Brie’s Comments (group member since Mar 04, 2015)

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

OK FRIENDS! The challenge starts at 12 pm SYDNEY TIME.

http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/...

My shelf is: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Also, thank you so much, Tonya, for posting the link to your challenge shelf. Could everyone please do this? I'm opening them all up in separate tabs and it's so easy for my OCD brain to keep track of everything like this.

Savannah, PM me tomorrow after everyone submits their First Round Reads since I'll be at work until 5 Eastern Time and won't be able to check this thread. It's easier to check direct messages.

Tonya, I'll go ahead and give up my First Round "S" since you're already reading Stephen's "Bag of Bones." That way nothing goes to waste and I can use my "S" for Second Round.

As it stands, I will be doing "L" and "R" for First Round.

"L" -- Marie-Laure LeBlanc (character name) in All the Light We Cannot See --> this can also count for 500+ pg bonus points

"R" -- Ransom Riggs (author name) in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children --> this can also count for grey cover bonus points

That sounds like a great plan. I'm pretty sure the book I have for "R" is predominantly grey but I won't be able to check until late tonight. I know my "L" is over 500 pages.

Savannah wrote: "Hey Team Kunzite!

I'm Savannah, but everyone calls me Sav. (Except my mother. Of course. :-) I'm your team captain and I am excited! Okay, let's get started!

We've got 6 members, plus Tea! (Yay..."

Hey Savannah! I can do one of the S's, L, and R.

YES! Let's start picking books! I have "L" covered.

This is so exciting!!! I'm so happy I get to participate!

Hey everyone!!! My name is Brie! I'm a New Yorker that needlepoints and knits for a living, leaving room for loads of reading time :) My favorite genres range from Historical Fiction to Horror/Thriller to the Classics. My favorite authors include Steinbeck, Dostoevsky, Nabokov etc. I am suuuuuper excited to be your co-captain! Feel free to PM me with any questions or ideas!!!

LET'S ROCK THIS CHALLENGE!

This is so exciting!!! I'm so happy I get to participate!

Hey everyone!!! My name is Brie! I'm a New Yorker that needlepoints and knits for a living, leaving room for loads of reading time :) My favorite genres range from Historical Fiction to Horror/Thriller to the Classics. My favorite authors include Steinbeck, Dostoevsky, Nabokov etc. I am suuuuuper excited to be your co-captain! Feel free to PM me with any questions or ideas!!!

LET'S ROCK THIS CHALLENGE!

Moderators of NBRC wrote: "New sign-ups have been allocated as follows:



Name Goodreads User ID Team
Berit 38946743-Berit Kunzite
Brie 9410659-brie Kunzite
Bronia Macmillan22486405-bronia Topaz
Catherine 58..."

YAAAAAY!!! TEAM KUNZITE!!!

Questions: Zero - Rumours

1. There are two epigrams at the start of the book. How do they affect your approach to the book?
~These two epigrams represent the two different points-of-view in this book. Right away, you know you will be hearing from two people who view the world differently, who think differently.

2. The chapters are all very short (so far). How do you find this style? Do you think Doerr has chosen to use short chapters to generate a particular effect? Is it successful or not?
~I enjoy shorter chapters, as, personally, it keeps my attention and I feel like I'm making more progress. I think Doerr is trying to instill a sense of uneasiness and growing panic. Everything seems very rushed and clipped. It is definitely successful.

3. The first section is set in 1944, and we jump back to 1934 at a critical point. Does this sneak peek into the future draw you in, or do you prefer your storylines to be strictly chronological?
~I like when a story begins at the climax, as then the remainder of the novel focuses on the build-up (for the most part). I like to see all of the turn of events that lead the characters to the ultimate breaking point. I find I can better focus on the moment-to-moment action if I already know part of the outcome.

4. What are your impressions of inter-war Paris? and rural Germany? How effective is Doerr at creating the atmosphere?
~I enjoy how Doerr focuses his descriptions of people, places, and things on sensory adjectives -- the smells, the feelings, the sounds. It all becomes very poetic. I feel like I am actually in that setting. However, when describing Werner's environment, it is all very visual.

5. Marie-Laure and Werner have very different home-lives, but each are under a form of imprisonment (blindness / rigidly constrained future). What other parallels and differences are there?
~While they may both be imprisoned by certain restrictions, they are also quite nurtured and encouraged to break the bonds that hold them by their respective caretakers. Their primary difference comes in how they view the world around them. Marie-Laure's world is her imagination. She thrives in the world she finds in books, she lives in the little wooden town her father builds for her. Werner's reality is all too literal. It's calculated, mapped out, like the wires and pathways in the radios he repairs.

6. Do you have a preference for either of the storylines? If so, why?
~I don't. They're both so different and beautiful, yet tragic in different ways. I relate to Marie-Laure in her adventurous spirit and her curiosity. However, my heart breaks for Werner, perhaps because I know his innocence is doomed purely for the fact that he is German.

7. The Natural History Museum and its exhibits are described in loving detail. Do you enjoy the use of language? Have you highlighted (mentally or acutally) any phrases?
~I think it is amazing and rare to read descriptions based entirely on every other sense apart from sight -- especially smells. This particular quote really got to me and I wrote it down immediately:

"What is blindness? Where there should be a wall, her hands find nothing. Where there should be nothing, a table leg gouges her shin. Cars growl in the streets; leaves whisper in the sky; blood rustles through her inner ears."

