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

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

Day 1 DQs -- Chapters 1 - 19

1. At the very beginning we are hit with a chilling image and as Officer Marius is descending into the basement looking for one of the little girls he "...becomes aware of the room. Glancing around, he realizes what it's been used for. He's disgusted." What do you think this room was used for?

My first impression was it was used for sex trafficking, torture, and sadistic experimentation.

2. We get brief look at what happens to Laura before Thulin and Hess get called out to the scene. While looking over the body and the garden Thulin notices a chestnut doll and has an odd reaction to it. "It's a simple doll consisting of two spheres and four sticks, but briefly, for some reason she can't explain, it makes Thulin's heart stop." Why do you think she had a strong reaction? Could it be a repressed memory?

It could be a repressed memory. I thought, based on the animals being grotesquely made that were found in the basement, that perhaps the chestnut doll was also rather grotesque, which alone would be disconcerting, especially with it appearing like a voodoo doll.

3. Speaking of Thulin and Hess. I'm a bit put off by the both of them. Thulin seems to think homicide is boring and Hess just seems to not give a flying rat's behind about anything. What do you think of our MCs so far?

I'm not judging yet because I think something more is going on. I didn't give it too much thought. I did think Hess was a bit more into his head.

4. Then we have Rosa and Steen, the parents of Kristine who is missing and presumed dead. They each have a different way of handling their grief. Rosa has thrown herself into her work as a politician and Steen is drowning his sorrows in alcohol. As a parent it's really hard to imagine losing a child. How do you think you would handle losing your child? Do you think their reactions are typical for parents who have lost a child?

I don't think there is a "typical" reaction to parents of a missing child, let alone one assumed dead. I know I'd be living outside my body, in another world, and completely and totally devastated, but I have 5 children so I would hope I'd put it together for the still living children.

5. Do you think Kristine Hartung is still alive? Or is it a cruel joke being played on her parents? Why or why not?

I'm not sure yet, but either way that note was horribly cruel! With her fingerprint being on that doll, I think it is possible she's alive. I don't believe that the man who confessed is the killer. We'll see.

Book: The Girl at Midnight
Read: 11/08
Pages: 357
Sin BINGO: Pride
Criteria: Purple cover (58.2% per TinEye), Genre: tagged Contemporary by 16 people on 1st pg. of tags, tagged LGBT by 41 people on 1st pg. of tags

There are some books on the bad list that I loved & rated 5 stars! Lol It’s hard to believe some people hated them. Lol

I agree with you, Plethora. I have gone way outside of my box from where I was reading back in 2012 because of challenges. But I love team challenges for the social aspect and the camaraderie & friendships developed!

I know Trinia. I had posted it in the review thread and everything and I had to remove it. At least it’s the same rules for everyone but I just think that a poem such as that or Paradise Lost should be allowed but it’s part of their rules so I should’ve checked ahead of time.

Mary, that sucks! But at least you discovered that before you read the whole thing. Now you can decide whether or not to finish it. Lol

I read The Odyssey thinking it’s written as a “poem” BUT it’s a novel and it is! But it still wasn’t allowed. I get it, but it was still frustrating especially because I read it due to its size for extra points. Instead it made me a book short AND LOST us points. Wasn’t a good feeling.

Book: Get a Life, Chloe Brown
Pages: 384
Read: 11/06
Sin: Pride
Criteria: Tagged Contemporary by 118 people on 1st page of tags

Mini-challenge - could be used for something someone says to another person

Book: Blood for Blood
Read: 11/05
Pages: 484
Sin: Wrath
Criteria: 51.4% Brown Cover
Per TinEye - 45.6 % Cowboy (Brown) 5.8 % Almond Frost (Brown)

Could be used for mini-challenge with the following:
What #One said to #Two
What #Two said to #One
What the world said

Book: Karina
Read: 11/04
Pages: 197
Sin: Envy
Criteria: Tagged Young-Adult on 1st page of tags by y people.

