Allison’s Comments (group member since Jan 02, 2015)

Allison’s comments from the The Reading Challenge Group group.

Tiffany wrote: "It’s all these review books, lol! I’m tanking on my Dust the shelf challenges."

I can see how that could happen - they are very opposite goals, Tiffany!

If anyone is looking for a more modern take on Gothic, I recommend Simone St. James. She writes historical ghost fiction. I just finished The Broken Girls and it was suitably creepy, set in a haunted boarding school for girls.

Mini Challenges

Ides of March *Completed*

Mission: According to tradition, Julius Caesar was warned by prophecy to "Beware the Ides of March." For this mini-mini, read one book with paranormal activity by March 31, 2016.



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Dog Days : The Heat Is On! (July 3 - Aug 11) *Completed*

Mission: Read a book with the hottest title you can find.

Planned: Heir of Fire, Magic Burns



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Buzz buzz buzz! *Completed*

Mission: Read a book with an insect in the title.

Magic Bites



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Set Sail! *Completed*

Read a book that has a sailing word in the title or a high seas adventure story!



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Back to School *Completed*

Mission: Read one book with a word or words in the title that are somehow associated with the academic experience.

Page by Tamora Pierce.



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Makeovers 2018 (Oct-Dec) *Completed*

Mission: Read a book that is a makeover of another story. For example, a fairy tale retelling, or a classic recast into a new mold.


Completed:

I'm finally ready to join this challenge. I'll shoot for level 3, and I'm starting out with a new release by one of my favorite authors, Simone St. James. *Completed*

Level One: Curious: read 1 new release
1. The Broken Girls

Level Two: Curiouser: read 2 new releases
2. Fleshers

Level Three: Most Curious: read 4 new releases
3. Voyager of the Crown
4. Lethal White

Level Four: You killed the cat: read 6 new releases
5. Bellewether
6. The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Completed

Camille wrote: "For travel away, can another world be interpreted as another time period or is it more like fantasy or maybe fairy tales?"

Probably more along the lines of fantasy, fairy tales, futuristic, or an alternate history.

Glad you enjoyed it, Rosemarie. I'm not familiar with that one either, but I have a couple of retellings of it on my shelf that I need to get to.

I'm feeling more like Kiersten - where did all the people go?! It's like I'm starting all over again. I keep thinking of it as intro, part 2.

I also enjoyed the Shades of Magic series. It's a good mix of fantasy and historical for those who don't like straight fantasy.

Sonia, I hope you like the Thief's Magic. Trudi Canavan is one of my favorites but I haven't started that series yet.

I'm enjoying Recluce so far! I'm about halfway through.

I'm in. Maybe I can finish up The Magic of Recluce!

We can do this!

I tackled the classic Gothic, The Castle of Otranto. I'm glad it was short! I can see its value in that it was a forerunner for the genre, but I definitely find the more modern ones more enjoyable! Or even the 19th C ones, which have the benefit of being written when novels were a more developed format. This seemed much more like reading a very melodramatic play.

Renee wrote: "Finished The Curse of Chalion. It took me a while to get into this one bit wasn’t slow exactly, but the world building took time. Ultimately the story really picks up and is very satis..."

Renee, I think you'll find Paladin of Souls easier to get into. That's my favorite of all the series so far, although I haven't read all of the Penric stories yet. Highly recommend!

That gives me hope, Renee!

Oh dear - misplacing the book sounds like a sign! I thought I was going to pick randomly from your shelf, but these three looked intriguing:

The Mesmerist
The House at Bishopsgate
The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde

Our buddy read has stalled a bit! I got distracted reading other books, but I'm still determined to keep going on this one.

I find it hard to read this at night because my brain needs something easier to digest at the end of the day. But, I'm going to try reading at least a chapter per day and see how I get along. The chapters are short, so I feel like this is doable.

Anyone else willing to try this approach with me?

Ok, so I'm apparently taking the installment approach to reading this! I have finally finished book 1.

That's right, you only have to read the last book for this challenge.

Badlydone wrote: "The book is about 950 pages long, so it's going to be a challenge for me to finish in April. It is "Assassin's Fate" by Robin Hobb, my favorite fantasy author..."

I hope you enjoy Assassin's Fate, Badlydone. I read it a couple months ago and lost sleep over it. 950 pages somehow didn't seem so long!

Renee wrote: "Guilty! Technically I started this at the end of March, but the protagonist is a wizard/detective which could have gone toward either month. I really enjoyed it so I want to work my way through the..."

That was good planning, Renee!

I finished my 3rd mystery just in time too - The Moor, in which Sherlock Holmes returns to the moor years later to solve another mystery involving a mysterious hound. It was just ok. I think it's hard to do follow-ups to well-known classics like that and still have the book stand well on its own.