LittleRedRidingHood’s Comments (group member since Oct 20, 2016)

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

I'm really bad with reading sequels, so this would be perfect.

Pyramid Series Challenge

Duration: 1.1.2018 - 31.12.2018
Level: 6
Read: 13/21

6th in a series
City of Heavenly Fire

5th in a series


4th in a series
A Feast for Crows

3rd in a series
The Spider Stone
Beneath the Sugar Sky

2nd in a series
Honor's Knight
The Tropic of Serpents
Grin and Beard It

1st in a series
Her Royal Spyness
Feed
Angels' Blood
Assassin's Apprentice
Imago
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

6
5
4
3
2
1

Red Riding Hood's Achievements

award winners (5/7)
☑1. A Monster Calls
☑2. When Breath Becomes Air
3. The Shadow of the Wind
☑4. The Reader
☑5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
☑6. City of Heavenly Fire
7.

complete series (1/3)
☑1. City of Heavenly Fire
2. Fairest > Winter > Stars Above
3.

complete trilogies (0/2)
1. Honor's Knight > Heaven's Queen
2. Veritas

books that I keep avoiding (0/3)
1. The Valley of Horses
2. The Catcher in the Rye
3. A Court of Mist and Fury


chunksters (10/10)
☑1. Smilla's Sense of Snow (467)
☑2. The Alice Network (520)
☑3. Little Women (481)
☑4. Feed (599)
☑5. A Feast for Crows (855)
☑6. Assassin's Apprentice (484)
☑7. Frederica (573)
☑8. City of Heavenly Fire (597)
☑9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (580)
☑10. Let the Right One In (513)


new releases (1/2)
☑1. Beneath the Sugar Sky

new to me authors (12/12)
☑1.Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
☑2. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
☑3. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
☑4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
☑5. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
☑6. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
☑7. The Gift of Story: A Wise Tale About What is Enough by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
☑8. Srčna joga by Ana Kersnik Žvab
☑9. The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
☑10. The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
☑11. Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini
☑12. Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh

out of my comfort zone (horror) (1/2)
☑1. Feed
☑2. Let the Right One In

dust collecters (5/10)
☑1. Smilla's Sense of Snow
☑ 2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
3. The Handmaid's Tale
☑4. The Reader
☑5. Love in the Time of Cholera
☑6. The Great Gatsby
7. Pasja grofica
8.
9.
10.

favorite genre (crime) (7/7)
☑1. Her Royal Spyness
☑2. Smilla's Sense of Snow
☑3. The Silent Sister
☑4. Conclave
☑5. The Silent Sister
☑6. He Said/She Said
☑7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

favorite authors (3/5)
☑1. Feed by Mira Grant
☑2. Honor's Knight by Rachel Bach
☑3. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
4. The Truth Factory by Cody McFadyen
5. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

books that everybody else seems to have read but me (4/10)
☑1. A Monster Calls
☑2. Little Women
3. The Secret History
4. The Night Circus
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
☑ 6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
☑7. Assassin's Apprentice
8. The Handmaid's Tale
9. The Martian
10. The Shadow of the Wind

Red Riding Hood's Plan

This year I will read:
7 --> award winners (past and present, any literary award/people's choice counts)
3 --> complete series (more than 3 books in total)
2 --> complete trilogies
3 --> books that I keep avoiding
10 --> chunksters (over 450 pages)
2 --> new releases
12 --> new to me author(s)
2 --> out of my comfort zone books (horror)
10 --> books that are for so long in my TBR they are covered with spider webs and dust bunnies
7 --> books from my favorite genre (crime)
5 --> books from my favorite author(s)
10 --> books that everybody else seems to have read but me

Alanna wrote: "Erica, LittleRedRidingHood (sorry, no reply button on mobile and I have no computer), how's the 12th sound?"

I'm good for 12th. I got myself a second book. Apparently Little women in translation come in two parts. No wonder that the page count didn't make any sense.

And a small tip. Use a web page for goodreads on your mobile phone, because you can't do much in an app.

Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine

Ever since Newton witnessed a bubble rising from his bathtub, mankind has sought the stars. When William III of England commissioned Capt. William Kidd to command the first expedition to Mars in the late 1600s, they proved that space travel was both possible and profitable.

Now, one century later, a plantation in the flourishing British colony on Mars is home to Arabella Ashby. A tomboy who shares her father's deft hand with complex automatons. Being raised on the Martian frontier by her Martian nanny, Arabella is more a wild child than a proper young lady. Something her mother plans to remedy with a move to an exotic world Arabella has never seen: London, England.

