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

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

Team Lost Overdue Bill
Discussion Questions - Day 1
Now - Now last line "...reach out and touch her."

1. Is this your first book by O'Leary? Only reading for points and that lovely 'O' letter for Wheel-a-thon or was it already on your tbr list?
This is my first book by the author and really I hadn't even heard of her before this - so excited to start something new, but to be honest, the primary intension was the bonus points. :)

2. Road trips. Love them, hate them? If you've gone on a road trip before what are some must have for the journey?
Do love road trips (obviously the company makes a massive amount of difference), but generally, they are pretty fun. For me, the must haves are really the people in the road trip should have the same intent towards that trip. If one person is doing it for relaxation and the other for exploration, it does not work as well. Also, you need to be a little spontaneous on a road trip - off-roading is often times the most fun part of a road trip.

3. Deb's comment about never having a baby obviously proved untrue. Do we think the baby daddy is going to make an appearance in the story? Or do you think it's a no name person who isn't relevant to the book?
I don't think so - I mean, it really won't matter even if we add one more character who is a cardboard cutout. Deb story works fine on her own, and it might just be better to keep it as such, instead of muddling the waters more.

4. The flagrant unconcern about money by half the characters is a bit gross. Do you think that's at the root of Dylan and Addie's split? Or do you think it's the mysterious Grace? Marcus especially seems to not know the whole breakup story. Any guesses to why Dylan didn't seem to tell him the truth?
Honestly, the flagrant unconcern about money is the least of my worries about these characters. But yeah, what do you expect from rich kids who live in a bubble and think their hardships are unsurmountable! The obvious guess at the reason of Dylan and Addie's split seems to be Marcus (albeit unknowingly) and how toxic their equations with each other are.

5. Initial impressions of the cast of characters?
A bunch of brats! Really don't care about anyone. They are all written in such caricatures, that it is unintentionally funny. They all seem spoilt, who can't get their shit together and are stuck acting like teenagers. The central romance also is so run of the mill, that I am unfortunately unimpacted by their breakup or their (from what it obviously seems) patch-up.

Now that we have everyone checked in (thank you, you awesome folks!) and we still have TWO (!!) days to go till we can start (time to get all your "exciting" dusting, cleaning, vacuuming done - I know, breathtaking stuff!) - let's talk about some awesome books you might have read in the first 9 months of this year.

Which have been the top 3 (or 5, or 10) books you have read in 2024? (because our TBRs are so barebones right now, duh! :P)

Volunteering for DQs for Team Lost Overdue Bill. :)

Righty-o! Is it weird that I was actually paying a bill (thankfully, not long overdue!), while looking at a Bougainville, dreaming of a summer in Brazil, as I got slotted in this team? Do the Mods know something we don't? :O

So, I'm Apoorv (he/him), currently living in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and I am beyond thrilled to do another round of Wheels. This will be my 8th Wheel-a-thon (missed the 6th edition, ugh! - probably was paying another of these bills during that sign up, bah!).

And what a team we have this time around! I have in fact been on Teams with a fair few of you, so it makes it more fun to be amongst friends. And I get to make new friends as well. Best part of these challenges. :)

And and we have got a kickass captain this time around in Ashley (which is great, because then I can just sit and look pretty! :P) - but seriously, look at the gorgeous spreadsheet she has created. I bet the challenge will go swimmingly when tracking is made so smooth. But, of course, if you have any questions at all at any time during the challenge, please don't hesitate to ask them (simple ones to me, difficult ones to Ashley - please and thank you :P)

I am chuffed to be here and excited to know about all of you and have lots of fun for the next 3 months.
YAAY! :D



Challenge Shelf: Challenge-NBRC-Wheels 9

🌟 Icebreaker Question: 🌟
If you could magically eliminate one boring chore from your life forever, which one would it be and why? 🧹✨
Honestly, none! I love doing chores! :=| (said no one ever!)
It probably would be deep cleaning appliances. Because, that seems to be the one thing that I keep putting off more than the other tasks.

One more? Eh, sure!
You never know, these scary Mods be throwing random challenges at us for (their) fun!

But maybe I should reserve a couple of spots, so that it looks like I am doing something. :=P

Oh look, Ashley has got pretty much everything covered.

