Zaz’s Comments (group member since Dec 27, 2014)

Zaz’s comments from the 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] group.

I've to read this one (it's a dystopia, I want to read all of them), it's pretty popular so it will probably end in the Goodreads Awards list. Good to know you liked it :)

There are around 5 suggestions I'm not really interested in and 10 I want very much! I hope the batch will be more satisfying for me this time :)

I own a copy since more than 20 years, I liked it as a child :)
If you haven't seen the movie, it's pretty well done, even if there are differences.

Have you read the novel My Life as a White Trash Zombie? I think they did a mix between iZombie and White Trash Z for the tv show. For example, Gwen is a gravedigger in iZ, but Angel works in the morgue in WTZ (and she has a super zombie mode). If you want good urban zombie fantasy, WTZ is great and way better than the iZ comics :)

I found them very similar in quality (entertaining but not great): the 1st is driven by a mystery and the 2nd is more about how each character became a supernatural creature (vampire, ghost, werewolf...). My main problem is that I thought the TV show was really linked to the comics, but except for the zombie/memories thing and how the main character looks, they are very different. I prefer the TV show, the stories are more interesting and more focused with zombies only :)

You have to really open your mind for Gathering Blue (#2) as you jump really in a very different society with different characters and goals. I liked a lot the contrast with the society from The Giver, but I was very surprised at the beginning as the 2 books seemed not related.

Messenger (#3) was the most moving in the series (it has a bit of magical atmosphere), and the one I liked the least was Son (#4). The 2 link the worlds from the previous books.
Now I want to re-read all the series :D

I liked a lot The Giver too. Smooth read with an interesting dystopian society and likable characters.

I found the sequels interesting because each of them is based on a different type of society and address different problems. The stories were a little less good (they are all coming of age books), but it was nice to see how these independant stories were all linked in the end :)

I finished my memoir about Steve Jobs. Interesting for the good insight of the high tech evolution and the built of Pixar and Apple. A bit disappointing on the personal side, I learnt things about Jobs but few from his point of view.

I've always wanted to visit Neverland, so I read The Annotated Peter Pan edition which is beautiful, has great pictures and photos and some interesting informations. I'm happy I bought it, even if I didn't find easy to read the novel and the notes on the same page. As ever, Peter and Hook were perfect and full of drama and mischief, Wendy was cute and Tink was an evil and very bad mouthed fairy.

For my birth year book, I re-read The Wave that I enjoyed before. I still liked it because the subject is very interesting (and important), but the execution is poorly done. It's probably a better book for teenagers than adults, on the writing side.

I started The Magicians (bad review) in french, but as the translation is awful (some sentences mean nothing...), I switched to the english version, which is better. The characters are not really interesting for the moment but the story is entertaining, so I hope it will at least continue like this.

Side-reads:
- books: Seraphina, my new baby! Dragons, music and overall a book very smooth to read. A good surprise and I really had a hard time to put it away (already bought the paperback). Ready Player One on the other side was a total "meh", I didn't like the writing, there were long lists and boring descriptions, the only thing I enjoyed was the quest, so I skipped a lot (really a lot).
- comic books: Adventure Time Vol. 1, too silly for me ; Rat Queens, Vol. 2, almost as good as the 1st ; uVampire (iZombie 2), not really interesting.
And I read some manga too.

What did you read this week? The Wave (1981)

Did you enjoy the book?
It's a re-read. I enjoyed it, as before, because the subject is interesting, but the writing is very average. A quick read, more for teenagers than adults.

Did you find easily the book for this week?
There were few books published this year which interested me, so I decided to re-read one I didn't remember but owned.

A self-published/indie book

It sounds nice, if I want some vampire stuff, I'll try it :)

We are halfway done with Week 30! You read a book published the year you were born.

This discussion thread is solely for your progress. (Book discussions go in individual threads.)


What did you read this week?

Did you enjoy the book?

Did you find easily the book for this week?

It's a big twist, but you can use it ;)

It seems everybody enjoyed this book, thanks to the antonyms week for the good discovery :)

Welcome Tiffany, can you copy-paste your post and create your own plan in this folder, like you did when you added your books in each week? :)
The overlaps is ok if you don't have enough time to read 1 book per week. We usually try to have different books for all the categories so you won't often see overlaps here.

Welcome Joy! Yes, you can add the books you already read when the categories are available. If it's a well known book, use the search fonction first, there's probably already a topic for it (in the right week), so you don't need to create a new one and can join the discussion.

Yes, there are too some differences between the movie and the book for this one. I preferred what they did for the simulations in the movie (same for Divergent) and the relationship between the characters don't have all the drama we see in the book.

Yes, there are some huge difference between the book, the Disney anime and some of the movies! The Disney version is definitely not my favorite (too much on the exciting and happy adventure?), the 1924 and 2003 movies did very well with the atmosphere. I'm very curious about the movie scheduled for this year, I haven't read the series dedicated to the "before", I hope it won't be disappointing.

The Annotated book has some interesting informations, I liked the biography about Barrie and the drawings are great. For the story part, I think I memorized the most important/moving moments of Peter Pan, so no big surprise, I'm enjoying it very much and the magic is still there :)

The next suggestion topic is still scheduled for tuesday. We'll do the poll for the short batch during the same week as we don't need to have the results before opening new suggestions.

Week a book that made/makes you cry.
October 1 -October 7, 2015

We faced this difficult challenge for the funny book week, now it's the opposite, we're searching for a book which brings tears to our eyes. You can re-read something you found sad or try a book well known for being moving. It's possible too to use a side-read which made you cry and place it in this category.

How to Create a Topic:
1. Create a topic in the appropriate folder using your book's author and title (Title by Author, please). Link your book with the "This topic is about" feature.

2. In the body of your post, comment about why you chose this book. Have you read it before? What are your expectations?

3. Feel free to use the thread as a way to update the group on your progress. Also, when you are finished reading, add a small review and your thoughts about the week's challenge.

4. Comment on everyone else's posts as well! Participation and group involvement will make this challenge so much fun!

**If you chose the same book as another group member for the same week, do not create a duplicate thread.**

Book ideas:
11 Young Adult Books Sure to Make You Cry
10 Children’s Books That Make Adults Cry
Required Reading: 10 Devastatingly Sad Books
10 Books Guaranteed to Make You Cry
Most Depressing Book of all time
Books that made you cry!

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/sad