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

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

I was about to comment the same thing. Murderbot is very internal so I’m a bit concerned.

Keely wrote: "I finished book 49 for this challenge. The other books in the series are now on my TBR so it didn't help my list get smaller, but I am planning on continuing th..."

Favorite series ever (or tied), hope you enjoy them

Can I have the last day? I started already as my library copy is due in two days.

Jenny wrote: "Personally, I loved Noumenon. But then I am a sucker for generation ship stories."
#26 - 4 left

-****
That was fun. Thank you for the suggestion, I have added the second one. I am trying to get two more books read this year, so I only have the two classics for next year.

I can join and do DQs as well

Sophie wrote: "I'd go for one of the bottom 3 as they seem like easier reads for this time of year. I'm feeling fried by life which is probably influencing my choice though!"

I agree entirely. I didn't even get time to read today with house guests and lots of baking. I did start Noumenon on Jenny's suggestion, and I packed Storykiller to bring with me for Christmas. Thank you all

I am down to five to go, and one is too long to finish the year but I am hoping to start. However, I am struggling with motivation for which one to start next. Any one like any of these or want to pick a random one for me?
1.The Brothers Karamazov - will try to start but unlikely to finish
2. The Grapes of Wrath
3.Storykiller
4.Noumenon
5.The Tethered Mage

2.5 hours to go. Is everyone going to finish their books?

I'm finished as well, good job everyone. Only a few hours to go.

New one:

Professor Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes)
350 to 450
MC is very smart
Set in the 1800s
Street on cover
2 in page count

I'm back in for 2024 and am currently planning to finish the last 2 for 2016. Otherwise, I have the ones to read for 2018. I have 40 from 2019 so aiming for another 22 for 40 total.
Total: (34/45)

2016 (1/2)
1.The Brothers Karamazov
2.The Grapes of Wrath- 5/11-***

2018 (15/15)
1.Renegade Magic - 2/29-***
2. The Map of Salt and Stars - 8/25-***
3. Clade-2/2-**
4.The Last Place You Look - 3/5-****
5.A Local Habitation-3/8-***
6.Other Words for Smoke-3/16-***
7. Muse of Nightmares - DNF
8. Annex - DNF
9.Ash and Quill-1/31-****
10.In Other Lands-1/26-*****
11.The Impossible Girl-6/4-***
12. The Hero of Ages - 7/27-****
13.White Nights - 2/17-****
14.Not Even Bones-3/13-***
15. Contagion - DNF
16.The Sound and the Fury-5/27-***
17.The True Queen-3/20-***
18.Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything- 2/14- **

2019 - 10 left as of Sept 18.


Also, 376 total:
48 from 2020
45 from 2021
77 from 2022
144 from 2023

DQs Day 3: Chapters 23 - 31

10. Armand pops up again twice in this section, revealing his true colours at the end. What do you think is the purpose of Armand in Opaline's story? especially as he has been a pivot point for her life many times.

He's a self-important cad who is used to getting his way especially from women. I thought they might make him more of a villan, such as stealing the manuscript but he is just a cad.

11. Henry has a revelation or two in this section. What do you think of his approach to building a relationship with Martha? and his father?

I think he is doing the best he can as he tries to manage protecting himself but also giving some acceptance. Not texting or talking to Martha before he left was just dumb. Clearly he has not read Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

12. Martha luckily escapes from abusive Shane with no comeback to her externally, and in a pretty passive fashion (the house / Madam B / drunkenness puts paid to him, and then Madam B finagles a clear up). Why do you think the author chose this route rather than give Martha a more active role in finally freeing herself?

That felt lazy. The author needed to deal with Shane and had not built Martha up to ever protect herself so this was an easy way out and did not need to continue to have her be in a relationship or have to go through a messy divorce to get with Henry eventually.

13. We've two different treasure hunts going on - for a lost book in 1920s and for a lost bookshop now. Are you more invested in one - which and why?

Well, the manuscript was found and the plot seems dumb but I never did like Weathering Heights. The bookshop is more interesting and there is something magic and unknown going on with it.

14. If you were inventing a lost book, who would you pick as the author

I don’t have one off the top of my head. I think a lot of unfinished books and unpublished ones should stay that way since often the author did not want them published and it seems to just be for money by families or estates.

Tracking
Day 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3 - here

DQ's Day 2: Chapters 13-22

5. In this section, we find out how Opaline ends up in Dublin. What do you think of Armand and her relationship/friendship with him? I feel there is something off about him but he does seem to want to honestly help her.
I think that I did not need a love triangle (ish thing) and cheating in this book. I’m sure Armand has his owns motives and is a bit of a cad. I think it is going to go bad but I am more than slightly disappointed if the only non-white character in this book is a two dimensional bad guy.

6. In many ways there are parallels with Opaline and Martha's stories. Both are running from abuse and from a life they do not want and both have ended up living in a basement apartment where the vanishing bookshop was located. Do you think these parallels will continue? Do you think this plays a part in Martha solving the mystery of the Lost Bookshop?
Hemmingway apparently lived in Paris from 1921-1928 so about 100 years before when I think the modern day timeline is, so Opaline can’t still be alive in the modern setting. I think the basement apartment is the bookshop/curio shop or part of it and that is what is currently opening back up again.

