Stacey’s Comments (group member since Oct 26, 2014)

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

Here's my shelf. I threw some books on there that might work for the first week, just to be ready. I'll take them off before we start officially.

Holiday-wheel

Hi everyone! I'm Stacey and I'm in Raleigh, NC where I live with my very spoiled Italian Mastiff. I'm up for reading just about anything and I'm a challenge junkie! I have a 7 hour car ride coming up, so I will take a good look at the rules, and see what I have that fits the first word, just to keep me occupied.

Excited to get started and get to know you all. :)

My last 2 books were done and posted before the deadline. Thanks all for a great Tower Teams!

I will be able to finish at least 2 more -- hoping I can squeeze in a 3rd shortie romance before the end on Friday.

When do we end officially? I should have my TW book done in the next day or two, just trying to see how much time I'll have after that.

Oops. I kind of messed up and used the book I had placed in the "has a pink title" spot in our tri-wizard list for the Maze last night. Completely forgot in my excitement to be able to help with the maze. So that task is open again. :(

I just finished . I put it in the character spell out as I didn't think it worked for any of the tasks, but wondering if we could possibly use it for a club like object on the cover? Oars can be pretty heavy after all. :)

I took a look at The Way You Make Me Feel and I can read that. Did we decide if they need to be read in order or not? I just need to know whether to start that or Disruption for the square next. :)

I'm keeping an eye on the maze, Trinia. But back at work, so getting a solid 2-3 hours to read is only going to be an evening/weekend thing. 😞 I'll see what's needed later this afternoon.

For YA I have:

Disruption
Dreams of Gods & Monsters
The Smoke Thieves

Hi all! I'm sorry I'm taking so long to finish Mate Bond--working all weekend, and trying to get ready to leave for vacation on Monday restricts my reading time. Should have it finished by tomorrow night. Hope that doesn't hold things up too much.

I'm going to pick up at the library tomorrow. It will work for either Moon or Wolf on the cover.

Oh, I just realized that The Vixen and the Vet which I should finish tomorrow has an MPG of War. :) I'm guessing we want that on that task, but I had it parked in a V spot for the character spell out, so I'll let the captains decide.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - Chapters 15-End

17. Gita receives a scare when the SS come for her, it turns out they are actually taking her to Lale for a moment of privacy. Gita is furious because of the terror this caused. Do you think Lale put Gita in dangerous situations? If so, how? I think just by being alive they were in dangerous situations -- they were shooting people for going to the bathroom -- so I would take some danger for a little happiness in that place.

18. I was surprised to see Jakub again, and as a torturer. He says that "If I must kill one Jew to save ten other, then I will". Do you also believe this? We know that many people in his situation were sometimes deemed "collaborators", do you agree? I think collaborator is a little strong, and I don't blame anyone for doing what they needed to do to survive. I do think killing and beating your own goes a little beyond what Lale was doing, so its a little more difficult for me to see his position.

19. One of the hardest parts of the book for me was this passage, "Something light lands on Lale's head and he looks up. Ash is belching from the nearby creamtorium...They emptied the Gypsy camp last night". What do you think keeps Lale going after these continued heart breaks? I'm not sure. Most people have a strong drive to stay alive, but at some point I would think the mind would just want to curl in on itself. Probably Gita to a large extent, and the good he felt he was doing to help the others out.

20. Baretski has been with Lale throughout this book, and Lale always seems to just push the edge of the limits in these interactions, even stating that Lale sees, " a world that will bring yours (Baretski's) down". Do you think he was too risky in his dealings with Baretski? And why do you think Baretski refrained from killing Lale throughout the story? I think that Lale didn't push him until he knew that Baretski wouldn't kill him. I think 2 years --at least? -- is a long time, and if he was going to he would have killed him early on. So I think Lale felt comfortable taking some of his anger out on him.

21. Lale's motto was "If you wake up in the morning, it is a good day" - why is it hard for so many people to also adopt this motto in today's world? Because most of us have never known suffering to this extent. It always becomes easier to live for each day after you have seen how quickly it can go away.

22. If you also read our previous BOM, Lilac Girls, did you prefer one way of storytelling over the other? And does this being a true story impact you any differently?

My next few books are not fitting too well with the tasks we've picked, so I will let you all decide on which tasks we are doing and then try to find a book that will fit something. :) And I'll look for some U's....

