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

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

I read mostly in order for the moment, but started some books before the challenge, so I had some light weeks and could read more books :)
I'm reading a graphic novel every weekend for the moment and I've side-reads running all along when I'm interested in a story I want to start quickly.

The original Challenge:
A book with more than 500 pages: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin.
A romance: Persuasion by Jane Austen (classic) + Playing for Keeps by R.L. Mathewson (modern).
A book that became a movie: The Maze Runner by James Dashner.
A book published this year: Lock In by John Scalzi (2014) + Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan (2014) + The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (2015).
+
A book based on OR turned into a tv show: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell.

Side-reads
Graphic novels:
Wayward, Vol. 1: String Theory
Chew, Vol. 9: Chicken Tenders
The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act
Princeless, Book One: Save Yourself
Le Grand Méchant Renard

Books:
Before the Dawn
Passeurs d'ombre, l'intégrale de la saison 1 (Numerik séries)

Feb 2: The folder for week 13 (a book set in a different country) is now available. Don't forget the "Title by Author" rule when you create a new topic for your book ;)

Week 13: a book set in a different country
March 26 - April 1, 2015

It's time to discover new countries. Would you succeed to travel around the world in 7 days? Maybe not, so just one country will be fine ;)


How to Create a Topic:
1. Create a topic in the appropriate folder using your book's author and title (Title by Author). 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.**

Week 13 ideas:
General lists:
Set in Foreign Countries (Goodreads, list)
Novels set in other countries (Goodreads, list)
By countries:
Read great stories set in different countries around the world (Amazon, listmania)
List of Fiction Books by European Setting (Librarything, european challenge)
A Year of Reading the World (196 countries, blog)
Around the World in 80 Books Reading Challenge (blog)



Countries the group is visiting:

Afghanistan
And the Mountains Echoed

America
The Namesake
An Abundance of Katherines
The Year She Left Us
The Fiery Cross
Cold Mountain

Australia
Stolen: A Letter to My Captor
The Rosie Project
The Light Between Oceans
Dangerous Games
Salechii: A Shark Park

Cambodia
In the Shadow of the Banyan

Canada
A Tale for the Time Being

China
The Painted Veil

Colombia
Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World

Denmark
The Sound of Language

Egypt
The Queen's Handmaid

England
Death Comes to Pemberley
Caleb Williams
The One You Love
Sarum: The Novel of England
The Paying Guests
Private London
The Looking Glass Wars
The Physician
Ayoade on Ayoade
I Remember You

Ethiopia
Cutting for Stone

Finland
The Finnish Line
The Summer Book

France
Sarah's Key
The Dud Avocado
Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes
Bel-Ami
Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris
The Paris Architect
Guillotine: The Timbers of Justice
The Day of the Jackal

Germany
The Book Thief

India
The Mango Season
The Jungle Book
Private India
The Hungry Tide
Zemindar

Indonesia
Saman

Iraq
The Yellow Birds

Ireland
In the Woods
Tara Road

Italy
Eat, Pray, Love (+Indonesia and India)
Sometimes the Soul: Two Novellas of Sicily

Japan
Out
A Tale for the Time Being
The Tale of Genji
Battle Royale

Netherlands
The Dinner

New Guinea
Euphoria

New Zealand
Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century

Rwanda
Baking Cakes in Kigali

Russia
Anna Karenina

Scandinavia
Hanna's Daughters

Scotland
The Tempting of Thomas Carrick
Voyager

Spain
Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War
The Angel's Game

Uganda
Abyssinian Chronicles

Wales
The Winter Witch

Zimbabwe
We Need New Names

Yes, you can read manga or comic books for some weeks, but try to read almost "classic" books for the challenge ;)
Expectations are what you think you'll find in the book after reading the summary or look at the genre, the cover, the title, etc. Sometimes the story is surprising because you expected something else, other times, it's exactly what you thought.

I'm at 12%. For the moment, it's really not what I expected. The story is really serious because the narrator is talking about his past lives. As he was born in 1919, it's WW2, Cold War and spending a little time in an asylum because he had a hard time with all the memories of his past lives. I was expecting something like adventures or humor and it's nothing like this (maybe later?).
The writing is ok, but as I'm not usually interested in History, it's a little boring and I don't read as quickly as usual...

