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

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

DQs Day 4: Chapters 20-26

16. I love Bev’s line ‘ How in hell is anybody supposed to help if you won’t ask?’ Are there any characters who don't need to hear this? Did it resonate with you?
OMG, all of them did for sure. I think asking for help is something a lot of people struggle with. You don't want to be a burden, you want to know you can handle things on your own, etc. But good lord these children (I don't care if Opal is 26, she acts like a child) needed to ask for help.

17. Opal and Jasper finally reveal their secrets and talk. Were you surprised that they are both Graverly’s? How do you feel about the outcome regarding schools?
I wasn't surprised really. Umm, I wasn't surprised about Jasper's reaction about the private school and had to laugh at his comment "wow you found somewhere even whiter than Eden". What the school had on the website was messed up and made me wonder where they got that picture of Jasper.
Him going to college though, doesn't seem that easy. And he's a minor with Opal as his guardian. How did he fill all that out without her signing a single piece of paper? I think the author skipped over some important realities to drop that into the story.

18. Elizabeth Baine seems to have an amazing connections and pull. Who do you think she works for? How do you think she figured out what the right leverage was?
The Illuminati? Just kidding. I think she does work for the Graverly's but I think there is some other, unnamed group she's working for. She's just very observant and I wonder if she realized Arthur was trying to protect Opal and/or paid for Jasper's tuition. On that note, I hope he and Opal get their money back if Jasper goes to college early.

19. So much happened in these chapters, yet I really don’t feel like I learned much. How do you feel about the pacing/storyline?
It's not the best. I liked some of the slow reveal of the puzzle pieces about the house and Underland. But all the random drama around town is a bit much sometimes.

20. We learn that being a warden is a choice, although the house asks very vulnerable people. Do you think that the other wardens understood the price? How does Opal fit – she chose, but she isn’t a warden at this point.
Maybe? But if something is haunting your dreams, I can see it becoming a calling. I'm wondering if Starling House just felt like home to them, so they fought for it. To a certain extent I think the same can be said of Opal. I think it was interesting that Jasper pretty much said he was having similar dreams.

Bonus cat question: Which name do you prefer – Baast or Hellcat?
Baast, mainly because it lends some deserved regal-ness to the cat. But I think I'd put Baast Hellcat on her vet paperwork.

Sofie wrote: "Judith wrote: "Judith wrote: "Sofie,

Can you add Salt&Broom to your book games shelf when you get a chance?

Thank you!"

It's on your shelf now, but doesn't have a read date. I think goodreads is..."

I feel like everything they do to "improve" GoodReads just makes it worse and more buggy

Captains had a mini conference and decided it works for a farm.

Floriculture is included in the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) definition of special crops, so are nursery crops. As he sells them as plants, we decided it works for farm.

I went ahead and added to a farm task

Tricia wrote: "It takes place in a botanical greenhouse, but I'm guessing that doesn't count as a farm, right? Even though it is treated as a flower farm - he grows and sells flowers to customers."

I would take that as a type of farm, if it's not just a hobby farm but he's selling for a business. Flowers farms are real things.

DQs Day 3
Chapters 14-19

11. Starling House reminded me up to a point with some vibes of Beauty and the Beast, although lesser now as the story progresses. Is the book reminding you of any other stories you have read before?
Vaguely but the actual titles are struggling to pop into my head at this moment which isn't very helpful in answering this question.

12. Ch 14-19 have answered a lot of questions about Opal, the house, Arthur, the history of the place and what's going on. Has anything revealed in this section been surprising to you? Does the explanation so far of everything that has happened ring true?
That all the Wardens weren't actually blood born Starlings. I found that to be an interesting twist that makes a lot of sense. Having them all be blood relations was seeming a bit of a stretch. And it's an extra bit of woo-woo fun.

13. Jasper and Opal are clearly close, although he is sometimes moody and surly. He seems resentful at times of Opal going out so far on a limb to take care of him and get him out of Eden. What do you think of the character now that he has more fleshed-out scenes and more has been revealed about him and their relationship?
I think he's more resentful of being lied to by her, even if it's by omission. She's all he's got and I think he's worried about her. And he doesn't know why she's been doing all that she's been doing because she's stupid and not telling him the truth about everything.

