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

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

Scylla



Scylla has been spotted close to your shores and endangering ships heading for the harbor. Very hard to defeat and best to avoid if possible, is very touchy when Circe is mentioned.

To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 500 and 650 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book with a body of water on the cover.
3.) Read a book that features a sacrifice of some type (your interpretation).
4.) Read a book that features a sorceress.
5.) Read a book whose title contains the word "FIRE".

Thank you!

That was a great call Alyana - Can you put in the examples of something physical is destroyed and character ignores important advice? Then we can turn it in and get another monster.

Alyana wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "We killed the Lion and got a Centaur and killed it (I moved my book from the bull.)

One of the teams got Cookie Monster and another got a pouncing koala!

Anyway: Available tasks:
..."

Oh interesting. Hmmm...I'll take a look in a second with that one and see what we c an do.

I put the book I finished today in for #1 and #4 and 5. It MIGHT fit #3 (rock on cover)?? It has a diamond on the O so I guess it depends on if it counts as a rock - what do you think?

Argus



Argus has been seen on your lands with a case of the dry-eyes. Very hard to kill but can be distracted with white cows. He is vigilant and a great bodyguard as he doesn't need to sleep by only resting a few eyes at a time. Enjoys a good olive, may look for him taking a respite in an olive tree grove.

To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 500 and 650 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book with at least 2 pairs of eyes visible on cover.
3.) Read a book with a rock on the cover.
4.) Read a book with character works in protective profession (e.g., police, security guard, bodyguard).
5.) Read a book with "olive" found in text.

We killed the Lion and got a Centaur and killed it (I moved my book from the bull.)

One of the teams got Cookie Monster and another got a pouncing koala!

Anyway: Available tasks:
Cretan Bull
Something physical is destroyed
The MC ignores important advice

And I'll post the new monster once we get it.

Ushashi wrote: "Regarding Sirens: the prompts are truly among the harder ones, particularly after going through 4 sets of those. We also don't have anything good fit for it among the banked books. So I am thinking..."

I think that sounds really smart to just let the Sirens live. Better to focus our energy on others!

I turned in Centaur and we got yet another Lion. I have a book I will finish tomorrow that covers 2, 4, 5 (set in Africa, open plain, and features a cat). CB has finished a book that covers 1 and 3, but it also covers 4 tasks of monster B, so not sure if we should use it.

Then the OTHER Nemean Lion got killed - go team! For that one, it's replaced with Sirens again - which is, in my opinion, a hard set of tasks!
T371 Read a book between 100 and 125 pages (inclusive).
T372 Read a book that takes place on a boat or ship.
T373 Read a book with a character who is deaf (any degree acceptable)
T374 Read a book with a rope on the cover.
T375 Read a book with "Mermaid" in the text.

We have now conquered/are fighting 75 monsters - wow!

I can read Sad Cypress which works for MPG classics and character considered wise. If someone finishes one sooner (or one that fits all 3 prompts) that's fine. This one for sure fits others like white cover, bird on cover, and probably more I don't know about yet.

I briefly thought I'd found a book that fit both set in Persia and Man Eater, but it's set in Iraq, not Iran, and Iraq isn't on the list. Disappointing!

Yes - sorry we were doing a birthday party thing all day and I finally got to my computer. I'll add those right now.

Nice job Cris!

I just started a 501 page book (no body of water) on audio (just finished Ariadne). I too have one with a body of water that I need to finish at some point, but not sure which kindle book I'll read first.

Oh awesome you have something to cover. Then I won't feel so pressed to finish. I should have seen it in the captains thread anyway-but there is a lot of life stuff going on! Last night I found my kindle by my bed where I'd left it the night before. *gasp* I think it's been years since I haven't picked it up for a day -although I did finish a book using audio so I'm not dead yet :) .

And thanks Ushashi, I'll get that link fixed. Oops!

I found a "Rock on cover" book that I put on the spreadsheet for that task, but I doubt I'll finish it before Saturday - I have a lot going on the next two days. So if anyone finishes one first, feel free to replace it.

