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

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

Keri wrote: "I love this mini too but I’m really disappointed it seems like all books between 650-800 pages don’t count at all for ANY of the monsters :-(
That’s a bummer since most of my long ones fit in that ..."

There are a few monsters that need long books. Once we're done with these 5, we can request more.

Everyone, please note that books finished before June 15th, 9pm GMT +1 cannot be used.

Countdown: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

There will be a mini challenge - details should be out soon :)

Alison wrote: "Insiyah wrote: "

Alison, you've been selected for DQs for The Witch's Heart on 19th June.

Signups for DQ volunteers for Ariadne (here) and Malibu Rising (here) are also open."

Thanks for the he..."

You're welcome :)

DQs Day 2

6.) I'd suspect, in order, my brother, my talent for misplacing things, and then ghosts. Yes, it's a very, very pointed metaphor for the people who just disappeared during Stalin's rule. It's actually why the author didn't even try to get this book published; because he would have been made to disappear himself.

7.) The cat is literally my favourite. I don't enjoy pandering fools, and cats are never that.

8.) I'm intrigued by the whole "press a button, something appears" thing, because that does seem more modern than the usual 30s tech. Aside from that, I'd stay the hell away from Stavinsky and his posse of admirers - I have too many quirks that fit the bill of mental illness in the 30s, chief that I'm an ambitious, independent woman. That would have gotten me committed for sure.

9.) I think the housing crisis is still a thing today. Abundance of available housing seems to be geared only towards a specific type of people who make a specific amount of money. Low income renters face a lot of discrimination and segregation, and often have to wait for a very long time to receive access to government housing. Same problem, different name.

10.) I think at the moment Woland and his little posse are causing as much chaos as they can in Moscow. I know that the story will come together at the end, and I'm enjoying learning the different strings involved.

Volunteering for DQs for Team Cassandra

JL wrote: "Insiyah wrote: "I need to rant about how bad a book is, so feel free to skip/not read this.

I'm reading The Client, and wow. Just wow. You know the basic writing rule of "Show, not ..."

Denise wrote: "Insiyah wrote: "I need to rant about how bad a book is, so feel free to skip/not read this.

I'm reading The Client, and wow. Just wow. You know the basic writing rule of "Show, not ..."

I'd read this book around 10+ years ago - I don't even know where I'd picked it up, and I remember loving it then. The plot is fun - an eleven year old outwitting smart adults is hilarious, and that's also why I had loved the Enola Holmes series, since in that one, it's fifteen years old Enola outwitting her smart, worldly brothers. So The Client had been on my TBR for a couple of years now, but I just couldn't get around to it. Maybe it's because I had a feeling I wouldn't like it anymore - I've moved past my thriller, mystery, legal drama phase.

The movie may be great, but I'm just not up to watching it. I have exactly one show that I'm tracking episodes of, and another couple that I can put on in the background as I do other things, and that's it. I've barely watched any movies this year at all.

Day 1 DQs
Book 1- Chapters 1 (Never talk to strangers) - 6 (Schizophrenia)

1)I'm intrigued in a morbid way - the pretentiousness of some academics tends to strike as ironically funny because while they pretend to be so open-minded and hungry for knowledge, any opinion other than their own being presented to them strikes them as oppositionary to the point of heated passions.

2)I did already know, because my edition has a Foreword that analysed the book - which I'm both happy and not, since on the one hand it spoiled the book, but on the other, it gave me context related to the book, author and the social landscape of Moscow at the time.

3) I found it intriguing - since I'm not Christian, my point of view was a lot more like "huh, really?". I am perfectly aware that Gospel is not accurately represented in this book; it was nonetheless, fun to read. The disorientation and the hurts that Pilate faces when questioning Yeshua is kind of divine warning of sorts that he is too busy ignoring to heed. (I loved that comment - this dude is stalking me, and then has made himself my PR person and is now making my brand look unstable and rebellious - heehee).

4) Man, am I glad I've never seen anything like this in my day-to-day life. The beheaded friend was hilarious to read (I'm aware of the illogicality), but would have been traumatising in real life. And no, I would not have given chase, though I would absolutely love to see a giant, civilised cat while using public transport.

5) I think he's going to be sprung from the psych hospital by W, will follow him around on adventures, and in the end will think himself emerging from a breakdown with new stories and inspiration that will lead to him writing poetry that will make him famous. (P.S. - I haven't found the spoilers - this is what I think will happen).

Alison, you've been selected for DQs for The Witch's Heart on 19th June.

Signups for DQ volunteers for Ariadne (here) and Malibu Rising (here) are also open.

Sophie wrote: "They will come! It takes several minutes to set up each maze so I need to find some uninterrupted time to get them up and running for you."

Take your time! No rush.

Sign me up for the hard level please - after the Maze in TT I'm hooked.

Read a book with the word tree, leaf, branch or grass (plurals are acceptable) in the title

Direction: West (Odd Number of pages)

Devann - please add Rosebud to your shelf.

I have a copy of Kafka on the Shore as well; it's on my TBR for the next couple of months since it's a 600+ page book. Thoughts on Ishiguro? I read Klara and the Sun, and I didn't exactly love it...

