Sophie’s Comments (group member since Apr 28, 2013)

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

400m of bunting!? Hope you have a good audiobook ready!

Having made the save the dates and invites, we used a printer for the orders of service - hit our limit on what we wanted to do ourselves.

How long until the wedding now?

DQs Day 1, Chapters 1 - 6

1. As someone who grew up with the Pern books, I love diving back into a world with dragons and dragon riders. And this one has extra bonus Gryphons, apparently!
Do you have any first impressions of the main characters (Violet, Dain, Rhiannon, Xader) and the world building? Do you want to know more?

I read my first Pern book recently. Was interesting to see what had started some of the genre.

Dain, urgh - already comes across as overprotective and slimy - the good guy who is going to get his knickers in a twist about being in the friend zone. Xaden is the more obvious love interest to my mind - bad boy with a hidden core of gold. Violet is more interesting than I thought she'd be - has certainly got a spine.

2. What do you think of Violet’s mother and sister? Any idea about why her mother chose to order her to the Rider Quadrant instead of the Scribe Quadrant?

Because otherwise there wouldn't be much of a story...

3. The brutality of the selection process and the casual acceptance of murder is something else. What do you think the purpose of it is? (If there is one beyond societal norms.)
Would you have given your boot to a stranger?

Not sure. But that generosity of spirit will continue through the story and give her the edge at moments she needs it.
As for the brutal murders etc, I've got to the point of accepting that fictional worlds have got more and more brutal with secondary and bit part characters - I don't think it is necessary but seems to be what publishers think readers are looking for to create drama.

4. So this is a world at war, but at the battle briefings at least, they don’t seem to know why the outer provinces are currently attacking the borders. Any ideas about why this is happening?

I've finished the book so keeping quiet.

5. Do you think that Violet will survive and get chosen by a dragon? If so, any predictions on what kind?
I mean, the norms of the genre say that she will get a super special dragon to show how super special she is as a person and how she has overcome her physical issues.

We'll stop causing more chaos with team challenges in a couple of weeks which will make August a little easier hopefully.

And the wedding prep stuff is time consuming, but if it's like mine was I found it exciting because it was for something I was looking forward to. My husband spent a lot of time making origami hearts while sat on conference calls.

DQs Day 5 - Wimbledon 1995 & The 1995 US Open

18. Nature vs nurture. Carrie has her issues with tennis, but her real struggle is with relationships. How much of that do you think is due to who Carrie is innately as a person and how she was raised?

I think it's a combination. How she was bought up has definitely not helped her relationships.

19. I don’t know much about tennis, but I found myself really enjoying the matches as they are described. I got so pumped up while Carrie was playing! Did you find all the tennis terms, both during and after matches, to be a hinderance or did you enjoy getting immersed in the sport through Carrie’s eyes?

I enjoy watching tennis especially wimbledon so didn't find them a hinderance at all. I thought there was a good balance between including the matches but not getting too bogged down in the technical details. But TJR obviously knew enough for errors not to ruin the flow of the story.


20. Carrie Soto, the star of our novel, has been seen previously in a TJR novel where she was a minor character. TJR seems to enjoy connecting her books which makes me wonder… could her next book be about one of the minor characters we’ve come across in Carrie Soto is Back? And, if so, who do you think it would be?

I like the idea of Gwen being the focus that someone else mentioned.


21. ”But right now, in this moment, I love this drugstore cologne more than I love the smell of Wimbledon grass or California oranges or the rubber of a freshly popped can of tennis balls. This drugstore cologne is my home.”

I really loved this quote and it made me start thinking about some of my favorite smells. What are some scents that you love? What scent would be your home?

Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies are high on my list.


22. And, finally, how did you like this book? What was your rating? Would you consider reading more from this author if you haven't already?

It was 5* from me. Gave me a welcome escape from the world for a few hours.

I don't know how you are keeping on top of work, wedding prep and all the reading/reviewing you have going on at the moment.

Excellent - that just leaves us with your Elf book (Graceland) to finish that wheel off.

DQs Day 2 - The Comeback (40%)

5. Welcome back sports fans! If any of you have read other Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels, you know she loves looking back at interesting eras in time. The Golden Age of Hollywood! 70s rock and roll excess! Why do you think TJR chose to focus on 90s sports for this novel? Do you think it was only to bring Carrie back or do you think there was something special about sports during that time?

Nothing I've read from her has been in the modern day which allows for a nostalgic feel to the books. I think it was the era prior to the Williams sisters so allowed her to not have to compete with that era where the historical inaccuracies might have annoyed readers more.

6. In this section we are introduced to Bowe. What do you think about him? Do you think he is a good match for Carrie (in sports or romantically)?

I think it's interesting that they've chosen a male player. Top female players have acknowledged that they couldn't hold their own in singles matches against men so this feels unrealistic as a training partner.

7. In this section, there is a letter from the editor entitled "Why I'm Thankful for Carrie Soto" in which the author, Helene, says that Carrie was inspiring to her as a child. Do you find inspiration in any sports legends past or present? If so, who and why?

I mean, a lot of them are inspirational in terms of the effort they put in. Andy Murray has impressed me with his reminders to the press of the achievements of female tennis players. Marcus Rashford has been very vocal on the issues of child poverty. However a lot of sports people leave a lot to be desired in how they handle their personal lives.

8. Up next is the Australian Open! Any predictions on what is going to happen in the next section of the book? Also how are you enjoying the book so far?

I really enjoyed the book. I thought that she was going to get a rude awakening to how off form she actually is.

Despite reading this roughly on schedule, all the questions and answers are coming now.

DQs Day 1 - Chan v Cortez & The First Time Around (26%)

1. The most popular releases by Taylor Jenkins Reid have been BOMs in this group before (Daisy Jones & The Six in 2019, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in 2021, and Malibu Rising last year). Have you read any of these books (or others) by TJR too or is Carrie Soto is Back your first book by the author? What are your expectations going in?