We are only able to use books we read going forward for these, correct?

Oh, and does the BOM have to be completed in the month it was read to count?

Since I feel a little lost right now... the BOM and character parts are continuing through the next month, but the BRs, spells and classes are done. We ARE having a 3rd round of Quidditch, but as part of Tri-Wizards? And are the individual teams going to compete in any way in the Maze, or is that all going to be done by the Captains/Co-Captains on the House level?

Mostly, I'll just keep reading. :)

Finished! (With 2 days to spare)

Kaz/Inez : (view spoiler)[ I really like how this ended for them. I feel like they both had a purpose, and a goal and feel there was real hope for their relationship. I have a feeling we will be seeing them often in the Grishaverse to come. (hide spoiler)]

Nina/Matthias: (view spoiler)[ I'm usually devastated when one of my characters dies, but somehow I was okay for both of them this time around. It seemed right somehow for it to end this way. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I was not as enthralled with this book as the first -- it took me forever to finish! I loved the last 100 pages though and how everything worked out.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - Chapters 8-14 || Day 3

9. First of all, most of us probably have been taught about the Holocaust in school. Do you still remember how you felt when you first heard about it, did it even feel real or important to you at that time? Do you think it is still relevant to learn about today?
I don't think I actually had a real understanding of it until I reached adulthood. I read the Diary of Anne Frank, but that's really as close as I remember getting to it while I was still in school. They told us numbers and camp names and things, but we didn't really get details or grasp the horror at that point.

10. After first encountering Gita Lale couldn't stop thinking about her. He knew she was the one. What do you think has drawn the both of them to each other and why is it so easy for them to trust each other while not knowing what their future holds? I think they are both able to see each other without the daily details and societal restrictions that come with normal modern day life. They are basically stripped down, so I think their real character has to come through. And they are taking what comfort they can in a terrible situation.

11. The Romani and Lale also seem to have been very quick to trust each other even though Lale has been worried about his 'treasures' when the Romani first were moved into their block. Why do you think they weren't more suspicious of each other? Should Lale generally be more careful about who to trust and what he's doing? I think in general, what do they have to be suspicious of? None of them -- at least on the surface -- have anything to lose. Lale makes me nervous every time he adds another person to his little side business he's got going on. I guess you trust people when you know they value what you are giving them.

12. In the beginning of chapter 13 we get to see a couple of different perspectives, not just Lale's, and more of Gita's. Do you like the different perspectives or would you prefer only hearing from Lale's point of view? I like that it gets mixed up a bit. It's nice to see how other people are viewing him, and what is going on.

13. It was to be suspected that Gita's family like so many others didn't make it. Lale went to the camp thinking he can protect his family that way. Do you think he already knows /has a feeling about what's actually going on, or does he still have hope that he was able to keep his family from getting taken away too? I'm sure he suspects, but I would sure be avoiding thinking about it to keep myself sane!

14. Lale immediately felt uneasy around Doktor Mengele before even first properly meeting him. Even the doctor's whistling made him shudder. "A doctor, Lale suspects, who will cause more pain than he eases. (...) He must always be wary of this man whose soul is coulder than his scalpel."
Why do you think Lale knew right away that Doktor Mengele would be causing a threat to him? Did you think we would get to see Leon again? Evil has a smell and vibe that anyone can see if they pay attention. I though Leon was gone for good, but I'm glad he made it out, although I'm not sure if he is or not.

15. Cilka still had this beautiful long hair when Gita first met her, while Gita's and all of the other girls' heads were being shaved regularly. After getting raped by the Senior Commandant Schwarzhuber Cilka's appearance has changed. Even Lale notices her pallor. Do you think anything else is going on? I'm sure the stress of that position and trying to please that man just to stay alive is enough to take the life and vigor out of anyone.

16. After meeting Lale Sokolov in 2003, Heather Morris originally wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz as a screenplay. She entered the screenplay into several international screenwriting competitions, winning the International Independent Film Awards competition in 2016 and highly placing in several others, including the ISA (International Screenwriters’ Association) and Final Draft competitions.
Would you have preferred or still like to see The Tattooist being made into a movie or come to our screens in one way or another? I always prefer reading to viewing, so I'm happy it came out this way. I don't know if I would want to have the pictures of anyone except the people that actually lived that in my head when I think of this story.