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

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

V_Nerdbooks wrote: "My book says "A saxophonist plays a solo that sounds like a jacked up version of bolero" would that work?"

sadly, no :( needs to be the instrument, not the player, nor a verb (drumming rain doesn't work)

ok,.... so I found "marimba ringtone" in a book - is that sufficiently about the instrument that we'll allow it? (and given that it's not for points either, as we've found our 10 instruments already)

yup :(

but I enjoyed the read regardless of final fail! and it's another out of the TBR Closet :)

finished , which was good, if a "preaching to the choir" sort of a book. But as someone who hasn't experienced racism and poverty in the same way, it's always good to have a UK refresher.
Particularly interesting:
- the differences he experienced between Jamaica and London - in Jamaica, being seen as mixed-race he is assumed to be middle class and privileged, whereas in UK he's seen as black and poor.
- his views on the cult of Mandela versus Castro. or more specifically, their lasting impact on their countries: Mandela universally loved but South Africa still very violent and with extreme poverty; Castro hated (especially by white Western), Cuba's opposition to apartheid brushed over and Cuba with low rates of violence and poverty and an outstanding medical system. (to be clear, he's not saying Castro is a saint, but he is saying that both men have more going on that the Western rhetoric permits, and perhaps we should explore that and why)

342 pages

Current total: 1,506,562

bad news: the marimba in my book was a false sighting - it was a person's name in the footnotes, not the instrument :(

Will see if I can hunt down another!

As far as progress goes, we are off to a flying start, with 4/5 red covers read and our instruments for maximum points found!

For our fun side quest of finding all the instruments on the list the status is as follows:

Instrument	status
Accordion	
Bassoon	
Harmonica	
Harp	
Mandolin	
Marimba	
Oboe	
Piccolo	
Saxophone	
Tuba	
Viola	

Bagpipe		planned
Banjo		planned
Flute		planned
Ukulele		planned
Zither		planned

Cello		found & read
Clarinet	found & read
Drum		found & read
Guitar		found & read
Piano		found & read
Trombone	found & read
Violin		found & read
Xylophone	found & read

uhhhhh.... some of the outlying suburbs are coastal, but the main city not so much, so I guess my answer is "it depends" ?

Killed a kappa

New monster

Bakekujira
1 100 to 175
2 Author initials in WHALE
3 Birds or fish on cover
4 ghost important to plot
5 Setting is costal or on the ocean

384 pages

Current total: 1,505,133

608 pages

Current total: 1,504,389

new Spin:
GR rating <4.0

but too late!

reading: (Natives)
listening: Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears)

link: Natives is all about the fall out from Britain wanting to rule the world

"The Ring Cycle is epic, so is this book"
"The Ring Cycle is tedious, so is this book"
"The Ring Cycle written by a man...."
"The Ring Cycle has strong women characters..."
"The Ring Cycle has fighting / romance / ..."

I really don't think you are trying, Jenny!

1.5 million pages! and a bit less than a quarter left in the year - can we get 500k pages read in that time?!

358 pages
391 pages
449 pages
224 pages
369 pages

reporting 1791 pages

Current total: 1,501,899

Cat's links for token

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

DQs Day 5: Chapter 48-end

19. We finally learn how Lily died. Were you surprised? Do you think she would have done it without Leona's prompting?

She wouldn't have done it without prompting - apart from anything else, Leona needed to leave the cupboard open to the really bad stuff.
I also think that the solution didn't really do Lily, or any of the others justice. Lily hadn't shown that much signs of being utterly unhinged, and it felt like an out of character thing for her to leap to - killing her putative bessie!

20. I've never read a book before that gave the perspective of the place. How do you feel about Saoirse Island having her own chapter?

It was interesting! I liked that it made clear that actually it doesn't give a toss what the surname of the person is - Lily being a Morgan might mean everything to (some of) the humans, but the fact that Lily was being a total asshat is what mattered to the land - it wants good custodianship, not self-centred thinking.

21. The council (and probably the islanders) are definitely not shown in a good light. Do you think they knew, or cared, about Leona's motivations? Why do you think Noah broke ranks?

Ultimately he cares about his daughter more than the bullshit. plus killing isn't cool!

22. The August/Emery tension was finally resolved. Were you happy with the outcome? Did it feel realistic? Do you think that they would really survive as a couple off the island?

Eh. Magic magicness of specialest Emery meh.

23. The orchard ownership was resolved in an unusual way. Were you satisfied with the outcome?

I was over the orchard by this point!

24. The ending. What are your thoughts on Emery and August's daughters comment? Ominous, intriguing, or just there?

Vaguely intriguing. Also not sure that not talking about the island is the pathway to keeping them clear of it! Plain-speaking honesty seems a better option, as with most things with kids - dressing it up never really pays off in the long run, right?

I'm reading it to fill a task on SRC. You'll be done with Coraline before I'm done with Tuesday, so do boot me out!

I found an actual hark and stuck it in - hadn't seen your message, sorry Mel.

And new spin:

Frankenstein’s Monster
1 175-225
2 Possessive in title
3 Author publishes using a pseudonym (can also use real name - initials are not a pseudonym)
4 Read a book from either list: 1. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (no series sub) or 2. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... (can series sub)
5 MC runs away from a place or person

orange, I think....? marginal, so happy if everyone piles on and tells me I'm wrong!