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

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

Quickly double-checking on the 800-900 page book, is Emily still on it? I was about to start it, but I can swap it to something else, if she is reading it.

Cheering charm - We can have a book with a smiling and a frowning person on cover.

For the last option on DADA, if anything, can we use Ghost and Exorcism? If yes, there should be enough books to cover that.

Team Gilderoy Lockhart
Chapters 8 - 14

Now, to be honest, these chapters were a little dry to me. A lot happened, sure; but somewhere I am slightly frowning at the double story line - Allan of today, and of multiple decades ago.

Allan of today and his crazy (view spoiler)[on-the-run badass antics with his troop is absolutely fun. Its wacky and in many ways, over the top - but its fun! I love the whole scene when they came onto Gunnila's doorstep and the craziness of the whole elephant scene with Bucket. I laughed out loud for sure. (hide spoiler)] Tina, I love that you have toilet humour, and this part of the story would certainly make you laugh.

My concern at this stage of the book is with (view spoiler)[the historical Allan, I have to admit that whatever he did back then, is a great segway into how he easily does what he does at 100; but all the incidences seems a stretch too much. So much so, that I hardly trust the proceedings. More so when you drop in a big political name every other page, I am more inclined in looking at the happenings with a microscope and suspicion, (hide spoiler)]

So, am I a little disappointed? Maaaaaaybe! It certainly started off as a 4-star book; midway through, it is looking more like a 3-starer. Let's hope things kick back up and the craziness quotient sky-rockets!

Christina wrote: "(God, it's so hard not being captain when you're already so used to it lol) ."

LOL! I hear you, gurl! I miss the spreadsheets. :P
Good thing I have another challenge going on, which I get to quench my spreadsheet thirst. :P

JanEyre9 wrote: "I think I might have a thing for Swedish books written about old people. A Man Called Ove and The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules were really enjoyable - I'm hoping this one joins the club! ."

I LOVED LOVED LOVED A Man Called Ove. If The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is anything like that, then I'm adding that to my list ASAP. :=)

Paula wrote: "I have these books with girls without glasses:
this one even has the drink haha, but the face isn't complete, can we check?

[bookcover:Being Jazz: My Lif..."

OMG! You are awesome, Paula!
I was literally staring at the Jazz Jennings book, and didn't even realize that it works! :P

If you are good to do that one, awesome!
If not, I can jump onto that.

Let's go back to where we were 2 weeks ago - I hate the last spot! :'(

Team Gilderoy Lockhart
Chapters 1 - 7

First of all, what a wonderful book title! Call me crazy, but I would totally read this book, just because the title is so unconventional and wacky! I have never been able to decide what I like more, authors who are able to succinctly tell their whole story with just a one or two-word title, or someone like Jonas Jonasson, with this book, literal a title as it can be! What do you guys think?

Plus, there is something about these Swedish authors and long book titles, be it Fredrick Bachman with his My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry or Steig Larrson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or Jonas himself with The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden. Sort of fun, if you ask me! :)

Okay! Back to the book.
So far, this has certainly been as wacky as I was expecting it to be. Allan Karlson, our sprightly centurion, is quite the character, to say the least. (view spoiler)[I loved how the author made his escape from the old-age home, both simplistic to essentially tell us that it was literally just that for Allan - a jump from a window, and equally phantasmagorical, for it is crazy! (hide spoiler)]

As soon as I started with the book, my first thought went to A Man Called Ove, although Allan doesn't seem as much a curmudgeon as Ove was. (view spoiler)[And that is sort of where I am having a little bit of a hiccup with the narrative. Things just tend to happen very smoothly for Allan, which seems a little contrived. But, I'll play along for now. (hide spoiler)]

Oh! We are waiting on a book for man with no clothes on?. How did I miss it? Right up my alley! :P :P

*goes searching his book stash* :D ;=)

I plan on reading for the BOM (as soon as I get it from the library), we can pair it with a book with a girl without glasses, and be done with the Summoning Charm.

ETA: Can we use a boy instead? I can totally read , if it works.

Will be joining in for this!
Team Gilderoy Lockhart

FYI, just started a beautifully orange covered book. Should work for our pending spot in Potions!

June
Completion Post

Book Read: Saturn Run | John Sandford & Ctein
Date Completed: 13-Jun-2018
Pages: 582
Points: 60
Challenge Shelf updated

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Spells:

A: Character A - Amanda Santeros
B: Character B - Bob Anderson
C: Author C
D: Character D - David Crowell
E: Character E - Elroy Gorey
F: Character F - Fiorella, Cassie
G: Character G - Gene Lossness
H: Character H - Heacock Darlington, Sanders
J: Character J - John Clover
L: Character L - Lossness Gene
M: Character M - Martinez Joe
N: Character N - Naomi Fang-Castro
P: Character P - Peneski, Francois
R: Character R - Rebecca Johannson
S: Title S
V: Character V - Vitner, Jacob
W: Character W - White, Paula
Y: Character Y - Young, Arnie
Z: Character Z - Zhang Ming-Hoa

-------------------------------------------------
Classes:

Astronomy: Title - Saturn - 582*0.02 = 11.64 ~ 12 points

Christina wrote: "Apoorv, I've just seen you read A Clockwork Orange a while back and only rated it 1 star. May I ask why?
I just thought it would work great for Potions with 'orange' in the title..."

