Tina ❣’s Comments (group member since Mar 09, 2016)

Tina ❣’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Less than 9 hours left to finish your round 1 book!

Well done Lisa! I'll keep that book in mind for next round :P

*** Updated up to here

*** updated to here

Completion Post


Date: 26/06

Deets on SS

*** Updated to here

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Thanks for the countdown clock. I'm still working towards having two finished for the cutoff. One I'll have finished in a few hours and I'm half way through the other one."

Sounds good Lisa!

We might be able to get through another read-through or 2 before round 2

Looks like we'll manage well for Z and O's in round two. I have saved up Vs, Xs and Zs for these challenges knowing I'd need them.

Zoe York Zoe Parker Tess Oliver are a few authors with freebies. Short-ish reads with contemporary/romance as the main genre

Completion Post

Five Feet Apart

Date: 23 June
Details on SS

Day 4 Questions Chapters 16-21

15. We get to find out about the title in this section. What did you guys think about the new rule, and the reason behind it?

Pre-covid, probably would be happy. But now I'm like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU KNOW THE RISKS!" and a bit like "well that's possibly contaminated", "what are you doing? that's probably contaminating them" and "could that be contaminated?". Yup.


16. Did you all like Stella and Will’s first date? Do you think you would have the self control to stay away from the love of your life?
As an aside, are there any YA books of this type that allow the kids to spend more than 6 minutes together before falling in love?

Yes it was cute. I think it depends on when you meet the person. Right now with my partner, I couldn't. Pre-partner then I would have more self-control. To your second question, hahaha I doubt it.


17. They spend a page or two discussing the afterlife. Do you think their takes on it made sense to the characters? Realizing I am wading into murky waters here, did you want to discuss your own views? (Optional, teehee.)

I don't remember this bit well and have just woken up from a dream that included a very loud vacuum noise. Too tired for philosophy. And irritated, like who wakes up because they're dream was so loud and annoying due to a vacuum. No one is vacuuming in my home or neighbourhood.


18. Abby. We find out why happens to her here. What did you think of this reveal? Was it a satisfying explanation of the missing sister story to you?

I think it's a pretty bad way to die. A first for me. I think it was handled well


19. Chapter 21 is a bit of a rollercoaster. The birthday dinner is pretty cool. Did you like what Stella and all set up? Then, Poe. This hit me more than any of the other "feels" in the book. How did you take this? Discuss.

I thought it was an amusing idea. That was unexpected and sad. I wasn't expecting that at all. I was looking forward to hearing about his reconciliation with his partner.

Day 3 Questions: chapters 10 - 15

10) I can't imagine the stress of trying to balance the knowledge of a fairly terminal prognosis with trying to be hopeful to live. I mean, we all know our days are numbered, but when you have an idea of what the number might be, you can either try to suck the marrow out of every day or curl up and try not to care enough to let anything hurt you more. Who do you think will have a bigger effect on the other, Will or Stella, and what do you hope will be the outcome, from a personal growth aspect?

I finished the book so won't go into much detail, but I did think that Ella would influence Will to manage his meds better from the start.


11) Maybe I'm too cynical, but I kept feeling like Abby was used as the personification of the idea that "See, you never know how long you have to live, so..." and not flawed enough to be a real person. Did anyone else feel that way or am I being a meanie?

Yes I can see what you mean and I agree


12) I loved Barb's parental take down. Do you think the shift in Stella's parents will last?

I loved it to! Go Barb! Honestly, I find it odd that they got back together so quickly and did doubt that it would last. But knowing YA, it would.


13) Reflecting on Barb's story of Amy and Trevor: would you choose a much shorter but immediately fuller life, or a longer lifespan though it may be less vibrant?

I've been pondering this my whole life and still haven't come up with an answer


14) Poe says "It's my sickness...it's my problem." While it's admirable to strive for self-sufficiency, a main message of the book seems to be about how it's imperative to open up and do the work to nurture healthy, supportive relationships. What is your take on this? When in crisis, do you distance yourself or reach out?

Like, yes it's your problem but it's not just yours anymore. If you care about someone and they, you, then it's their problem too. I reach out when I know I need help because there's many ways to view a problem other than my own.

Leslie Ann wrote: "Tina ❣ wrote: "Leslie Ann wrote: "Completion post
A Temporary Ghost
6/22/20

SS updated"

It's been added Leslie. You had 189 for the page count on the SS. The page count for the ed..."

Got it! All done!

Trinia wrote: "Completion Post


Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen
Rating: 5 Stars!
Date Read: 6/22/2020

Entered on SS"

Trinia, did you listen to the audio version of this book or read it?

You have this version of the book in your shelf. Is that the correct one?

Or is it this one that's on the SS - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... ?

Suzanne wrote: "Completion Post

Whispers Under Ground
Date Read: 6/22/20

Note: I put this as "Read a book with a map" since the cover is a map of London. However, if you..."

Added, Suzanne. The map on the cover should be fine as it doesn't specify that it needs to be in the book near the prologue or something

** Edit, map on the cover has been approved 👍

Leslie Ann wrote: "Completion post
A Temporary Ghost
6/22/20

SS updated"

It's been added Leslie. You had 189 for the page count on the SS. The page count for the edition that you read is 226 (which I've changed to on the SS). Is that the correct page count?

