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

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

DQs Day 2: Chapters 6 - 10

6. Language. We use it to distance ourselves from others and to come closer. Daphne doesn't speak Mau's language and yet she bridges a huge gap with a nursery rhyme. There are other instances too where not knowing each other's languages doesn't hamper the characters from understanding the other's POV. How much of it did you find to be incredulous? Or do you think people can reach understanding as quickly in real life?

In my own experience, language barriers tend to initially prevent people from detecting the nuances of someone else's personality, but it's absolutely possible to reach understanding quite quickly in a more general way, or even in very specific interactions if both parties are trying hard and paying close attention. I think that's the case here, to some extent, but perhaps the book's just a hair too optimistic about it.


7. We might hate them or be in awe of them but superpowers do lead by example. Our world might have fared better during the ongoing pandemic if the developed countries had done a better job of handling the situation. The Nation was such a beacon for the other islands in the book. Do you think that's why the survivors came to it? How realistic is that way of thinking?

Indeed, I think the various survivors came to The Nation thinking it had always been there and always would be, and was Too Big To Fail, so to speak. More fool them, as there is just no such place. Even when worlds don't end, ways of life do. Bangs and whimpers and all that.


8. Dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophe AND the crumbling of the foundations of their religion must have been hard on the islanders (Look at Ataba). What do you think the discovery of the new not-so holy stones means? Also, do you think it is easier for Mau to doubt his gods because he's younger?

Well, I don't know what specifically the newly-discovered stones mean, in terms of their possible origins, but I do know (as I already suspected) that their existence means The Nation's religious practices are hollow. Religion is built on humans' desire for absolutes and for guidance, and an inability to accept for an answer that there is no greater conscious being with all the answers, and an inability to process as possible that one's own consciousness simply ends when one dies. Most people need to believe that there is something more, or else they just can't cope with life. I'm not sure Mau's age has all that much to do with his doubts, though perhaps it is so, if one takes for granted that older people become more set in their beliefs, or at least in their need to hold on tightly to those beliefs.
There's a line in the book that was something like "'It's God's will" is the grown-up equivalent of 'Because.'" I thought that was pretty spot on. It reminded me, too, of how people always say "Everything happens for a reason" when something bad has happened, never something good. People need a reason, else they despair. I have become more and more hardline atheist over the years, and even I sometimes envy religious people for the peace that their beliefs can give them, false as it is. But Mau puts it bluntly: people usually want to believe lies. Even Ataba comes close to conceding this point.


9. Chapters 9 and 10 are full of quotable lines that are just...wow! One favorite of mine is what Ataba says to Daphne, “There are different ways to eat people, girl, and you are clever, oh yes, clever enough to know it." Do you have any favorite lines? Please share!

LOL, I knew I would regret not writing down any of the great lines! *just went back to check*...
"However much of a Daphne you yearn to be, there is always your Ermintrude looking over your shoulder."
"It was like being in a Jane Austen novel, but one with far less clothing."
"I don't think [Ataba] believes in his gods, but he believes in belief."
"Reality so often fails when it comes to small, satisfying details."
Also... PELVIC ORACLE, lmao.

10. Why do you think Ataba behaved the way he did at the end of chapter ten?

Ataba saw what he wanted to see in that cave, and his newfound certainty (plus maybe all that bad air) drove him mad with religious fervor.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn't like his job, and the immortal who's still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago.

Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron

When Katharine Tulman's inheritance is called into question by the rumor that her eccentric uncle is squandering away the family fortune, she is sent to his estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London.

Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity.

As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle's world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. With twists and turns at every corner, this heart-racing adventure will captivate readers with its intrigue, thrills, and romance.

As much as I love Good Omens, I wish I hadn't come to it as an American goth teenage Neil Gaiman fan in the mid 1990s.
If I'd discovered it completely divorced from that, I'd have probably started reading Discworld books back then too, instead of waiting until well into my adulthood.

Finished #10 a bit ago, forgot to comment:

Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint.

One of de Lint's "Newford" books. Liked but didn't love. It's definitely dated, though that seems typical of de Lint's books IMO. They just don't age all that well.


I should be finishing at least 3 more of my Old TBR books within the next week or so (one of the books happens to be a BOM)! It's nice to finally be catching up :)

JC wrote: "Finished #13. Added in 2013: Lirael by Garth Nix 5 stars

Another great read, book 2 in the series. I'm so glad I decided to read these books that have been on my physica..."

This series is great! But yes, certainly quite dark for K-6, and too advanced for most kids under Middle School, at least.

