Eunice’s Comments (group member since Sep 19, 2016)

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

Ohh, ok!

I think City of Brass works for the rebellion task

I'll be reading Fourth Wing

Got it! It's been entered into the spreadsheet :)

I had to ask because someone I know didn't think nursing fell under STEM since it doesn't strictly belong to any of the 4 categories that make up the acronym

Would you consider a doctor to be a part of STEM? Medicine is technically related to the sciences.

Asking for chipmunk task 125

Participation Tracking

Day 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Day 3 - Chapters 10-14

9. As he walks through the Daeva Quarters, Ali is shot by a toy arrow, let loose by one of the children playing about. Rashid suggests to Ali that he should punish the boy by taking him to be raised in the Citadel, which Ali refuses. What do you think this says about Ali, and about others in the city’s upper echelon?
It says that if you have power, you can do anything and also that there is a strong sense of societal division. About Ali though, it feels like he is going against the power that he has as the son of the king and the Qaid, considering how he doesn't like the duties required by his position. It also affirms his strong sense of fairness.

10. Nahri and Dara have a moment, but are interrupted. Do you like this partnership, romantically or otherwise? Is it doomed, or meant to be?
It reminds me too much of the frenemy and the bad-boy romance tropes, and I hate it. It feels forced overall to me.

11. We learn about the terrible conditions in the shafit orphanage and the difficult lives all the shafit are forced into. Even though he immediately refuses to help, how do you think this will influence him in the future?
He's definitely going to agree at some point. There will come a turning point where he would feel that he needed to drastically change the way things are.

12. As Dara and Nahri cross the last illusion shielding Daevabad, Nahri has an odd reaction and ends up flat on her back on the deck of the ferry, with Dara rudely refusing anyone’s assistance. Do you think this was caused by something related to what Nahri is, or something else?
I think it has something to do with the Nahids. They've been acting up ever since Nahri started her journey to Daevabad.

13. Muntadhir takes Ali to a secret room filled with dead Nahids. Do you think this room will be a turning point for Ali? Do you think Dara will discover this and his relic, and what do you think will follow if he does?
It's turned Ali's world around, for sure. He got a taste of real-world brutality. And if Dara ever finds out about the place, I'll just pray for the Daevas.

Day 2 DQs : Chapters 5-9
5. So many groups! We had a couple of chapters in this part that described some of the tribes in Daevabad and elsewhere - the Daeva/Djinn, Ifrit, Simurgh, Zahhak and I'm sure I haven't listed them all. Where on the confusion scale are you - with 1 being totally confused and 10 being "I've got this". And are you ok with your level at this point in the book?
I think I'm at 4. Yes, I'm fine with my confusion. It's still the beginning of the book, and I'll probably be less confused once we get past the exposition and the important parts of the world are highlighted.

6. Somewhat related to this - we learn that Suleiman curbed magical abilities because the daeva harmed humanity. I learned (thanks Google) that in the non-book world Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 - he ruled over at least 25 million people. Did you know anything about Suleiman and what do you think of his inclusion in the book?
I only vaguely know about Suleiman. I knew that he was a king who ruled the Middle East for a long time. I find the way he is portrayed in this novel, to put a human king from real history as a magical figure, kind of strange.

7. We now know Dara was a slave for many years and was forced to do some things that haunt him. How does this make you feel about his character?
Feels bad in a non-sarcastic way. I also like that we get to know his past better. Definitely going to be an important character in the future.

8. Ali's father was portrayed as brutal when we first met him at the execution, and then later he seemed like a pretty good ruler as he listened to and judged people's problems. What do you think - good king or bad king?
He is a good king in the sense that he has managed to maintain the stability of such a culturally diverse and troubled kingdom. He does it by punishing the shafits to keep the daeva community (and by extension the kingdom) at peace, but I can understand his reasons behind it and the difficult place that he is in as king.

Jenny wrote: "New task #118

Random 10 - Read a book that is #10 - 19 in a series"

Murder on the Orient Express is #10 in the series. It's hidden from me though, so I can't edit

Speaking of GR pooping, did you also experience the website being down around two days ago? Right on my day of posting DQs for 11/22/63 too. Went from overcapacity to long loading times to maintenance

Angie ☯ wrote: "Is it driving anyone else nuts that when you hover over a link on the SS that it shows the wrong book???? But if you click the link you get the correct one!

Or is this just happening to me?"

Same here. I honestly can't stand it, and I can't imagine how much more irritating it is for the captains and co-captains when you need to check every book.

Christine wrote: "Hello. I finished a book that I posted before I read the message to hold off on 500 page books. Sorry! I will check in here first next time.
Later today I will finish a book I was going to use und..."

Christine, books for the wheel tasks have to be finished after July starts

I really need to make it a habit to put books in as soon as I finish them. I keep forgetting which ones I've already entered into the sheet DX

Romance, tragedy, and comedy seem to be the easiest to do, unless you like to read books in verse. I've also got a music book lined up to read soon.

DQs Day 1, Ch 1-5

1. This book begins in 18th century Cairo, with France and Turkey fighting over Egypt. I have never encountered this conflict in fiction before. Have you? Were you familiar with it before you started reading?
I've never heard about this conflict before. I'm not really knowledgeable about world history and conflicts apart from those that happened on my side of the world.

2. Nahri has several mysterious powers, including healing, the ability to sense illness in others, and the ability to understand and speak every language she hears. Which of her powers would you like for yourself?
The ability to grasp every language easily, for sure. Might be selfish of me to pick that over healing, but her healing abilities have so far been shown to be pretty limited. She can't heal serious diseases.

