Preeti’s Comments (group member since Sep 26, 2021)

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

The Book That Wouldn't Burn (The Library Trilogy #1) by Mark Lawrence - Day 2

Chapters 8 - 16

6. How are you enjoying the book so far? How's the pacing for you?

I have been enjoying the sections with Livira but not so much the parts with Evar. I think that is because I haven’t yet figured out Evar or his surroundings yet and can’t picture either clearly.

7. What are your favorite characters, situations, quotes so far?

Definitely Livira! Malar was an interesting character and I hope that isn’t the last we see of him. (view spoiler)[Why do I get the feeling that the "Soldier" in the library is Malar with something like a spell on him? (hide spoiler)]

8. What are your fondest memories of a library?

I studied in many, many schools, changing schools almost every year because of my dad’s job. The one thing I could always count on to make me feel comfortable in any new school was the library. I started reading very early and my parents encouraged me to do so by getting me books and taking me to the station library wherever we were living at the time. The years I lived in New Delhi was when I was the happiest library-wise as I became a member of both the British Council library and the USIEF library.

9. Library as prison... does that ring true for you?

I don’t think it is the library per se, it is more the feeling of being imprisoned and would have been awful no matter what the location. The freedom of movement is one that tends to get overlooked and explains the whole story of the gilded cage.

10. If you could have one natural ability relating to books (view spoiler), what would it be?

Oh, definitely to travel to all the book locations and spend time within them. But if it had to be more realistic, the ability to remember everything I have ever read as mine is pretty lousy!!!

Thanks, Laura!

Yasmine, I am lucky, both my books are relatively short and are also both audiobooks.

Tom Ellis!

The Book That Wouldn't Burn (The Library Trilogy #1) by Mark Lawrence - Day 1

Chapters Prologue - 7

1. Ahhh.. The Library! ..My happy place. And what a beautifully intriguing cover! How often do you visit your local library and have you visited any famous libraries around the world. Do share!

I had two library memberships but sadly British Council converted their library into a purely online one. My club, luckily, in the meanwhile has renovated their library and added plenty of new books to their collection. I go there every 2 to 3 weeks. I think it would have been more often but I also have subscriptions to Audible and Storytel so I generally always have a long TBR list from them.
My favourite thing about living in London was the library system there. This was many years ago so I have no clue what they are like now but when I lived there I enjoyed visiting the library very regularly.
I have only ever been to one famous library, the British Library in London and it had me awestruck. The collections of books there are tremendous but my absolute favourite visit was one of the times when a librarian whom I was chatting with offered to show me some very rare documents that had been brought to London from India. It was so very inspiring to these beautiful parchments and it made me feel even more proud of my country.

2. The first chapters describe a barren wasteland with an equally hopeless type of existence for Livira and her people. But straight away we establish that there is something special about Livira as she rises above her surroundings and the life she seems destined for. But circumstances change... your first impressions of Livira and how she influences her new destiny.

I immediately found myself rooting for Livira who seems to be a very intelligent child with an indomitable spirit. I am very interested in seeing what happens to her and where she ends up. I think that a large part of why I like her is that she is not willing to let life shove her around.

3. The chapter headings.. how do they fit into the tale? Do you find them interesting as a guide or somewhat cryptic at this stage of the story?

I think they are meant to give us hints to the chapters following them. Some made sense to me, some not so much. Also, I am listening to the audiobook and I have a feeling that reading the actual text would make the reading experience clearer.

4. Enter Evar in Chapter 4 and the scene changes from the barren Dust to the mysterious and atmospheric library and its Mechanism. A lot of information to absorb about how it all works and the role of Evar and his "family". Does the author do a good job in getting across what the library is and does? Is it good, evil or omnipotent?

This part had me very confused, again I think as a result of listening to the audiobook. I have built a picture of what I think the situation is in my mind but further reading will, I am guessing, either consolidate it or force me to make some revisions. I get the feeling the author has purposely left things a bit ambiguous to make it feel mysterious.

5. "Evar, don't turn the page. I'm in The Exchange. Find me at the Bottom" .
Who wrote this sentence and what is its purpose at this point in the novel? What impact do you think it will have in the story moving forward?

