Lauri’s Comments (group member since Jan 23, 2016)

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

Lauri's Spot!

3 / 20

1) Yes Please
2) Bossypants
3) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
4) On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
5) Genghis: Birth of an Empire
6) Yo!
7) All the Flowers in Shanghai
8) Caramelo
9) Middlesex
10) Prayers for Sale
11) The Blessing Way 4/18/19
12) Size 12 Is Not Fat 3/28/19
13) Crazy Rich Asians
14) Oh My Stars
15) Eragon
16) A Clash of Kings
17) Thirteen Moons
18) Prodigy
19) Skeletons at the Feast
20) The Heartsong of Charging Elk
21) Shinju 2/16/19

This was such great fun! I had a blast reading with you all! A big shout out to our terrific captains!!

Aloha to all, and to all a goodnight!

Mega completion post!!

Christmas with Tucker
Author: Greg Kincaid
Finished 12/7/18
Page count: 180
4 stars!
Mini Christmas challenge - RAB with a dog as a character. Tucker is an Irish Setter who helps a young boy learn about love. Great story!
(Also try A Dog Named Christmas . Tucker is the prequel)
Fits the following letters:
R - character Sherry Rather
S - Character Sarah McCray
T - character Frank Thorne


Key Lime Pie Murder
Author: Joanne Fluke
Finished 12/7/18
Page count: 384
4 stars!
Mini Christmas challenge - Read something sweet. This is about judging a baking completion at a State Fair. Lots of sweets and recipes here! Yum!
Fits the following letters:
R - character Nornan Rhodes
E - character Edna Ferguson
S - MC Hannah Swenson
T - Tracey



Nutshell
Author: Ian McEwan
Finished 12/7/18
Page count: 208
3 stars... A weird little book!
Mini Christmas Challenge - RAB with between 201 & 300 pages.
Fits the following letters:
N - title
T - character Trudy



Please add these to our spreadsheet, most wonderful teammates and/or captains! Oh what fun!

I will definitely finish all my books by tomorrow night! I took the day off -- going to see the Eagles in concert tomorrow!! I am SO excited! They are my absolute favorites & I never made it to see them before....

Completion post!

Pushing Up Bluebonnets
Leann Sweeney
Finished 12/5/18
Page count: 288 pages
4 stars!
Fits the following letters:
P - title
R - character Roberta
E - Elliott Richter
S - author
N - character Nancy Song



Could someone please add this to out spreadsheet for me?

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "As a big romance reader I'm used to the smirks and patronising looks from less enlightened people and I don't care a bit. I love my "guilty pleasures" which I read between epic historicals and thri..."

Lisa, I went through maybe a 3-year-long period where I read ONLY romance novels! I made cloth book covers for them to use when I took them out of the house because the covers embarrassed me!! Now I don't care. Let people see and think I'm weird. A few months ago I found myself trying to explain the premise of the cozy mystery to a Vietnamese nail tech in a salon! She wanted to know why I was laughing at a book that had murder in the title. Her reading tastes run towards history, biography and self help. So you just never know.... 😆

For our mini Christmas Challenge, please put me down for RAB with 202 - 301 pages - I have Nutshell with 208 pages.
Also Something Sweet - I have Key Lime Pie Murder which is definitely sweet. Character names will tie it in to PRESENTS....

I really enjoy the search almost, if not more, than the actual book reading part of these challenges! And, Suzanne, don't be ashamed of your reading selections! Make no apologies! How many people out there don't read anything at all?

(This is coming from someone who thoroughly enjoyed White Trash Zombie Apocalypse!! HA!!)

An UNprecedented Triple Completion Post!

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
Author: Kiersten White
Book of the Month - November
My comments in thread - msg 1 #117, msg 2 #119, msg 3 #120
Finished 11/30/18
Page count: 304
4 stars
Fits the following letters:
E - character Elizabeth
D - title



Espresso Tales
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Finished 11/30/18
Page count: 345
3 stars
Fits the following letters:
R - character Ramsey Dunbarton
E - title
I - character Irene Pollack
D - character Domenica



Everything Is Illuminated
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Finished 11/30/18
Page count: 276
4 stars
Fits the following letters:
E - title
I - Little Igor



Whew!

