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

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

The two big ones I want to read are The Way of Kings and The Brothers Karamazov

Hi everyone,

We have a little over a week left. I just moved our first full word to the official SS (thank you, Sana for our first X).
On the SS, we have all the X's, Q's and U's claimed so really good job. We need 6 more I's and then all the other letters. I am reading a green word in title book and the Dec BOM (thank you, Lisa and Susan) covered green cover and green item on cover.

We still need a green text on cover book.

We could also use 1-2 more books tagged: childrens, smart, idealistic, or naive.

DQs: Day 4 Chapter 31-44
15. Once again, Evelyn is manipulating everyone around her to further her fame and fortune. This time, however, she has a willing participant who wants the same thing she does and knowingly agrees to the “pretend marriage”. How do you feel about this marriage? Evelyn is still lying to everyone, but her husband is in on the lie. Does that make it different?

This seemed very straightforward and not an issue as both parties knew the set up and were not harming each other.

16. Eveyln and Rex play out their fake marriage until it no longer works. Mostly because Rex is “doing what he does” and decides he is in love with someone. The plan Eveyln comes up with to keep both of them in the spotlight may be the most elaborate yet. BUT the plan that Harry comes up with while they are laying the framework for Evelyn and Rex’s divorce seems like the most likely to succeed of everything we’re seen so far. Did you see this coming? Were you surprised that it was Harry’s idea?

I am kind of surprised they did not try this earlier as it seems like this could have solved all the drama from the get-go. Harry seems to do better at managing his public and private persona.

17. When Harry and Evelyn decide it is time to become a real family and have a baby, it is a community discussion between all four parties to see if everyone is agreeable. Celia agrees and says if it is what Eveyln wants she will find a way to be okay with it. Do you think Celia really was being honest? Do you think she will really accept Harry and Evelyn having a baby?

I've finished the book, but I wasn’t that fond of Celia’s communication style throughout.

18. The party the foursome had for Harry’s birthday seems like the most real thing that has happened in the book. What was your impression of this family picnic in the park?

This was nice and somewhat sad as it showed what they could have had if society allowed and if they could ever figure out communication.

I just read it in May so I'd rather not read it again (but I might) but On the Edge by Ilona Andrews is an I and has 1 tag of naive.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is tagged three times as smart

DQs: Day 3 Chapter 21-30

10. Don is the one who ask for a divorce. What do you think of the requirements he put on the settlement?

11. Do you think Monique’s negotiation with her boss and Evelyn were realistic? Do you think she is growing as a person from the interview process?

12. What is your first impression of Max? Does that change throughout the session?

13. What do you think of the Evelyn and Mick plan and her reasons’ for carrying it out?

14. What do you think of Celia reaction? Does it seem realistic to you that she didn’t think they would sleep together?

Discussion questions day 2

6. How do you think Evelyn handled her relationship with the abusive Don?

I think this is a complex topic and one that entire books have been written around. Here is treated somewhat superficially but The MC feels societal pressure and judgement. She does what she thinks is best for her career but also loves Don.

7. How believable do you feel the progression of the friendship to romance between Evelyn and Celia is, especially bearing in mind the time period?

It felt rushed but this whole books felt a bit rushed to me. I also knew what was coming since that aspect of the book has been so publicized so there is also that.

8. Do you think the author got the old Hollywood vibe right?

It borrows heavily from some real actresses lives so in that way yes but otherwise, not that much to me. Lots of other places with money and men in control where beauty is rewarded.

9. What do you think of Evelyn’s plan to fake a miscarriage in order to gain sympathy instead of getting bad press? How does it make you feel about her character?

I felt bad for her on this since it was so expected of her, and she was also concerned on being abused. It was just a bad situation all around.

DQs: Day 1 Chapter 1-8

1. Chapter 1 starts with a news clipping and ends with a blog post and chat. What do you think of this nontraditional style? Were you surprised that it didn't continue through the next 7 chapters?
I liked the tone and information that the blog posts provided. This part is kind of shallow so it fits. It does come back again between sections.

2. Monique Grant is a little known writer. Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography for a reason. Any thoughts to why? Is is just her style? Age? Or do you think it is ore personal? I finished but knew there was a reason and guessed it had to do with her dad as the only possible connection (worked on movie sets).

