Louise’s Comments (group member since Aug 29, 2015)

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

New Tasks
133 - "Top 10 Books 2013 - Read book from the GR ""Best of 2013"" list (see https://www.goodReads.com/list/best_b...)"

134 - "10 Commandments - ""Don't lie"" - Read a book with miscommunication as a plot point"

135 - Ten Tallest Towers 8 - Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre - Read a book set in, or by an author from China

Amy the book-bat wrote: "I read a book for best of 2017, but it got used in a spell-out instead"

As it was more than 500pages we would not have been able to claim it for page towers if we used for a chipmunk task.

Film 10s - The Last Ten Days - Read a book that shares a title word (singular day is OK) NOTE: THE can't be used

Update
We have 1 week to go and are currently in 8th place.

We still need the following

Page Towers
400-499 - 6/30
500-599 - 6/20
600+ - 3/10

Rainbow Tower
We have completed 16 Rainbows and have 1 partial with only 1 color needed to complete.

Don't Feed the Chipmunks

105 - Top 10 Books 2017 - Read book from the GR "Best of 2017" list (see https://www.goodReads.com/list/best_b...)

111 - 10 Commandments - "Remember the special day" - Read a book with a day of the week in the title

121 - Film 10s - Ten Little Indians - Read a book that shares a title word (singular indian is OK)

122 - X-Rated - Read a book with a bed on the cover

125 - Film 10s - 3 1/2 Minutes 10 Bullets - Read a book that shares a title word (NOTE: 3 and three are deemed to be the same, as are 1/2 and half. Singular variants OK)

126 - Random 10 - Read a book where you can see ten fingers or toes (or combination) on the cover

127 - X-Rays - Read a book with bone(s) on the cover

129 - 10 Things the Chipmunks Love - Creativity and Chaos! Read a book with three Cs in the title and/or author name

130 - X-Rated - Read a book with MPG Romance

131 - X Books - Read a book where the author name contains 10 characters (exc spaces)


Wheel Tower
W11c -Read a book with stationery on the cover

W12c/W12d - "Read four books that have one of the following MPGs. Each book must have a different MPG (i.e. can't use Romance four times)
MPGs: Dystopia / Young Adult / Historical Romance / Guilty Pleasure / Dark Fantasy / Contemporary / Horror"

W13a - Read a book that would be sorted into Gryffindor House
W13b - Read a book that would be sorted into Hufflepuff House
W13c - Read a book that would be sorted into Ravenclaw House


W14 Task Set: TT8: Discworld Tasks
Read a book featuring a witch or wizard
Read a book with MPG Crime
Read a book with the letters MOIST in the title
Read a book featuring DEATH or the Grim Reaper or equivalent
Team Towers

16 Completed

New Chipmunk Tasks

10 Things the Chipmunks Love - Creativity and Chaos! Read a book with three Cs in the title and/or author name

X-Rated - Read a book with MPG Romance

@Jessica please add The Summer I Found Myself to your TT shelf

@Vicki please check the page count of The Trackers the edition on your shelf differs to what is on the sheet. Please also add Chase to your shelf

Beth wrote: "So in Daughter of the Empire the antagonist gets thrown through a screen and falls out of the building to her death. I think that's very close to defenestration, as the screens are so..."

Perfect

Amy the book-bat wrote: "too bad Dry Bones was already used for a spell-out... it was #11 in a series"

Moved 😊

Trying to get through a number of books before the month is out. I’ll get an update posted tomorrow so we can see where we are.

Amy the book-bat wrote: "fed 2 chipmunks today... best of 2016 & 2017... around 1000 pages combined. Kinda exhausted LOL"

🤣

More Wheel
Task Set: Tower Teams 6: Sorting Hat
Read a book that would be sorted into Gryffindor House
Read a book that would be sorted into Hufflepuff House
Read a book that would be sorted into Ravenclaw House
Read a book that would be sorted into Slytherin House

Happy Friday all.

Current Chipmunk Tasks
"Top 10 Books 2017 - Read book from the GR ""Best of 2017"" list (see https://www.goodReads.com/list/best_b...)"

