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

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

Saar, Meadowland doesn't have a read date - can you fix please?

all done!

And with that we are onto a second set of Gardening tasks! whoop whoop!

I've updated the sheet for you Marie :)

chipmunk style?!

tee hee!

I love it when a plan comes good! :)

That also means people can start grabbing second rounds of the Garden tasks - though they can't be finished until after Keely's done! :)

excellent! made some swaps, and updated post #263

Status Update: Minis

Just to put all the unclaimed or claimed but unfinished mini tasks in one spot. The Admin set are (understandably) the sparsest, so very happy if anyone is on a mystery binge for them to snag them :)

Unclaimed
A2 the plot revolves around an office romance
A3 typical administrative material on the cover
A6 the main character works in taxes
A8 the clue to solving a murder is found in paperwork
A10 cover colour is at least 50% orange
A11 someone is murdered in an office
A15 letters TAXES in title
A17 author first & last initials in FILING
F3 pasta in text
F5 beef in text
F9 lentil in text
F19 onion in text
F22 apple in text
F26 banana in text
F29 sugar in text
F33 Italy (at least 5 tags)
F36 Greece (at least 5 tags)
F42 Jamaica (at least 5 tags)
F44 Hawaii (at least 5 tags)

Claimed - progress / ETA on these gratefully received :)
A5 tagged office (at least 10x) The Fine Print Keely
A14 letters GREY in title I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons Saar
A19 author first & last initials in SHREDDING The Spellshop Vikki
F5 beef in text 11.22.63 Elli (R3)
F32 Mexico (at least 5 tags) The Hummingbird's Daughter Sarah
F35 India (at least 5 tags) The Golden Road Marie
F38 Thailand (at least 5 tags) A Wish in the Dark Elli
F40 Turkey (at least 5 tags) The Historian Keely
F45 Southern Gothic (at least 5 tags) Marie

Garden Second Set - books finished on or after 7 Nov only)
G31 Trellis (series sequence) 3
G32 Trellis (series sequence) 3
G33 Trellis (series sequence) 3
G34 Trellis (series sequence) 3
G35 Trellis (series sequence) 3
G36 Trellis (series sequence) 4
G37 Trellis (series sequence) 4
G38 Trellis (series sequence) 4
G39 Trellis (series sequence) 4
G40 Trellis (series sequence) 4
G41 Germinate: word in title is 6 or more letters long
G42 Plant: word in title is exactly 5 letters
G43 Mulch: word in title contains one of the following digraphs: CH, PH, SH, TH, WH
G44 Weed: word in title contains a double vowel
G45 Water: word in title contains and H and 2 Os - Elli
G46 Pest Control: word in title contains two letters consecutive in the alphabet (e.g AB in alphabet)
G47 Feed: word in title contains a double letter
G49 Harvest: title contains a word that could be a noun or verb (e.g TRAIN)
G50 Deadhead: word in title contains a repeat set of at least two letters (e.g BEGINNING repeats IN)
G51 Colour Cover: Green
G52 Colour Cover: Brown
G54 Colour Cover 4
G55 Colour Cover 5
G56 Colour Cover 6
G57 Colour Cover 7
G58 Colour Cover 8
G59 Colour Cover 9
G60 Colour Cover 10

Morning everyone!

I have to confess I had hunkered down hard yesterday, but have popped up with an update!

1. Next round's word is COWORKER FROM HELL so we get a bit of a breather from Us! The tracker sheet has been updated with a Round 3 tab for the planners amongst us :)

2. Round 3 starts, and thus Round 2 ends, on 9 Nov at 9pm UK time - about 2 days from now. Can you take a look at any books you've put down for Round 2 and move any that you wont finish in time, thanks.

3. Minis! They continue, no resetting or anything, into Round 3, so we can carry on working away at them. That said, we are a mere handful of books from finishing the Gardening set, so if we can prioritise book for those we can get a second set of the tasks.
Tasks needed to be finished are:
G15 Water: word in title contains and H and 2 Os The Lost Bookshop Elli
G22 Colour Cover: Brown
G29 Colour Cover 9
G30 Colour Cover 10

Keely's volunteered to cover the brown (thanks!) and I've just finished a purple so we only need one more colour cover to have all of the claimed. Then we need those claims read and finished!
Would be amazing if we could clear that set this round, but not essential.

Day 4 DQs

14) What were your thoughts when Kiela was teaching Eadie, Bryn, and Ulina how to make the pine cones? Particularly the way she tried to disguise that it's actually a spell?

15) Well these chapters were a whirlwind. What were your thoughts throughout the twists and turns?

There was a lot! I did enjoy the pace and the reveals, though given it was a cosy and so fairly light, none of it was a shocking revelation

16) I loved loved loved the scene where Caz and Meep were threatening Radane. It made me laugh so much that the spider plant was being so much more aggressive than the actual human. If you had been in that scene, would you be more like Kiela (the good cap) or Caz (the bad cop)?

