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

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

I'm on holiday next week, with two kids as well as my mum and sister, so will be less reading time for me too. So I'll try and crank through some shorter ones the next few days.


So people don't have a moment of panic when looking at our resource balances: the captains decided to protect two piles this round, and will put most of our point on those, saving a supply drop for round 3 when we can protect all the piles.
SO this round we are prioritising WEAPONS and DEFENCE

And a battle update!

Independent Mod tossed a coin and declared us the winner of Battle 1!

Bad luck for District 6 who were excellent players, put yay for those precious 5 points! :)

nothing at the moment or on the near horizon. and MPG Poetry during a challenge is annoying! I do have an MPG Poetry I want to read, but it's low 100s page count so doesn't hit the audio / word count requirement :(

I'll probably read some Pen & Des novellas for series numbers, plus The Brides of High Hill which works for Horror MPG or #5 - not sure which will be trickier

and just to keep everyone in the loop, sent three of LaurLa's books over to D5 as supply drops :)

Supply Drops!

District 10 is very grateful for the supply drops you sent us, and reciprocates with:
The Infidelity Clause
WEAPON - a knife was used to stab Caspian
SHELTER - ship on the cover
FOOD - letters of FISH in title
DEFENSE - warship on the cover; SHIELD in title

Only When It's Us
WEAPON - letters of STONE in title (can be thrown as a weapon)
SHELTER - letters of HOUSE in title
FOOD - letters of HEN in title; Ryder makes swedish meatballs for dinner [loc 96.9]
DEFENSE - green cover; STONE in title (can build a wall)

What You See
WEAPON - knives, guns used throughout the story
SHELTER - inside of a building on the cover; letters of HOUSE in title
FOOD - Frankie makes an Italian meal for Bull's family [Chapter 14]
DEFENSE - Frankie uses her aiko-jo (aikido staff) for defense through-out out the book

New Mini!

Danielle linked the full details earlier, so check out that post (in the official announcements) for info. But.... it does need some planning and co-ordinating:

- MPGs: please shout to claim an MPG or two - prioritising the more niche ones if possible. The text is guide only
- series numbers: we need to build chains of consecutive series numbers, so do shout if you have some #5 - 8 in your reading life!
- reading other teams Shelter books. I've actually got a resource to help there (Judith in #8 did some work) so I'll dig that out and share later
- enjoy!


MPGs
need THREE:
Science Fiction (one claimed)
Historical Fiction (two claimed)
Mystery
Fantasy
Nature (one claimed)
Young Adult
Literary Fiction
Paranormal

need TWO:
Contemporary
Crime
Non Fiction
Romance

need ONE:
Thriller

COMPLETED!
Horror

Whoop! Excellent battling everyone!

Current Total: 1,006,178

How's everyone getting on with their battle books? they need to be finished by early doors Saturday UK time, so if you are at risk of not finishing please shout now so we can organise a cover :)

I've got one set in summer!

Finished my battle book which was all sorts of creepy.

DQs Day 3:

10. We read something that moves us, touches us, speaks to us and it... it changes us?"

Do you agree with that quote? Are there any books that changed you personally?

I do agree, books being portals into other minds and viewpoints. I don't think there's one that has been life altering though

11. We finally get the first riddle. Did you guess it before Lucy did?

Nope

12. What did you think of The City of Secondhand and of Markham showing up like that? Is he just a sleezy lawyer, or is there something more sinister going on?

That was creepy town, being mostly decrepit apart from the magical item collection.
For sure he's sleazy - how did he even get on the island? Not sure it was more sinister than simply wanting to make money

13. do you have to keep reminding yourself that the "contestants" are adults, not children?

Not massively, except for Lucy they make very little impression. Lucy for sure is not well developed as an adult

DQs Day 2 Chapter 6 - 11

6. Jack replied to Lucy's letter and Lucy decided to run away from home. What did you think of his letter and would you have done the same as Lucy?

I thought his letter was a little bit extra, but was what Lucy needed. Running away? Nope!

7. We get more insights on Clock Island. Every 'hour' is its own section like for example a beach. Would you like to visit the island? Do you find the idea of it fascinating or could you not care less?

It's contrived, but a cute enough way to name aspects of the island

8. Every part starts with a quote from Jack's book. Do you think these parts are important for the story? Just showing off Jack's work? Something else?

I've not really made any connections from the excerpts to the main story, so I guess for the atmosphere?

9. It seems like there will be a deeper connection between Lucy and Hugo. Do you agree? And would you approve of it given that Hugo had first met her when she was still a child?

They are certain flirting. I don't have a problem with it, he was entirely appropriate back then and it wasn't like they had a long relationship back then.

Discussion Questions : Day 1 (Prologue - Chapter 5)

1. We have been introduced to a few important characters - Lucy, Christopher, and Hugo. Plus the off-page persona of Jack. What do you think of the characters so far?

