Insiyah’s Comments (group member since Apr 12, 2022)

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

Task: Read a book whose author (first or last) starts with P
(because my immediate TBR has titles that start with P but not a single author :/)

Direction: South

S: The Sentence (Title: S)
K: The Kite Runner (Title: K)
I: Steve Jobs (ALN: Isaacson)
P: Practical Magic (Title: P)

Andy wrote: "Bleak House - had tried and failed a few years ago, but the challenge helped motivate to try again (and finish 1000+pages) - extraordinary -*nudge to Insiyah*"

I know!!!! I'll read it when I'm back in the UK, promise!

Thank you to everyone for a great team challenge! And special thanks to Eldarwen for being such an incredible Captain!

Completion Post


Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Date read: 31 July
Pages: 433

Mini:
Mod Tower

Eldarwen wrote: "Insiyah wrote: "Nearly done with Good Omens, shouldn't be more than a couple of hours now"

Are you enjoying it? :-)"

I love love love reading this book. Its just so perfect! Its one of my comfort novels at this point.

Nearly done with Good Omens, shouldn't be more than a couple of hours now

Michael wrote: "I’m enjoying these Enola Holmes books. I have month-end accruals to do tomorrow (today) at work, then I plan to read 2-3 more of them."

I found most of the Enola books really fun to read - I love how she keeps continuously outwitting her brothers.

Completion Posts


Book: Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Date Read: 30-Jul-2023
Rating: 4 stars

Mini:
Chipmunks

Also, for my BOM - I'm changing it from Hamnet to Good Omens. It was BOM in August 2019, and I need to reread it anyways.

I can finally read again! Done with all the religious stuff and I can read now! I'll be done with Hamnet tonight!

Hey all,

I'm going offline until next Friday because of a religious event. Will report back on Saturday with completed books ;)

Andy wrote: "Completion Post


If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio - 14/07/23 - 354 pages
My Rating: ⭐⭐

Mini Challenges:
hopefully good fo..."

YES! Finally someone else who doesn't think the world of this book!!!! I read it and remember thinking that it seemed like a bad knock-off of The Secret History and boy of boy did I seem like one of the few people to think that

Alisha wrote: " I will warn you or anyone else that is interested that it has almost every content warning you can think of: graphic violence, SA, suicide, and a lot of it towards minors. So read with discretion

Noted :)

Eldarwen wrote: "Insiyah wrote: "It reads like a theatre play but it's so introspective and descriptive"

That can make it difficult for people, yes.
Is it also entirely written like a play? Because that would make..."

Not written like a play, but think a play in narrative form. There's a lot of flashbacks and intertwining stories (literally half the book is twelve characters telling their stories of an event from their POV) and it's just really slow and reflective.

Completion Post


Book: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (finally!)
Date Read: 16 July
Rating: 4 stars

Mini:
TT:
Title: The, Luminaries
Author: Eleanor Catton
Characters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, L, M, N, P, Q, S, T, W, Y
Te Rau Tauwhare
Charlie Frost
Benjamin Löwenthal
Edgar Clinch
Dick Mannering
Quee Long
Harald Nilssen
Joseph Pritchard
Thomas Balfour
Aubert Gascoigne
Sook Yongsheng
Cowell Devlin
Walter Moody
Lydia (Wells) Carver, née Greenway
Francis Carver
Alistair Lauderback
George Shepard
Anna Wetherell
Emery Staines
Crosbie Wells

Okay, I loved this book, but it was a very, very long read. It reads like a theatre play but it's so introspective and descriptive that I totally understand why so many people DNF'd it. That said, it's brilliantly plotted and so fun because of the new astrological information (though you might want to read this with the audiobook accompanying).

Alisha wrote: "Completion Post


The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
Date read: July 16 23
Pages: 410
Rating:..."

Was this worth it? It looks like so much fun to read...

Completion Post


In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Date Finished: 10-Jul-2023
Pages: 264

Mini:
Team Towers:
Title: In
Author: Carmen, Machado
Wheel MPG: Horror

Completion Post


Happy Place by Emily Henry
Date Finished: 06-Jul-2023
Page count: 400 pages

Mini:
Pink cover
Team Towers:
Title: Happy
Author: Emily, Henry
Characters:
Harriet Kilpatrick, Wyn Connor, Sabrina, Cleo, Parth, Kimmy

I need recommendations for romance novels, please :)

One of the reasons I don't enjoy reading romance a lot is because of the cliches, and the worst of that in my opinion is useless miscommunication for plot purposes. That's why I loved Red, White and Royal Blue so much - because there is very little miscommunication there, and once they're together they actually stick together and their challenge comes from outside and they face it together. Any recs for these kind of books where it's less about playing games or messing around and more about actually growing together as a couple?

Completion Post


Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Date Read: 08 July
Rating: 5 stars

Mini:
Team Towers:
Title - R
Author: C, M
Characters: A, C, J, N, H, W, O, D
Alex Claremont-Diaz, June Claremont-Diaz, Nora Holleran, Henry Windsor, Oscar Diaz