Vikki’s Comments (group member since May 25, 2014)

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

I volunteer for Team Anubis to write discussion questions

I volunteer for Team Anubis to write discussion questions

I volunteer for Team Anubis to write discussion questions

Let's wait and see if we get something harder. Hopefully someone reads a book where the characters stop by the golf course or play miniature golf or something? When do we have to use the boon by.

I will start The Good Soldier for the goal of the book starting with "This" tomorrow. It is a short book so hopefully it is a fast read and I'll be done with it in a few days.

I am Legend is a Dystopia. I think it was used for #3-- legend but I think there are a lot of #3's now.

I think we only need one more goal to complete the team Mummy Quest Challenge: 09 ~ Read a Book: features end of world, features a contract. Read a Dystopia. Suitcase on cover, destroyed world on cover. OR "Problem" in title.

Discussion Questions - Chapters 5-7 (Day 3)


13) Now that we're almost a third into the story, how are you enjoying it?

I am liking it. I am hoping I am totally wrong about what I think is going on.

14) Why do you think Adam is pushing so much for the files Paul had? Do you think it has anything to do with the embezzling or the videos Claire found?

No, I think he does not want to lose the business and he wants Paul and Claire out of the business as soon as possible.

15) What do think of Captain Mayhew? Did you think his asking about all the possible places copies of the videos could be was suspicious?

I think he may be in on it.

16) Why do you think Paul had Lydia under surveillance every year? Do you think he was obsessing after the one that escaped from him or that he felt guilty for what he tried to do?

I think he is obsessed.

17) Do you think the videos that Claire found are real? If so, who do you think is the man in them (since Claire ruled out Paul)?

Yes, I think they may be Adam or another one of his friends/business associates. Perhaps he paid someone to do them.

Discussion Questions - 13 Nov

8) the opening scene between Paul and Claire indicated they had a happy marriage but it seems that there were many secrets in Claire's life with Paul, do you think they were as happy together as it seemed at the start?

Actually Claire seemed annoyed with Paul and there seemed like there was some strain in the marriage which is what I picked up from Claire's feelings before Paul arrived at the bar.

9) what do you think Claire had done to have an ankle monitor and now be on parole?

I thought it said she assaulted a woman on her tennis team.

10) do you think the burglary of her house had anything to do with her husband's murder?

No

11) what are your thoughts about the video Claire found

Explains about Paul. Maybe Paul hired the guy that killed him to kidnap Claire and do what was on the video to her.

12) given Lydia's history of lying, stealing and drug abuse, do you think it was understandable that her family didn't believe her about Paul's assault years ago?

Yes, especially if he seemed like an upstanding citizen compared to Claire

I think The Fell Sword that M just read may fulfill the emperor goal (read the summary).

The only book I found so far with the first word of the story being "This" is The Good Soldier by Ford Maddix Ford

Discussion Questions Day 1 Chapter i-2


Q1) How do feel about the opening commentary ?

It pulled me in to the story because it was so heartbreaking and believable.

Q2) What is your first impression ? Do you like the alternating view points or do you find them irritating ?

I like right now but I am afraid I will get confused

Q3) What did you make of Paul's behaviour ? Why did he go into the alley?

Trying to celebrate/ have a little fun. But it does seem a little out of character and it felt like something was going to go wrong from the beginning.

Q4) What is your impression of Claire and her general attitude ?
I didn't really like her. She seemed self absorbed

Q5) What do you think of Lydia 's reaction to the news about Paul ?

Suspense builder.

Q6) The book's synopsis tells us the connection between Claire and Lydia. Do you think you would have made the connection from these initial introductions ?
No and I did not read the synopsis.

Q7) Do you like any of the characters we have met so far ?
Lydia and Paul

I had a hard time stopping last night. I wanted to binge read this book so bad.

Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 4, Scene 3, Page 2

Worms are the emperor of all diets. We fatten up all creatures to feed ourselves, and we fatten ourselves for the worms to eat when we're dead ...

Oh, well. It was worth a try.

I don't know if just a reference to the Wheel of Fortune would count but:

William Shakespeare in Hamlet wrote of the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and, of fortune personified, to "break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel." And in Henry V, Act 3 Scene VI[4] are the lines:

Pistol:
Bardolph, a soldier who is loyal and stout-hearted and full of valour, has, by a cruel trick of fate and a turn of silly Fortune's wildly spinning wheel, that blind goddess who stands upon an ever-rolling stone—
Fluellen:
Now, now, Ensign Pistol. Fortune is depicted as blind, with a scarf over her eyes, to signify that she is blind. And she is depicted with a wheel to signify—this is the point—that she is turning and inconstant, and all about change and variation. And her foot, see, is planted on a spherical stone that rolls and rolls and rolls.
Shakespeare also references this Wheel in King Lear.[5] The Earl of Kent, who was once held dear by the King, has been banished, only to return in disguise. This disguised character is placed in the stocks for an overnight and laments this turn of events at the end of Act II, Scene 2:

Fortune, good night, smile once more; turn thy wheel!

I was planning to do the audiobook Hamlet tomorrow. I do not have Henry V on audiobook though. There are only 10 Shakespeare plays that are above the 20,000 word count requirement and King Lear, Hamlet, and Henry V are in those 10.

Maybe one of these books:

A Confederacy of Dunces - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confe...
Wikipedia
A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel by American novelist John ... to the goddess Fortuna as having spun him downwards on her wheel of fortune.

In his novel, The Club Dumas, Arturo Pérez-Reverte includes a wheel of fortune in one of the illustrations that accompany the text.

I looked at the All About Goals FAQ and they had a question similar to our Emperor and Wheel of Fortune goal:

Under Goal Types T-Z:

Q. For goal "Read a book with the name of the tarot card "The Magician" in the text or title
does that "the" also count? Or can it just be "Magician"
A. It needs to be "The Magician" as we are looking for the name of the card (although it may be in a completely different context, it doesn't have to be a card that is being referred to)

So we could read a book that has "The Emperor or "Wheel of Fortune" in the title and that would work. For example:

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

or


The Wheel of Fortune

Does anyone have these words in the title of a book they are reading? Or reading a book where "Wheel of Fortune" (like the game show) or a person referenced as "The Emperor" is referenced in the book?

I just finished King Lear so the audiobook by famous person is complete.

Almost done with King Lear audiobook narrated by Sir Donald Wolfit who was a famous Shakespearean actor. I got like an hour left. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donal...

There were a lot of dystopia/ futuristic books on the Most Disturbing List and I like those kind of books.

Hmm... for the witch or wizard goal, does it count if other characters call a magic character a witch even if they call themselves something else? In Child Thief, the Lady of the Lake (Queen Modron) is called a witch by the Flesh-eaters as well as her sister Ginny Greenteeth and her daughters. In Shadow and Bone, the peasants that fear/hate the Grisha call them witches.

For the character that gets in shape goal, I finished a book right before the challenge where the main character gets in shape (as well as others) using Bikram or competitive yoga called Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga if someone else would like to read it. I can look through my martial arts books and see if I can find where one someone out of shape started martial arts and is now a superhuman, lol. But we might have to do a boon for this one.