Stacey’s Comments (group member since Oct 31, 2019)

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

I'll let Jenn or Alysa take Science. Put me down for Weird.

Is anyone planning on reading for the MPG Science task for the upcoming mini? I have a book I can read. It isn't super long so I was going to wait, but if it fits...

Finished my 800 page book. I can fit another one in as long as it isn't too long. Anything specific we need for this month?

DQs: Day 4 Ch 19-25

15. Welcome to the penultimate set of chapters! A lot of revelations came to light in this set of chapters: did any of them surprise you? If so, which ones?

No real surprises. There was a lot of foreshadowing.

16. Montgomery and Carlota finally seem like they are going to make love but Montgomery stops this from happening. Do you think he made the right choice? Why or why not? Also do you think they’ll still get together in the end?

Probably. He was hurt once for loving someone who didn't love him back and Carlotta is clearly rebounding.

17. It looks like Dr. Moreau is going to die by the end of the book. In the original novel and adaptations Dr. Moreau is a villainous figure. Do you think he is portrayed as a villain in this book or do you think he has redeeming qualities?

He is completely self-centered and self aborbed, but not necessarily evil.

18. Carlota is given a key to the laboratory. What do you think she will find there? Also any predictions for the end of the book?

Not what she wants.

I have to think about the BOMs next month. Reading all 3 this month has been a lot. I like 11/22/63, not sure if I'm up for a reread but maybe. The other isn't my normal genre so we will see.

I'm behind on the Kings of the Wyld, but will finish it and Daughter of Dr. Moreau by the end of the month. Just started a book with over 800 pages. That may be it for me this month, unless I really find some free time.

DQs: Day 3, Chap 12 - 18

10. I've noticed Carlota's perceptions are often described using non visual cues: she hears a lot, and even smells Montgomery behind her bedroom door but then dismisses the idea. After her attack, she finds herself noticing that "Her fingers, in the mirror, looked very long, the nails almost too sharp and the eyes...". Do you feel Carlota ever questions her own nature as a human/hybrid or is she too ingenuous to do so? Do you also feel the author is using alternate senses and, if so, as clues for the reader or red herrings?

I doubt she questions it. She knows how that the hybrids haven't been a success and the the Dr. is her father. She trusts him. I question it and now think she is a jaguar hybrid.

11. For much of this part, I felt Montgomery was conflicted regarding his feelings for Carlota. He "writes" to his wife using what I felt was a brotherly perspective only to realise, a few lines and drinks later, he could not resist kissing her if she were there in that moment. What did you make of this change of heart and do you find his various missteps bring something to the story?

Montgomery has made some bad mistakes. Who knows if he misses his wife or the idea of her. He knows he will never get her back. For Carlotta, she is stunning and one of the only (if not only) women around. She challenges him. Not sure if he truly cares about her.

12. We're already halfway through the story - Doctor Moreau and Montgomery are both complex characters. Am I alone in thinking Carlota and her hybrid friends deserve to be more thoroughly fleshed out and layered?

I hadn't thought much about Carlotta as we've heard her perspective. She is very sheltered, so maybe it is that? I agree about the hybrids. They are important characters yet we see so little of them. Seems to be improving, maybe it will continue.

13. What did you make of the scene where Carlota loses her virginity by the cenote - did her reaction seem natural to you or did you find yourself questioning her fearlessness? In your opinion, if Carlota is herself a hybrid, what effect might that have on their progeny?

She was never taught about men and societal expectation, although she still isn't shy at all. I think her reactions are somewhat typical for a young sheltered girl. If she is a hybrid, she shouldn't be able to have children, assuming that what the Dr. said was true about ensuring they were sterile. Otherwise, it could get interesting.

14. There's a storm brewing as the hybrids plan to join Juan Cumux and Carlota attempts to retrieve her father's notes and formulas. Do you think the hybrids will remain subservient once they remove themselves from Doctor Moreau's influence or could the story turn dark?

I think any animal wouldn't want to be caged, and these are exceptionally bright humanoid hybrids. If they aren't given any sort of autonomy, even just a little, or continue to be abused it could turn dark. I do wonder about the formula and what the 'medicine' really does. That could definitely affect things if they cannot survive.

DQs: Day 2, Chap 6 – 11

6. As Sonia noted, we jump six years. Do the characters, especially Carlota, feel six years older? Do you like books that have time jumps or would you have preferred to see Montgomery get used to working in his new jobs? (Sonia already asked about the fallout but feel free to add that here).

Not really. But we didn't know them much, so who knows. I don't feel like I missed anything though.

