Briana’s Comments (group member since Aug 15, 2018)

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

Vicky wrote: "I'm asking the other captains for an opinion on that, but if my crazy plan doesn't pan out that will be perfect!"

Okay let me know, if not I'm sure we can use it somewhere else.

I have the perfect book for the open The Luggage task if no one has anything. A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon, I'm about 140 pages into it already so I should finish it before we know it.

I just finished my Wheel mini book. I'm going to go update the ss now.

Teddie, I can probably knock out Magic Triumphs by the weekend easily enough if you want to do Magic Claims, I usually end up binging straight through to the end of their books. But if someone else wants to dive into Kate Daniels I'm more than happy to take a backseat. The series is a lot of fun.

Shoot I thought I'd already fixed that. It should be all set now.

Stacie wrote: "Is someone else reading Wheel of Time? I read the first three already and checked them off as complete but my name is listed in the 600 page part of the July needs sheet as signed up to read Great ..."

I'm also reading Wheel of Time but like you, I'm up to The Shadow Rising. I need to get it done before the end of the month for a bookclub I'm participating in.

I'm also done for June.

♛Vanessa♛ wrote: "Briana wrote: "♛Vanessa♛ wrote: "About the new mini tasks:

For the first task, I have several books on my TBR that have or are a part of sister series/spin-offs. If anyone wants to read a book fro..."

I think Wild Lands would be a better first choice. If you're okay with that. If you're feeling Vortex Visions more I'll happily do Water's Wrath. Either way it gets me closer to finishing a series on my end.

♛Vanessa♛ wrote: "About the new mini tasks:

For the first task, I have several books on my TBR that have or are a part of sister series/spin-offs. If anyone wants to read a book from the sister series of any of the..."

I have both Water's Wrath and Wild Lands on my TBR that'd I'd be more than happy to read if you want to work on either of their related series.

I'm seeing that as I go through the thread now. At least it going down and my internet troubles kind of worked together.

Shelby wrote: "Briana - Let me know when you post the DQ's for 11/22/63 and I'll add the link to the official spreadsheet since I've already moved everything else over. :)"

I just posted them. I ended up losing internet last night and couldn't get on to post them. I feel like such a dingus. If they don't count for points because they're late I'm really sorry guys.

So sorry these are late. I ended up without any internet yesterday and couldn't get them up last night.

DQs Day 10
Ch 25-27 / 84%

38. Did anyone else see Jake impersonating a CIA agent coming to close that window of uncertainty? I knew he had to do something but that was a ballsy move. Do you think he sold it well? Better yet do you think the evidence he received from de Mohrenschildt adquately closed the window of uncertainty for him take action when it comes to saving Kennedy?

39. Well as last bets go it wasn't Jake's most profitable but it did help some in terms of expenses. For all of Jake's talk about the past harmonizing with itself and the future did you see the beating coming? Did the way Wanda called for her dad when Jake came to collect tip you off that the past was about to finally make known what Jake escaped when he left Tampa in a hurry because he didn't like the way Gutierrez was talking about him?

40. Speaking of the beating Jake took that was intense. I'm more surprised that he lived given how strongly time was resisting Jake's efforts to stop Lee Harvey Oswald this time. Between the damage done to his body, the head trauma, and the obdurate past are you surprised that Jake recovered any memory at all of why he was there in Texas in 1963? What did you make of all the little clues he found while he was searching for them with Sadie?

41. Chapter 27 had a slight shift in format. Suddenly each subsection is tied directly to a date leading up to JFK's assissantion as Jake plans how he is first going to stop it and second manage to be there without putting Sadie in danger. What did you think of the almost diary style of the chapter? Was it too much of a divergences from previous chapters or would you have preferred the book was more solidly dated all along?

42. Because of the head trauma Jake is plagued by random bouts of sleep. Do you think this is going to play a role at all in his attempt to prevent Oswald from assassinating Kennedy or will it magically disappear and lessen in effect the closer he gets to zero hour like the stomach bug did on his first attempt to save Harry Dunning and his family from Frank Dunning?

DQs Day 6
Ch 14-16 / 50%

22. Up until now, Jake didn’t stay in one place for long, but now he’s settling into a new life in Jodie. How do you think this will affect his original mission to stop Lee Harvey Oswald and prevent the JFK assassination?
I think it's going to cause some conflict for Jake. He's been very careful thus far not to make really any serious connections to where he is, but Jodie is different. It's in how he talks about the town. He's comfortable and happy there. He's found a home a place wehre he could potentially put down some roots.

