Cat’s Comments (group member since Jan 28, 2015)

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

finally finished April Lady!

spun
Micajah and Wiley Harpe (Mississippi River)
1 200 to 299
2 Takes place in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Mississippi
3 two authors
4 features siblings
5 character takes a boat ride

well, but is it sufficiently a person ? ;P

We think this works for "headless person on cover"?

Belfast accent is notoriously horrible, with no relation to the majority of Irish or Scottish accents. (Glaswegian Scottish an exception too)

I finished my long book yesterday, spun us a shortie:

The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow
1 100-150
2 Headless person on cover
3 Set in New England: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
4 Place name in title
5 MC visits a cemetary

I've got the graveyard covered :)

we could actually switch one of my already completed books (Emily Wilde. sadly my ed not the 6 in page count though) into your Courtiers, and put Courtiers into gold letters ?

ETA: I'm doing it!

That's interior :)

finished the Japan book, spun us a new one. inevitably we need a monster page count. Sorry!

Lernaean Hydra
1 651+
2 MPG Adventure
3 gold text on cover
4 MC has a sister
5 #9 or higher in series

DQs Day 5

17. what did you think of the quest into Faerie?

18. Orga seems like a fun addition to the characters, but do you have a favourite of the various Fae we've met?

19. Did you enjoy the ending? And the book generally? Any thoughts on character development during this book?

20. There's a book 3! Will you be reading about their retaking of Wendell's kingdom?

DQs - Day 1

1) Emily is back! What are your first impressions of her this time around? Can you see any changes in her compared to Book1?

It's been a while since I read book 1, but.... She seems more confident in her professional abilities

2) Apparently Emily is still stalling on giving an answer to Wendell's marriage proposal. Do you think she'll say yes at the end of the book or will this stay unresolved?

Well, there's a book 3. So I think probably, and book 3 is working towards a wedding. (whilst I've read on, I've not finished so this is a guess)

3) We meet some other characters of the Faculty in Cambridge. What do you think of Farris Rose getting in the picture and establishing himself as part of the field research team? Do you think he'll be an asset or a hindrance?

At this point I thought he'd be a hindrance walking all over his younger, female colleague, then getting into trouble that could have been avoided if he hadn't have been an ass

4) And finally: Ariadne, Emily's niece joins the team as student. Do you think Wendell was honest with Emily about why he didn't want Ariadne to join them? Was it as simple as what he said or may there be an ulterior motive?

Ariadne was interesting! I think there was probably additional layers, him being a faerie and therefore not straightforward, but his claimed reasons are true too.

Lexi wrote: "I'm good with mine but 20th is Easter if we need a break day if people have family commitments"

Honestly, I have family commitments from tomorrow (nibling and I going to the Globe to see Macbeth!), so I have read ahead and will have my set of Qs ready this evening to post on Sunday.

Does mean I might be at risk of spoilers when answering earlier DQ sets....

finished Odyssey, spun

The Beast
651+
Orange cover (>50%)
Cover displays a monster or large beast
Book has a religious element (your interpretation)
6 in page count

happily I don't need to elbow Sammy out for the long book - mine works for page length and monster on cover :)

I'll pick this up for lightning on cover

Sammy wrote: "#81

The more Trollope I read, the more I seem to enjoy him!"

I find you have to be in the mood, but I do enjoy his authorial voice, interjections and blatant foreshadowing :)
and of course he's got a great set of characters who are more than just the "delivery of moral point" types that Dickens often produces

I've got The Salt Roads, which has MC having to work with other enslaved people on sugar plantation, tagged audio 11 times. not long enough though

Finally finished The Difference Engine, and the echidna.

Spun:
Typhon
1 500 to 650
2 mentions a volcano
3 lightning on cover
4 Title that contain all the letters of ZEUS
5 MC is a father

@Jenny, it was fun!

I'm sad that you are meh about Vanished Birds, as I've been looking forward to it. Have you read Spear by Jimenez? and if so, what were your thoughts on that.

Aurora Rising was so MEH. I got massively irked by the attempt at diversity, which was just SO bad (IMO)

Anyway, I just finished and was such a mess at the end of it. Very good biog, trending towards memoir at the end (inevitable given it was written by such an intimate part of Pratchett's life and writing life). Do not read the last three chapters in public!

DQs Day 3: Chaps 14 - 19

10. There's some really graphic scenes in this section. Why do you think Chakraborty chose to be so detailed (esp what Falco did to them), when she could have been more circumspect?

11. We met Raksh! Huzzah! What are you thoughts on final meeting him? Did that opinion change at all during the section?

12. And Falco too! What do you think of him? Does the backstory of crusading fervour in his father leading to financial ruin add or detract from him as a villainous villain?

13. Following from that - we see the first serious religious tensions in this section, in the hesitation to bury the Christian villages and then also in the Crusades history shared. But, rather than dwelling on that point in particular - do you feel that the world being evoked is real, bedded in history, or too glamourised? General thoughts on the setting welcomed!

totally. but I did appreciate finishing it the week of the 10 year anniversary of his death - had some resonance.