Lisa - (Aussie Girl)’s Comments (group member since Sep 26, 2012)

Lisa - (Aussie Girl)’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Jammin Jenny wrote: "COMPLETION POST
6. Port-au-Prince (HT) - Vitoria (BR)
Detour: Read a book which has the main location (setting) as a cold/frozen country/world

Book: [book:A Fatal ..."

Good choice Jenny. My library has that one and I enjoyed the first book in the series so I think I'll go with that also.

Regarding the last two stops I'm easy which detour we do.

Thanks Carrie. I'll get reading. I've got a couple of over 500 pgs books this round. Hopefully they are full of desserts and booze.

Finished for the song -

How it works - About Celtic Warrior Bards so their ballads are scattered through the book.

Amanda, definition of a Yurt - From Wikipedia -

A traditional yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger (Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure consists of an angled assembly or latticework of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent. The roof structure is often self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Modern yurts may be permanently built on a wooden platform; they may use modern materials such as steam-bent wooden framing or metal framing, canvas or tarpaulin, Plexiglas dome, wire rope, or radiant insulation.

Just checking -

In a book of over 500 pages, can we use individual fruits eg strawberries or apricots as a meal? That's the way I'm reading it.

Rina wrote: "Yes, we could spell-out ube and use it for pasta (I've seen recipes where ube was used instead of potatoes to make gnocchi).

Legume and watermelon are too long, I think, especially watermelon. Leg..."

Thanks for that Rina! I actually have a book of 288 pages that I can use for spell it out UBE.

I've nominated it for December YA Book of the month - the next book if you all can wait that long.

- I need to find out what happens -

All Stevie Bell wanted was to find the key to the Ellingham mystery, but instead she found her classmate dead. And while she solved that murder, the crimes of the past are still waiting in the dark. Just as Stevie feels she’s on the cusp of putting it together, her parents pull her out of Ellingham academy.

For her own safety they say. She must move past this obsession with crime. Now that Stevie’s away from the school of topiaries and secret tunnels, and her strange and endearing friends, she begins to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. At least she won’t have to see David anymore. David, who she kissed. David, who lied to her about his identity—son of despised politician Edward King. Then King himself arrives at her house to offer a deal: He will bring Stevie back to Ellingham immediately. In return, she must play nice with David. King is in the midst of a campaign and can’t afford his son stirring up trouble. If Stevie’s at school, David will stay put.

The tantalizing riddles behind the Ellingham murders are still waiting to be unraveled, and Stevie knows she’s so close. But the path to the truth has more twists and turns than she can imagine—and moving forward involves hurting someone she cares for. In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel of the Truly Devious series, nothing is free, and someone will pay for the truth with their life.

DQs Day 4
Chapter 23 to End

(Serious spoilers to come. Do not read if you are not caught up.)

16- In the aftermath of lunch with the parental units, Stevie is really pissed. What do you think about how David behaved, and her conclusion that her parents let her stay because of the “boyfriend" thing?

On the surface it seemed that David is doing the "good boyfriend thing." But there seems to be more to it, he is definitely playing some game or hiding something. Given what we know of Stevie and the relationship with her parents, no wonder she behaves like she does. She just wants to be herself and live on her own merits. Her worth should be her own not who she is with.

17- In Stevie’s first real relationship conversation, she almost finds out what opening up to another is like. Then, of course they are interrupted. Having her hide in closet seemed to just be a plot device. But, what do you think of what Stevie did next? Do you think she should have snooped? Would you have?

Curiosity killed the cat... but satisfaction brought him back!! The PC answer is no... of course she shouldn't have snooped. But the real answer is of course she was going to. She knew David was hiding something and now was her chance to find out for better or for worse.

18- Stevie is a pretty good investigator it seems. She figures out that a murder has occurred. Should she have gone to Larry right away? What did you think of the silent dance and the game in Ellie’s room?

She probably should have but that wouldn't have been true to Stevie's character. The silent dance didn't really do anything for me but I guess it let Stevie work things out.

19- We have two unsolved murders in two timelines. Are you any closer to figuring out who done it in either time line? Are Bonnie and Clyde more red herrings? How is Ellie related to them?

Is the Ellie thing related to the past or just an additional part of the story to prove Stevie's sleuthing techniques? I guess we will see, the reveal of the students possible involvement in the past murders does shine another light on the what could have happened.

20- A big reveal and a cliffhanger. Had you figured out who David was, and why Stevie recognized him? How many unanswered questions do you still have? Will you read the next book?

I guess it was pretty obvious in hindsight, Stevie having some hazy recognition about David's features and the link to her parents but I didn't pick up on it at the time. Heaps of unanswered questions. I don't mind a cliffhanger... if the next book is already published and my library has a copy. And if it's the next YA BOM, LOL.

Great Tina. Thanks for doing that.

I didn't even know what an ube was. I thought it was some hip slang for uber, LOL. And Legume and watermelon aren't that easily found either. But you never know. Vinegar was in way more books than I thought.

Edited to say - I guess we could use the words in Spell it out? Ube should be easier that way for sure.

DQ's Day 3
Chapters 15 -22

11. I know this is much earlier in the book but it is bothering me. What is the significance of the Game playing - particularly Monopoly being compulsory at least every week?

