Nanci’s Comments (group member since Jan 29, 2016)

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

Ann Sicker wrote: "Nanci wrote: "Jessi wrote: "@Nanci and Ann, If you ladies would answer DQ's for Five Feet Apart for me please. Answer at least three days of DQs so we can get the BOM points! :D"

N..."

I saw a few of your posts, Ann. Just go back to them then go to the http bar at the top of the thread, copy it and paste it in this link. I usually give the post too. Hope that helps!

Here's my link to Day 5 for Five Feet questions. It's Message 262
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Jessi to recap for you:
Five Feet Apart
Day 1 post 89
Day 4 post 259
Day 5 post 262

20. I was 6 miles into my walk when Will said “I’m all for being rebellious, but this seems like a death wish. Two kids with barely functioning lungs walking two miles one-way to go look at light?” and it hit me for a moment how often I take the the little things for granted. Even though this was not meant to be some life changing philosophical book, do you think you’ll look at certain things differently?

I didn't know much about CF before reading this book. I like that it put such a personal face(s) on the disease. Whenever I read anything about people who have harder paths than I do, it makes me much more grateful for my easy life and more in touch with remembering not everyone has it as easy.


21. I suppose this question can be answered many different ways. But when Stella got a call about the lung transplant and purposely ignored it, what was your initial reaction? If you put yourself in that situation, what do you think you would do? If you are a parent, what do you think you’d want your child to do in that situation?

My initial reaction was, "Oh no, girl! You've got to take your chance when it comes." Then I immediately knew that it was just to put some suspense into the story. A person with Stella's personality is not going to let that pass her by after all her dreaming and planning.

22. A part of me really thought they would go the whole book without touching and the ice skating scene actually surprised me. Are you glad that they added that into the book or did it feel unrealistic knowing how Stella was at the beginning of the book?

Well that was a very dramatic scene! I thought it was cool (although probably unrealistic) that Will's touch saved her life. I do think it was sad that after he gave her mouth to mouth, they never actually got to enjoy a kiss.

23.Them seeing each other at the airport but not talking but knowing they still love each other is not how I expected the book to end. Were you satisfied with the ending? Would you have wanted them to get on the same plane?

I liked the ending. It would have been way to painful for them to try to be friends and opening up to a heavier relationship was not going to work either.

24.Did you have a favorite character? What was your favorite scene? Be honest here, did you cry at any point in the book? Any final thoughts/rants/praises on this book you didn’t get to share yet? Drop them here!<\b>

I liked all the kids. Probably Stella was my favorite. I did tear up a bit when Poe died, even though I knew it would happen. He was just such an awesome kid.

My link for Day 4 DQ comments are here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Message 308

Discussion Questions Day 4 - Part 7 - 9

13: The characters have each made some defining decisions on the vacation. Which decision or resolution stuck out to you the most? Example - Mine was when Charlotte pretended not to see Cord at the end of part 9. It broke my heart to see her have so much difficulty loving her son!)

That was a really hard part for me too. Charlotte is not that much older than me, so I really can't blame her narrow mindedness on her age. I think it was just part of her personality where she wanted everything on the outside to look just perfect. She stated that she would be embarrassed about it if her friends found out. So sad that she's more worried about what her friends think, than she is about her relationship with her son!

14: Why do you think Charlotte took on and passed on the traits of her mother that she didn’t appreciate? What might have been different in her interactions with her children if she intentionally shook those off? Example traits are her mother’s inability to communicate, and her disapproval turning into a lack of love)

I think Charlotte just repeated the mistakes of her mother because she just couldn't make the change and love her children without so much judgement. We all mimic our parents to an extent and it takes a lot of work to change those patterns. I had hope that by the end of the book, she was learning to be more accepting.

15: The characters each have a flaw in that they hold back a piece of themselves from their family and the ones they love. Which character is the hardest to read about and why?

Regan was hardest for me. She had so much contempt for her husband that she was fantasizing about murdering him, but then in the end when he left her, she was so lost. I didn't really relate to her.

16: This was my first time reading this author. Do you think you’d read something else by Amanda Eyre Ward? Why or why not?
I have her book How to Be Lost on my TBR. I really like the cover, as I liked the cover for this book too. "You can't judge a book by it's cover" really is true sometimes! I didn't mind this book as much as many in this challenge did. I thought it was for the most part a good summer read. I wasn't expecting an outstanding book, so I wasn't let down. I liked it enough that at some point I will read the one of my TBR, but it's not like I'm going to rush out and read it right away!

My link for Day 4 questions for Five Feet apart is:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
message 257.

Day 4 Questions Chapters 16-21

15. We get to find out about the title in this section. What did you guys think about the new rule, and the reason behind it?

Before we learned the reason for the title I kept thinking, "The rule is 6 feet." I liked how it was a way Stella could basically follow the rule, but cheat just a bit. I haven't measured a pool cue, but guessing 5 feet is probably about the length. I have found it interesting during COVID, people's perception of 6 feet. Most people stand more like 3 feet apart. My husband is 6'2", so it's very easy for me to envision him lying between me and someone else to figure out 6'. It's actually much farther than most people envision.

