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

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

336 pages
400 pages
424 pages

reporting 1160

Current total: 1,627,859

Links for verification:

Day 1: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 2: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 4: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

DQs Day 4: Ch 18 to 23

13) Well we now know what happens to Jacobs. No shark death for him! Were you surprised about how all that went down? Do you think all of those men (Dobrev, etc) are dead?

I was surprised that Dobrev was chunks and yet Charlie unharmed, so not convinced there, but I didn't expect Jacobs and Tobias the Stabber (and Shooter) to be connected to each other

14) "Humans do a good job of making outcasts." Do you agree with this statement?

Sadly, yes.

15) Was everyone else as entertained as I was by the first Zoom call? There are times I'd love to do stuff like that at work.

It was perfect!

16) What did you think of Charlie's response to the attack on Jenny's Bay? Settling in to his super villain role?

I enjoyed his response - and a nice use of the Chekovian laser gun too! :)

It's been agreed that we can use The Violin Conspiracy for instrument on cover, yes!
You can read it now and use for BOM, yes.
If you want to have your name in the randomiser for a chance to write questions (40 lovely points) then please do go and volunteer. If you don't want a chance of writing questions, you don't need to say anything about just planning to join in the conversation though.

Re blue cover: eeeeesh. it's a very cold grey blue, but I'd probably take it as blue, yes. Danielle?

and we are into Round 3!

I hope everyone enjoyed reading around various world musical cities last round - an amazing 41 cities read for! I suspect we won't get quite that many instruments, but please do prove me wrong! :D

DQs: Day 3 ~ Chapters 12 – 17

9. It seems like the whole book is a test of Charlie’s character. Hera’s conversation with Charlie is one example. Charlie suddenly asks if Hera and Persephone like him. She says they were sent to watch him, but they like him because Charlie chose to take them in and treated them well. Do you think the book is portraying a series of tests from his uncle? What do you think it means?

It's certainly showing us why we should like Charlie. I don't think they are tests from his uncle, but his personality probably helped his uncle make the introduction to the super villain world a bit smoother?

10. “Business is business. It’s different from respect and friendship.” What did you think of this statement? Do you agree with it or do you think these things can’t be separated?

I think the capitalist view has been that, yes. But there are changes - think about the owner of Patagonia putting all his shares into a trust with charitable aims, for instance. Some leaders are seeing that business with respect (genuine, not just ESG green-washing / rainbow-washing) delivers returns commercially and in other areas. Friendship can be separated from both business and respect though!

11. Charlie was quick to pick up clues on the Lombardy Convocation members. What did you think of his assessment? Did it change your opinion of him?

It was sharp, and entirely his own assessment. More evidence why his uncle felt ok with passing on to him.

12. There has been a lot of great banter in the book so far. I have to say I think both parts with the dolphins were my favorites. What has been your favorite line/quote, or your favorite part of the book so far?

The dolphins are pretty great!

DQs: Day 2, Chap 7 - 11

5. We learn Hera and Persephone are both sentient cats. My cats love lying next to me and staring at my computer screen (when they’re not stomping all over my keyboard), so I can picture a cat using a computer vividly. What mischief would your pets come up with if they were sentient? Even if you don’t have pets, what mayhem do you think could happen?

I don't know about what they'd get up to if they could communicate, but I do remember on time, my mother rang me at work asking why the home printer wasn't working. I was never going to be able to remote diagnose that the dog had chewed the cables!

6. Charlie seems to be surprisingly chill about going along with everything happening, from sentient animals to attempts on his life to being whisked away to the Caribbean. Does that make sense to you, with how his life was before the book started? How would you react if you found out your uncle was a supervillain?

It's more interesting than his life, I guess, so in the absence of all those connections, why not float along with the random craziness, especially when it comes with a side of Caribbean sun?

7. Although travelling there was a bit of a hassle, St. Genevieve sounds like a pretty sweet place to be. Where would your ideal villain (sorry, process disruptor) lair be set?

I don't think I've the temperament to be a disruptor, but I think the critical factors would be somewhere that could be reasonably self-sufficient in terms of energy, food and water production. I think the Caribbean is a bit risky, being in hurricane territory, so your at risk of communications arrays and farms being destroyed periodically....

8. We got a list of more or less exciting options including sharks, so: what is Charlie going to decide? How is Jacobs going to “die”? Or might his death end up being a real one after all?

No idea what he's going to pick, but suspect sharks & barrels aren't it!

Bonus question: The (soon to be striking) dolphins have, uhm, quite the vocabulary. Any favorite insults? Do you want to give coming up with some creative insults a shot yourself?

It reminds me of Hag-Seed, where the students/prisoners have to use Shakespearean insults. Fair to say that using profanities to insult is the easier option

the only reason to finish the book would be that we would then have a complete spell out!. The points will get used either round, so up to you (if it were me, I'd finish it it now, but that's just personal preference, not considered tactics!)
oh! it's not a blue cover that you have, is it? that could be useful for next week, though I'm not really worried about that

Yeah, I'm not planning on any more this round.

Moving furniture around with Witch King audio :)

DQs: Day 1, Chap 1 - 6

1. I'm so excited to be reading another John Scalzi book with you all. He has quickly become one of my "always read" authors. Is this your first Scalzi book? What are your expectations?

I've read a few . Generally a hapless dude win through via humour and nerdiness.

2. What are your first impressions of Charlie? Do you think he is using his sad life events as an excuse to coast through life easier as his siblings and attorney seem to imply? Do you relate to him so far?

I like him fine. I think it's more depression than coasting. Interesting how easy it seems to be to parlay journalism into teaching. UK has a three year process to get to be a teacher!

3. “When people name cats, they usually do it in one of three categories: food, physical characteristics or mythology,” Morrison explained. What do you think Mathilda imagines Charlie's choice of "the goddess route" says about him? What sort of name would you choose and what do you think that could tell someone about you?

the names of my pets have all been human names: Oscar, Jake, Bruno, Flynn, Enzo. one Tigger, I guess.
I don't think it is really a thing that you can take anything from. beyond - with dogs especially - not looking stupid calling for them!

4. What would your reaction be if a rich, but estranged family member left you a huge inheritance?

Confused & grateful!

yeah, cancer's not a pretty death in anyway. Going to assume that that was a lie

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Haha E

I’m revelling I’m not just getting my goal this year but I’m at the top of the table 😊😂🤭😁"

Hi five!
Got to Snuff yet Karen?

288 pages

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193 pages

Current total: 1,621,343

@Andy, we don't need any more brown covers (we've maxed out there), and the blue cover would be nice for next week. but.... so would the U character this week!

Toss a coin about whether you read Duffy now or next week :)

Ancient Greek Chorus session musicians for sure!

V_Nerdbooks wrote: "Just finished my U book for New Orleans, I...... wouldn't recommend it"

:(

Thank you for taking one for the team! May your next read by a 4or 5* one!

If it's not a U book, and you can slow down, yeah, that'd be good! :D

Round 3
Saturday is the end of round 2, and i think we can all agree we will be glad to see the back of the ukulele!
Our Round 3 word is the much more interesting ALPINE ZITHER, and we are looking for blue covers!

There's also bonus points for finding instruments on the cover, so do hunt out those with keyboards, string, woodwind, brass, percussion and other instruments (voice doesn't count!)

I've been thinking about ways to make the instrument hunt more fun - I wondered if we want to see how many four-piece musical combos we can make? from string quartets to britpop bands or jazz and swing combos, it could be fun?

The Round 3 planner is up, if you want to start adding planned books

208 pages
367 pages
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Current total: 1,613,011