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

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

Thoughts and Notes on Part I: Stories of Old

(view spoiler)[
- Two things that immediately strike me - Ead and Tane are seriously badass, and The Queendom of Inys (how refreshing to have a matriarchal society for once). Ead is very obviously placed in the Queen's Court for a specific purpose - to protect her.

- One thing that immediately struck me was how easy this book is to read. There aren't many complicated, big words used in the guise of fantasy; the story makes sense, albeit the world itself doesn't yet, but then it's only the second chapter. A lot of information is also peppered in, though it didn't overwhelm - they're little things that will be expanded on as the story goes on.

- The wordplay at the end of Chapter 3 regarding the birds is quite interesting. Interspersing something so little with something so big like Niclays being found out harbouring a fugitive - the little things that you focus on when something big is happening and you're scared shitless - it's beautifully written.

- Ead's exasperation with the court's formality and drama is hilarious and makes her a much more appealing character to me specifically.

- The groundwork of the political scape of Inys being laid through a marriage proposal is fun to read instead of pages and pages blandly describing the world. Shannon portrays the situations faced in this world masterfully.

- Shannon's brilliant method of conveying the history of her world is on point. The history believed by Inys, versus the history that the Priory has passed down. And we are introduced to the siden, given to the Priory by the Orange Tree (will the orange I'm currently eating give me some as well?).

- Ead keeps calling Sabran a fool and a blockhead in Chapter 9 when Sabran does something stupid, and it's making me laugh.

- I'm proud of Tané for defeating that brat Turosa - he deserved to be shoved down a peg.

- Ead and Tané both end this part on a high note - Tané is chosen to be a dragonrider, and Ead gets promoted to being a Lady of the Bedchamber where she can better protect Sabran.

- Poor Kit. And poor Loth. (hide spoiler)]

I can start anytime in June, since my work schedule is really erratic right now; what works for you?

E, Rosina and I can post our thoughts under spoiler tags, so you can go through them as you read. And I'm definitely up for nerding out even once I'm done reading.

I don't think I can wait till July - a bunch of travelling and religious things will be coming up then 😬

What about starting it on the 9th? That should give us enough days to complete it by 16th

Let's wait so we can read quickly? I really don't want to read slowly - too much action happens for me to want to pace myself out.

My suggestion if you want to get involved in the Maze is to enable notifications on the Maze chat - you'll be able to keep yourself updated that way 😊

I couldn't bring myself to get into A Little Life for a bit, so I spent the morning reading Redshirts because I decided to listen to the part of my brain that's been trying to lust over this. Total Star Trek spoof, and I couldn't stop laughing at some points.

If someone is reading a book with Y and you complete before me, please feel free to take the task over - A Little Life is going a lot slowly than expected...

Just completed And the Mountains Echoed, which is MPG Historical Fiction.

It's a really good look into people - their sadness, their grief, their exasperation, their guilt... it's not really a plot based book, it's more character focused, touching on moments in the lives of characters whose lives all intersect. Highly recommended if you enjoy reflective books.

JL wrote: "All three of the books that I have read and marked as read have been removed from the spreadsheet. Is that how the spreadsheet works? Add what you plan to read and it gets removed as you read them?"

Once you've completed the books, we (captains & co-captains) check to make sure that it meets requirements, etc. and then add them onto the main spreadsheet. Once that's done, we've taken to hiding the completed books to make the internal spreadsheet less complicated. So the books you've added on the internal sheet are still there, and they've already been added to the main sheet.

Just finished The Starless Sea which fits task 54. I've indicated that I'm reading the other two on the SS.

I have three books/tasks claimed. I will be finishing finishing of them, but if someone finishes books that match those tasks before I'm done, you can take them :)

I have a Y, M, and an MPG Historical Fiction.

I don't have an editions addiction in general, but I could not resist buying the Slytherin edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I already have a boxed set of all seven books, but Slytherin!

Why do you have three copies of the same book?

I am so glad that you are!!! This book is on my TBR for a re-read anyways, so I get to Buddy Read it now and that's so exciting!

Steven wrote: "Finally getting to go home! About to board. Hoping for lots of readings on 11 hours worth of flights"

Have a safe flight!

As far as Erin Morgenstern books go, there seem to be two types of readers - the ones who absolutely LOVE it, and the ones who just don't. Personally I enjoyed both a lot.

The Starless Sea was very confusing at first, but once the plot comes together, it all makes sense.

Keri, I would suggest you start with The Night Circus. It'll familiarize you with Erin Morgenstern's writing.

Keri wrote: "Sophie wrote: "

https://www.goodreads.com/group/invit...

Please come join us in Troy..."

Just checked and you're in :)

The literal best part about joining this challenge right now is that I've already been tracking all my reads on GR anyways.

January:
1. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
2. The Return of Sherlock Holmes
3. Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World
4. I Am the Messenger
5. The Husband's Secret
6. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
7. The Secret History
8. The Hate U Give
9. A History of Wild Places
10. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
11. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
12. Americanah
13. Night Sky with Exit Wounds
14. The Case of the Missing Marquess
15. The Case of the Left-Handed Lady
16. The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets
17. The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan
18. The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline
19. The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye
20. Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche

February:
21. The White Tiger
22. The Space Between Worlds
23. Normal People
24. A Long Petal of the Sea
25. The Nickel Boys
26. The Bone Season
27. A Thousand Ships
28. All the Birds in the Sky
29. All the Light We Cannot See
30. The Iliad

March:
31. The Last Thing He Told Me
32. 84, Charing Cross Road
33. Illuminae
34. The Scarlet Letter
35. The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
36. Connect the Dots
37. The Thursday Murder Club
38. A Room of One's Own
39. Call Me by Your Name
40. The Water Dancer
41. American Gods
42. Sag Harbor

April:
43. James and the Giant Peach
44. One Last Stop
45. My Life on the Road
46. The Personal Librarian
47. The Hunger Games
48. And Another Thing...
49. Peter Pan
50. Klara and the Sun
51. The Night Circus
52. The Houseguest: And Other Stories
53. Wuthering Heights
54. The Mysterious Affair at Styles: A Hercule Poirot Mystery

May
55. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
56. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
57. The English Patient
58. Ariadne
59. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
60. Mrs. Dalloway
61. The Shoemaker's Wife
62. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
63. The Book Thief
64. The Starless Sea
65. And the Mountains Echoed
66. Redshirts

June
67. A Castle in the Clouds
68. This is How You Lose the Time War
69. The Great Gatsby
70. Where'd You Go, Bernadette
71. The Priory of the Orange Tree
72. The Client
73. Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race
74. A Little Life
75. The Witch's Heart
76. The Master and Margarita
77. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
78. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

July
79. Frankenstein
80. The Paris Library
81. Jane Eyre
82. Howl's Moving Castle
83. Dracula
84. The Secret Garden
85. Little Women
86. Pachinko
87. If We Were Villains
88. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

August
89. Wolf Hall
90. Under the Whispering Door
91. Malibu Rising
92. The Handmaid's Tale
93. The Hobbit
94. Honour
95. The Way of Kings
96. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions

September
97. Milk Teeth
98. The Maidens
99. Between the World and Me
100. The Language of Flowers

Navi - please recheck the edition and page count for The Queen of the Night - they don't seem to match on the SS.

Megan - Please add Things We Never Got Over, Broken Hill High and Until Mayhem to your shelf. Please also recheck the page count for Broken Hill High.

Mia - please re-check the page count for Sorcery of Thorns.