7. Do you like the method of telling the same scene from both points of view? Is there one point of view you prefer?

It is interesting and you do get something out of both. Not sure I have a preference. It would still be good with 1, but we would be missing something.

8. And we have the start of a love triangle. What do you think of the two young men and Carlota’s reaction to them?

I think Carlotta has been sheltered and hasn't a clue what a good man is like. These 2 seem like they would be awful partners. Definitely feel the fight coming on.

9. So far these feels very much like a historical fiction book with relationships being forwarded over the science and hybrids. Do you agree, and were you expecting that?

I didn't know what to expect. I think we will see more about the hybrids in the future. There really isn't much about them. It is a different point of view, so it makes sense. Personally, I hope there is more about the hybrids.

Bonus: If you were part critter, and didn’t have the health concerns, what species would you prefer

Not sure. The flying thing sounds great, but I think big cat.

DQs: Day 1, Chap 1 - 5

1. Have you read the original Island of Dr Moreau book? Or watched any of the films? I only saw the 1996 movie, so, in my head, I keep seeing Dr Moreau as Marlon Brando, Val Killer as Montgomery and Fairuza Balk as Carlota.

No. At least not that I remember. I definitely know the basics, though.

2. In the movie, Fairuza was one of the hybrids, although here, she only has "treatments" with jaguar genetic code. Do you think it's just a ruse from the doctor and she is actually the first hybrid?
That was my first thought before they mentioned 'treatments'. It makes sense with her not knowing her mother and some of the comments, but she is very different than the others we know of at this point.

3. Montgomery's past was a sad one. And he looks like just a drunk with some natural instincts to protect the innocent. Were you surprised he was considering not to accept the job, and then when the incident happens and he needs to kill the hybrid he decides to stay?

He does seem to be both hiding and punishing himself.

4. I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't explain exactly how his studies came to be. In a scientific point of view, how is it even possible? We're in the 1870s... way before in vitro fertilization or genetic advances... and he manages to separate and mix genomes, or as called in the book gemmules? Not to mention that the original story was written way before cloning was a thing....

I'm usually more disappointed when people try to explain without having a clue (echo wife was a big no for me for this reason).

5. So, hybrids are dangerous. Specially when they're still developing, and their animal instincts are overpowering the human ones (in theory, since we had no idea what the level of brain maturity the developing hybrid was). Back in the movie, there is a rebellion and it doesn't end well for humans. Do you think it will be the case here?

Are they? Or are they dangerous because they are animals? I have no preconceived notions, which I think is a good thing. Less disappointing.

And a bonus, Am I the only one that is sad that we're jumping 6 years? I wanted to see the fall out from the incident
I have a feeling we will see enough of how the fall out affected folks.

Emily wrote: "Can I join too"

Of course! Welcome.

At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop

Alfa Ndiaye is a Senegalese man who, never before having left his village, finds himself fighting as a so-called “Chocolat” soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man’s Land.

Unable to commit this mercy killing, madness creeps into Alfa’s mind as he comes to see this refusal as a cruel moment of cowardice. Anxious to avenge the death of his friend and find forgiveness for himself, he begins a macabre ritual: every night he sneaks across enemy lines to find and murder a blue-eyed German soldier, and every night he returns to base, unharmed, with the German’s severed hand. At first his comrades look at Alfa’s deeds with admiration, but soon rumors begin to circulate that this super soldier isn’t a hero, but a sorcerer, a soul-eater. Plans are hatched to get Alfa away from the front, and to separate him from his growing collection of hands, but how does one reason with a demon, and how far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend?

Peppered with bullets and black magic, this remarkable novel fills in a forgotten chapter in the history of World War I. Blending oral storytelling traditions with the gritty, day-to-day, journalistic horror of life in the trenches, David Diop's At Night All Blood is Black is a dazzling tale of a man’s descent into madness.

Selected by students across France to win the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, David Diop’s English-language, historical fiction debut At Night All Blood is Black is a “powerful, hypnotic, and dark novel” (Livres Hebdo) of terror and transformation in the trenches of the First World War.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
The Sentence

The Sentence asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book.

A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading with murderous attention, must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

I'm doing well reading, and will likely read more then my 7 this month. How much does this matter and should I include everything on the sheet? I'm going to try a longer book next, so will take some time but not the rest of the month.

Also, if there is something we really need, let me know.

Rose wrote: "I'll update the spreadsheet tonight. I'm in something of a slump so I'm going to try to reserve Sunday as a reading day to get back into it. it's not that I'm disliking what I read, I just have iss..."

