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

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

DQs Day 4 ~ Ch 21 to 27

16.) “The curse can be broken only by the maiden, the mother, and the crone, who must speak Nathaniel’s true name thrice to cast him out.”
Anyone have “Beetlejuice” go through your head?
Do you think that Gracelynn noticed the name by the blood moon in the grimoire as the true name? Will she remember when it matters? Am I wrong here?

Beetlejuice is just you you Jenny!
Hopefully she'll try Merzoth, sounds suitably demonic to me.

17.) Would you ever date again or hug a family member if you could read people’s thoughts when touching them?

No! It's a really crappy superpower to have!

18.) Have any of you seen a “faith healer” or a snake handler in person? What was it like?
How much of the control that Bellflower seems to have over the congregation is religious fervor and mob mentality vs his power over them? Did that make sense?

I've not seen either in the flesh, no. I suspect that he's not having to work too hard given the mob mentality, but he's certainly using some power I think.

19.) Did anyone have super-villain monologuing vibes when Bellflower was telling Grace about the history of him and her family?
Anything in that speech that surprised you?

It was textbook monologuing, but I don't blame Grace for encouraging it! super villains should always be encouraged to monologue :)
the only thing is: I didn't think Grace was actually Deirdre's granddaughter - I thought that was a pretence when she was rescued from her crap situation?

20.) I keep thinking back to the Salem witch trial times when reading this, and it is many many years after those horrible times. But, it is exactly the same. Why? Is it ignorant and proud of it mentality, or the evil influence of "Beetlejuice"?

Mob mentality goes a long way. They say there is wisdom in the masses (averaging out a lot of guesses is usually pretty accurate) but there is also stupidity in herds - once in motion it's hard to turn the viewpoints

Bonus.) Any predictions on the ending?
Deirdre will awaken, Walker's going to get his comeuppance, Abby and Grace will skip off to distant climes.

DQs Day 3 ~ Ch 14 to 20

11.) Jakob’s decision to get Deirdre out of Tin Mountain seemed desperate, but I think he was trying to prevent another event like the one that took his mother’s life. Do you think the decision was a good one or one made in haste that could cause more harm than good?

I think it was a good instinct but poor delivery in the end, that's going to cause harm

12.) Grace is visited by Anneliese and gains a new power from the encounter. Do you think this ability to read thoughts will be needed to stop the madness and bring the town of Tin Mountain out of the curse? Do you think that Grace may gain other powers to aid in the fight?

So far the thoughts she's read have hardly been a big surprise! Currently it looks likely to put her MORE at risk (answering thoughts not words) than help. I suspect additional powers possibly to come.

13.) We learn from Anneliese’s journal entries in the grimoire the real reason that Nathaniel Walker had her burned as a witch. Also, Anneliese’s strength and determination to protect Jakob and not allow Walker’s tainted blood to run through her descendants. What did you think of this revelation and Anneliese’s stand?

don't mess with a woman! I didn't quite get the reason why an incubi wants an offspring, though I get the benefit to them of stealing the witch's powers.
I think that the switch of the inheritance of magic out of Annaliese's blood to Gracie is throwing the Bad Guy off the scent - presumably he's not realised (yet) and that's why he has been tupping Aunt Val...?

14.) Deirdre ignored Jakob’s warning to never show the Grimoire to anyone and showed it to Esme. Then later, the girls at the school are talking about it and seem to have sneaked a peek inside it. I was afraid that this might be the start of Gentry getting a hold onto Dierdre. Then the use of the book to get a little revenge on Phoebe. I think a line has been crossed. What do you think? Do you believe that she will be able to reign everything back in and not use the book for ill intentions again?

Definitely crossed! and again, not even like she actually needed the book to get her revenge - a little light poison is hardly a stretch for a country bred person, surely?

15.) I really want to know the promise that Dierdre made to Gentry all those years ago. Do you have any ideas or guesses as to what the promise may have been or why it was made?

some sort of delayed offering of offspring rights? to protect Esme?

wasn't sure precisely which City Watch book it was from (though obvs post Sybil & Sam marriage)

yeah. agree that the Morris & Seth seems wasteful and a bit "kill the gays". Unless we are supposed to relax now - the queer-bashing has happened, so Abby will be safe, until aha! she's not.... ?
Either way, just a bit odd...

DQs Day 2: Ch 6 to 13

6.) Well, the connection between the women has been explained. Anyone surprised? Were you surprised Ebba popped up as an adult?

I wasn't surprised, no. Though I did think it interesting that Gracie isn't actually related, except through ties of love. Puts the message strongly onto general powers of mother- and sisterhood rather than it being a super special family thing.

7.) And now we also have a reasonable amount of the back story. Was anyone surprised about there being an actual grimoire? Do you think it's the same preacher/devil/spirit? Or descendants on a revenge mission?