Cracked looks interesting, I'll wait your opinion on it as there are few reviews on Goodreads :)

Ok, dystopia + a hero named Pax + a girl named Seventeen (yeah, numbers, months or seasons are awesome names :p) + good ratings? Sold! I want to read this!
I'm looking forward to your opinion on this one :)

It's in my to-read, I didn't know the Ghibli movie was from this book and as I like it a lot, I want to try the book :)

Good luck Krysta! I hope you're enjoying it :)

Beth > I prefer defining my ratings for an obvious reason: I read books for different ages. It's difficult to give 5 stars to a children book when you give 5 stars to a more brainy book (stuffed with a more complicated story, better vocabulary, deeper characters, etc). Some GR members tend to rate children or YA comparing them with adult stories, and I think this doesn't work really well (the reviews are like "the book was great, I loved it. 3 stars"). My categories can be used for every type, because I sort of compare the book only with itself and my tastes :D

Nicole, a vampire who twinkles in the sun (and doesn't drink people's blood) is obviously the most perfect boyfriend ever :p
I didn't read the books because the movies are so cliché and the characters annoying, so I don't know which ones are the worst :p

Haha, if someone reminds me to create the progress topic, I will do it before wednesday! If not, I'm all about "oh, we're wednesday and Jessica didn't find time to open the progress topic... hmm... ok... I will do it". Not surprisingly, reading the answers is fun but creating the topic is not :p

Lora, it seems an easy way as I just had to edit the folder title and it looks well on computer and apps :)

Added to my to-read ^^ I'm a zombie books eater :p

I did a little something to help with the current week :p

Hi Susan :)
You can do this only on computer (it's not possible on apps). Just above the "comment box" where you write, there is a "add book/author" link. You just have to clic it, enter your book, do the search and push "add" to link the book in your post. If you want to add the cover too, there is a checkbox on the bottom of the add book popup ;)

Yey, some love for Peter Pan :D
I hope you'll like Assassin's Apprentice, the series is pretty good and Robin Hobb is such a nice person and good writer.

Have fun :)

Hunger Games :p

No clue for the Nikki's one!

Feel free to use it as your categories too, if it helps you ;)

Yes, there are not many 6 stars books, but they'll follow me during all my life, comforting me and loading my heart with love, so they deserve it!

Hi, there is already a thread for this book on this week ;)
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Please copy/paste your comment there and continue the discussion with the others :)

If deciding a rating is difficult, you need to create categories.

Mine are:
* This was a mistake, writing this is as wrong as reading it.
** Several things are ok, but overall I didn't enjoy the book.
*** The author did good things (writing, story, characters, world...) but some important things could be a lot better. The reading was not fully pleasant.
**** The book was good, nothing is really bad or average, I enjoyed it.
***** The book was great. Everything is almost perfect, I liked the characters, their relationships and how the author told the story.
****** I will re-read this over and over because I miss the world or the characters.

So The Girl was ***, easy one ;)
Adding reviews is not easy, but you can do short ones to explain what you liked or disliked. I usually don't look at very long reviews but I enjoy reading some points of view before and after reading a book.

Lora > The sci-fi part is not too heavy there (I had no problems to understand it but I've a scientific background). You're a fantasy reader, so the universe won't be a problem, and I can't really see how someone can dislike the story and the characters (except if you're really conservative maybe).
Appreciating the writing si something personal of course and you have to try to know if it fits you. I liked it because it was really easy to picture everything in my head and there were no loooong and boring descriptions (it's my nightmare, you don't need 3 pages to describe a forest). The beginning was a little too slow paced for my tastes, but after the jump in time, it was really hard to put the book away.

Michael I thought about sex attraction too, but I usually fall in love with both genders in movies, tv shows or books, so it doesn't fit for me. Pax is really lovable, I would like to time travel if I could meet him in the future, live in his home and do some discovery trips outside the hollow world.