Michelle's Empty Nest’s Comments (group member since Oct 31, 2021)

Michelle's Empty Nest’s comments from the Hooked on Books group.

🎡Reading Rides: Forest Flyer


F: AN: Flossindune, Date Completed: 04/29/2025 Page Count: 493
O: Title starts with O, Date Completed: 05/02/2025 Page Count: 308
R: AFN: Robert, Date Completed: 04/28/2025 Page Count: 352
E: Title starts with E, Date Completed: 05/01/2025 Page Count: 303
S: AFN: Stieg , Date Completed: 04/28/2025 Page Count: 658
T: ALN Torre, Date Completed: 05/01/2025 Page Count: 352

F: title starts with F, Date Completed: 05/01/2025 Page Count: 304
L: AFN Lisa, Date Completed: 05/01/2025 Page Count: 406
Y: title starts with Y, Date Completed: 04/29/2025 Page Count: 432
E: AFN E.M, Date Completed: 04/30/2025 Page Count: 559
R: AFN: Rebecca, Date Completed: 04/28/2025 Page Count: 480

Prompt Name / #: Thrillers #26





Zoo
Published: September 2012


Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is James Patterson's best book ever.

Total

For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.

World

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear.

Destruction

With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide.


Complete ONE of the following:

1. Read a book tagged ANIMALS.
2. Read a book with double vowels in the title.
3. Read a book with a male MC.
4. Read any James Patterson novel.

Ridiculously Random Prompt #4: Girl Crush





The most streamed Spotify single is Harry Styles' "Girl Crush."


The solo star's Spotify single has the most streams at 154 million. Such a win for the One Direction alum.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🎤 1. Read a book where the author or MC is named Harry.
🎤 2. Read a book where a character has a crush on someone.
🎤 3. Read a book where the title starts with a letter in SPOTIFY.
🎤 4. Read a book where at least 2 of these digits are found in the total number of ratings: 1, 5, 4.

🍿 Food Vendor: Carousel of Flavors


The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss
5-2-2025
320 pages
Word: Rotation
Page 266; "shift rotation all next week"

Ridiculously Random Prompt #9: Bossaball





Originating in Spain, Bossaball comprises elements of volleyball, football (soccer), gymnastics, and capoeira, which is an Afro-Brazilian cultural practice simultaneously involving a fight and a dance.


The game is played on an inflatable course with inbuilt trampolines on each side. The teams consist of 4 - 5 players with the aim of getting the ball over the net without the other team being able to return it.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🏐 1. Read a book that you rated 4 - 5 stars.
🏐 2. Read a book where a character fights or dances.
🏐 3. Read a book set at least partially in Spain.
🏐 4. Read a book where the MC's first name does NOT start with a letter in BOSSABALL.

Ridiculously Random Prompt #4: Girl Crush





The most streamed Spotify single is Harry Styles' "Girl Crush."


The solo star's Spotify single has the most streams at 154 million. Such a win for the One Direction alum.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🎤 1. Read a book where the author or MC is named Harry.
🎤 2. Read a book where a character has a crush on someone.
🎤 3. Read a book where the title starts with a letter in SPOTIFY.
🎤 4. Read a book where at least 2 of these digits are found in the total number of ratings: 1, 5, 4.

Ridiculously Random Prompt #4: Girl Crush





The most streamed Spotify single is Harry Styles' "Girl Crush."


The solo star's Spotify single has the most streams at 154 million. Such a win for the One Direction alum.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🎤 1. Read a book where the author or MC is named Harry.
🎤 2. Read a book where a character has a crush on someone.
🎤 3. Read a book where the title starts with a letter in SPOTIFY.
🎤 4. Read a book where at least 2 of these digits are found in the total number of ratings: 1, 5, 4.

Prompt #8C: How to Store Coffee - Freezing Your Beans?





Freshness is critical to a quality cup of coffee. Experts agree that coffee should be consumed as quickly as possible after it is roasted, especially once the original packaging seal has been broken.


While there are different views on whether or not coffee should be frozen or refrigerated, the main consideration is that coffee absorbs moisture – and odors, and tastes – from the air around it, since it is hygroscopic (bonus vocabulary word for all the coffee geeks out there).


Most home storage containers still let in small amounts of oxygen, which is why food stored a long time in the freezer can suffer freezer burn. Therefore, if you do refrigerate or freeze your beans, be sure to use a truly airtight container.


If you choose to freeze your coffee, quickly remove as much as you need for no more than a week at a time, and return the rest to the freezer before any condensation forms on the frozen coffee.


Freezing your beans does not not change the basic brewing process.


Complete ONE of the following:

☕️ 1. Read a book with ice or snow on the cover.
☕️ 2. Read a book where you can share a critical point in the plot with me.
☕️ 3. Read a book that took you less than a week to read.
☕️ 4. Read a book with a bonus vocabulary word that you needed to look up in a dictionary, like hygroscopic.

🤽🏻‍♀️⛹🏽🤾🏼‍♀️ 9: May 1, 2025 - Water Polo 🤾🏼‍♀️⛹🏽🤽🏻‍♀️





Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with more goals at the end of the game wins the match. Each team is made up of six field players and one goalkeeper. Excluding the goalkeeper, players participate in both offensive and defensive roles. It is typically played in an all-deep pool where players cannot touch the bottom.

A game consists mainly of the players swimming to move about the pool, treading water (mainly using the eggbeater kick), passing the ball, and shooting at the goal. Teamwork, tactical thinking and awareness are also highly important aspects. Water polo is a highly physical and demanding sport and has frequently been cited as one of the most difficult to play.

Special equipment for water polo includes a water polo ball, a ball of varying colors which floats on the water; numbered and coloured caps; and two goals, which either float in the water or are attached to the sides of the pool.

