Jen’s Comments (group member since Jul 20, 2014)

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

I’m curious what everyone’s favorite 2-3 books were from this challenge. I’m always looking to grow my tbr.

I won't be able to finish the last book I had, but I did finish one yesterday that I just added- hopefully it's not too late

Hey team, everyone is so positive here that this might not go over well… but I wanted to get other opinions. 😅

How has everyone been feeling with with Book of the Month Discussions and questions? This year was the first time I have done them in a while and I have been a little disappointed.

With the questions it feels more like a homework assignment and not a discussion to me. A lot of the questions are really great and reading the opinions and ideas are so interesting but there isn’t a lot of discussion happening beyond the questions. I’m wondering if it’s just the impact from trying to get points.

What are other thoughts? Am I being too much of a complainer?

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it but I devoured a fanfiction over the last three days. Then I saw on TikTok that it’s on Goodreads. Do you guys think we could use it for this challenge? It’s Manacled.

I finished my 706 page book yesterday, just updated the sheet. I'm going to start another long one and hopefully finish in about 5 days. I'm not the fastest reader.

I will finish two books tomorrow
Beautiful Nightmares has romance as a MPG so it could work for the love muse

The Unmarked Witch isn’t astrology but it’s witchy and they mention the moon, moon phrases, specific stars, and have a scene of naming stars and constellations. So I’m thinking it could work for astrology?

I’m on my phone now (in bed) so I haven’t put these down for the muses but if we keep it and the latter works for astrology, I can easy finish both in the morning.

I have about 75 pages left in The 19th Christmas. I can finish tomorrow!

DQs Day 5 - Wimbledon 1995 & The 1995 US Open

18. Nature vs nurture. Carrie has her issues with tennis, but her real struggle is with relationships. How much of that do you think is due to who Carrie is innately as a person and how she was raised?
I think she got her self worth from tennis and connected her father's love for her with his love for the game. I don't think she fully was able to separate them until she was older and realized that tennis didn't matter much after he died (thinking of the phone conversation). I think this is evident by her hurt when her dad wasn't sure about if she would be the best and the impact it had on her relationships.

I also think that she pushed men away because she thought she wasn't good enough. It was interesting to see the two perspectives of who rejected whom.

19. I don’t know much about tennis, but I found myself really enjoying the matches as they are described. I got so pumped up while Carrie was playing! Did you find all the tennis terms, both during and after matches, to be a hinderance or did you enjoy getting immersed in the sport through Carrie’s eyes?

I loved the matched. This was my second time reading this novel but this time on audio. I enjoyed hearing the matches the sportscasters talk about them. The games were more interesting on audio than in print for me.

20. Carrie Soto, the star of our novel, has been seen previously in a TJR novel where she was a minor character. TJR seems to enjoy connecting her books which makes me wonder… could her next book be about one of the minor characters we’ve come across in Carrie Soto is Back? And, if so, who do you think it would be?
I read somewhere that TJR was done writing about "famous women". I'm wondering if that is fully true? If not, I think it would be a random person that was just references in another book and not a side character.

21. ”But right now, in this moment, I love this drugstore cologne more than I love the smell of Wimbledon grass or California oranges or the rubber of a freshly popped can of tennis balls. This drugstore cologne is my home.”

I really loved this quote and it made me start thinking about some of my favorite smells. What are some scents that you love? What scent would be your home?
I love coconut and lilacs-- but not together.

22. And, finally, how did you like this book? What was your rating? Would you consider reading more from this author if you haven't already?

A resounding 5 stars for me. I love these "famous women" books, especially in seeing their rise. I would love to read more or get any recs of similar books. I think The Queen's Gambit is a similar read for anyone who loved Carrie Soto as much as I did!

I can finish Carrie Soto tomorrow.

I found a book I can read today with "up" in the title.

Melindam wrote: "DQs Day 5 - Wimbledon 1995 & The 1995 US Open

18. Nature vs nurture. Carrie has her issues with tennis, but her real struggle is with relationships. How much of that do you think is due to who Car..."

I enjoyed reading your perspective. I absolutely loved Malibu Rising. I'm wondering if you could comment on what was missing for you or what made it a two star read?

DQs Day 2 - The Comeback (40%)

5. Welcome back sports fans! If any of you have read other Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels, you know she loves looking back at interesting eras in time. The Golden Age of Hollywood! 70s rock and roll excess! Why do you think TJR chose to focus on 90s sports for this novel? Do you think it was only to bring Carrie back or do you think there was something special about sports during that time?

I've read that this may be her last novel about "famous women". I'm wondering if she wanted to move through various decades as she explored these women. It may have just added more interest for her? I don't know enough about sports comment on if there was something special about sports in the 90s.

6. In this section we are introduced to Bowe. What do you think about him? Do you think he is a good match for Carrie (in sports or romantically)?
This is my second read of this book, so I can't comment on what I think.

7. In this section, there is a letter from the editor entitled "Why I'm Thankful for Carrie Soto" in which the author, Helene, says that Carrie was inspiring to her as a child. Do you find inspiration in any sports legends past or present? If so, who and why?
I haven't found inspiration in sports legends-- I've never been very athletic. However, I did look up to Jane Goodall a lot when I was a kid. I do think this was an important letter to include in the book, it makes the reader more sympathetic for Carrie and thinking about how what she did for sports was important.

