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

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

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.

I'm really enjoying Starter Villain as well! And thanks for listing some of the characters in the SS Kari - I'm listening vs. reading, so that was super helpful.

And thanks Nanci! It's good to know what / how it happened. I checked us in a little early - which was silly of me. Next time I will make sure my schedule is clear right up to the deadline.

I did ask in Captains group. And given how awesome AND KIND you all are, I think no matter what happens (and I'd guess we won't get to count that book) our team will do just fine. Big hugs of thanks to all of you!

I guess it won't hurt to ask :) I'll put a message in the captains group in a bit.

I appreciate all of your kind words! You've helped me keep from going and crying in a corner - although I might have shed a couple tears at the keyboard :)

Thank you for being so forgiving! I'll check end of round 3 to see if anyone is around to double-check that everything is in there.

I feel terrible - I really thought I was being careful so I have no idea how that missed being moved over! Ugh. I hope I didn't just make our team lose!

Oh crap - you are right. I thought every time that I checked that the points matched - I'm so sorry!
It IS past the deadline - we only get like 15 minutes after the countdown. Again - I'm SO sorry I screwed that up - especially to Amanda - who did the reading :(

It's great to get a goal checked off in the first week of the month! I haven't read many series back to back either, but seems like that is good to do - I end up forgetting too much between books sometimes.

Wonderful - thank you! And for the many many X's you contributed this round!

When I uploaded stuff earlier, we were in 3rd place, which is great! I'm pretty confident we won't go down by end of round, and with these last books being input, we may go up!

Great news for both the X and the O's .

XOXOXOXO
Suzanne

Oh it's great to have it this time! Thanks for doing all those locations Janeylou! That was really amazing of you. I have one more I'll finish too because I want to know how it ends :)

Yes that's correct - 336 for the pages on Starter Villain. Thanks so much for bringing that up, Kari!

Wonderful reading everyone! Here is the countdown again:

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

If you finish something before the countdown, try to get it into the spreadsheet as soon as it's done since I have very little time after the countdown before the spreadsheet is closed.

If you finish a book after the countdown, put it in Round 3.

Thanks to Amanda and Nanci's clutch "Y"s, we really can take any letters because there are a bunch I can move, and we have the last Xylophone all filled out except for one letter. That puts us into a very sweet spot :)

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Thanks you two - it is really really great to have the options!

Thanks Annalisa - that IS helpful! And how cool you will be doing some November writing - that's fantastic!

Nanci - we do still need your Y book this round if it's possible to finish it :)

Other than that - we are in a pretty good spot on our Round 2 spreadsheet. It is 100% fine to finish books before the deadline - we will use them. And whatever isn't finished until after the deadline just put on Round 3.