As soon as I read about the one kid who disappeared, I was convinced it had to be them leaving word for Evar. Obviously, that will be clarified going forward. As for what impact it will have, maybe it is meant to make Evar doubt the things going on around him and to be more wary of accepting things as truth.

Laura wrote: "@Preeti - don't forget to answer the DQs for Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel."

Done. Thank you for reminding me 😊

Now I have to concentrate on The Book That Wouldn't Burn and my DQs.
By the way, if anybody has read the book and can suggest any DQs for chapters 50 to 58, please leave me a message. Thanks!

Richard Armitage!!!

Book: Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Intrigue (Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Chronicles #4) by Stephanie Laurens
Date Read: Jul 18
Page Count: 308


Shelter:
Author’s initials SL can be found in SHELTER

Food:
Pg. 48: The tea tray, I think, Mountjoy, and perhaps some scones?

Defense:
Kapitan Solzonik is an officer in the Russian army

Chris Evans!

I love both the Cloudy movies! I have to watch them again soon. I had no clue they were based on a book. I will have to search for that too.

Book: A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel (The Doomsday Books #2) by K.J. Charles
Date Read: Jul 17
Page Count: 336


Weapon:
Pg. 292: Get me an axe.

Shelter:
Red cover

Food:
Pg.69: Hot chocolate? A good beef stew?

Defense:
Green, blue and brown on the cover. Rufus d’Aumesty, the Earl of Oxney, was a major in the army.

Tom Hiddleston ❣️❣️❣️

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer - Day 5

Chapters 24 - End

18. Jack and Lucy have an emotional discussion about dreams — and how giving up on dreams can be a relief as it’s one less thing to worry about. Do you think there’s any truth in this? Can giving up on a dream ever bring relief?

Giving up on a dream can bring such relief, relief that we can finally drop this burden and carry on feeling lighter. But sadly, that regret is very temporary and always followed by regret. Regret that just a few more steps lugging that load would have brought us to our goal and the knowledge that it was fear making the load heavier and that it would have been better to only offload the fear.

19. We finally got to meet Angie and learn her side of the story! Were you surprised by what she had to say? If you were Lucy, do you think you would be able to forgive her after hearing her side?

Throughout the time Lucy’s family was being described, the word that kept coming up in my mind was “Munchausen’s”. This feeling kept rising as well as that there was something else behind all that had happened within her family, and learning Angie’s side proved them right. Definitely not immediately but later, I would have forgiven Angie. She was just as much of a victim of their parents’ abuse. In fact, from certain angles I think she was more so as Lucy at the very least got to live quite a normal life with people who loved her while Angie was stuck being brainwashed and, by all definitions, tortured by their parents.

20. Lucy mentions that she and Jack are planning to start a nonprofit to send books to foster children, but just as she’s about to say the prospective name, she gets cut off. Why do you think the author chose to leave that out? What name do you think the author had in mind, if any?

I don’t think the name is important, I think the message that they were planning on starting the nonprofit was what we were meant to focus on. As for what name the author had in mind, I have absolutely no clue!

21. In the end, even though the contest ended unlike how any of them predicted, everyone still got their wish. Since this book is all about wishing — is there anything you wish was different about the way the book ended, or are you happy with how it all wrapped up?

I was expecting the book to end the way it did so I wasn’t very surprised there. I wish that we had been given a better understanding of each of the characters. I did not feel like we got to know them or their backgrounds properly. The other thing I was not very keen on is that while the book is marketed for adults, it had a very middle-grade feel about it. Though having read an interview of the author where she describes her writing as “middle-grade books for adults”, I understand it now.
(FYI: Los Angeles Public Library’s Interview With an Author: Meg Shaffer - https://lapl.org/collections-resource...)

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer - Day 4

Chapters 18 - 23

14. Lucy's winning streak comes to an end and she loses the riddle to Melanie. How do you think this is going to affect her and the way she is playing the game? Do you think she still has a chance to win? What do you think she is going to have to face as far as her fear?