"Top 10 Books 2016 - Read book from the GR ""Best of 2016"" list (see https://www.goodReads.com/list/best_b...)"

"10 Commandments - ""Remember the special day"" - Read a book with a day of the week in the title"

10 Things the Chipmunks Love - Defenestration! - Read a book you can connect to defenestration somehow (find it in the text, set in Prague etc)

10 Things the Chipmunks Love - Bizarre Shelves! Read a book shelved Weird, with at least 10 tags

"10 Commandments - ""Don't covet"" - Read a book that you've been really wanting to read (any justification valid here, really!)"

Film 10s - Ten Little Indians - Read a book that shares a title word (singular indian is OK)

X-Rated - Read a book with a bed on the cover

"10 Commandments - ""No other but me"" - Read a standalone book"

X-Rays - Read a book featuring a character working in the medical profession

Current Wheel Tasks
Read a book featuring DEATH or the Grim Reaper or equivalent - I have found one for this.

Read a book with stationery on the cover

"Read four books that have one of the following MPGs. Each book must have a different MPG (i.e. can't use Romance four times)
MPGs: Dystopia / Young Adult / Historical Romance / Guilty Pleasure / Dark Fantasy / Contemporary / Horror"

Vicki wrote: "For some reason I can't access the SS. I'm on vacation in Florida and on my laptop so maybe that's why? The SS I can get to is a VIEW only. I have a book to add."

Are you accessing the tracking sheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

DQs Day 2 - The Comeback (40%)

5. Welcome back sports fans! If any of you have read other Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels, you know she loves looking back at interesting eras in time. The Golden Age of Hollywood! 70s rock and roll excess! Why do you think TJR chose to focus on 90s sports for this novel? Do you think it was only to bring Carrie back or do you think there was something special about sports during that time?

I do like the reminiscing in these novels the 90s in sport especially in women’s tennis was a golden era with the rise of many female tennis stars.

6. In this section we are introduced to Bowe. What do you think about him? Do you think he is a good match for Carrie (in sports or romantically)?

They are a good match both romantically and professionally.

7. In this section, there is a letter from the editor entitled "Why I'm Thankful for Carrie Soto" in which the author, Helene, says that Carrie was inspiring to her as a child. Do you find inspiration in any sports legends past or present? If so, who and why?
I don’t really follow sports so no.

8. Up next is the Australian Open! Any predictions on what is going to happen in the next section of the book? Also how are you enjoying the book so far?

This is a re-read for me and I’m enjoying it just as much this time around.

DQs Day 1 - Chan v Cortez & The First Time Around (26%)

1. The most popular releases by Taylor Jenkins Reid have been BOMs in this group before (Daisy Jones & The Six in 2019, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in 2021, and Malibu Rising last year). Have you read any of these books (or others) by TJR too or is Carrie Soto is Back your first book by the author? What are your expectations going in?

This is a reread for me having read and enjoyed the other 3 BOM’s.

2. After the first chapter is set in 1994 and Carrie Soto decides to get back into the sport to get her record title back the next few chapters follow her early years up until she felt like she had to retire because of her knee injury (and because she felt humiliated lbr) somewhat 30 years later. Her dad always wanted her to be the greatest whereas her mother just wanted her to be kind and happy. It doesn't seem like Carrie is either at this point in her life, also not the greatest anymore. How do you feel about her as a character so far? What do you think (sort of) being forced into retirement by her own body has done to her, mentally and physically; do you think she's changed at all in the last 5 years?

I think she feels betrayed by her body’s weakness forcing her into retirement. I don’t think mentally she has changed, she is still hungry to win at any cost.

3. What we've learned about Carrie's childhood and teenage years has quickly started to remind me of 'King Richard' the movie about the Williams sisters' life and I'm seeing a lot of similarities between Carrie's dad Javier and the Williams' (movie) dad (as I'm sure is often the case when athletes' parents are involved in their kids' sports careers/futures).
Javier seemed to have good intentions and only ever wanted what (he at least thought) was best for his daughter, but they grew apart after going separate ways in 1979. As we know, they've found their way back together (does this sound weird seeing their father and daughter??), but things definitely changed between them. How do you feel about Javier and about his and Carrie's relationship growing up vs now?