23. Jake lets his relationship with Sadie end over his refusal to tell her about his life. Do you think he should have told her the truth, or is he better off ending things now? Why do you think so?
Sadie's got a bit of a no nonsense attitude so his not telling her makes sense. He is there for a reason after all and it wasn't to fall in love with the high school's new librarian. However, he also really loved her by looks of things and while his fears about her calling the cops or some other group to have him evaluated if he did tell her the truth may have made sense because shes didn't know anything true about him. It's still a little too much, there were ways to give her those bits of truth in order to preserve what they had, I'm sure. But they might have required a little more finessing to make work and I don't think it ever occured to him to try because he wasn't expecting to fall in love.

24. Jake freaks out when he sees that part of Sadie’s name is “Doris Dun” and instantly starts comparing her to Doris Dunning. We have seen several similar name pairings and events throughout the novel so far that Jake finds important. Do you think there is any significance to this, or are these things merely coincidence?
I'm somewhat partial to Jake's idea that the past and future harmonize with itself because it doesn't want to change. It does make a certain amount of sense if nothing else that he's at the center of a turning point and he would come across little ripples of his actions all the way to the end.

25. We are officially halfway through the novel. How are you liking it so far? What are your thoughts on the pacing? (We are halfway through and haven’t even seen Lee Harvey Oswald yet, which seems odd to me given the premise of the book!)
I am super grateful to have the audiobook because I don't think I'd have the patience to read through this book otherwise. It's just not my kind of book generally.

Previous Posts
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5

Shelby wrote: "Briana wrote: "Shelby I'm going to have 11/22/63 done tonight in the end so don't worry about having to read to catch up."

Sounds good Briana. In that case I'll focus on finishing City of Brass."

Enjoy the book, I really enjoyed it and I'm planning to read Kingdom of Copper next month.

Shelby I'm going to have 11/22/63 done tonight in the end so don't worry about having to read to catch up.

I was just taking a quick look at the spreadsheet and it looks like when I read The City of Brass it was marked as being a 300-399 page range book even though it's 532 pages and it looks like that misclassification was carried over to the official spreadsheet.

DQs Day 5
Chapters 12 - 13 or 41%

18. We're now leaving Derry behind and moving around the US a bit, from Tampa to a small town near Dallas. If you were in that time, what place or state in the US would you want to travel to? Would you in Jake's shoes also try to settle in one place or would you try and travel around the country first and see other places / live a little?
I'd go as far West as I could possibly manage. Especially with the nest egg that Al had left Jake. I'd want to see everything I could with travel and lodgings being so much cheaper than they are now. If it were an option I'd travel overseas and see some of Europe too.

19. When Jake got his new degree, this seemed oddly easy to me. As a non-american, I'm only vaguely familiar with the US education system. In my country getting teaching degrees is nowhere as simple as filling in an exam remotely and sending that in (also not 50 years ago), and this degree would not be accepted by possible employers. What are your thoughts on Jake's opportunity here to go back in time to teach again (even just as a substitute)? And do you think he'd have had it just as "easy" if it was less time in the past, let's say if he only traveled back 30 or 10 years?
With the way the whole thing was presented I honestly expected it to be a scam and then it turned out to be at least semi-real and that was shocking. I'm sure back then there were fake schools giving out fake degrees. But with how much more time you had to invest to find them I'm not surprise Jake got away with it. I think Jake having the opportunity to teach again helped him find purpose in his days again. To separate out the man from the mission so to speak. And speaking as a current substitute teacher and how easy the process was to get hired, I don't think Jake would have had much trouble at any point in history to become a substitute teacher. School districts are always going to need them and they can supposedly afford to be slightly less discerning of a substitutes education due the temporary nature of their position. Having a degree and background in teaching is considered icing on the cake but as long as you have a degre they'll let almost anyone who can pass a background check sub from what I've seen.

20. Jake has now also started writing a book and a memoir. Did you know that Stephen King was also a teacher before he became a full time writer? Do you think he's characterizing Jake based on himself for any reason or is it just pure plot-relation that this main character shares his professions?
I think it's a little bit of stereotyping at play that Jake is now writing a memoir. There's an old adage that most English teachers are just frustrated writers so I don't think it's so much King characterizing Jake on himself as it is playing into an expectation most American's have of English teachers.

21. We meet Sadie, and to be honest, I didn't quite like the way Stephen King introduced and described her character, but then again I'm finding myself not liking his writing in multiple occasions. What is your first impression of Sadie and do you think she'll become an important part in Jake's future?
That she exists to provide internal conflict for Jake, and that she's incredibly clutzy.

Bonus: Do you think if you went to the past you would be interested in connecting with people there, maybe finding a (romantic) partner and continue living life or would you just wait it out until you got to the point in time where you wanted to change something?
I think I'd probably fall into a similar pitfall as Jake where I would try to keep to myself and then end up accidentally befriending people because it's too lonely to keep living as I was.

