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

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

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

Day 3 Chapters 13-19

9. I don't know how I feel about the school basically milking Ray owning a Stradivarius and him having to do an interview without even getting asked to do so. I personally would have preferred to keep it private, at least for a while. What are your thoughts on the situation?

I thought it was opportunistic and he should have had someone on his side advising him since he is just a college student.


10. I can see where Ray's family is coming from wanting to sell the Stradivarius and divide the money, but they never showed any interest in the violin even though it had been in the family for a century, and Ray's grandmother gave Ray the fiddle for Christmas. He had to take care of everything surrounding it and his school/education himself, and he never even had much money to begin with. Would you be selling whatever in your life might turn out be worth this much money, and would you feel like your family was entitled to fair shares?

I had very little sympathy with family throughout since they are such vultures and focused on money. I understand that it is hard but they keep demanding money.

11. Another family claiming ownership of the violin - it was bound to happen. On one hand I'm surprised they're suing Ray for the Stradivarius since I doubt they can prove the fiddle was stolen in any way, but on the other hand the odds clearly are against Ray. And now his family is suing him for the violin as well?! Who do you think is the rightful owner of the Stradivarius?

I don’t think there is any doubt that it belongs to Ray.

12. We've been introduced to a lot of different people (whose names I don't even all remember) and they all (most of them anyway) seem to have different reasons to possibly want to steal Ray's Stradivarius - greed, jealousy, racism,... it's all there. Do you have any more guesses of who's behind it all?

I guessed relatively early in the book but enjoyed it anyways and did not guess all the details. However, I am done so I won’t comment anywhere.

DQs Day 1
Chapters 1 - 6

1. Can you even imagine losing a 10 million dollar anything?! Have you ever lost something and felt as Ray is portrayed in chapter 1...constantly retracing your steps over and over? What are your thoughts on other security precautions, if any, that should have been in place?
I think the sentimental value was the more important part since it was insured. I haven’t lost anything of great sentimental value but can imagine it would be devastating.

2. At this point in the book, when/where do you think the Stradivarius was taken?
The hotel room was the clear time point and I have finished the book but I guessed fairly early.

3. Money can be a keen motivator...the ransom note leads us to believe it's all about the money...do you think it's possible it's about something else?
I think it was personal plus money as there are other ways to get money.

4. It's alluded to that Ray is about to make history because of his race with the upcoming competition in Russia. His family sure doesn't seem to be proud or supportive. Should Ray be proud of this accomplishment or is putting the focus on race poor form by everyone concerned.

The story has done a great way of showing the complexity of his position and how much appearances and prejudices has played into making it that far. The family is awful except for his grandmother and later one aunt but they do have some complexity.

That would work fine.

Melanie wrote: "I wanted to check since it's not an option in the working spreadsheet, can we use a character's nickname?

I'm reading The Duchess and the Wolf and the FMC's name is Susannah but s..."

If she is regularly called that, then that is fine. Not if it just mentioned once or twice in passing.

The oldest and second longest book on my TBR list, though I want to read the 2023 translation.

The Brothers Karamazov: A New Translation by Michael R. Katz by Fyodor Dostoevsky
910 pages

Dostoevsky’s final, greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov, paints a complex and richly detailed portrait of a family tormented by its extraordinarily cruel patriarch, Fyodor Pavlovich, whose callous decisions slowly decimate the lives of his sons—the eponymous brothers Karamazov—and lead to his violent murder. In the aftermath of the killing, the brothers contend with dilemmas of honor, faith, and reason as the community closes in on the murderer in their midst. Acclaimed translator Michael R. Katz renders this masterpiece’s nuanced and evocative storytelling in a vibrant, signature prose style that captures all the power of Dostoevsky’s original—the clever humor, the rich emotion, the passion and the turmoil—and that will captivate and unsettle a new generation of readers.

This translation has no audio yet but others run for 37 to 43 hours.

Happy Saturday, everyone.

Has anyone found any other good purple books or musician books that you think the team would like?

Also, time for a reread.

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn't sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire.

Then she's kidnapped by Connor "Mad" Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan's after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she's getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

For fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz, a fiendishly fun locked room murder mystery from the author of the indie darling Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone —this time set on a train full of mystery writers, agents, editors, and fans.

Ernest Cunningham returns in a deliciously witty locked room (train) mystery.

When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out.

The program is a who’s who of crime writing royalty:

the debut writer (me!)

the forensic science writer

the blockbuster writer

the legal thriller writer

the literary writer

the psychological suspense writer

But when one of us is murdered, the remaining authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime.

Of course, we should also know how to commit one.

How can you find a killer when all the suspects know how to get away with murder?

Hi all, we have no limits on extra mini points this round. Go forth and find all the purple covers and/or musicians

Tier 2: no colour cover caps, no limits on books written by, or about, musicians

Got us another human monster but not a new one for us:

Bob (Twin Peaks)
200 to 299
Set in at the Pacific Northwest
Two of something on the cover
Main antagonist is sneaky
MC is in law enforcement or equivalent

Sounds good. Thank you for telling us

I'm done as well for this round