Edi’s Comments (group member since May 04, 2016)

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

Finished The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

I can read its set in the UK and it's also shelved as science fiction

I'm reading
It has been shelved as historical by 126 people. I might finish it tonight.

Just finished reading The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow for my main task.
Not sure if I should start another book right now or wait. Are there other tasks open?

Wow I feel like everyone is reading really fast. I'll be finishing my book tonight. Keep it up team!

I can do B-4 or E-7 with The Scorpion Rules Erin is #42 in the list.

Hey everyone!
I live in California but I'm currently in New York. I'll be heading back soon.
This is my first team challenge so I'm pretty excited and a little nervous. I'm currently not reading much because I end up too tired after walking all day. I'll go back to my usual reading pace next week, and finish The Book of Lost Things.

3rd Set of DQs: May 24th, 2016
The Shadow of the Wind, Chapters 18-25 (pgs. 148-219)

12. I found it heartening how the neighborhood rallies around Don Federico after his arrest and assault.
When hearing of this horrible incident, Merceditas says: "“Poor thing, he [Don Federico] has a heart of gold, and he always minds his own business. So he likes dressing up as a Gypsy and singing in front of people? Who cares? People are evil.”
“Not evil,” Fermín objected. “Moronic, which isn’t quite the same thing. Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention, and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn’t stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct, like a stable animal, convinced that he’s doing good, that he’s always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around fucking up, if you’ll excuse the French, anyone he perceives to be different from himself, be it because of skin color, creed, language, nationality, or, as in the case of Don Federico, his leisure habits. What the world needs is more thoroughly evil people and fewer borderline pigheads.”” (pg. 155)
Do you agree with Fermín's opinion? Why or why not?
I agree that most of the time people who do these bad acts are simply ignorant and afraid. They're afraid of people that are just too different from themselves, and too scared to understand them. However, I also think that there are people that are slightly "evil" meaning that they are hateful and act with intention, and some forethought.

13. This is a translation from the original Spanish. Can you tell it is a translation/ do you think it is a good one?
I think it's a great translation because I didn't even notice. Sometimes translated works feel a little jarring or have awkward writing. This one doesn't feel like that, but I'd love to read the original for comparison.

14. Any favorite quotes from this section?
Three I found very interesting:
“Someone once said that the moment you stop to think about whether you love someone, you’ve already stopped loving that person forever”. (176)
""…sometimes one feels freer speaking to a stranger than to people one knows. Why is that?”
I shrugged. “Probably because a stranger sees us the way we are, not as he wishes to think we are.”” (176)
“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you”. (209)
Do you agree with these quotes?
I actually stopped to think about the third one “Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you”. (209) I think it's true because we tend to read about things that resonate with us. I have hated some books because they feel "too honest." They have shown me a part of myself or of humanity that I don't like and rather not think about.

15. Fermín has many pearls of wisdom to pass on to Daniel, many involving romance, some amusing, such as:
““This business of courtship is like a tango: absurd and pure embellishment. But you’re the man, and you must take the lead.”
It was all beginning to look pretty grim. “The lead? Me?”
“What do you expect? One has to pay some price for being able to piss standing up.”” (190)
What do you think of these view points and advice? Do you think Fermín would be a good husband to Bernarda and a good father?
I don't like a lot of Fermin's advice about women. Makes them sound like objects or as if all women are the same.
Fermin does make me laugh and I mostly like him, but I really doubt he can be a good husband. He claims he wants to have children with Bernarda because it "would make her truly happy" but she never said so herself, and he barely met her. Then he talks about getting other women pregnant. I doubt he'd be loyal to Bernarda or even be a good role model to his kids.

16. Would you have a problem with a close friend dating one of your siblings (assume you have one for the purposes of this question)? Do you think Daniel and Tomás’s friendship will survive Daniel’s interest in Bea?
I'd like to say no, but I think I would. I know the worst in my best friend and wouldn't want that anywhere near my sister. I'd feel protective, but it's her choice in the end.
I think Daniel is going to do something incredibly stupid (not on purpose) and hurt Bea. It's going to damage their friendship.