This is a girl who is so full of light and so positive. Here is a moment, albeit a brief one, where she lets herself be frustrated and lost, similar to that beautiful moment she shared with her father in the park.

8. The Sea of Flame: is this significant? Would you suggest throwing a famed (albeit cursed) diamond in the ocean, as Marie-Laure did?
~Greed makes people do ugly things. It changes people. I would throw it in the ocean, or, at least, I can say that. But once that diamond is in my hand?

❀Tea❀ wrote: "Welcome to the challenge Brie ☺

And in case nobody said it before, welcome to the group too. :)"

THANK YOU!!! So happy to be with like-minded bibliophiles :)

I just signed up for the reserves. I reeeeaaally hope I get to participate! This sounds like so much fun!!!!

I WANNA PLAY!!!!!

Decades Challenge: 2015

Level I
Goal: 28/61 books
January 5, 2015 - January 6, 2016

2015
1. The Tusk That Did the Damage by Tania James
2. Please Talk to Me: Selected Stories by Liliana Heker
3. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
4. Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
5. Creatures of a Day: And Other Tales of Psychotherapy by Irvin D. Yalom
6. Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola
7. Six of Crows by
8. Trail of Broken Wings by
9. Dear Mr. You by Mary-Louise Parker
10. Never Never by Colleen Hoover
11. Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
12.
13.
14.
15.

2014
1. How to Be a Heroine: Or, What I've Learned from Reading Too Much by Samantha Ellis
2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
3. I Don't Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star by Judy Greer
4. Redeployment by Phil Klay
5. Uganda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler
6. Yes Please by Amy Poehler
7. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

2013
1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright
3. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
4. Hot Ticket by Olivia Cunning
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

2012
1. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
2. Sleigh of Hope — A Grayson Christmas by Wendy Lindstrom
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

2011
1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

2010
1. Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

2009
1. Hiking the Camino: 500 Miles With Jesus by Father Dave Pivonka

2008
1.

2007
1.

2006
1.

2005
1. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Not Me?|22716447]

226 pages

181 pages

208 pages

337 pages

504 pages

199 pages

245 pages

272 pages

135 pages

Current Total: 660,417

Can't wait to read and discuss this! Picked it up about a week ago and it looks amazing!!! Happy reading friends!

I'm going to try for LUCK OF THE IRISH (8+ Books) --

FINISHED: 8

Tasks
◄ March is Irish American Month. Read a book that takes place in Ireland, or was written by an Irish author.

◄ March is Women’s History Month. Read a book by a new to you female author, or a book with a strong female lead.

How to Be a Heroine: Or, What I've Learned from Reading Too Much -- Samantha Ellis

◄ March is said to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Read a book that starts out strong and wimps out to the end, or read a book featuring animals.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

◄ The flower of March is the daffodil. Read a book that has a predominately yellow or white cover, or where the first letter of the title can be found in DAFFODIL.

The Diaries of Adam & Eve -- Mark Twain

◄ March was named for Mars, the Roman god of war. Read a book set in space, a book about war, or a book with a red cover.

All the Light We Cannot See -- Anthony Doerr

◄ March: to walk in a military manner with a regular measured tread. Read a book where a character is very determined with moving towards their goal or a book with a character in the military.
Hiking the Camino: 500 Miles With Jesus -- Father Dave Pivonka, T.O.R.

◄ March splits Pisces and Aries for zodiac signs. Read a book with water or fire on the cover, the final book in a series, or the first book in a series.

◄ March Madness is the college basketball tournament performed each Spring in the US. Read a book featuring a sports team or someone who plays a sport.

◄ March 2nd is Old Stuff Day. This is a day to try something new, break out of your routine, make a change! Read a book from a new genre or author. Break out of your reading rut!

◄ March 9th is Panic Day. Rather than freak out, read a book that calms you down! Alternatively, read a book that raises your blood pressure and makes you uncomfortable.

◄ March 12th is Girl Scout Day. Read a book with cookies in the title or on the cover, or read a book about a group of girls or a where a character does community service.

◄ March 14th is Pi Day, a day that celebrates Pi, the number that never ends. It’s often abbreviated to 3.14. This year is ultimate Pi Day because the first 5 numbers of Pi are 3.1415 which corresponds to this date. It’s also Albert Einstein’s birthday. Read a book with an average rating of 3.14 or higher, a book that was published in March of 2014 or a book featuring a mathematician or bakery.

I Don't Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star -- Judy Greer

◄ March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day. Read a book written by an author named Patrick (first or last name) or with Patrick as the main character (Pat is acceptable). Alternatively, read a book where the main cover color is green or has alcohol on it.

◄ March 20th is the first day of Spring in the United States. Spring represents ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection and regrowth. Read a book where the main character undergoes a transformation of some kind or gives birth to something (a person, a new idea, a business).

A Single Man -- Christopher Isherwood

◄ March 29th is National Smoke and Mirrors Day. Read a book where something isn’t as it seems or where the main character is hiding something.

The Professor of Desire -- Philip Roth