bamaace83 ’s Comments (group member since Dec 11, 2018)

bamaace83 ’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

I updated all my things. Now time to get ready for this SEC Championship game. I'll sit down tomorrow and plan my books and make sure I get some hard letters.

DQs - Day 3 - Chapter Nine - Twelve

10. We are about half way through the book now and I've been looking at the cover and trying to see how it fits with the story. The cover feels dark to me and so far I don't really feel that in the story. Do you feel like the cover fits the story?

I can see where the cover fits part of the story but I think it's a little darker for what this story is reading.

11. So the old fashioned booksellers in charge might feel the need to remove Susan if they find out her father is one of the Ancients. It seems like Merrihew and Thurston are not greatly respected in the Booksellers realm. How do you feel about them? Do you think they might be involved in what is happening to Susan?

At this point, I thought they were just fun characters to add to the story. I thought they may have something to do with Susan but not sure.


12. We keep getting all these references to books, musical groups, and other pop culture from the 80's. Take for example this quote: "The ground floor facing the street was all floor-to-ceiling high windows, with a wonderful display of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose complete with a cardboard castle to the left of the central revolving door, and a selection of new release thrillers an mysteries built up in a series of pyramids in the window to the right, including John Le Carre's The Little Drummer Girl, Jeffery Archer's First Among Equals, and Ken Follett's On Wings of Eagles." That sentence is long and the following one is not much shorter. How do you feel about all of these references?

I think they add to the story. I like them.

13. In the last section Vivian gives Susan a steel knife and salt and tells her how to bind something to herself. Do you think she will have to bind something? Any idea who or what she will bind?

I already finished but I thought she was going to use that to bind someone. Wasn't totally sure on which character she was going to bind though.

Totally forgot to do my questions for BOM so I'm doing those right now and I'm halfway through my other book. I started reading it earlier this week and then put it down and picked up other things so I'll have it done in time.

DQ's - Day 2 - CHAPTER 5 to CHAPTER 8

6. Merlin and Susan get pulled into the May Fair. "The happiness is unsettling, all the smiling and laughing". Was there a part of the fair that stuck out to you? And would YOU have noticed the colorless rose?

That fair was so busy and crazy. I think I would have noticed the colorless rose but in my real-life job, I take in my surroundings, notice all the small things, and that helps me do what I do so I think I probably would've noticed it as I scanned and looked at everything.


7. Susan seems to have some sort of powers of command, which we see with the wolf at the end of the fair, and hear more about at the end of Chapter 8. What are your guesses about her heritage? Do you have any new guesses about her father?

Already finished but at this point I thought her father was very powerful but couldn't figure out where he fit into the picture at.


8. My favorite part of these chapters was reading about the New Bookstore and its contents. If you could spend time in there, what would you want to check out?


Yes, I would want to really spend time in the bookstore just learning about all the different things. I love bookstores.

9. The grandmothers were interesting. Any thoughts about them? If I were one of the grandmothers, I'd totally be hanging out with my mastiff. What would you have keeping you company?

I would totally have a dog beside me to hang out with. My dog at home would be a great companion.

DQ'S DAY 1 - PROLOGUE - CHAPTER 4

1. I nominated this book because titles with libraries or books naturally draw me in and I've wanted to read a Garth Nix book for ages. What are your reasons for reading.. long term Garth Nix affectionado or "It's only about the points, baby"?

I only read the book for the points. I probably would've been talked to it at some point.

2. Wikipedia (The Oracle of quick searches about whatever and sometimes actually factual) defines a prologue as "Opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one and other miscellaneous information." What have you learnt in this particular prologue that seems important to the story moving forward?

We know that it's going to be a fantasy type book. Gives us more background to Susan and her family. We have a little bit of information going into the story.

3. Chapter 1 introduces us to our main protagonists in a scene filled with murder, fashion descriptions and a giant louse! First impressions of Merlin and Susan and any sign if they will be friends or enemies or maybe even frenemies ?

I totally need to do these questions as I read a book...I think at this time I thought that they were going to develop into more than friends.


4. Right handed and left handed booksellers policing multi layered worlds and realities. Set in 1983 London but the language and environment heavily leans on the Victorian Age. Are you comfortable with the preliminary world building, do you find it interesting and unique or same old same old in the YA fantasy genre?

I like it. I think it adds to the story. I read some YA fantasy but usually only for challenges so it's a nice change of pace.


5. It seems someone is after Susan, probably because of her mysterious missing father. Who do you think he is and what maybe is his significance in this alternate world and to the plot in general?

I thought that he was going to play a big part in the story but I couldn't figure out exactly what he was going to bring to the story.

I just updated all my books from this week. It was a crazy work week and I only worked half a day today so I'm spending this afternoon fixing all the things. I can totally take some of those harder letters. I just need to figure out what to read. I know that I'm working on one book that is still on the spreadsheet but I should get at least 2 books finished before the deadline tomorrow. I'll look at letters after I finish this one to make sure I get one that fits.

