Vicki’s Comments (group member since May 01, 2018)

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

Thanks, I’ll check it out. That is just a practice sheet, right?

Jenny or Tammie, when you have a little time, would you please look at the book I added to complete BACON and see if I did it right or anything wrong. I will try to do a scavenger one tomorrow just to make sure I understand.

I’m always down for getting more for less! 😂

Tammie wrote: "I agree on the Olympics...I am taking a week or 2 off from reading except for my team challenges...this week I hit the trifecta and I found a book that worked for all 3 and was less than 200. I sho..."

Wow! Good job, and congrats! That is such a help when that happens.

Tammie and Jenny, thank you both for taking the lead positions. Thank goodness for tech savvy people like you two.
I didn’t truly peruse it so I need to study it to be sure I understand what I need to do.

I was able to open the SS the other day and watch it without having to do anything special. Will you two mainly control the SS or will each of us do our own? It seemed like a lot of manipulations would be needed but like I said I just watched it but it was rather small and (for me) went a bit too fast.

I’m on my phone so I can’t tell, but doesn’t this start today?

Oh, and I love Read it and Eat!

Tammie, I say go for being head honcho! I think Jenny (not that I'm speaking for her) has a lot already on her shoulders. I wouldn't mind being your counter part but you already know (I think) that I do sometimes get confused. But if no one else wants to I'll help you as long as I have you leading me.

I am a retired high school teacher - English and yearbook. Thank GOD I was retired when distance learning began because my students would've been screwed. lol

I have 5 "children" - 2 boys, 3 girls
21 grandchildren - 11 boys, 10 girls
5 great-grandchildren - 3 boys 2 girls
We keep our numbers pretty even. lol

I loved

A few all time favorites: and author for mystery series Robert Dugoni

I did have a chance to watch about half of it yesterday, and it was pretty clear. I just would need to slow it down because I learn by doing so I will figure it out.

Hey, team *waves*

Looks like we should have lots of fun in the kitchen together!

Tammie wrote: "So is this our team then Ann?
Ann
Tammie
Shannon
Jammin Jenny
Vicki

We need 1 more :)"

YAY! :)
Anna would like to be on our team, and this is link to her user name bamaace83

Tammie wrote: "I'm here...team-less if someone wants to pick up this hitchhiker. I read at least 2-3 books/week...sometimes more depending on the challenge ;)"

Ditto Jammin Jenny's comment!

Read-a-thon
Duration: 20 September 20 - 26 September
Start time: I decide

Mini Challenges
✿Read a book with a MC working in the food industry
✿Read a book with an image of anything edible on the cover

September 20:
Book Read:
Pages:

September 21:
Book Read:
Pages:

September 22:
Book Read:
Pages:

September 23:
Book Read:
Pages:

September 24:
Book Read:
Pages:

September 25:
Book Read:
Pages:

September 26:
Book Read:
Pages:

Total Books Read: TBD
Total Pages Read: TBD

Thanks so much Ashleigh and Silje for all your work and help!

Thanks everyone else for such fun team play!

Captains: I'm so mad! I went to fix the date on WICKED GAME and discovered that my review was totally wiped out too! I'm just MAD!

Anyway, negative energy is bad so I'm good now...rewrote a crappy review and added the date so it's good now. *fingers crossed*

Ashleigh wrote: "It's on your shelf Vicki, but it doesn't have a read date on it."

UGH...lol OK I don't know what's going on! I'll go try to fix it.

Day 2 DQs

6. I might be too judgmental, but her pining for Hansu is constantly making me frown. She promised to care for and honor her husband, never to betray him. Yet she keeps marveling about her lost "love", how she misses him, how she wants to see him, how she has already been in the city with him in her mind, etc. Are such thought not a kind of betrayal? She is so rational and reasonable about what happened and knows full well how he lured her in and used her, but cannot stop the pining and reminiscing about it. Why do you think she can't let it go and focus on her future?

I think your first love is one you never forget and I don't think she pined over him too much. I think whatever one needs in order to protect themselves and their feelings is okay. I might not agree that I would need the same amount of time, but we are all different.

7. After all Isak said about his successful brother and all his dreams about the better life in the city, he arrived to some harsh revelations. I am starting to think they might have been better staying on the island. Isak's brother's revelations about his house, his neighbors, the judgement in the city, the discrimination at work and spying everywhere are very disappointing and brutal. Do you think it a natural disillusion of impossible dreams? Or Yoseb's hope that it might be better for his brother here, where he can watch over him?

