Apoorv ’s Comments (group member since Mar 26, 2014)

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

Have you folks ever been in a maze?
Keep your eyes peeled...

Goodness, M! Hope you and your family recover through this in a jiffy.

Hey, at least you are all together and no one has to seclude themselves from the rest of the household. Hope you continue to take the necessary precautions and maintain the high spirits. Sending along positive vibes to you and the fam!

Team Helen - Discussion Questions
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 ?
I am most certainly growing into it. I would have enjoyed it even if it was exclusively from the cat's perspective, because Ms. Arikawa has managed to capture that voice with a certain flare and I am loving it so far. It is difficult to dislike Satoru, so I am digging his story too.

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 just want to give him a massive snog. From whatever we have seen so far, he is the kind of human that appeals to me and his presence of mind towards the simplest realities of an animal who can't express their feelings like humans do is noteworthy. He seems like someone who would go a wee bit beyond to help someone he seems dear and I appreciate that in a human.

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 ?
I liked that the author did not portray Kosuke's father as a typical off-putting, absent father. He most certainly is a prime example of toxic masculinity, but there is a certain element of realism to his reactions which makes a lot more impact. It isn't necessarily a new plot point where the parents don't want any animals in the house, but the kids are desperate to have them, which then causes some riff - but the way the author went about it was nice.

4. Why do you think Satoru can't take care of Nana anymore ?
He legitimately seems to want Nana to be taken care of, by him or anyone else he trusts. I have some guesses, one of which revolves around his own mortality - but I hope it is more mundane like he can't afford to keep a cat given that he has lost his job. But, I have an inkling its the former and I am bracing for a dagger through my heart soon.

For mini tasks that require a book to be Tagged, there must be a minimum of 10 tags, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOO!

OMG! OMG!
Just about 18 hours to go!!
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

So, as we get ready to kick start the challenge, a few things to take a note of.

- Request access to the Tracking Sheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...) if you haven't yet - so you can start putting in your prospective books, if you would like to. That is also where all the completed books go, so definitely make a note of that.
- Apart from that, completion posts here on the team thread will be awesome, that way you can write in all the various Mini challenges your book might apply to.
- BOM DQ links can be added directly on the Tracking sheet.

The "Books" tab in the Tracking sheet is all where you need to fill in your information. Everything else in the spreadsheet will automatically fill itself.

Please feel free to drop in a word incase you need any assistance with any of this.
We have been fairly quiet so far as a team, but I am excited to get this going - and read some absolute humdingers! :)

Darren wrote: "Hi,

My name is Darren, I am 49 and live in Coventry in England.
This is my 2nd Towers Event
My shelf is here
Currently I have been reading a lot of non-fiction but my favourite genres are Scie..."


Welcome, Darren! I have been rather skeptical starting Ready Player Two, because I absolutely loved the first one and then saw Stephen Spielberg, of all people, bungle the movie version of it - and now I am not sure if I want to re-enter that wonderful world of the first book and brave potential disappointed. But, seeing it in your top 3 makes me slightly excited to go back into it. :)

Jackie wrote: "Hello, everyone! I'm Jackie from North Carolina (USA). I've done TT several times and see many familiar names here. Also just finished up UNO and looking forward to another big team challenge. I'm ..."

Haha - this is why I love these team challenges. I just read LaurLa's post where there was immense love for romance and not so much for horror, and right after I am reading your post, Jackie, where it is the reverse. So awesome already to be in this team - the amount of recommendations I am going to steal off of everyone is going to be insane! :)

When you say horror, we need to see a Stephen King and the Dark Tower series making a presence is no surprise. Although, I started with the first one and it is the only Stephen King book I have not gotten into. I may have disliked some, but it was the only one I didn't understand the hype about. But I am keen on restarting that series and completing it someday.

LaurLa wrote: "Welcome everyone! Nice to meet you all... and nice to see again those of you I've known and seen around GR. I'm LaurLa from Indiana in the US. I think this is my 4th or 5th TT, so I'm quite familia..."

LaurLa, thank you so much for being the co-cap this year - its so nice to know that the co-cap team is so solid (I practically don't have to do anything. :P Hehe!)

The moment I saw romance as your preferred genre, I was hoping to see a Nora Roberts book in your top 3 and there it was! I have read more of her as JD Robb than Nora Roberts, but I absolutely loved the Key Trilogy from her. It has a little bit of fantasy stuff in it - but each of those three books were fantastic. And I am amazed at her ability to keep writing so many books year after year. Glad that some of her work resonated with you too. :)

Sharon wrote: "Hi all! I'm Sharon from Northeast Pennsylvania (USA). I've done a bunch of team challenges, but I think I've participate in towers only twice. I'm looking forward to it! These always help me get ou..."

I am writing this as I am taking a break between Grace and Frankie's last few episodes, so seeing the inimitable Jane Fonda's book mentioned here is a special treat. That woman has had an exceptional life and I already have the autobiography on hold in all my libraries - so hopefully I get to read it during the challenge.