Arabella soon finds herself trying to navigate an alien world until a dramatic change in her family's circumstances forces her to defy all conventions in order to return to Mars in order to save both her brother and the plantation. To do this, Arabella must pass as a boy on the Diana, a ship serving the Mars Trading Company with a mysterious Indian captain who is intrigued by her knack with automatons. Arabella must weather the naval war between Britain and France, learning how to sail, and a mutinous crew if she hopes to save her brother from certain death.

Erica wrote: "Alanna wrote: "Anybody up for a big classic chunkster? This year I'm looking at:
,, , [bookcover..."

Hi, Alanna and Erica.
I can join for Little women too.

This one will come really handy to me. Since the inventory in my library not even a librarian can find me The Count of Monte Cristo, because it's not on the shelf where it should be. I'm sure the outcome of my rummage through the shelves will be another 100 books on my tbr. And no I didn't eat crazy mushrooms, my alphabet is slightly different from english.


AUTHOR APLPHABET READING CHALLENGE 2018
Duration: Jan 1 - Dec 31, 2018
Completed: 9/29

A: Alcott, Louisa May - Male ženske
B:
C:
Č:
D:
E:
F:
G:
H: Heyer, Georgette - Frederica
I:
J:
K: Karlin, Alma M. - Vodna vrba
L:
M: Martin, George R.R. - Vranja gostija
N: Ness, Patrick - 7 minut čez polnoč
O:
P: Pinkola, Clarissa Estes - Čar zgodbe
R: Remini, Leah - Zgaga
S:
Š:
T:
U:
V: Viewegh, Michal - Biosoproga
Z:
Ž: Žvab, Ana Kersnik - Srčna joga

Optional:
Q:
W:
Y:
X:

= 299
= 346
= 608
= 481
= 195
= 291
=1,392

Subtotal: 3,612
Current total: 1,945,668

Cleaning Out the TBR Closet 2018

Progress 14/50

☑ 1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
2. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
3. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
4. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
5. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
☑ 6. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
8. Pravila treh by Marjolijn Hof
9. Novorojen by Margaret Mazzantini
10. Zdravnik by Noah Gordon



11. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
12. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
13. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus
☑ 14. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg
15. Katarina, pav in jezuit by Drago Janičar
16. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
☑17. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
☑18. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
☑19. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
20. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood



☑ 21. Biosoproga by Michal Viewegh
22. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
☑ 23. The Reader Bernard Schlink
24. Winona's Web: A Novel of Discovery by Priscilla Cogan
25. Bela Masajka by Corinne Hoffman
26. The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreth
27. Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes To Weep by Siba Shakib
28. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
29. Uroki ljubezni - uroki smrti by Alma M. Karlin
☑30. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen



Classics
☑ 31. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
☑ 32. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
33. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
☑ 34. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte
35. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
36. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
37. A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens



Leftovers from 2017

☑ 38. Mud, Sweat and Tears by Bear Grylls
☑ 39. Pasja grofica by Bogdan Novak
40. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
41. Formule ljubezni - Ne zapravimo življenja v iskanju prave ljubezni by Zoran Milivojević
42. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
43. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
44. Io sono Dio by Giorgio Faletti
45. Čustveni vampirji by Albert J. Bernstein
46. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
47. Dolina konj by Jean M. Auel (half read)
48. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
49. History of Beauty by Umberto Eco
50. In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant



Last year I got derailrd from my goal because of Popsugar challenge and there were a few books that I couldn't check out of the library. I hope that this year I do better. If I read at least 15 books, I will be happy.

- 433
- 342
- 395
- 425
- 367
- 310
- 189
- 262
Subtotal: 2,723
Current total: 1,731,132

= 127
= 125
= 125
= 209
= 260
= 373
= 352
=307
= 330
= 128

Subtotal = 2,336
Current total = 1,609,864

= 462
= 144
= 288
= 67
= 365
= 647

Subtotal = 1,973
Current total = 1,460,623

= 299
= 450
= 320
= 369
= 382
= 346

Subtotal = 2,166
Current total = 1,236,593

R

N

O

= 266
= 450
= 436
= 384
= 128
= 312
= 334
= 231

Subtotal =2,541
Current total = 1,152,827

L

Chapters 2 - 5

And here waltzes in prince Humperdinck, the great huntsman with a bizarre hobby. The Zoo of death gave me creeps. I see him as vein and spoiled, he almost acts as a child. He gets what he wishes or else. Just the proposal itself, marry me or die. Charming.

I actually prefer his royal family more. The mumbling king Lotharon and his wife were hilarious. I’ve noticed that prince addresses his stepmother as E.S. (evil stepmother) analogy to Cinderella or Snow-white, but it didn’t seem as she would act evil towards him or is that because she kind of made up what king mumbled?

