ClaireB’s Comments (group member since Jul 06, 2014)

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

Judith wrote: "Read for fun? Start a longer book for Round 2?

Reading for Round 1 ends on Oct 17th, I'll find the countdown and post it in here. Then we get our customers, feed them, make the few bonus swaps and..."

Alright, so starting big books, for fun also, it is !

So. Six more books to go before we've reached the max. When is the end of the round exactly? What happens with the books we finish after we've reached 80?

Oh jeez. I'm gonna be broke again. Why do they come up with all these amazing editions? I want them all !!!

Haha, that's such a fun gif. I love it !

Day 6 DQ - Chapters XIX - XXI

16. Telegonos ventures out into the world for the first time. Not quite the adventure he imagined - how do you think the incident with Odysseus and the knowledge that the world is different from what he imagined is going to affect him for the coming years?

Well it's bound to traumatize him somewhat. It's horrible. Imagine you travel such a long way to meet your father and he gets angry and throws himself at your weapon. The trauma !

17. Telemachus' story doesn't quite sound like the Odysseus that was depicted in previous chapters, even if Circe seems to recognise a lot of the traits. I never thought he'd be this paranoid. In light of the boy's disappointment in his own father, do you agree with Circe that Telemachus was honest when he said he wasn't out for revenge? What about Penelope though?

I think his switch in personality is in the Odyssee as well. I guess the paranoia served him well during his adventures. But now that he has to stay put he doesn't know what to do with this feeling. It's tragic really.
I thought Penelope was a bit weird. Not at all like I imagined her.

18. More than halfway through the book: do you enjoy the book? Do you (still/finally) like Circe?

I really like this book. Second time reading and I still love it.

Day 5 DQ - Chapters XVI - XVIII

13. What do you make of Odysseus himself? And of Circe's relationship with him?

I'm not a fan of Odysseus, nor of his relationship with Circe. I get she's lonely, but she can do better.

14. This one is for the more mythology knowledgeable ones among us: Have you read The Iliad? For those less knowledgeable in actual myths: or have you seen the movie Troy? In how far do Odysseus' stories and accounts reflect what has been written by Homer?

I haven't read the Illyad, but I read the Odysee. I recognize the story with the cyclops, and of course his encounter with Circe. But her story is really a short segment.

15. Witch pregnancies do not strike me as particularly easy... But neither is the aftermath it seems! What do you make of Athena's appearance and her attempts at killing Circe's son? What do you think is the real reason she wants to see him dead? What is he going to do? (If you know your mythology and there is an actual background to this, I'm curious!)

Athena is horrible in this book. I really didn't like her. It's strange because I usually consider her one of my favourite greek divinity.
Before reading this book I didn't even know Circe had a son. So I don't know what her real motivations are.

I was also always in front of the tv early in the morning as a child. and I watched a lot of crap. We had all of those japan-france collabs of low quality, mostly adaptations of depressive classics. Well the classics themselves weren't always depressive, they just made it so. We got A Little Princess, Little Women but the worst was an adaptation of a french classic called Without Family, in which a young boy just loses companions after companions. It was just the worst, and it was the first thing I saw in the morning. Way to start your day...

OMG, me too !!!

Sammy wrote: "I used to collect the smurf figures as a kid. had dozens of them. then I gave them to my kids who destroyed them. Wish I'd saved them, because they're worth a small fortune now! lol."

I also had a few as a child. I have no idea where they are now.

Sonia wrote: "First argument I had with my cousin when I was 8 and she was 6, right when I git back from Venezuela, was because of a Smurfette Puzzle we got her as a xmas present.

Our parents had to intervene s..."

Aaaaw. You must have been so confused. It's so cute.

Oh and out of curiosity I checked whether they were actually called Suske and Wiske in english. Seems like in the UK they are Spike and Suzy and in the US Willy and Wanda or sometimes Luke and Lucy.
It makes absolutely no sense. Lol

Yep, and Suske and Wiske are called Bob and Bobette in french. And the Smurfs are Schtoumpf (pronounced shtroomf).

Sonia wrote: "✿ Claire ✿ wrote: "Just read a passage in that has me shocked. I don't know if I should laugh or be offended.

"It wasn’t that I did not believe in ghosts; it was that..."

Good point. I guess there's just no way to place an imaginary country between two other countries in Europe without offending anyone.
Actually, the Princess Diaries movie did it better than Cassandra Clare. LOL

Eldarwen wrote: "✿ Claire ✿ wrote: "Just read a passage in that has me shocked. I don't know if I should laugh or be offended.

"It wasn’t that I did not believe in ghosts; it was that..."

Poor Luxemburg, everybody forgets about it most of the time. Except for their neighbouring countries...

I think the author was trying to make a joke. But it really didn't work, because the character thinking that is from Brittain originally, and at the time it is set in, Belgium was thriving and had a really good relationship with Brittain. So I can't believe she wasn't sure Belgium existed. Plus she just came back from a travel through europe. You can't tell me she didn't study the map before leaving?? It was just plain stupid.
That's too bad really, because apart from that the book was fun to read.

Just read a passage in that has me shocked. I don't know if I should laugh or be offended.

"It wasn’t that I did not believe in ghosts; it was that I believed in them in the same noncommittal way that I believed in giant squids or lucky coins or Belgium. They were things that probably existed, but I had never had any occasion to really care one way or another."

Whaaaaat???! Belgium is a myth, now? What, what???
Belgium is seldom mentioned in books, so when it is I notice it immediately. But it's the first time I see its existence is questioned.
(Not counting the fact that in City of Bones Cassandra Clare, when discussing the location of Idris, asserts that there's nothing between France and Germany. Slight geographical faux pas... At the time, I decided not to be offended and that Cassandra Clare meant that Idris was Belgium. I liked the idea that we were all secretly shadowhunters.
funny fact, in the french translation they put Idris between France and Spain. Less chance to offend anyone when having that discussion.)

Judith wrote: "✿ Claire ✿ wrote: "Still no notifications. I can't believe they leave us without them for so long."

I was coming to this thread to whine about the same thing. This is some kind of horrid record I ..."

It goes with this Horror theme they've got going at the moment

Eldarwen wrote: "Fair warning:

My weekend was slow for reading due to migraine so I'm a bit further behind than I wanted to be.

DQ for the next two days will therefore not be up immediately! Bear with me :-)
The..."

Sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better now.

Still no notifications. I can't believe they leave us without them for so long.

It's the worst, especially in the middle of a group challenge. I just keep my pages open and try to refresh them every couple of hour or so. Such a waste of time.