danielle’s Comments (group member since Jul 30, 2025)

danielle’s comments from the Hooked on Books group.

Amanda wrote: "Danielle, I'm gonna try to join you on actually, if I have the time. It's not my typical type of read but the ratings are really good, so I'll give it a try :)"

yeah!! ... for the record, it's totally not my normal jam either. But a few friends recommended it to me. And I can use it in impossible/tarot too next month! (originally self-published, in case you're doing that challenge).

Beth wrote: "The spreadsheet performance was terrible today for BL, too. I think it's just server load, complex SSs, etc as Danielle said. That's a pretty complex SS with all the formulas, permissions, etc, and..."

This is exactly why, I make sure to go back in it just to make sure it saved the edits I did... since a few times it had not.

Dede wrote: "I think I am picking BRONZE.. I already had one on my TBR for that one!"

I'm thinking it'll mean a battle of some sort for the other 2!

But... seriously, since I assumed statue wouldn't get picked, I found one on my TBR. I'll start it tomorrow.

Amanda wrote: "I think we can be creative/metaphorical with them too like for example for barrenness, it could be the land, or it could also be used for infertility, or even if something is empty, like an empty c..."

Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah... that might work! Just need a little wordsmithing magic!

It might also depend on who does what books. We have different BPMs. So some people won't be doing all 10 + 1 tasks.

This one will be an interesting one for bonus. But, I'd like to try!

edit: My comment was not complaining about BPMs, but I see how it might look like that. I just meant if we pick a theme/motif/word specific to one of the prompts, we might run into the issue that not everyone will be able to use it.

~Melissa~ wrote: "Hmmm - I probably should've read more of the blurb. I just saw that it was ku and ku audio.
Starts out with MC's in high school. Not my favorite. Not a huge YA fan. Anyway. typical high school stu..."

I didn't read your spoilers yet. I checked and the book does not say YA... so maybe that's just all the set up for the story?

So... still want to let Dede pick first?

Ok... I'm getting some interesting options when I throw all of my books, AND Elizabeth's books into the mix and ask a couple of AI engines. Might be something we can work with. But, I think we might need to know books from all 5 people maybe? And I'm thinking we might not know that until after January starts.

Hopefully our months afterwards will give us a little more time to group plan (once the holidays are over).

I stripped out the specific books for now... but here's what it came up with. If we drill down to specific words, then maybe we would have better results this time?

Shared Themes & Motifs
-Environmental Survival & Resourcefulness: This is the strongest link between the two lists./Survival and Resilience
-Winter and Harsh Cold: A recurring atmospheric motif that signifies danger or isolation./Nature
-Journey and Exploration
and a few others...

When it guessed at Specific Shared Words - "World", "Winter". But I'm wondering if something more like "fire", as suggested, might be a better one to work with for January?

I said I would park myself somewhere and do book stuff. Well, I parked myself on a recliner and then promptly fell asleep! LOL

Elizabeth wrote: "I wish I'd known about talpa months ago LOL it would've come in handy!"

Right? I saw it mentioned somewhere while playing bookopoly. Came in handy frequently!

Amanda wrote: "Oh also I found these two really cool websites yesterday as I was trying to find books that match the themes:

https://www.whichbook.net/
- this one is really cool because you can use sliders fo..."

Ooo… I will have to check these out. Thanks!!!

I have used the 3rd one. I have it bookmarked under a folder named “book tools”, alongside other things like tineye!

ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) wrote: "Re: Spreadsheet - what is the Archive Log cell for? (Tried to find answers in all the information but could not find anything)

Made me think of Captain's log on Star Trek, hehe."

I’m curious too! I sort of assumed it was our “justification” field, but more in time travel ship & crew speak! But maybe I took it too far…

Elizabeth wrote: "Luckily some tasks between the two go together a bit!"

Yes! I was able to slot some of the same books in both!!

Amanda wrote: "🔍 Thematic Treasure Hunt
As a team, compile a mini-catalog of shared themes/motifs found across your individual reads: fire, moons, wings, mirrors, rebirth, keys — whatever pops up. Include quotes ..."

I’m going to try to work on this tonight to see what my list might be for the books I have slated. I do currently have all 11 books picked. I can always change my mind, but I’ll start with this set and see if anything useful comes up.

I’ve got some pain issues today so I need to just park myself somewhere for a while. Sounds like a perfect excuse to sit in front of the laptop for a good long while and ignore house stuff! 🤣

Elizabeth wrote: "I've barely looked at Tarot. I'm gonna be in trouble 🤣"

Most of those tasks have been out a while. But she published the 2 bonus ones (1st quarter & monthly one) yesterday too!

Yes! I think June? … I’m doing a bunch of those FBRs for the tarot game. Will try to use them here if the timing & tasks work out!

Elizabeth wrote: "it's on my tbr! I haven't read anything all the way except Carrie. I started Pet Semetary a couple years ago too. They're a lot just because of the length but I'd love to get through some of them. ..."

I did a big SK challenge in late 2023. Since then I’ve done a lot of his books. Not quite done with all of them yet!

Amanda wrote: "Firestarter will also work for the black cover bonus"

Not if you do the audiobook.

Amanda wrote: "oh also for the fire one :)"

This one is on my TBR. If it’s still up for a BR after Jan, I’ll probably be in. My fire book is way too many pages for me to swap it out. And I need to do that one in Jan.

Amanda wrote: "so for example, if we choose rebirth as a theme then we each try to find things in our book that aligns with some type of rebirth - literally or metaphorical?"

Right… so ONE list for all the books that month. And all 5 of us would have to find at least 1 book to hit it in order to take that bonus.

Does that sound right?