Keli’s Comments (group member since Jun 23, 2016)

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

Also, i read Mort for BOM and answered three days of questions, but I don have any bom points showing. I know it's listed in the jackanory but if we use it for Bom and replace the jackanory, we'll get more points.
I'm about to add Real Life to the SS. It doesn't involve death collecting souls, but it does have a story about the devil getting you, winning souls if you let him in. And how thunderstorms are God's wrath. Ir might be a hood trade.

Thanks so much for your hardwork captains!
I'll help write the story but I won't be able to get to it until Saturday. Is this all finished by the 31st?

Winning is a bonus. I've enjoyed this and we've completed everything, that's what counts in my book.

Just finished Olive Kitteridge, meh. I love Strout's writing but the book wasn't Pulitzer material to me.

Sophie wrote: "The last book I read was Jade City which I had high hopes for but sadly thought it was a mediocre read. Oh well, not continuing with the series means 2 fewer books on my tbr."

😬😬I've got Jade city in my pile. Hmmm, i may bump it after reading this. I've had a series of mediocre reads, i want something fab.

DQ - Day 5
Start: Albert sat on his narrow bed..."


21. Wow, Albert has got quite the temper on him! The way he goes about ordering the wizards around and wanting to change the current ways of the Unseen University. Do you think the changes would have worked the way he intended, had he stayed? What do you think happened to Albert's staff though? Also, one has to commend the owners of the Drum though to have passed down a debt for generations.
I was not expecting such meanness from Albert. I didn't think the changes would stick, only cos I thought he would want to return to not aging back in the realm of Death.

22. Mort and Ysabell go on an adventure, and the changes in Mort seem to take root completely though Ysabell manages to snap him out of it. Somewhere down the line, the two of them have fallen in love. Did you expect this to happen? Do you think they are a good fit?
I didn’t expect it at all. When and where did it happen? Honestly, I was actually rather surprised. And I'm not sure they're going to be a good fit. Isn't she really like 60 or something. I don't have thr book anymore but did she say she been 16 for decades?! I maybe remembering it wrong.

23. For someone who doesn't actually feel emotions, DEATH seems a bit put out with Mort, and it culminates in a fight between DEATH and Mort. Would DEATH have killed Mort? Or was he always planning to turn the hourglass around and have the boy start over?
Honestly, I don't know. I thought the ending very strange. It felt at odds to the whole tone of the book. Was this all just a metaphor for trying to escape responsibility and become someone else, as this is what both Albert and Death were doing. I do think if Death had been serious he would've won. Besides a winning Death would have been even more at odds with the rest of the story. So, yeah, he probably would have been planning to turn it all along. But maybe not as he let a lot of people die, get wounded and/or have near death experiences for no good reason otherwise. I don't know.🤷‍♀️

24. What did you make of the ending? Was it a satisfying solution to the problem of a reality slightly out of whack? Mort tells DEATH that he has certainly learnt a lot while working as his apprentice. What do you think the most important lesson might have been?
I thought the fight weird but the wedding scene was okay. I've no idea what Mort learnt. Coordination, maybe.

25. Don't you just adore DEATH? *grin* Which was your favourite character or appearance in this book, and why?
Death was alright.

26. Did you enjoy this book? If you've read the previous month's BOM, Equal Rites, does it compare? Or not?
I gave this book 2.5 stars. It was silly, which I liked but that was about it. All the characters were pretty flat, except Death. The story was fairly dull. I liked Equal Rites better. Not sure Id read anymore in this series. I do have two others, so maybe but not soon.

I haven't fille in any of the jackanory slots with my books. Captains, would you all like for me to do that? Or would you prefer to input where you think appropriate.

Sarah wrote: "⚚♆ Cynthia ♆⚚ wrote: "Hi Team! For those of you that have read Mort, which justification can I add for the white horse? I am going to pick one of yours for the BINGO rather than waiting for me to f..."

🤦‍♂️lol I didn’t even think of that.

I still have one more day's questions to answer for bom points.

I managed to finish three books this weekend and two of them fit this challenge.

Magic for Liars and Blood Kissed.

I enjoyed Magic for Liars. It was a well written magical realism mystery. But Blood Kissed was so boring. Nice cover though.

DQs Day 2 - start: "Five minutes later, Mort was lost"
end: "Sooner or later, everyone remembered the magic word (p98)


Q6 - Mort walked through the walls a few times but couldn't when he tried to get into the castle. Why do you think this happened?He was too aware of it. Maybe the magic exists and liminal spaces open up only subconsciously

Q7- What do you think of Ingneous Cutwell's character?I think he's pretty brilliant. He's like a college student wizard.

Q8 - The Abbot has been reincarnated 53 times. The concept of reincarnation is an interesting one. If you were to be born again what life would you choose?

Q9 - Death sent Mort to reap three souls. In light of how he performed do you think Mort was ready for the job?Well, he'd have to go out at some point. I think he did alright, except for Keli. But 2 of 3 is pretty good.

Q10 - Mort found Ysabelle's handkerchief in the library. Why is she reading other people's life?Because she doesn't have much of one. She's stuck in a grey world with a skeleton supernatural father and an ancient butler. All she has are those books.

1. Mort is nothing if not determined. He refuses to give up on being a “prentice” until the last stoke of midnight. Then at the very last second, Death arrives for him. Do you think Mort was quick to take the apprenticeship perhaps from feeling humiliated at the days events or was it something that truly intrigued him? Would you have been willing to work for Death?
Honestly, I'm not too sure Mort thought about it very long. Though I do think it intrigued him.