DQ's Day 4 - 19th June
"Angrboda was redjusting her pack basket..."
"Angrboda couldn't argue with that." 81%

16. So in addition to her past life as Gullveig, Angrboda is also the Old One, Mother Witch, the wise old woman in the woods and a healer. I can understand wanting to forget about her time as Gullveig but why do you think she can't remember anything from the time before? Do you think she'll recover these memories at some point? She's recovered her power, with a little help from Freyja but still seems to be holding back. How powerful do you think she really is? Do you think she'll go all in and if so what do you think will happen?
I HOPE she'll recover all her memories because I think what she did in the time before sounds very interesting. As it is, I really like the glimpses we get of the things she was able to do (like ride the wolf). I suspect she is VERY powerful, and may be an important part of the scene of destruction that she's forseen.

17. "There's no power in the cosmos that can escape what's coming". Angrboda, Odin, Skadi and a few others now know about Ragnorok and, with Loki killing Odin's son, his punishment and the start of the long winter it seems to be the beginning of the end. Do you think it's better to know what's coming like Angrboda and Odin or would you prefer, like Loki, not to know? Do you think knowing or not knowing will make any difference to what happens? Do you think there's anything Angrboda can do to change the outcome? I'd prefer to know what's coming...maybe. Although it'd probably drive me crazy. Because if it's really coming then the outcome can't be changed, but it'd be hard to resist trying.

18. "I'm the one who's done the most evil among the Aesir, and if nothing else, at least they'll remember my name. That's more than one can say for you." We know a lot more about Loki now, what do you think of him as a character? Why do you think he acts the way he does? Angrboda thinks Loki may have killed Baldur for his daughter's sake. Do you believe he genuinely cares about Hel? What about Angrboda and his sons, do you think he loves them or are they a means to an end? Will Angrboda forgive him despite all he's done?I think Loki loves Hel as much as he is capable of loving anyone. Probably more than he loves the others. I hope Angrboda doesn't forgive him, or at least doesn't go back to him. Really loving people might require sacrifice, and I don't think Loki is capable of that.

19. It seems like Skadi and Angrboda are on the brink of becoming more than friends when Skadi announces that she's joining the giants in the fight against the gods. She wants to go down fighting for her people and to avenge her father. Were you surprised she wants to go out fighting rather than staying with Angrboda? Has this changed your mind about why Skadi accepted marriage in recompense for her father's death?I think its 100% in character for Skadi to join the giant's side and fight - I would have been disappointed if she stayed with Angrboda. I never did really figure out why she accepted the marriage thing.

20. We're moving on to the final section now. What do you think Angrboda will do now that she's alone again? Do you think she'll be reunited with her family? Loki? Any predictions for how it will all end?I want her to be reunited with her children but not Loki. My wish is that she wanders the world forever, healing people :)

DQs Day 4:

15. What do you think about Dionysus' encounter with Hades, the god of the Underworld?
I thought it was neat that Dionysus wanted to get his mother, even though she didn't remember him. It was maybe a bit convenient that he was able to get her out of the Underworld, but the gods are so whimsical and arbitrary that it wasn't a stretch of the imagination.

16. It seems like Ariadne loves her life in Naxos, what do you think of her relationship with Dionysus?
I like her relationship with Dionysus, and I really like Dionysus in this story - he seems different. Of course, I'm not sure I can believe that (just like Ariadne seemed worried about that). I was surprised she was happy, since she's so isolated from others, but she seems content on Naxos.

17. Ariadne is horrified by the bloody rites she witnesses between Dionysus, the maenads, and the resurrected goat. In attempting to understand the maenads’ participation, she reflects: “The ritual gave fearful shape to the anger and the grief that had driven so many of them here in the first place; they screamed and danced in their blood-soaked frenzy by night so that they could live serenely in the sunlight.” Does this explanation make sense to you?
It was pretty horrifying - so I don't blame her! I thought her explanation made sense. The scene brought out to me that it didn't feel all that great to be immortal - there's obviously a lot of anger. And I believe it was said earlier in the book that it's also hard to experience things like love without the potential of loss.

18. Were you more drawn to Ariadne’s or Phaedra’s chapters? Why do you think the author chose to include both of their perspectives?
I think the book is more interesting from the two perspectives, since we are getting some entirely different scenes and events. I think I'm a little more drawn to Phaedra's chapters because she recounts some of the myths I'm a bit familiar with and it's fun seeing them fit into a new story.

Wow Christina - I just tried it again and I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me. Google books...is ... awesome!

Lol I need to try it again. I have always failed before, so obviously am doing something wrong. So...you're magical to me!

Oh I think it must have gotten found/turned in with some justification. Christina is really good at finding things in Google. But now we have a backup if anyone asks :)