Alysa’s Comments (group member since Jun 27, 2015)

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

Psst on the main spreadsheet it looks like someone put Carey as a character surname for Poison Fruit, but it's actually the author surname :)

Okay, cool. I'll just keep an eye on it.

But if other people's books have an A too, and they know they'll finish in time, LMK and I'll can pause mine anytime tonight or Sat morning EST.

Yes

Melissa wrote: "Thanks Louise! :)

Namita - no worries! It's a long challenge there are plenty more rounds to read for :)

Sharon - We definitely need 2 A's to complete 2 words. Other then that we have SHAMR open ..."

If it makes more sense for me to finish my current book (O author!) after the round changeover, LMK!

I wouldn't be able to both start and finish a different book in time for it to count towards Round 1, so it'd mean one less book for Round 1, but if you really think we'll need the O for later I don't mind pausing and just starting something else.

OMG, I just saw #151 at the top of my screen and was like WHAT?!?!?
Still have 24 hours, phew! :D

I finished Poison Fruit the other night, and finally had a chance just now to update it. Will go update on spreadsheet too!

Melissa wrote: "The next round starts October 23 and 9pm UK time"

Thanks! I will need to check whether that's 4pm my time or if there's some annoying Daylight Savings conversion. It's about that time of year. *grumpy*

I should be finished w/one of my current 2 books late tonight, and the other by Fri night or Sat morning.
For me in EST, the round ends on Sat afternoon but I would like to be crystal clear on exactly what time.

Today I hate everything that is preventing me from reading. Catalyst Gate is SO GOOD.

Is there a Countdown clock for end of Round 1 / start of Round 2?
I just checked in the "All About and Announcements" posts and didn't see one (though I did see there's new info about Round 2... :D :D :D)

Finished my 2nd book!
Neither of my two finished books is that Jacqueline Carey one that I started first, LOL.

Finished #29


Started off fun but quickly became tedious and remained so. :/

Also, read whatever you want, but longer books = more points, so longer books are always better, especially for people who read a lot.
Hence, using shorter books as last choice.

Trio wrote: "I read a ton, but I was nervous about how this challenge would fit in with my other challenges. I figured it would be better to "under claim".

So if I add books to the Team Trakcing Spreadsheet mu..."

@Trio
Whilst I am not captaining, so Louise and Melissa can obviously chime in if I’m wrong, in my experience everybody should just read and list as many books as possible. If we are (collectively) getting over limit, the captains can A) warn people to hold off finishing stuff until after the Round has ended, and B) just draw from the tracking spreadsheet and leave off the books on it that are worth the fewest points! 🙂

Well we won't have to worry about over-reading on my account at my current snail's pace, that's for sure.
I'm going to need to plan for some short books and some books I know will be so amazing I will want to blast through them. Hopefully that'll get me back on track for my target numbers, because having time off work so far has only meant more time for my family to bug me when I would rather be reading. 😂

DQs Day 4 - Chapters 18-end

14. We get more information about what happened to the Bible-writer's group. Marco, Steen, and Petrov ended pretty horribly. Kara chooses to believe the Bible-writer and Singer somehow made it out of the Willow World, but that seems unlikely. What do you think happened to them?

Dead. Or worse, like the bus driver!

15. Kara finally figures out what's going on with the corpse-otter, literally stating "Everything snapped into place." This leads into the scene where various taxidermied animals reanimate. What did you think of this section? Scary, silly, both, or neither?

I said in a previous answer that reanimated taxidermy is somehow less creepy to me than regular taxidermy. When moving, they look like regular animals, basically. And I didn't fully buy that some of them were on Kara's side, so I thought the whole thing was a little silly. (I did appreciate the bit towards the very end about Prince being in a slightly different position from before, though. I'm even able to picture that as an antlered head on a wall, rather than a purple-clad singer!)

16. What did you think of Kara's well-intentioned decision to go back through the hole? Her final visit to the Willow World was quite climactic, bringing together a lot of the scary and/or gross bits of the book: the animals, the trees, Sturdivant, pain, THEM… Did it work for you?

I wish she'd been able to tell or bring Simon with her, but it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing for her to jump back through the way she did. The last scene with Sturdivant was particularly freaky, and the descriptions of Kara's effed-up knee were so graphic, and relatable in a way that most of the gross-out things in this book were not. I thought it was all quite well done.

17. We find out how the corpse-otter ended up at the Wonder Museum. Did you figure it out earlier, or were you surprised?

I didn't guess the details, but was like "Oh, makes sense." The origin and recent journey of the corpse-otter were in keeping with the rest of the book, in that there was both creepiness and humor. With hints of realism: it's totally common to receive a package and not, like, Read The Warning Labels, so to speak. Woody should have said something in advance of sending the package to the Wonder Museum, but he also can't really be blamed for what happened after. Especially because Kara was so slow on the uptake about the corpse-otter being involved in the newly-appeared hole in the wall.

18. In the end, we see Kara and Simon close off the hole. Life goes more or less back to normal. Kara reflects on her experience. What are your thoughts? To steal from the last line of the book, do you "wonder what happens next" for these characters? Please elaborate!