I don't know. It feels a cop out for it to be a specific demon doing the dastardly deeds, when general (not all) male fear is real as it is (see the beating up of Morris and Seth)

8.) Did you enjoy having the interlude with journal entries and find an effective way to convey that information?

The journal was a good way to get that original story in, yes.

9.) This quote struck me as funny, sad, and true "Why is it that most of a woman's troubles in life have to do with a man?" Reminds me of phrases along the lines of "why are we taught to fear the witches instead of the men who burned them?" which is also appropriate for this book. How do you think these phrases apply to current times?

So much. And also the additional fear of transwomen too now.

10.) All kinds of random dramatic love pairings going happening on Tin Mountain. Is it distracting, necessary, a bit much?

I didn't need Aunt Val and the dodgy preacher, thanks! Otherwise, it's a reasonable way of showing the community connections, I guess?

The dragons from Colour of Magic that rely on imagination to be real!
Errol, obvs, right?
DEATH? the Hogfather?

noooooooo Judith! I've been reading it since 1 April, and am now 34% in.....

I don't care about Phoebe, barely care about Diana and her non-issues with the perfect family, and Marcus' travails in the Revolutionary War are frankly not enough....
but it's got a brown cover for UNO, and clears it out of the TBR Closet. Failure is NOT an option!

But I am also not going to buy the next book in the series, however enticing a blue cover it might have!

ETA: even the appearance of a griffin is doing nothing for me! How can a griffin not actively enliven a book?!

DQs Day 1: Prologue - Chap 5

1. Historical Fiction and Witches. Do you enjoy reading either or both of these types of books? Did the cover, genre, story catch your eye or was it because of the BOM that you're reading?

I like them well enough, though I am also trying to read Time's Convert which is historical fiction + witches + multiple storythreads and am struggling so hard.
Happily, Tin Mountain is going much better!

2. The Prologue captured my interest right away. What part do you think Anneliese is going to play in the rest of the book?

Either the link that ties it all together or she's a distraction...
Well, Jakob, anyway (is he the ancestor of Deirdre & Gracie?)

3. Deirdre seems like a wild child from what we've read so far. Do you think Robbie is going to end up causing her problems? When she helped to deliver Hannah's baby she seemed to be able to calm her with her thoughts. Do you think she will end up having some calming influence that can be transferred by her thoughts?

Robbie is going to be a problem!
I don't know if the calming influence was anything more than the physical actions of contact and calm attitude, to be honest

4. What do you think of Gracelynn's dream of the two women standing before a burning tree? Could it be a memory or an omen of what is to come?

Omen!

5. All three women, Anneliese, Gracelynn, and Deirdre, seem to be interesting in their own ways. Any early ideas as to how they will be connected, if at all? Any early favorites?

No favourites as yet, they are all interesting :)

as affectionate nickname for the police? yup! :)

Three Men in a Boat is one of my favourites, from an early age. Helped along by the fact that I grew up in the Thames Valley, so many of the locations were intimately familiar to me. The humour very much speaks to me. my dad was a big Wodehouse fan, so there were lots of silly upper class nitwit books about for me to pick up and help form my reading worldview

https://www.theguardian.com/environme...

Go the earthworm!

It's interesting, for sure, and easy to read.

we don't have vultures. the main carrion bird I know of is the red kite, which was super successfully reintroduced to the Thames Valley by the Rothschilds. They are magnificent, but I suspect pale compared to a vulture! (there had to be a lot of education as they moved west into Oxfordshire, as people were leaving out steak to encourage close visitations, which isn't good for them lacking all the gristle and such.)

Set 2: 6 - 17

5. Iconic wildlife make their way to Knepp spontaneously once the land is left. Were you expecting the volume and variety that made an appearance when you started the book, with the unappealing claggy clay was described?

I was impressed at how quickly and widely species made their own way to the land once they no longer had to play dodge the tractor. The earthworms' super speedy wriggling across the heavy soil was particularly impressive. I did think the points being made about assumptions of wildlife habitats based on post WW2 landscape being very wrong were interesting - and suggests that the more marginal changes briefly touched on (hedgerows! may them bigger! maybe don't flail the heck out of them!) can be effective.

6. Beavers! In general the section on the river rewilding was probably my favourite segment, and it's frustrating that there is such a wide acknowledgement that the current management of rivers and adjacent land (in England & Wales at least) is not really compatible with effective flood reduction. Anyway, rather than politics: favourite river creature(s)?

Hard to beat a kingfisher, I reckon. They might not be superstars in regenerating the riparian environment, but they are for sure a good marketing tool!

7. The minibeasts are revealed as the unsung heroes of a healthy environment, and yet are generally unloved. Any suggestions for "sexing up" the image of the humble earthworm, or making the pesky wasp more palatable?

