Vicki’s
Comments
(group member since May 01, 2018)
Vicki’s
comments
from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.
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Happy Birthday Sonia! I hope you’ve had a wonderful day!
Alysa, lol that’s too funny.
I would love to play!! I think I’ve played twice before. I usually read 25-30 books a month.
Talking about favorite reading memories is so difficult for me to choose. One is when my father was in a rehab for over 4 years, and when he was close to death I read the Bible to him. He wasn't able to respond or let me know if he heard, but the nurses told me that your hearing is the last thing to go. So I always hoped and prayed her heard me. Otherwise, oh my goodness...in Kauai, Hawaii, on the patio yard right outside our resort room. No drinks in hand other than coffee, but those early morning sunrises were to die for. THE most beautiful sights!
I also thoroughly love it in Depoe Bay, Oregon, where our resort room has the best ocean view of rocks, sea otters, and one year the whole 2 weeks we had our own private whale show...amazing!!! But I was distracted, obviously. LOL
One more favorite would be in San Jose del Cabo, tropical drink in hand, by the pool/ocean next to my hubby who never reads. LOL But that's just the best time ever.
Melanie wrote: "Oh Sammy I really like your shelves. That's great that your husband is handy enough to build those.I also have built-ins in my spare room that a friend built after I was having issues finding she..."
I don't say this very often because I think it's wrong, but I am jealous! My husband is also crafty, so now I think that rather than the purchased bookshelves we have, I am going to ask him to build me my wall-to-wall library! Like Belle's on Beauty and the Beast!
I'm SO EXCITED for Wheels!! It has to be one of my top 3 favorite challenges! Woo hoo!!
Wear Purple for Peace DayDuration: May 1- June 30
Level: Extraterrestrial - 26+ books
P - Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver 5/27/2020
E - Out of the Silence: After the Crash by Eduardo Strauch Urioste 5/03/2020
A - The Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout 5/06/2020
C - The Mesmerist by Pam McCutcheon Character is Gina Charles 5/17/2020
E - Naked in Death by J.D. Robb Character is Eve Dallas 5/13/2020
A - Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney 5/11/2020
L - Delirium by Lauren Oliver 5/16/2020
I - Very Bad Things by Ilsa Madden-Mills 5/04/2020
E - The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold Character is Elizabeth 5/19/2020
N - The Hot Flash Club by Nancy Thayer 5/10/2020
Option #2 - Purple on Cover
Patsy Patsy by Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn 5/07/2020 
The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again 5/12/2020
Harley & Rose by Carmen Jenner 5/19/2020
Easter Bunny Murder 5/20/2020
I’m also waiting to start until I get home from vacation. I go home Friday, but I’ll probably start February 1 or after so I can use it for challenges such as UNO, too.
1/01/20 336 pagesCurrent total; 3,340
Author Alphabet Challenge 202001 January 2020 to 31 December 2020
Completed: 1/26
A,
Jennifer L. ArmentroutB.
Saul BlackC.
Rachel CaineD.
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Victoria Gilbert 1/01/20H.
Joe HillI.
J.
Lisa JewellK.
Margaret KaineL.
Louisa Luna M.
Christina McDonaldN.
O.
C.S. O’CinneideP.
Q.
R.
S.
[ author:Erica Spindler|37168]U.
V.
Vivian BarzW.
Debra WebbX.
Y.
Rebecca YarrosZ.
Serious Readers Challenge 2020 - Level 1Start: January 1, 2020
Finished:
Read: 1/100
1. A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert 1/01/20
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Books Read
(view spoiler)
Reserved
New Releases- 20201 January, 2020 - 31 December, 2020
Level: Twice Shy - 2 books per month
January
1.
by Victoria Gilbert2.
by Louisa LunaFebruary
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Thanks, Judith.
New Authors 2 U 2020 ContinuedNew Authors Read July - December: 0/12
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:
TOTAL NUMBER OF NEW AUTHORS READ: 0/20+
Authors New 2 U 202001 January 2020 - 31 December 2020
Level: Devil May Care = 20 or more!
New Authors Read: 2/12
January:
by Victoria Gilbert 1/01/20
by Elisabeth Naughton 1/10/20February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
Can we read new books that aren’t on the lists provided?
Dec 20, 2019 01:05AM
Day 3: The Locked Door - The Ivory Door1) When Havemeyer goes to see January at the asylum, he tells them he is her uncle. Why do you think he says that? Do you there there is any truth to it? Why or why not?
2) Havemeyer asks January how she got out of her room and she said, "Maybe I cast a magic spell...Maybe I'm a ghost...I'm mad now, didn't you hear?" Why do you think she chooses these words to say to him? What is the significance of her response to him?
