Ashley’s Comments (group member since Apr 27, 2022)

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

I could read "One Dark Window", but I suppose that would be difficult to match the end... maybe it's too evil....

Eldarwen wrote: "Jean wrote: "Whichever y’all prefer"

Great selection!

The better question is probably: do we want to pick one or do we want to be nice and leave the option to the opposing team which one they'll ..."

My vote is we pick, but maybe make it an ending word that isn't WILDLY difficult!

Jean wrote: "Eldarwen wrote: "Since rounds and minis start on a Saturday, I'd take a wild guess and go with 15th-22nd for planning (ie first week) and 22nd-29th for reading (ie second week)."

Yikes, I’ll only ..."

Jean, if you would rather wait and do something in Round 3 when you aren't busy, that is just fine! Don't stress yourself too much! We have enough tributes to sacrifice help out!

Battles begin in Round 2

Planning is Week 1
Battle (Reading) is Week 2

I'm confirm the exact times and report back.

Attention District 6, an Announcement!!

Arena Battles
In order to succeed in the Arena, we will need to battle with our competing District Tributes.

We have been assigned District 10 as our opposition, and we will fight them twice (once in round 2 and once in round 3), switching who strikes first.

The fight will consist of parrying book titles back and forth, by matching the end of the opposing team's title with the start of our own. You can use or ignore articles at the start of the title. There must be an overlap of at least three letters!

Planning (Week 1)
Once the Arena Masters have provided us with our title, we will need to find a book with a title that overlaps by at least 3 letters, and declare our planned strike on District 10 (who will then counter with a title of their own)... for example:

Battle Title: Orphan Black
D6 Strike 1: Blackwater (BLACK overlap, 5 letters)
D10 Strike 1: Terms and Conditions (TER overlap, 3 letters)

This will continue until both Districts have planned out a maximum of 10 strikes each.

Fighting (Week 2)
Once the fight phase starts we simply read our planned books!

There's no requirement to read them in the correct order, but if at the end of the week we have missed a planned strike then we will lose the battle, regardless of how many of the rest of the books we complete.

A Gentle Reminder: if you are nervous about your ability to finish a battle book, please don't claim a book title. Alternatively, if you want to team up with someone else on the team as a backup reader, that is a great way for us to be sure we will have all our books read!

Please refer to the MAIN RULES for Arena Battles for additional information. Read it again, and ask questions here as needed! :)

I MIGHT join you all... this one has been on my list for.... well, forever.

Round 1 Update!

Hi District 6! Round 1 will end in 4 Days : 17 Hours : 30 Minutes (and counting)! We are currently sitting in 3rd place (this of course varies greatly). We are doing GREAT!

Mini Status
Reading for...
🏹Orange Covers: Cass and Laurie B (backup Andy)
🏹Food Words in Text: Lisa
🏹Crete: Cass and Ashley
🏹Diacritic: Nous
🏹Farm: Brigia
🏹CORNUPIA: Andy and Chava
🏹Food Cover Items: Lisa x2
🏹Panama: Cass

Also, the BOM from the NBRC Back Room group starts today!
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

Happy Reading! And may the odds be ever in your favor!

I'm going to grab the last Crete book!

Laurie B wrote: "Also, I think I can take the orange cover challenge with . Should be able to finish it by the 15th if I put my mind to it. Unless someone else is already rea..."

Laurie, are you planning to read this one? Or should we see if anyone else has a book?

Mini Challenge Update:

These tasks are currently unclaimed on the SS:

- Book with an orange cover (1x)
- Book set in Crete (1x)
- Book with at least 3 different food items on cover (1x)

Only 3 left to claim!!

@Chava!

The Collector (Nora Roberts)
Book on your Book Games Shelf is an edition with 752 pages
Linked edition on the spreadsheet is 483 pages
Please update with correct book in either place! Thank you!

DQs – Day 3 Protective Impulses-Pert Thing

11. What do you think about the revelation in the garden/the haunting? Did you see it coming, and do you think there are others involved with the “curse”?

I think it was fairly well foreshadowed.

12. What do you think about Mr. Rochester sending away Jane and the staff? If you have read the original, how does this change Jane’s agency, and do you like the change? Either way, why do you think the author made it Mr. Rochester’s choice?

In the original "Jane Eyre," Jane’s decision to leave Thornfield after discovering Mr. Rochester's secret about Bertha Mason is a pivotal moment of autonomy and moral conviction. Jane's choice to leave, despite her deep love for Rochester, underscores her strength, independence, and commitment to her principles.

By contrast, if Mr. Rochester is the one sending Jane and the staff away in "Salt & Broom," it alters the power dynamics significantly. Most obviously, Jane’s agency is diminished because the decision is made for her rather than by her. Instead of actively choosing her path, she is subject to Rochester’s will, which can portray her as more passive or less empowered, and increase Jane's dependency on Rochester, making her more of a victim of circumstances rather than an agent of her destiny.