I think everyone has slumps. I usually just need to try a different genre.

I'll be starting a book with an orange cover soon.

DQ Day 3
Chapters 16-21


11. The fight with Raff's old band (who looked like clowns) that ended with snakes is one of the first times we see the almost full band working together. What did you think of this scene? Did you like the action or was it confusing?
I thought it was funny. A bit confusing, but mostly funny.

12. So the hoarder kobolds - I thought they were great! And the bird-like creatures pulling the carriage. Do you have a favorite creature you've seen so far, or one you'd like to see? Tell why.
I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the creatures, although I am enjoying it.

13. I think in the last half of this section we really start understanding what a big deal the Kings of Wyld really were. And we get to compare them to the Screaming Eagles. What do you think about the ethics and popularity of the new bands that kill captive monsters in arenas?
Not a fan of the new way. I think Clay did have something when thinking it is different, but maybe not as different as one may like to feel comfortable.

14. Lastleaf gave his (and the hordes') motivations for conquest. Do you think his reasons were valid, or is he just evil? Do you feel at all sorry for the monsters?
His reasons feel valid. Hard to say, plenty of folks use twist valid reasons to their own agenda, but I am not sure. I think we are supposed to start feeling for them. Especially with Oozilk.

15. We all picked our favorite character in day 1 questions. Has yours changed since then?
Talia hasn't been around, sadly. So, I'll probably choose Moog. He's the comic relief who still manages to help in his own destructively crazy ways.

DQ Day 2
Chapters 9 - 15

6. We meet the 3rd member of the band, the wizard Moog. What are your impressions of the wizard? Were you as surprised as Clay that he agreed to go right away?

Crazy magician! Not surprised. He is dying and spending time with his 'family' seems right.

7. That was some entrance to the palace, don't you think? What were your first impressions of Matrick? Were you surprised by the turn of events in chapter 11? Excited or worried when Moog announces that he had a plan?

I was definitely worried, but it had to work to some degree or the story would end. I like Matrick.

8. After several descriptions sprinkled thoughout the story thus far, we finally meet a druin. What do you think his plan is? Why does he really want the Council to stand down?

He wants to win, and to make it easy. He seems to have quite a bit of power and wants to show it off. Not sure if there may be another reason, but time will tell.

9. Were you surprised at how Lillian arranged the funeral? What did you think of Clay's contribution? How successful would you rate Moog's plan?

Lilian seems very self centered and possibly one dimensional. I saw it coming when they said he wasn't going to be buried. Minus the monster in the water. Moog's plan worked well, with the help of Clay.

10. Gabriel borrows Moog's crystal ball to check on his daughter. Were you surprised at what he saw? What did you think of the band's reaction?

Not really surprised, although we didn't actually see Rose. What he saw seemed to match what they had heard. And of course she is still alive.

Late but trying to catch up...
DQs Day 1
Ch 1 to CH 8

1.) What do you think of the premise of the book, like an aging rock band getting back together to go on tour but an adventuring band instead? Is the author pulling it off so far?

I find it amusing, it works well the way the author is writing it.

2.) The rocks, may of hit me a bit in the feels. Did it affect your opinion of Gabe at all?

I like Gabe. This made me sad, but showed his humanity. He reminds me of a few people I know who appeared tough, but were super softies when you got to know them. At least so far....

3.) How do you like the world building, is it being done effectively for you without major info dumping? Is it helping to set the stage for the story?

I think so. I don't feel overwhelmed or lost.

4.) What did you think about the parade? Did anyone else enjoy Clay's reaction to the ladies being whistled at and be disappointed when the lady blew a kiss back instead of skewering the guy (like Clay expected to happen)?

I wish they would have skewered someone as well. There are plenty of things now that feel ceremonial and crazy rather than merit based.

5.) Do you have a favorite character so far?
Talia, but I doubt she will be around much.


Bonus: Taking a poll for a very important question. On the Tassel Farm: Centaur or Moose? Centaur.

Welcome Dawn and Snowtulip!

I just got Kings of the Wyld this morning. Guess I'll try it!

Is anyone reading Kings of the Wyld? I am waiting for a copy and wondering if it is worth it. It probably come in where I'll be doing DQs just for points and not for discussion since most folks will have finished. I'll be reading the other 2 BOMs.

Hi all! I am Stacey, and I live in Cincinnati with my family. I've been busy with UNO and real life things, so I haven't had enough time to think about this challenge yet. This is my third time playing so I should pick it back up quickly. I did manage to check out the books of the month and will hopefully get to write some DQs.

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...