Allison Ann’s Comments (group member since Oct 19, 2014)

Allison Ann’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Thanks, it's frustrating. The only 4 and 5 star books I've read lately have been re-reads because I NEEDED something I would unreservedly enjoy. I am starting an Elmore Leonard tonight that I have hopes for though. :) Fingers crossed.

So The Girl on the Train didn't get any better? I was hoping at least for some reasonable resolution to the mystery.

I'm reading a fantasy/sci-fi (spaceships and wizards) and the MC has gone from an ass-kicking witch to mooning around having fantasies about her mentor. Yuck!

I've also got a cozy with the woman who is literally suicidal because her boyfriend broke up with her after a miscarriage - a year ago. Another woman utterly convinced her son didn't kill himself and completely incapable of dealing with her husband or the not-dead children. Guess what, he did kill himself, thanks for the waste of a character there. There's more but it's just so boring.

DQs for April 24
ANNA (Saturday, 20 July 2013) – RACHEL (Tuesday, 23 July 2013)
PAGES:112 - 162

12. This is our first look at Anna’s perspective. What are your impressions of her?
I don't like anybody in this book so far and Anna is no exception. She's very self-satisfied, SAVING Tom from Rachel, as much as it might be true it's a crappy attitude.

13. Up to this point, we have only seen Scott through Megan’s eyes. Did he seem different through Rachel’s interactions with him? Do you trust him?
I feel like we barely saw Scott through Megan's eyes and his interactions with Rachel are really the first time we see the true Scott. I didn't suspect him before, but he appears more sinister now. Not sure if it is truth or Rachel's opinion colouring that feeling though.

14. Both Scott and Rachel have had strange feelings about Detective Riley. Why do you think they have such a negative reaction to her?
I think their reactions to the detective are supposed to make them seem guilty. I don't think there is really anything off about her.

15. Do you think Kamal was involved in Megan’s disappearance? Did you agree with Rachel’s decision to tell Scott about him?
To give Rachel the tiniest bit of credit, she did try to tell the police about him first.

16. Why do you think Tom resists calling the police despite Anna’s fear and Rachel’s persistent disruption of their lives?
Again, I think this is an attempt at misdirection, that we are supposed to think Tom is involved somehow. Is he? No idea, this book gives me a headache.

17. Tom reveals some details of that Saturday night – blood on Rachel’s hand, she was very upset, etc. We also know she is having night terrors and panic attacks about the underpass and hearing voices. Are you starting to put together a theory, especially now that it appears Megan is dead? Anything you want to share?
No theory. I want to know what happened to Megan, but I'm not particularly enjoying the book. I hate the non-linear storyline. I hate having to try and figure out if we are in the present or the past. I hate each and every one of the characters. I'm afraid there won't be any proper resolution and this is a library book that I can't throw across the room in anger. :D

NEON CARROT for next week. Time to bust out those R titles I need for another challenge. Do you think either of these is orange enough to count?

They're definitely not neon. :D

I'm working on finishing up an O book tonight, but for now.

Book - Hold Tight by Harlan Coben - 416 pages - 3 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - character - Susan Loriman
N - character - Nash
I - character - Ilene Goldfarb
C - author - Harlan Coben
L - character - Susan Loriman
R - character - Ron Hill


Book - Murder at the Art & Craft Fair by Steve Demaree - 213 pages - 3 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - author - Steve Demaree
O - character - Bill O'Connell
N - character - Nick Nickels
I - character - George Ingram
C - character - Cy Dekker
L - character - Lou Murdock
V - character - Vernon Pitts
E - character - Myrtle Evans
R - character - Cara "Rusty" Parsons

As dog is my witness if I read one more book with a woman who is suicidal because some man broke up with her/cheated on her, I am going to lose it and stop reading. And the sneaky bastards never mention it on the book jacket. Every single genre I have tried lately - mystery, legal, cozy, thriller, medical, historical romance, contemporary romance, chick lit, dick lit, you name it.... woman who can't cope with life. It's so depressing I want to cry or possibly punch something.

DQs for April 23rd
MEGAN (Thursday, 10 January 2013) – RACHEL (Friday, 19 July 2013)
PAGES: 62 – 111

6. Megan is very self-destructive. She tries to seek out a sexual relationship with her counselor and follows him home. Then she desires for Scott to be home. Do you think Scott is Megan’s stability? Is she a sociopath?
I don't think she's a sociopath but she's definitely a narcissist. And yes she relies on Scott, he's an enabler.

7. At the police station Rachel was told that Anna told them she took the baby. Rachel has no memory of this. A little later on she says she heard the baby crying then entered the house in the back, held the baby, then took the baby outside. Not being able to have children weighs heavily on her. Is this part of the obsession wish Anna and Tom?
My least favourite character trope BY FAR is the woman so desperate to have a child that nothing else is important on earth. You can be certain that not having a child was the impetus to Rachel's destruction.

8. People in a drunken state tend to misread peoples interactions or intentions with them. Do you feel this has played a role with Rachel and her memories?
Her memories and lack of memories are definitely coloured by her alcoholism.

9. Do you think Scott has something to do with Megan’s disappearance? Perhaps he is tired of her cheating on him? Maybe she ran off with a lover?
Right now I don't have much of a feeling about Scott, I'm hoping this will change as we continue. I don't think he killed her. I'm more assuming she ran off on her own.

