Suzanne’s Comments (group member since Aug 13, 2015)

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

And U's! Amanda at least you know what they are - haha I guess I'm also getting educated!

I JUST looked at the Goodreads Choice awards - and I sure didn't recognize many of the books. I was especially surprised by Historical Fiction, as I've read a lot of that this year.

Yes - four weeks left after Saturday! Given the time of year, I suspect it will zoom by!

And EEEK - our word for next round (Starting Saturday at the countdown timer) is VUVUZELA! I don't even know what that is, but I DO know it's a challenge. They'll be announcing the bonus task soon.

how fun to see your Grandson! yay!!

Thanks LaurLa!

@Bobbi - can you put Archangel's Kiss on your shelf? Although...given my fuzzy brain, I may have just missed it! So...I stopped for now - although I did move over to the main spreadsheet first.

Looking at current top 3 teams - we are only separated by like 100 points from each other. Wow - what a lot of reading is going on with this challenge. Keep up the great work!

Thanks Kari - I was just updating and thought - wow I was already wrong with my red cover count!

Yes we need one more person/book for instruments - looks like we are fine with red covers (given the planned ones).

And geez - I counted both incorrectly. My cold has come back with a vengeance this morning and I thought "well I can at least do an update" - but....you all see how well that went! I'm so glad you ladies can count and track better than I can!

And given that we just talking about the countdown - looks like we still need: (Edited because I couldn't count this morning!)
2 more Red covers (We have 3 still planned on the spreadsheet - 2 of them are mine)
3 more Instrument on cover (we have 2 planned on the spreadsheet - one of them is mine)

Boy time sure goes by quickly!

Thanks Kari - that is for sure the easiest one to find! Here is the webpage countdown:
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

I'll try to put it at the top of this thread too.

I agree - babies are such a glimpse of perfection and potential! I often imagine Amanda cuddling that sweet baby of hers and reading all those books!

Thanks for doing the updating Nanci! I'm fighting a bad cold.
On a happy note, my niece had a baby boy yesterday. She sent my a cute video of her little 4-year-old visiting at the hospital. He found the paper where it had the baby information and his footprints. When asked what it was he said "Baby Pawprints". So adorable.

Will do!

Thanks Nanci! It's been a good weekend seeing family and will also be good being home!
We took my dad to an Audra McDonald concert. She is one of his favorite singers and I sure enjoyed it!

We really have been doing well! I love how everyone is so cooperative and does so much to help our team!

I'll update the spreadsheet when I get home tonight. It's always so fun seeing what everyone is reading. Right now I'm having a teaparty with my nephew.

Oh and a note- I'm at my dad's then my sisters for a couple of days. When I updated - wow! We are really coming through eith getting all the letters - well done!!

No worries Nanci - enjoy the children and rest when you can!

Haha - gluts are good - especially with books!

Final Day DQs:

17. Charlie definitely came a long way towards leaning into the supervillain vibe before it was cruelly snatched away again. How about you? How would you decorate your supervillain lair?
Oh man, after reading this book I really want a supervillain lair. I'd definitely have lots of technology and a big computer gaming room with easy access to snacks. And If I had that, I'd need a rolling chair and a minion to push me around, because I'd get fat. I guess I could include a gym too. And a decorative personal chef and pool boy.

18. How did you feel about the ending? Right? Too convoluted? Predictable? Needs more cowbell? I was fine with it - I did predict the final outcome, but the touches still made me laugh. And I liked the convoluted final plotting that got us there.

19. If this was your first Scalzi, will you go back for more? If not your first, where would you rank this one compared to others you read? I like Scalzi's comedy adventures the best, although my favorite of his (and the first I read) was Old Man's War. I'd rank this up with Kaiju Preservation Society, which I enjoyed a lot. (probably slightly more than this one, but pretty close)

20. And finally... Cats. Do you have any? Are you under the delusion you own them, rather than the other way around? If you don't have cats, is that because you're wise to the fact they they are indeed evil supervillains intent on taking over the world, or some more mundane reason? It is 100% plausible to think of cats as behind-the-scenes supervillains. I'm pretty sure all of our animals manipulate me.

DQ Day 2 : Ch 7 - 11

5. We learn Hera and Persephone are both sentient cats. My cats love lying next to me and staring at my computer screen (when they’re not stomping all over my keyboard), so I can picture a cat using a computer vividly. What mischief would your pets come up with if they were sentient? Even if you don’t have pets, what mayhem do you think could happen?

That's fun to think about! My dog communicates with me surprisingly well - he's probably too clumsy to type on a keyboard but he gets his point across with things that are important to him. I think sentient dogs would be like "I love you, how can I help, and give me a treat." And sentient cats would be "I'll love you when I feel like it, serve me." (So...cats might be smarter.)

6. Charlie seems to be surprisingly chill about going along with everything happening, from sentient animals to attempts on his life to being whisked away to the Caribbean. Does that make sense to you, with how his life was before the book started? How would you react if you found out your uncle was a supervillain?

I guess Charlie is pretty much the opposite of what I would be. He completely understands how crazy this all is, but he also can put his life on hold and just go with it all. If my uncle were a supervillain, I'd want a LOT more details about what he's done.

7. Although travelling there was a bit of a hassle, St. Genevieve sounds like a pretty sweet place to be. Where would your ideal villain (sorry, process disruptor) lair be set?
Haha I did love the whole volcano lair idea. And really, mine might be like that - island that the masses can't get to, nice weather, a beach. Sounds pretty perfect to me!

8. We got a list of more or less exciting options including sharks, so: what is Charlie going to decide? How is Jacobs going to “die”? Or might his death end up being a real one after all?

I've read ahead, so I won't answer this one. But I did love the variety of options.

Oh nothing to be sorry about - it is nice to have many eyes checking and double checking! I think that is the main reason our team is doing so well - each one of you really steps up and helps.

Ha and yeah fall is sure busy! I keep thinking "next month I'll have more time" but I don't even bother thinking that for November and December.

DQs: Day 1, Chap 1 - 6

1. I'm so excited to be reading another John Scalzi book with you all. He has quickly become one of my "always read" authors. Is this your first Scalzi book? What are your expectations?
I was SO happy this was chosen as the BOTM. I've read all the Scalzi books - I like some more than others, but I like them all enough to keep reading them. I knew this would be a funny one, and those are my favorites of his.

2. What are your first impressions of Charlie? Do you think he is using his sad life events as an excuse to coast through life easier as his siblings and attorney seem to imply? Do you relate to him so far? I don't relate much at all Charlie - I kind of agree with his siblings and attorney - it's just different personalities.

3. “When people name cats, they usually do it in one of three categories: food, physical characteristics or mythology,” Morrison explained. What do you think Mathilda imagines Charlie's choice of "the goddess route" says about him? What sort of name would you choose and what do you think that could tell someone about you? Well I've seen a bunch of different cute cat names - and some silly ones - I did like the categorization. I think Charlies choices maybe point to him being a dreamer. I haven't named a cat, but we nicknamed one "killer" because she'd jump up, demand to be petted, then bite you when she was done.

4. What would your reaction be if a rich, but estranged family member left you a huge inheritance? I'd immediately start planning exotic vacations. And probably gifting people things.