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

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

I'll ask ;)

HOLIDAY CHALLENGE UPDATE

DECEMBER 16
Read a book with Christmas decorations/lights on the cover (10 pts)

Tima happened to be reading a book already that works for the tarot card goal!

Book: Everything I Never Told You
Author: Celeste Ng
Pages: 292
Date Finished: 12/15/15
BOM: Yes
Participation: Yes
DQs: No
Goal: No

Book: American Gods
Author: Neil GaimanVirginia Woolf
Pages: 656
Date Finished: 12/15/15
BOM: Yes
Participation: Yes
DQs: No (Erin substituted)
Goal: No

Book: A Room of One's Own
Author: Virginia Woolf
Pages: 112
Date Finished: 12/16/16
Goal: No

GOAL UPDATE

1. Read a book where the edition you are reading was published on the 4th of a month -- Burn (Megan)

2. Read a book where the edition you are reading was published on the 25th of a month -- Caged Warrior (Natalie)

3. Read a book that is not part of a series -- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (Farhad)

4. Read a book whose author has more than 2 pen names -- The Graveyard Book (Corey)

5. Read a book shelved (listed on the first page of the "top shelves" of the book) as 3-star - plurals and minor spelling variations are acceptable -- Control (Megan)

6. Read a book first published in September -- The Aeronaut's Windlass (Farhad)

7. Read a book where someone suffers from a mental illness -- Everything I Never Told You (Karen)

8. Read a book shelved (listed on the first page of the "top shelves" of the book) as 2011 - plurals and minor spelling variations are acceptable -- Magic Slays (Erin)

NEW GOAL
Read a book where the title starts with the letter Z

***Will this Z title goal be the one we boon??? Who even knows anymore...gotta wait until Friday!

My queen :)

I'm sorry guys I can't finish my green cover book. I hate it so much and I have FIVE hours left now. I can't. I'm like genuinely insulted by the narrator and how he reads 1. women and 2. southerners.

DONE.

Now back to my dear, sweet Virginia Woolf.

HOLIDAY CHALLENGE UPDATE

Erin fulfilled our "fireplace on the cover" goal with Stamped Out!!!

We still have a few more goals unclaimed!!!

1. Dec 2, COOKIES (cover) -- Karen is currently working on this one

2. Dec 5, GREEN (cover) -- I'm working on this but I still have 6 hrs left of the audiobook and I'm hating every second of it...

3. Dec 10, FIRST PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER -- OPEN

4. Dec 12, ELVES, REINDEER, or SLEIGH (cover or title) -- OPEN

5. Dec 13, "NAUGHTY" or "NICE" (title) -- OPEN

6. Dec 14, SNOWFLAKES or SNOW FALLING (cover or title) -- Karen you are still willing to do this one right?

7. Dec 15, RELIGIOUS THEME -- I am working on this one and enjoying my book tremendously :)

***PLEASE let me know if you are willing to take on any of the open holiday goals!!!

Erin (Paperbackstash) wrote: "Book: Stamped Out
Author: Terri Thayer
Pages: 263
Date Finished: 12/16/2015
Goals: Christmas: Shows a fireplace on the cover

"

HURRAY!!!

It is so strange how different everyone's updates are...

I'm giving it until Friday, seeing which ones we have left (in case some are fulfilled the next couple days) and then callin' it!

At this point though it's the 80's! Wasn't Nathan the Class of '81??? I agree with you guys, are these people living under rocks??? My dad was a Mexican immigrant raising an interracial family in Southern California (which, yes, is very different from Ohio) but we never experienced these intense stereotypes.

Discussion Questions
DAY 4 Chapters 7-8 Pages 158-216

25. Nath and Lydia seem to be very close up until a bit before her death. How much of the fact that Nath was going off to college do you think impacted what happened to Lydia?

Eeeeeh I don't know if I would say "impacted what happened to Lydia" as that implies fault, however slight. I think Nathan HAD to get out of that house. He was miserable at home, he had high hopes for himself (the hopes his mother SHOULD have had in him, but had in Lydia instead), and he had to break free from that toxic environment. As far as how that affected Lydia...a person cannot place their sole source of happiness on another person. It is not fair to either party, as one of them is inevitably bound to be disappointed. If ever there was a moral in this soul-sucking novel, it is COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.

26. I've often joked when our eldest does something ridiculous that "Oh well, this one's ruined, we'll try again with the next." However, the Lee's seem to have actually taken that to heart. Why do you think it was Lydia that they focused on?

First of all, that is hilarious, and my parents said the same thing with me (the baby) and all of my older siblings. Honestly, I have been asking that question since the beginning and I still don't really get it!!! It HAS to be largely in part to her being a female, at least for the mother (who's name I've already forgotten because I've blocked her out of my memory). As for James, I've said before that he places all of his self-loathing and blame and embarrassment and societal pressures on Nathan. And as always, Hannah is forgotten by, well, everyone including the reader.

27. Do you think Lydia mentioned she was failing at physics just to put attention back on herself? Does she hate and crave the attention?

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES. Wow. I am so glad you pointed that out. At that moment I was just like, "Oh my God. You're ALL selfish! None of you can go five minutes without stealing attention!" Poor Nathan, man...

28. The affair has been found out! Or at least very strongly confirmed. What do you think the fallout will be?

In a perfect world, she (the wife who's name I forget) will have some gumption and be like DEUCES! and they will get divorced because some people just shouldn't be married. But, like I said, that's in my perfect world...

29. Thoughts on Jack? Thoughts on what really happened?

(view spoiler)[Jack's gay and in love with Nathan. Duh. Predictable once again. (hide spoiler)] I think the poor kid was in the wrong place at the wrong time and should have never gotten mixed up with this dysfunctional disaster of a family.

Thanks Megan :)

HOLIDAY CHALLENGE UPDATE

Karen completed "Read a book with the word 'Cornucopia' in the text" with her book The Heart Goes Last!!!!!

DECEMBER 15
Read a book that has a religious theme (10 pts)

***I have sooooo many books that I can read for this goal if nobody else gets to it first.

I'm just getting annoyed. Even when Ng ATTEMPTS to throw in a twist at the end of chapter 8/beginning of chapter 9 I'm just like...predictable. I had my suspicions.

Now it feels like the "story" (or insufferable droning) is dragging on...I'm with Karen on this one, simply trying to power through because I only have two and a half hours left in the audiobook.

We keep lucking out!!!!

GOAL UPDATE

1. Read a book shelved (listed on the first page of the "top shelves" of the book) as trilogy - plurals and minor spelling variations are acceptable -- Illuminae (Natalie)

2. Read a book with the phrase "In the heat of the moment" in a book -- Eva's Eye (Karen)

NEW GOAL
Read a book where tarot cards are used

***I think this might be our new boon goal. This one is VERY difficult to fulfill.

Karen Michele wrote: "Book:
The Heart Goes Last
Author: Margaret Atwood
Pages: 308
Date Finished: December 15, 2015
Goals: 25 Days / Co..."

awesome!!!

I have a 2-in-1 tablet/laptop thing with Firefox and I'm living for this new update.....