Judith’s Comments (group member since Apr 15, 2015)

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

And here's another new monster:

Hound of the Baskervilles
100-150
Tagged "dog" (5 or more times)
Bright yellow or green text on cover
BASKERVILLES in title (any order)
"Phosphorus" in text

If I were you, I would pay close attention to the January newsletter

There are 2 monsters with only 1 unclaimed/unfinished task

The tasks are:

Tagged Environment or Environmental (at least 10 times)
word BOREDOM in text

New monster:

Heathcliff & Catherine (Wuthering Heights)
350 to 450
MC bent on revenge
ghost in story
MPG Gothic
author initial EB or BE

Congratulations!!!

Note: I swapped out my original nomination since it won for the Jan BOM (finally!!)

And I just finished my last book of Wheels 2024.

It was a pleasure to captain this team along with Lexi and Teddie as awesome co-captains.

Happy holidays and hope to see everyone on the challenge circuit in 2025

Thank you!

Trinia wrote: "Judith - that was weird … does it show now? 😅"

Yes, it does. I've had it happen to me before too. Know idea why it happens. I usually chalk it up to GR Gremlins

Trinia wrote: "Just added my last one (99% sure I won’t get to another) to the SS.

A big thanks to Judith , Teddie and Lexi for putting in the hard work and to Ann and Michelle for their bonus reading.
Sorry I w..."

Trinia,

Can you add a read date to your last book? GR isn't showing a date

Thank you!

Also, as we head into the last day or so of the challenge

Please let us know when you've read your last book for Round 4 and Wheel-a-thon 2024

I hope you all enjoyed taking some spins around the Boring Wheel of Life :)

Hello Team!!

We've gotten the Feed Your Family mini challenge flipped again.

So any books finished from here on out can go on that mini challenge. With a whole fresh set of food words, hopefully most of these last couple days of books can find a home :)

Yes, I'd accept that

Trinia wrote: "Yes ma’am! Done, sorry thought I had added them 🫣"

No worries, Thank you!!

Trinia,

Can you add Umbrella Man and Children of the Fog to your challenge shelf when you get a chance?

Thank you!

Judith's BOM Tracking

Day 1: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 5: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 6: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Marie (UK) wrote: "MY copy of this book has 628 pages I cannot find the finishing line for this section (Day 5) - does anyone know what page it is ?"

Sorry, I used my copy for the breakdown. But the split is about 55/60% into Chapter 8 if that helps at all.

I got to pick a new one since my other won for January!! I bring you:



Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Masters of Death, a story about vampires, ghosts, and death itself!

Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.

Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.

When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with her ghost-infested mansion, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few high-functioning creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.

Zaremba, or Love and the Rule of Law by Michelle Granas

In Warsaw, a shy and high-minded polio victim lives a life of seclusion caring for her odd family until a chance encounter plunges her into the intrigues of dirty politics. Zaremba, a wealthy businessman, is about to be arrested on trumped-up charges and only she can save him. Swept along by events, Cordelia finds her feelings increasingly involved with a stranger for whom she is both rescuer and victim. When Zaremba is implicated in terrorist activities and disappears, Cordelia is painfully uncertain if she has been abandoned and must overcome surveillance, corruption, the media, and mounting humiliations and difficulties to learn the truth.

This is a story about love between a man and woman, but also love of family, country, and justice. Although set in Poland, where the CIA had a black site, it is a story that could happen anywhere, in a world where young democracies struggle against the temptations of covert operations and older democracies sometimes lead them astray.

How it fits the theme: Takes place is Warsaw, Poland (cold, icy place in winter)

Final day DQS:

21. Do you think it made sense for the group to fall apart after the climax, or would you have expected the shared experiences to keep them close (who else are they going to be able to talk about it with?).
Yes, I do really. The guilt of it all I think would just feed into their paranoia about someone breaking and turning everyone in to the police.

22. So all in all the characters are all quite unlikeable. Is there one that stands out to you as the least likeable of all?
Charles probably

23. What are your thoughts on the book as a whole? Will you read more by Tartt?
It was fine and I may read others by her depending on the topic and my mood.

24. I'm surprised this book hasn't been turned into a movie yet, especially with the popularity of Dark Academia. Would you watch the movie if they made one? Any preference for any cast members?
Probably. The movie rights were actually purchased and went through a couple rounds of almost being made but not because of life events. I think Tartt has the rights back. From what I read she hated how the movie for The Goldfinch happened so may not re-option this book for a movie.