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

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

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!

I posted to D5 saying we were all good with Dog!

We can take DOG happily!

Oh that's a shame, because Dogs of War was a good fun read!

Eldarwen wrote: "Knowing some of the people from that team, they'll read just about anything for a challenge, so that isn't anything we have to worry about..."

I can't think who you might be thinking about!

🤣

DQs Day 1
Ch 1 to 7

1.) Have you read other books by Alix E Harrow? Was this on your tbr list before it was a BOM selection? Any expectations going in?

I have, and find her ok but not outstanding. So expecting a reasonable riff on ideas already better done elsewhere

2.) Did you read the footnotes as you went along? Find them helpful? Annoying?

Not the best version of footnotes that I've seen, the tone being very strange and inconsistent

3.) The discussion of E.Starling's book being too scary for children reminded me of some interviews with M.Sendalk when the Where the Wild Things movie came out several years ago about books, etc that scare children (when children are the target audience). His response was basically children should be scared sometimes and there's nothing wrong with that. And has further said, it's better to have a book full of fears than one pretending there's nothing to be afraid of. What are your thoughts on this topic?

Yeah, adults want to sanitize but kids love a bit of scary. Sendak, Roald Dahl, even some of the Victorian ones have some terror. Twas ever thus

4.) What are your thoughts so far on Eden and Starling House? Has the author done a good job so far of creating an atmosphere and setting for a good gothic story?

Atmosphere is good, a dying town and a vengeance gone too far... Gothic ticks better than the effort in Salt and Broom

5.) Any favorites so far in our motley cast of characters? Opal, Arthur, Jasper, Bev, and Starling House

Charlotte and Bev

Yep, Ammonite I'll be finishing today after the deadline

Ashlee, any chance you can make a third post for Hunger Games BR so we can get the bonus points? ☺️

I'd forgotten how rubbish Katniss is at a lot of stuff, probably conflating her with all the perfect ya heroines that followed after this book. I ended up enjoying the reread more than I was expecting to!

I also forgot how little time Snow gets in this book.

I finished two today, and will promise not to finish any more until some time tomorrow. I'm ahead an hour from Uk, so think that makes it 11 my time. Shall save for after lunch to be safe!

Morning from Montenegro!

For the battle I'd go with a hot book that ends in some nice letters - Bothered for RED or the ICE option maybe?