As for why he / the author made this choice... It might be intended to highlight Rochester’s protective instincts or his sense of guilt and responsibility. By sending Jane away, he could be seen as trying to shield her from the horrors and dangers associated with Thornfield and the haunting.

13. Have you ever visited an Apothecary’s Garden? Would you be interested in seeing one? Do you grow any herbs or are you interested in growing any?

I haven't visited one, but would definitely love to see one.

14. What do you think about the scene with Miss Ingram? What does this tell you about Mr. Rochester’s character and did that seem consistent with his character so far? Did his explanation make sense to you?

I think the scene with Miss Ingram highlights Rochester's tendency to control situations and people around him to achieve his desired outcomes. In the original "Jane Eyre," Rochester is often depicted as a brooding, complex character who uses manipulative tactics to test and understand Jane’s feelings. His actions with Miss Ingram are consistent with his established persona as someone who is willing to play mind games to achieve his goals.

I'm not sure I bought his explanation in the book, but I suppose it wasn't out of character.

Mini Challenge Claimed Books:
here is what we have currently claimed! if you think you might not be able to finish, give us a heads-up so that we might try to find an alternative!
Mini Ends in... 7 Days : 17 Hours : 29 Minutes

Orange Cover
C3: Cass - Homegoing

Harvest (should have 1 alternate for this)
C6: Lisa - Deal with the Devil

Food Words (we have 1 alternate for this currently)
C23: Lisa - Disturbing the Dead
C24: Eldarwen - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Horn
C28: Ashley - Firefighter Unicorn
C29: Brittany - Abarat

Crete
C32: Cass - Circe
C33: Jean - The Painted Palace
C34: Jean - Greek Island Magic

Diacritic
C42: Nous - De kokkin van Castamar
C44: Andy - The Blues Brothers

Farm
C52: Brigia - Flawless
C54: Jean - If the Boot Fits

CORNUPIA
C57: Nous - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
C58: Andy - How to Stay Human in a F*cked-Up World
C59: Chava - book title unknown
C60: Karen - Everyone on this train is a suspect

Food on Cover
C62: Lisa - Picnics, Pies and Lies
C63: Lisa - Eat, Drink and be Wary
C64: Karen - Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

Counties
C66: Lisa - The Bridge of San Luis Rey
C67: Cass - The Great Divide
C68: Jean - The Bridge of San Luis Rey
C70: Nous - The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Incoming Supply Drop!

For your final Supply Drop of Round 1, we have given you:
Skippy Dies

Works for all resources:
Weapons: Knives still jutting from their flanks
Shelter: young boarding school students shelter from the bullies and adolescent angst, escaping into in fantastical mix of celtic mythology with theoretical physics
Food: Doughnuts feature as a potential choking hazard
Defense: MCs must defend themselves from local dealers

Happy Hunger Book Games!
May the odd be ever in your favor!

Mini Challenge Update:

What we currently still need are these:

- Books with an orange cover (1x)
- Books set in Crete (1x)
- Books with a diacritic (1x)
- Books with at least 3 different food items on cover (1x)

LOOKING GOOD!!

Andy & Karen - Just a heads up that I did a flip flop on the mini!

Andy, I added The Blues Brothers book to the diacritic task and moved Karen's alternate book to the CORNUPIA task.

Ok Team - The 2 supply drops have been used to protect Food and Weapons :)

Supply Drops from District 6
Howdy District 9, we've dropped 2 books off for you, but I realized I didn't tell you what their uses are (I'm sure you have guessed though).

The Hunger Games works for all resources:
Weapon: Bow and arrow, spears, knives
Shelter: MC shelters in cave during games
Food: MC hunts for food / "Hunger" in title
Defense: MC must defend herself from tributes

The Malevolent Seven works for all resources:
Weapon: Sword on the cover
Shelter: MC uses a tent for his spells
Food: The group are offered scones
Defense: Magic is used defensively

Supply Drops from District 9!

We have received the following from D9. Let's decide how to use them!

The Hunger Games 22-May-2024 387
Chain-Gang All-Stars 30-May-2024 367

The Hunger Games works for any resource (but was assigned as a Weapon on their sheet) - so it can definitely be used to protect our supply piles (Defense + "Chosen Resource to Protect" - What resource would we like to protect??)

Chain-Gang All-Stars was assigned to Shelter on their sheet, but I'm not sure on the other possibilities, so I can look into that.

What are our thoughts?

Also - we have sent 2 supply drops over...
The Malevolent Seven (Sebastien de Castell)
The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

Would we like to send another? And if so, any suggestions?

the Cornupia strikes again!!!

on a fun Hunger Games side note... I just saw a new one is coming out in 2025 and it's rumored to be a Haymitch book!!!