Lucy is a bit of an idiot. Nice but not making sensible decisions
Christopher adorable and precocious, which might get old
Hugo grumpy before his time.

I don't hate them, but not massively attached either

2. We get a riddle right away in the Prologue:

"Two men on an island and both blame the water
for the loss of a wife and the death of a daughter
but neither ever married, and neither's a father.
What is the secret of the girls and the water?"

Then Hugo thinks to himself that "Five years ago, it [the ocean] had brought low the small, strange kingdom of Clock Island." Do you think the riddle is related to what happened five years ago? Any speculations on what it all means, assuming you haven't read ahead?

I think it's related but no concrete ideas

3. At the beginning of Chapter Two, Hugo says that he used to dream about living in Greenwich Village, but now that he can actually afford it, it doesn't hold the same appeal. He basically says that success kills motivation. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

I suspect it's more that age changes desires. What a teen / twenty something wants should be different to what a mid thirties wants

4. What do you think of the wishing game Lucy plays with Christopher? Do you think this game and mindset are healthy? Do you agree with Lucy that it gives them hope, or do you agree with the social worker that it just gets their hopes up?

A bit of both. I suspect the Christopher is jaded enough that some hope is useful, but Lucy shouldn't be so magical thinking in her life

5. Why do you think Jack finally started writing again? And what might be his motive in holding a contest for the only copy of the new book?

I guess that the people who know the answer have a connection with Jack that he wants to resolve/ get vengeance

I finished a Korea book, completing a set, but don't really want to do the spinning logistics on my phone, so can someone else spin for us?
Thanks!

LaurLa, you're not dense, it's a lot of moving parts, moving at pace!

I'm loving the team work to get these sorted! ☺️

I can do Our Wives Under the Sea

DQs Day 5
Chapters 27 - Epilogue

21. Wow what a ride! What were your initial thoughts and feelings after finishing the book?

It broadly played out as I expected. I thought we'd get clearer understanding of Elizabeth, but no.

22. An integral part to the book is the way the story of Starling House is told through many different viewpoints, with truth and lies and rumors and heresay and opinions often woven together. Did you find that you learned more about Starling House through each story? Did this type of story building and layering work for you? Why or why not?

I liked the different stories as a good way to show the different groups of people in Eden. But I don't think it showed as much as Harrow expected it to. I didn't really find the plot surprising

23. In the ending battles, the MCs were fighting beasts of nightmares and of their own making, inside dreams. Do think it's hard for good dreams to win out against nightmares?

I think it depends. Eleanora never had the space to develop strong positive options, so of course her dreams were fierce vengeance - not nightmares for her

24. A major theme in the book is wants and needs, and how they seemingly twist into each other if you want hard enough. In this theme exploration, what was the message you got from the author, and did it resonate with you?

Reading it on the beach didn't really lend itself to complex thinking! No thoughts

25. Would you recommend this book?
Not massively, no.

Day 2 - Chapters 8 - 13

6) The narration is using dual POVs: 1st person for Opal, 3rd person for Arthur. Does it work for you? Do you think this suits the story?

It works fine, giving some obvious counterpoint to Opal's protective cynicism. Whether it's needed? The main other benefit, if you like, is the info about the war footing Arthur is on, adding to the mystery.

7) Opal goes to the Library to find out more about Starling House and finds her mother's phone number among the Gravely family's documents. What implications can it have? Do you think it could be a hint about Opal's parentage?

At this point I am assuming that Opal is actually a Starling, the lost heir.

8) After Bev's story about the relationship between Eleanor Starling and the Gravely brothers, we get a totally different perspective from what Nathaniel Boone went through. What do you think about the Gravely family and their "hold" over the town of Eden? What do you think Nathaniel may have discovered in the dark?

Opening to let powerful beasts outw, used to disrupt the Gravelys but now out t control

9) Finally we learn some more about about Arthur's role (warden) and his connection to the House. What do you think about their "relationship"? What is your opinion about Starling House as a sentient being? Could it be good or evil?

He's understandably grumpy about having to stay in the house, but not sure that taking out his teen angst on it was helpful, given that a house is going to have nonhuman motivations. I find the house interesting idea

10) On "characters not communicating"
In Chapter 12 we find out that Opal has not told Jasper about the fact that she arranged for him to go to a different school and she actually managed to put together the fee for the 1st year already. Opal doesn't tell his brother about her working in Starling House and she doesn't tell Arthur about her spying on the House for Elizabeth Baine and getting more and more demands.
What do you think of all this?

Good grief it's annoying! Don't blame Jasper for pulling away when she's lying to him and patronising him the way she is. Honestly, non communication as a plot/ relationship development point is one I am so over!