Judith’s Comments (group member since Apr 15, 2015)

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

We are trying to get better at that! It’s never been intentionally anti- nonfiction. But it does come out that way

DQs Day 3 - Chapters 10-14

9. As he walks through the Daeva Quarters, Ali is shot by a toy arrow, let loose by one of the children playing about. Rashid suggests to Ali that he should punish the boy by taking him to be raised in the Citadel, which Ali refuses. What do you think this says about Ali, and about others in the city’s upper echelon?
That his moral code is different and doesn't like to punish people just because he can. But that it likely gives him a feeling of self righteousness and he often acts like a prat.

10. Nahri and Dara have a moment, but are interrupted. Do you like this partnership, romantically or otherwise? Is it doomed, or meant to be?
I was and am not not team Nahri/Dara for romance. Friendship, chosen family type relationship, yes. Romantic? always seemed a wee bit creepy/gross

11. We learn about the terrible conditions in the shafit orphanage and the difficult lives all the shafit are forced into. Even though he immediately refuses to help, how do you think this will influence him in the future?
Guilt is a powerful motivator. Escpecially if you have a strong sense of justice.

12. As Dara and Nahri cross the last illusion shielding Daevabad, Nahri has an odd reaction and ends up flat on her back on the deck of the ferry, with Dara rudely refusing anyone’s assistance. Do you think this was caused by something related to what Nahri is, or something else?
I can't answer this as I've read the trilogy and don't want to spoil anything.

13. Muntadhir takes Ali to a secret room filled with dead Nahids. Do you think this room will be a turning point for Ali? Do you think Dara will discover this and his relic, and what do you think will follow if he does?
I remember thinking. Oh crap this is going to bite someone in the butt eventually. And yes, I thought this was a pivotal moment for Ali as he starts to figure out what's really going on in his city and at the palace.

New Task:

X-Rays - Read a book with MPG Science

Brittany wrote: "Judith wrote: "Because of the length of the King novel, 11/22/63, each team is getting a day to write DQs. Our team was assigned Day 2 (July 17).

Does anyone want to write the questions for that d..."

Perfect! Thank you.

I just relooked at the break down Cat made. It'll actually be June 16th since we are starting a day earlier than normal.
So Day 2: June 16th Chapters 4 through 6.

Day 2 DQs : Chapters 5-9

5. So many groups! We had a couple of chapters in this part that described some of the tribes in Daevabad and elsewhere - the Daeva/Djinn, Ifrit, Simurgh, Zahhak and I'm sure I haven't listed them all. Where on the confusion scale are you - with 1 being totally confused and 10 being "I've got this". And are you ok with your level at this point in the book?
During my first read I remember it being a bit much, especially since a lot were dumped on the reader at once. I figured if the different groups were important I'd figure it out eventually which is pretty much what happened.

. Somewhat related to this - we learn that Suleiman curbed magical abilities because the daeva harmed humanity. I learned (thanks Google) that in the non-book world Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 - he ruled over at least 25 million people. Did you know anything about Suleiman and what do you think of his inclusion in the book?
I only new scant details. US schools are very bad at world history unless it's a specialty class (like European History, Russian History, etc.) I feel like we covered the basics of European monarchies (large focus on the UK), major European wars, then WWI & WWII.
I'd say anything that makes people wonder and do a bit of even light digging to learn something is a good thing.

7. We now know Dara was a slave for many years and was forced to do some things that haunt him. How does this make you feel about his character?
If gives some depth to his character and makes him less of a cardboard character. Also at the time it made me wonder about Dara's motivations.

8. Ali's father was portrayed as brutal when we first met him at the execution, and then later he seemed like a pretty good ruler as he listened to and judged people's problems. What do you think - good king or bad king?
Oof, I've read the trilogy so I'm not going to say more than it lays the ground work for future happenings and highlights the "it's complicated" part of ruling. But overall Ali's father was not ever a favorite character of mine.

Brittany,

Can you add 11/22/63 to your TT shelf when you get a chance?

Thanks!

New Task:

X-Men - Read a book with the word Angel in the title

Because of the length of the King novel, 11/22/63, each team is getting a day to write DQs. Our team was assigned Day 2 (July 17).

Does anyone want to write the questions for that day? We can have anyone from the team do it.

Another way to check for lists. One the books GR page, if you scroll all the way to the absolute bottom on the page there’s a small link that say “lists this book is on” or something like that.

It’ll take you to all the lists people have put the book on including the ‘best of’ lists.

This link used to be a lot easier to find before they redesigned the book pages on GR

DQs Day 1, Ch 1-5


1. This book begins in 18th century Cairo, with France and Turkey fighting over Egypt. I have never encountered this conflict in fiction before. Have you? Were you familiar with it before you started reading?
This is a reread for me but at the time I was only vaguely aware that there had been a lot of fighting over the years about control of many countries in this region (and honestly still is). But this specific conflict was new to me on my first read.


2. Nahri has several mysterious powers, including healing, the ability to sense illness in others, and the ability to understand and speak every language she hears. Which of her powers would you like for yourself?
Languages for sure. the healing is a bit daunting to me I'm not sure I could handle that pressure long term.


3. What do you think of the world building so far? Do you find it confusing, or do you feel like you’re along for the ride?
I still had questions at this point in the book last time but I didn't feel lost or that I couldn't follow the story.


4. So far we’ve met 3 significant players in this book: Nahri, Ali, and Dara. Do you have a favorite character so far, or one who intrigues you the most?
of the 3 Nahri is my favorite

I was able to use a banked book for one task that popped up which led too:

New task:

Film 10s - The Whole Ten Yards - Read a book that shares a title word (NOTE: THE can't be used)

Ooof, I just replaced a Greek monster with a Greek monster and we got Kraken. I guess some of those Stephen King BOMs might be put to good use.

800+
ship on cover
Author name (first or last) starts and ends with the same letter (e.g., Andromeda)
character goes swimming
8 in the series number (e.g., #8, #18, #0.8)

I have a X title I can start later this evening unless someone else has one and wants the task

New Chipmunk task:

X-Files - Read a book by David Duchovny, or an author named David

3 New Chipmunk Tasks:

17: 10 Commandments - "Honour your parents" - Read a book featuring a parent - child relationship (can be adult child too)

18: X-Files - Read a book that is 11th in a series

19: 10 Things the Chipmunks Love - Reading Tasks! Read a book set in a school / college / university

Bobbi wrote: "I finished my book for 6, but then I noticed Laura put one in progress for the same one.

That said, I left it for 6 on the spreadsheet for now, but it will also work for one of our missing Ns. I'l..."

I used yours for the Chipmunk and moved Laura's to the Winner's Tower for Remus Lupin since it was connected to Harry Potter.

Sharon wrote: "Making sure that I understand correctly- I just added The Valentine's Hate to the spreadsheet into one of the Rainbow tower tasks. But if a chipmunk task is revealed sometime in the..."

Correct!

New task:

10 Things the Chipmunks Love - Bizarre Shelves! Read a book shelved Weird, with at least 10 tags

Here's some potential books. I have some that will work, but it'll be a few days before I can start it. So have at it!
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Bobbi wrote: "Would a zombie anthology count for 6. X-Men - group of people working together? It' obviously broken up into several stories but more than not have groups of survivors working together? ([book:Nigh..."

that should work fine

Tricia wrote: "Lexi wrote: "Tricia wrote: "

I just started this book this morning, and I immediately thought the red circle looked like a red balloon. Is that potentially a match for chip..."

My book The Dead Romantics works for this spot as well. But I just started the audio today and am not very far into it. Let's leave yours there for now but if I happen to finish first, we can swap it out?