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

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

The monsters were my favorite as well. I loved the randomness. I liked the minis in this TTs much better than a known set challenge the entire time, and it keeps teams a lot more engaged. I might even end with a monster wheel-type challenge potentially, as it kept teams constantly updating so there was more a sense where teams were in ranking.

This was a wonderful team and hands down, the most BOM points I have ever had on a team. You all were great and we came in an impressive third place. Great job, everyone

I didn't link this earlier, but I wanted to share this article of loss of languages/elders with the COVID pandemic from Jan 2021.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us...

Hold is three weeks so I should just make it but I'll see closer to time if I can volunteer for DQs

DQs Day 1: Nina, Age 9 to Cottonmouth Meets the Coyote Sisters

1.) Did you like the opening chapter? What do you think of efforts to preserve disappearing languages/dialects? Do you think these efforts are worth it? Why?

That part really stuck with me the first time I read

2.) Do you have diaries from your early years? If you did, do you think you'd be surprised by what was in them? What would you tell your younger, pre-teen, self?

I hated keeping a diary and kept one successfully only once. I’m not sure the handwriting was ever readable even by me, as I was in elementary school. I’m sure it would be amusing, as I think I put stickers all over it and drew pictures as well.

3.) Opposable thumbs or tentacles, which would you prefer and why.

Hmm, tentacles seem good at opening things and octopi seem to do well but can they type? It might be worth trying out. Less concern on breaking fingers. Maybe be less of a useful tradeoff if I also had to switch out lower appendages.

4.) What do you think of the concept of animal people? And how they are tied to animals on Earth? Are you loving that some of them come to Earth to go to the bookstore?

I love how seamlessly it is woven into the story and the slightly future earth (better tech and more climate change). The stories with the animal-people work really well on the audio (I read it the first time but like to do rereads as an audio as I sometimes experience the book differently).

5.) At the end of the section the Lake Monster answered Oli's question. Did that surprise you? What question would you ask the Lake Monster?

I liked that it was such a simple question and resulted in a qualified answer (“for now”). I think avoiding lake monsters (and lakes, because amoebas) is a good life plan.

We seem to have a bit of a darker theme going this month.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.

Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories.

But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

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Why? Set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India. (Also, over 500 pages)

Cat wrote: "Pandora's Tragedy is almost blank verse Homer in it's magnificence!"

Thank you, I had fun playing with second person

Pandora's Tragedy

Come, let me tell you a story of Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine, a story about how A Quest of Heroes turned to bones and Bitter Blood. They say there is a book, the Doomsday Book and a path to the Rise of Empire and power untold. Ah, you know this part then, I see you claim I lie. You sought this book and found it, venturing Into the Mist and other heroic deeds of the bards’ invention. The Secret History tells a different story than what you Claimed. At Eventide, The Devil and the Dark Water were waiting for you. The Provenance of your power by The Luminous Dead. All the Secrets of the World and the power in your hands for the taking for a simple command, Kill the Queen. They Came From The Ocean, and as The Spear Cuts Through Water, they overwhelmed those on shore. A dead queen I may be but not powerless. For now, now is the Hour of the Witch. Call and Wake the Bones, Call and bid the dead to rise from Hallowed ground and The Host of those who died by your army’s hands. Come, can’t you hear the pounding of their steps.

Pandora's Comedy

It started simply, a nice invitation to meet my cousin Emma’s new groom. I had Grave Reservations about the lack of previous knowledge about a fiancé, but Emma had never lived down the Up the Down Staircase joke, so I decided to give her a break on her wedding. Anyway, I couldn’t talk, as I had the whole The Lost Girl in Paris incident that had made international news. I would like to say that the evidence was only hearsay, some so-called The Last Confessions of Sylvia P., and I was never charged. So, we are a mostly A Nearly Normal Family, and I looked forward to meeting whoever was deemed as good Husband Material for my dear cousin Emma.

Upon arriving at the family farm, Emma told as that she had met him on her last job, which she called, “The Emma Project,” which the rest of us called, “An Affair to Dismember.” Emma was always The Winner in the family business. As she said, “Here Comes My Man,” we turned and looked, I relaxed as he would fit in fine with the family business. Emma’s man was a Mafia Prince. We shook hands all around and took the party outside to The Bone Orchard. He turned and offered a hand to Emma and said, Dance With Me. As they danced under the bleached skulls, I knew Emma had found true love. She was always one of many Book Lovers in the family and used to read books titled, “To Marry a Scottish Laird” alongside her work readings like “An Easy Death.” They had even made lists titled, “Ten Things I Love About You” that included such items that started if One of Us Is Dead. Their marriage will be quite an Escapade and I look forward to the holidays and whoever we decide will be Dying For Christmas.

Well done, everyone. Twenty min to go if anyone else finishes one. Otherwise, I used only 5 from book overflow, so you all have done great. Other teams have 24 hours to update their spreadsheets. A few teams have not started yet so still much is unknown but this team has done really well.

Edited: Make that 4 books, just added Truitt's last book

I'm done, thank you for a lovely maze.

DQs Day 5: Ch 29-End

18. Stealing a quote from day 4: ‘Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a books finds a way to surprise you.’ Did this book surprise you? If it did, was it in a good or a bad way?
I figured this would have to be the ending and guessed all the way up to the sister’s role in the happily ever after. It was a nice ending but still very predictable.

19. Libby’s big secret surprised Nora. Was it what you expected? What are your thoughts on her keeping it secret and using the list to try to win Nora over?
I didn’t necessarily guess moving to NC but figure they were moving or somehow becoming more independent. It needed to happen for both character’s emotional growth.

