Lisa’s Comments (group member since May 01, 2022)

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

Part 3

I finished part 3 today. I knew both Peeta and Katniss would need to survive to make it to book 3, but I had no idea how that was going to happen until it did. I'm glad several of the tributes survived and that Katniss managed to foil the capital by destroying the force field.

I think the arena was quite clever with both the idea of the clock being the theme as well as all the different tortures for the different wedges. The fog was quite creative and horrifying.

I'm on edge with Peeta being separated from the group...

part 2

I really didn't remember much of this at all...I wouldn't have even realized there was going to be another set of games in this book if I hadn't gotten some small spoilers from this discussion thread after reading part 1.

It does seem clever of Snow to put Katniss and Peeta back in the arena to "take care of his problem with them helping to incite rebellion" but its even sweeter to see how his actions are just leading to worsening of his problems (view spoiler)[via Cinna's mockingjay dress, Peeta's announcement that Katniss is pregnant (leading to more dissent and rage from spectators), and everyone holding hands in a show of defiance at the end of presentation of the tributes. (hide spoiler)]

My heart is breaking for Katniss at the end of Part 2. (view spoiler)[ How they forced her to watch Cinna being taken into custody (or maybe worse?) right before she's dumped into the arena. That would throw anyone off their game, but hopefully it helps to strengthen her resolve. I don't remember what happens to Cinna, but I also don't remember him dying so I'm hoping he'll come out of this okay. (hide spoiler)]

I'm looking forward to part 3 - I wasn't expecting all the water ...

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Seems to be like Team Towers with points being the ranking on the all teams sheet rather than resources -- but they may pull something out of their hats later with that, we do not know. There has t..."

Yes, I just looked at the all teams spreadsheet and I don't know what we're collecting resources for! It is hard to strategize when we don't how they'll fit in...but it does seem like they'd have to have some sort of roll in determining the winner at the end.

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "We should start discussing Supply Drop plans as well if we get any this round.

Do you think we should protect resource piles again?
Do you think we should use for page points / total team points?
..."

I thought we made a good choice with protecting resources last month, so that is what I'd lean towards. But I also haven't thought about it strategy-wise a ton, so others might have a better opinion. I'm not even sure how our rank is determined - is it based on our resources or a combo of resources and pages? I'll see if I can figure that out by looking at that spreadsheet.

I don't think I'd save any for the battle as from what I understand of the battle rules, we'd only be able to use it if the first or last letter of the book we saved matched one of the three (or more) letters we need to overlap.

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Some notes of clarity for the series reading for the Wall Building part of the mini

We have to do series in order when building one wall, but can re-start each wall, such as three walls of #1 - #8..."

I think this part could be tricky, just because a lot of series don't go super high or if people aren't that far into a series and don't want to read out of order (for good reason!). I put a Cork O'Connor book on the mini spreadsheet as #5 is next up for me. I put it in the 5th slot, assuming we'd start the wall with a #1 but it can easily be moved if we start our wall higher. I can probably also read #6 in the series if needed, but want to give others a chance to look at their TBRs. I'll look for other series I'm in the middle of too, that might fill the higher slots.

I marked this on the summary page of the spreadsheet, but thought I would let you all know I will be out of town camping with my family for the first couple of weeks of July. The campsite I'm staying in doesn't have electricity or wifi, but the beach pavilion does. So I'll be bringing my computer and checking in regularly, but won't be on quite as much as usual.

The mini looks like fun - and maybe a bit easier than last month's mini! I think I have to read Butcher & Blackbird for my other challenge next week, so I went ahead and claimed a spot for it one the spreadsheet already (although it works for several of the genre spots or #1 in series, so it could be moved).

I've finished my battle book! It was Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts. I generally like her "in death" books that she writes under pseudonym of JD Robb, but have been +/- on her other books. While this one wasn't superb literature by any means, I did like it more than I expected to.

Part 1

This is a re-read for me, although I really don't remember much of the book at all.

I believe I was team Gale on my first read-through, though and I am team Peeta this time through. I'm guessing that my former self latched onto Gale the first time I read the book just because we met him first and I could tell he cared for Katniss. This time I can see how she's changing and even though he might have been the right person for her if she hadn't gone to the games, that they grew in different ways and might not be right for each other now. (view spoiler)[ I believe I remember how the love triangle resolves, and that may be influencing who I'm rooting for this time around too... (hide spoiler)]

I haven't started Part 2 of the book yet (and avoided reading comments overtly labeled "part 2" above), but I'm inferring that there's going to be another round of games in this book? And maybe Peeta and Katniss will be forced to participate again? If true, I can see how the capital would think this is a good way of eliminating them and thereby dampening any sort of uprising.

