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

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

Okay, here is my bookshelf!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I'm working on adding some books. I'm bad at planning ahead, but I'm wait listed on a few and have some in my closet waiting to be read.

Hi guys!! Thanks for the warm welcome. I have been on a few teams but have disappeared for a while. I just started a new school program and I had to get my footing before I got back into reading and such.

Just for a little about myself, I am a student. I love to read but don't get to as much as I would like. I live in Portland, Oregon and a large part of my chatting will happen while I am aboard public transport, going to and from class. I also like to swim, hike and cook.

I'm a little behind on my reading goal. Hopefully, this challenge will help me bust it out!

Hey, are we allowed to back date? Like if I say I'm starting from January 1st?

I would love to keep going until we get to the 20,000.

I hope we can finish strong. I think it would be cool if we could break into the top 5. We are less than 1,000 points away from being in 5th place.

I'm going to be finishing All the Light We Cannot See and Entwined this week. I'm hoping I can squeeze in another book also.

Yesterday I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

I have to run to class and I don't have time to reread the rules of this new mini challenge. So I'm not sure if we can repeat words or not. I'll come on later and figure it out. But here are all the words that were in my book:

Summer
Pool
Beer
Beach
Mountains
Spider
Snake
Islands
Birds
Green
Cold
Meat pie
Football
Oil
Bush
Star
Land
Tree
Dog
Water
Sun
Colin
Hugo
Eric

Hopefully we can repeat words and I won't have to figure out what is left. If we can repeat, I would like to use meat pie because I think it's interesting.

Blakely, if you go on amazon you search for the book. You click on the book and then on the top corner it says LOOK INSIDE! click on that and there is a search tool on the left side.

I'm hoping to finish a book in the next couple days.

Sorry again about this whole slowing down thing. I'm taking as many credits as my school will allow this term so I've been super busy!

I like that Lissa is the one who has to save the day, for once. I'm not that into it always having to be Roses idea or question.

I just finished The Last Sacrifice. It's pretty long and once my buddy is finished I will also be posted for a buddy read.

Can we count a book if it only has 94 pages?

I just got assigned a book to read for Monday.

Unfortunately, with school starting back up I am really busy. My reading is going to slow down a lot. I'm sorry about that.

I will be finishing a book tomorrow.

Also, I have a buddy read that I will have done on Monday.

Joi wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I planned on reading this.

Every day I have opened it and read a couple pages, but I can't seem to get into it. I've seen the movie and I loved the clothing, musics, architecture..."

Joi, I felt the same way. I do have to say that by the end I really cared about Gatsby. I think having the narrator build more of a relationship with him, helps the reader to connect also. I enjoyed seeing the rise and fall of a beloved character.

I would suggest reading the parts that are a little boring quickly to get past them. If it's the language that trips you up, maybe you could read a loud? There were a couple pages that I really loved and read aloud (with an attempted accent where I saw fit- haha) and it make it much better.

Karen wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I planned on reading this.

Every day I have opened it and read a couple pages, but I can't seem to get into it. I've seen the movie and I loved the clothing, musics, architecture..."

Thanks Karen! I will follow your lead and reread it sometime. I think if I go in trying to see the depth, rather than going in expecting to be dazzled, I will really enjoy it a lot more.

I'm back to school now. I've been really busy with getting back Toni class and such. I did just finish Stardust. I am posting on the buddy read. Once I get some more replies I will post the link.

Hi Cassie!

I'm glad I read this. I don't read very many books like this one. At first, I wasn't a huge fan. The start seemed a little slow. When I realized that (view spoiler)[ the introduction to the charcters and sex and such was just to introduce the origins of the main character (hide spoiler)] I felt better.

Overall, I would descibe this book as a fantastical journey. I loved all the different creatures that we encountered along the way. On one hand, I thought it gave us a great insight into the world, but it also seemed a little rushed. There were a lot of characters to keep track of.

I'm reading a buddy read and a regular book. Hoping to finish both tonight.

My month long Chrismas break is almost over. I go back to school on Sunday night.

Once school stars, my reading will slow down a little. It's a little crazy (okay really crazy) but I'm hoping to finish 5 books before Monday morning. I want to put up some points before my activity decreases.

I finished the Great Gatsby. It was a BOM but I'm waiting to see of anyone will chat. So the discussion points may or may not happen.

I finally finished. Here is my review. It's sewhat comparative between the movie and book. Hopefully someone save the movie also and we can chat about the differences and such.

(view spoiler)[

Admittedly, my expectations were high when starting The Great Gatsby. The movie was flashy and attention capturing. Starting this novel was tough for me, it lacked the flash that was present on the big screen. However, after getting into the book further I was pleased on multiple levels.

The writing style was wonderful to read. Not many authors can create such vivid images of a characters way of movement, or speech patterns. The descriptions made me care about the minor characters in ways that was not possible in the movie.


“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”

I also loved the multiple layers of the plot. Not only was the surface level of a dazzling neighbor interesting, but the symbolism of the 1920s and American Dream were well written.

Reading the novel gave me insight into Gatsby that I would not have otherwise had. Reading about how much much the narrator cared for and was impress by Gatsby made me feel the same, another difference between the movie and the book.

One part that particularly,y stood out to me was his cousin describing what it was like after her baby was born and she found out it was a girl. Daisy told the nurse, "I hope she'll be afool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." This was also interesting because in the end that is exactly what Daisy had to become.

(hide spoiler)]

Finishing up the book of the month (December's...) today.