Beth’s Comments (group member since Aug 12, 2014)

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

To Davy Jones Below by Carola Dunn
Kindle: 261 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Finished: 9/24/16

For Bonus 8 -- #9 in series

I threw out some other Magic suggestions -- I could reread a Kate Daniels book, for example, so that's a zillion Magic SOMETHING possibilities. Wild Magic is a YA book, so I could read that and another book fairly quickly.

And didn't we have a bunch of Fire possibilities? Child of Fire is longer, so I'm not rushing to double up on that side of the challenge, but I have Fire Season lying around.

In the meantime, Carmen, if you haven't started your #7, I could continue hop-scotching through my new Daisy Dalrymple series. I'm having fun jumping around in the series and seeing how the characters develop. I wish the cover artist wasn't so afraid of birds -- I can't find a single avian on the fronts to grab Ang's spot.

I got Hour of the Bees from the library early in this challenge and thought it was great. It's a kids book about a family moving the granddad from his farm into a retirement community because of his growing dementia, which sounds grim, but it's full of magic realism and really good writing.

If anyone wants something to read, that is! I can't do it because I already used it for Wobble.

I thought Battleship was a great entry point, with a lot of different options, strategies, and a chance to come together as a team. This is my first time, so I don't really know how else it could run; I thought it was a lot of fun!

There was a good mix of complicated games and simpler ones -- BINGO was simple to understand although sometimes hard to do! Olympics had a huge variety. Etc.

Of course, I was lucky enough to get onto a great team, with great captains, and the mods were amazing.

For this Title Relay, can we ignore "The"? I know we couldn't before, but I wasn't sure of the rule for these bonus round.

I put my books that start with Wild or Child in there (Wild Magic, and Child of Fire) but people with other options should also toss theirs in.

It says treat each separately, so I don't think it carries through. I'm terrible at these!

The Sports Pages by Jon Scieszka
Finished 9.22.16
3 stars
Hardback: 272 pages

For Bonus 9 -- Trophy on cover

Hooray for new Kindles!

I just finished which completes Bonus 9. Now I'll read #9 in those Daisy Dalrymple books, which I've been enjoying.

I've been drowning in meetings for several organizations, and getting ready for a party this weekend. But I managed my book for the day -- #10 in a series.

Tomorrow I'll read a book with a trophy on the cover.

My mom used to make flan, but I've never tried it. Last time we ate out at our local Mexican restaurant I had my kids try it, because I figured they should know how it is supposed to taste (and if they like it) before I start attempting it. I remember it as a big treat.

The Case of the Murdered Muckraker by Carola Dunn
Finished: 9/23/16
3 stars
Kindle: 262 pages (I put the hardback edition in goodreads, as the kindle I read seems to be based on that and the ebook version doesn't have a page count)

For Bonus 8 -- #10 in series

The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn
Read: 9/22/16
4 stars
Kindle, 240 pages

Bonus 7, shovel on the cover

My Project Elfhome Book is listed as #4.5 in the series at goodreads, but it's a whole book of short stories, not just a single story. Baen (the publisher) treats it as book 5. So I don't know if we can use it for the Series challenge.

I'll finish the hoe book tonight.

(edit to add) Or very early Thursday morning. It's a shovel book. I liked it enough to skip to a later one for the series challenge!

Flag in Exile by David Weber
Read: 9/21/16
Rating: 3 stars
Paperback: 443 pages

Cover has a medal around neck of woman, Labor 9 Task 5 "medal on cover"

I found for the gardening bonus. I can finish it by Wednesday night.

Moonlight Reader wrote:

"I am going to be at Disneyland from 10/9 through 10/15, so my reading will drop off during that time!"

I get lots of reading done at Disneyland -- all those lines. My boys and I get tiny packs that hold a paperback and a small e-reader. And maybe a granola bar, but the priority is the book. Then we just hang in lines and catch up on some reading.

I guess if you have smaller kids this might not be helpful. I wouldn't take my sons until they were ten or so and reading paperbacks. :-)

Sheila, some brainstorming:

Any books with a Greek protagonist? In Greece it's very common to name your kid after yourself but flip the first and second name. So, you are John Peter (Jiannis Petros), your dad was Peter John, and your son is Peter John.

My shelf has some essays by William Buckley Jr: Gratitude and some science fiction books by James Tiptree Jr & Walter Miller Jr. They are old fashioned SF, which means they are SHORT. And there's a kids book called Henry 3 by a guy who won a Newbery medal.

The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan
Kindle: 295 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Read: 9.19.16

Banked it since we already have a third in series.

I've got the Lemony Snicket books for 10 & 11. I'll check back when I finish the medal book to see if I should go on to those yet.

Falling in Love by Donna Leon
Read: 9.19.16
Audio: 256 pages (on front goodreads pages)
Rating 4 stars (an extra star given for the fun Italian accent -- 3 stars for the mystery)

It's about an opera singer, so works for the musician category Labor 1 Task 5.

I found which has a medal around her neck. I'll try to finish that by tomorrow, or Wednesday morning at the latest.

It's also 5th in a series, if someone finishes a trophy book before me.