3) Yule promised Ade that he'd love her and their daughter so much that he'd never leave them. Yet, he has done just that. Whey do you think he wasn't able to keep his word?
4) Once January finds out who her parents are, she changes in significant ways. What changes have you noticed take place in her?
5) Before Havemeyer dies, he tells January, "They'll never stop looking for you, girl." Who is "they" he refers to and why do you think they are after her? What could she possibly have that "they" want?
Dec 18, 2019 07:00PM
DQ's Day 2 A Door to Anywhere - Much on Doors...*Note: Jammin Jenny has asked me to sub for her as she is ill.
1) One person that January seems to really need in her life is Jane. When January is concerned that Jane will leave and tells her "Now that -- now that Father is dead" Jane will leave, Jane corrects her and says, "Missing." When Jane says this, it gives the reader the first real indication that her father might not really be dead. What do you think has happened to her father, and if he is not dead why do you think Mr. Locke told January emphatically that he is?
2) Yule earned proficiency in three languages by time he was nine. By eleven his mother knew he would be a scholar. When he goes to the university he was "near-genius, which provoked both frustration and admiration from his instructors" because he wasn't mastering any languages. Yule was broached and told to pick a path/discipline or move on. Yule saw this as a way to stifle his dreaming, and it was disconcerting to him. So he ends up at one point leaving and he comes to an area where he sees an arch and he finds it nearly impossible to look at anything else. As he walks towards the arch he is inundated with hope, but when he pulls back the curtain he sees only "knotted grass and stone beyond it." What do you think the attraction or lure was to the arch? Why did he not turn back at that point but instead continued toward it?
3) At this point in the book "change" has become a major theme. Yule was "a somewhat different Yule from the one who had found [the arch] three days previously." He goes back to the university and he takes his exams right away and surprises even the master scholar with how he has changed. What do you think initiated such a profound change in him?
4) The last chapter for these questions end with Adelaide Lee Larson and Yule Ian Scholar finding each other and and the narration says that "they were never willingly parted again." What do you think, if anything, this foreshadows? And do you think that somehow the universe/world will change because they're together? If so, what type of changes do you think might occur?
I will post my questions for my section tomorrow morning since I wasn't counting on doing these questions until this afternoon and I wasn't home. I'll do them as early as I can.
Dec 17, 2019 03:32PM
DQs Day 1 — Beginning thru An Introduction to Miss Adelaide...1) The beginning of this book explicitly evokes other magical doors in the reader's imagination, presuming a strong familiarity with the concept. Are you a fan of stories about magical doors? Why? Is that what drew you to this book?
Oh. My. God. Absolutely not! I didn't even honestly consider that there are books specifically written about magical doors. I wasn't drawn into this book for that reason since I didn't know what it was about to begin with. LOL In fact, growing up I didn't read fantasy so I have a more difficult time with books like this because they are more abstract.
2) Young January seems to exist as a kind of curio for Mr. Locke, who collects "exotic" things. Do you think this bears out in how he treats her and her father? Do you think the relationship between ward and guardian seems realistic, given the time and place?
I do think that their relationship is different that that of her being just a curio for Mr. Locke. In that day and time, things were more strict, of course, and with his simply being her charge due to an absentee father, I consider it a little unusual that he is as kind and considerate to her as he is. He seems to be the one person in her life that she can really consider "father" or a father-figure, especially since her dad is likely to be dead.
3) The next sections interrupt January's story, to tell a story within a story. First we get a section of "scholarly" text, and then the story of another girl, Adelaide, from a somewhat earlier time than January. What did you think of these sections? Do you predict any connection between these characters, beyond just one reading the other’s story?
The scholarly section didn't seem familiar to me at all. I found it to be somewhat stimulating and got me to thinking about doors and the mythology of it all. I think these two characters will make a connection later in the story. For me, the placement of the scholarly text where it was is too significant to let it end there, so I do think it's significant and not just like a stream of conscious or random thoughts.
4) What do you think of the structure and writing style (or perhaps styles!) of this book so far, more generally? Do any “author tricks” stand out to you, good or bad?
I don't feel qualified to really address with any true insight to an author's faults stylistically. But I have found the writing to be very well-done and it's very lyrical. The scholarly section, however, was more academic which made total sense. But it almost seemed out of place at that point. I literally said to myself, "What? Wait! What's this about?" And I started the section over. I was doing dishes and listening to the audio, so I had to go get my book and read and focus on that section. I think it's very telling though, especially the juxtaposition of it to the previous chapters and the next part of the book. It works as a great metaphor because it mentions how doors are hard to find but open up to new universes (new worlds, ideas, etc.), so they create change, and when shut they can't be reopened. I felt like this was introducing change in the story perhaps and definitely making the reader ready for change in multiple ways for things to happen in the story, characters, and perhaps even for ourselves to consider change in our lives.