3. What do you think of the world building so far? Do you find it confusing, or do you feel like you’re along for the ride?
I'm just along for the ride! I don't tend to think too deeply about the world building, and it helps in cases like this where there seems to be some other place where the divine beings are living in.

4. So far we’ve met 3 significant players in this book: Nahri, Ali, and Dara. Do you have a favorite character so far, or one who intrigues you the most?
I like Ali the most so far. I'm interested to see how he would end up changing the status quo in Daevabad, likely alongside Nahri, and also how he would change character-wise. With Nahri, I have a pet peeve for self-righteous characters who are assholes but seemingly unaware (like many female MCs are), and she's been hitting pretty close to that pet peeve.

Angie ☯ wrote: "Request for the team.....

Since we sort of struggled with getting all our required Tower books (those with specific page counts) in for June, we'd like to ask that if you are close to finishing a ..."

I completely forgot about this and went ahead and finished 11/22/63 >< I'll try to read a few big books next month. And I'm also currently reading a 600+ book.

Participation Tracking
Day 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

DQs Day 3 - Chapters 7 - 8

10) We find out more about Frank Dunning. He is portrayed as a smooth talker and good looking. Do you find this stereotypical of someone who will go on to murder most of his family? It always seems to be someone no one suspects. Jake's opinion of him obviously isn't very good. Do you think Jake would feel differently if he didn't know what Frank was going to do?
My first thought is that it is stereotypical in a way. Psychopaths are stereotypically charming and manipulative, and you would think that he was one based on his murder spree. But I would have also found it stereotypical if he were portrayed as a sleazy man, so maybe the true answer is actually no, there is no stereotype for a violent drunk. Anyone can be a violent drunk.

Maybe Jake would feel differently if he didn't know. It's hard to say. People who are handsome and smooth talkers like Frank Dunning are generally easy to like, but some people who are sensitive or good people-readers might sense that something was off about him or something. Some people may dislike these types of people because they seem too good to be true and may be hiding their stinky side of them.

11) Jake plans how he is going to stop Frank. Would your thought process have been the same as Jake's? How would you plan to change the event?
I think it would've been mostly the same. I would probably keep my options to tailing Frank, using the people who sense that Frank has a bad temper and a drinking problem to keep an eye on him, and warning the police about it with fake reasons but also arm myself with something hefty to bonk him in the head if the police aren't reliable.

12) There is something off about Derry. The place itself feels weird and the people act strange. Would you stay somewhere where you don't feel welcome? Would you investigate more into what was going on?
No, I would just leave. Curiosity kills the cat.

13) Well, stoppping Frank didn't go to plan but he did get stopped. What do you think the cosequences of changing the event will be in the present, if any? Do you think he will go back and try again? If so, what do you think he will do differently?
No clue. It could go both ways. He could live a long and fruitful life, or he could also die somewhere along the way for some reason. But if it turns out badly, I think it's fruitless to try again. There are so many ways things could go wrong in life.

Day 2 DQs Chapter 4 - 6 or 18%
#5. How did you feel when you read Harry Dunning's essay? What would you have done if you had the power to enact change in the past?
It's very horrific. I can't imagine living through such a tragedy, and I would try to prevent it if I had the power to change the past.

#6. Money is a big deal in any timeline. Would you be able to acclimate to the past in terms of financial transactions as well as Jake? Do you think Jake acclimated TOO quickly?
Everyone has varying degrees of flexibility. Jake is probably one of the more flexible people. Personally, I've heard too many "Back in my day, this only cost ___" from my parents to be too surprised about it. My dad is old enough that a cent had value back when he was a kid.

#7. Fashion is also an issue in the past. Do you think Jake is having an easier time of it because he is a man? What would be the most challenging fashion change for you to get used to? Is there something you would love to be able to wear?
I would say yes. I don't think that fashion for men changes as drastically as it does for women. Also, in my mind, unfashionable men would offend people less than unfashionable women. I don't know much about fashion during the 50s and 60s to answer the last two questions.

#8. There are a lot of interesting nods to older Advertising terms and slogans that King uses to help the reader recognize the timeline change of the past. Which one stood out to you the most and why?
Honestly, I glossed over that part, but after rereading that part again, I guess the prevalence of smoking and even the positive advertisements for them stood out the most.

#9. If you have read any past King novels, some of these chapters have a lot of connections to early books about Derry, Maine, and surrounding locations. Did you find any Easter eggs from previous stories? If you haven't read earlier King novels, what about Derry seemed to stand out as unique to you?
This is my first King book.

Day 1 DQs: Ch1- 3
1) I have only read a few of Stephen King's books. Is this your first book by the author or are you quite familiar with his storytelling?
This is my first Stephen King book, mostly because his books are so fat and intimidating.

2) What do you think about the character Jake so far? Would you have gone along with what Al wanted and took the initial step back into the past, or would you have not humoured him and tried to get him help?
He's pretty normal, like an NPC except he got thrown into something big just because he has the least emotional connections around. Yes, I would've gone along with Al because he's my friend and I trust that his mental faculties are intact instead of immediately assuming that he's lost his marbles.

3) I am not sure how I would feel if I just stepped back into the past the way Jake and Al have, but I am really curious about how the time travelling works in this story. It seemed that Jake was somewhat calm about it. How do you think you would feel if it was you?
I'd feel amazed that time travel is real, but I don't think I would want to stay too long in the past. I love the present (and all the technological advances) too much for that.

4) I think it is clear that Jake is going to pick up Al's mission to try and stop the JFK assassination. Would you choose to continue Al's mission? Also how much do you know of the history surrounding this event?
No, I would not for the same reason stated above. Plus, I'm not an American, and I have no patriotic feelings about that event. I know that JFK was shot as he was making a speech, but that's about it.