Keely’s Comments (group member since Aug 30, 2013)

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

I am currently reading to Catch-22 which would cover two of the tasks for the Boar. It is 519 pages long so would cover task 1 and a character (General Dreedle amongst others) is often drunk so would also cover task 4. I don't have much left so I would be able to finish it as soon as the mini starts.

I've managed to get a bit back on track. I will finish a book today and I've been working on a couple of other books including two of the BOMs which most people have probably long finished, but as long as I finish them in the time frame, we will get extra points.

Keli wrote: "Keely wrote: "Just dropping in for an update. We acquired yet another kitten. One of the siblings of the older kitten we had already. This one is very aggressive and I'm getting overwhelmed looking..."

Thank you Keli. The books I have been working on have been on the longer side as that was my plan initially anyway so I've been trying for more points over more books. Hopefully things will calm down this week so I can finish at least one or two of the books I am working on and then I will feel a bit better about this challenge.

Just dropping in for an update. We acquired yet another kitten. One of the siblings of the older kitten we had already. This one is very aggressive and I'm getting overwhelmed looking after all these cats. I don't have a whole lot of experience with kittens. We got my family cat when she was a kitten but she is almost 19 now and I was a child myself and I helped my boyfriend's family when they got a kitten, but that was just an hour or two here and there. And now suddenly I have 5 cats to look after. I find it particularly hard when we have to be a bit rough with the new aggressive one in order to try and get her used to human touch.
In terms of reading, I haven't really been able to do any. Even when I have time to read, I'm so exhausted and I've been very emotional the past couple of days.
I'm considering quitting this challenge as I don't have the time or energy to contribute and I'm not sure that's going to improve before TT ends. You might be better off with a substitute. I'm going to give it a few more days and see if things get better once I get into a routine before making a decision. I just wanted to let you all know the situation and I hope you all had good weekends.

Stacey wrote: "I live at 1.7 to 2.0 on my audiobooks -- although I have had it up to 2.5 if I really don't like to book and just need to finish. I do find though that I have to slow it down if I'm listening to it..."

You made me feel better about listening to audiobooks faster. I do exactly the same and speed it up a little if I just want to be done with the book quicker.

I must be weird, because I tend to listen to audiobooks at 2x speed. Sometimes that is too fast for the narrator, so I will slow it down. I've also realised it depends on what device I'm listening on too, or more so what I'm using to listen to it. For example, sometimes if I'm wearing headphones, I can listen to it a bit faster, but if I'm listening through my pc out loud then the faster speed sounds too fast.
It also depends on what I am doing while listening. If I'm doing something that doesn't require much focus then a faster speed is fine, but otherwise I will slow it down a bit.

I'm working on catching up on the BOMs and I'm also trying to work on a couple of longer books too. When the mini is announced, I'll see what I can help with.

In regards to the maze challenge, I think I understand most of it but I'm not sure how much help I will be either as it takes me a while to finish books. I will keep an eye on it however and when I get close to finishing a book, I will see if it can be helpful for the maze.

Eni wrote: "@Nanci no need to apologize. Moving and doing house renovations are a pain! Glad it's almost over, so you can rest a bit.


@Keely, the mother of kittens =D i miss having kittens. They're fun. But ..."

The new kitten is on solid foods. I estimate that she is somewhere between the 6-8 week age. The other kittens are still in the cage setup we have with mummy so all I really have to do is put food in there and clean out the litter tray.
We put a little harness and lead on the older kitten as she kept hiding and running away. She keeps hissing whenever someone goes near, but she is the sweetest thing once I pick her up. We've had some nice long cuddle/nap sessions the past couple of days. I'm hoping that in a couple more days she will stop trying to run away when I approach her so I can take the harness and lead off of her. I take it off her when I sleep anyway because I'm paranoid something bad will happen and I want her to experience some freedom. It's all been a learning experience as I've never fully taken care of kittens on my own before.

I've finished 4 more books since my last update, taking me up to 33 finished for this challenge.

added in 2020. Wasn't as good as the first book but it's nice seeing Anne grow up. I'm hoping to finish the series by the end of the year.
all added in 2019. I enjoyed them all. I pretty much binged Pillars over a couple of days and I definitely want to continue the series. The Travelling Cat made me cry so hard, but it was worth it.

40 pages
243 pages
32 pages
80 pages
32 pages
32 pages
32 pages
40 pages
38 pages
190 pages
226 pages
1,105 pages
288 pages

Current Total: 863,081

DQ: 18 May - Sugi and Chikako's Hotel for Pets & Between Friends


9) Considering Satoru seems to be quite perceptive overall, do you think he knew about Sugi’s less charitable feelings about him, both in the past and during this visit?
Satoru seems like the kind of person who would ignore hostile feelings towards him, especially if he views that person as a friend. Particularly on his visit.

10) So far, the chapters have all been combining Satoru and Nana’s journey with Satoru’s past with several other people, as well as their backgrounds. How do you feel about this interlude (chapter 3.5) focused entirely on the man and his cat? What does it add to the story?
I enjoyed this part of the story. It shows their bond.

11) For the first time, we got a hint of what’s going on with Satoru when the dog said “he smells like he isn’t going to make it” in chapter 3, and this came up again in chapter 3.5. So it sounds like Satoru is ill… was that your prediction for question 4?
I already finished the book so I know what happens. But I suspected it from the beginning.