Lucy seems to be quite resilient and I think that while this will give her a scare, she will eventually pull herself together and carry on with focused drive that she has proven herself to possess. Being one of the main protagonists, my guess is that she will eventually win despite a few losses here and there. As for what she will have to face as her fear, that is pretty evident. It has to be something to do with her self-esteem and her belief that she is unloveable. I think it will have something to do with her family, maybe she will have to finally confront them and sort out their relationship.

15. Jack's riddle comes back again "Two men on an island and both blame the water...". We find out what it means in this section. How awful for him to see 'fan' letters that depict children going through such terrible things and how horrible for those poor children begging for help. Jack tried to help this girl and it ended with the worst possible outcome. Do you think Jack should have done something different? How would you have reacted if you were Jack?

I think that Jack did whatever he could. If anybody is to blame, it is the authorities who were given the letters but who did not do anything. Also, I’m surprised that she made it all the way onto the ferry without anybody becoming suspicious of this teenage girl travelling alone. Yes, Jack made the mistake of telling the girl that he wished he could take her to Clock Island but that is absolutely understandable. It was so obviously in the heat of the moment and had completely innocent reasons. I have a feeling that in his shoes, I would have reacted almost the same way but I would probably have taken into consideration that children and most teenagers do not always understand figurative speech, platitudes and such but tend to take things literally. Also, I would have created all kinds of hell until the authorities did something about the situation.

16. We also learn why Jack started writing his Clock Island books and the life he faced as a child. Does this change your opinion on Jack in any way?

The extent to which Jack empathises with these children going through such horrible experiences tells me that he had something similarly awful happen in his life. While I sympathise with him, I also feel that he needed to be more careful of the things he said and did as their effects could be quite devastating. His naïveté may have been a strength when it came to his writing but it was also the cause of disaster in real life.

17. Lucy learns that Christopher is going to be going to a new foster home and tries to leave the island but Hugo stops her. We also learn more about Lucy's past. Each person seems to have gone through some terrible event in their lives and these books have helped them through it. Do you believe books have that power? Are there any books as a child or an adult that have helped you through a tough time in your life?

I think that all creative arts help us to understand our emotions and learn how to deal with them. I find that books, in particular, help by showing us people going through similar experiences as those we are going through.
When I was first diagnosed with endometriosis, I was completely at sea and had no clue what I could do to make things better. Nobody around me had any idea what this condition was and every time I did any research about it, I got even more scared about what I could expect to happen. At the time, I read a book, not a particularly good book, but the protagonist had been diagnosed with endometriosis as well. While I had got all the scientific information by them, what really helped me with the book was finding somebody else, albeit a fictional somebody, who was going through the same emotional upheavals and realising that like this character, I was also going be alright eventually.

Book: The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
Date Read: Jul 16
Page Count: 305


Weapon:
Pg. 238: His expression was that of a condemned man waiting for the axe to fall.

Shelter:
Building on the cover

Food:
Pg. 21: Waffles with butter and syrup and whipped cream and bananas. Real bananas.

Defense:
Green and blue on the cover

Laura wrote: "Preeti wrote: "I can read either of the One By One's or even both if we want to do lots of books starting and ending with One. They are both relatively short books and audiobooks which means I get ..."

That works!

Karl Urban!!!

Preeti’s BOM Participation Post:

Day 1: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 2: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 4: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 5: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Book: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins
Date Read: Jul 15
Page Count: 391


Weapon:
Pg. 71: I quickly scan the pile on my side and find maces, swords, bows and arrows, tridents, knives, spears, axes, metallic objects I have no name for .

Shelter:
Red cover

Food:
Pg. 77: Countless cheeses, breads, vegetables, sweets, waterfalls of wine, and streams of spirits that flicker with flames.

Defense:
Many of the characters are Peacekeepers.

Ooh, I feel like kicking myself. I was listening to an audiobook and somehow went to sleep and managed to miss the deadline for the Catching Fire comments. I have no clue why but I got it into my head that 16th was the deadline and not today.

Yasmine, sorry I keep missing your messages. I am in India and the only time I get to come on here is afternoon my time.

Aldis Hodge!!!