2. Death has a sarcastic tone during this first section. What do you think of his fawning over Mort to ensure he gets new clothes and food and Death eating with him like a regular guy? Is he up to something sinister or does he just want to make Mort comfortable?
I can’t remember but I'm fairly sure he states that he is doing this as this might be the last time Mort truly engages with his mortal world. Well, in a normal way. So I guess he was trting to put Mort at ease.

3. Mort may be a bit gangly and lost in his own head at times, but he seems to have a lot of compassion. Upon realizing that he was talking to Death, he asked him to spare his Dad. Later he tries to intervene and warn the King that he was about to be killed and finally on that same trip he wanted to tell the King’s daughter not to trust the Duke. What did you think of all that? Are these normal reactions to someone who is the apprentice to Death? Do you think it will continue as Mort sees more and more of Death’s duty?


4. What is up with the constant utterance of “Mort” every time someone calls our MC anything other than Mort or Mortimer after arriving at Death’s House and meeting Yasbell? Is there some significance to this or is it just rather annoying?! Lol!
Lol. I'd hate to be called "the girl" or "the woman." So I can totally understand Mort's frustration. I'd be doing the same thing.

5. Mort, surprisingly, asked Death for an afternoon off. I think our dear Mort is growing up! He explains to Death that he wants to meet people for more than a few minutes. When he arrives in his own time and finds out where he is, he asks if he is near Sto Lat. He seems to have a plan when he says he wants a very fast horse. What do you think he intends? Will it work out like he plans?
He is totally going after the girl. I'm betting it will not work out as he hopes. I predict he's going to go through a series of calamities. Things don't work out for him

⚚♆ Cynthia ♆⚚ wrote: "Sorry team! I have been quite busy these last few days and didn't have enough time to check Goodreads properly.

Titles
They can be used in Jackanory. E.g. What She Ate could be used for something ..."

I think that sounds brilliant.

Cat wrote: "finished Too Like the Lightning, which was really dense and slow reading - I took over a week over it 'cos I could generally only read a chapter a day. And then it ended on a massiv..."

I hate books that end on massive cliffhangers. It's my biggest bugbear.

Peg wrote: "Great work! I'm on board, still needing a little clarification.

When it comes to counting the books for each section, and how they are used, are titles acceptable? I'm about to finish What She Ate..."

I think we can use any part of the book to help us tell our story. We can make the books fit however we choose.

I've knocked another one off. It was not as good as I hoped. The cover of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires was better than the story.

Donna wrote: "Wow, Keli! You are good at this!"

Thanks, Donna. 😊

I think the problem, once we get going, will be one of editing. 500 words max is not a lot. But there's a lot of stuff to work with already, so I have no doubt we'll get a story together.

I didn't want to get to far into it and y'all not want it. But that's a sort of basic fantasy-mystery or fantasy-thriller using most of the stuff listed.

Well for a rough idea we could have an interstellar or interdimensional or dystopian America baby stealing organisation run by vampires that our MCs have to hunt down.
4x Describe the setting of your story - pick any of the states and florida
8x Describe your protagonists (max 2 characters) - an inept bounty hunter/pi and her best friend an actual p.i. or police officer who grew up an orphan. She has a passion for socual justice and he has a lot of tattoos mostly of birds moths and insects
8x Describe your antagonists (max 2 characters)Governor of the country of florida where the government is harsh and cruel and cabal of baby stealing vampires (though we'll only introduce one)
3x Describe your secondary characters (max 3 characters)
4x What's DEATH up to? ('cos DEATH is in every story!)owns a bar in hellish Florida with some people playing darts in the background. But it's also where Death holds fights to the death, the vampires are often the winners. But some of these gator punching locals can truly hold their own.
6x Who's the cameo(s)? (max 2 cameos)
4x What's the spur that starts the story? A woman finds her baby missing. Stolen out of her house during a cocktail party (champagne glass on cover)
4x What's the motivation of the antagonists? In this new horrible world something terrible afflicts Floridians. They've all become crazy violent infertile mad people. And no other place will allow them to move into their areas bringing their crazy Flordia taint. Some sort of evolutionary and behavioral changes within nature in urban environments that has caused infertility and violent madness. This is also why vampires love florida, it's become hell on earth. So for wealthy Floridians if they want a baby they've got to pay for a stolen one.
4x How do the protagonists react?
4x What's the next plot point?
6x What are your secondaries up to?
2x What's the McGuffin?
4x What obstacles are in the protagonists' way?
4x How do the protagonists overcome them?
4x Time for the final twist! Definitely aliens
8x And now to wrap things up for the protagonists, antagonists, secondaries, cameos, DEATH et al!

Cat wrote: "read which is all sort of domestic abuse trigger warnings, but also brilliant writing"

As a feminist, I always want to read books like this but they make me so angry. I'm finding it hard to not break things whilst listening to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires with it's casual dismissal of women. I think I'd go insane reading about abuse. Even though I cannot read them, I am so glad books like these exist.

Sammy wrote: "Finished #65

Borrowed it off my little brother last time I saw him... In 2019! Will finally be seeing my family in a couple of weeks (if stoopid virus doesn't do..."

🤞 you'll see your family soon. It was a really good book.

I'm really going to need to start the Expanse series soon. I have also added The Perks of Being a Wallflower to my tbr. But I have read two, so it went down briefly.
I finished Small Magics yesterday. Most of the stories were great but I particularly liked the ones related to the Kate Daniels series. I especially loved Curran's pov.
I also finally got to World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. I liked the movie more. The structure was interesting at first, but became a bit boring after a couple hundred pages. I think I would've preferred a straight-up narrative, but that's not what he wrote.