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

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

Finished The Sun Down Motel this morning just need to complete my DQs, Nearly finished It's in His Kiss and have a couple of U’s to finish tomorrow.

We have completed one complete SpellOut and have 3 partials.

@Rina there is no definite consensus on the Omnibus but I’d be happy to use it as one book as it’s read in it’s entirety which I think is a general rule in other NBRC challenges.

@Celia in this instance we would allow The Demon King as I cannot find a reference anywhere of him being known as anything else. However we would more than likely use it for an E or L.

How is everyone doing with their reading, it is very quiet in here?

Day 3 - July 4- 42%-64%- (edited to correct percentages)

13. Thoughts on Viv telling Mrs. White that her husband cheats on her. Do you think this is what gets her into trouble?
I don’t think it was her place to tell Mrs White of her husband’s infidelity. I don’t this lands her in trouble.

14. We have another encounter with the angry man ( this makes at least 3) Who is he? Why is he important to the story?
The desk clerk maybe?

15. Which story line (Carly or Viv's ) are you enjoying more? Why?
I definitely prefer Viv’s she’s more vested in solving the murders.

16. The ending of this section just raises more questions for me. If Viv buys a knife, didn't she get a chance to use it?
Where is the knife? Was it mentioned in the police reports? What do you think

Why would they know of it?

DQs Day 2
21% to 42%

6.) This section opens with some spooky stuff going on. If you saw literal ghosts in the creepy place you worked, would you split right away? Would you of left with sketchy-past Nick? Would you go back to work or think the overnight creep factor was making you see things that weren't really there?

No I wouldn’t, when I was a student I rented a house with 2 resident ghosts, A young child and an old guy. I used to rent one of the smaller upstairs rooms and one night I was awoken by a voice in my ear calling my name. I woke up and there was no one there, I asked my friend who was also renting a room if she had heard anything or called out to me and she hadn’t I later found out that a young girl had died in the room I was in. Another time a friend was visiting to do study notes and I left her in the dining room downstairs while I nipped to the shop to get milk. When I came back she was as white as a sheet. I’d never told her the house was haunted, she described an old guy walking out of the park or and going upstairs. Going by her description our landlord believes it may have been his Grandfather as the house originally belonged to him.

7.) Viv listens to guests' phone conversations. There is the saying 'people who eavesdrop are seldom happy with what they hear'. Or something close to that anyway. Do you think she may over hear something that results in her disappearance? Would you listen in if you were Viv?

Possibly, I think everyone would have a natural inclination to listen in particular on night shift when the hours can seem long and tedious.

8.) There really have been several deaths of young women in Fell, especially factoring in the size of the town. Do you think they are all connected? Connected to Viv's disappearance? Do you buy into the police stance of no connection between any of them?
I’ve nearly finished but my thoughts at this point were you don’t get that many deaths or disappearances without there being a connection.

9.) What do you think of the complete laxness of management and staff at The Sun Down Motel? Anyone else wonder how the heck that place is still open? And more importantly, why?
It reminds me a bit of the pub industry in the UK where the same sort of thing happens time and again. You get some pubs that tick over with the management doing the best minimum needed, whereas others actively run it into the ground so as to get government aid.

10.) Any thoughts on the candy machine? It keeps popping up in both timelines. Maybe nothing, but in this type of story, who knows.
Not sure about the significance of this other than it seems to be a focal point.

11.) Marnie and Callum are interesting additions to the character line-up, thoughts? Did you think it was strange that Marnie won't talk with Carly? Callum local nice boy-helper dude or creeper?

Marnie has moved on from the past and doesn’t want Carly dredging it up. Not sure about Callum, I think he knows more than he’s letting on.

Day 1 DQ's: 0-21% (ends "he opened the door.")

1. The Sundown Motel...what a perfect name for a motel! Have you ever stayed at a motel before...something like the Sundown? What was the name of the motel...Any interesting experiences come of that?
Motels aren’t really a thing in the UK, it’s more guest houses and B&B’s. We did have an interesting stay in a B&B many years ago, we had booked a week self-catering in a lodge in Devon and wanted to extend our stay in the area for a couple of days. We were directed to a B&B in a quaint little village run by “mad maggie". When we got there we paid for two nights in an old stone cottage, with sloping floors. Later that night we found out why this sweet old lady was known as “mad Maggie” In the early hours of the morning we heard what could only be described as wailing, my OH went to investigate to find her “singing" and trying to cook breakfast for us not only drunk but practically naked. She told my OH it was her birthday so she wanted to cook a full English. When we finally got up the next morning skipping breakfast we spoke to the locals in the pub who told us that Maggie has a “birthday” every time she has guests. Needless to say we didn’t stay a second night and made our excuses and left.