Cat wrote: "I have read this before - years & years ago, but the only details that stuck with me were the pig milking and the big wave."

This is the second YA book I've recently encountered wherein someone has to milk an unlikely animal.
In Fablehaven, a pair of siblings has to milk a giant cow by jumping, full-body, onto its udders and sliding down. It is also... memorable.

DQs Day 1: Chapters 1 - 5

1. Ahhh... Terry Pratchett. Best known for his Discworld, but this standalone is a departure, into YA historical fiction. Are you enjoying the differences (if you are a Discworld fan)? Enjoying the Pratchett experience (if you are a Pratchett novice)?

I love the Pratchett experience! I haven't read as many of the Discworld novels as I'd have liked by now, and agree with many others that the earliest ones are not the best, but one of my favorite Pratchett novels so far is actually Dodger anyway, which is also not a Discworld novel but another YA historical fiction. I plan to read more Discworld soon though!

2. The first chapter is action-packed with the Captain sailing his boat into the trees, and Mau's return home. Did you enjoy the set-up and immediate disasters, or would you have preferred more scene-setting?

I think the brief set-up and immediate disasters worked very well here. More scene-setting would have become a little too sentimental, I fear, so it's good that we learn a lot through memories later instead.

3. I found the second chapter to be wrenching, with the description of Mau in shock and separating himself from his emotions in order to send his family to sea and rebirth. These are not easy emotions to write about for any age, let alone for young adult. Do you think Pratchett got it right? Do you believe in Mau's character and world?

Totally right! I love that Pratchett's YA doesn't talk down to younger readers. It talks up, challenging them and taking them seriously!

4. Speaking of Mau - I love how much his character has developed even in this first third, with the classic Pratchett approach of just questioning everything! How do you think he will adapt now there are more people on Nation, and with someone who can communicate with the Ghost Girl?

I think Mau will question more and more, and decide that he is a "man" or better yet that the designation is meaningless, and probably that community is important but religion is meaningless. Re communicating the the Ghost Girl... It think that both hilarity and intercultural tragedy may ensure.

5. And what about Daphne? She's already started to remake herself with her new name (I'd've shucked Ermintrude too!), but how much further will she change? Should we worry that she'll try to become White Saviour?!

I don't think Pratchett would allow White Savior behaviors to go unchecked! I think the book has been digging at that trope from the start, and will continue to do so, through Daphne and through others as they come.

This is great so far! Looking forward to DQs :)

I can write some DQs. Preference for final day but it's not a big deal.

Keely wrote: "I finished two books over the last couple of days from my list. Book 37 was Remember, Remember which was a newer book added to my list but it was a good little history book that I c..."

What did you think of The Color Purple? I haven't read it since the mid 1990s but it was a favorite of mine at the time.

JC wrote: "Finished book 9: Added in 2010 The Good Samaritan Strikes Again by Patrick F. McManus Finished 5/2/20 ~ 4 stars

My husband had a signed copy of this book on our shelf,..."

Hah, we are both at #9 and you posted while I was typing. Yay for us! :)

#9 down. Another ancient Kindle Freebie chosen from the TBR by “random number choice” which turned out to be worth reading!



A not-very-original YA dystopia, but fairly well written and engaging. I would almost give it 4 stars but there were some things that annoyed me. I believe this could have been a truly excellent book if it had been picked up by a Big Five publisher and thereby had a real editor. Also maybe a sensitivity reader, but I’m not sure if that was a Thing yet, in 2013.

Welcome Salma!
I think I would pick France too :)

NetGalley Challenge Sept 2020

Beginning of month:
46 books
Feedback ratio 91%

Read:
Plain Bad Heroines (my review)
Raybearer (my review)
Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream (my review)
Black Sun (my review)
Daddy: Stories (my review)
Fable (my review)
The Secret of White Stone Gate (my review)
The Trials of Koli (my review)

DNF:
The Zoo (my review)



End of month:
38 books -- not including 4 books read but still lacking reviews
Feedback ratio 92%

New 2 U Authors 2020 May-Dec 2020

Level: Devil May Care (20+ books)

Round 1:
Jayne Rylon : Kate's Crew
Kathryn Littlewood : Bliss
James Patterson : Taking the Titanic
Susan Harper : An Eye for Murder
Anita Valle : Sinful Cinderella
Sarah Kendzior : Hiding in Plain Sight
Amor Towles : You Have Arrived at Your Destination
Robin DiAngelo : White Fragility
Annabel Chase : Outcast
Devin Harnois : Mages & Mechanisms
Maria V. Snyder : Poison Study
Simone St. James : The Sun Down Motel
Bakari Sellers : My Vanishing Country
Rachel E. Carter : First Year
Sarah Perlmutter : The Blast
Sam Burns : Blackbird in the Reeds
Yvette Bostic : Magister's Bane
Douglas Adams : The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Ava Richardson : The Dragon Tamer
Meredith McCardle : The Eighth Guardian