20. What about Nadine and the cat? Did you appreciate this side story? How did you feel about how it played out in the novel?
Nope, I have no interest in the book or the feral cat. It seemed the author wanted to give more details on the book to build their relationship, but it wasn’t really working for me.

22. I loved Nora’s interaction with Clint, what about you? Do you think she overstepped? Do you think it influenced the ending?
I think the conversation has direct effect on how things ending up working out. I think it was a bit of triangulating and would have been heathier if he talked to his own father.

23. The ending. It is very much a Happily Ever After. Nora gets almost everything. Was it too HEA or just right and did you like it?
I was always going to be a HEA but it still fits in the you can have everything trope even though noise was made in the direction of not getting everything.

I'm good too

I like my first one better but you all read a lot of books with dead bodies for a comedy:


It started simply, a nice invitation to meet my cousin Emma’s new groom. I had Grave Reservations about the lack of previous knowledge about a fiancé, but Emma had never lived down the Up the Down Staircase joke, so I decided to give her a break on her wedding. Anyway, I couldn’t talk, as I had the whole The Lost Girl in Paris incident that had made international news. I would like to say that the evidence was only hearsay, some so-called The Last Confessions of Sylvia P., and I was never charged. So, we are a mostly A Nearly Normal Family, and I looked forward to meeting whoever was deemed as good Husband Material for my dear cousin Emma.

Upon arriving at the family farm, Emma told as that she had met him on her last job, which she called, “The Emma Project,” which the rest of us called, “An Affair to Dismember.” Emma was always The Winner in the family business. As she said, “Here Comes My Man,” we turned and looked, I relaxed as he would fit in fine with the family business. Emma’s man was a Mafia Prince. We shook hands all around and took the party outside to The Bone Orchard. He turned and offered a hand to Emma and said, Dance With Me. As they danced under the bleached skulls, I knew Emma had found true love. She was always one of many Book Lovers in the family and used to read books titled, “To Marry a Scottish Laird” alongside her work readings like “An Easy Death.” They had even made lists titled, “Ten Things I Love About You” that included such items that started if One of Us Is Dead. Their marriage will be quite an Escapade and I look forward to the holidays and whoever we decide will be Dying For Christmas.

Day 2

6. So, "Frigid", the book within a book being written by Dusty and edited by Charlie. Fan fiction or a brutal hatchet piece?
I agree that the book would have been better served as not including so much detail about Frigid because it sounds dumb/unoriginal and the title is cliché.

7. We get more of the backstory of Nora's life. Does this history give you hope for her future as well as explain her current attitude towards love?
It makes me more sympathetic as it is hard to balance so many commitments and I can see some things have to go to focus on her priorities of her family, mostly her sister.

8. Libby is at too much of a loose end - setting up a fake dating profile for Nora & everything!? What do you think this says about the sisters and their relationship?
I know the fake dating profile is a staple of romcoms but really. That is a bridge too far for me. It really breaks with respecting her sisters’ boundaries.


9. So we've seen the failing business to be saved, been on a date to a karaoke night - are you enjoying seeing the Small-Town Romance cliches (and I loved that the song mutilated was the theme for that classic Small-Town, Second Chance Romance, Sweet Home Alabama!) being subverted?
It still seems like the typical small-town romance but both are out of towners. I’m only mildly interested that some tropes are being changed but mostly these fit with many economically depressed small towns that I knew growing up. Surprised it is not more of a farming community. For all the pig farmer jokes, there is lack of any sense of agriculture in the area.

Countdown to the End of TTs: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

All books must be read by then but we then have 24 hours to fix anything on the spreadsheet as needed.

DAY 1 QUESTIONS!!! prologue – 5 to 21%

1. The book opens up with the quote: When books are your life-or in my case, your job- you get pretty good at guessing where a story is going." Where do you think this story is going? Is this your first Emily Henry Book? Do you think it will be like any of the others if you have read them before?
I actually just read my first Emily Henry book, but it was a YA book with aliens so not your typical book by this author I assume. I think this will be a fairly predictable romcom in terms of pairing but without giving up her job or NYC.

2. Nora feels like she is losing Libby. She begins to notice all that they no longer know about each other, from Libby getting her ex's name wrong to the moments she has missed in the children's lives. Have you ever felt this way with a family member or friend? Did you ever do anything crazy to try to force the relationship back to what it used to be? How far do you think she will go to get this back with Libby?
Not really, it is just life with siblings and having your own life. I think there will be a this is not what I have not been telling you moment.

3. Have you ever visited a place after reading about it in a book? If so, was it as you expected it to be? If you could visit any real place from a book, where would you go?
I’ve nerv visited a place for a book, as I mostly read Sci-fi and fantasy. I would love to visit one of the books with dragons, sort of medieval and sanitation. Maybe, Tortal or Narnia (in the good times).

4. I loved the list so much and the banter between the sister over it. What is your favorite item on the list? What would you do to fulfill it?
I liked the modification of ride to pet a horse.

5. My favorite scene so far has been when Nora sends the message " What about Bigfoot erotica? .... As soon as I hit send, I snap to my senses. Why of all the words available to me is this what I said?” What’s your favorite scene so far?
That especially as this is clearly a group that would read and discuss Big Foot erotica.

Kristie wrote: "Lexi wrote: "I got a copy too but that means one more book to make it to 80%"

Have you already downloaded it? It doesn't publish until May. You could wait a little while to download it and keep yo..."

I did download it as it feels like cheating to me personally otherwise. I got my first one done for the month - The Spear Cuts Through Water (4 stars), and I enjoyed it. I was closer than I thought because apparently even with downloading one that rounded me up to 80%. I'll just have to not request any others this month. My goal is still to read another 2 books to get down under 30 total.

I got a copy too but that means one more book to make it to 80%