Except for the Caz & Meep bad-boy act! Which was pretty special! :)

17) Radane confisticated Kiela's family cookbook. What family heirloom do you value so much to keep protected?

18) What are your thoughts on the Cozy Mystery genre that this book is a part of? How often do you find yourself reaching for a cozy book?

I agree with others that it's cosy fantasy rather than mystery. I've read a few, and the genre is still sufficiently new that there haven't been any of the dross we see with cosy mysteries. but they are more of a palate refresher than something I want as a steady diet - like jam, a little goes a long way!

DQ Day 2 Chapters 8 - 13

6. There's more information released here about magic use and it's impact on the world. What do you think about this?

I thought it a leeeetle unsubtle as a comparison to the developed countries attitude to climate change and colonialism, and am hoping that we actually get to find out something substantial about the politics at the centre to understand why the massive sudden change

7. Lucky that Kiela can exploit the absence of fruit to fill a niche shop, eh?! What do you think about her plan to make a living out of jam and secret magic?

I think she's massively deluding herself if she thinks no one will guess (and the next section it's clear that the person with the dried up spring is very clear that there's magic involved!)
But props for finding a need and filling it

8. Kiela and Larran keep having meet cute moments. Do you like this romantic pairing?

Somewhat over-cute at times, but I am enjoying Caz's view on the meet-cutes!

Danny is all sorts of fabulous!

I was looking after my youngest nibling this week, who's currently fascinated by Ghostbusters. So we played that a lot! And I'm able to confirm that there is such a thing as too much Ghostbuster theme song, and I reached it on Sunday morning, with half the day still to go!

The locations of Yinka are relatively near to me. I'm up the road from Peckham (which is very definitely suffering from gentrification!), so it's always fun to see the local eye view, with the additional layer of different culture too.

Melindam wrote: "Cat, how did you like Yinka?"

I enjoyed it even if I wanted to throttle many of the characters! Was a realistic, fun romp thru a modern dating in the . context of family interest story. Definitely recommend.

DQ Day 2 Chapters 8 - 13

6. There's more information released here about magic use and it's impact on the world. What do you think about this?

7. Lucky that Kiela can exploit the absence of fruit to fill a niche shop, eh?! What do you think about her plan to make a living out of jam and secret magic?

8. Kiela and Larran keep having meet cute moments. Do you like this romantic pairing?

DQs- Day 1, Chapters 1-7

1. The book opens with quite a tough scene: a Great Library is set on fire and Kiela has already packed crates of books to rescue. And she asks herself the question "if she were stranded on a desert island, which books would she most want to have with her?"
Now I'm putting you the same question limiting your possibilities to
- 1 complete works of an author
- 2 book series
- 3 standalone books from different genres, 1 must be non-fiction

Ooooh...
Complete Terry Pratchett (gets me Nation!)

Maybe Ulysses and the Odyssey.
Possibly

2. While it's only explained sketchily, a little politics, history (?) of the Empire is mentioned, alongside some curious species, flora & fauna (winged kitties, anyone?) What do you think of the world-building so far?

Like Mel, I don't mind the dribs and drabs approach. But I do find Kiela slightly annoying in how passive she's been so far.

3. It's mentioned several times how Kiela keeps herself to herself in the Library (apart from Caz's company). Do you think such an almost complete isolation described here is possible even in such a vast Library?

Not really! It's a very accurate picture of what happens in a library, even a research only library

4. I found it a bit disturbing that Kiela doesn't tell anyone on the island that she came away because a revolution has broken out in the capital (I understand her keeping silent about the books). It IS supposed to be a big deal after all and one would think they will learn about it eventually. A bit later some excuses are offered. Do you think they are sufficient or it's just a usual plot-driving tool?

I don't really understand. I get she needs to keep the books a secret, but saying I left because of the war isn't giving away too much!

5. I really liked the idea of Kiela & Caz sectioning the garden and naming them after book genres. Which genres would you name parts of your real or hypothetical garden?

Ummmm ... Gardening is not my thing. No thoughts

and a sneaky antagonist? (I;ve never read any Wimpy Kid)

I finished one, spun FIctional Humans, and got our last one!

Bob (Twin Peaks)
1 200 to 299
2 Set in at the Pacific Northwest
3 Two of something on the cover
4 Main antagonist is sneaky
5 MC is in law enforcement or equivalent

that group of tasks is all "word in title", so same word, sadly :(

Keely wrote: "I'm reading my green book now and it is pretty office-y. I found coffee table in it so if someone gets murdered in the office or a clue for the murder is found in paperwork, we might want to swap i..."

Fitting the admin-y tasks is a higher priority than green cover I think - they are WAY more niche, after all :)

Hi Paula! Good to have you :)

The most important information is in the first few posts, so go read those after you've said hello!

The absolute most essential thing to remember though is: have fun! :)

We'll be able to use any books you started since the start of the challenge, and finished in this round, so do pop them on your Wheel shelf and let us know :)