Joanne’s Comments

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

Note: Joanne is not currently a member of this group.

Here's another cover colour up for debate:
- brown enough?

Yikes Allison Ann. Take care of yourself

Thank you all for the colour confirmation.

Blue, right?

I know last year when I switched from an iphone to a Google Pixel and downloaded all the same apps to my new phone, some of them had different functionality. For example, the Goodreads app in iphone has limitations but its not bad. In Android, it's basically unusable. I don't even get notifications for threads I'm following. I have to open the app to check if there is anything, so I rarely bother. I also can't select different editions of books so I'm afraid to start or finish any books through the app because it will often add a duplicate to my shelves.

Jessi wrote: "I don't remember where but I do remember the conversation! I actually can do 2.5x but Scribd only goes up to 2x. I cannot do 3x though that just sounds like gibberish.

I worked my way up to it too..."

That's strange, I have Scribd too and I can take audios up to 3x there. I wonder if the iphone and android apps are different? I have an android. I never take it above 2x though because I can't understand. 1.5x is my sweet spot.

I've already got Two Can Keep a Secret on hold from my library. Estimated time is 6-7 weeks so I should hopefully have that one in time.

I would like to read Wilder Girls (more than I wanted to read Gideon) but my library only has it in paper. I put a hold on it last week or the week before but I'm still 29th in line with 8 copies. So not sure I'll get to it in time. It's not on Scribd and the ebook is $11.99 to buy, which is waaaaaayyy too high.

Is this enough blue to count?

Allison Ann wrote: "Happy Week 2 Team Ira! We did a fantastic job on Week 1. I am currently reading an awesome 900 page book that I can not wait to go home and finish. Thank goodness my busy season is almost over (one..."

Thanks! Happy Thanksgiving to you too! What province are you? I have to work all weekend, including the holiday tomorrow, and Manitoba has declared a "state of emergency" because we got a ton of snow and thousands of people lost power. My power never went out, but the roads have been a nightmare to navigate.

So the minimum we need not to lose points is 31 right? And I see we're currently at 34. YAY! And tons of books toward Wrath! We definitely aren't the team that read the most books so that must mean we read some nice long ones worth a lot of points.

Finished my last book. I'll start working on books for next week.

Jessi wrote: "I totally get it! I'm the same way! But for this challenge, yes, shelve the audio. After the challenge you can always change it so everything looks nice and neat again. I know I will!."

Ok no problem!

I will push and finish Windchill today. It's not the one I planned, but otherwise I may finish too many next week.

Here's the amazon link if we need to add the time to goodreads: https://www.amazon.com/Windchill/dp/B...

Are we going to be ok with books finished this week? We're not under the minimum? I was going to try to squeeze in one more book but I'm heading to work now and not sure it will happen, so it would be easier to just save it for next week.

Also, sorry to be a bother, but I can't remember: if there is ONLY an audio, with no page count, it counts for 100 pages right? The audio is 4hours30 minutes on Scribd with no page count: Windchill. With such a low count, not sure if it's worth even reporting for the challenge.

Alysa wrote: "@Ozana — looks like Jessi took care of your books! :)

@Joanne — didn’t you listen to audio of Gideon? Cuz you have the hardcover shelved. (And Jessi, some of the HC editions on both of the spreads..."

I have never shelved the audio edition of any book I read, always the default. I don't like seeing the lack of page count of "15 pages" for audio hour count, nor seeing the square cover on my shelf when all the others are rectangular and generally nicely lined up.

If it's going to be a problem for this challenge, I can always temporarily shelve the audio version and change it back when the challenge is over. Do you want me to do that? I figured since we use the default page count anyway it wouldn't matter.

Day 6- Chapters 34 to the end

22. In chapter 3 we get the first of the big reveals. Were you surprised by the actual dynamic between the twins? And were you as creeped out as I was by Ianthe's little speech about the place between life and death..."where the things are that eat us."?

I liked the twist of Coronabeth not even being a necromancer. I think I was kind of bored with Ianthe's speech so I probably didn't pay enough attention to it.