Our final pick for the battle:

Battle 1 Chain

D3 - American Dirt
D13 - The Dirty Book Club
D3 - The Lubetkin Legacy
D13 - A Cyclist's Guide to Crime & Croissants
D3 - N'Tsuk
D13 - Sukiyaki, Gospel, and Jazz
D3 - The Jazz of Physics
D13 - The Physics of Climate Change
D3 - The Angel of Waterloo
D13 - Looking for Me
D3 - Ormeshadow
D13 - Down the Darkest Road
D3 - The Road to Bittersweet
D13 - Sweet Revenge
D3 - Vengeance of a Mafia Queen
D13 - Eeny Meeny
D3 - Enyo's Warrior
D13 - Iora and the Realm of Legends
D3 - The Ends of the World: Supervolcanoes, Lethal Oceans, and the Search for Past Apocalypses
D13 - The World We Make

Maybe it's not necessary, but I'm going to pop over to District 3 and officially declare the last book of the chain before I fall asleep, just in case.

Erin, are you still online tonight? I think from the discussion above our team is choosing The World We Make and Ingeborg is going to read it. But I don't think we've officially chosen it by reporting back to District 3? There's still several hours before the deadline so there's still plenty of time. I just wanted to make sure we didn't forget.

I'm just getting home from work today and seeing district 3's final book. I kind of figured they'd be able to come up with something that would force us to use more than three letters, but I was still hoping we'd be able to tie. Like Erin Bernadette said above, though, we can still hope they'll not finish a book and we'll win that way.....

I think they had a bit of an advantage getting to go first, so that will be our advantage next round....

I think we can start reading the battle books when the clock gets down to 23 days? So in a little over 10 hours?

Char wrote: "We can go with Iora and the Quest of Five, ig?
it's small, and I think they may have to go with Five instead of Ive"

There are a bunch of books that start with "I've" so that's why I was thinking the second one in the series is better.... "nds" will hopefully force them to use 4 letters. Which would give us a chance at tying. In general I hate reading things out of order, but for a middle grade book I think I could do it.

I can't find it anywhere for free, I can get it for $4 on kindle. Can anyone find Iora and the Realm of Legends for free?

My finds:

Iora & the Quest of Five
Iora and the Realm of Legends - this one is second in series, but may be harder to follow

Riordan - I couldn't find this one anywhere

but we may have to go with overlapping 7 (yikes!) letters for a title that starts with warrior:

The Warrior Heir
Warrior of the Light
Warrior Girl Unearthed

Hopefully someone else will have better luck....

We're getting quicker! Happy Hunting!

Battle 1 Chain

D3 - American Dirt
D13 - The Dirty Book Club
D3 - The Lubetkin Legacy
D13 - A Cyclist's Guide to Crime & Croissants
D3 - N'Tsuk
D13 - Sukiyaki, Gospel, and Jazz
D3 - The Jazz of Physics
D13 - The Physics of Climate Change
D3 - The Angel of Waterloo
D13 - Looking for Me
D3 - Ormeshadow
D13 - Down the Darkest Road
D3 - The Road to Bittersweet
D13 - Sweet Revenge
D3 - Vengeance of a Mafia Queen
D13 - Eeny Meeny

Bernadette wrote: "Robin (Saturndoo) wrote: "@ Lisa I just borrowed Eeny Meeny from the library and can read that one!"

I think that will only leave us with a one-point difference then. I say go for it!"

Ok, three of us agree, so I'll post it in District 3 in a moment!

I've found several books starting with "eeny" - do any sound appealing to anyone?

Eeny Meeny
Eeny Meeny Miny Mo
Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo... And Still - Mo: Lessons In Living From Five Frisky Red Squirrels
Eeny Meeny Miny Moe
Eeny Meany Miny Die: A funny romantic mystery

Amusingly I found Eeti Vs Ansh, available for only $1 on kindle. But I don't think I can do it. I thought this might also leave them dead in the water, which would be a reason to avoid it as well, but then I found Anshu: Dark Sorrow. LOL

I also found Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts. It is an overlap of 5 letters, but I think they would need to use 4-5 in response. I am willing to read it, if you all decide it is the best choice. I don't know that I'll be able to be online much today.

I think that's a good choice Erin. I'm fine if you claim it and send it back to them quickly.

I talked with Char briefly and she's willing to take the Sukiyaki book if no one else wants it since I don't have KU. So I don't have a book yet and am willing to take one in one of the last four rounds if needed.