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

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

Completion

The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap
Date: Nov. 25
Pages 384
Date 11/25/21

Letters
K author Kauffman
P Pete

We are in Hawaii enjoying the heat and scenery. I hope you all have a good holiday!

Completion Post

The Queen's Bargain
By Anne Bishop
Date read 11/23
Pages 448

Letters
M. Marian
N. Nurian
K. Khary
P. Perzha

Completion Post - Pumpkin

Book: The Noel Diary by Richard Paul Evans
Date: 11/21
Pages: 304

Letters:
N - Title

Vivi - looks like that was a good one - yay!

That's a great # of pages for points! Good luck. Mostly, I hope you enjoy it a ton!

Completion Post - Brown
Note: This is the last book I'll be able to finish for Brown


Book: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
Page Count: 333
Date Read: 11/20/21

Letters: B - Author Becky
R - Roveg (character)
O - Ouloo (character)
W - Wayfarers (series)

Bonus: Yes - Tagged Space Opera 84 times

I have one more book I'll finish before the deadline (but probably not til tomorrow). I'm going to try to have another short one after that too, but we shall see!

Completion Post - BROWN


Book: For Batter or Worse by Jenn McKinlay
Pages: 288
Date Read: 11/19/21

Letters:
O - Oz (character)

I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't notice the gender discrepancy in authors!

It has been awhile since I've read other books of his, but as I remember it was still hit-over-the-head style.

DQ4: Chapters Thirteen - Sixteen

14. Each of the chapters has been headed with a poem or snippet of a poem, in varying styles. Do you scour these for meaning, and if so, what meaning have you wrung from them? Do you like them - as poems or as elements of the book structure? And critically: who is going to take on the challenge of writing one for review of the book? (Jenny's position as NBRC poet laureate is under strong challenge after Kaley's backroom haiku)
I definitely want to read these artistic attempts - brilliant idea!
I didn't scour for meaning, but I definitely tried to guess upcoming plot by reading the poems.

15. Okay... theories on Reg Holly and what is up with him?! (Answering from what I thought at this point, since I've finished the book now) - At first he seemed like just a police jerk, but when he raised his arm at the "good" police officer and Susan noticed the silver band, it made me think he had some kind of control charm that he was wearing and he was trying to mind control the others in charge.

16. The Fenris wolf and the well-spirit - what do you think of these additions to the Old World creatures we've met? Do you think Susan did the right thing by removing the sword? Yes I think removing the sword was the right choice - the Fenris was being compelled. The wolf was as gentle as possible with Susan. I thought the well spirit was interesting and I liked how she took charge of the situation, but most of my attention was on the wolf.

17. We have another gender-swap in pop culture, with the characters from The Professionals being switched to female from male. Together with the political figures that have been gender-switched, and a comment earlier about how Britain took early steps to achieve equality, this is clearly an important part of Nix's world. Does the subtly of this work for you? Is there a deeper point to it than simply wanting gender equality? Why hasn't he gender-swapped any authors? What I got from the gender swap and how fluid everything was, was that gender was irrelevant to character and what they wanted to do/choices they made. I liked that.

COMPLETION POST - Brown

Book: The Dream Guy Next Door by Lauren Blakely
Date Read: 11/18/21
Pages: 310

Letters:
B: Blakely (author)
O: Oliver (character)
W: Wednesday (character)
R: Rodriguez (character)

COMPLETION POST - Brown


Book: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
by Garth Nix
Date Read: 11/18/21
Pages: 416

Letters:
N: Author (Nix)

I wrote Day 2 questions and have answered the first 3 days worth. Links are in spreadsheet.

DQs - Day 3 - Chapter Nine - Twelve

10. We are about half way through the book now and I've been looking at the cover and trying to see how it fits with the story. The cover feels dark to me and so far I don't really feel that in the story. Do you feel like the cover fits the story?
That's a good point - I hadn't thought about the cover! I don't HATE the cover, but you are totally right - it doesn't really match the feel of the book.

