Jax’s Comments (group member since Sep 23, 2012)

Jax’s comments from the SA Book & Challenge Lovers group.

Crusader wrote: "Just a reminder for everyone to update their information as the end of the quarter is approaching fast. Results for the 2nd quarter will be calculated by 9 July."

Eek! Thanks for the reminder!!

Crusader wrote: "The results for the 1st Quarter are in:
Wayne 3695
Bibliogothica 2802
Crusader 2172"

Oh man! I'm going to need to set myself reminders this year!
I completely forgot to update! *facepalm*

I feel only slightly better, because it looks like Bibliogothica did too...

I am at a total loss for inspiration at the moment, so I'm going to go ahead and sort of copy Crusader...

Read at least 50 Books

Read at least 15 previously unread books on my physical shelf

Read at least 10 New-to-me Authors

Read 25 000 pages

Quarter 1: Jan - March 2021: 2672
The Way of Shadows - 645
The Eye of the World - 832
The Great Hunt - 707
The Iron Fin - 520

Quarter 2: April - June 2021: 2916
The Dragon Reborn - 699
The Shadow Rising - 1031
Guns of the Dawn - 658
Heir to the Shadows - 528

Quarter 3: Jul - Sept 2021: Total

Quarter 4: Oct - Dec 2021: Total

Grand total for 2021:

2021 Total: 18

1 Point [6]


2 Points [6]


3 Points [6]

4 Points

Crusader wrote: As long as the audio book is the unabridged version of the book I don't see why it shouldn't count..."

Whoot! :p

Question...

Would audiobooks count in this challenge?

Technically you're not reading the pages yourself, but you are listening to someone else read a version of the book...
So if say, the mass market or paperback version of the book was over 500 pages, but you listened to the audiobook - would it count?

My reading A.D.D decided to make an appearance...

so instead of continuing with Ms. Chance as stated above,
I ended up picking up

by Christelle Dabos while waiting for Bibliogothica to catch up in Mindstar Rising...

It's originally written in French, and translated into English.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style! Not entirely sure who to give credit to for that, but I enjoyed it enough that I scoured the internet and found an audio edition of the second book on Spotify!


Sadly, I'll have to wait until September for the third books translation, The Memory of Babel to be released

Optimistically... my spot :)

Should it go in the Challenges thread?

Yes, I think so.
Then anyone wanting to join, can just update a single comment with any new tasks completed (like we do for the Epic & A-Z challenges)?

did you see the O.W.Ls started again?
We did!!
I haven't looked it over yet - I dunno if my current reading progress will have me passing anything! :/

Ooh!

I think we should create a topic for this! :)

I'll definitely try to do this.

Oh Nice!!

Thanks :)

Book Barbarian wrote: "I had some minor issues with it, you can see my review if you want..."

Oh dear...
See, this is why I was waiting...
I've read a couple other reviews which point out other aspects of the writing as well, which makes me less certain about grabbing this asap.

I am an extremely pinickity reader...
(I'm one of those readers that gets annoyed when I have to read about the origin of every character in the book - while reading the fifth book in the series - I KNOW already!!)

So, the chances are pretty high that I'll be mildly annoyed if her characters are too similar to others that I may have liked before.

I have read her ACOTAR series, "Mist of Fury" was my favorite. I had a few issues with 'Wings & Ruin', especially with some of the inconsistencies that came up toward the end of the book.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see... (it's not like I don't have a towering TBR to keep me busy in the meantime.) :D


Speaking of which -
I'm starting a little early.

2 years & 4 months late...

but, yes.

I'm practically clueless when it comes to the Slavic mythology & folklore, (something I want to improve) so I have no idea how much 'poetic' licence the author took on that - but I quite enjoyed the story.

I would have liked it even more had there been... well... more.
There were a couple of places where I wanted a little more detail or more explanation.

But overall, it was interesting and entertaining. :)

I didn't manage to read this during the BotM,
but got round to it later with GothiGeek & Bibiogothica.

It wasn't bad... it just wasn't that good either.
With all the hype around Bardugo's writing, I was expecting more.
The story wasn't bad, and the premise is actually kind of interesting - but like a lot of the YA's coming out, everything has been so watered down it's practically translucent.
The plot was really predictable, the minimal cast of characters could have been less flat and stereotypical and I'm not going to go into all the weird inconsistencies unless someone specifically asks.

I made is about halfway through the second book, Siege and Storm, and DNF.

Book Barbarian wrote: "I just finished reading House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas"

Oh Nice!
We'll be waiting a bit to get this one in paperback.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it - I'm waiting to hear a few more reviews, as it seems that Maas has thrown a whole mix of mythologies into it - hoping to find out more on that before adding it to my TBR.
(If the writing style is similar to her Throne of Glass series - there's a good chance it'll get added.)

Gordon wrote: "I wish I still had that many left to read"

You should give "The Iron Druid" series by Kevin Hearne a try.
My hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed them. (although, I have yet to complete the series...)

Will do! ;)

Wow, it's been a while since we used this thread too!

Anyhoo - Bibliogothica and I are going to start the Greg Mandel series by Peter F. Hamilton in April, if anyone would like to join us?

I figured I’d repurpose this thread a little, as it hasn’t been used in a while…
(hopefully no one minds too much)

After chatting to Crusader earlier (Over Here), it got me thinking about how our household buy books; what attracts us to a book, and what criteria settles the decision to take it home with us?
(Of course, that led to a discussion of what sort of things make us either love or dislike a book…)

We all know the ol’ “don’t judge a book by its cover” adage; as it turns out, I am 100% guilty of that!
While I totally agree that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you have to concede that the cover is usually what gets you to pick the book up in the first place.
This is especially true in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre!! A lot of the older book covers are just plain awful!

However, a pretty cover isn’t enough to get me to take it home with me.

Next up is the synopsis – and I’ll be honest, I don’t think the big publishers put nearly enough consideration into this anymore. If the synopsis doesn’t speak to me, odds are – it’s going back on the shelf (in some cases, I may add it to my list of books to look into once I get home – because of the data restriction policy a lot of stores (not just bookstores!) have).

Of course, the price is also a consideration, especially if it’s a new series or author (by this I mean new to me, not necessarily new releases or debut authors.)
If the book is priced over R120 it automatically goes back on the shelf and/or gets added into the “research further” category; and let’s face it, these days – that’s just about everything!
But considering the number of disappointments I’ve had over the last two years, I’m no longer willing to take the chance without considerable research; and those disappointments have definitely had an impact on my buying habits.

I’ve both heard and read many online accounts of how a book sounded “right up my alley” only for the reader to be somewhat disappointed when it turned out that the write up didn’t accurately portray the book at all! Add to the fact that the new gimmick of sticking “the new [insert known author here]” on the cover, or my personal pet peeve “For fans of…”
I don’t mind if a book vaguely reminds me of another book I’ve read…
But if the publisher has slapped that idea right on the front cover, then how am I supposed to give >THIS< book a fair chance without jumping in with pre-conceived expectations?

I’ll end my lengthy post with this;
More bookstores need coffee shops attached.
Our last adventure to a warehouse sale, we had a considerable “maybe” pile, all of which checked all of the above boxes.
So, we ordered some coffees, sat down at a table and started whittling the pile down.

What sort of things do you guys look at when considering a new book purchase?