10. Will Rachel quit drinking because of this investigation? Or will she continue to keep drinking?
She might try to quit, but she'll be back to it soon enough. She's too weak a person to stop on her own.

11. Do you think the police know that Rachel tried to contact Scott?
I think he has told them, mainly because I think he's being treated with suspicion and will do anything to point their focus somewhere else.

Book - Freaks of Greenfield High by Maree Anderson - 253 pages - 2 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - character - Jay Smith
N - character - Vanessa "Nessa" Harris
C - character - Caro Davidson
V - character - Vanessa Harris
E - character - Shawn Evans
R - character - Rachel

Book - Evidence of Trust by Stacey Joy Netzel - 316 pages - 2 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - author - Stacey Joy Netzel
N - author - Stacey Joy Netzel
C - series - Colorado Trust Series
L - character - Britt Lucas
E - title
R - character - Randy Gifford

Still having trouble finding the Is and the Os. Guess I'm not queen of the vowels this week. :)

Book - The Disappearance of Mavis Woodstock by Rosalind Burgess and Patricia Neuman - 258 pages - 2 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - character - Sally Stapleton
N - author - Patricia Neuman
C - character - Celeste DuBois
L - character - Billie Ludlow
V - series - A Val and Kit Mystery
E - character - Emily
R - author - Rosalind Burgess

Read the first 61 pages of The Girl on the Train yesterday and just answered the questions for the BotM. I've never done this before, read the prescribed pages on the prescribed days. It's different. If I was enjoying the book more I think I'd find it a hardship to stop, but since it's still quite annoying so far, I'm okay with it. :D

Back to the store today, I'll read a bunch of my short little books again.

DQ for April 22nd
RACHEL(Friday, 5 July 2013) - RACHEL(Monday, 15 July 2013)
PAGES:11 - 61

1. What are your first impressions of Rachel? Megan?
Rachel is exactly the kind of chick lit cliche character I hate the most - her boyfriend/husband left her and she can't have children so she falls completely apart, can't cope with anything in her life, not even a little bit, not even two years later. I have no sympathy for her and if I were Cathy I would have kicked her out a year ago. Megan doesn't strike me as a particularly worthy character either. She appears spoiled and weak.

2. Have you every people watched as Rachel is doing and made up a story to go along with the "characters"?
I work in tourism and I'm always making up stories about the strangers who come into my town/business. Of course then I generally spoil the story by asking about them and getting the real details. :)

3. A crucial question in The Girl on the Train is how much Rachel Watson can trust her own memory. How reliable are her observations? Yet since the relationship between truth and memory is often a slippery one, how objective or “true” can a memory, by definition, really be? Can memory lie? If so, what factors might influence it? Consider examples from the book. (Retrieved from http://www.penguin.com/read/book-club...)
I'm assuming Rachel is doing the alcoholic rewrite on most of her memories, putting herself in a better light and everyone around her as prosecutors to suit her self-obsession.

4. I found this quote from the book interesting: "Life is no a paragraph, and death is no parenthesis." What are your thoughts regarding this quote?
Sorry, I don't remember that quote. Unless I'm trying to figure out a mystery, I don't tend to delve too deeply into the book. What I read is what I get.

5. Where do you think Jess/Megan went? Do you think she took off, was kiddnapped, or killed? Do you think Rachel had anything to do with Megan's disappearance?
I think she took off. I don't think she is dead yet though she may be later on. I'm a bit disappointed, I thought this book was going to be a Rear Window kind of situation. This ambiguity doesn't interest me as much.

Forgot to mark my last book as a grey cover.

Book - Never Go Back by Robert Goddard - 369 pages - 3 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - character - Dr. Donald Starkie
O - character - Harry "Ossie" Barnett
N - title
C - character - Peter "Crooked" Askew
L - character - Mervyn "Jabber" LLoyd
E - character - Erica Rawson
R - author - Robert Goddard

Thanks Rachel. Some reading today, but no finishing so far. We'll see how the evening goes.

I love Francis too. I used to have a ton of his books in hardcover, lots from my dad and others I had bought back when I was an independently wealthy teenager with no monthly payments of any kind. Unfortunately that was one of the boxes that went missing when I moved. Broke my heart. Thank goodness for used book stores and cheap paperbacks. :D

Forgot to post this one from this morning. Brain not working. :)

Book - The Edge by Dick Francis - 328 pages - 4 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - character - Sheridan Lorrimore
O - character - Oliver
N - character - Nell Richmond
I - character - Ivor Horfitz
C - character - Brigadier Valentine Catto
L - character - Sheridan Lorrimore
V - character - Brigadier Valentine Catto
E - title
R - character - Nell Richmond

Book - A Rabbit's Tale an Easter Story by Diogenes Ruiz - 213 pages - 1 star

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - character - Peggy Simmons
C - character - Ray Cromwell
L - character - Leigh Arias
E - character - Wilma Evans
R - title


Book - Pink Serenity by Kelli Bradicich - 228 pages - 2 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

S - character - Serenity/Serena
N - character - Holly Newsome
C - character - Charlie
L - character - Lara Reed
V - character - Silvana "Vana"
R - character - Lara Reed

I never get picked for anything, but at least we will get Michelle's points for next week and we already have yours for this week (for the other book). Pretty good result.

Almost no options for this one either. I'll finish my grey book today.

Book - The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick - 304 pages - 3 stars

Colour - SONIC SILVER

N - character - Bartholomew Neil
E - character - Elizabeth the Girlbrarian
R - character - Father Richard McNamee