What We're Reading Wednesday

It's been a while since we've had a post like--actually, wait, no, we've had multiple posts about what we're reading lately, mentioned in part or in passing.  My brain ain't functioning too well since I have a small one to begin with and it is befuddled by the lateness of the night and the fact that I've got a rat crawling around on me demanding attention that she doesn't actually want.  But!  We shall now have a post about what Krispy and I have been and are currently reading!

Recently I read Madapple by Christina Meldrum, having picked it up from the library on a whim because it was sitting on the shelf and the jacket blurb was way more interesting than the one on Goodreads.  It was...an interesting book, beautifully written, definitely well-researched, and was quite a journey through philosophy, religion/spiritualism/theology, herbalism, incest, family dynamics, crime drama, psychology, and a host of other heavyweight topics.  Was it enjoyable?  Sort of.  It's not a light book and I wouldn't classify it as entertaining in the same way that writing research papers isn't entertaining--it's work, and ultimately rewarding, but not exactly pleasant and definitely not for everyone.

Currently on my plate is Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve.  I picked this one up because the title and blurb sounded familiar and interesting, and so far I like what I've read.  The best thing is the worldbuilding, being unique, complex, and interesting what with giant mechanized semi-steampunk super-future cities crawling around on tank treads, chasing down and eating smaller cities to sustain themselves according to the rules of Municipal Darwinism.

I was a little surprised by how MG the book reads though since I was under the impression that it was more YA, though Krispy had been under the impression that it was only retroactively categorized as YA.  The tone and characters read younger to me for some reason, though some of the casual mentions/instances of brutality and violence seem kind of weird.

Then there's The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, which Krispy has mentioned before.  She utterly loved this apocalyptic alien-invasion novel, its themes and story and the characters' struggles.

I was somewhat less impressed, but this is just one of those cases where the book pushed all the right buttons for Krispy but didn't quite hit the mark for me.  Overall I liked it--but I didn't love it, and (as usual) there were a bunch of niggling little issues, questions, and unresolved/unaddressed matters that prevented me from being fully immersed in the book.

Krispy is still reading Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta.  From what she tells me, it's good but is something of a midquel and therefore not quite as good as the first book.  Sounds like the story is slightly less focused and slightly more confusing (albeit purposefully so?) and she has said it'd probably be better if she read it in bigger chunks.

On her backburner is Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn.  I haven't got much to say here because, as I recall, Krispy didn't get very far before she had to tackle her current load of library books and that was a while ago, but she liked what she was reading so far.

We've both got a boatload of library books lying around, which hasn't prevented us from putting more titles on hold and picking up random books when returning others past their last renewal.  We both also still have more than a few books that we own that we haven't gotten around to reading because, you know, we think we ought to read the library books first.  We have a book problem, do Krispy and I.

So tell us--what are you currently reading?  What's the most number of books you've ever checked out from the library at one time?  (I've probably checked out like 10 max, pretty sure Krispy has checked out more than that.  Maybe 12-15?)