Lexi’s Comments (group member since Jul 27, 2016)

Lexi’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

That sound fun, Jenny. Target carried chocolate Highland cattle, which we got for my sister's three kids. I have no idea if the chocolate was any good, but they were very cute.

Thank you and Happy Easter

Would you all take decomposing for decompose? I have a lot of things decomposing in my current non-fiction and can move it off bird on cover, which seems easier.

DQ's Day 3
2nd October- 6th October - late 63%

9. Shadow (a grimm) is getting older it seems and although he has been back in fairy for brief moments. Do you think if he goes back to Wendell's fairy that he will regain his vitality?
I assume mortal realm as well and that he will be much better once back in any fae realm. It never said which one specifically he was from.

10. There seems to be so many fairy doors here and different folk in this area of the continent that it seems weird there has not been more research in this area. Do you think it's because of the missing scholars (DeGray and Icorn)? What did you think about when Wendell moved them through the landscape several times running from the huntsman?
I think maybe because it is so isolated. Convenient spots with nice accommodation always get more research. Also, the book did say that DeGray was discredited so maybe no one else wanted to be associated with her. The doors according to Poe clearly work differently than most people think. Wendell shows the high fae have very different powers, but Wendell’s do tend to be on the more plot convenient type.

11. What did you think about when Wendell moved them through the landscape several times running from the huntsman? And creating a castle?
The castle seemed a bit out of left field and a very different level of power especially as we get a cloak that turns into a tent later and that seems much more on brand with his power including textiles. Nothing had indicated stone before.

12. Emily seems to be leading the pact with Wendell sick and Rose seeming to cautious. Do you think Emily will find the correct Fairie or end up finding a land they have never studied?
Rose is still deeply obnoxious. I think this will be solved in this book or the plot won’t have moved forward enough for a third book to be different. I think the third book will need to be in the fae realm to be different. I still wish Emily had changed more in communication from the first book.

DQs - Day 2
5. We have the identity of the ribboned visitor. Did you guess this? What do you think of another anti-social scholar character, but gender switched?

6. Would you use the ribbon system if you were in this area, or do you have a modification?

7. Do you like Rose more after his talk with Emily. Do you think he was being honest or manipulative?

8. Fox fae appear to be vicious. Do you have any thoughts on what Wendell meant when healing Rose? How do you think this will affect Emily and her view on fae?

DQs - Day 1

1) Emily is back! What are your first impressions of her this time around? Can you see any changes in her compared to Book1?
She starts out stronger but some of her behavior later seems to have returned to before. I wish they gave her more growth with others. I am not sure I appreciate her niece being there.

2) Apparently Emily is still stalling on giving an answer to Wendell's marriage proposal. Do you think she'll say yes at the end of the book or will this stay unresolved?
I think they will and major steps will be settled by the end of this book maybe with the marriage being a major part of the second book. I don’t like series that spend books as they will or won’t they.

3) We meet some other characters of the Faculty in Cambridge. What do you think of Farris Rose getting in the picture and establishing himself as part of the field research team? Do you think he'll be an asset or a hindrance?
Farris Rose is also annoying but like the niece (see below), we needed more characters to not just be a repeat of the first one. I first thought he would betray them but wonder if the author will give him a redeeming arc now.

4) And finally: Ariadne, Emily's niece joins the team as student. Do you think Wendell was honest with Emily about why he didn't want Ariadne to join them? Was it as simple as what he said or may there be an ulterior motive?
We know Wendell is hiding something, but I think he was honest as to why if not honest to all his reasons why.

Bonus Q: If you had to survive in Emily’s world, what role would you play? Scholar? Adventurer? Faerie trickster?
Bonus Bonus Q: Give yourself a whimsical job title, like “Moss Mapping Cartographer, Third Class or Senior Fae Liaison” ... 🤭
Fae critter vet or vet pathologist as they might be safer to study dead

Two new ones:

Count Magpyr & Family
200-299
Story features vampires
modernization a plot element (your interpretation. could be house refurb or new computer system)
monochrome cover (e.g. Black and white, but other two colour only covers work)
bird on cover

Triffid
200-299
Plot involves something that usually doesn't move moving, like a plant or castle
Three of something on cover
"decompose" in text
Blind or disabled MC or author

I'm good with mine but 20th is Easter if we need a break day if people have family commitments

Also, I keep reading a book that works days before. I did this for both political and hive-mind.

I got us a new one:

Protomolecule (Expanse)
450+
Form of hivemind in the book
Tagged "Series-to-read" at least 10 times - must be new to you series
"microorganism" or "microbe" in text
A book or series that has been made into a graphic novel

DQS Day 4: Ch 75 to end (pg 289 to end)

10. How did you like the ending? Do you try to guess as you go or do you like to be surprised?

11. This has clearly been set up as a series. Would you read more in the series or others by the author (if you have not already)?

12. Did you like the last line? Did you see if coming with the running joke about book titles throughout?

Bonus: Do you think it made sense to put a cat on the cover? What would you have put in the cover that is more relevent to the story.

Ch 48 to Ch 74 (pg 192 to 288)

7. Oh man so many side characters are getting thrown at us. Who stands out the most to you and why?
Hard to keep everyone straight but Eddie seems interesting. He has his own agenda for sure.

