Nistha’s Comments (group member since Apr 16, 2023)

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

I finished task 16, onto my >400 pages books now

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "new task
29. Read a book where a character name contains an X"

I read One of Us Is Next where there this MC called "Knox"

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?
No, this is quite a unique setting and I like the setting so far.

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?
I would love to have the ability of language. I have faced so many problems in tourism and communicating, it would be a good skill to have.

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?
So far, it has been fine. It does get a bit confusing with its various terms but hopefully things will get clearer. I am quite excited to see how the world building will evolve.

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?
I like both Ali - the rich, entitled kid with a moral heart as well as Dara - he seems to be having some interesting backstory. I did not find a lot of depth in Nahri so don't feel anything much about her so far.

I am reading The Vegetarian which can cover for the international booker winner 2016

Louise wrote: "New chipmunk 🐿️ tasks

10 Things the Chipmunks Love - Lobsters! - Read a book with a creature with 10 limbs on the cover (e.g. lobster, shrimp, crab)

X-Files - Read a book that is connected to a T..."

I recently read One of Us Is Next whose part 1 One of Us Is Lying was made into a series and it was renewed for S2 - not sure if we can use this

I also read The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There in June but it might be used in Rainbow

Louise wrote: "New 🐿️ tasks

X-Files - Read a book that features a friends to lovers trope

X marks the spot - Read a book with bling on the cover - something treasure-worthy"

I am reading Wait for It which is friends to lovers (more neighbours to friends to lovers).

I also think You and Me on Vacation is friends to lovers? I am going to be mostly reading it this month but seems like Kylie has already read it this month.

Ahh no worries! Its great then as we have more books for our little chipmunks

Louise wrote: "Beth wrote: "Books we started in May but finish in June can be used for June towers, right? Or are they just adding to the page count?"

They can be used for the page towers and the rainbow towers"

The rules in the Chipmunk page says "You may use any of your free choice books for these tasks, but not those from the page number specific towers. The book must have been started after TT started and finished after June 1st, 9am UTC. "

I might be missing something but this means we can use the books started in May and finished in June for the mini right?

I am going to be reading That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human and it has a map!

Yay! Great job team!

I have a bunch of books added which I started this month but won't finish till June. Hope that's fine.

I have 3 * 500-600 pager claimed - I am positive I will finish 2 out of the 3 but not entirely sure if I can finish all 3 by end of the month.

Hi all, just checking in :) This weekend had lovely weather in London - but I, unfortunately, caught a pollen allergy. The week was crazy at work, not able to get a lot of reading done until end of the week and now I am reading a 500+ pager.

I had a question, my bad if it was answered before. The books we start in May and finish in June - will they count for May or June or none at all?

DQs: Day 4 Ch 19-25

15. Welcome to the penultimate set of chapters! A lot of revelations came to light in this set of chapters: did any of them surprise you? If so, which ones?
Not really, I was waiting for these secrets to unveil. It did not really shock me.

16. Montgomery and Carlota finally seem like they are going to make love but Montgomery stops this from happening. Do you think he made the right choice? Why or why not? Also do you think they’ll still get together in the end?

Yes, he did, and I like how he explains everything from personal experience - how Carlota will regret everything in the morning. It must have been difficult for him but he made the right choice.

I already finished the book so I am not going to reveal anything. (view spoiler)[ At this point of the book, I thought they would end up together at the end. Maybe after many years. And perhaps that's what the book inclined to (hide spoiler)]

17. It looks like Dr. Moreau is going to die by the end of the book. In the original novel and adaptations Dr. Moreau is a villainous figure. Do you think he is portrayed as a villain in this book or do you think he has redeeming qualities?

I did not find Dr. Moreau as a complete villain. True, few actions he had taken are hard to be justified but he does love Carlota. Even though he plans to marry her off, I don't think it is particularly his character that would do it. I think most fathers in that setting wanted to marry their daughters off for their own selfish reasons.


18. Carlota is given a key to the laboratory. What do you think she will find there? Also any predictions for the end of the book?

I did not think about what she would find, I did not expect any big secrets to be revealed.

