Michelle’s Comments (group member since Sep 19, 2013)

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

Hannah wrote: "Discussion Questions - Set 5

1. So much to my dismay, Mae ended up returning to Francis. After having filmed her without permission previously and then posting to to the cloud, I would have though..."

I completely agree! Mae was so weak and it was not a suprise at the end.

Snowtulip wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I got the first round of DQs for Strange the Dreamer!

Is anyone going to try for next month's DQs?"

I'm not sure, I won't be signing up for You because I already ..."

I always try if no one else wants to, because I love points. I haven't read You yet, or the Gunslinger, so I'll definitely sign up for both.

Daniela wrote: "Last questions I can answer for now until I finally finished this book. Won't be too long anymore

1. What are your thoughts about Mae, Francis and the video? Do you think The Circle will see the v..."

I agree about the kayak. I had the same thought while I reading. Mae is so weak and easily controlled. She is exactly the kind of personality that gets sucked into cults. I really hated her character.

I'll update the override!

I got the first round of DQs for Strange the Dreamer!

Is anyone going to try for next month's DQs?

I got Zach Morris, too. He was dreamy.

Zee wrote: "I've just shelved Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space as an audiobook, so it'll need a page override. The pr..."

I did the override, Zee. But are you sure it wasn't this one? https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...

Let me know if you reshelve it and I can make sure it overrides correctly for the 349 pages.

That is awesome, Cassie! Now I will picture him as Tom Hanks as well.

Same, Cassie!! I felt exactly the same.

Really wasn't getting into my Shelf Pursuit book, so had to switch it up with a quick read I got from V.

CassieV wrote: "Finished the Circle! Don't forget to override the page count ;)

I did most of the discussions: 1, 2, 3, 4

I would do the last set, but I burned my finger and typing is a challenge tonight :/. Goo..."

Got it added and updated! My version had 504 pages so it didn't need the override.

Also, did you think Mae was the dumbest character ever? Ugh.

Discussion Questions ( Set 3) for May 5~ ~Laura
Start - "And then his hands were ..." 196-294
Ends - "...would be going transparent immediately"

1. What are your thoughts about Mae, Francis and the video? Do you think The Circle will see the video? Is Mae through with Francis now that he has hit the strike two mark?

Francis is a total creep! Mae is an indiot. I definitely think the Circle will see the video, and I think he will show people to brag about it. I like Mae less and less as the book continues.

2. Congresswoman Santos goes transparent. Nothing is private or secret. every conversation, every meeting, every part of your day will be broadcast . What are your thoughts on our elected leaders going transparent. Yay or nay?

I think it is such a slippery slope. On the one hand, it would be nice to know who they are meeting with, and how it is influencing the decisions they are making as our elected officials. But privacy is also vital to keeping our sense of self, so I'm torn. If you know you are being watched and monitored, would you ever feel like your authentic self, or would you always be playing a role?

3. Mae and Mercer are involved in another arguement. There are always two sides to an arguement. Whose arguement bears more weight? Are you more partial to Mercer or Mae's side?

I am siding with Mercer, but it might be because I don't like Mae. She completely disregarded his feelings.

4. Anyone else find it extremely ironic that Mae gets caught stealing a kayak by one of Marion's cameras, which we find out is a SeeChange camera from Mae's workplace? As a result of Mae's actions she is reprimanded at work and forced to be transparent. What do you think about what just happened?

She did it to herself. Mae is such a dummy! I think on some level she wanted to get caught. She's pretty much the worst.

Oh, I'm down for too!

I'm going to finally read so that will get us some points next month too.

Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day / Sunday. I had to work late tonight but I am checking on our spreadsheet now.

Spreadsheet is up to date!

61 books so far. Nice job, everyone.

I finally got to and started the discussion questions as well, so another bonus 20 for us!

Being an Apple employee, it's cracking me up how all technology headquarters are alike. Our Apple campus is super cool and techie and a lot like Mae is describing.

Finally starting this one!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. ALTHOUGH THIS BOOK WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2013 I WAS AMAZED WITH THE OPENING PAGES DESCRIBING THE CIRCLE'S CAMPUS IN LIGHT OF NEWS REPORTS THIS WEEK OF THE OPENING OF APPLE'S AMAZING NEW HEADQUARTERS! WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS IN REGARDS TO THIS BOOK AND HOW MUCH OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE REAL LIFE TECH WORLD DO YOU THINK WILL INFLUENCE THE PLOT LINE OF THE STORY?

I have a funny perspective of this book since I actually work for Apple. The new HQ (some of us call it the mothership because of the spaceship shape) is very cool, but the original Apple campus has similarities, too. I think Eggers did a good job of capturing the secrecy and weirdness of the major technology companies, whether it be Google or Apple, or whoever. At the end of the day, their similarities are more than their differences.

2. INITIAL IMPRESSIONS OF THE MAJOR CHARACTERS MAE AND ANNIE? DO YOU GET THE FEELING THAT THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS NOT AN EQUITABLE ONE AND HOW DO YOU THINK IT MAY CHANGE AS THE STORY PROGRESSES?
Mae seems very bland and vanilla. I'm having a hard time feeling anything about her character. I do see that there will be issues between Annie and Mae and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

3. DO YOU LIKE THE CONTINUING FORMAT OF THE NOVEL AND THE LACK OF DEFINED CHAPTERS? WHY TO YOU THINK DAVE EGGERS HAS WRITTEN THE BOOK THIS WAY?
Not loving it, to be honest. It's weird.

4. MAE AND FRANK? WHAT DO YOU THINK FRANK'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE STORY LINE WILL BE? DO YOU SEE ANY RELATIONSHIP EVOLVING BETWEEN THEM?
It looks like they will have a relationship. I kinda hope they don't.

Ok, team! Take a look at our spreadsheet and make sure your books are all there.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Thanks, ST! I will add the points into our sheet.

I still need to start that one. Work has sucked lately and it's zapping my reading time.

Same about challenges! I have read some things I wouldn't have picked up on my own, and found some real gems. Also some real stinkers, but we won't get into those. The things I do for the love of my team!

Spreadsheet is current. Double-check that your books are on your TT shelf and the finish date stayed in there. The site still seems to be buggy.