Day 2 Questions

6 . 'I wonder how many strings she had to pull and how much money she had to throw away to get me into this trial'
This quote caught my attention because in the UK we don't have to pay for treatment, even in a clinical trial in the UK. Did it catch anyone else's notice?

Yeah I was confused by this. I know US health system is more flawed than other High socio-econonic English speaking countries. I'm not too sure how clinical trials work in my country as I haven't needed to participate in one.


7. Are you surprised at how quickly Stella has become attached to Will? I wasn't expecting this strength of reaction to him not taking his treatment seriously. Did you think it was in character?

I was expecting her to become attached quickly. Yes I can see it being true. It's a difficult situation and people will deal with it in any way that they know, whether it is better or worse for them.


8. Wow Will's mum is controlling. I'm not surprised he's ended up rebelling from taking his treatments. Do you think you'd react like Stella (perfectionist, controlling about treatment and planning for the future) or Will (fed up, rebellious and living for the moment) to being in this type of situation?

Right now, probably both but more Stella. But it depends on how old I would be if I was hypothetically to have it. There's so many factors to consider and people who'd influence you one way or another.


9. Masks, lots of hand washing, staying 6 feet (or roughly 2m) apart, limited places you can go… The recent pandemic is giving me more insight into some of what this must be like than I'd had before. How are you coping with the changes?
I'm a GP trainee so have been at work throughout with a massive shift to remote consultations. That bit is easier compared to entertaining a 2 year old without any of the friends/family/groups as distractions!

I have coped relatively well. Not much changed for me as I still had things to do - uni, work, family. It was hard on others. Now that Uni is done, I'm feeling the effects of Covid-19 more.

Discussion Questions - Day 1

1) From what I know, this book is the novelization of the movie. While this doesn’t happen too often, I’ve read a couple books before that were only written after a movie/series (e.g. The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet). Have you ever read a book like this? What did you think? Was it successful? Did this experience influence your expectations of this book?

I didn't know that. Normally it's been book first then movie. But I've seen it before with Disney's Pirates of the Carribbean, which I wasn't too impressed by (writing style). My library also has release audiobooks based on Disney's movies like Frozen. I'm a bit apprehensive of how it will be but I think I'll end up listening to it. I did have a few moments of this book where I thought of how certain things would translate into the movie. I've started this would with the hope that it won't be another bad YA romance book. But so far I'm liking it.


2) Stella and Will, wearing face masks & using copious amounts of hand sanitizer before it was cool. All jokes aside, this is an oddly timely reminder that face masks do make a difference to prevent the spreading of diseases. I knew next to nothing about CF before starting this book and I’ve seen very mixed reactions to the representation of CF so I was wondering… do you have any experience with CF and therefore expectations? (If you don’t feel comfortable answering, feel free to just skip this question!)

I didn't realise that it was about CF until I started reading it. I thought it was something else so I'll now have a better basic understanding of it now. It's pretty unfortunate at how limiting the disease is to people. I'm glad there's options for treatment though.


3) "If I’m going to die, I’d like to actually live first.“ This quote from Will’s POV reminded me of the countless bucket list stories and made me wonder whether this will go in that direction. Yet while Will takes more of a Devil-May-care attitude, Stella is very cautious to follow the rules. Do you think Will’s attitude is going to influence Stella as they got closer (literally?!). Will she also take more (dangerous) risks?

Yep most likely. He'll become a bit more cautious as well for Stella's sake.


4) Stella is a "tech nerd", even programming her own app. Most MCs in YA books have artsy, "girly" hobbies (sorry for using that terrible gendered stereotype), if they have any prominent hobbies at all. Books about artsy people are among my favorites and I’m always on the hunt for more. While I like traditional hobbies, some of my favorite books (e.g. With the Fire on High) have non-mainstream hobbies and I am actually quite excited to learn more about this aspect of Stella’s story. Have you read any other books where the main character had a prominent hobby that wasn’t drawing/painting/writing/theater/an instrument?

Yeah one there's a few that have stuck with me that I've read recently. Maria V. Snyder's Guardians of the Galaxy series. The YA main lead is in space with her archeology parents. So she's learnt archeology and is a hacker in her spare time. I actually like that combo and there's Warcross with a gaming hobby.


5) Stella’s parents are recently divorced, in what she calls the “most ridiculous divorce of all time”, and she worries a lot about them. It both breaks my heart and confuses me slightly why it is so far being kept from us what happened - we only know that Stella believes both parents are unhappy after the separation. So… what do you think happened?

Oh I'm not sure. There's so many things that could happen

**Updated to here

Suzanne - Thank you! All done now

Beth - Good job and glad to hear you're liking it! Is it a 5 star rating? ;)

Lisa - Your book has been added to the SS

Lucy - That's been added in

Suzanne - What task number do you want for your book?

Suzanne wrote: "If you need links for all the daily questions I can provide them - just let me know. I only linked two, but I did answer them all :)
(for the Jetsetters)

Completion Post
Book: [book:To Fudge or N..."

So for the links on the BOM tab, we are looking for:
1) evidence that you've written a DQ and
2) evidence that you've participated in the discussion.

Linking two comments is fine Suzanne. We're able to find participation comments for the BOM. If one of the captains are in a BOM with you, we'll be monitoring for the participation in it anyway.

I've added another two columns in case anyone does want to link their participation comments. But you don't have to