I've read those 3 but none of her others. Think I might need to go hunting. I always find them fun relaxing reads.

2. After the first chapter is set in 1994 and Carrie Soto decides to get back into the sport to get her record title back the next few chapters follow her early years up until she felt like she had to retire because of her knee injury (and because she felt humiliated lbr) somewhat 30 years later. Her dad always wanted her to be the greatest whereas her mother just wanted her to be kind and happy. It doesn't seem like Carrie is either at this point in her life, also not the greatest anymore. How do you feel about her as a character so far? What do you think (sort of) being forced into retirement by her own body has done to her, mentally and physically; do you think she's changed at all in the last 5 years?

She's definitely driven by her father's message that she can be the greatest.


3. What we've learned about Carrie's childhood and teenage years has quickly started to remind me of 'King Richard' the movie about the Williams sisters' life and I'm seeing a lot of similarities between Carrie's dad Javier and the Williams' (movie) dad (as I'm sure is often the case when athletes' parents are involved in their kids' sports careers/futures).
Javier seemed to have good intentions and only ever wanted what (he at least thought) was best for his daughter, but they grew apart after going separate ways in 1979. As we know, they've found their way back together (does this sound weird seeing they're father and daughter??), but things definitely changed between them. How do you feel about Javier and about his and Carrie's relationship growing up vs now?

I like that they've found a balance outside sport after that has been such a major part of their lives until this point.

4. It seems like Carrie doesn't believe in love (or actually of being worthy of being loved imo). She's been having flings/ONS left and right apparently, and appearing in tabloids with random guys regularly. The one time she let herself finally believe this could be IT for the long run was with Brandon Randall (who some of us already knew from Malibu Rising) who was cheating on his then wife with her. No surprise he left her for (yet) another woman, but were you surprised Carrie took him back after he wanted to go back to his ex-wife and she rejected him? Do you think losing her mother at such a young age and only ever having her dad as a single parent in her life has influenced how she views love, relationships and generally a deeper bond with other people?

I think she views people as competition and hasn't yet learnt to let anyone in on a personal level.

Sara wrote: "I have been in a massive reading rut. I'm going to try and finish my last few books for this month in the next ten days (got like five books that are on my must finish this month shelf). I'm keepin..."

Good luck digging yourself out. Thanks for keeping an eye on things for us too.

Trinia wrote: "My current read Inspector Hobbes and the Curse is currently in the Tower for an I, but it has an elephant in the story. Can we use both? Or put wherever is priority.
I'll have anot..."

I'll probably move it for elephant. Any way you can link it to a cat or librarians?

ETA there's cat's eyes on the cover so that's sorted. Did you get it from the library by any chance?

Steven wrote: "Sophie wrote: "I'm very happy with that justification.

Currently searching through my ridiculously long series lists in search of an 11 that I'm either happy to re-read, skip a few to read or that..."

Urgh that's probably pushing you into a slump as well. Somehow the feeling of obligation can ruin the fun of books you wanted to read.

I'm very happy with that justification.

Currently searching through my ridiculously long series lists in search of an 11 that I'm either happy to re-read, skip a few to read or that (and this seems increasingly unlikely) I actually have number 11 to read next.

We have 2 new chipmunk tasks:

10 Things the Chipmunks Love - Defenestration! - Read a book you can connect to defenestration somehow (find it in the text, set in Prague etc)
X-Files - Read a book that is 11th in a series


Defenestration means to throw someone out of a window for those of you who haven't come across it before.

Oh that sounds like an excellent way to spend time! If you make posts that's absolutely fine and I'm sure one of us will be able to add them.

With a little rearrangement I covered the BODMAS task so now we have:

"10 Commandments - ""Don't covet"" - Read a book that you've been really wanting to read (any justification valid here, really!)"

If you can give me a reason (any reason) to use something that is already on the SS for the spell outs since the start of June, we can cover this.



The shuffle means we are looking for a book read in July with a princess type character and a rogue character.

Just over 10 days to go!

100-200p 8
200-300 15
400-500 18
500-600 6
600+ 6
Free choice 58


Chipmunks - 10 more to reveal!

Currently unclaimed are:
Ten Tallest Towers 1 - Burj Khalifa - Read a book set in, or by an author from United Arab Emirates
X-Men - Read a book with the word Storm in the title
X Books - Read a book where the author name starts with X
Solve for X - Read a book with the letters BODMAS in the title


Wheels:
1. Humanoid robot/android

2. Read a book you can connect to an elephant
Read a book you can connect to elves
Read a book you can connect to cats
Read a book you can connect to The Librarian (an orang-utan)


Spell outs

I
O
U still need lots of these

Lauri wrote: "Trinia wrote: "Finished Dune, FINALLY! Not sure I want to continue on that series , may just opt to watch the movie.
So that's one more for the Wheel"

Congratulations, Trinia!! Don..."

I read the first 2 but didn't love them so not carrying on. Too many other things I actually want to read.

Gem ~ZeroShelfControl~ wrote: "I completed the quidditch tasks so we have new tasks:
Read a book you can connect to an elephant
Read a book you can connect to elves
Read a book you can connect to cats
Read a book you can conne..."

If any of you are a GR librarian or a real life librarian, your books would count for the last task of this set.

Steven wrote: "I have so many I want to read and the ARCs piled up and just killing my reading mood… which is dumb because they are also books I want to read!! *sigh* but obligation makes it harder"

I've got a Netgalley account, but stopped requesting books a few years ago as I'd just feel guilty about not reading them in time.

That's a start at least.

Can you remember what had your name by it but you hadn't read? Hopefully someone else will claim it.