8. Up next is the Australian Open! Any predictions on what is going to happen in the next section of the book? Also how are you enjoying the book so far?
No comments on predictions because I've already read this book. But, I'm loving it even more in this second read than I did the first time!

I have 75-100 pages left in Dear Edward, The Other Einstein, Carrie Sotto is Back, and The 19th Christmas.

If any of those would we helpful for this task I can finish. If not I might finish Carrie sooner rather than later. I’m loving the reread.

Daily Questions Day 1-

1. The most popular releases by Taylor Jenkins Reid have been BOMs in this group before (Daisy Jones & The Six in 2019, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in 2021, and Malibu Rising last year). Have you read any of these books (or others) by TJR too or is Carrie Soto is Back your first book by the author? What are your expectations going in?
I am actually rereading Carrie Soto. I’ve read most of TJRs other books but have found that I love her famous women books (mentioned above) the most. I was looking forward to this one, and thought I would enjoy it. So far, Malibu rising is my favorite because I LOVE a family saga.

2. After the first chapter is set in 1994 and Carrie Soto decides to get back into the sport to get her record title back the next few chapters follow her early years up until she felt like she had to retire because of her knee injury (and because she felt humiliated lbr) somewhat 30 years later. Her dad always wanted her to be the greatest whereas her mother just wanted her to be kind and happy. It doesn't seem like Carrie is either at this point in her life, also not the greatest anymore. How do you feel about her as a character so far? What do you think (sort of) being forced into retirement by her own body has done to her, mentally and physically; do you think she's changed at all in the last 5 years?
I don’t think she had changed much, if anything I think she has hardened more and become more with drawn. I think we see an interesting pressure and hyper focus on tennis that wouldn’t be there as much had her mother loved. As this is my second read, I missed last time that her dad said that he was worried about her knee. I wonder how that affects the dynamic and how coach would treat a player who he loves versus one that isn’t their child.

3. What we've learned about Carrie's childhood and teenage years has quickly started to remind me of 'King Richard' the movie about the Williams sisters' life and I'm seeing a lot of similarities between Carrie's dad Javier and the Williams' (movie) dad (as I'm sure is often the case when athletes' parents are involved in their kids' sports careers/futures).
Javier seemed to have good intentions and only ever wanted what (he at least thought) was best for his daughter, but they grew apart after going separate ways in 1979. As we know, they've found their way back together (does this sound weird seeing their father and daughter??), but things definitely changed between them. How do you feel about Javier and about his and Carrie's relationship growing up vs now?
I think he always did what he thought was best for her. We saw him sacrifice financially for her and work for her to be great. But I think he may have lost sight of parenting as he focused on coaching her.

4. It seems like Carrie doesn't believe in love (or actually of being worthy of being loved imo). She's been having flings/ONS left and right apparently, and appearing in tabloids with random guys regularly. The one time she let herself finally believe this could be IT for the long run was with Brandon Randall (who some of us already knew from Malibu Rising) who was cheating on his then wife with her. No surprise he left her for (yet) another woman, but were you surprised Carrie took him back after he wanted to go back to his ex-wife and she rejected him? Do you think losing her mother at such a young age and only ever having her dad as a single parent in her life has influenced how she views love, relationships and generally a deeper bond with other people?
Yes- her father and her were close but she was validated through tennis and doing well with tennis. We saw her as a child not wanting to admit when she didn’t understand something. So, I think she has connected working for someone and making them proud with love. So, it’s hard for her to find love with someone who doesn’t have that dynamic.

It looks like we have all the books done for the lemon cupcakes wheel. I’m excited to see what we get next! I like the elements of the unknown in this.

Nanci wrote: "I missed checking in for a bit because today was our 44th anniversary and we were very busy. We started off by kayaking in our lake, then ran some errands together and worked on a few projects and ..."

I was able to go to Anchorage, Homer, Seward, and Soldotna. It was about 50-64 the whole time, so fairly cold. But we enjoyed hiking, sight seeing, and spending time with family. I went with my 86 year old grandmother and we were able to visit her cousin who is 98. It was fun to hear their stories about dating.

This is my time to shine! I'm back from Alaska. I have about 100 pages left in a few books. One of them does have "flour" and one has "lemon". I'm relaxing tonight so I will try to finish both but if not I will finish in the morning!

I’m halfway done with three books right now. I’m trying to decide if I should finish or start another so that I can use the books for the wheel when we have tasks that fit.

I’m on vacation in Alaska for the week and don’t have great service but I love reading the discussion about Fourth Wing here. I really liked the book, I read it in two days. I don’t remember the details of the book but it gave me major nostalgia for the craze of everyone reading Twilight when I was in high school. I didn’t realize that it isn’t young adult. 😂

I read The Fourth Wing a few weeks ago. I’m still trying to get my hands on a physical copy though (I read an ebook from the library). I’ll answer the questions for the points.

I read Carrie Sotto in November but would love to reread so I can do that one too.