12) Squabbles between cats and dogs were really present in these sections. So: Are you a cat person or a dog person or both (or neither)?
Definitely a cat person. Although I've not really had the opportunity to get close to any dogs in my life. But I just seem to connect with cats better.

DQ: 17 May - The Unsentimental Farmer


5) I really like reading the cat's thoughts. It can be quite funny. Do you think these are convincing cat thoughts?
Some of the thoughts seem cat-like, but others seem a bit exaggerated. Nana seems to understand too much and while I know cats do understand some things, this cat seems to understand everything.

6) In this chapter we are introduced to Yoshimine, another potential owner for our cat. What do you think of him and his backstory?
He seemed to have had a difficult childhood too. Just goes to show that you can never really know what someone has been through.

7) Do you think Yoshimine would have been a good owner for Nana ?
I think he would have tried his best, but I don't think he would have been the right person for Nana.

8) Yoshimine has already a kitten called Chatran, and Satoru makes fun of him for naming his cat with such a cliché name. What is for you the most cliché cat name(s)? In french it is quite common to call a cat Chaussette (meaning sock), Mistigri or Felix (actually a cat food brand).
I quite like some cliche names, however as someone who struggles to think of names to give things (naming childhood toys was always a struggle, let alone thinking of names for stories). For cats there is always Fluffy or Tabby. Personally I like cute names. My grandparents had a cat called Cuddles but she definitely did not like to cuddle.

Good luck with all of the house stuff Nanci!

I have also fallen behind with my reading again as we ended up taking in another kitten on Thursday. This one is older, maybe a month, so is exploring and crying lots. She has three other siblings and they were being very aggressive so I was asked if I wanted to tame a couple, but we only ended up taking the one. I think we ended up with the least aggressive one as she doesn't really fight back if you pick her up and she doesn't hiss or growl at humans. She doesn't like other cats though.
She has been crying a lot, especially when we are trying to sleep so I've had quite broken sleep since which has contributed to my lack of reading. The kitten has tired herself out now though so I'm going to take the opportunity to finally finish The Travelling Cat Chronicles and maybe make some decent progress in another book too.

I seem to have become a full time cat sitter, but I'm not complaining!

Mary C wrote: "Sorry if this was asked or is a stupid question:

Is the tracking of our book reading going by a calendar month or the challenge rounds? Do I need to worry about not reading too many books in a mo..."

I thought it was per round for this challenge, but I could be wrong. Because I've had some delay in my reading, I'm not sure I'm going to reach my target of 8 so if you read a couple extra, it might help me out.

Just a quick update as I know I haven't finished any books yet. I'm just over halfway through Pillars which is the longest book I am currently reading. I should have it done in the next couple of days.
I have started two other books, but I try and read them before bed and I've been so tired lately, I don't get very far.

I'm looking to finish at least 3 books this week.

I'm a bit late. I started the book on the first day of this but things have happened that took my attention away. But better late then never!

DQs 16 May: Prologue - The Husband Without a Wife

1. How are you liking the way the story is written with its alternating POVs ? Is there a POV you prefer ? It's nice to see the different POVs, but I think I prefer Nana's POV because it is interesting to see the world from his eyes.

2. Through the flashbacks we get to know Satoru's personality a bit more. What do you make of him so far ? What did you think about his way of helping his friend Kosuke?
I like Satoru. His way of dealing with the situation wasn't the best, but kids can be all action and not really thinking about things properly. His heart was in the right place.

3. Talking about Kosuke, what's up with his parents ? It seemed to me that Kosuke was genuinely convinced that his father would agree to keep the cat (Hachi). What did you think about his backstory ?
His father does not seem like the nicest person. I think Kosuke was more hoping that his father would let him keep Hachi than knowing it.

4. Why do you think Satoru can't take care of Nana anymore ? It has to be something serious. I really hope he's not going to die, but it seems like a serious illness would explain it.

I'm sorry about your cat, Eni. I'm dreading the day we have to say goodbye to my currently 18 year old cat so I can imagine how you must feel.

Time seems to have gotten away from me the past few days. Mostly because I am currently looking after a mother cat and her two very young kittens. My boyfriends mum helps out at a cat shelter and somehow we got roped into looking after them, not that I am complaining. They think the kittens are only about 2 weeks old and they haven't even opened their eyes yet. But they also think the mother is wild so we haven't been able to get close to her or the babies yet, fortunately she seems to be trusting me a little more now as she doesn't watch me constantly.
I think the idea is that we will keep them for about a month and help raise and tame the kittens so they can be rehomed and maybe see if the mother can be tamed as well as she still seems young herself.

I'm going to do my best to try and get a couple of books finished in the next week.

Nanci wrote: "Keely,
I loved all the Ken Follet series books, but Pillars of the Earth was my favorite. I never read such a fat book, so fast!"

I definitely plan to read the rest and check out some of his other books after this. I've never read such a big books this fast either!

I finally started this and I listened the whole of part 1 in the past 24 hours. I agree with what everyone has said about the characters in part one so I don't really have much more to add.

I'm really enjoying listening to this so I might even finish it this weekend if I keep up this pace. I have too much time right now.