Dawn wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Dawn from the UK and this is my second TT challenge, inspired by all the recommendations over at UNO. I spot a fellow Granny Weatherwax player- hello Megan :)

Oh, the Mods always have something funky up their sleeve - so it definitely would be super fun seeing what is in store. (not sure if I should be excited or scared though. Haha!)

And boy o boy, did A Thousand Splendid Suns wreck me! Rather any of Khaled Hosseini's books break me into pieces - but Mariyam and Laila's story still haunts me 9 years on after I read the book for the first time. So good to see that it resonated with you too, Dawn!

Lynne wrote: "Hi, I’m Lynne from Texas. I am one of the co-captains, and I am so excited about this challenge. I think this is my third time to do TT, so still relatively new.

My favorite genres are sci-fi and ..."

Lynne, first of all thank you for being the co-captain this round. This is going to be a fun ride and glad to have you helping steer the ship. :)

Second of all, lets talk Hercule Poirot. I am thrilled that you are tackling that series this year. How far along are you? That is one series I have given myself permission to read in random order because the stories don't necessarily have a link to each other and Mr. Poirot's story loosely connects at best. I'm excited to see you make more headway through the series throughout the challenge. :)

M wrote: "Hello everyone. I am M from Vancouver Canada. I think this is the fifth time I have been part of TT.

My favorite genres are fantast, sci-fi, horror, and historical fiction. I honestly will read a..."

Oooh, now I am curious as to what you have in your TBR for the challenge, M! From the last time we were on the same team, I know you read a lot of different things - so I am looking forward to the plethora of books you'll be tackling this time around. :)

Megan wrote: "Hello lovelies!

I'm Megan and I'm from Hertfordshire (just North of London), UK.
I think I've played Towers Teams every year since the infamous WOBBLE in 2016 so I recognise a few of you!."

Oh, how I love to interact with another horror lover. It is not a commonly preferred genre, so seeing someone read that primarily, makes me happy - also adds on to the list of exciting books to look forward to. So, I will be scouring your bookshelf, Megan. Haha! :P

Nicole B wrote: "Hi, I'm Nicole. This is my second time doing tower teams but the first was no 5 so its been a little while. I'm fresh off Perk's Uno challenge though and looking forward to continuing a team challe..."

I got your shelf, Nicole, don't worry!
And I am literally picking up Under the Whispering Door as most likely my first book for the challenge - TJ has been a long time favourite, so seeing the book here just pushes me all the more closer to starting it in a week. :)

Diana wrote: "Hello team!

I'm Diana, currently living in Portugal, and this is my second TT. I'm always super busy and I currently have too many unfinished books on my bedside table. Hoping to get them out of m..."

Ah, I am always super giddy when I see Anxious People or really any Fredrick Bachman book in top reads - that was one of my best reads from last year.

And while I have not read The Queen's Gambit yet, but the show was just lit.

Jhmingos wrote: "Hi Team Helen,

I'm Lizzie or Jhmingos. Either name is fine. This will be my second year doing Tower Teams but I've done a lot of reading challenges before. It keeps me motivated with my reading. I..."

Not going to lie, your name "Jhmingos" definitely intrigued me. If you don't mind me asking, what does it mean?

It's awesome that you have read a lot of Greek mythology - I will totally be looking forward to reading your recommendations, since I haven't read a whole lot in that genre and I am super curious to explore more.

Diane ~Firefly~ wrote: "Hi Team!

I'm Diane (she/her) located in TX (US) and work a corporate job so rarely available before 5pm. Looking forward to this challenge as Tower Teams are always fun. My preferred genres are: r..."

Diane, you are speaking my language with your timings. Having said that, I have shamelessly used GoodReads at work (well, I mean there is only as much time that I can stay away from it. :P)

I have also never seen any recommendations/favourites list, across the host of challenges I have been part of, complete without the mention of an Illona Andrews book. So, thank you for keeping the tradition going. Haha :)

Bobbi wrote: "Hi there!

I'm Bobbi and this is my first Team Towers, but I have participated in quite a few team challenges. I'm 36 and come from the Mitten state (Michigan, US for international friends). I've b..."

HAHA! That is an advice I am going to note down. :P
Hope your mother is doing well and books are helping you out through this phase, Bobbi.

Welcome to your first tower teams - hope this turns out to be better than you anticipate and more fun than you expect. :)

Judy wrote: "Hi everyone!

I’m Judy (she/her), I’m in my mid-20s and from Germany. I’m still currently in PST on the NA west coast but I’ll be back in Europe next week before the challenge starts. ."

Welcome Judy, so glad to have you in the captains pool this year - I'm sure your previous experience captaining/co-captaining will be super helpful! :)

Also, I love that there is an Ashley Herring Blake book in your top 3 - I have only read one of Ashley's books so far, but it is an absolute favourite. Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World