stars but it has a really solid cast of actors who portray a rag tag group of misfit super heroes that are still figuring out there "gifts" - obtained against their will.

There are strong themes of trauma and PTSD and found family. 

Doom Patrol, while funny, gets really dark at times and often very raunchy but it's fun.

Afterlife of the Party ~ Netflix This was my weekly, virtual movie date pick and it was a fun one. Sort of a modern-ish Hallmark vibe. Nothing groundbreaking but cute movie about a shallow girl who dies and gets a chance to right her wrongs before passing on. Multiple cute romances and nice message.  

Y: The Last Man ~ FX on Hulu - Based on a comic book, this is a post-apocalyptic world where every mammal with the Y chromosome dies except for one man and his pet monkey. 

We've only watched the first 2 eps so far but it's very interesting and kind of eerie watching every man just die all at once. Except for this one, sort of slacker type guy and his monkey lol

I just heard it got cancelled so I'm unsure whether I'll continue and potentially get left hanging, but I'm curious. 

Halloween Kills ~ Free on the Peacock Network Glad this was free lol We thought it was baaaaad. bad script, bad acting. I don't see the point of this. TBH, I'm not a huge horror/slasher movie fan but this was just not good and completely unnecessary.

What are you all up to? Reading, watching, listening to?
 

Tell Me Something Tuesday: How do you read - Audio? Paper? E-books?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. 

It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life  and me) 

Join in by answering this weeks question in the comments or on your own blog.

If you would like to join TMST and receive periodic emails of upcoming topics, please fill out this GOOGLE FORM. TMST is a laid back meme – join in or opt out depending on your interest in topics or schedule.

Question: How do you read? Audio, paper, electronic?

Answer: All of the above!

Audio - this is a new format for me (just this past year) and it's been a reading lifesaver. It just took me a decade or so to be able to get the hang of it lol 

Paper - my true reading love. I still love to hold a real book, flip through the pages, be able to go back and refer to something easily, peek ahead 🤯, look at my stack.

Electronic - I love my kindle for being able to store so many books without needing a lot of space, easily highlight, do searches, bring it almost anywhere and the price of books is usually so much lower that I can try more new authors.

I have never been more happy about all the book formats we have these days than this past year. With our big move I had to purge hundreds of books. I was in a huge reading funk during the lockdown and money was a factor so with all these options I've been at least able to dabble and find something that worked for me at any given reading mood time. 

What is your favorite reading format(s)?