Oh boy! Okay! Here we go! :P
... and I'll try and keep it spoiler-free.

I found the book extremely lazy, especially as it progressed. Any book where things are done just because one feels like, or where the redemptive process is very convenient, or the bad is left unpunished, bothers me. Anthony Burgess, the author, and Alex, the MC, sort of had similar story lines, from what I've read about the author, in terms of their respective wives and what happens to her. What bothers me is Mr. Burgess tries to justify his real-life thoughts with giving that treatment to his character's wife. Don't use your readers as a tool!

On a more technical side, I just found the violence in the book gory, and that too honestly without a valid rhyme or a reason. And then I had MAJOR ISSUES WITH THE ENDING! Like, seriously! No!! You can't just button things up after all the shit that happened through the narrative. You are just using violence for violence but never giving us a solution to whatever problems are raised. The good things, are all drowned out by the extremist approach, so you hardly get to spend any chance with what the book effectively (I hope!) wants to talk about.

Oh, I can go on! This is literally the ONLY book I've ever given a 1-star rating.
Maybe I didn't get it, or worst still, that's actually where our society is heading,
I just did not care for the MC or connect to the narrative.

Hey, but then, the Nasdat slang is pretty cool. Takes a lifetime to get smooth with it, but worth the effort.
So, go for it. It clearly elucidated a whole host of emotions in me, so I guess it does one thing good.
Plus, its tiny - thank goodness for that!!

Emily wrote: "I am going to tackle the 800-900 if no one else has in arthimancy"

I was planning on jumping onto the 800-900 slot after I finish the one that I currently am reading which completes our final spot for Astronomy. But, if you have something, go ahead!

Thank you for jumping onto it, Melanie!
I would be travelling a bit the next few days, and given the speed with which Emily read in the first round gave me the heebie-jeebies! :O :P

June
Completion Post

Book Read: How to Kill a Rock Star | Tiffanie DeBartolo
Date Completed: 11-Jun-2018
Pages: 415
Buddy Read: Discussion Post (Initial)
Points: 40+30 = 70
Challenge Shelf updated

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Spells:

A: Character A - Adam
B: Character B - Burke, Michael
C: Character C - Caelum, Eliza
D: Author D
E: Character E - Eliza Caelum
F: Character F - Mr. Feldman
H: Character H - Hudson, Paul
L: Character L - Lucy Enfield
M: Character M - Michael Caelum
N: Character N - North, Terry
P: Character P - Paul Hudson
T: Author T
V: Character V - Vera

-------------------------------------------------
Classes:

Potion: Brew the Potion - Cover Red -
Transfiguration: Book Cover - Ticket

June
Completion Post

Book Read: The Bat | Jo Nesbø
Date Completed: 05-Jun-2018
Pages: 425
Buddy Read: Discussion Post (Initial)
Points: 40+30 = 70
Challenge Shelf updated

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Spells:

A: Character A - Andrew Kensington
B: Title B
D: Character D - Debbie
E: Character E - Evans White
H: Character H - Harry Hole
I: Character I - Inger Holter
J: Author J
K: Character K - Kensington, Andrew
L: Character L - Larry Wadkins
N: Author N
O: Character O - Otto Rechtnagel
R: Character R - Rechtnagel, Otto
S: Character S - Sergei Lebie
T: Character T - Toowomba, Robin
W: Character W - White, Evans

-------------------------------------------------
Classes:

Potion: Brew the Potion - Cover Orange - TinyEye says Brown, looks pretty Orange to me!
Transfiguration: Book Cover - Birds, House, Clouds, Silhouette

I plan on reading 11/22/63 sometime soon which is 849 pages, so I can cover the other option. But, this will take me a while to complete.

I am doing one of the Astronomy books with Saturn Run.

Also, THANK YOU, for taking the effort to summarize all of this Alison. Great help indeed. :)

Melissa wrote: "You can still read Lilac Girls and participate in BOM until June 16th Apoorv. I have it too but not sure if I'll read it. I can only get so many actual books read in a month. Mostly I can get audio..."

Oh, I can? That's lit!
I guess, that will be my next book then!
Thanks, Melissa! :)

Christina wrote: "We're so behind on BOM points - it's insane how many of those some teams have!"

I know! Bothers me!
I just got Lilac Girls from my library. 2 days AFTER the end of the month. What a waste!

... and I'm still on hold for this month's BOMs! Ugh!