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

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

HEADS UP!

The tracking sheet (Monster Mini tab) has an additional table which lists all the possibly "tougher" tasks across all the monsters. This includes tasks from monsters we haven't come across yet.

Each of those tasks have a corresponding number - so take a look at those when you complete a book and add that number so that we can use that book if it gets banked and if and when those tasks open for us.

I understand this adds one more additional check, but this would definitely helps use all our banked books especially for pesky tasks like some of these. Thanks! :)

Jhmingos wrote: "We still have a couple of completed books that haven't been used for the monster task. We can use it for Lernaean Hydra right? M has read a couple of books that were over 800 pages."

Indeed. Already used one of M's and one of LaurLa's books for a couple of tasks. Checking through the others to see if we can use the banked books.

Lernaean Hydra IS NOW SLAIN!
Time to bring on the new monster.

... AAAAND, we got another Lernaean Hydra!
Sticky creature this one!

UPDATE

If the Maze hasn't scared you being the monster that it was - what's coming will...
Get ready!!

Jhmingos wrote: "Wonderful news! It was a tough challenge but we, Team Trojan, were the first team to finish the maze 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼"

SO SO SO EXCITED! :D
You folks just were on absolute fire. What a stellar team performance. Thank you, Jhmingos, for being such a valuable part of the maze. You just gobbled these books up. It was fascinating to see your speed :D

And Judy, what a fabulous job leading the Trojans through to completion and being a massive representation for our team. You rock! :)

Wanted to drop in and acknowledge the wonderful work everyone participating in the maze is doing. It is an absolute rush seeing how amazingly everyone is working in tandem with each other and reading at a mad speed. Great contributions so far, and hope we get through to the final leg just as smoothly.

Special kudos to Judy for leading the maze effort and doing a kickass job of it so far.

For those who aren't participating in the Maze, worry not, the June Mini is coming...

Nicole B wrote: "Hi, sorry for not checking but things have been busy in RL. I have read a few books and will be able to post there details in a few days if that's ok?"

Thank you for checking in, Nicole! Let me know if you have any trouble accessing the team tracking spreadsheet. All the links should be in the first few messages. Feel free to reach out in case you have any questions. :)

Bobbi, I just sent you a fresh invite to the group - hopefully that reached you. Let me know if the issue still persists and I can reach out to the other Mods in that case.

Also note, that there will be a separate June Mini challenge (starting June 15th) outside of the Maze Challenge - so readers who do not get on the Maze (given that it is going to be slightly fast paced) can always chip in on the June Mini.

Books used for the Maze, can't be used for the Mini.

Team Helen - Discussion Questions
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?
As perceptive as Satoru is, I do think he is rather naive when it comes to people he considers close to him. He definitely senses his animals, but humans not so much, He seems like someone who will love you with a complete and utter abandon, no matter what he gets in return.

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?
It definitely was a refreshing change of pace. It not only gave us an insight of Nana and Satoru's relation, it also helped break the book from being repetitive and monotonous structurally - which I believe was a smart move by the author.

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?
Yeah, unfortunately it was! So, it did not necessarily come across as a big blow, but it still brought home the fact that the story is heading towards a heartbreaking (while obvious) ending.

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)?
I have always loved cats and it was always for their eyes and the sheer variety a cat family offers in terms of kinds of animals. For the longest time I was afraid of dogs, primarily because of a childhood incident, but as I am getting more surrounded by dogs these days, I now go upto dogs myself and ask their permission to pet them, something I categorically strayed away from all my life.

Team Helen - Discussion Questions
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?
I am always weirdly excited to read books from an animal's perspective, primarily because every single time I look at any animal, my first thought inevitably is, "what are they thinking" - so to see that described rather nicely here in the book is definitely fun. And the voice is pretty much what I would expect a cat's thoughts to be like.

6) In this chapter we are introduced to Yoshimine, another potential owner for our cat. What do you think of him and his backstory?
I like Yoshimine's perspective about how animal's are self-sufficient creatures and there is a certain level of independence to them that we humans sometimes refuse to believe because we want that cuddly cute pet. It is also very interesting to see how Satoru's personality evolved from when he was a child to now and how these friends ended up being a perfect foil for his growth.

7) Do you think Yoshimine would have been a good owner for Nana ?
I would like to think so. Primarily because he wasn't as handsy and at-times overbearing as Satoru, which Nana being a cat might have begun to acknowledge. Their mutual independence would have worked well as they co-depended. Plus, there was the kitten, which would have been Nana's protegee anyway.

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)
In Hindi, many times cats are called "billi" which literally means cat! In Marathi, many times cats are called "mau" which literally is equivalent to "meow" which is the sound they make. Haha!

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. :)