Audrey Jane’s Comments (group member since May 27, 2014)

Audrey Jane’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

I don't mind keeping our word/theme this round since it seems that as a team we might complete the assignment (I presume we won't be penalized if we don't complete it). And what Alison said regarding bonus points vs page points makes sense, so I shall make up for my lack of spiritual tagged books by reading longer books + BOM participations (will join Sammy for The Only Good Indians).

Laura..devouring books like crumpets wrote: "are all teams having to read for spirituality or just us... can we spin again for a different genre?"

At first glance, I think it's just us :
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Eni wrote: "Sonia wrote: "Yeah, know the feeling."

shouldn't you be working? -_-'"

Hahaha, Eni ! Priceless :D

Didn't know spiritual was a tag! I'm afraid I won't be much of a help here, like my team mates above, not really my cup of tea. I love reading non-fiction but mostly about history and medicine. You may count on me if we ever spin that :)
Will keep my BOM read House of Hollow for our next spell it out then.

Sorry for being a bit quiet. I just spent the last couple of days with two of the most extroverted/high energy members of my family. I'm completely spent now.



So far I'm on track with my reading. I will definitely be able to finish 3 books for this round. Maybe I can squeeze in a 4th book which will be the BOM. I'm really enjoying my current reads. Especially my non-fiction book which is about the French court under Louis XIV (which so far sounds like an introvert's nightmare). French aristocrats are highly entertaining though.

Have a lovely trip, Sammy ! I'm obsessed with scones and clotted cream <3 Difficult to find here. I can make scones but clotted cream is a tedious process.

Liked Locke as well, Sonia. I pictured it as Ocean Eleven in medieval Venice. Beautiful setting and costumes. Will have to check out Leverage ;)
I read book 2 & 3 as well and it's true that they are self contained.

You may add Scott Lynch to the list. Unfortunately won't continue the Gentleman Bastard series anymore. Still would like to see a movie version of the first book if possible though.

@Kaley: Haha, I feel you !

@Eni: He was found as a kitty in the woods near the highway. I didn't know he would turn out to be Norwegian :p And yes, it's everywhere! I have to brush His Royal Fluffiness at least once a week.

Yes, acquire a cat! They are so funny. Whenever I'm reading in bed or on the sofa one of my cats always insists on laying across my throat/face making it uncomfortable to read as well as breathe (as he's a Norwegian forest cat, he's quite big).

@Alison: Gilded is also on my radar. Hope it's a good one!

Happy reading everyone !!
Will try to aim for one longer book per round.

Sammy wrote: "I wasn't going to pick up another book, but I gave in to temptation and picked up The Prestige, it's a very fast, enjoyable read though, and it looks like I may finish it this evening..."

How does it compare with the movie so far ? I just can't bring myself to read it but have watched the movie a couple of times. Loved Clark Gable as Rhett Butler. I mean...

Cleared my currently reading shelf so ready to go. Watched a couple of episodes of Band of Brothers yesterday evening instead of reading (David Schwimmer is phenomenal in his role). Like Melinda, will probably start reading tomorrow.

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?
I don't know. They might have, if Kara made it through maybe they as well found a way to their portal. The author left that to our imagination.

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?
It was scary and that scene was pretty intense. I was wondering though why some animals took Kara's side since they were animated by the otter so I didn't expect them to help her.

16. What did you think of Kara's 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?
It was a bit overwhelming, I remember putting the book down a couple of times during that bit because I needed a break.

17. We find out how the corpse-otter ended up at the Wonder Museum. Did you figure it out earlier, or were you surprised?
That it came from Woody? I was wondering when they will figure out the timeline and connect it to Woody's objects and contact him in order to know more. I didn't expect the origin of the otter though. If Woody was my friend I would be terribly upset that he left me in the dark which Kara was a bit as well.

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!
Based on what Woody and Kara said, these holes may appear at anytime anyplace so in their stead I would still not feel entirely comfortable. She alluded that they might have to deal with some ptsd and nightmares, I presume it will take some time for them to put it all behind.

Lexi wrote: "Audrey Jane wrote: "Cat wrote: "Incidentally, I don't really recognise the image on the cover as being a willow. They are usually spindly sorts of trees, being helpful for baskets and fencing so ne..."

Ooh, Lexi, I actually know that tree, they are the ones that make me sneeze :) I didn't know that was their English name.

Laura..devouring books like crumpets wrote: "Quick question is it the edition we read or default and if ots.an audio book?"

Good question. During Tower Teams it was the edition you read for ebook/paperback and the default edition on GR for audiobook but they might have changed that rule. Will wait for our captains to confirm.

Sammy wrote: "Well, it's not 100%, but it is very close to the excuse one of the students I had on work placement with me a few years back gave me for not showing up for work one day. :D"

Haha, I thought I already heard al sorts of excuses but this takes the cake :)

That's quite specific, Sammy, it makes me wonder if it's based on real events :)

Joanne wrote: "I've had the worst luck with my last 2 laptops (including one that broke 2 days after the warranty expired) so I'm really hoping the third time is the charm to break that cycle. So far no issues. I..."

My younger sister had to same bad luck with her laptops as you. She burned through 3 laptops while I had no issue with mine in the same timespan. It's 9 years old by now I think. Only the battery is dead and needs to be plugged in at all times. I have a work laptop but the screen size/illumination hurts my eyes.

I use the GR app to check and the website on laptop to update/comment.

I will be participating to the BOMs discussions as I voted for both books. I will refrain from volunteering for DQs at the moment since I did them for the last 3 BOMs and I need a breather and read at my own pace for a bit. Will definitely be there for the 20 extra points though ;) Glad your nomination won, Sammy !

Day Three - 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 couldn't believe it at first, had to read on because I wanted to be sure if they were safe. No other option, reading before bed is my only reading time. I thought the scenes where the taxidermy was coming to life well done.

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?
Her ex seems overbearing. Don't understand why he's calling for the reason he's calling. The mother seems all right, I felt she was genuinely worried about her daughter.

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?
If I could chose, I rather be trapped in Narnia than in this.

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?
It makes it creepier. It makes me wonder about their fates and where they actually come from since they're talking about different worlds.

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)?
I love Beau. All the scenes with Beau were awesome. I like that some cats really do behave like guard dogs and have a general delusion of grandeur. However that's debatable; sometimes cats are indeed better than us.

Cat wrote: "Incidentally, I don't really recognise the image on the cover as being a willow. They are usually spindly sorts of trees, being helpful for baskets and fencing so needing flexible whippy branches. ..."

No, indeed, at the beginning of the book I thought that maybe out of all the willows, one tree wasn't and that might be significant. Not so sure now. It looks like a bonsai to me :)