17. Things are starting to make more sense after the connection between Julián Carax, Jorge Aldaya, Miquel Moliner, Fernando Ramos, and Francisco Javier Fumero has been revealed.
How do you think Nuria Monfort fits into all of this? Do you have an updated prediction on what happened to Penelope Aldaya or on who Laín Coubert is and why he wants to destroy all of Carax’s books?
Nuria tells Daniel: “"…sometimes it seemed to me that he [Julián Carax] was no longer interested in the world or in people…I got the feeling that Julián was living in the past, locked in his memories. Julián lived within himself, for his books and inside them—a comfortable prison of his own design.”
“You say this as if you envied him.”
“There are worse prisons than words, Daniel.”” (166)
Do you have any ideas on what happened to make Julián this way? Do you think there was really an almost-marriage and a duel? Why did Julián return to Barcelona?
Apparently Miquel and Nuria are (were?) married, but I missed that detail. I don't understand why Nuria lied to Daniel so I don't trust anything she said.
I was hoping that Julian and Penelope left for Paris together and that is why she disappeared the same date he moved. It's more likely that they had planned to leave together, but her parents trapped her somewhere without his knowledge and he ends up leaving by himself thinking she ditched him.

18. We have been introduced to many unique and eccentric characters, from the Barcelós to Fermín to Don Anacleto Olmo to Tomás and Beatriz Aguilar to Miquel Moliner. Who is your favorite and/or who do you find the most intriguing?
I don't have a favorite. I'm actually having a hard time remembering who's who.

19. I am enjoying the setting in historical Barcelona and the eerie, mysterious tone of the book. What are your favorite or least favorite aspects of the book so far?
I'm enjoying the feeling of the book that is sometimes charming, but other times a little eerie like the scene in that small room with all the crosses.
I'm not enjoying the slow pace. I feel like most of the time nothing is happening except Fermin and Daniel drooling over this girl or that. I do enjoy the mystery unraveling, but I wish there was something more to the scenes in between discoveries.

Discussion Questions 23 May 2016, Chapters 11-17

6. We were introduced to Fermin in yesterday’s section, but we get to know him better today. What do you make of him? He obviously has some form of PTSD, do you think the stories he tells are real? Was he really a spy? Do you think he is going to play a big part in Daniel’s life?
Most of the time I find him funny with all his crazy stories, but I don't like how he talks about women (except Bernarda.) I don't think all his spy stories are real, but he must have gotten captured and interrogated for something because he thinks he wakes up in a cell and has all those burns.
He's going to play a big role in his life because he is becoming a part of his family. I'm sure Daniel is already being influenced by him.

7. This story is getting spooky. Who do you think left the photo of Julian Carax in the bookstore?
It's getting really spooky :O The only person that comes to mind is "the devil" man.

8. ”Television, my dear Daniel, is the antichrist, and I can assure you that after only three or four generations, people will no longer even know how to fart on their own. Humans will return to living in caves, to medieval savagery, and to the general state of imbecility that slugs overcame in the Pleistocene era. Our world will not die as a result of the bomb, as the papers say, it will die of laughter, of banality, of making a joke of everything, and a lousy joke at that.” Do you agree with Daniel’s father? Do you think the author wants to make his own statement about what television has brought us in this way?
I somewhat agree with him in the sense that television bombards us with entertainment constantly, and it ends up desensitizing us.

9. We get to know more about Julian Carax’s life growing up. I noticed there are some similarities between Daniel and Julian. Do you think there are and what are those similarities? What are the things that are not similar?
Both Julian and Daniel find a love for books, and they both have a :sanctuary of books," but Julian had a very abusive family while Daniel has a loving and caring one.