11. So the old fashioned booksellers in charge might feel the need to remove Susan if they find out her father is one of the Ancients. It seems like Merrihew and Thurston are not greatly respected in the Booksellers realm. How do you feel about them? Do you think they might be involved in what is happening to Susan? I felt like Thurston and Merrihew were kind of like some of the tenured professors at my work - totally interested in their own pursuits and research and resentful of anyone who distracts them from it.

12. We keep getting all these references to books, musical groups, and other pop culture from the 80's. Take for example this quote: "The ground floor facing the street was all floor-to-ceiling high windows, with a wonderful display of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose complete with a cardboard castle to the left of the central revolving door, and a selection of new release thrillers an mysteries built up in a series of pyramids in the window to the right, including John Le Carre's The Little Drummer Girl, Jeffery Archer's First Among Equals, and Ken Follett's On Wings of Eagles." That sentence is long and the following one is not much shorter. How do you feel about all of these references?
I like all the references! Especially since so many of them are about books.

13. In the last section Vivian gives Susan a steel knife and salt and tells her how to bind something to herself. Do you think she will have to bind something? Any idea who or what she will bind? At this point, I wondered if she would end up binding Vivian or Merlin.

DQ's - Day 2 - CHAPTER 5 to CHAPTER 8

6. Merlin and Susan get pulled into the May Fair. "The happiness is unsettling, all the smiling and laughing". Was there a part of the fair that stuck out to you? And would YOU have noticed the colorless rose?
Thought I'd better answer my own questions! I really liked the May Fair - it was spooky and chaotic and colorful. Those "children" (shudder). I liked the descriptions of the food too. I would NOT have noticed the rose because I'm not very observant, and I would have been overwhelmed by all the sensory input!

7. Susan seems to have some sort of powers of command, which we see with the wolf at the end of the fair, and hear more about at the end of Chapter 8. What are your guesses about her heritage? Do you have any new guesses about her father? I didn't have any specific guesses about her father although I was hoping it was some sort of animal god.

8. My favorite part of these chapters was reading about the New Bookstore and its contents. If you could spend time in there, what would you want to check out? Oh man, I'd want to spend SO much time in there. I'd want to see where all the doors sent, look at the art, and browse all those cool books!

9. The grandmothers were interesting. Any thoughts about them? If I were one of the grandmothers, I'd totally be hanging out with my mastiff. What would you have keeping you company? As I said here, I'd totally hang with my mastiff. (Just like now - if I'm home then we are always within a few feet of each other.

Sounds good - I'll do the rest of the questions as well (at least the ones up to now). Thanks Lisa.

I've updated the spreadsheet for what I'm planning (well hoping, because I think there's too many) to read by November 30th. I have to fit books into specific prompts for another challenge, so finding books that fit that and Pumpkin was a little challenging.
Thus I don't have any "bonus" books, but December 1 I'll read as many bonus books as I can.

One question:
I'm almost done with Left-handed Booksellers and was thinking I'd finish it today. BUT - it does have U characters. Would you rather have me wait and finish it after we are on Pumpkin?

I enjoyed the movie too! It made me want to re-read the book - I last read it as a teenager so it has been quite some time!

DQ's - Day 2 - CHAPTER 5 to CHAPTER 8

6. Merlin and Susan get pulled into the May Fair. "The happiness is unsettling, all the smiling and laughing". Was there a part of the fair that stuck out to you? And would YOU have noticed the colorless rose?

7. Susan seems to have some sort of powers of command, which we see with the wolf at the end of the fair, and hear more about at the end of Chapter 8. What are your guesses about her heritage? Do you have any new guesses about her father?

8. My favorite part of these chapters was reading about the New Bookstore and its contents. If you could spend time in there, what would you want to check out?

9. The grandmothers were interesting. Any thoughts about them? If I were one of the grandmothers, I'd totally be hanging out with my mastiff. What would you have keeping you company?