20 books
Complete!
4 Aug 2020

1 Amethyst Coin


Round 2:
Alastair Reynolds : Slow Bullets
Tom Standage : An Edible History of Humanity
A.G. Howard : Splintered
Karen Marie Moning : Darkfever
Tabitha Suzuma : Forbidden
Emily M. Danforth : Plain Bad Heroines
Jordan Ifueko : Raybearer
Mychal Denzel Smith : Stakes Is High
Rebecca Roanhorse : Black Sun
Adrienne Young : Fable
Adam Mars-Jones : Box Hill
Megan Campisi : Sin Eater
Connor Towne O'Neill : Down Along with That Devil's Bones
Natalie Zina Walschots : Hench
Bob Holmes : Flavor: The Science of Our Most Neglected Sense
Hanna Dare : Machine Metal Magic
Kate M. Colby : The Cogsmith's Daughter
Eldritch Black : The Book of Kindly Deaths
Ayize Jama-Everett : The Liminal People
Alex Bell : Frozen Charlotte

20 books
Complete!
6 Dec 2020

1 Amethyst Coin

Can I use books I've read since the start of 2020 or only books I'll be reading from now through the rest of the year?
ETA: I think I'll just count from now on, in any case, because if I count books I've read since Jan, I think I'll have already completed my level :D

Level: Devil May Care (20+ books)

Round 1:
Jayne Rylon : Kate's Crew
Kathryn Littlewood : Bliss
James Patterson : Taking the Titanic
Susan Harper : An Eye for Murder
Anita Valle : Sinful Cinderella
Sarah Kendzior : Hiding in Plain Sight
Amor Towles : You Have Arrived at Your Destination
Robin DiAngelo : White Fragility
Annabel Chase : Outcast
Devin Harnois : Mages & Mechanisms
Maria V. Snyder : Poison Study
Simone St. James : The Sun Down Motel
Bakari Sellers : My Vanishing Country
Rachel E. Carter : First Year
Sarah Perlmutter : The Blast
Sam Burns : Blackbird in the Reeds
Yvette Bostic : Magister's Bane
Douglas Adams : The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Ava Richardson : The Dragon Tamer
Meredith McCardle : The Eighth Guardian

20 books
Round 1 completed, 4 Aug 2020

Round 2:
Alastair Reynolds : Slow Bullets
Tom Standage : An Edible History of Humanity
A.G. Howard : Splintered
Karen Marie Moning : Darkfever
Tabitha Suzuma : Forbidden
Emily M. Danforth : Plain Bad Heroines
Jordan Ifueko : Raybearer
Mychal Denzel Smith : Stakes Is High
Rebecca Roanhorse : Black Sun
Adrienne Young : Fable
Adam Mars-Jones : Box Hill
Megan Campisi : Sin Eater
Connor Towne O'Neill : Down Along with That Devil's Bones
Natalie Zina Walschots : Hench
Bob Holmes : Flavor: The Science of Our Most Neglected Sense
Hanna Dare : Machine Metal Magic
Kate M. Colby : The Cogsmith's Daughter
Eldritch Black : The Book of Kindly Deaths
Ayize Jama-Everett : The Liminal People
Alex Bell : Frozen Charlotte

20 books
Round 2 completed, 6 Dec 2020

Completed Team Challenges
(May need to confirm whether these all count for Onyx coins, but I don't see why not)

Team Fragarach
Cutthroat Book Club, 2018. 8 weeks.

2 Onyx Coins

Team Lock
Wheel-a-Thon III (Holiday Edition), 2018. 6 weeks.

1 Onyx Coin

Team The Color Purple
Wheel-a-Thon IV (Wheel O' Brown), 2019. 8 weeks.

2 Onyx Coins

Team Krakatoa Go Go
The Floor is Lava, 2019. 8 weeks.

2 Onyx Coins

Team Ira
Tower Teams VII (Seven Sinful Towers), 2019. 10 weeks. Co-Captain.

4 Onyx Coins

Team Don Quixote
Wheel-a-Thon V, Summer 2020. 10 weeks.

2 Onyx Coins

Team Second Breakfast
My Restaurant Rocks, 2020. 12 weeks (though I joined starting Week 5 so my personal total was 8 weeks.

