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

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

Completion Post

by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
Completed: 6/29/17
Pages: 156

Completion Post

Book: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Completed: 6/29/17
Pages: 315
BOM participation

Day 2 Questions: June 23rd - chapter 2-3

8. I am really enjoying the strong sense of place that King invokes through the senses. Can you share a book that you've really enjoyed that had a strong sense of place?
The only one that comes to mind for me is Daughter of Smoke & Bone. Not so much in our world, but in the alternative past world where the chimera live.

9. At The Way Station, the gunslinger is told to "Go slow past the Drawers gunslinger. While you travel with the boy, the man in black travels with your soul in his pocket" - what do you think this means?
Probably that the boy will be important to the Gunslinger with the potential to cause true emotional damage to him.

10. What do you think is Jake's role in the story?
I think he's there to humanize the Roland. Since we've just seen him kill most of a town, I think we needed a counter balance to prove our MC wasn't entirely without redeeming characteristics.

11. We begin to learn more of the gunslingers past and what he was like as a boy - do you still see those parts of him as a man?
I can't really get a hold of his character as a man yet, so I can't say I do.

12. We've seen so much darkness in the story so far, it was striking to hear about light when the gunslinger spoke of New Canaan. The gunslinger recalls his mom saying, "the only real beauty is order and love and light" - do you think there is hope in this world for love and light?
It seems like it is very far away at this point for sure. But there's always room for love.

Completion Post

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
Completed 6/28/17
Pages: 439

Cathy M. wrote: "Updated ~ Stacey not sure if you saw Shannon's message above. Please add Irresistibly Yours to your shelf (or check the date completed). Thanks!"

I got the shelf fixed the other day -- It was the date read. Should be good now.

Completion Post

Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey
Completed: 6/28/17
Pages: 331

Completion Post

by Lauren Layne
Completed: 6/25/17
Pages: 265

A bunch of short ones for me lately -- one of my other challenges in ending soon and right now that one is quantity of books rather than pages! Should get some longer ones in in the next few weeks.

Day 1 Questions:
June 22nd - chapter 1

1. I love the first line of this book, “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” What do you think? Did it draw you in right away? Do you think it sets the tone for the book? It's interesting because usually I would associate the "man in black" as being the gunslinger, so its interesting its the opposite. It made me curious about both of them for sure.

2. Why do you think the Gunslinger is chasing he man in black? Will he catch him? What will he do if / when he does? I think it has something to do with his purpose or job as a gunslinger. Maybe he did something wrong, or right that the gunslinger has to track him down for? I'm guessing he will catch him, but have no idea what will happen then.

3. What do you think of the world building or the world the story is set in? I find it interesting that there are so many differences and yet some similarities to our world, like the singing of “Hey Jude.” It feels a bit like our world has seeped into theirs. I keep putting the characters in an old west frontier kind of setting, but then they sing Hey Jude, or talk about something that is clearly modern day, and it throws me off. I'll be interested to see how close this world actually is to ours, if its a future, or a completely alternate reality.

4. What or who do you think the man in black is? He certainly seems to have some special powers, but with evil undertones. Any ideas yet? My immediate thought is he's some kind of wizard, but that probably has to do with the reanimation of the grass eating guy. I find it interesting that he is setting "traps" for the gunslinger which would seem to indicate they are on opposite sides?

5. Why do you think the townsfolk were so anti-gunslinger? Was it just because of what he represents as a gunslinger, because he’s a stranger, or because of the man in black? Some other reason? I'm still kind of stuck in my Old west setting where the townspeople were always afraid of the gunslingers/lone wolf type guys that came into town so maybe its something similar to that.

6. What do you think of what happened in Tull? Was there another way for the gunslinger to leave the town without the destruction that occurred or do you think it was necessary or predestined? When Brown asked him if he felt bad about it, the gunslinger said, “Why would I feel bad?” Do you think that’s just because of his training or maybe he believed there was no other way or maybe he just lacks empathy for the death of others? I feel like whatever his training was produced this automatic reaction to the threat. I also think that the townspeople were beyond the scope of reason and wouldn't have let anything other than what happened happen. Now whether that was the plan of the Man in Black or just the crazy lady living in the desert, I'm still a little confused about.

7. What do you think of the story so far? Anything you particularly like or don’t like? Stephen King has a way of making me feel like the most dense reader on the face of the planet, and so far this is not different. I don't understand anything that is going on and I'm guessing I will get to the end of the book and still not understand most of what happened. It's interesting though, and I've heard that this is the hardest book to read and get into of the series, so I'll stick with it.

Completion Post

by Elizabeth Hunter
Completed: 6/22/17
Pages: 396

Completion Post

by J.K. Rowling
Completed: 6/21/17
Pages: 341. (default as it was audio)

We can read the BOMs ahead of time and still get the points if we participate in the discussion if its within the same month, correct? My copy of The Woman in Cabin 10 came in at the library sooner than I expected, so I will need to read it in the next 2 weeks -- or else I'll just give it back and re-request.

Completion Post

by Christina Lauren
Completed: 6/17/17
Pages: 305

Fixed! Sorry, I missed adding all my shelves for some reason.

Completion Post

by J.K. Rowling
Completed: 6/15/17
Pages: 320 (Default version -- I listened to the audiobook)

Completion Post

by Tawna Fenske
Completed: 6/14/17
Pages: 196

Shannon wrote: "July BOMs will be:




No dates yet.

Disappointed? Happy? Did your vote win?"

I'm hoping to get The Woman in Cabin 10 from the library in time to read that one. I'm not familiar with either of the other two, so I'm not sure about them.

I'm still going to try to get Strange the Dreamer read this weekend so I can get done by the 22nd. :)

Completion Post

by Jana Alston
Completed: 6/13/17
Pages: 278

Completion Post

by Laura Kaye
Pages: 230
Completed: 6/12/17

Completion Post

by AdriAnne Strickland
Completed: 6/9/17
Pages: 390

My go to movies are Pride & Prejudice, Shawshank Redemption, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Mummy (the Brendan Fraser version, no idea why) and the first 2 Alien movies. :)