Mia wrote: "Btw: Is anybody here reading the eurovision BOM? Picked it up from the library today, and not quite sure if i'm smart enough to finish that one. It's an advanced read.... quoting Kant already in th..."

I'm reading it as well.

I am very, very tempted to DNF, but it's 458 pages which is good for this challenge, and it's for two other challenges as well. So I've to suffer through.

I need to rant about how bad a book is, so feel free to skip/not read this.

I'm reading The Client, and wow. Just wow. You know the basic writing rule of "Show, not tell"? Well, this author just shows. "She was proud of herself for...." I'm halfway though, and it's getting downright painful to read this. And then there's the egoism. Everyone thinks they are amazing, asskicking badasses. Spoiler alert - they are not. They are all fucking idiots. And they all hate each other. I get it. Every single reader gets it with one fucking line. We do NOT NEED TWO PAGES EXPLAINING THIS! And then there are sentences like "he walks importantly..." and "she put the plate majestically". How does a person walk importantly? Or serve a dinner plate majestically? Why is the language here so odd?!

The protagonist is an eleven year old kid, except half the time he sounds like he's right, and the other half he sounds like he's forty. There are moments where he's crying because someone threatened him (great, that makes sense), and then he gives a big speech with big words about how tired he is of this, and how his friends are doing this and that at school and he's being followed by the mob. Also, he is obsessed with the mob and lawyers and FBI from movies. What happened to common sense for someone portrayed as so street smart?

Okay, rant over. But seriously - I used to love John Grisham a few years ago, and now I can't stand him.

Thoughts and Notes on Part IV: Thine is the Queendom

(view spoiler)[
- Roslain is incredible. To protect Sabran against her own family would have taken so much courage.

- Ead and Loth are back in Inys! And they pretty much set things right immediately.

- The candle dance sounds incredible. Just imagining it is woah (something like Elizabeth and Darcy's dance at the Netherfield Ball in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice).

- Sabran finally knows the truth about Ead. And allowed to flourish away from the Dukes Spiritual, she's freaking brilliant.

- Kalyba's story now is downright creepy.

- I'm glad that Kalyba's truth is in the open, but something like this shaking the entire foundation of your faith must be absolutely devastating.

- Loth has gone from not knowing what go do and floundering about to volunteering to be Inys's ambassador to the east.

- "...sobbed as if her soul had been ripped out." And my soul cried out in sympathy right there. Its easy to forget just how much Sabran has been through over the course of this book alone, to say nothing of the past. She's had the biggest character development arc, going from naive and sheltered to a strong, fierce leader defending her people.
(hide spoiler)]

Thoughts and Notes on Part V: Here Be Dragons

(view spoiler)[
- Tané literally steals the Rose Eternal to go after the Golden Empress. Man, she has guts.

- And she saved Ead!
(hide spoiler)]

Thoughts and Notes on Part VI: The Keys to the Abyss

(view spoiler)[
- The jewel wielders finally meet. Two badass women joining forces against forces of evil. What could be better?

-I love the ending. It's filled with a future, not a dead stop of happily-ever-after. There's a lot more work to be done, and it's going to be very hard. But they might just have a life together after their hard work.

- I like that Ead isn't willing to bask in her fame of killing the Nameless One. That she isn't interested in being in the spotlight at all.
(hide spoiler)]

Thoughts and Notes on Part III: A Witch To Live

(view spoiler)[
- Tané is all but a ghost, but this injury of hers is something new entirely.

- Ead is going back home! And she gets to reunite with Loth, and finally be Eadaz uq-Nāra instead of Ead Duryan.

- Kalyba's story is really interesting.

- The mulberry tree! Niklays managed to find the way!

- What happened to Loth? He hasn't shown up yet after the whole "you can never go home" thing.

- Tané had a jewel in her side?! That's insane.

- Ead is a rebel! Yay!

- It's really sad that even the Priory has corrupt leaders. But hey, Ead is a rebel, and she takes Loth with her!
(hide spoiler)]

Thoughts and Notes on Part II: Declare I Dare Not

(view spoiler)[
- Loth is in a completely different world now - one where he has to kill and cook animals to survive, walk half frozen while suffering from a deadly plague that is keeping him safe from predators and killing him from the inside.

- Ead's perpetual exasperation with the Inysh court remains hilarious.

- Truyde, what have you done?!

- Nikalys is going to regret his decision to blackmail Tané, I just know it.

- Yup, he regrets it. Hard not to, when he just got into pirate hands. Frankly, I'm more worried about the dragon Nayimathun.

- Tané faces the consequences of her actions. I know she had it coming, but it breaks my heart anyways.

- I'm really worried about Loth now. Nothing is going according to plan for the poor guy.

- Poor Sabran. In short order, she lost Arabella, her companion and her baby.

- Finally finding out Cleolind's story as narrated by Chassar is so much more interesting.

- Ead is seriously such a badass. She killed a High Western!

- Ead and Sabran. They fit.

- How sad, though, that they had such little time together. (hide spoiler)]