Joshua’s Comments (group member since Dec 07, 2014)

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

12. Is Artemis a place you would want to visit as a tourist? Or live as a resident?
-Definitely a place to visit. I'd have to see how I like it once I got there. There aren't many places I wouldn't travel.

13. Weir loves to add in nerdy scientific detail. Some people love it, and others... well not so much. What are your thoughts?
-I enjoy it, but I am a chemist, and was somewhat schooled in biology and physics, so it's not entirely unfamiliar ground for me. Not sure how it would read for someone with less technical experience.

14. Some people have criticized this book, saying he wrote it more with a film adaptation in mind, rather than as a novel. Did you feel that way?
-Not until after I read this question, and then read the last ~3 chapters. Some of the action scenes here i could picture as a movie... Although thinking about that statement as I type, doesn't that just mean that it is well written if I can picture scenes from the story as such? I don't feel like this detracted from the book. As I mentioned previously, however, I did not read the Martian and so I cannot compare his style between the two books.

15. Did you like the ending? Was it a "page turner" for you?
-Page turner? Yes. The ending?

SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED


I'm not such a big fan when stories make characters make a dramatic sacrifice only to revive them like 3 pages later (or minutes later, if we're talking video). I feel like if Jazz either stayed dead, or the sacrifice was removed altogether, the ending would have been a bit stronger....



END SPOILERS

16. Would you recommend this book to others? Why/why not?
-Yeah, for sure. Not my favorite book of all time, but a good read. It kept me interested enough to keep reading, and I don't know if it's the book itself, or the fact that this is my first book of the month, but I found myself pondering the novel when I wasn't reading as well. Pretty engaging, and a pretty easy read if you can get over some of the technical jargon.

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7. Is it just my copy, or does everyone's edition have the messages between Kelvin and Jazz in different font styles (type faces and random bold)? I wonder if it means anything?
-Mine is both in bold and a slightly different font, it looks like.

8. For those that have read The Martian, is Jazz reminding you of Mark Watney? I feel like Weir has written the same character personality. I understand there is a different gender, ethnicity and job, but the actual core character seems very similar!
-N/A, although some quotes that I've read from Mark have me picturing him as very similar to Jazz.

9. Artemis only has 2000 residents. How did Jazz think she would go unnoticed? would you have taken on the challenge for a million slugs?
-I think that she probably understood the risk and took that into consideration, but she figured she had to give it a shot. As far as me? Probably not, though I'm not exactly currently smuggling goods either, so if someone offered me a million to do something on that level, I'd likely just laugh it off. Hard to put myself in that exact scenario, since it's one I'd avoid in the first place.

10. Oh. Interesting twist with the Administrator. Did you see it coming?
-Eh, not as such. I figured either she or Rudy had to be up to something, as the antagonist in a powerful position. It did not surprise me at all though.

11. Thoughts or hopes for how this will all end?
-It could go any number of directions. I feel like Jazz will try to screw over Ngugi somehow, though. I feel like Kelvin still has another role to play as well.

1. Have you read other books by Andy Weir? Why did you decide to read this BOM?
-Nope. I bought The Martian after hearing about it on NPR, but then got distracted by other books. Never saw the movie either. I'm wanting to start a local book/dinner club for friends and thought that I should start on here for some ideas at least. I've been in the group for a while, but finally starting this read with my sister.

2. What do you think of Jazz?
-As someone else said above, I thought she was male at first, and had/have a hard time pinpointing her age. Did it ever state how old she is? The only line I remember concerning this (aside from the letters) was something along the lines of "When I was 9...", so she's older than that, at least. In the first chapter in particular, I felt she was a bit impetuous, but as it goes on, it seems that that's at least sort of a front (acknowledging that she should have checked her suit better, but still arguing the fact). Overall, I think her character is interesting, and seemingly a strong female lead but still with her faults. I'm curious to see where her character goes.

3. Do you like Weir’s writing style? Can you visualize Artemis clearly?
-Overall, yes. I like the technical details. l find some of the observations humorous. I feel like I have a pretty good picture o Artemis. I did think that some of the self-reflective lines were a little bit awkward, but generally quite well done.

4. Are you enjoying the messages between Jazz and her pen pal Kelvin? Why do you think Weir put these in the book? Do you think they will ever meet?
-I think these are well done as the chapter end asides. I think that they are in the book to give some background to Jazz outside of the situations that she is currently in - her motivations and some more of her personality that may be hard to force into the main story. I do feel like they will meet up at some point (Actually, I meant to go back and check the name of the contact that allowed her to smuggle stuff in, though now that I type that, I recall that guy not having a personality at all like Kelvin, though I would not be surprised if they came to be related in a similar circumstance). Another circumstance I could see is that Kelvin met some sort of tragic end, and that exacerbated Jazz's adolescent behaviors in some way, thought that's pure conjecture.

5. Any guesses as to what ZAFO means?
ZAFO....
Z-Zoinks!
A-A
F-Freaky
O-Otter.
....No. I have no idea.

6. What a cliffhanger at the end of chapter 5! What do you think will happen to Jazz now? Will she be caught or find a way out of this situation?
-Gut feeling is that she gets captured and has to deal with the repercussions, or the tables turn and she gets involved with the aluminum factory/Rudy in some way. I wouldn't at all be surprised if she gets away with her plan, but it just seems to me like she gets caught.

Hello!
I've never posted in here before, but I intend to read Lonsesome Dove by Larry McMurty. I've never been a huge western fan, but it is my roommate's favorite book, so I want to get through it. I got probably a third of the way through the audiobook, but didn't listen for a long time and thought it'd be better to start over, so I got a print copy. I'm trying to finish the Lies of Locke Lamora first, which I will probably by this weekend..... Shoot for April 1st as a start date?

Already got a copy of this book. I'm excited to use it for my first group read with this group (and in general)!

Ah!

favorite food: sushi
live anywhere: Germany (munich?)
I know I'm a book addict: because I broke my roommates shelf under the weight of my books, and have experienced a "bookslide"

Hello! This is my first group on goodreads! I have been looking for a local book club for some time, but to no avail. I then remembered that I have the goodreads app, so here I am! unfortunately, I'll have to post from my phone for a few weeks so please forgive me if I don't respond quickly or post a lot of typos. since my phone is stubborn, I will answer the questions I remember seeing:
favorite book: hard one.... catch-22?
favorite genre: I'm going to go with Sci - fi since that's most of what I read. I'm pretty open to everything, and probably the only genre I have little interest in is romance.
favorite author: another hard one.... vonnegut?
favorite color: green
pets: 1 choc. lab mutt, Moby ~2 years old.

I don't remember the rest of the questions, but I am 24, live it fort smith, AR, and am currently occupied as a chemist.
Nice to meet you all and I'm very excited to read with you! For my first event, I plan to join the group read for the Great Gatsby, which I have never read before! I went out and purchased a copy today!