7. The old library in Italy! What a coincidence that a book that showed up in Martha's apartment, A Place Called Lost, is the same story of how Matthew's father built the building where his shop was! I just love how the author is building the connection from the past to the present. Do you have any guesses yet about what the connection or what happened to the Lost Bookshop? Have you read magical realism before? It's one of my favorite genres to read.
I guess this is magic realism since the bookshop is magic, but I think it might just be fantasy. I’m not really into the book that much so just reading without guessing at this point. Everyone seems to be making poor relationship decisions.

8. "Were we all preconditioned to love certain things? A moment in childhood, lost to memory but indelibly marked on our souls?" This quote jumped out at me while I was reading and made me think. I don't know when I started reading or where my love for reading came from. My mom always says I was carrying a book around before I could walk! But I have no specific moment where I fell in love with reading just that I always have loved it. It made me think was there a moment that happened but I can't remember? Something so significant it created something in me? Or was I preconditioned to love reading? What do you think about this quote?
I’m not sure what the question in among all of this. My mother always read to my twin and me at night (and my dad read the Hobbit – he may have read others too). I think that a love of reading is very environmental, and I am pretty sure research has shown that.

9. I think Madam Bowden is going to prove to be a character with surprises. Could she be Opaline? Or a descendent? I think she knows about this vanishing bookshop and why it shows itself to certain people and not others.
I think she knows more than she is saying and I kind of wondered if the old ladies were ghosts since they cleaned up after themselves or the house did it but that would move these almost entirely into fantasy which tags don’t suggest. Timeline would not work for Opaline since she would be born around 1900 and there are cell phones and email in the modern day part.

DQ'S DAY 1 - CHAPTERS 1-12

1. Love the cover, love the blurb! I'm expecting big things from this novel. "The thing about books" she said "is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of."
Is this why you love to read or do you just enjoy good old fashioned escapism? Discuss.
I go with the escapism and fun reasons for reading. Some ideas are fun too and what authors can think of.

2. In the Prologue and the first two chapters we are introduced to the main protagonists, Opaline, Martha and Henry. First impressions of these characters and what differences and similarities to you notice about them?
Not much personality so far. Everyone comes from a hard background and seems a little overdone as done to give everyone a hard backstory but doesn’t seem integrated yet into the characters. Like Sammy said, Martha is coming across as a bit too “naïve” and not being able to do basic activities.

3. In a novel about books (and big bonus points to the author for Wuthering Heights being the first book mentioned) there seems to be a lot of novels names and famous authors mentioned in the early chapters. How many of these have you read and loved.. or hated!
It was mostly classics, so I have to read most in school or tried to read when I cared more about reading the classics. None are a particularly deep dive.

4. The novel is taking place in two time lines with Opaline in one and Martha and Henry in the other. How do you see the two timelines/storylines being linked and being a novel with a magical theme do you think the characters in the two timelines might actually meet?
Henry is looking for Opaline’s store so that has already been said. She moves to Dublin then and opens the bookstore.

No problem, was adding Dr. Who to my counts on the second page anyway

And Jenny got us a new one from Dr. Who

Adipose
100 to 175
"diet" in text
Reunion of some type important to plot
Published in January
Cute cover (your interpretation)

Angie ☯ wrote: "Oh I have one for #3!"

Perfect, I got us a new one and it is Jenny's favorite

Pennywise the Clown
350-400
Something you are afraid of on cover (your interpretation)
Compound word in title
Author initials PC or CP (First and last only)
Tagged "circus" (5 or more times)

Also, if anyone has a book they are reading for the following tasks, we have one task left per monster:
1. Tagged sand at least 1
2. Author initials (all) in DELETE
3. 175-225 pages
4. MC has a pet

Bob is gone and another human monster (new to us as well):

Kilgrave (Jessica Jones)
350 to 450
MC can change thoughts/actions through magic, mind control or psychic powers
Purple cover
Author initials (all) in KILGRAVE
Character has "jess" in name

DQs Day 5 | Chapter 28 - end

17. What did you think about how the "black market Serbian violin debacle" turned out? Do you think it hurt Ray in terms of the competition?
I figure it had to be distracting and kept him from doing his best because how could you be singly focused with everything else going on.

18. Were you surprised at the outcome of the competition? I know I was rooting for him, but I instinctively assumed Mikhail would take first - perhaps solely for the plot. Do you think that was the case or did Mikhail genuinely win?
I think it would have been too much for him to win from a suspension of disbelief perspective but at the same point, he had a lot going on and didn’t have his instrument so realistically was not at his best.

19. When the missing papers are discovered in Ray's PopPops violin case, were you surprised at what they contained? Does the narrative they showcase further cement his family's provenance of the violin to you?
They were more detailed than I expected but really showed the level of cruelty and horror. It is clear then whose violin it belonged to.

20. It was [spoiler]! What did you think of her reasons for committing the crime. Do you feel any sympathy for her?
None at all and I did figure it was her fairly early since they relationship seemed fast and she really was the only one with opportunity.

BONUS - Author's Note
Brendan Slocumb reveals that the novel’s wedding scene and the Baton Rouge shakedown are based on his own experiences. How did this knowledge affect your experience of the book?
Similar to others, I'm very sad to hear that but not at all surprised. I have hard similar stories from teenagers and other students when to I went to college in Alabama.

Tracking
Day 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 5 - here