I tend to think both of them were a bit naive, but I think that's to be expected considering their circumstances in life. I think it's probably natural to think a person/brother might be better where you can watch over him because we like to think we have some control if someone is near us or that we can at least influence them.

8. That scene in the church with the brother and sister. The pastor discussing what it actually means when a wealthy man wants to be a young girl's "friend". The duplicity of the pastor - being nice and not judgmental to the siblings, yet judging them harshly when they have left was not surprising but annoying still. The sweet talk to their face, but harsh berating behind their back would have been exactly what happened to Sunja and her family. Do you think this scene was included to reveal to Isak more truths about his wife's condition and impossible choices to help him understand her?

I think that makes sense and is definitely a good possibility. I can't stand it when a person is hypocritical, especially someone in such an important position and who others look up to in their own faith. Sadly, we still find this all too often in churches and elsewhere to this day.

9. The pastor's reason for hiring Isak was revealed as well - to get money from his family and avoid paying him wages - and I must admit it didn't endear the pastor to me at all. And the pawnbroker and his greed, the loan sharks and their scare tactics. We get introduced to many characters that are not really likable and portray humanity at its worst. Do you think it is a decision by the author to reveal the true nature of people in all kinds of positions in general or is it included to especially note how people get in times of oppression and hard times? I am starting to think Isak coming to Japan was a huge mistake with every little revelation. Do you think it will work out? Or do you agree it was a mistake?

I think that they probably made the best choice they could based on what they knew and believed, but I do think it will turn out to be a huge mistake.

10. The debacle with the watch was very educational. We get to see a merchant's attitude towards women, husband's attitude towards a wife in stark contrast to how men are treated. Yoseb is enraged with his wife and sister-in-law, he can't forgive them or appreciate the help, yet he can forgive and accept when his brother asks him to. Do you think he would have gotten over it in time if his brother hadn't asked him? Or would he be always resentful towards women? The whole "head of the house" part further gets the point home that women will always be under the command of a man, even in regards to baby names. The prison scene also drives home how women are still supposed to be home and stay away from men's troubles, too weak to do something about it. And women who work are still frowned upon, even in their own family. Do you think it will change further in the story? Will oppression and war open their minds towards changing a woman's role in the family and world?

I think that men were especially prideful and women working was like an insult to the man's ability to care for and provide for their family. Oppression and war might make it totally necessary for some women's roles to change, but I don't think the men's minds will truly change to the depth of what they believe regarding their roles and women's.

Day 1 DQs

1. This novel starts with the sentence: "History has failed us, but no matter." Did you like this opening line? What do you think it means, and why do you think the author chose it?

Honestly, it didn't really affect me in any way, so I can't say that I really liked it as an opening line. Maybe after finishing the book I'll feel differently. I think it refers to how history repeats itself and that we should learn from it; however, humans are stubborn and too often don't learn from our past.

2. I am half-Korean, and my mom has shared a lot of the history of her own family and how it's interwoven with Korean history in general. What, if anything, did you know of the Japanese colonization of Korea -- or the history of Korea, Japan, and China in the 20th scentury in general -- before beginning to read this book?

I'm sure I learned something in my past, but I can't say I knew anything because if you asked me one question about it, I couldn't have answered it.

3. Hansu seems like a complicated character. What were your thoughts on him? Did you hate him?

No, hate is a strong emotion and to me a waste of one's energy. I can't say that I liked him though. I thought he was deceitful and manipulative, and I also thought he was predatory.

4. What did you think of Sunja's decision to not accept being Hansu's mistress? Why do you think she chose to reject him? Do you think she made the right decision?

I liked her decision not to be his mistress. I think sometimes we have to make hard choices, but all our choices come with consequences whether good or bad. For Sunja, I think she preserved her self-respect and it showed her to be a woman of strength and character.

5. In this first section of the novel, we see two couples wed -- Hoonie and Yangjin, and then Isak and Sunja. What were some of the similarities between these marriages, and what were the differences?

I felt that Hoonie's and Isak were men who worked to take care of their women and families, to provide and protect them. They both had some type of health issues. Yangjin and Sunja were women of their time, so they were blessed to have gotten married and had men who were by most people's standards good to them.

Will one of the captains please check my book Wicked Game now. It says it's not marked on my shelf as read, but I checked it and it is. Maybe I added it later? I can't recall but it should be marked.

Silje, I finally got my book . Is it too late to get points for BOM if I do that one this week?