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

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

New cheese everyone, we have every letter but the Q or U covered. Please comment if you read since May 20th or are reading a book with a Q or U charecter. Thank you

We are off to a new country. Great job, everyone. We got Korea.

Author born in Korea
Red, Blue, White and Black on cover
character goes to the spa
letters SEOUL in title (any order)
MPG Science
character works in technology
K
O
R
E
A

Thank you, Erin.

Polls are open through June 7.

Books nominated by team members if you are having trouble deciding which to vote on are:

Mountains:
Adult:

Maria Jo, I have a book with Notre Dame in the background that I will finish tonight if you are not near to starting/finishing your church on cover book. This will allow us to get a new spin for Spain this evening. Just wanted to check with you first.

The White Girl by Tony Birch

"A profound allegory of good and evil, and a deep exploration of human interaction, black and white, alternately beautiful and tender, cruel and unsettling."--Guardian

Australia's leading indigenous storyteller makes his American debut with this immersive and deeply resonant novel, set in the 1960s, that explores the lengths we'll go to save the people we love--an unforgettable story of one native Australian family and the racist government that threatens to separate them.

Odette Brown has lived her entire life on the fringes of Deane, a small Australian country town. Dark secrets simmer beneath the surface of Deane--secrets that could explain why Odette's daughter, Lila, left her one-year-old daughter, Sissy, and never came back, or why Sissy has white skin when her family is Aboriginal.

For thirteen years, Odette has quietly raised her granddaughter without drawing notice from welfare authorities who remove fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families. But the arrival of a new policeman with cruel eyes and a rigid by-the-book attitude throws the Brown women's lives off-kilter. It will take all of Odette's courage and cunning to save Sissy from the authorities, and maybe even lead her to find her daughter.

Bolstered by love, smarts, and the strength of their ancestors, Odette and Sissy are an indomitable force, handling threats to their family and their own identities with grace and ingenuity, while never losing hope for themselves and their future.

In The White Girl, Miles Franklin Award-nominated author Tony Birch illuminates Australia's devastating post-colonial past--notably the government's racist policy of separating Indigenous children from their families, known today as the Stolen Generations--and introduces a tight-knit group of charming, inspiring characters who remind us of our shared humanity, and that kindness, hope, and love have no limits.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.

I meant 3. Thank you and fixed above.

Hi all,

I love how everyone is reading for mini 1 and countries. We (captains) will be moving books around between itinerary 2 and 3 depending on finish dates so keep an eye on the thread if you are reading a hard country because we will still need 3 medium countries per itinerary. We will post here if I need everyone to pause hard countries if needed.

Lexi wrote: " New Mini 2 Task

Read a banned book"

We also have a new task:
Read a book tagged "Friendship" at least 10x

Thank you, Erin and I fixed it Suzanne.

Hi Everyone, we are off to Canada next. Have you always wanted to read a book with a moose on the cover, well now is your chance.

TASKS
Author born in Canada
Red and White on cover
"maple syrup" in text
character plays ice hockey
moose on cover
character works in the film industry
C
A
N
A
D
A

Thank you, Linda. Susan is currently reading an Iraq book so whichever is finished first will go in the first itinerary and then the other in the second. I will finish my Cameroon one either today or tomorrow. Once both are done, people can start finishing books for itinerary 2.

Please watch here for when we say itinerary two can be finished so we don't waste any hard countries. Thank you all

Suzanne wrote: "My next Hugo listen is Annihilation - the four characters in it aren't named - just always (100% of the book) called by their professions: The Biologist, The Surveyor, The Psychologist, etc. So I p..."

That is a title or author kind of book. I would not use a charecter name. I have read the book and hope you enjoy it.

We get more points for everything other than a easy country so transportation is perfect, thank you

New Mini 2 Task

Read a banned book

Erin, thank you for the update.

Linda, how are you doing on your Kenya book? I will finish my last book for the first itinerary today and wanted to see where we were. We cannot finish any books for the 2nd itinerary until the 1st is done.

Suzanne, I moved your unfinished book off of the J to try to get Japan turned over soon. If you finish before we get a new country, I will move it back. Thank you

I thought I would finish a book tonight, but instead, I spent 2.5 hours fixing my citations by hand since the journal removed all my links for the citation software. It is a small thing compared to most since it meant the journal article was accepted, but really, not how I wanted to spend my evening. Now deciding if bed time or going to bake something after all...

Edited: I should be able to do this one in 30 min (https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough...)

Cathy M. wrote: "For the spell-it-outs, is it title, series, author, narrator and character names?"

◈ Spell-it-Out Rules: Use the first letter in the book’s title, series name, author’s first/last name, character’s first/last name, narrator’s first/last name (if listening to an audiobook), or translator’s first/last name (if reading a translation). You may ignore (or not) “A,” “An,” or “The” at the start of titles.

Happy Reading, everyone

In honor of TTs starting, I spun the World Wheel for our new one:

Sayyida al Hurra (Morocco)
500 to 650
Takes place in Northern Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara)
boat or ship on cover
"queen" in text
character speaks more than one language