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

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

M finished it more recently too —any good specific suggestions?

@ M, or anyone else who has read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell — anything wrath-inducing in it?

Looks brown to me!

Steven wrote: "Alysa wrote: "Aha! Apparently Leigh Bardugo went to Yale, grdauating in 1997!
So... I guess she decided to follow that old advice, Write What You Know.

I hope she didn't know, like, violent ritua..."

Haha, I had not refreshed the page since copy-pasting the DQs to a word doc. That'll learn me.

Aha! Apparently Leigh Bardugo went to Yale, grdauating in 1997!
So... I guess she decided to follow that old advice, Write What You Know.

I hope she didn't know, like, violent rituals though. :D

ETA: that was some fun cross-posting I did there, lol.

I started this morning. I'm doing Audio because it was the first format to come off Hold at the library. I'd rather have the ebook but it is what it is. At least this was I can listen to it at work!

First set of DQs for Ninth House is up, for anyone who doesn't know. :D

Team Ira, the BOM team! BOM BOM BOM BOM!

Day 1 DQs - Chapters 1-4

1. Our book starts out with a Prologue that leaves me understandably a bit lost and confused but wanting more, giving us minimal clues to our forthcoming story.How do you feel about Prologues? Do you ever go back and Re-read them after you finish the book?

Prologues are hit or miss for me. Sometimes they work really well to set a scene or give you an intriguing glimpse of the past or the future, or something that the characters don’t yet know but might eventually learn. No, I don’t usually re-read them at the end.
The prologue here does works for me – it’s intriguing and definitely sets the scene for some major events – but the transition from the prologue to the first chapter was a little clunky. (It might have been better if I wasn’t listening to the audio – which I am doing so far, but not really by choice! It’s just the first format that came off hold at the library. If the print or e comes in, I might switch; I think I might like the writing better in print/e than in audio.)

2. The setting of our story is the prestigious Ivy League school of Yale. The history runs deep and gives a gothic and dark feel to the book. Why else do you think the author may have chosen Yale as the setting?

She was definitely inspired by secret society lore, which is deeply connected to the “old boys club” thing at Ivy League schools, so her options were pretty limited, without inventing a fictional school. Also, this might be cynical of me, but there’s a proven market for this sort of thing – fantastical doings and/or effed up people and relationships at colleges – from The Secret History to The Magicians, to name some relatively recent successful ones – and the author is mining that. Maybe her editor even suggested the idea. That doesn’t mean the book is or is not good, just that the idea for writing it may have been market-driven.

3. In Chapter 1 our Main Character, Alex Stern, is running late for the Prognostication. By definition Prognostication is the action of foretelling or prophesying future events. I'm curious as to what the Bonesmen final goal is by performing these ceremonies. Although it is still early in the book are there any guesses as to what the Bonesmen are seeking? Are they after glory ? Time travel? Immortality?

It may really be as simple as ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD, as is implied in the book so far. Probably not, eh, or else there wouldn’t be much here for plot, but I don’t think we have enough info yet to make any guesses.

4. The Grays ! I love ghost stories and cannot wait to learn more about the Grays. Alex not only has the ability to see the Grays but is also able to see them in color. This is important and seems to be a key feature that got her this opportunity at the school. Darlington appears to be jealous of this ability of Alex because he needs to take an elixir at a great risk to do the same. How do you see the relationship between Alex and Darlington? Will they become friends, enemies or lovers?

Apart from the setting (one of my favorite books of all time is also set at Yale, albeit in the 1800s!), the Grays are the most interesting aspect of this book to me so far. The characters are seeming a little boring, which I hope gets better. I think Alex and Darlington will have a friends to lovers arc, but I’d be very happy if I’m proven wrong.

LOL, we are all groupies :D

The questions might get posted any time today! Sometimes the question writer will post just to say if they are running late (e.g., "I will post DQ when I get home from work tonight!") but the best thing is just to keep refreshing the page and/or turn on notifications for it :D

Ozana wrote: "Alysa wrote: "Ozana wrote: "I can answer DQ for Ninth House and I have Two Can Keep a Secret so I'll start reading.
I loved Ninth House, she is good ..."

Yeah, we had to do it by the deadline yesterday.
But if you have some "wrath" for the books you're reading this week, let us know :D

Sounds good Kerri!
And I am looking forward to your DQs 🙂

Alysa wrote: "Hah, see, I knew I should have put “@M” in there when I posted about this here a few hours ago. ;D

We can probably use the Mini for all 3 vols though, was the sense I was getting implicitly. At 7 ..."

Confirmed that all 3 vols can be read for the Vanity mini... and in fact Cat seems to be saying that all 3 vols HAVE to be read to get the mini. Because the recc was for the trilogy, not just one of the volumes in the trilogy. Or something. IDK. I guess it’s probably still better not to read it at this point. ;)

Hey all, I don't think I'm going to be able to finish New Cthulhu before the deadline. I still have like 100 pages left, some of the stories have been a bit slow, and I have to go feed my kid!
I'll finish it for Week 9, like as extra!

Hah, see, I knew I should have put “@M” in there when I posted about this here a few hours ago. ;D

We can probably use the Mini for all 3 vols though, was the sense I was getting implicitly. At 7 points each, at least there’s that.

Or long Brown books ;D

M wrote: "Personally I would defend that per the rules of the mini challenge it states

◈ You must read the book listed in the recommendation: series substitutions are not permitted.

They listed the omnibus..."

Ruling in Caps Group is that LoTR has to be broken up into 3 books.
No omnibus edition. Sorry!

That is very narrow indeed.
I was basically just doing “On TBR since 2014 or earlier.”
For next year I’m moving it up to 2015. At some point in time, I may have become more selective in regards to how much stuff I was putting on my TBR... but if that point did in fact exist, I know not when it was.

Ditto!
I'm gonna say 30 books again.
Stuff on TBR from 2015 or earlier. Maybe also a few things like "oldest NetGalleys" (I think I have some from 2016, yikes!)

Read


30/30
Original goal completed!
8/29/20

Additional books read after hitting 100% that count...



Ended with 41 / 30 🙂

LOL, I actually stopped keeping track and posting stuff here once I hit 100%, though I did keep listing stuff just for myself, elsewhere. I should go see what my percentage would be now...
Like 140% probably! :D
ETA: A little over 150% in fact. Yay, this will make next year’s pool smaller!