2. Viv is young and working alone. I don't think I would tolerate my daughter doing anything of the sort. What were you thinking from the 1st few pages? Viv comments..."Being with people was easy, but being alone was hard. Especially along in the dark. The person who could be truly alone, in the company of no one but oneself and one's own thought--that person was stronger than anyone else. More ready. More prepared."

I myself don’t have a problem with being alone or the dark but I do know a lot of people that do and not just women!

3. What do you think the significance of the door to number 103 banging open/shut is?
Something bad happened there.

4. So far Carly's mom's reaction to seeing the newspaper clipping..."Vivian is dead" has really bothered me. What's your take? Have you already solved the case? Is Vivian dead?

I would have thought she was dead.

5. What did you think about the dual timeline between Viv and Carly? In what ways are Viv and Carly very similar? How are they different?

Viv and Carly are both very strong willed independent women trying to find their way in the world

Volunteering for Gulliver

Volunteering for Gulliver

Double check Rina, but I think Claire's right.

Keely wrote: "Just to give you all an update, I finished one of my books earlier and I'm on track to finish 2 or maybe 3 by the end of the week.

I've had a lot going on the past couple of weeks so I fell behin..."
Not a problem Keely, every book helps 😊

Shelby wrote: "So can I just say I was a little giddy last night when I started My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and realized that not only is it an amazing, fabulous, wonderful boo..."

Love it when that happens

Christina wrote: "I've already seen this and of course my day works :)"

Wonderful, they’ve put a 12-hour caveat in this round and only allowing substitutions from the team if they’d already volunteered, so I was just a little nervous.

Celia wrote: "Sorry if I'm being annoying with all the questions, what about a character who is only called "the Demon King?" Can that be used?"

It really depends on the book and the context. Are you currently reading it for this round. You can always post a link to the book and we can check into it.

BOM QUESTION Setters
MPDQs
16 July Chapters 1-6 Eldarwen (Shannara)
17 July Chapters 7-14 Christina (Gulliver)
18 July Chapters 15-18 Tina (Motor)
19 July Chapters 19 - end Shannon (Oz)

Christina let us know if your day suits. Chris And Rina are backups on this if needed.

Celia wrote: "Sounds good. One of my books (probably nothing for this round but to keep in mind) has a character who calls his grandmother "Patti" which is the Tamil word for "grandmother" and she is a significa..."

The consensus on this is that titles such as Grandma, Sister, uncle can’t be used.

Celia wrote: "How significant does a character have to be to count? For instance, if they are a "speaking character" because they have one line in the story, does that count at all?"

Sadly no, they have to be integral to the story.

Celia wrote: "Louise wrote: "Celia wrote: "A few general questions: the requirements for character says "speaking character" but what if you have a character who is deaf or mute, or an animal character who has a..."

Going to double check on Grandma

Celia wrote: "A few general questions: the requirements for character says "speaking character" but what if you have a character who is deaf or mute, or an animal character who has a pov but doesn't "speak" per ..."

For “speaking characters” who communicate through non-verbal methods and are integral to the story these can be counted. For animal characters if the story is being told through their POV then you can use them.


For titles such as Mr, Miss, father, grandma etc you need to use their name.

Nicknames are allowed if they predominantly go by that name.

Round 3 - DRIVE TO ULURU

Going on our sign up average of 80 books/ round we should be able to spell our word at least 6 times. This means we need:
D - 6
R - 12
I - 6
V - 6
E - 6
T - 6
O - 6
U - 18
L - 6

Happy Hunting

Rina wrote: "Celia wrote: "I put this down as insect on cover: but wanted a second opinion. Is it okay?"

Yes from me :-)"

Yes, they currently laying eggs on my cabbages so the bug killer is out!

End of Round 2 Update
Word Completions: 14 & 1 partial
Books Read: 100

Round 2 Points: 4193
Total Points Overall: 8304
Ranking: 8

Toughest Letters - Round 2 - 44
Total Toughest Letter Count - 77
Ranking: 2

BOM Points - Round 2 - 200
Total BOM Points: 480
Ranking: 1



****Please make sure that when marking a book as complete on the spreadsheet you add a date read. We missed out on one book completion as this wasn’t spotted until minutes before deadline and missed being transferred to the official spreadsheet in time. ***

Great effort team.