The Preparation chapter really bring out the mockery on the new level, where it ridicules the rules and rituals of royal families in past times.

And then came my favourite part so far. I’m definitely enjoying adventure aspect of a story more than romance. Love the bandits and Spiderman like Man in the black aka Westley. I hope that story for Fezzik and Inigo doesn’t end up here. But I just can’t seem to like Buttercup. She obviously prefers life over death (who doesn’t), but Westley climbed a mountain, bested the masters in their art and walked the deadly swamp for her and she still chooses prince over him. Man, she’s fickle. It broke my heart. I really don’t see what Westley sees in her. Maybe Humperdinck and Buttercup are just made for each other.

I hope that six fingered count gets what he deserves and Inigo can finally get his revenge. And maybe we will see some rescuing actions, when as you said Fezzik, Inigo and Westley join forces, storm the castle and save Buttercup. After all the title is princess bride.

Day 2 Questions: June 23rd - chapter 2-3

8. I am really enjoying the strong sense of place that King invokes through the senses. Can you share a book that you've really enjoyed that had a strong sense of place?

If I stick to fantasy, I felt strong sense of place in the Lord of the Rings and recently read The darker shade of magic.

9. At The Way Station, the gunslinger is told to "Go slow past the Drawers gunslinger. While you travel with the boy, the man in black travels with your soul in his pocket" - what do you think this means?

The oracle said that Jake is the key and will lead him to the man in the black. But knowing that man in the black messed with Jake's mind, that pretty much means that he somehow controls gunslinger through Jake. Maybe that is through emotions or just simply progress of their journey. He somehow has him in his fist, manipulates with him.

10. What do you think is Jake's role in the story?

I think that Jake is another trap from man in the black and in the events that are ahead, he will play a crucial role in a decision of some kind. I remember gunslinger saying that he grew to love the boy against his better judgment. Maybe Jack will be played against gunslinger. It seem as he is some kind of a chip or an ace in the hands of both and we will see, who will play the game better. I'm afraid it won’t end well for Jake.

11. We begin to learn more of the gunslingers past and what he was like as a boy - do you still see those parts of him as a man?

He was said to be practical as a child and that kind of stayed with him.

12. We've seen so much darkness in the story so far, it was striking to hear about light when the gunslinger spoke of New Canaan. The gunslinger recalls his mom saying, "the only real beauty is order and love and light" - do you think there is hope in this world for love and light?

It seems like a dark age took over the land, where once was light. I liked Ora's idea of purgatory. Whoever knows what love and light are, will always strive to that, no matter how bleak the situation is. Well, lets hope so. This dark tower needs to mean something and why is gunslinger so desperate to get to it.



Day 3, Chapters 4 & 5

13. What did you think of Roland’s strategy for fighting Cort?

Very cleaver. He did think outside of the box, being so young and inexperienced, he had to go for the unexpected option. But I am rather surprised that Cort didn't beat him, since he realized what Roland's plan with David was. He could just smacked him from the sky, it was just one falcon. But where would be the twist then.

14. Do you think Roland regrets what happened to Jake?

It didn't seemed so. He hesitated for a bit, but just for a bit and then it was like he was over it. A mission man through and through. Maybe that's something that will come after him later on. He is so focused on the quest, he comes out apathetic in a sense.

15. What do you think about the gunslinger’s fortune?

Interesting tidbit with tarot cards. Didn't expect that. I look forward who or what the cards represent.

16. The man in black told Roland, “What hurt you once will hurt you twice. This is not the beginning but the beginning’s end. You’d do well to remember that…but you never do.” Do you think Roland has looked for the tower before?

I rather think this has roots in the past, where he tried to save his mom. And in the present he trys to save the world form the darkness. As I gather Roland didn't succeed to rescue his mother, so man in the black implies that this quest will end the same way. Maybe.

17. The man in black talks about different and multiple universes and a connection with the Tower. What do you think Roland will find when he reaches the Tower?

At this point I have no clue. But man in the black mentions ruler of the Dark tower and maybe he has the key to the other universes. So I guess whoever rules the tower has the power to shift through different worlds and descend darkness or light on the world. It definitely feels like a power site of some kind.

18. What did you think about the book? Will you continue on with the series?

It had me for the first and half of the second chapter and then it gradually fell down. That's why it took me so long to read it. I'm not in a hurry to get to second book, but if I do, I am going to read it this time rather listen to it. Somehow I'm more inclined to watch the film and then, if I'm still interested, read the books.