Caitlin’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2015)

Caitlin’s comments from the Pop Sugar's Annual Ultimate Reading Challenge group.

Heather wrote: "Yeah, I rate most books 3 stars. I don't understand people who give away 5 stars like candy on Halloween. 5 stars to me, is a *perfect* book. I can point out no flaws and have no complaints. Those ..."

Some people are just really positive about what they read and love lots of things, I don't really understand it either and I can't lie sometimes I get really annoyed when I see people LOVING books I thought were terrible but, what can you do? I give mostly 3 stars (seriously, my ratings could occupy a bell curve.)

Some people are also really good at knowing ahead of time whether they'll like a book and avoiding books they'd rate 1 and 2 stars. I think I've gotten slightly better at this over time but, sometimes a book is really well written and recommended by friends and I'm just not feeling it so... I still read some 2 and a few 1 star books.

Kayla wrote: "I just saw that there is a new fiction book based on TV show Revenge. Does that count? I think I have another book on my TBR list though."

Books based on a TV series totally count! I didn't know Revenge or Rizzoli and Isles had them but I had heard about the Nikki heat books. I hope they're enjoyable reads!

Also, every Texas resident can have a Houston library card too! If you want to double up on Overdrive.

All of you doing this on Pinterest are total geniuses. Seriously going to go add that as a board now.

Desertisland wrote: "Planning to re-read "Earthsea" trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin (been so long since I read--IF I read it all--that most is forgotten). First time around, it was only WIZARD OF EARTHSEA, TOMBS OF ATUAN..."

Hey Desertisland thanks for the great suggestions. If you wouldn't mind could you put the Little Women spoiler behind a spoiler tag? Just in case anyone reading this thread doesn't yet know that (view spoiler)[Beth dies (hide spoiler)]. I know it's unlikely but I like to be cautious.

Sarabeth wrote: "ok I may not have looked back far enough, so this question may have already been asked but is it ok if the Trilogy is really like four books ? I just started Cinder thinking it was a trilogy but it..."

We've talked about this a few times and have kind of decided it's up to you as long as you read the full series. I'm a purist and will be reading a trilogy but I also read a lot more trilogies than many people. In general though in this group we're all for small modifications to make things more do-able so if this modification works for you, go for it.

Stephanie wrote: "Hello all :) I am mostly internet buds with some of the core people in this group.

The only challenge I really participated in was the debut author challenge (since 2012!). I am reaaallyy bad at ..."

Non-Fiction is the best!!! What are you looking for? I have many suggestions.

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Hi all! I'm Caitlin, my co-moderator asked me to participate in this challenge with her and I always have more fun doing things in groups so I decided to recruit as many people as I could. Like Nicole, it's been a really good way to read those books that have been sitting on my TBR but that I've been avoiding. (example, I've told myself Lonesome Dove is happening this year.)

I read a huge variety of books, at one point I used to read 50/50 fiction and non-fiction but now it's probably 50% YA fiction, 33% Non-fiction, and 27% other (MG, Adult, and comics/graphic novels). (That's pure speculation, btw.)

If you want an idea of what I'm reading currently feel free to friend or follow me on GR but I will fill your feed with my GR obsession. You can also see me talking about books on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9AS...

I' so glad so many of you are participating in this challenge and how active this group is. It seriously makes me smile to see us conquering the challenge together.

We all expect a review in a month or so, so we know whether it's the model to get.

Bonnie wrote: "I am so bad, but I just ordered a blue tooth shower speaker so that I can listen to audiobooks while I'm getting ready in the morning. #nerd

Also, I now have a library card for Harris County Publi..."

Yeah, my TBR is so long I've never had trouble finding audiobooks on it from the overdrive accounts I have access to but I have a few friends who've switched to audible because of inadequate audiobook selection via the library.

Girl, I have contemplated getting a bluetooth shower speaker for this very reason many times. #noshame

Nicole wrote: "Caitlin, does adding a book to "to-read," then immediately reading it count? ;-)"

:-P

There are several people who've already fulfilled this on the spreadsheet if you want to check out what they've read. Are you looking for something more or less literary and would you prefer a specific genre or theme?

Bonnie wrote: "Right now I'm just filling in one per category, but reserve the right to double or triple up at the end of the year :)"

Ditto! I have more wiggle room than most because of how many books I typically read in a year so I'm participating in this, another 12 book challenge, and reading things I feel like that don't fit under either. My biggest restriction is to only read books on my GR to-read list because I desperately want to reduce it.

Danielle wrote: "I've had the hardest time finding an author with DD initials."

I didn't have any among my read list here on GR but the link above had upwards of 11 DD authors, it'll just take a bit of time to search through and find them and then decide if you want to read their work.

Hey everyone, there's a facebook group dedicated to this challenge as well (not run by me) and this website was suggested there for a way to find authors with your same initials:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red trilogy was originally written/published in German I enjoyed the first book but ultimately got distracted waiting for the others to be translated and published in the US and by the time all three were out I'd lost interest so... not exactly a ringing endorsement, sorry.

I sorted my To-read list by author and looked for one that matched my initials. I was lucky enough to have a few options from that.

Bonnie wrote: "...

2) Can you link multiple libraries to your Overdrive? The Houston Public Library doesn't always have what I'm looking for on audio (or the line is freakishly long)"

Yeah, the waiting list for audiobooks can take a bit longer. There is supposedly a way to request Overdrive purchases but I've never tried it, I can investigate for you. My other suggestion would be to see if they have that audiobook on CD too, rip it manually and put it on your playing device that way but it loses the simplicity and functionality of the Overdrive app.

Thank you ladies, I am so lucky and honored to have your support.

Nicole wrote: "Also this interview with the editor does nothing to make me feel better: http://www.vulture.com/2015/02/harper..."

yeah... that sounds more like the editor is putting his fingers in his ears and saying if I don't hear about it, nothing is wrong, right?

Also, question: how do you have an editor if you have never published something with that person?

Nicole wrote: "Can I be the party pooper who is a little concerned that Lee's lawyer telling us "we found this 60-year-old manuscript she never mentioned before but now she can't wait for you to read it!" sounds ..."

It actually sounds super legit. Apparently she wrote Go Set a Watchman first, her editor was like "these flashbacks are super interesting, could you write about Scout's childhood from her perspective first?

She did, To Kill A Mockingbird became super famous, she assumed the first manuscript was destroyed and 55 years later while going through rare TKAM manuscripts her lawyer found it.

What I'm worried about is the no revisions thing.

ALSO: Bonnie and Sherry, seriously when I hear the news I was like "I think we all have our 2015 read now!"