Pick-a-Shelf discussion

Our thread for Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. We are reading this in Januari for the shelf of the month time-travel

Everyone is free to join!

Participants: Dee (audio), LynnB, Meg (audio) and Lusie (audio)

Reading schedule:
157 chapters in total

Lusie wrote: "Reading schedule:
- will follow later"

Thanks for taking the scheduling on, Lusie!

Thanks Lusie. I'm a bit daunted by the length of this so it will be great to have some reading company

sign me up - i'll be doing the audiobook - so can we put out the schedule by chapters ;)

I don't have the book yet, so I can't make a schedule yet. I'm thinking of doing the audio book as well.

That's great you will join too, Dee

There's 157 chapters, so you could aim for about 40 per week if you want to spread it over 4 weeks. Mine will be due back to the library on the 15th though, so I'll be trying to get it done in two weeks.

If I do the audiobook then I won't be able to keep up with the schedule, but that's okay if everyone uses spoilers for comments about the book

I'll probably start halfway the month as well

Meg wrote: "There's 157 chapters, so you could aim for about 40 per week if you want to spread it over 4 weeks. Mine will be due back to the library on the 15th though, so I'll be trying to get it done in two ..."

Mine is due at the library Jan. 10, so I'll be on a shorter schedule, too. I figure I'll take notes of comments I have and post them appropriately as the assigned section comes up.

I just looked back at my ratings for the rest of the series
Book 1 - 5 stars
Books 2-4 - 4 stars
Book 5 - 3 stars
Books 6-8 - 2 stars
Not a promising trend!

I'm not sure if the books have really grown worse, or if it's me that's changed. I know i used to love romance and now i don't, so that's probably a big part of it. I also found the Scottish history and setting more interesting than the American

i think they also went more straight historical fiction than true romance...they are long-lasting romance, but not a romance book (if that makes sense)

That's not a good trend, Meg! Mine went from 5 to 4 stars, so still good :D

Yes that does make sense Dee

I started reading it (just to page 10 so far 🙂). I see the rest of you are on audiobooks whereas I am reading a physical book. I'll be reading at a different pace, so I'll hold off on comments until I see you're at the same place.

I haven't read this series since the last book came out, so I need a bit of a refresher, but she has done that simply so far by gentle reminders like having Claire run her hand across Mandy's surgical scar and by having Jamie and Brianna look at the house taking shape. It brings back what happened in the previous story. So far, so good ....

You can use spoilers if you want to hide your comments.
I'd need a little refresher as well.

I've started too. It very much picks up where the last book left off. I feel like the last few have all blurred together into one very long story

I'm up to chapter 48, but no spoilers.
Can someone clear this up for me... The independence war is on right? Or is it still about to start? It seems weird to me how everyone seems to be just going on about business as usual. And the Frasers are on a different side of the war to lord John, yet they are still in regular communication and friendly?

Meg wrote: "I'm up to chapter 48, but no spoilers.
Can someone clear this up for me... The independence war is on right? Or is it still about to start? It seems weird to me how everyone seems to be just going ..."

The Revolutionary War was 1776 - 1783, last battle was of Yorktown. "Go Tell the Bees..." starts in 1779. The communications with Lord John are rare and always seem to involve the complicated family relationships.

(I'm on chapter 65.)

Any suggestions for a reading schedule?

Thanks for explaining the time frame! Good to know which war it is

for a lot of places unless there was a battle close by it was just life as normal - its kind of weird

On one hand, I am enjoying the story but I have to say it's slow. I'm being distracted by lots of minor things. I have been known to read a 1,000+ page book in just over a day when it's been an excellent story. Here I am on day #5, starting at page 493. That says something. Although the story is moving forward and the author has merged the review into the current story pretty well, nothing too new or exciting has happened. It's just a slower read, I guess.

I agree Lynn, it's very slow. It doesn't really feel like it's getting to a point, it's just plodding along continuing to tell every detail of the characters lives.

so a re-hash of fiery cross...i mean heck, the clan thing went on for like 300 pages it felt like

I finished the book today. I did like it and gave it 4 stars, BUT it was really a 3.5 star for me. The last 1/3 of the book does move the story forward (view spoiler)[ and she does leave you hanging on the story line, so I assume there will be a 10th book (hide spoiler)].

UPDATE: On further consideration, I changed my rating to 3 stars.

I'm glad to hear it picks up!
I've just passed halfway and it's due back in 6 days. I'm going to need to pick up the pace

LynnB, you were so fast!

Meg, what do you think of the narration so far?

I haven't started yet, and since I am doing the audiobook I probably won't finish in a month

The narration is ok. There's a lot of different accents though, which i don't think she does too well. But i think that's the case with most narrators trying to do accents
I'm mostly listening at 1.5x

I'm finding there's some parts i get drawn into, like ian and Rachel's visit to new York, or Claire delivering a baby. But then those bits end and it's back to the long boring parts. It doesn't feel like it's progressing overall.

I'm done! You can see my review in the monthly shelf thread.

You were fast, Meg! Oh no, only 2 stars!

Lusie wrote: "You were fast, Meg! Oh no, only 2 stars!"

Lol, it didn't feel fast!