16. Did you all like Stella and Will’s first date? Do you think you would have the self control to stay away from the love of your life?
As an aside, are there any YA books of this type that allow the kids to spend more than 6 minutes together before falling in love?

In real life it seems like YA fall "in love" in 6 minutes for the most part too. I recall my son saying, "But mom, I love her" after knowing a girl for one day! Then two weeks later he would again be "in love" with another girl! Haha!
I guess if you had CF, it would be more probable that you'd have control to stay away from the love of your life, but during COVID, I have seen many gf/bf not practicing SD, so it's a bit unrealistic for the masses.

17. They spend a page or two discussing the afterlife. Do you think their takes on it made sense to the characters? Realizing I am wading into murky waters here, did you want to discuss your own views? (Optional, teehee.)

The afterlife is a question most humans ponder at one point or another in their lives and many people wonder about it throughout their lives. It's one of those big questions to ponder! I think their views were typical for their characters. Kids of a certain age feel they are invincible, but when living with a serious health issue where your lifespan is dramatically shortened, I would imagine those people would not feel as invincible.
I am a Christian and have strong faith, but that's not to say that I don't have many questions. I like to think that God loves ALL people. Thankfully, it is not my job to judge, but just to love God and love others. It's really pretty simple!

18. Abby. We find out why happens to her here. What did you think of this reveal? Was it a satisfying explanation of the missing sister story to you?
So sad. Stella and her parents have really been hit hard. I didn't pick up earlier that Abby was not around anymore, so I was a bit surprised when it was revealed. When it was first mentioned, I thought her plane had crashed on the way to Arizona. I thought the diving accident was more realistic, although I did wonder why a young girl would dive off a cliff. I could see jumping, but diving would have to be fairly rare.

19. Chapter 21 is a bit of a rollercoaster. The birthday dinner is pretty cool. Did you like what Stella and all set up? Then, Poe. This hit me more than any of the other "feels" in the book. How did you take this? Discuss.

I thought the birthday surprise was fitting. Poe just broke my heart. I figured from the beginning that he would die, but it just happened so fast. I don't know much about CF, but I'm guessing that might not be too unusual to come on so fast.

I'm done with all my books for this round! Do we need to wait to begin our reading for Round 2?

Jessi wrote: "@Nanci and Ann, If you ladies would answer DQ's for Five Feet Apart for me please. Answer at least three days of DQs so we can get the BOM points! :D"

No problem! I'll submit more answers to both Five Feet Apart and one more answer to The Jetsetters! Last time I played I think they said you only needed to answer one set of questions, so that's why I didn't answer more.

I have two books unfinished, but will definitely get them done in time. Just another 120 pages in the quick one and a few more hours of listening in the audio one.

Good job getting those U's completed Ann and Nancy!

Looks like we could use Ann's newest book entered for the other U, if we need it.

Yay, Chava! We can move Nikk's book to letter I and then put your book in for N on the planning sheet. I often captain/co-captain challenges, so I'm comfortable making the changes, but don't want to step on Jessi or Nikk's toes, so I'll let one of them do it.

Way to go on finishing our last spell out team!

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Whole family woke up today with sore throats and kids are snotty and coughing so we had a family outing to the local COVID testing clinic. How fun 😮
Husband isn’t happy as he is now home with kids ..."

Not fun. Hang in there, Karen, and I hope no one tests positive!

megan wrote: "Finished my big big big book today! 1000+ page YA books are nothing compared to books that require family trees and google searches to read. Searching for JFK’s moon speech turned into calculating ..."

Way to go, Megan! That's going to get us MEGA points! I read the biography on Rosemary and it was very good, but of course sad. Sounds as if you really dove into it!

I started a quick read for the E in our 6th and last spell out. If two more teammates can read for the N and I, then we could finish our last spell out and get the additional points. If you have time to read, but can't find anything specific for the N or I, the captains can always move things around to make it work. We can do it, Cats!! :)

I've finished all my books and just have my audio book left for Round 1.
I'm hoping to be able to read one quick book to fit one of the remaining letters (P, N, U, I, E) in our last spell out to gain a few more points!

I'm reading The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz for round 2. I feel like it should have a tag for "delusional", but I tried looking the way Nikk explained and it isn't working again. I also tried looking the other way, but it's not listed with those books. If anyone is good at looking for tags and wants to look, be my guest!

Yay! Those are easy letters!

Seeing the countdown always gets me to kick it into high gear! I usually read multiple books at once, and I'm mostly done with all except my audio, so I'll get a few of those finished up by today.

Kate wrote: "Nanci wrote: "Kate,
How did you like our team book, The Travelling Cat Chronicles? I'm on a long wait list at our library, but hoping it comes in before Wheel ends!"

It was a cute ..."

Haha! Thanks, Kate. Sounds like something I'll enjoy!

Kate,
How did you like our team book, The Travelling Cat Chronicles? I'm on a long wait list at our library, but hoping it comes in before Wheel ends!