2 Onyx Coins.

Team Carrot Ironfoundersson
Tower Teams VIII (Discworld), 2021. 13 weeks.

2 Onyx Coins

Team Cyndi Lauper
Wheel-a-Thon VI (Wheel of Wheels), Fall 2021. 10 weeks.

2 Onyx Coins

Team Agamemnon
Tower Teams IX (Muses), Spring-Summer 2022. 3 months.

2 Onyx Coins

Team Guards! Guards!
Wheel-a-Thon VII, Fall 2022. 5 weeks.

1 Onyx Coin

Team Qulit
Tower Teams X, Spring-Summer 2023. 3 months.

2 Onyx Coins


Upcoming or In Progress:

Team Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Wheel-a-Thon X, Fall 2025. 10 weeks.
(Worth 2 Onyx coins)

May: Wear Purple for Peace Day May-June July 2020


Gift card #1 of 3: extending challenge thru July 2020!

Level: Extraterrestrial (26+ books)
Option #5: Mix & Match

Spell out the words "Peace" and "Alien";
Read books with purple objects on the covers;
Read books about peace or books that come to a peaceful conclusion from a conflict;
Read books about aliens

✔︎ P - Nation by Terry Pratchett
✔︎ E - Tremontaine: The Complete Season Two by Ellen Kushner
✔︎ A - False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
✔︎ C - The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey
✔︎ E - character Eletra, Network Effect

✔︎ A - Sinful Cinderella by Anita Valle
✔︎ L - Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood
✔︎ I - character Isabelle, Memory and Dream
✔︎ E - character Gideon Eames, Things in Jars
✔︎ N - character Neil, Kate's Crew

✔︎ P - character Pen, An Unsuitable Heir
✔︎ E - character Esmeralda, Tommy Nightmare
✔︎ A - character Ann, Rebel Angels
✔︎ C - character Colton, Firestarter
✔︎ E - character Edith, Mages & Mechanisms

✔︎ A - Trade Deadline by Avon Gale
✔︎ L - character Lurio, Perfiditas
✔︎ I - character Isaac, An Eye for Murder
✔︎ E - character Elijah, Shivaree
✔︎ N - character Nigel, Taking the Titanic

✔︎ A - character Alma, The Sun Down Motel
✔︎ L - Lucky
✔︎ I - character Irys, Poison Study
✔︎ E - character Elizabeth, The Testaments
✔︎ N - character Nina, The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed

Purple Objects on cover:
✔︎ : purple dart
✔︎ : purple mist(drug)
✔︎ : purple bottle

Peaceful end to a conflict:
✔︎ A Wizard of Earthsea

29 books
Complete!


1 Citrine Coin

I'm in. Why the purple heck not? :D

May: Wear Purple for Peace Day May-June July 2020


Gift card #1 of 3: extending challenge thru July 2020!

Level: Extraterrestrial (26+ books)
Option #5: Mix & Match

Spell out the words "Peace" and "Alien";
Read books with purple objects on the covers;
Read books about peace or books that come to a peaceful conclusion from a conflict;
Read books about aliens

✔︎ P - Nation by Terry Pratchett
✔︎ E - Tremontaine: The Complete Season Two by Ellen Kushner
✔︎ A - False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
✔︎ C - The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey
✔︎ E - character Eletra, Network Effect

✔︎ A - Sinful Cinderella by Anita Valle
✔︎ L - Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood
✔︎ I - character Isabelle, Memory and Dream
✔︎ E - character Gideon Eames, Things in Jars
✔︎ N - character Neil, Kate's Crew

✔︎ P - character Pen, An Unsuitable Heir
✔︎ E - character Esmeralda, Tommy Nightmare
✔︎ A - character Ann, Rebel Angels
✔︎ C - character Colton, Firestarter
✔︎ E - character Edith, Mages & Mechanisms

✔︎ A - Trade Deadline by Avon Gale
✔︎ L - character Lurio, Perfiditas
✔︎ I - character Isaac, An Eye for Murder
✔︎ E - character Elijah, Shivaree
✔︎ N - character Nigel, Taking the Titanic

✔︎ A - character Alma, The Sun Down Motel
✔︎ L - Lucky
✔︎ I - character Irys, Poison Study
✔︎ E - character Elizabeth, The Testaments
✔︎ N - character Nina, The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed


Purple Objects on cover:
✔︎ : purple dart
✔︎ : purple mist(drug)
✔︎ : purple bottle


Peaceful end to a conflict:
✔︎ A Wizard of Earthsea

29 books
Complete!