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

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

DQs Day 2 ~ Ch 7 to Ch 14

5.) If honest for real alien life if right in front of you for the first time, what would your do? Be excited? Freak out? Ignore it until it goes away?
I agree with Angie that I first would have to believe it was real, but if already out in space, 12 light years from home, I would likely accept it was real and be excited.

6.) Did you enjoy the communication with aliens and how that developed over this section? Especially the initial contacts with the models/objects. Do you think you would of figured it out. let alone in a couple hours?
I was annoyed at how quickly the language worked out as that assumed some very similar grammer and other things that just don’t work with a sound recorded and an Excel spreadsheet. I am perfectly fine with magic technology handwaving in SF (see Babelfish) but seem to get annoyed when an author insists its real science but it can’t be or this would be a very boring book or trying to figure out if the language. Just consider the difference between Austronesian and Indo-European languages. Exhibit A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetr...

7.) What do you think about Rocky? He seems like a cool bloke.
Children of Time is still my favorite spiders in space but there is always more room for space spiders, so I approve.

8.) Stratt and the the global politics/legality of it all. Do you think this is a realistic portrayal of how things would unfold? What are your thoughts on destroying much of Earth in order to save it.
It would be a mess and no way that cooperative but that didn’t bother me too much as alien threat is often used as how the world unites. I also got kind of mad at how all of North Africa was paved over and painted as corrupt. That was very rude and imperialistic for having no one even from Nigeria involved.

Day 1 DQs; Chapter 1-6

1. Have you seen The Martian or read any books by this author? If so, does that effect why you wanted to read the book and any expectations?

I have read The Martian and saw the movie. I don’t remember which first and I liked them. However, I did not hear good things about this book from the biology perspective, so I kept putting it off. However, I had an ARC, so I was eventually going to read it. I nominated it figuring group pressure would make me eventually read it.

2. Opening the book with an amnesia scene, love it or hate it? Did the opening scene catch you attention and make you want to read more?

I wrote this question and clearly am over amnesia as a plot point or a way to open a book. Be more creative.

3. What do you think of the MC so far and their history with academia and current role as a science teacher? Are you having any issues with suspending disbelief on how he gets involved with the Astrophage?

If it was that non-status quo, how did it get peer reviewed and published as it kept being treated like it was peer reviewed and not self-published. You won’t get funding and then get stuck teaching non-majors Intro to Bio on a non-livable wage without benefits in obscurity is the usual way to leave academia. Anyway, I wasn’t buying this and as much as the book tried to treat the flashbacks a team science, it really was white, male does science by himself and solves everything for much of the book. I get enough of that from real life to want it in a book.

4. Do you have a favorite first contact movie or book? What do you expect from this ship?
I am now going to go read Becky Chambers again after this one. I like her To Be Taught, If Fortunate and many others. Also, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within has a fun play with ammonia breathing life form as well.

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "That’s one of my fave pictures"

That is a deeply inefficient way to grow crops.

Eldarwen wrote: "I'm in the definite minority with disliking this book, so my response would be "nope, not worth the wait" hehe."

I DNF'd Red Rising so glad I'm not the only one who didn't like it

Welcome, Sofie and good luck on your exams

Day 1 DQs; Chapter 1-6

1. Have you seen The Martian or read any books by this author? If so, does that effect why you wanted to read the book and any expectations?

2. Opening the book with an amnesia scene, love it or hate it? Did the opening scene catch you attention and make you want to read more?

3. What do you think of the MC so far and their history with academia and current role as a science teacher? Are you having any issues with suspending disbelief on how he gets involved with the Astrophage?

4. Do you have a favorite first contact movie or book? What do you expect from this ship?

Hi all, My name is Lexi (she/her/hers). I live in Atlanta, and I work in global health and parasitology. I enjoy reading fantasy and sci-fi, and most other genres. I have co-captained before with Judith. I have two long haired cats and just got back inside from walking outside by the nearby park's pond which is overfull of turtles.

Please feel free to ask any question now and throughout.

Shelf: Bookgames2024

I'm right on the line. I'm very glad you didn't round up or I'd be below it. I have one "literature" book that I am trying to finish before Book games but The Grapes of Wrath is just not working for me so far.

I'll be back up for Judith (District 8).

Also, mine

Book of the Month Information
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions = 40 points
Participating in a current BOM (participating in discussion) = 20 points.

May:
May 16th - The Malevolent Seven - Discussion is here.
May 25th - Salt & Broom - Discussion is here.

June:
June 2nd - Starling House- Discussion is here.
June 16th - The Wishing Game - Discussion is here.

July:
The Familiar
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn


Hunger Games Buddy Reads
The Hunger Games: May 15th to June 15th - here
Catching Fire: June 15th to July 15th
Mockingjay: July 15th to August 15th

My sister's children know Baby Shark, but I have never tried to teach them this one. Thoughts for next visit...

Cat wrote: "Lexi is very much feeling "Mischief Managed!" right now!"

I woke up to this thread and am very happy. I will, of course, take any suggestions: children's or otherwise. (This got Rhianna's S&M stuck in my head so self-inflicting ear worms too).

Sophie, do you know the Song that Never Ends (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BgBf...). My twin and I used to sing that constantly as annoying, very young children.

So considering a very different type of monster with ear worms (definition: "a song or melody that keeps repeating in one's mind."). It would fit with the last challenge's music theme. Inspired by the fact that I am working on a schistosomiasis paper this evening while listening to music from the early 2000s.

MPG Time Travel


The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

If you could open a door to anywhere, where would you go?

In New York City, bookseller Cassie Andrews is living an unassuming life when she is given a gift by a favourite customer. It's a book - an unusual book, full of strange writing and mysterious drawings. And at the very front there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door .

What Cassie is about to discover is that the Book of Doors is a special book that bestows an extraordinary powers on whoever possesses it, and soon she and her best friend Izzy are exploring all that the Book of Doors can do, swept away from their quiet lives by the possibilities of travelling to anywhere they want.

But the Book of Doors is not the only magical book in the world. There are other books that can do wondrous and dreadful things when wielded by dangerous and ruthless individuals - individuals who crave what Cassie now possesses.

Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is, it seems, Drummond Fox. He is a man fleeing his own demons - a man with his own secret library of magical books that he has hidden away in the shadows for safekeeping. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .

Because some doors should never be opened.

If it gets a voted BOM, I will pick a new one


The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

From the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution.

Solve the murder to save what's left of the world.

Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don't even know it.

And the clock is ticking.

We used to label each other as such in one of my game groups even though I never played. Does not need to be a paladin, mage etc. but a personality type.

Some of the new tasks (Vegi-Might Monsters), for those not familiar, deal with the DnD alignment system: https://www.figma.com/resource-librar...

This is for lawful evil, chaotic good etc.

Its the alignment system used in Dungeons and Dragons but I realize that may not be obvious/recognizable to most people. It may not fit then. The cop would need to be evil while following the letter of the law.

I may go post a comment for people - https://www.figma.com/resource-librar...

I never played DnD but it has entered other contexts.

Jenny wrote: "Ooh! Reading a book with a former corrupt cop. That should work. Of course, the title's second word starts with a K, so almost good enough. teehee

This new wheel is the one that will make me use t..."

Here is the definition if that helps:

"Lawful evil covers anyone or anything that follows a strict code, hierarchy, or system for personal gain at any cost. Lawful evil characters (e.g., Darth Vader) are calculating, organized, and tyrannical."