Backup for Team Sip

DQs: Day 2, Chap 6 – 11

6. As Sonia noted, we jump six years. Do the characters, especially Carlota, feel six years older? Do you like books that have time jumps or would you have preferred to see Montgomery get used to working in his new jobs? (Sonia already asked about the fallout but feel free to add that here).
Even though Carlota seems to be naive and innocent, I feel she has grown. I can actually see the change in Montgomery more and how he has adjusted to working in this job. I think the time jump is fine, it was just a bit abrupt in this book.


7. Do you like the method of telling the same scene from both points of view? Is there one point of view you prefer?
I prefer multiple povs as they can form a deeper sense of character understanding and creates more potential for the growth of each character. In this book, I find Carlota a bit childish many a-times, thus I prefer to have Montgomery's perspective as well. I would also love to have seen something from the Doctor or one of the hybrid's perspectives as well.

8. And we have the start of a love triangle. What do you think of the two young men and Carlota’s reaction to them?
I actually do not like any of them but I think they will help escalate the story more than a love angle. They seem evil, especially Eduardo.


9. So far these feels very much like a historical fiction book with relationships being forwarded over the science and hybrids. Do you agree, and were you expecting that?
With historical fiction as the top mpg, I was kind of expecting that. But with horror as second mpg, I thought the book would take some dark turns, which it did not.

Bonus: If you were part critter, and didn’t have the health concerns, what species would you prefer?
Interesting question, I would love to be a panda (or part panda and channel their inner chill), lie around and be cute all day. I think they are clever as well. Eat, sleep, repeat!

DQs: Day 1, Chap 1 - 5

1. Have you read the original Island of Dr Moreau book? Or watched any of the films? I only saw the 1996 movie, so, in my head, I keep seeing Dr Moreau as Marlon Brando, Val Killer as Montgomery and Fairuza Balk as Carlota.

I came into this book with absolutely no context actually. Maybe I am living under a rock but I haven't watched the movie or read any book. I might watch it after reading this.

2. In the movie, Fairuza was one of the hybrids, although here, she only has "treatments" with jaguar genetic code. Do you think it's just a ruse from the doctor and she is actually the first hybrid?

I also felt a bit weird about this, I am inclining towards ruse. I like this type of storytelling where things just start uncovering as we read on.

3. Montgomery's past was a sad one. And he looks like just a drunk with some natural instincts to protect the innocent. Were you surprised he was considering not to accept the job, and then when the incident happens and he needs to kill the hybrid he decides to stay?
I was not surprised - I was almost expecting something to happen that will make him change his mind. I would like to still think that the incident that happened has more significance somehow than just Montgomery staying.

4. I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't explain exactly how his studies came to be. In a scientific point of view, how is it even possible? We're in the 1870s... way before in vitro fertilization or genetic advances... and he manages to separate and mix genomes, or as called in the book gemmules? Not to mention that the original story was written way before cloning was a thing....
To me, it is fine for fiction to not be scientific and just form a good plot around a concept. It is annoying if something very lame happens which cannot be scientifically possible or if a book claims to be scientific true and then does not adhere to it, but so far this has not been the case in this story.

5. So, hybrids are dangerous. Specially when they're still developing, and their animal instincts are overpowering the human ones (in theory, since we had no idea what the level of brain maturity the developing hybrid was). Back in the movie, there is a rebellion and it doesn't end well for humans. Do you think it will be the case here?
Yes, this is exactly what I was thinking based on the incident that happened when Montgomery decided to take the job. But I also feel they can have a very humanly side as well, would it be interesting to see which direction the story takes. Reminds me of Westworld somewhat.

And a bonus, Am I the only one that is sad that we're jumping 6 years? I wanted to see the fall out from the incident.
The time jump did feel a bit awkward and rushed. I also wanted to see the impact of the incident.

Louise, I checked in ARbookfind but it does not have this book. I don't think there is an audiobook as well for this. I googled and cannot find any websites doing a verified word count for this book (or even Manga in general). I guess we can remove this one then from the list.

Melissa wrote: "Nistha wrote: "Just quickly verifying, I am listening to the audiobook of Nine Liars, so I can use the default 449 pages as the page count right? Its around 11 hours of audio"

Yes...."

Awesome, thanks for confirming :)

Just quickly verifying, I am listening to the audiobook of Nine Liars, so I can use the default 449 pages as the page count right? Its around 11 hours of audio

Tati wrote: "Behold Ollie, the bane of my credit card LOL

"

Ollie is so cute, and deserves all your credit cards haha!