14. Arthur and Opal have heated a few things up. Do you think they fit each other well with these developments?
I feel like the story would be just fine without the 'romance'. I don't think it adds much and I don't find it that interesting of a plot point.

15. There is humor in the book that is overshadowed by genuinely creepy horror like tales, What do you think about Underland "beasts" revealed so far?
I'm intrigued. Especially by the 'befriend' advice from E.Starling. I'm curious to see where that goes in the remaining sections.

My library doesn't have a digital copy and I think the wait at Lexi's was like 6 weeks or something. I think she was going to check a few other places she's got access too.

Not going to lie, I blew up the cover in the hopes a rhinoceros beetle or something was hiding in all those plants to work for horn on cover. No dice. Oh well.

Judith wrote: "Sofie,

Can you add Salt&Broom to your book games shelf when you get a chance?

Thank you!"

It's on your shelf now, but doesn't have a read date. I think goodreads is just being mean to you at this point.

Could you add a read date when you get a chance? thank you! Sorry for all the trouble

Stacie wrote: "It says abundantly in it but I can't get a page number. books.google.com has a preview but no page numbers."

Thank you for checking!

unfortunately that's the wrong form of the word. It needs to be either abundant or abundance :(

I'm hoping one of those (or harvest) in a section not part of the preview.

Finding words in audiobooks is hard. The struggle is real.

Tricia wrote: "I'm reading A Botanical Daughter on audio - if someone has a digital copy of it, could you check if it has the words harvest or abundant/abundance in it? I feel like it should - it's so lush and fu..."

We are trying to get our hands on a digital copy.

We tried the previews/look inside but those are only partial sections you can search (like 50 or 75 pages).

If someone's library has an available digital copy though, give a shout!

Sammy wrote: "One thing I was wondering about... If opal is 26 and almost the age her mother was when she died ("almost" making me think 27-28), and Opal's mother died 11 years previously when Opal was 15, that ..."

I'm thinking the author is really bad at math. Apparently her mom left in the red car. Bev said her mom left town for awhile (meaning she had to be 16 at least to have a car and drive off?) and arrived with a young Opal in tow.

That math isn't really mathing

DQs Day 2 - Chapters 8 - 13

6) The narration is using dual POVs: 1st person for Opal, 3rd person for Arthur. Does it work for you? Do you think this suits the story?
The author is managing to pull it off for the most part. But it makes the footnotes a bit weird when the pop up in Opal's POV. I guess I haven't read enough Discworld books like Melinda :P

7) Opal goes to the Library to find out more about Starling House and finds her mother's phone number among the Gravely family's documents. What implications can it have? Do you think it could be a hint about Opal's parentage?
I'm not sure if it's that or if it's something else. Arthur seemed to think he owed Opal something and there has been a discussion about the high rate of fatal car accidents. I was assuming Starling House (or the activities around it anyway) may of caused her mom's death?

8) After Bev's story about the relationship between Eleanor Starling and the Gravely brothers, we get a totally different perspective from what Nathaniel Boone went through. What do you think about the Gravely family and their "hold" over the town of Eden? What do you think Nathaniel may have discovered in the dark?
I'm guessing he found the Underworld (or whatever it's actually called) that E. Starling wrote about.

9) Finally we learn some more about about Arthur's role (warden) and his connection to the House. What do you think about their "relationship"? What is your opinion about Starling House as a sentient being? Could it be good or evil?
I'm liking this aspect of the story and hope it continues to go in an interesting direction. It is lightly reminding of the house Diana Bishop grew up in in A Discovery of Witches. But creepier with potentially being a portal to a hell dimension or whatever instead of just haunted.

10) On "characters not communicating"
In Chapter 12 we find out that Opal has not told Jasper about the fact that she arranged for him to go to a different school and she actually managed to put together the fee for the 1st year already. Opal doesn't tell his brother about her working in Starling House and she doesn't tell Arthur about her spying on the House for Elizabeth Baine and getting more and more demands.
What do you think of all this?
I'm so annoyed and agree that either Jasper should of known all along or been told after he was accepted. How can she make him go?
Opal did sort of mention the spying or at least that she was approached. Her actions on this point really make her seem way younger than 26. I get her fear though of the threats coming from Baine. She's basically a 26 year old grifter living in a motel, I'm guessing she's afraid she'll lose custody of Jasper. But with him being 16, assuming he wants to stay with her, wouldn't be that easy. It's not like he's 7.