Judith wrote: "Are you still around? FYI mods don't watch this as closely as the thread in the captain's group. You might be better off popping in there and remember to include the link to your team thread.

Yeah, figured that. Just requested it there.
But, something told me to come here, you see! :P

I came here to request the mods to open Team Long Overdue Bill for a hot second, and saw the DIY disasters with their hammers staring me down. Not sure I care about the long overdue bill anymore... ;=)

Jenny wrote: "Now. How does one pronounce his name?"

I think it is "my ovaries just exploded", the last I checked! :P :P

Sammy wrote: "I have called in reinforcements to help answer this one!"

If I knew THIS was what was on offer, I would have never missed the sign-offs for this challenge. I am SO MAD at myself right now! Ugh!

Because, as eye-catching Mr. Dempsey is - there are not many like that BEEEEEAUTIFUL TALL GLASS OF CHILLED REFRESHER that is Hrithik Roshan!



Uff! *clears throat*
Thank you for poking me and bringing me here, Sammy - you truly know my thirst taste! :P



Umm! *sings in falsetto*
Sorry, what was the question?
Oh, recommendations!

Yeah, so what's even more ridiculous is he is FANTASTIC actor and has a gamut of genres and roles he has worked in over his career.

Here are a select few (images in the photo below):
- 16th century Mughal Emperor - Jodha Akbar (Netflix)
- Villian/Thief in a Heist Film: Dhoom 2 ((Amazon Prime)
- A teacher down on his luck but does everything to impart education - Super 30 ((Amazon Prime/Hotstar)



Additionally, some very diverse performances from him:
- Paralyzed magician appealing to euthanize himself - Guzaarish (AppleTV)
- Buddy road-trip drama across Spain - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (Netflix)
- An aimless dude who joins the army and transforms - Lakshya (Netflix)
- A bloody superhero - Krrish
- A SEEEXY war hero - War (Netflix) & Fighter (Netflix)

This is the image from that last film that came out early this year.
P.S. He is 50 years old in this photo!



And if all of that was not enough, he is an unbelievably excellent dancer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWn4C...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM7KW...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGXmD...

Okay. You see the problem now!
Sammy just opened the flood gates! :P

Sorry to barge in and write a giant post, but... you see...

Cutthroat was bloody awesome but it went by like a whisker!

And then there were "The Gladiator Games" which was mad insane too with all these teams merging into other teams after a couple weeks and then the merged teams merging into other merged teams. By the end it was craaaazy! I bet setting all of that up was no fun for the Mods.

This is getting intense! Loving it.

Team Classical has pretty much been our consistent competition. But Team Hip Hop has had an interesting rise - every round their score has gone up. One to look out for, I guess!

Excellent reading so far though - we will finish this on a high!

Team R&B
DQs Day 3 - Chapters 13-19

9. I don't know how I feel about the school basically milking Ray owning a Stradivarius and him having to do an interview without even getting asked to do so. I personally would have preferred to keep it private, at least for a while. What are your thoughts on the situation?
Sad but not shocking at all. The school wanted to milk every bit of this opportunity and they just acted like an attention-hungry institute.

10. I can see where Ray's family is coming from wanting to sell the Stradivarius and divide the money, but they never showed any interest in the violin even though it had been in the family for a century, and Ray's grandmother gave Ray the fiddle for Christmas. He had to take care of everything surrounding it and his school/education himself, and he never even had much money to begin with. Would you be selling whatever in your life might turn out be worth this much money, and would you feel like your family was entitled to fair shares?
And they would have continued to not show any interest had it not been revealed to be a Stradivarius worth all that money. Personally, I would not sell something so dear to me which has such emotional connect with my past generations and aligns with my passions so deeply. Also, when you find yourself on a gold mine it is always the least useful relatives that come out of the woodworks, so I certainly would not be inclined in having them involved in anything.

11. Another family claiming ownership of the violin - it was bound to happen. On one hand I'm surprised they're suing Ray for the Stradivarius since I doubt they can prove the fiddle was stolen in any way, but on the other hand the odds clearly are against Ray. And now his family is suing him for the violin as well?! Who do you think is the rightful owner of the Stradivarius?
PopPop was the rightful owner and then it passed on to Ray via his grandmother. There certainly is no documentation around any of this transaction, but I am inclined to say that Ray owns the violin at this point and in the future till Ray decides to part with it.