Could someone please add them to our spreadsheet for me? Appreciate it!

Suzanne wrote: "Lauri wrote: "For the Christmas mini challenge I can do #20 - RAB with a dog as a main character. Christmas with Tucker

"

I think we'd bet..."
He is definitely a shelter dog & it states A main character... Lemme know what you think!

For the Christmas mini challenge I can do #20 - RAB with a dog as a main character. Christmas with Tucker

DQ Day 3 Ch 17-end


10) Judge Frankenstein did not let Elizabeth know that he was fighting to get her inheritance back. If she would have known, do you think she would have handled things differently with when she found Justine and forced a marriage between her and Victor? Would she have been a different person?
I think if she had known about her inheritance, she would have hope. I don't think she would've been so keen on marrying Victor!

11) Victor said, “You made it clear from the start you did not care what I did so long as you did not have know the specifics. It was our agreement.” Did Elizabeth contribute to Victor’s madness? If she would have told him he went was going too far at any time, would he have stopped or just not tell her?
I think the two were codependent. She needed Victor to value her and give her unconditional love. He needed her love and concern in order to feel powerful and to keep him grounded to this earth. She definitely contributed to his madness by not calling him out! I don't think he was capable of stopping, no matter what she might have said.

12) Victor wound up leaving after the conversation Elizabeth saw with the monster. Later we found out that he was watching and protecting Elizabeth. Was Elizabeth committed to an asylum to keep her safe or to get the monster out of the way so Victor would be able to continue with his work?
Back in those times, women were often committed to mental institutions by their husbands and families for reasons like hysteria. They had no recourse. They were chattel. I think Victor had her committed to get her out of the way because she had started fighting back.

13) Was it surprising that Victor killed Henry and used part of him for his experiments? Were you surprised that Mary and Elizabeth friended the monster and let him chose a new name?
I was totally shocked when we realized that Henry was the monster (for the most part.)!!! I believed that he was safely in England. I was very surprised when the girls became his friend. And Adam? Why not?

14) Do you believe that Victor finally succeeded with his experiment to retrieve Elizabeth or that he needed to go forward with the experiment on her to have her back the way she was?
Victor was completely delusional & very narcissistic in his beliefs. I still can't imagine how he found them in the remote place in all that snow! How could he even imagine experimenting on Elizabeth?


15) How did you like this retelling to the original and/or other retellings?
Well, the ending was truly shocking! I never imagined that Elizabeth would do that in a million years. All in all, this story was dark and twisted. The motivations & actions weren't typical or believable all the time, but crazy people do act irrationally. I really enjoyed it, though.

Discussion Questions Part 2 (Ch 12 to 16)

6) Sometimes we are strangers even to ourselves
Another great quote in this book! Do you think Elizabeth was just referring to Henry here or about all 3 of them? She seems quite restless and unsettled since finding Victor. Why do you think this is?
I think she is referring to everyone in general! How many of us say that we truly know ourselves?
Elizabeth has always knows that madness lies just beneath the surface with Victor. Finding him in such a state and knowing how he had been spending his time & what direction his 'studies' had taken was horrific, but not all that surprising to her.

7) It's fairly well established a this point that everyone is frightened of Victor to the point where most seem to want to avoid him as much as possible. Elizabeth comments that at night when she was scared and having horrible nightmares she went to Victor. And sleeping by his side, she had no nightmares. Why do you think that is?
Victor was her sole reason for being in a position of privilege (dubious as it may seem to us) at all. By staying by his side, she could be assured of not being thrown into the street the next moment. And, in his own way, Victor loved her.

8) Why do you think everyone was so willing to believe Justine killed William? To believe her going mad so suddenly and randomly? Do you think she actually did it? If not, who do you think it was?
Justine could no more have killed William than Elizabeth! It's easy to pin the blame on the person with the most opportunity and then she was also found with the gold locket. I think the Monster did it -- Victor's creation.

9) Elizabeth sees her actions towards saving Justine from her previous life as the only selfless thing she has done in her life. Do you think her actions were truly selfless though?
Not at all! She wanted to feel good about something, so she rescued Justine. Then she had a friend and someone who would look upon her as a savior.