Melindam wrote: "5.) Any favorites so far in our motley cast of characters? Opal, Arthur, Jasper, Bev, and Starling House
Not really, maybe Starling House. Unfortunately I find that Opal and Arthur, while they are supposedly in their later 20s, read very much like typical teen YA characters."

I'm glad it's not just me that is thinking this!

Beth wrote: "Opal is a disaffected teen. Ho hum. Right now, I'm most curious about Arthur. What is his deal? And, of course, what are the secrets of Starling House?"

She comes across as a disaffected teen and I think that's one of my issues with her character. She's not a teen though, she's 26. But Opal is coming across as like 19 or 20.

Sofie,

Can you add Salt&Broom to your book games shelf when you get a chance?

Thank you!

DQs Day 1
Ch 1 to 7

1.) Have you read other books by Alix E Harrow? Was this on your tbr list before it was a BOM selection? Any expectations going in?
I read her The Ten Thousand Doors of January and it was okay. This one with the gothic spin and buzz made me curious enough to add it to my tbr and nominate it for a BOM. I'm expecting creepy vibes and some woo-woo but other than that, trying to not have many expectations.

2.) Did you read the footnotes as you went along? Find them helpful? Annoying?
I read them. I found them a mix of interesting tid-bits and distracting. It also made it a bit confusing as to who the narrator is to the story. That made them a bit weird.

3.) The discussion of E.Starling's book being too scary for children reminded me of some interviews with M.Sendalk when the Where the Wild Things movie came out several years ago about books, etc that scare children (when children are the target audience). His response was basically children should be scared sometimes and there's nothing wrong with that. And has further said, it's better to have a book full of fears than one pretending there's nothing to be afraid of. What are your thoughts on this topic?
I agree completely with Sendalk. Children should be allowed to be scared. Fear is a very real part of life and shielding them from that their entire childhood does them no favors. Or having fear seem shameful. Should kindergarteners be watching the Saw franchise? No, of course not. But stories about scary things can help them recognize fear and how to address it. And learn that some things just seem scary at first but really aren't.

4.) What are your thoughts so far on Eden and Starling House? Has the author done a good job so far of creating an atmosphere and setting for a good gothic story?
I'm certainly intrigued by the house. I like the idea of the haunted house being sentient. There is also a bit of irony I think of the town being named Eden as it seems anything but.

5.) Any favorites so far in our motley cast of characters? Opal, Arthur, Jasper, Bev, and Starling House.
I hope we learn more about Jasper. I don't particularly like Opal and Arthur, though I don't think we are supposed to like them. At least not this early on in the story. I do have some respect for her hustle to get Jasper what he needs to live his best life.

DQs Day 1
Ch 1 to 7

1.) Have you read other books by Alix E Harrow? Was this on your tbr list before it was a BOM selection? Any expectations going in?

2.) Did you read the footnotes as you went along? Find them helpful? Annoying?

3.) The discussion of E.Starling's book being too scary for children reminded me of some interviews with M.Sendalk when the Where the Wild Things movie came out several years ago about books, etc that scare children (when children are the target audience). His response was basically children should be scared sometimes and there's nothing wrong with that. And has further said, it's better to have a book full of fears than one pretending there's nothing to be afraid of. What are your thoughts on this topic?

4.) What are your thoughts so far on Eden and Starling House? Has the author done a good job so far of creating an atmosphere and setting for a good gothic story?

5.) Any favorites so far in our motley cast of characters? Opal, Arthur, Jasper, Bev, and Starling House.

Yes

I listened to it in March and second Tricia’s sentiment. Also if people like audio books, the audio was well done

Jenny wrote: "Following Judith's model of continuing a nomination, I am going with


James by Percival Everett

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining o..."

it really is a tried and true method, eventually the odds end up in your favor. :P

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.


Reason: lots of fruit used to make teas (and even some poisons!)