Suzanne’s Comments (group member since Dec 29, 2020)

Suzanne’s comments from the BYL Reading Challenge group.

This is of my last prompts and it’s taken me forever to find a book I actually want to finish. I’m reading All Thirteen. Stayed up way too late last night reading the first half. It’s middle grade and riveting and will check this darn box!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

I read The Overstory for this. It was a big book for me, so it took me awhile. But I loved it. I saw someplace that Keanu recommended it. 😍

I read The Island of the Sea Women for this. It’s not entirely under water, but I felt like enough of the story/plot was about an exceptional ability to stay in water or took place under water.

Wonderful book, but also just heart-shattering how hard life can be.

I read Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods by Cat Valente for this prompt. It came out in May and was a very rare pre-order for me. Really loved it. My kids wanted to give it 5-1/2 stars.

I re-read Anne of Green Gables for this. Just feels like an old friend.

It feels like a bit of a cheat, but I'm thinking about using The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo for this. I'm currently reading it to my 8 y.o. I generally hate anything circus/carnival, so this may be the best I can do. A magic show is carnival-adjacent, right? And a captive elephant is definitely circus-adjacent.

Since I rarely hear anything about this one, I'll share that we're really liking it, and it is, of course, dark AF. It's literally dark, and cold, and people are hungry, and the parents are all dead.

I'm going to read Hatchet for this... it's a book I feel like I should have read but haven't.

I think I'll use The Hobbit for this. My kids scoffed when I said that, but I see it's on your list of suggestions! It'll be a re-read, but we're going to finish out the year with the BYL unit study.

Song of Achilles has been on my TBR for too long. I'm using it for this prompt!

Karen wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "Does anyone have a (non-WWII) book set in Italy to recommend?"

A few years ago my book club read My Italian Bulldozer and I remember liking it!"

Karen - As I try desperately to check off the final boxes before the end of the year, I looped back to this recommendation. It is the perfect light and fast read for this moment, when I have Covid AND too many remaining prompts. Thank you! I don't think I ever would have come across it without your recommendation!

I read A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists, which has a map as the cover and also has maps figure prominently in the story. It was a pretty strange post-apocalyptic thing set in Australia, and too slim (in my opinion) for what it was trying to do, but an interesting read!

Does anyone have a (non-WWII) book set in Italy to recommend?

I read The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde for this one. It was an interesting idea, and written with classic Fforde absurdity-as-reality style, but it wasn’t a favorite of his for me.

I read this, which I discovered by searching Goodreads for “quest.” I’m so glad I did. It was fantastic. The audiobook is phenomenal. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

"This is the worst heist Gum Baby has ever been a part of."

I'm counting Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky for this one, since I have way too many portal fantasies.

I read The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec. I liked it a lot, and would have liked it even more if my brain didn't insist upon comparing it to the utterly marvelous Circe. This grew on me, though, and wow! It's a debut novel! I enjoyed having a different lens for myself while reading through D'Aulaires' Norse Myths with my 10 y.o.

I read Project Hail Mary. So, so good. Looking forward to watching the Arrrgh video now! 🤗

I’m reading Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I started it in order to read a book off my shelves, and then discovered it’s on Netflix. Boom. 🤗

I went with A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor and loved it! I feel like that series is Sci-Fi for people who don’t really get into Sci-Fi, and that’s perfect for me!

I fell short in 2021 with about 4-5 prompts unfinished. I am determined to get them all this year! I won’t leave so many hard/undecided ones until the end again!