I don't know if Kara was all that changed by her experience. She's a grown ass woman; this is not a coming-of-age novel. But she did reset some priorities, and maybe got over her divorce a little faster than she might have otherwise done. I was satisfied with the ending, and I don't really wonder what happens next. I just hope to see characters like these more often, because they felt real in a good way.

DQs Day 3 - Chapters 13-17

9. We're home! Phew! But are they really safe? How did you like the horror / creep factor in this section? (I hope no one is reading this before bed!)

I kept expecting them to suddenly find out that they weren't actually home, but in some alternate world closely resembling home. But creepier. Like the Upside Down in Stranger Things or something. It was both a relief and a let-down that they really were home!

10. We get contact with Carrot's mum and her ex. What did you think about these two calls? And what about the conversation with Uncle Earl?

I really like Kara's interactions with all of these characters. The ex is so obnoxious! Uncle Earl is still so endearing! And like Audrey Jane and Cat, I thought that Kara's mom seemed reasonably worried. Typical mom, not as difficult as she was previously made out to be.

11. There are fewer allusions to other literary portal stories in this section, as they've settled on Narnia and Hellmouths (yay Buffy!) How relevant do you think the Narnia comparison is? Why do you think they use that one? Do you think there is a better literary connection available?

Like Alisha, the Willow World definitely reminded me of Area X from Annihilation!!!

But the Narnia comparison is the obvious go-to. Since Kara is aware of meta, I think it would have been fun if there had been an overt reference to the Neitherlands in The Magicians series, where fountains are used as portals to other worlds. Those fountains immediately came to mind when the bunkers in the Willow World were introduced. The Magicians series has an alternate world that is greatly inspired by Narnia, but to me the fountains seem like the most direct comparison to the bunkers. I would bet money that Kingfisher has read The Magicians, but mentioning it in this book would be far less known to readers than the more classic Narnia references. In my headcanon, I have decided that Kara reads Magicians fan fiction.

12. We get insight into more of the explorers in the willow-world. Does it normalise the world to read of others exploring it or make it creepier?

Creepier, for sure, because we get only snippets. Story within story, and we learn only enough to find out who met a terrible end.

13. Beau! shout out to Beau for being awesome. But, taxidermy coming to life, how does that play into the story so far? Why is the corpse-otter doing that (I assume)?

Beau, the latest in a long line of fictional cats being cats! He's fun.
The taxidermy thing, I dunno. I often find taxidermy creepy, but it's almost less creepy when it's moving, if that makes sense? Because then it just seems like regular animals, who aren't creepy unless you know they're supposed to be dead. In any case, I didn't fully understand the book's logic about why some of the animals would take Kara's side, either. It also didn't help that about half of the times when Kara said "Prince!' I would immediately picture the pop star. Not the effect that Kingfisher was going for, surely.

DQs Day 2 - Chapters 8-12

5. We have horror elements now, specifically body horror, with Them and the bus and park ranger. How creepy are you finding them? I often feel let down by the reveal in horror books, especially when you wait, and the ending seems lackluster. Does this book work for you so far as horror or creepy if not full out horror?

I really enjoy the horror elements in this book. I think the author has been quite creative, and I'm not let down in that respect. But I almost wish that the comedic bits in the book were... less? I mean, the comedy is great, but detracts from the horror a little too much. I was expecting more horror, and it's welcome when it appears.

6. What do you think of the phrase "Pray they are Hungry"? Did you have an idea what it meant before being told?

Hard to know, but definitely creepy and provocative.

7. Willows, let’s talk about the willows. I think in the first section they were supposed to seem familiar. How do you think that familiarity and imagery with the willows has shifted in this section?

The trees sure took on a life of their own! The concept doesn't seem that scary at first, but if I actually try to picture the Willow World in my mind, the trees do get scarier, starting with what happens in this section of the book. I agree that familiarity is what ultimately makes them uncanny.

8. We aren’t told what Simon is using to not think of Them , but Kara uses petty grievances (her ex, sister-in-law, fanfiction community). Do you think this is more effective than singing, and if you feel like commenting, what do you think would personally be effective for you to not think about Them ?

It does like Kara's petty grievances help, and she has a healthy number of them. Personally, when I'm in a bad environment and want to get my mind off it, my go-to has always been to think of David Bowie lyrics from his earlier albums like Space Oddity, and Hunky Dory, and The Man Who Sold the World.
Try "Quicksand" -- works wonders!

I still have a little bit left of the book I started before Wheel (dammit) but I'll finish tonight, and I did also start my first Wheel book today too!
I decided on Poison Fruit, so I'll finally be finished with the Agent of Hel series.

Here's my shelf:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I am still deciding what my first couple of books will be. Being off work until 18 Oct changes the calculation. No commute!

Louise wrote: "Hope you enjoyed the film, it’s been a long time coming."

Haven’t seen it yet — seeing it Saturday, hence the interference with my Wheel reading.
No idea why it was released in most countries a bit earlier than in the States, where this will be its first weekend. Seems silly, since a lot of people will just pirate it!