23. There have been many types of necromancy and magic and science talked about and demonstrated in this story. In sci-fi and fantasy books, I often find myself wishing that some of the science or magic was real. Are there any aspects of this world that you wish was real, or that intrigues you?

Definitely not. Everything is too dark and depressing in this world. And dangerous.

24. The second big reveal gave us the name of the big bad. I personally did not find clues to this littered throughout the story, so I was surprised. Did you find this reveal satisfying? Surprising? Did you enjoy the fight at the end?

Not really. I wasn't really clear on everyone's motives. By this point I was just getting through it to finish the book. I fell asleep during the fight and had to go back and re-listen when I woke up.

25. Was anyone else waiting for a sex scene? Why use the term "lesbian necromancers" in the description? Who cares if they are heterosexual or gay if it really doesn't come into the story? Marketing? Or do you think it was an important story point that the main character liked girls?

Yes. I was surprised there wasn't any romance at all. Gideon and Harrow had "a moment" but there wasn't even a kiss (right? Or did I miss it?). Maybe in the following books. Is Gideon really dead? They couldn't find her body so maybe she is still alive and the romance will happen in Harrow's book?

26. Will Gideon's and Camilla's bodies or selves be recovered? Will you read the next book to find out? Did you like the book?

I will not be reading the rest of the series. While I enjoyed some parts, I was just too confused by the whole thing. I would have DNF'd if it weren't for this challenge. I wish we had the answers to a few questions though: What is the story with Gideon's mother? Why didn't Gideon die from the nerve toxin?

I agree that Illuminae is great! And it's a short read too. I read the first one awhile back and may re-read it and continue with the series if I can get the physical copies from the library. This is not one that I think would work as well on ebook as on paper.

Day 5 - Chapters 27 - 33

18. We get a lot of thanalogical (??) science theory chat in the section, with the exchanges between Palamedes and Harrow, which seems to confuse them at least as much as it did me! Did you enjoy the science chat and reveals, or did it get in the way of the action?

I tried to follow but so much is hard to follow in the audio, so I didn't worry too much about not getting it all. I actually listened to chapters 33 and 34 twice because when I came to answer the questions and read others' answers, I realized I didn't really get what had happened.

19. We see other sides to a couple of the Houses during this section: the Eighth, who had been reported as being super weird with the cavalier being effectively a vegetable, actually transpire to be super weird with the cavalier trying really hard to hold to whatever shred of his life he can claim as his own (Colum says: "I've got my sword. I've got my honour. Everything else is yours." "Your sword is mine also" said Silas. Silas is an ass of the highest order, btw)
Similarly, the Second become all noble and self-sacrificing in chapter 33, a change from the rule-bound nimrods they'd been up to that point.
Do you like the shifting understanding of the characters? Have your favourites / least despised changed over the course of the book?

I haven't really had a lot of strong feelings about anyone in the book. I like Gideon because we see the world through her eyes, and Harrow because I find her intriguing. I disliked Jeanne-Marie because the audio narrator made her voice SUPER whiny and annoying so she sounded like a bratty child. I feel neutral to slight dislike for everyone else.

20. Speaking of changes: MASSIVE emotional reveal between Harrow & Gideon. I loved the line "she wrapped her arms around Harrow Nonagesimus and held her long and hard, like a scream", which is just SO Ninth House. How does this information make you re-evaluate Harrow & Gideon's relationship?

I was kind of waiting for a scene like this as the book was showing them start to grow closer and not have their dislike of each other be so aggressive.

21. Something a bit lighter: in the midst of the blood and death and bone-key making and such, there are still some moments that made me snigger. one that I particularly enjoyed was "Hm," said Camilla neutrally, and Gideon knew immediately that she organised Palamedes's and her socks by colour and genre."
The little blips of humour have definitely helped me whilst reading the book. Do they work for you?

I found things amusing several times.

I think if we had any other sin, it would be reasonable to go for focusing on our own sin, but since both our colour cover and genre are the hardest of all the options, I don't know that it's worth it. Most of our books would end up being in the "sin specification" category which means we would be sacrificing more points (since most books would at least work for a genre for different sin), to try to read for our sin, when other teams sins are so easy that they can just probably do them easily.