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

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

Hey Michael,

Thanks for the behind the scenes story! Of course, I agree with your wife, we need more Pax and Ellis (and Alva, I tend to forget her but I liked a lot her personality). I would like being a little mouse to listen all the talks you'll have about the sequel, the creating process is really interesting. 2016 sounds good, I'm following your blog posts, so I'll jump on kickstarter if you use it again.

It's interesting to write the full series before publishing it. It seems a good way to build carefully a world and to strengthen the story and the characters. I enjoyed a lot all the society questions raised by the people in Hollow World and found funny to see the question about Pax's sex in the survey, as the book I read just before (Lock In) used neutral genre too (they were both men in my mind). I'm curious to see how your other universes are and I'm looking forward to meet their characters.

It seems I was really enthusiastic with Hollow World, so some of my friends are now reading it too and are enjoying the team and the writing. I read a lot but I don't often meet characters I love deeply, so it's a little contagious.

I'm so contagious :p
"Very enthusiast", it's totally me, spamming everybody :D
I'm happy you'll join me for some books this year, and I hope you'll like them ^^

I read more graphic novels than you and never read Maus. It's a serious topic, so I'm pushing it away a little.

The only advice I can give is: "look at how many pages a book has before adding it to your plan" ;)
Some people read 300 books/year, I'm far from this, so most of my choices are around 300 pages (your week 5 would be horrible for me, good luck with it :p).

I finished 3 books for the "published this year" week. There are some more on my list, like The Martian, maybe I'll side-read it.
Lock In was interesting, it was like watching a tv show with nice characters. It's a dystopia, so of course I enjoyed it :p
Hollow World was... a blast. I didn't expect anything and fell in love with the characters and the story. I'll re-read it many times for sure and I'm very glad I decided to read it. I hope the author will write a sequel and I'll read his other books.
The Girl on the Train is a good thriller and I enjoyed the writing. The atmosphere is suffocating, not because of the story but because of the characters. It was too much depressing for me, so it's not a success.

So far, I'm enjoying the challenge and I like discovering new books even if some of them are not as good as I expected. I hadn't watched tv shows and movies since january the 1st, so I have plenty of time for books, more than what I thought.
Several authors are now "love listed", which is nice because I like reading in my comfort zone.
I received the paper Annotated Peter Pan, I'm looking forward to read it for week 29 :D

--
Added: Parallel for the triangle week, Puzzle for the one word title, The Secret Wisdom of Earth for the set in a different country (it's a 2015 book).
Changed: author under 30 as I received a book I wanted to read a lot.

Jhon if you don't have enough time to read 52 books during the year, yes you can use one book for several categories ;)

I'm relieved I finished it. Now I need a book with twinkles, bird songs and lovely characters :p

So. The writing was good and I think the thriller part is a good one too. I wasn't really surprised by the outcome as, since the middle of the book, I started to have an idea about where to look. My problem was the characters, they are all too much depressed (or have a borderline personality disorder). After half the book, the reading was suffocating and I wanted just to finish it so I could jump in something else.
Not a success for me as I need stories with some light, especially when they try to be realistic, but I understand why many people enjoyed reading it :)

Welcome :)

Wanda > No problem with audio books, the important thing is to enjoy stories and reading is not easy for everyone. So audio is a nice compromise if you're a slow reader, if you prefer to do something else while reading a book, etc.

Maud > Hi ^^ We are some frenchies here and I'm sure I do lots of mistakes in english, so don't worry ;) I didn't succeed to find time to read in high school but it improved a lot later.

It's more than self-pity, it's depression and I'm pretty sure I'll dislike how the mystery thing will improve their well being. Had an awful day? Something is very wrong with your life? Find you a goal, like solving a murder or finding a missing person. Reading a book is far more realistic, I agree :p
Many books use difficult events in the past to add some density to the characters, but here I don't see the point (maybe later?).

Summary:

The Lottery, one of the most terrifying stories written in this century, created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker. "Power and haunting," and "nights of unrest" were typical reader responses. This collection, the only one to appear during Shirley Jackson's lifetime, unites "The Lottery:" with twenty-four equally unusual stories. Together they demonstrate Jackson's remarkable range--from the hilarious to the truly horrible--and power as a storyteller.

Summary of The Lottery: "This is just a townful of people, after all, choosing their numbers for the annual lottery. What's there to be scared of?"

I decided to read The Lottery when someone I follow on Goodreads gave it a nice rating. I wanted to use it in the challenge and discovered there is a book of short stories with this one inside. The author wrote lots of horror stories which are not my usual readings, but I liked a lot some stories from Skeleton Crew by Stephen King, so I hope I'll enjoy this one too.

Jan 24: The folder for week 12 (a book of short stories) is now available. Don't forget the "Title by Author" rule when you create a new topic for your book ;)

Week 12: a book of short stories
March 19 - 25, 2015

They can be full of mystery, creepy, romantic, new, old, or everything you're interested in reading. But they have to be short and gathered together in one book.


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 12 ideas:
Essential Tales and Poems by E.A. Poe
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by N. Gaiman
The Lottery and Other Stories by S. Jackson
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by C. Doyle
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
The Signet Classic Book of Mark Twain's Short Stories
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
Best Short Stories of Jack London
The Collected Short Stories by Roald Dahl
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

I'm near 30% and the story is a lot more interesting. The path chosen is a little too easy for my tastes, but the book is well written, so I won't complain.
My only problem with this book is the characters. I'm not sure I'll like one of them until the end.

If I have to finish my life in a desert island, I would probably pick up books like "how to survive in a desert island" and "discover the wild plants you can eat". Anyway, on the more romantic way, I would like to bring some books with me. Out of order and, as I really can give any reasons why I love a book, it will just be a list...

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter by A. Lindgren
Hollow World by M.J. Sullivan
I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly
The Seventh Gate (and all the series) by M. Weis

Welcome :)

The group has now 2015 members. I hope everyone is enjoying his/her readings :)

At 70% (yes, with this one I've some hard time doing useless stuff like sleeping, eating, working).
I'll see at the end, but for now, Hollow World is one of my favorite books ever. There's a character in it who is just perfect, he's all I wish humanity could be.

I like all the care and heart the author put in the characters, some moments are heart-breaking, others bring light in the darkness. The world is well described too, I picture easily all the scenes in my head which obviously helps me a lot to be part of it.
The sci-fi explanations add a nice history touch with some realistic facts and, like the descriptions, it's not an heavy reading. You learn just all you need to understand the future, but you're not drown by plenty of boring or useless details.

I can't say it's a book for everyone. But I'm pretty sure it's a book written just for me. I'm glad I decided to jump in it :)

There are several francophone members and some read in french.
I'll read a french book not translated for the "one word" week, but the others are in english ;)

I never tried Houellebecq, but I could be interested by the themes he writes about. I'll have to dig a little more and maybe add another book to my oversized reading list :D

The first chapters are really heavy. It's like reading the blogs of some depressed women. The writing is good and the story seems interesting, but I'm happy I'm also reading another book for this week, with less drama.

How was the First 15 lives of Harry August? I'll read it next week :)

This one seems fun, maybe I could use it for the christmas book. I'll see how you liked it and the reviews at this time.

PS: for the topic name, could you use "Book Name by Author", please? It will be less work for the mods ;)

I read the Earth's Children series long time ago, it was my first books with "explicite content" so it was a little disturbing. The overall story was really interesting and I enjoyed all the spiritual stuff which is since part of how I see the world. I've to re-read them one day but I'm afraid they won't be as good as I remember them...

You have to choose your book by a young author, the week is coming :D