10. Daniel is really on the hunt for Julian Carax’s life story. Do you think he will find out all the details, maybe even find him?
I think he's going to find out Julian's life story until we find out why his books are being burnt. At least I hope so because I need to know.

11. What do you think happened to Penelope and her family?
I can't even guess what happened because I have no idea, but I wonder why the caretaker said the family had no daughters. Was she hidden away from the neighbors? But if that was the case, how could Julian and Penelope meet?

27% read

yeh

25%

sure

read 13 pages. At 21% of my book

:45 for 20?

I can do some sprints now if anyone is still here

**Day 3 Questions**
1: How long have you been a member of GoodReads?
Since 2012

2: How many books are on your GoodReads TBR shelf? How many books have you marked as Read?
TBR: 48 (In reality it's more than that. I just forget to add them)
Read: 298

3: What are your favorite TV shows and/or movies?
Inside Out, Zootopia, Steven Universe, Breaking Bad, and Hannibal. I really like children's shows, but the adult shows I like have to be super gory or I just get bored.

4: Do you have any pets? Share photos! What are your favorite animals (real or not)? What animals do you not like?
I do dogsitting so I don't have any pets of my own, but sometimes I totally fall in love with them and wish they could be my pets. Sadly, I always have to give them back.
Favorite animal would be a Pegasus. Least favorite is a rat.

1st set of DQs:

22 May, chapters 1-10, pages 1-77

1) If you were visiting the "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" what book would you adopt? How you found this book (how you came to reading it)?

I would adopt Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I read it in high school, and it had such a strong impact on me that I keep rereading it every year.

2) Have you felt the way Clara did after reading (listening to) the first Carax's book "The red house"? Describe with at least one sentence emotions you had after reading the first book which deeply touched your heart.
Clara: "Never before had I felt trapped, so seduced and caught up in a story the way I did with that book. /.../ That book taught me that by reading, I could live more intensely."

All I could do was sit on my bed looking at nothing because I couldn't stop thinking about that book.

3) When thinking about Clara's and Daniel's relationship, do you think Clara knew how Daniel really felt about her? If so, then why she let him hope and "adore" her this way? Was Daniel's father right by saying that Clara was playing with Daniel like a cat with a canary?

I think Clara knew about his feelings, but she didn't mean to let him idolize her. She did try to talk to him about it but he runs away every time. She also puts some distance between them, and avoids being alone with him. She wasn't playing with him. It was Daniel's own stubbornness that got him hurt because he was aware that she wouldn't be interested in him, and still followed her around like a puppy.

4) After finishing first chapters of the book I find this story warm hearted and beautifully written, full of quoting material. What kind of quote you liked the most so far?

One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. By the time the mind is able to comprehend what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep.

5) Let's fantasize a bit. What you think is the purpose of destroying every last Julian Carax's book? Do you think the scene from the book "The Shadow of the Wind" that played out in one night also in reality (end of chapter 5) was just Daniel's imagination or pure coincidence or that has something to do with the reason Carax's books are being destroyed? If so then what?
PS! Don't foretell if you have already finished the book or if you have read more than first 77 pages! :)

The scene in Ch 5 makes me think that this is like Inkheart and the person is actually a character from the book. I guess he wants to burn the books so he doesn't have to go back inside his story. (It sounds kind of silly, but that's all I've got)

Day 1 Questions

1: Where in the world are your reading today?
California

2: What book(s) do you hope to finish during this read-a-thon?




3: What WOBBLE challenge are you looking forward to most?
Battleship

4: Tell us FOUR fun random facts about you!

1. I've watched Pixar movies enough times to know the lines.
2. I make money by taking care of dogs. Dogs are surprisingly bossy.
3. I'm obsessed with the new Zootopia movie and make everyone go to the theater with me to watch it. I'm too scared to go to the movies by myself.
4. I own five Pokemon video games, but have never finished one. I'm actually terrible at finishing games.

a cover with a wanted poster