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

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

DQs Day 1
Ch 1 to Ch 7

1.) What are your first impressions of the family and of Louise and Mark? How pivotal do you think their relationship (or lack thereof) will play in the story.
Aside: I plan to steal and use the phrase "Terminal Assholism" in future. Thank you Hendrix!
I had the feeling their relationship was going to be a main driver in the plot and that there were many family secrets and they both understood some things right and some things very wrong. Mark though does come across as a huge dink.

2.) The book is organized into sections following the 5 stages of grief. Does this impact your expectations of the book at all?
I assumed it would mirror the interactions between Louise and Mark as they deal with their familial issues and uncovered the family secrets.

3.) Okay. Life size dolls named after her children. Weird, creepy? Would you be excited to have them as part of your inheritance?
Just creepy. More that they were set up to watch TV, etc like actual family members. I would not be excited to bring them to my own home one day. I'd be a lot happier with some other handmade item of my mother's.

4.) Have you ever experienced a family post-death squabble/fight like the one Louise and Mark had in front of the junk clean out guys?
Not really and certainly not to that degree. However, my husband is a funeral director. 100% fights like this and much, much worse happen all the time. It's insane.

5.) Did anyone else google Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers? If so, were you surprised to find they were a real organization? Has anyone interacted with them before or a similar organization for other religious beliefs?
I'm not sure why I was surprised but I was. It does make sense because things like puppet shows can be an effective way to communicate complex concepts to children. I've never heard of them before this book and the only puppet show I was remotely familiar with was a part of the local library.

DQs Day 1
Ch 1 to Ch 7

1.) What are your first impressions of the family and of Louise and Mark? How pivotal do you think their relationship (or lack thereof) will play in the story.
Aside: I plan to steal and use the phrase "Terminal Assholism" in future. Thank you Hendrix!

2.) The book is organized into sections following the 5 stages of grief. Does this impact your expectations of the book at all?

3.) Okay. Life size dolls named after her children. Weird, creepy? Would you be excited to have them as part of your inheritance?

4.) Have you ever experienced a family post-death squabble/fight like the one Louise and Mark had in front of the junk clean out guys?

5.) Did anyone else google Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers? If so, were you surprised to find they were a real organization? Has anyone interacted with them before or a similar organization for other religious beliefs? [note: please keep responses respectful to people's beliefs, this is a safe space]

Since it's already 10/16 in some countries, I'm going to go ahead and post these now!

finished off Yellow Man today. New to us monster:

Chupacabra
500 to 650
Set in Spanish speaking country
GOAT in title (letters)
Animal (not human) on cover
MPG Historical Fiction

More hand puppets types of puppets.

I know Muppets are actually puppets but for some reason in my head those are just in a different category. And don't have the same creep factor.

I finished the BOM yesterday to get it finished before my library loan expired.

It was good, Hendrix is good at writing horror that isn't real but just maybe could be so it's creepy. Also I will never look at puppets the same way ever again. LOL

Love it Sonia :)

I’ve also started How to Sell a Haunted House because I can’t count and didn’t delay long enough on the hold. So I need to get it read before the library sucks it back through the ether.

So far it’s been a interesting start to the book.

I’ve read Soul Taken which is #13 in the Mercy Thompson series. Another great edition to the series. Reminded me I need to catch up on the Alpha & Omega series too.

Glad you made it back stateside safely!

Yes! It’s begun!!

If anyone on the team like audio books, Xe Sands narrates a lot of books.

Books with Asian characters/authors are another good place to look for X

All fixed!

Yes, sorry Diane!

Is everyone ready? In less than 9 hours Wheels begins!!

Tracking sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

No, sorry it needs to be the actual instrument

Diane ~Firefly~ wrote: "So am I reading correctly that we can start reading books for this tomorrow?"

Yes, the challenge starts in a little over 19 hours

Hello! Welcome to the team so glad you are here :)

The low down on everything is in the top posts of the thread including a tracking spreadsheet.

The short of it is our word is GLOCKENSPIEL, looking for instruments in text (from the list of 25), and green covers

Give a shout if you have any questions and let me know what your wheel shelf is and I'll add that link to the post with everyone else.

Judith BOM Tracking

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/...

DQs Day 5: Chapter 48-end

19. We finally learn how Lily died. Were you surprised? Do you think she would have done it without Leona's prompting?
Maybe a little bit but I didn't expect her death target to be Emery for some reason. And thought Emery was more of a witness to something. I guess because I thought she cared for Emery. But in hindsight I shouldn't of been surprised.

20. I've never read a book before that gave the perspective of the place. How do you feel about Saoirse Island having her own chapter?
I thought it was an interesting and effective way to tell what happened to Lily. I also think that POV was more interesting than Lily's would of been.

21. The counsel (and probably the islanders) are definitely not shown in a good light. Do you think they knew, or cared, about Leona's motivations? Why do you think Noah broke ranks?
I think denial is a very powerful force that should never be underestimated especially in situations where there's a personal gain involved.
I think Noah broke ranks because he pulled his head out of his butt. Taking the orchard after August left and had no intention of coming back for an inheritance he didn't know he had is one thing. Killing an innocent man so he doesn't out you for laws you knowingly broke is another thing altogether.

22. The August/Emery tension was finally resolved. Were you happy with the outcome? Did it feel realistic? Do you think that they would really survive as a couple off the island?
It was what I expected to happen. Her completing a 4 year program in 3.5 years and immediately starting a doctorate while popping out babies honestly seems less believable than a successful marriage.

23. The orchard ownership was resolved in an unusual way. Were you satisfied with the outcome?
Eh, nope. August deserves some compensation for all that tomfoolery and almost being unalived by a coo-coo old lady and her minions.

24. The ending. What are your thoughts on Emery and August's daughters comment? Ominous, intriguing, or just there?
It's a fun bit of woo-woo at the end.

We had several reserve sign ups, enough to make a whole additional team!

Those that weren't assigned to Team Soul have all been scattered through out the existing teams. Please be on the look out for messages from captains!

The game starts tomorrow at 9pm London time!