12. We've been introduced to a lot of different people (whose names I don't even all remember) and they all (most of them anyway) seem to have different reasons to possibly want to steal Ray's Stradivarius - greed, jealousy, racism,... it's all there. Do you have any more guesses of who's behind it all?
I have finished the book so I know who was behind it and that person was a primary suspect in my book from the get go - purely given the fact that everyone around Ray wanted a piece of the pie, so why leave this person out?

Side note: I laughed out loud when [don't remember who] described the Tchaikovsky competition as a cross between the Olympics and American idol; what does that even mean?! 😂
Haha! In today's day and age where American Idol grabs more eyeballs that the Olympics, this was wonderful way to letting people know of the magnitude of the Tchaikovsky competition.

Team R&B
DQs Day 2 - Chapters 7 - 12

5.His mother and Aunt Joyce had gone to the store - ostensibly because they needed more collard greens, but in reality because one of the biggest family traditions was to keep Aunt Joyce out of the kitchen
Do you have any unusual family traditions, Thanksgiving if it applies, or Christmas, if it's not too early, or any other significant cultural event that revolves around a convoluted family meal?
Not really - but being Indian, there are tons and tons of festivities through the year - so there is also conversations between me and Mom as to what to make and how to complete an entire plate with all sorts of taste profiles and textures on it.

6. When Grandma gifts PopPop's fiddle to Ray, his mother's immediate reaction is that he can't keep it and she even scolds her own mother,
Mama .... what are you thinking?
What do you think motivates Ray's mother's resistance to his pursuit of music?
Is it purely because she wants his focus to be on earning money for the family, or does she anticipate the racism and resistance he could face and is trying to protect him from heartbreak?
A bit of both, I'd say. On one end, her ask is rather template - make money so you can comfortably stand on your two feet in a world hell bent on pulling you down purely based on how you look. But, in this practical bargain, she fails to realize that her son has a special gift and a talent that few possess - and nurturing that is just as important for his emotional, creative well-being.

7. Ray's meeting with Dr. Janice Stevens seems a pivotal moment, giving him access to the connections that sustain the close-knit classical music world
Do you feel there is a message here that hard work and talent may not be enough to overcome barriers to success, or is Ray's progress and recognition simply a result of his dedication?
Again a bit of both. When you are trying to carve a niche for yourself in a space that has historically over decades and centuries undermined people who look like you - just pure talent may not suffice to overcome the politics of it. Purists can be critical of any changes and when their space is entered by someone who they have never quite seen before in their vicinity, it can have graver ramifications. So knowing that Dr. Stevens is supporting Ray and helping out with those connections can definitely benefit him.

8. So... PopPop's old fiddle might be a Stradivarius, but before the appraisal Rowland offers to buy it for $25,000 dollars. Ray refuses, declaring
I'm not selling it. Ever
What do you think is behind Ray's attachment to the instrument at this point, the rarity of it and the legitimacy it will give him in pursuing his dreams, or the link to his family's history, back to slavery, or something else?
All said and done, I think, Ray is just incredibly happy to know that the talent that he possess is also something he shares with his PopPop and that makes him happy. He was just as deligent in finding his PopPop's fiddle even before it was priced or discovered to be what it is - so his connect to it is far more deeper and emotional.

Team R&B
DQs Day 1 - Chapters 1 - 6

1. Can you even imagine losing a 10 million dollar anything?! Have you ever lost something and felt as Ray is portrayed in chapter 1...constantly retracing your steps over and over? What are your thoughts on other security precautions, if any, that should have been in place?
I can't imagine a 10 million dollar anything - let alone losing it! Hahaha! I haven't really lost anything of value, so while I may not be able to relate to what Ray went through - I can understand what he must be feeling. And retracing one's steps to the moment back in the time where you had it is almost the perfect way to find the missing piece. As for the security measures, the Violin was insured, but a physical security contingent might have helped, but I bet that cost a lot of money and Ray wasn't that rich when he first knew of the worth of the violin and his family wouldn't have helped fund this.

2. At this point in the book, when/where do you think the Stradivarius was taken?
My first thought was that the family had something to do with it given how money-minded some of them are - but there must have been some help with people physically close to him. Maybe it was taken while he was in the shower.

