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

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

DQs Day 2
Ch 5-7

6. Poirot is concerned because Cynthia does not take sugar in her coffee and calls back to when he tasted all the coffees, but it’s never expanded upon. We later find out that the poison was likely administered in coffee and that it has a bitter taste that coffee could mask. Do you have any theories as to why Poirot put such importance on “Cynthia does not take sugar”?
I finished the book, so I'll avoid answering this one.

7. Witnesses have testified to overhearing an argument between Mr & Mrs Ingelthorp the day she was murdered — but Mr Ingelthorp claims they are mistaken. Do you believe he is truly the one who was having the argument, or do you have any other suspicions? Poirot certainly thinks he is innocent and claims to be able disprove the other claim (about him buying the poison) — does that sway you at all?
At this point, I knew enough of Agatha Christie's twists and turns to not expect anything.

8. Most people seem to believe Mr Inglethorp is guilty (ESPECIALLY Evie), while Lawrence seems to believe the death came by natural causes, and Mr. Inglethorp doesn’t seem to have any theories at all except to believe it was murder but never pointing fingers at a suspect. I have to admit, I expected more finger-pointing from this group! Have any characters’ reactions so far stood out as peculiar to you?
John, I think was behaving rather irrationally. Especially for a guy who just got his long-awaited inheritance.

9. One of my favorite things about mysteries is trying to figure out what happened before it’s revealed. Are you trying to solve the murder, or would you prefer to be surprised by the eventual reveal? Do you feel like you’re usually good at solving the mysteries, or do they evade you?
I always tried solving them, but there are so many tiny clues hidden around that I always ended up a bit confused. I'm not the best at this style of mystery though.

DQ Day 1
Chapters 1 - 4

1. The first few chapters set the scene for this (first) instalment of Hercule Poirot. What do you make of the various characters we are introduced to? Especially "Alfred dearest" whom everybody seems to dislike. Do you agree with Mrs Howard that they're all only interested in the money? Do you agree with Hastings that they're all somewhat suspicious?
I found the narrator a bit obnoxious at the start, and all the other characters ranging from "huh, interesting" to "oh for the love of". And yes, almost all of them are in it for the money. Still wondering why Mrs. Inglethorp even married "Alfred dearest" though.

2. A murder has occurred! Anyone want to venture a guess at this stage as to who has done it? And was it really death by poison? Or is Dr. Bauerstein's expertise in the matter and the fact that Mrs. Inglethorp suffered from severe convulsions in front of practically the entire household merely a red herring?
I guessed Alfred pretty much immediately, because his was the most obvious motive. Then as things played out I was doubting myself.

3. There was an argument the day before the murder between the late Mrs. Inglethorp and an unknown person, potentially Mr. Inglethorp. What might this have been about?
Money. It always comes down to money.

4. What might Mrs. Inglethorp not have wanted to show Mary Cavendish that resulted in the latter feeling somewhat peeved?
It might have been her will?

5. Are you enjoying the narrative so far? I assume I don't have to ask if this is your first Christie book? It seems like most everyone has read at least one of her books, or has seen an episode or two of the tv adaptations.
It was a fun read for sure. Not my first Christie; I've read some of the other Poirots (because I wanted to watch the movies) and And Then There Were None was my first and remains my favourite Christie book.

Our word for Round 4 is up! Get ready to do some Never Ending Laundry!

M wrote: "I am a little behind, but I am reading the BOM. I will have the first groups of questions posted by tonight. Do I need to add a link to my post on the spreadsheet or just what number the comment is?"

The link please

Brittany wrote: "I apologize, I basically lost my house to flooding and an electrical fire... so trying to catch up on life now"

Please take care and be safe!

M wrote: "I am also catching up on messages. I sent message last week asking if someone could mark my last books as read on the spreadsheet since I couldn't access it from my phone while traveling. I guess t..."

I marked Blood of Liscor as read. Were there any other books?

Okay, so I didn't factor in the time change to GMT when I thought this round ended 30 minutes ago. The round actually ends 24 minutes from now. The spreadsheet is ready, so can you check us in when it's time? It's almost 1am here so I'm heading to bed now.

Yup - just quickly transferring the last word's books to the main sheet, and then I'll check us in.

I had to remove a couple of books from the last word from P and M. The last few days being what they were, I've not had as much time as I wanted to finish reading all my books. I've finished Dreams from my Father, and I'll try to finish at least one more book before time's up.

Is Sister a title? In that case, we can use their actual names instead of Sister

General alert

We're almost at the end of this round with two days to go. If you haven't claimed any spots on the spreadsheet and need to do so, please try to claim the below letters if possible so we can complete this iteration of the word before starting a new one.

N
C
E
E
V
E

As long as you claimed the task on the Mini Challenges sheet

I think I added them

Christine wrote: "I just finished a W book if we need it. I currently have it under an A. I am loading it on the sheet now."

Let's keep it as an A for now so we can complete the latest word; it's showing as read on 6th Nov, so please double check that :)

Insiyah's DQ tracking

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4 DQs
Day 4
Day 5

DQs Day 5, Chapters 30-36

19. Although it seemed like all conflicts were resolved at the end of the last section, Radane’s (ex-)fiancé comes back and is looking for her. Were you surprised the story was taking another twist? What do you think about how all of that resolved?
It seemed really unnecessary. By that point I was just getting myself through the rest of the book so that I'd be done with it.

20. Radane ends up returning Kiela’s parents’ cookbook to her and even fixed the torn out page. What would be in your parents’ cookbook?
I'm compiling one right now, and it's mostly the recipes of food we make every day. So, I guess it'd be what home food tastes like to me.

21. On Sunday I was at my friends’ place and had some of her stepmother’s raspberry and elderflower jam, which was delicious. What’s your favorite type of jam?
I'm not fond of jam; I'm more a chocolate or pistachio spread person, or barring that, savory spreads and chutneys.

22. The revolution was successful, Radane is free, Kiela gets to do her spells with the coven, the merhorses foaled, Kiela und Larran are getting married… everything is just peachy on Caltrey! How did you enjoy the book? What is your rating? Are you going to pick up more from Sarah Beth Durst?
I rated it 2.5 stars because I enjoyed the concept of it, but it didn't fit in with what I thought it would be. I don't think I'm going to re-read this author again unless it's for a BOM or something.

Melissa wrote: "Bobbi, do you think we can move 1984 up to the W for the character's first name - Winston Smith?"

Let's leave 1984 for the Os - I have two claimed right now and hoping I can get through them but I'm not sure if I'll finish them by the end of this round.

Melissa wrote: "

The gods of the wheels have spun! Our word for Round 3 is:
HOUSEHOLD BUDGETS

Oof! Get ready for those H's and U's!"

Those Us again. The look on my face right now

No, you don't need to note it down at all. Not all books fit the mini tasks, and that's perfectly okay :)

M wrote: "If I post that I am done with the book here and just add it to shelf could someone complete the books on the sheet for me?"

Yes, that's fine. Please make sure you've shelved the correct edition though :)

Safe travels!