I was being silly with this question, but we do need to accept that if we want an environmentally richer country we need to put up with annoyances (eg hedgerows that are prickly and scratchy and might damage cars; decaying bodies of animals etc)

8. Comparisons with Norway and Scotland, and the size of deer under different management methods. To noone's surprise, Tree is sniffy about both the Scottish and Norwegian approaches, on the basis that both lack the "authentic" way of life and thus dynamism within the landscape. What do you think about her point of view? Any recommendations for other nature writing?

As mentioned before, I found her privilege, and more particularly, lack of acknowledgement of that privilege for the vast majority of the book to be very grating, and impacted on my enjoyment of the book. I think I thought there would be more suggestions for others and also more detail about the difficulties, beyond "boo hoo, DEFRA wouldn't stump up the cash for aaaaaages".
Other nature writing - The Running Hare, I mentioned before, plus I've read one of the books about trees (The Secret Life of Trees: How They live and Why They Matter? Wildwood: A Journey through Trees?)

Bonus: horsemeat: would you eat it regularly?
Pescatarian, so no. I suspect my sisters (both live in rural farming environments) would, given they both like venison, and my oldest sister is regularly given gifts of hunted hare or pheasants.

DQs Day 1
Introduction and Chapter 1-5

1. Why did you want to read this book? Are you familiar with some of the books that it quotes, such as Wendell Berry or Aldo Leopold?

I've not read either of those. I did enjoy The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland, which focussed on one man's attempt to farm a small area in a more sustainable fashion.

2. This book focuses on re-wilding as compared to ecological farming or balancing crops and conservation, as is mentioned in the first chapter from other farmers. What are your thoughts on the idea and how it fits in the context in England? Did you know England had such biodiversity loss and low protected land?

I spent most of the book being exceedingly irate at Tree's attitude to other landholders for not leaping on her & Charlie's bandwagon, with no empathy for their financial circumstances. The last chapter did have some thoughts on how to balance rewilding with farming more sustainably, so I was slightly reconciled, but suspect that she's not a believer in "catch more flies with honey" approach!
I was aware of the biodiversity loss, yes. :( though I hadn't thought about the impact of the reluctance of bureaucrats to throw relatively low funding at speculative projects would effect attempts to reverse it.

3. Giant oaks. What is your experience with them and do you want to visit any now that you have read this chapter?

I've more familiarity with horse chestnuts (in my youth) and the London plane trees. But they are majestic beasts. There's an old turkey oak in a local park which is in the "branches drooping to support itself" phase, and which is splendid


4. The introduction of domestic (feral) species to replace wild animals is interesting to me. What do you think of this as a concept, and how it is handled differently in their plan versus the one in the Netherlands? Had you heard about the closed canopy theory before?

I think that filling publicly accessible spaces with wild creatures would never work! It was interesting reading about the different proxies used. One thing that made me laugh was when she was mourning that their cattle are no longer thoroughbred, because they can't track which bull impregnated which cow!

I'd heard of the theory that a squirrel could cross England without touching the ground, yes, but I'd honestly assumed that to be hyperbole. The New Forest is one of the oldest forests in England, and it has a LOT of scrubland, due to the horses.

sorry, combination of unplanned socials (and subsequent impact) plus just not getting on with the woman's attitude slowed me right down.
Happily my diversion into the Singing Hills Cycle (especially with its approach of being generous and conciliatory to neighbours) was balm to my soul!

Set 2: 6 - 17

5. Iconic wildlife make their way to Knepp spontaneously once the land is left. Were you expecting the volume and variety that made an appearance when you started the book, with the unappealing claggy clay was described?

6. Beavers! In general the section on the river rewilding was probably my favourite segment, and it's frustrating that there is such a wide acknowledgement that the current management of rivers and adjacent land (in England & Wales at least) is not really compatible with effective flood reduction. Anyway, rather than politics: favourite river creature(s)?

7. The minibeasts are revealed as the unsung heroes of a healthy environment, and yet are generally unloved. Any suggestions for "sexing up" the image of the humble earthworm, or making the pesky wasp more palatable?

8. Comparisons with Norway and Scotland, and the size of deer under different management methods. To noone's surprise, Tree is sniffy about both the Scottish and Norwegian approaches, on the basis that both lack the "authentic" way of life and thus dynamism within the landscape. What do you think about her point of view? Any recommendations for other nature writing?

Bonus: horsemeat: would you eat it regularly?

oh that's such good news Mel!

big hugs and cheers! :)

finished which was an entertaining romp, even if there were some very obvious plot points

I'm behind, sorry, so it's going to be tomorrow before I get questions up.

There's very little acknowledgement of her privilege in being able to do this, so the various harrangues of landowners (farmers) who don't follow through with their aspirations is hard to choke down (in reading terms I mean!)