3. Money can be a keen motivator...the ransom note leads us to believe it's all about the money...do you think it's possible it's about something else?
We haven't quite come across anyone who is musically interested in the violin, so given the cost and the value of the Stradivarius, money seems to be the top motive.

4. It's eluded to that Ray is about to make history because of his race with the upcoming competition in Russia. His family sure doesn't seem to be proud or supportive. Should Ray be proud of this accomplishment or is putting the focus on race poor form by everyone concerned?
He absolutely should be. I read through the Tchaikovsky competition and its history and it infact is very very white. So, what Ray has achieved is truly monumental and he is should be very proud of himself for putting himself in that position. Ofcourse the one factor that truly stands out for him is his talent and that is independent of race in an ideal world. But, given the world we live in, the background Ray comes from and the history of the competition, it is rather difficult to ignore the race element.

Mary X wrote: "I think my reading of American Tabloid was used for the wrong word. I thought we could only get points for each bonus word once? American Tabloid was used for mambo both times. Mine should probably..."

Great catch, Mary! Thanks!
Updated to capture it for bluegrass! :)

This is soooo close!
I'm excited to see how the last two rounds go - couple of books here and there and its anybody's game right now.

Delighted to be part of this amazing group of people. :)

Shan ~A~ wrote: "Can the SS be fixed like the last round, so we can see the letters needed as we scroll down?"

Should be all set, Shan!

Team R&B
DQs Day 3; Chapters 16-22

10. Pupkin is,,, alive??? Okay, no big surprise there to be honest, but we did finally get some interesting background info from Louise and Mark's childhood, even if that's not how Louise remembers it. Do you think she really doesn't remember, has simply forgotten, due to trauma or it just having happened way too long ago, or does she remember but chooses not to acknowledge it? Or maybe Mark misremembers himself and it didn't even happen (that way at least)? They were both still very young after all, Mark especially. Is it possible to remember something that happened when you were only two years old?
Mark may or may not remember it given his age, but Louise it feels like does not want to acknowledge what she remembers. The whole situation was baffling at the least and terrifying at worst - so it isn't particularly surprising that she has willingly cut off that part of her life/memory.

11. The second perspective adds a new layer, however it only got added halfway through the book. Were you surprised we got Mark's POV at all, and would you have preferred for it to be there from the beginning of the book? Also, has this last section changed your opinion on him in any way? He did save Louise from Pupkin after all....
I actually would have liked more of Mark's perspective. Having the whole story narrated by two voice would have definitely added a bit more intrigue to the whole thing. Having said that, it certainly give another dimension to Mark and showed us a side of him that was independent of his sister and family. The Mark that we learned about from Louise's perspective was definitely shot-changed than what he can potentially be.

12. To me, the last chapter feels a bit like a fever dream, definitely like they were on drugs. I personally don't remember which MPGs the book has and don't want to check in case of 'spoilers' now, but do you think there's a possibility the house, our main characters, the puppets, the dolls, Pupkin, everything- isn't actually haunted and none of it is actually happening?? What if it's just a dream (which would be the worst ending ngl), mental problems like Louise wants to believe, or mold in the house that's effecting them like this plus possible drug use from Mark when he was away?
I did not quite go there. Also, that would have been a cop out of sorts for the author to resort to that. The horror is in the possible reality of it and I would certainly like for it to be that way. Puppets and dolls are so commonplace that knowing they could turn into such menacing monsters is the real USP of the book.

13. I can't help but wonder how the book is gonna end... If Pupkin is indeed an evil puppet come to life I only see one way it can be destroyed - fire. Do you think they'll end up burning down the entire house (although Hill House (in the show at least) wouldn't let itself be burned down either, so who knows if that would work), or will the dolls and puppets take over? What do you predict will happen in the rest of the book?
Fire was my natural instinct as well - but just given the sheer amount of puppets in that house, one would literally have to burn the whole damn house down. That kind of goes away from the very basic premise of the book where the house is a character and the two main leads are fighting for it - so burning it down and no one getting anything is again another easier way out, which shouldn't happen. I do believe there will be a doll takeover but there is something untold in all of this so far, which is going to be the possible way out of this.