8. Have you been to St. Lucia? How was it? And random but have you tried chat GPT yet?
No, I've never been. Also, like Judith, more of a hiking and mountains kind of person. I have never been the Caribbean. I did go to Costa Rica in college, and they have great birds. Also, no on AI as well.

9. So close, I wanna know your predictions.
I am just reading without any guesses at this point. I agree now that Jeff is likely still alive. Adam showed up and we got one chapter from him. It is hard to say what of these chapters are honest narrators and which are not.

DQs Day 2
Ch 23 to Ch 47 (pg 95 to 191)

4.) Do you think Jeff is really dead? And do you have any guesses as to who 'Joe Blow' might be?
I think Jeff is dead. Susan is the only character that we have met that still works there so like Judith said, unless it is someone we haven’t met yet.

5.) The quote "you can live with unhappiness, but bitterness will kill you" stuck out to me as a bit profound in a mix of silly hijinks. Do you agree with the statement?
I think bitterness has an element of jealous and entitlement to it. Thinking you deserved better, and I think you can’t avoid unhappiness but bitter is a different matter.

6.) Why do you think Amy was selected as the insurance policy on the murders with her blood being left at all the crime scenes?
I am really starting to think Adam is the money launderer and that Amy someone has the ability to know so that is why she is getting framed. Someone had to have access to a lot of information and other things about her.

DQs Day 1: Ch1 to Ch 22 (pg 1 to 94)

1. Have you read any books by Richard Osman before? If so, did it effect your expectations for this one? Either way, what did you expect going into this book?
I have read all of the Thursday murder club books, and I liked all but the last one which felt a little overdone. The tone is very different and so far, I like them better.

2. What do you think of the writing style with the short chapters and some even in journal style? Do you have any preference on longer versus shorter versus no chapters?
I find it a bit too much. It comes across as a bit immature even if everyone is older adults. I like chapters and don’t like books that have 100 page chapters but this is a bit fragmented for me but it does read promptly.

3. We have now met who I assume are the main characters – Amy, Rosie & Steve. Do you have a favorite so far? What do you think of Steve and Amy's relationship? Do you think we will ever "meet" Adam on page?
I wrote the question, so my answer is a bit obvious. I like that Amy calls her father-in-law but a bit odd that Adam is not really in the picture. I still find everyone a bit young/immature in tone.

Bonus: Do you think the cat will be important to the plot or just on the cover like oh so many books recently?
I would like the cat to play a part and not just be on the cover. I call my cat trouble too at times but she does have a name.

DQs Day 1: Ch1 to Ch 22 (pg 1 to 94)

1. Have you read any books by Richard Osman before? If so, did it effect your expectations for this one? Either way, what did you expect going into this book?

2. What do you think of the writing style with the short chapters and some even in journal style? Do you have any preference on longer versus shorter versus no chapters?

3. We have now met who I assume are the main characters – Amy, Rosie & Steve. Do you have a favorite so far? What do you think of Steve and Amy's relationship? Do you think we will ever "meet" Adam on page?

Bonus: Do you think the cat will be important to the plot or just on the cover like oh so many books recently?

My favorites for fantasy are still mostly women: Lois McMaster Bujold all, Witch King, Riddle-Master (read it as one book and not 3 separate) for those without romance. I like Ilona Andrews and T. Kingfisher for those with romance as a sub-plot but not entirely romance. The Goblin Emperor is good too but I am currently mad at the most recent book.

I put a hold in for a Korean and set in Greece one but the holds are 6 and 4 weeks respectively so if anyone finds one before then, go for it.

Got us a second new one using a book I remembered that Judith had read.

Dungeon Dimensions
500 to 650
author initials found in THINGS
a book entirely without magic (your interpretation)
book with an alliterative title
the word 'wastelands' found in the text or title

Also, oldest prompt is author initial EB or BE and I have none of my TBR list.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

The eagerly awaited follow-up to Pulitzer Prize-finalist Tommy Orange’s breakout best seller There There —winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the John Leonard Prize, the American Book Award, and one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2018— Wandering Stars traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through to the shattering aftermath of Orvil Red Feather’s shooting in There There.

Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion Prison Castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.

Oakland, 2018. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield is barely holding her family together after the shooting that nearly took the life of her nephew Orvil. From the moment he awakens in his hospital bed, Orvil begins compulsively googling school shootings on YouTube. He also becomes emotionally reliant on the prescription medications meant to ease his physical trauma. His younger brother, Lony, suffering from PTSD, is struggling to make sense of the carnage he witnessed at the shooting by secretly cutting himself and enacting blood rituals that he hopes will connect him to his Cheyenne heritage. Opal is equally adrift, experimenting with Ceremony and peyote, searching for a way to heal her wounded family.

Extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange once again delivers a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous, a book piercing in its poetry, sorrow, and rage—a masterful follow-up to his already-classic first novel, and a devastating indictment of America’s war on its own people.

*Tommy Orange is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

New one

Nero (Italy / Rome)
350 to 450
takes place in Italy
tagged political 10x
MC plays a musical instrument
fire on cover