I don't think there is much significance now that it hasn't come up three quarters to the end. Maybe it just highlights the quirky and enquiring mind of Albert Ellingham and the students he attracts to his school. And Monopoly is kinda addictive. I remember when I was a kid eons ago my sister and I playing it every week in the school holidays. That's before we had Netlflix and mobile phones to while away the hours, LOL.

12. What is Hayes hiding in his conversation with Gretchen? What does he owe her and do you think this is important ?

Mmmm, seems to be more than a coincidence that he was murdered hours later. So it's going to be important to the resolution I'm thinking... or maybe a red herring? We will see.

13. I like the point that Stevie makes about it being important to write everything down immediately. If you were Stevie and writing down what happened up to Hayes's death what would your list contain? What would be in your "brain attic" ?

Probably a list of everything that happened to all the players in the hours before the murder. Where they were, who interacted with who, that sort of thing.

14. Solving Riddles is no more my forte than solving crime. So who can solve the riddle "What is always on a staircase but never on a stair?"

Sorry, so not my forte... so I googled it. It's pretty clever.

15. Stevie is worried that her parents are going to withdraw her from Ellingham. How would you react as a student and / or a parent in this situation?

No way, will Stevie want to leave not. It seems her and her parents though are completely on a different page. Must be tough for her. They seem to love each other but they are totally different people. And because they don't understand her they would only be thinking about her safety and not what it means for her to stay there with like minded people. Difficult situation.

Round 2 is under way and we're 6th. Great going team.

There is some information posted in the Rules Thread, we can now cut and paste our unused frozen meals and drinks and desserts we didn't use from Round 1 into Round 2. One of you more spreadsheet savvy girls might like to do that..

We also did really well in the Swinbourne test getting a 19. Thanks to everyone who added the descriptions, at least one of ours made the favourites list.) Which means our words are "ube", (have no idea what that means, better google that I guess), watermelon and legume, either as scavenger words or spell it outs for bonus adults.

Wow, this is complicated challenge but hope everyone is enjoying it. I am.

I'm half way through my song book stop 5 so should be finished by the weekend.

I can do any of stop 6 - amazingly I do have a book set in Brazil. but that's just a fluke.

I'm up for cold climate or spell it out also. flexible this stop.

Did we need to use any of the BOM swap customers? If we didn't do they carry over for next months use I wonder?

DQs Day 2 - Oct 17
Chapters 7 through 14

6.) What did you think of the yurt party? Anything or anyone peak your interest?

It just seemed incredibly awkward to me. But the reason that the kids are at this school is that they are gifted and maybe that's par for the course. For any teenagers being in an unfamiliar social setting can difficult.

7.) What do you think about the overall setup of the school? Would you of wanted to go to a school like this for your last two years of high school? Would you send you kid to a school like this (your real or nonexistent kid)?

It does make sense for specialized schooling for gifted students where they can express their interests and excel in whatever their field of excellence is. The fact that it is free is also such a great thing so any child can have the opportunity. I'd certainly consider it, the personality of the child would have to be taken into account also. Some children would perhaps do better with more structure.

8.) The historic case seems very similar to the Hindenburg Baby case down to the multiple money drops, marked bills, questionable confessions, foreign suspects with limited English, random FBI agent involvement, and late introduction of the police. The biggest different is Iris being taken as well as Alice (plus Alice being 3). We now know what happened to Iris, do you think Alice has a parallel fate to the Hindenburg baby? Or do you think she's alive (or lived to adulthood anyway)?

I had to google the Lindbergh case to remember all the facts. There are some similarities, I have a feeling that Alice survived and Stevie will discover her fate. Or there maybe a major twist at the end, something like Alice has been secretly or unknowingly been a teacher at the school or something like that.

9.) Do you think the Senator her parents work for is involved somehow, or just a red herring?

Mmmm, it has been mentioned a few times, so it might play into the plot somehow. Usually when a seemingly unrelated fact is added and mentioned it does or in fact could be a red herring. We will see.

10.) Any thoughts on David, what his deal is, and why he seems so familiar to Stevie?

Again there seems to be something there. Especially since on Stevie's investigation he seems not to exist as David. And the fact that initially Stevie seems uncomfortable around him. Future love interest maybe.. Again the jury is out on this one.

Thanks Tina! That's great.

I had a quick re-read of the rules. Drinks in the fresh category which would be coffee and tea need to be used within the month. Other drinks can be frozen/used any time.

I think the idea is either to add the dried banana chips or add the fresh banana and gently heat it through at the end so it retains its form.

So that's a general thumbs down to banana in curry then.. Point taken, Lolololol.

Great Carrie. Did you like I'm waiting for it from my library. The blurb sounded really good.

Cat wrote: "anyone else been tempted to curry various fruit or dessert items? So. Many. Cakes in books where I can't use them for desserts! X("

I'd give in to the temptation. Mango and banana in curry.. yep, I've done it. And how about the Aussie favourite Apricot Chicken Curry. We lived on it as children of the 70's.

Hey Team,

I've nearly finished reading for this round and adding to the spreadsheet. I've got one more book which has a lemon to fill in for Meal 130.

CC, I started a word for the books we had some spell it out letters for - SPAM - a delightful sandwich filling ( Not, LOL). Could you finish filling in the A and M from your Murderbot book. Ta. Meal 139.

Meal 135 needs lemon and vinegar and Meal 95 needs vinegar.. if anyone has these to complete. We can drop the vinegar if nobody has these as well.

Nearly time to feed our customers. This will be interesting.