3. Evelyn's quote "The world doesn't give you things, you take things" really struck me. How does this phrase resonate with you?
This leads to a level of entitledness which makes me uneasy and people who think that everything is for the taking and ignore the effect money has on letting you take.

4. Evelyn learned early on about how to use her looks and sex to get what she wanted. She seems to see it as taking what she wanted and doesn't regret her life decisions. Especially in the back drop of the Me too movement, how do you feel about Evelyn and her decisions so far?
Well, her first marriage was pretty close to statutory rape (potentially legally, I would have to check the Romeo and Juliet laws). It is still highly predatory especially with the focus on her being underage and makes me uncomfortable.

5. Do you like the back and forth between Monique/now and Evelyn's back story?
It helps break up the pacing but I wish both stories weren’t so shallow.

Sophie wrote: "My son has a 39degree temp so currently on childcare duty which is going to limit my reading for the next couple of days."

I'm sorry, Sophie. I hope he feels better soon.

You can start them now if you want but need to wait to finish them until Dec 5 (Dec 4th 9 PM UK time)

If you are up to reading all of them than we would take all three. Those have good page numbers too.

I have a tons of Us and at least one Q.

The BOM for next round has a green item on the cover and works for colored cover -

For letters, we need 5 Qs, 5 Us, 15 Is (Maddy we need those Is next round), and 5 Xs. As always, longer books are better.

Our easiest genre tag is childrens (which means all will need wordcount checked). We also have smart, idealistic, and naive as tags (we need 10 total).

We are good on most letters, esp I. Great job there. We also have 65 of the 74 books claimed so far, which is a good place to be in for Tuesday evening. We will take all books at this point and if there are extras, I will remove the short ones.

Also, we have all the tags we need for this round for both genre and color. Great job everyone

- Last one for Nov and up to 75%, not quite the desired 80%

This one was a mess for me with the ending being 2 stars but I rounded up for the rest of the book

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "My copy of came in at the library in time as well so I'll be able to read the last BOM. So hopefully it fits to include in the last round. Lex..."

We have done really well on BOM points so far, good job everyone

While we wait, anyone have a favorite phrase:

ROUND 5 WORDS, TAGS, COLOURS:
1) Extreme Quality Pizza Tags: cheese, sports, award, pineapple Colour: Red
2) Nut Crazed Chipmunk Tags: rodent, nutty, hallucinogenic, tree Colour: Brown
3) Jewelled Umbrella Squid Tags: jewellry, ocean, ink, rain Colour: Purple
4) Jurassic Park Visit Tags: dinosaur, zoo, trip, movie Colour: Black
5) Snow Covered Mountain Tags: snow, mountain, cold, winter Colour: White
6) Zombie Unicorn Queen Tags: unicorn, royalty, fairy/fae, brain Colour: Yellow
7) Lovely Alexandrite Tags: pretty, gem, teal, glitter Colour: Purple
8) Exercise Wheezily Tags: run, sweat, gasp, exercise Colour: Orange
9) Spandexed Jezebel Tags: fabric, 1980s, biblical, neon Colour: Yellow
10) Quixotic Kid Tags: childrens, smart, idealistic, naive Colour: Green
11) Jukebox Jam Tags: music, jam, 1950s, diner Colour: Pink
12) Zany Zygote Tags: crazy, pregnant, egg, asylum Colour: Orange
13) Maximum Chutzpah Tags: hebrew, last in series, self confidence, teen Colour: Blue
14) Hydroxychloroquine Tags: COVID, medicine, malaria, insects Colour: Grey
15) Frobscottle Whizzpoppers Tags: green, fizz, fart, giant Colour: Green
16) Squeeze Pouch Tags: fruit, vegetable, baby, bag Colour: Red

This should be the correct link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Well, that was an eventful Thanksgiving. The oven broke (thankfully post turkey) and then my 2-year-old niece dumped shampoo on the cat's head. At which point, I was holding a foaming at the mouth cat while my mum tried to help me wash him in the sink. Not a happy cat.

On the pie front, I prefer sweet potato pie to pumpkin pie. I think it has more flavor and texture. I do not like pumpkin pie personally very much.
Here is the recipe for the one I made: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/cr.... You can make it with other berries if you don't have cranberries. I bake more than cook but can do both.