The game is thought to have originated in Scotland in the mid-19th century; specifically, William Wilson is thought to have developed it in the 1870s as a sort of "water rugby." The game further developed with the formation of the London Water Polo League and has since expanded, becoming popular in parts of Europe, the United States, Brazil, China, Canada and Australia.


Complete ONE of the following:

🤽🏽 Read a book with a body of water on the cover.
🤽🏽 Read a book set in Scotland.
🤽🏽 Read a book with at least seven important characters.
🤽🏽 Read a book where you think the MC could play a "highly physical and demanding sport."

Prompt Name / #: Thrillers #55





2 Sisters Detective Agency
Published: September 2021


A detective duo of sisters finds themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous and lawless group. Attorney Rhonda Bird returns home after a long estrangement when she learns her father has died. There she makes two important discoveries: her father stopped being an accountant and had opened up a private detective agency, and she has a teenage half sister named Baby. Baby brings in a client to the detective agency, a young man who claims he was abducted. During the course of the investigation, Rhonda and Baby become entangled in a dangerous case involving a group of overprivileged young adults who break laws for fun, their psychopath ringleader, and an ex-assassin victim who decides to hunt them down for revenge.


Complete ONE of the following:

1. Read a book that you also used for one of Namita's challenges.
2. Read a book with two people on the cover.
3. Read a book where a parent dies.
4. Read any James Patterson novel.

Prompt Name / #: Thrillers #37





The First Lady
Published: December 2018


"Sir, the First Lady ... has gone rogue."

President Tucker is caught up in a media firestorm. The scandal of his affair has sent shockwaves through his re-election campaign, and threatens to derail everything he has worked for. To win the vote, he needs the First Lady to stand by his side.

But Grace Tucker has a mind of her own.

After years of compromise, unfulfilled promises, deception and betrayal, Grace refuses to give in to her husband's demands. Escaping the city and her Secret Service agents, she is officially off the radar.

But did the First Lady run away? Or is she in far greater danger than anyone could have imagined?


Complete ONE of the following:

1. Read a book where someone is missing.
2. Read a book published in December of any year.
3. Read a book that you also used for any of Donna's challenges.
4. Read any James Patterson novel.

Just to shake things up a bit more and keep them really random, I'm throwing caution...and my OCD...to the wind for this challenge. Your prompts will be given to you in random orders, with everyone following a different path. I'll be tracking your prompts on a separate spreadsheet to make sure we don't miss one.


To pick your starting place, tell me your favorite number between 1 and 72.

Ridiculously Random Reading Challenge
Individual, Open-Ended
April 1, 2025 - March 31, 2027


You know how most reading challenges you join have some type of theme or main idea, kind of like the books themselves? Well, this one...not so much! We'll look at Crown Jewels, Greasy Pole Climbing, Model Ts, Zorbing, and anything and everything in between. So buckle up for the ride and enjoy!


Each time you satisfy a task, make a post here IN YOUR OWN THREAD. Please use the following example for your Completion Post.


Prompt # / Name: {For example: #1: Octothorpe}
Book:
Author:
Date Read:
Pages:
Task:
How it Fits:


If you have any questions about this challenge, please post them in the Ridiculously Random Q&A Thread.


Challenge Rules:
📘 Standard Rules Apply
📘 I will create an individual thread for you prior to the start date.
📘 Your first prompt will be posted on April 1, 2025.
📘 Books must be completed after the task has been posted. For example, if your task is posted on 4-15, you can't use a book you completed on 4-14.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


If a set of tasks is too difficult or just out of your comfort zone, you have 4 SKIPS to use in this challenge. In order to use a SKIP, read any book that meets the Standard Book Qualifications for Hooked on Books. The link is in the Challenge Rules above. Simply list SKIP on the Task line.

Threads have been created to this point.

Ridiculously Random Prompt #14: An Aspen Grove





The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.


Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🟡 1. Read a book set in Utah.
🟡 2. Read a book with more than 80,000 ratings.
🟡 3. Read a book with more than 100 reviews.
🟡 4. Read a book with a mostly yellow cover. {Your discretion.}

Ridiculously Random Prompt #14: An Aspen Grove





The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.


Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🟡 1. Read a book set in Utah.
🟡 2. Read a book with more than 80,000 ratings.
🟡 3. Read a book with more than 100 reviews.
🟡 4. Read a book with a mostly yellow cover. {Your discretion.}

Ridiculously Random Prompt #14: An Aspen Grove





The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.


Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🟡 1. Read a book set in Utah.
🟡 2. Read a book with more than 80,000 ratings.
🟡 3. Read a book with more than 100 reviews.
🟡 4. Read a book with a mostly yellow cover. {Your discretion.}

Ridiculously Random Prompt #14: An Aspen Grove





The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.


Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🟡 1. Read a book set in Utah.
🟡 2. Read a book with more than 80,000 ratings.
🟡 3. Read a book with more than 100 reviews.
🟡 4. Read a book with a mostly yellow cover. {Your discretion.}

Ridiculously Random Prompt #14: An Aspen Grove





The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.


Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🟡 1. Read a book set in Utah.
🟡 2. Read a book with more than 80,000 ratings.
🟡 3. Read a book with more than 100 reviews.
🟡 4. Read a book with a mostly yellow cover. {Your discretion.}

Ridiculously Random Prompt #14: An Aspen Grove





The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.


Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.


Complete ONE of the following tasks:

🟡 1. Read a book set in Utah.
🟡 2. Read a book with more than 80,000 ratings.
🟡 3. Read a book with more than 100 reviews.
🟡 4. Read a book with a mostly yellow cover. {Your discretion.}