10) Upon seeing the monster having a conversation with Victor, that Victor appears to lose, Elizabeth's reaction is to find out what it is holding over Victor, remove the hold, then kill the monster. Do you think this is a normal reaction? What would you have done?
I think that's messed up and rather contrived for the sake of our story! Personally I would have run screaming and got the hell out of Dodge!

Completion Post!
The Diva Haunts the House
Author: Krista Davis
Finished 11/26/18
Page count: 287
Fits the following letters:
R - character Nina Reid Norwood
N - character Natasha
D - title



Could someone please add this to our spreadsheet? Thanks!

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Done! What did you think Lauri? I quite enjoyed that series"

I really enjoyed it! Gwyneth isn't nearly as silly as I first thought & she's much more steadfast than that Charlotte. I originally picked it up for the red cover, but now I think I'll read the series -- eventually! Glad you liked Sugar Plums.... I call the whole bunch 'brain candy!'

Discussion Questions Part 1 (pg 1-124)

1. I love this quote in the story. “Justine did not have to pretend, as she always seemed genuinely unaware of the effect we had on men. I, however, was perfectly aware of my beauty. I considered it a skill, alongside speaking French, English, Italian, and German. It was a language of its own, in a way; on that translated well in different circumstances.” What does this tell you about the different characters of Justine and Elizabeth?
I think Elizabeth is, by necessity, a bit manipulative and an opportunist while Justine is honest and naive.

2. Elizabeth truly seems able to control Victor’s dark character. She helps him clean up after the incident with his younger brother, and comes up with a story to help save Victor. Why do you think she is able to do that when no-one else seems able to control him?
Perhaps she does it by sheer will! Out of a sense of self preservation because she needs to. Or she is simply good at it, the way some people are good with babies or animals...

3. When Henry proposes to Elizabeth, she immediately begins to worry whether she can be the wife he needs. But she decides to send him to Victor to ask for his blessing. She figures there can be two outcomes - one Victor will return to her and ask her to marry him, or two Victor will give his blessing and she can marry Henry. This “plot” comes from feeling desperate to belong and the fear of not being needed by the Frankenstein’s anymore. What would you do if you felt that way?
I think I would have jumped at Henry's proposal & left Victor to his own devices! I sense that Elizabeth has a dark side all her own & she knows it.

4. When Elizabeth burns down the house that Victor was using for his experiments, she hears a large splash in the river. Who do you think it was fleeing the burning building? Do you think it’s the same man Elizabeth saw out her window at the boarding house and out of her carriage? Or do you think her mind is playing tricks on her?
Oh, could it be Frankenstein's monster? Hmm...

5. Re-tellings are now one of my favorite new genres. Do you like this retelling of the Frankenstein story so far? What other re-tellings have you read that you really liked?
I am enjoying it, but I sense the horror(s) to come.
I did like Cinder & the series...

Completion Post!
Ruby Red
Author: Kerstin Gier
Finished 11/25/18
Page count: 324
Fits the following letters:
R - title
N - character Nick Shepherd
D - character Cynthia Dale



Could someone please add this to our spreadsheet please?

And for my last completion post for BROWN...
Murder, She Barked
Author: Krista Davis
Finished: 11/23/18
4 stars!
Fits the following letters:
B - character Ben Hathaway
R - Rose Richardson
W - character Peaches Clodfetter Wiggins



Could someone please add this one to our spreadsheet for me? Thanks so much!

Completion post!
Precious and Grace
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Finished: 11/23/18
Page count: 240
3 stars
Fits these letters:
B - character Mphapi Bogosi
R - character Precious Ramotswe



One more to add to the spreadsheet, please!

Completion post!
The Covenant
Author: Beverly Lewis
Finished 11/23/18
Page count: 320
4 stars!
Works for letters:
B - author Beverly Lewis
R - character Robert
N - character Naomi



Could someone please add it to out spreadsheet?

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Nice one Lauri!
Oh yes, Happy Thanksgiving to out USA friends.

I found on my kindle which has reindeer in the text, and gives another E :)"

LOVE it! I believe our good buddy Diesel is in that one -- as if Steph doesn't have enough problems with Morelli & Ranger!