Can also be used for the mini-challenge for #One's name / role


Book: Love Unscripted
Read: 11/05
Pages: 668
Sin: Pride
Criteria: Tagged Contemporary on 1st page of tags by 305 people

Can also be used for mini challenge for "What they went there for" as possibly they went there to film a move titled Love Unscripted?

The mini-challenge for the next few weeks looks really fun!

When I read REALLY long books, I generally read them more slowly over time. Then I read other books in between. But it usually is really hard to stay interested.

Carmen, I already knew how to check for duplicates. My issue is that I have 79 books that show up on my duplicate list but whether I click on show me all editions or type the book in the search bar I cannot find/do not have duplicates for those books!! I can’t delete one because there are no duplicates in that group of 79. It has to be a glitch! I check my duplicate list about once every week or two & I had 3 on there that I knew were duplicates. It’s just frustrating because if I DID have 79 duplicates I could delete the extras but I don’t. Thanks for trying!

Plethora, or whoever asked about The Odyssey, thanks for trying. I honestly thought that type of poetry was okay. Shakespeare’s plays are mostly poetry too. I do think for future reference there needs to be a better way to qualify/disqualify poetry. Paradise Lost is another great epic poem written in blank verse. It’s an incredible poem/book that has around 500 pages. A collection of short poems is different. I’m just sorry I lost those points for us because that’s why I read it at that time.

We’re dropping in points because some teams are reading HUGE books! Not just 500-600 pages. We might be “evenly matched” in number of books read but not in number of pages. There’s no way to completely be equal but we needed more larger in pages books to truly be competitive. It is what it is. Lol 😆

Carmen, I sent you a PM because I have no idea what's going on with my dates and duplicates! I double checked them one by one and the dates read are (and were) all there. The only one that had a duplicate was . When you have a chance please read my PM and let me know what I can do to fix it.

I also was going to add another book but thought we had until later today, so I'll just add it to next week's books. I will wait to finish it.

☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ wrote: "Vicki you need to remove The Odyssey off your shelf due to the fact that its tagged poetry and we can't use poetry, sorry and in your shelf you have a few books with no dates, the newes..."

Oh, Carmen, it seems I always like to make you work harder...sorry! I'm bummed about The Odyssey because of the page count. And poetry books that are epic poems and have a good word/page count I didn't realize we couldn't use. I understand books of short poems. I thought if anything it would be a different count. Sorry about that. And I'm not sure why dates don't show but I'll go check them out and fix them.

Plethora wrote: "Vicki wrote: "My 7 books are posted. I am reading a book today that I'll add for 314 pages, and if we need them I have 3 more that are 196, 159, and 138 pages. Just let me know."

Vicki - You forgo..."

Oh wow! I am SO sorry! Only one of my books was shelved and I don't know why I didn't put my read dates on the books I added today; however, all 7 of my books are now on my TT shelf AND all dates are added.

LOL Sorry, yes, I'll do that right now. Guess I was in a hurry.

My 7 books are posted. I am reading a book today that I'll add for 314 pages, and if we need them I have 3 more that are 196, 159, and 138 pages. Just let me know.

Book: Zuleikha by Guzel Yakhina
Pages: 448
Finished: November 2
Sin: Pride
Criteria: Winner of Big Book Prize
Original Title: Зулейха открывает глаза. "Big Book Prize (Russian: премия «Большая книга»), annual Russian literary prize, established in 2006 by the Russian government and disbursed by a group of prominent Russian business leaders."

Большая книга Winners List, Book #2 on the list

Book: Jam Butties and a Pan of Scouse by Maggie Clarke
Pages: 256
Finished: November 1
Sin: Wrath
Criteria: This book is a true story and it enraged me (and always does) when a mother is a drunk and "has a rotten soul" and, in this case, the mother took off with a man and left Maggie at the age of 10 to care for her siblings, Tommy (8), Nellie (3) and her father. There's more to the story, such as abuse, but the above is sufficient for me!

No worries, plethora. I am posting my books right now