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

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

Tone wrote: "Thinking about Legends & Lattes for the Legend of the 10 rings chipmunk task.

Do you think it will be okay with plurals?"

Plurals are fine. And that is a wonderful book!

Day 2 DQs : Chapters 5-9

5. So many groups! We had a couple of chapters in this part that described some of the tribes in Daevabad and elsewhere - the Daeva/Djinn, Ifrit, Simurgh, Zahhak and I'm sure I haven't listed them all. Where on the confusion scale are you - with 1 being totally confused and 10 being "I've got this". And are you ok with your level at this point in the book?
I'm about a 3 at this point - maybe a 4. I'm STARTING to understand the three general groups in Daevabad, but then there are all of the families, and I'm lost. I'm hoping I understand better as the story progresses.

6. Somewhat related to this - we learn that Suleiman curbed magical abilities because the daeva harmed humanity. I learned (thanks Google) that in the non-book world Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 - he ruled over at least 25 million people. Did you know anything about Suleiman and what do you think of his inclusion in the book? I had only heard his name before, so I googled and learned a bit, then learned more from Melindam earlier today. I love that he is included, and given his real-life power, I can see how that could be extrapolated to what he did in the book.

7. We now know Dara was a slave for many years and was forced to do some things that haunt him. How does this make you feel about his character? I have a lot of sympathy for him now. I originally thought he hated humans because he felt superior, but it is a lot more understandable now.

8. Ali's father was portrayed as brutal when we first met him at the execution, and then later he seemed like a pretty good ruler as he listened to and judged people's problems. What do you think - good king or bad king? Maybe a good king but a mixed good/bad man. I do like how he gives Ali a chance to express his views (to an extent) and tries to explain his decisions.

Janeylou wrote: "So all i need to look out for are rainbow books & chipmunks ..is that correct ?"

Yes that is correct. We will fill up our page counts and knock off chipmunks as we can. Also, if you see a task that fits a book you completed previously in June that fits a chipmunk - we can use it - but you'll have to let us know :)

I'm thinking I will start on 11.22.63 as soon as I finish listening to my last Star Wars book. So probably in a few days. It'll be nice to have the extra time :)

The City of Brass BOM is also fairly long, but I've found it interesting so far.

I did see Fourth Wing on Scribd (audio version) if anyone has access to that and doesn't mind listening to books.

I agree - it's so much more realistic that people all have their flaws.

@Melindam - that's interesting to hear about another side of Suleiman than what it showed on Google, which seemed mostly about how he led arts and scientific discovery. I'd heard of him as "the Great" but have been woefully lacking any actual knowledge. And it makes sense that someone with that much power could be devastating to a country.

Day 2 DQs : Chapters 5-9

5. So many groups! We had a couple of chapters in this part that described some of the tribes in Daevabad and elsewhere - the Daeva/Djinn, Ifrit, Simurgh, Zahhak and I'm sure I haven't listed them all. Where on the confusion scale are you - with 1 being totally confused and 10 being "I've got this". And are you ok with your level at this point in the book?

6. Somewhat related to this - we learn that Suleiman curbed magical abilities because the daeva harmed humanity. I learned (thanks Google) that in the non-book world Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 - he ruled over at least 25 million people. Did you know anything about Suleiman and what do you think of his inclusion in the book?

7. We now know Dara was a slave for many years and was forced to do some things that haunt him. How does this make you feel about his character?

8. Ali's father was portrayed as brutal when we first met him at the execution, and then later he seemed like a pretty good ruler as he listened to and judged people's problems. What do you think - good king or bad king?

Thanks Lisa - for all the things!

You didn't do anything wrong. I fill them in by hand when I double-check colors. That way I don't need to re-check things - I know if it's filled in, then I've checked it off. (If that makes sense.)

It's ok if we don't match the teal that is the background on the spreadsheet. I think that's what I would use. But every day I look at colors I feel more colorblind :/

DQs Day 1, Ch 1-5


1. This book begins in 18th century Cairo, with France and Turkey fighting over Egypt. I have never encountered this conflict in fiction before. Have you? Were you familiar with it before you started reading?

I was slightly familiar with it because A Master of Djinn has a similar setting (although later in history). But there is a LOT I don't know about the setting and I learned some things in these first four chapters.


2. Nahri has several mysterious powers, including healing, the ability to sense illness in others, and the ability to understand and speak every language she hears. Which of her powers would you like for yourself?
Healing and the languages I'd like. I don't know if I'd want to sense illness in others if I wasn't able to heal it.

3. What do you think of the world building so far? Do you find it confusing, or do you feel like you’re along for the ride? >b>I'm along for the ride, but I just barely have a sense of what's going on. Not confused exactly, but not confident.


4. So far we’ve met 3 significant players in this book: Nahri, Ali, and Dara. Do you have a favorite character so far, or one who intrigues you the most?
I'm the most intrigued by Ali's setting/story, but I like Nahri as a character and I'm very curious about her backstory and heritage.
I'm not super interested in Dara yet, but maybe as I learn more about him....

Nanci wrote: "I need some help on this color cover. Tineye says 45% black and only 9% for blue. I see mostly peacock blue. What do you all think?
"

I think tineye is counting that blue back of her coat as black. It looks more than 50% blue to me - if I draw a line halfway down, then fill the non-blue parts on the bottom with what is over the line... it seems ok.

Oh Vi - ty -we were typing at the same time - I'll check that one in real quick then.

Great! @Janeylou can you put it on your tower team shelf?

@Amanda - I don't want to step on any toes either. Team (and especially Vi in this case) what do you think? Should we finish chipmunks as fast as possible, replacing claimed books if this situation occurs? Be honest about feelings!

@Elinor - I too would guess chipmunk won't be the last.

I'm going to Little Mermaid, and will put in the chipmunk(s) tasks when I get home if another captain doesn't get to them first.

(Also note - we don't have to finish them all! We DO have to finish all the books in our page ranges. What do you all think about strategy?)

That's a good question Elinor. We have until the end of the challenge to finish (August 1) and there are about 240 prompts total. So I guess we should attempt to do around 30 a week? Some will be really fast though, as we'll have banked books we can use (anything finished after June 1). So - let's maybe wait and see? And before you start the book, just check to see if someone has come up with one. My gut feeling is it would be just fine for you to cover it.

Sure

Janeylou wrote: "So ..would Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets work for treasure hunt ..although its not a tradional map with X marks the spot , they are searching for stuff"

I think that should work (if I remember the story correctly). If they somehow go from clue to clue to get to an end place, that seems like a treasure hunt.

Shannon wrote: "Do you guys think this book could be used for a title color? I mean it looks black but also green/blue to me...
"

Shannon, from tin-eye it has enough black, but to my eye ... maybe not. It does't "feel" like a color to me. But other's opinions may vary! It almost feels dark green to me (although tin-eye doesn't agree). However, we are 100% supposed to take team consensus over anything tineye says so....what does everyone else think?