Cool, thanks that's on my TBR so I may see if I can get an audio version for this week.

Same, audiobooks are going to power me through this week. Work is pretty busy and I'm hoping for some downtime but if not it's audio in the car and some random shorter ones at night. I'll be able to add a few more books on the list though even if my page counts may not be what I want them to be.

If anyone here is crazy like me and is doing turf wars also, the .05 list has some psychological thrillers on it that are tagged more than 10 people. I love when I can use a book for all the things. :)

I hope you have a good weekend even though it's going to be a busy one. I finished the BOM right before the Bama game came on so I'll probably update my questions tomorrow at some point. I'm trying to pull these boys through in this game but whew it's going to be a long football game. Sheesh.

Happy Thanksgiving and if it's not for you than Happy Thursday. I hope everyone had a great day. I'm looking at a 3 day weekend and my husband is working all 3 days so I'm hoping to seriously knock out some reading. We didn't travel this year due to work schedules so this means I have 3 days of pretty much doing nothing. I'm secretly excited about that.

I'll probably get at least 1 if not 2 more added. I'll have lots of reading time this upcoming weekend. I'll finish all the books that I have listed first and then I'll add a couple more.

That's psychological thrillers. I know that I'll read some more books than what I have listed. I think anyways.

It's me again. I found this list https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3.... It has a ton of books on there that I've read, that are on my TBR, and just some good ones. I picked two that were on my TBR to read but there are a bunch. Also, it's a little shorter page count but if someone needs a smaller book due to traveling, holidays, etc. double dips with green writing and psych thriller if we are able to do that.

So if anyone hasn't read The Wife Upstairs, it works for psych thriller and works for the letter E because of the main character. It's a super quick read that I gave 5 stars this year and y'all should check it out.

I'm on the hunt for thriller books too. Oh, we can totally take 3rd place. I'm reading this BOM also so I will have it finished this week. I plan on starting it today and doing it in chunks. Off to play with this spreadsheet with the books that I know I'm reading this week and then off to find some thrillers also.

Thanks! I just went to do that. I updated the BOM links. :)

We are doing Black Friday online from the couch. I don't want to go out in the mass of people. I think it's going to be crazy out there.

DQs Day 3: Sweat Lodge Massacre - Shirts and Skins (61%)

9. What do you think about what happened to Lewis and people’s reaction to the news?

I think people acted the way they did due to Lewis just losing himself. I do feel some people could have showed a little more emotions at time.

10. The section title is “Sweat Lodge Massacre.” Do you think the two other guys (Gabe and Cass) will live through this section? Do you think other bystanders or even Gabe’s daughter will be killed?

I already read the book but going back to that section I do think they would make it through. Not sure who else is going to die because this book is weird.


11. What do you think of this section so far as compared to the first one?

Not a fan of the book overall but this section is okay. I feel about the same as I did with the previous section

12. Where do you think the dogs went at the end of this section? Do you think there is a relation do between the elk woman and dogs or just used for the imagery?

I feel the dogs have an important part of the story. Dogs are so smart in understanding what is going on around them.

DQs Day 2: Friday - Still Tuesday 68 - 129 (42%)

5. Wow. I was not expecting this section to end that way, did you? I really thought Lewis was going to be our main protagonist for the rest of the story. Were you surprised like me or were you able to predict the bloody ending?

I wasn't surprised. I didn't predict it though but wasn't really surprised either.

6. Lewis was often wondering why the “elk woman” was terrorizing him and his friends in this order. What do you think? Any predictions on which friend we’ll follow next?

I already finished the book and am behind on my questions but I will say I didn't really know who was going to go next.

7. Do you think the elk woman is real or just in the minds of our protagonists? If she is real: any ideas of who she might be?

I don't think she is real. I think she is an imaginary character but still important to the story.

8. At one point Lewis thinks that Shaney can’t be all bad because she doesn’t fold down the pages on books. What are your feelings on dog-earing books? How do you like to keep your place when you read?

I dog ear books if I don't have a bookmark available. Sometimes, I just put a piece of scrap paper in between pages but a lot of times I'll just turn the corner of the page down.

I'm updating my stuff now. I finished the Indians book last night. I made it through but whew that was tough. I have the other BOM to read also and I'll start it tomorrow. I hope that it's better.

Thanks for all those book recommendations. I'm going to see what I can fit in out of those.

Pumpkin rolls sound fun! Craft fairs are always fun and you can get so many holiday gifts at them. We don't really have many plans this week but we do have some Christmas traditions that we will do in December. We are planning a low key Thanksgiving. John's sister is coming up so the 3 of us will hang out, eat, and then put the decorations up that night while watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.