I think Javier has always wanted what was best for Carrie. Carrie needed to go her own way so as to grow as a professional but she will always go back to her roots.

4. It seems like Carrie doesn't believe in love (or actually of being worthy of being loved imo). She's been having flings/ONS left and right apparently, and appearing in tabloids with random guys regularly. The one time she let herself finally believe this could be IT for the long run was with Brandon Randall (who some of us already knew from Malibu Rising) who was cheating on his then wife with her. No surprise he left her for (yet) another woman, but were you surprised Carrie took him back after he wanted to go back to his ex-wife and she rejected him? Do you think losing her mother at such a young age and only ever having her dad as a single parent in her life has influenced how she views love, relationships and generally a deeper bond with other people?

I think her sense of self and what she feels she deserves in terms of love is linked to her standing on the professional circuit. Having lost her mother at an early age has left her with no female role model to show her what it means to live and be loved.

Nistha wrote: "For books featuring DEATH, do we need an actual character ft death? I read a paranormal thriller featuring ghosts and investigations of 2 deaths - will it work?"

I’m not entirely convinced it will work. Death/ grim reaper needs to be a character

Amy please add The Doughnut Fix to your TT shelf

Final DQs - Ch 30 through the End

42. It seems that the past likes to repeat itself over and over, and the people coming in and out of Jake’s life are no exception. This time, Jake ended up in the same motel room, his driver was remarkably similar, and the yellow-card man has been replaced by a green-card man wearing a lookalike outfit. It would appear that King is hinting that some things are inevitable, and that History wants what it wants. What’s your opinion on this theory? Do you think that some things are inevitable, and no matter what, would have similarities to all other timelines in those details (like people, places, etc)?

I’m not sure I completely believe in fate, somethings are inevitable but other actions and decisions we make definitely could lead to parallel time streams with different outcomes, not necessarily for the better.

43. The green card man’s card changes colors, and the nonsense he is spewing seems to be indicating that he’s much more aware of everything than any other humans. Almost like a Watchman of sorts, it would seem. And he explains that things aren’t really reset, just restrung into a new thread. Actions → Consequences. Did you expect this little twist? I remember on my first read of this book not trusting or understanding the “everything resets perfectly” bit and wondering what the catch was. Did you trust it or did you expect there to be a catch?
Naively I did trust the reset button but when the concept was introduced of different timelines I didn’t think too much about it. I read and watch a lot on the “What if…?" Theme

44. Jake’s return to 2011 is a shock. Everything is different… and not better. It appears saving Kennedy didn’t bring about the paradise that Al was expecting. What did you find most shocking about the “new world” created by the harmonies Jake’s changes made? For me, I was stunned to find that Maine was part of Canada, how hateful everyone seemed to be, and… the physical changes to people.

I was shocked that he returned to 2011 but not shocked at the changes brought about by stopping the assassination of JFK. King is highlighting that being able to change history is not a good thing and has far reaching repercussions.

45. I was happy to see that King chose to use Harry to be Jake’s connection to learn about the new reality. I really loved him earlier in the book, and it pains me to see him so broken. Was there anyone else you’d have wanted to see?
I liked the Harry connection as it was personal to Jake

46. Another IT reference here near the end: “The past is obdurate for the same reason a turtle’s shell is obdurate” Did you catch that one? The little reference to the magic space turtle? Jeez, King writes some odd stuff, doesn’t he?
Didn’t catch that one, but he does write some weird stuff.

47. So not a happy ending for the Sadie-Jake romance, but one that ended being good for Sadie and the world in the long run. Were you happy with the ending? As much as I was rooting for them, I had a feeling that King wasn’t going to be able to make it work without tearing the world apart.

They were never going to be able to have a HEA for that in itself would change history.

Nistha wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Nistha wrote: "Louise wrote: "New Chipmunk Task

Random 10 - Read a book with an X in the author name"

I read a book in June True Crime Story by [author:Joseph Knox..."

Wheel tasks are July dated books only 😀