Previous Posts
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4

I'm also currently reading both of my 600+ page books. I should have 11/22/63 done for Monday as I only have about 345 pages left. I should have my other 600+ finished by the end of the month but if we end up being in a good spot I can hold off on finishing it so we can count it in July.

DQs Day 4 - 18 June
Chapters 9-11 32%

14) What do you think the cards symbolize for the yellow card man? I'm starting to think it could be like a warning, but I'm also connecting him to Al. They both died at the same time. Now that the yellow/orange/black card man has committed suicide am I alone in worrying that Jake may never make it back - and therefore not be able to reset things if he makes a mistake?
Definitely not alone. Things are changing far too much since Jake entered the rabbit hole. Almost like it's been waiting for him in order to finally close and become a single timeline again as opposed to many branching timelines while Al was using it mostly buy cheap hamburger.

15) Jake originally though Carolyn's accident wasn't his to fix, but ended up fixing it anyways. What do you think the reasoning behind this was? The stay at the cabin in the lake sounds magical and relaxing. Do you like to canoe? And have you ever played cribbage?
I think he fixed it because why shouldn't he fix a ridiculous accident that could so easily be avoided. Why leave a woman in a wheelchair when it would be so simple to make sure it never happened at all. But the stay at the cabin sounds relaxing in the best. No stress, just the world in all the best ways. I do like to canoe though I haven't in a long time and I've never played cribbage. Card games aren't really my thing.

16) Jake seems to be enjoying his time in the past a lot more than last time. Do you think there is a reason for this? Do you think you would be happy living in the past knowing what would happen? The general feel in this section is that of simpler and more trusting time. But how is it that nobody is even a little suspicious of a new guy, with such an oddly specific bet and other strange behaviors?
I think Jake is finally comfortable in the past in terms of acceptable behavior and language. There's not learning curve for him this time, the slang is familiar instead of confusing. But for me personally I don't think I could ever live in the past. There are things I like about the modern world too much to give up even if things were clearly much simpler in that era and I'd probably enjoy a lot of those simpler things. I think Jake's peculiarness is being played off as him being from out of town in a lot ways. It wasn't that uncommon for their to be a stranger on your step peddling something back then. And they weren't as well connected as they are now to have a rough idea of what a person from Wisconsin may be likely to do or how they might be likely to act.

17) How do you feel about Harry dying in Vietnam? Is Jake right in feeling he wasted his time saving Harry or do we know too little about Harry's life to reach a conclusion? Should we be judging at all, and if so, based on what criteria beyond life and death?
Harry dying in Vietnam almost makes the whole change the past, change the future thing that the plot is built on seem almost futile. He changed the past and cut Harry's life short as a result. Whereas if he'd left it alone Harry would have lived a long life if disabled. But we also don't know what happened to his family after Frank died. For all we know there were a hundred near misses in Harry's life after that night and Vietnam just happened to be the one that didn't miss.

Previous Posts
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

DQs Day 3 - 17 June
Chapters 7 - 8, 26%

10) We find out more about Frank Dunning. He is portrayed as a smooth talker and good looking. Do you find this stereotypical of someone who will go on to murder most of his family? It always seems to be someone no one suspects. Jake's opinion of him obviously isn't very good. Do you think Jake would feel differently if he didn't know what Frank was going to do?
It does seem a little stereotypical, but mostly in terms of what we see in popular media when family killers are written about. As for Jake, if he didn't know about Frank's future actions I don't think he'd give Frank so much as a second look. He might have befriended him in his time in Derry. But he does know and as a result seems to be spending all of his time just looking for evidence that he a terrible human being and preparing for trying to get rid of the man.

11) Jake plans how he is going to stop Frank. Would your thought process have been the same as Jake's? How would you plan to change the event?
I don't know. Killing the man does seem to be the easiest way to get rid of him and ensuring that the children and his ex-wife didn't die. But it can also be quite messy and leave behind a lot of witnesses.

12) There is something off about Derry. The place itself feels weird and the people act strange. Would you stay somewhere where you don't feel welcome? Would you investigate more into what was going on?
Definitely not. I would run fast in the other direction and never come back. Investigating would not be my top priority in the slightest.

13) Well, stopping Frank didn't go to plan but he did get stopped. What do you think the cosequences of changing the event will be in the present, if any? Do you think he will go back and try again? If so, what do you think he will do differently?
I'm sure there will be consequences. Maybe Hoptoad Harry becomes a police officer in response to the violence he witnessed. Or maybe he goes down the same path as his father. I guess we'll find out soon though. But I do think Jake will go back and try again when he ultimately tries to change the course of history to prevent JFK from being assassinated.