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

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

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "The benefit is in using it in different meals, Lisa so you’d want to try and use it across meals"

Thanks Karen and everyone. I think I've got it now.

Don't stress ladies, we've got to the end of the year to finish this itinerary.

Start a fresh one in the New Year. Hope everyone is doing okay.

Just to clarify the above, if you find it five times in a book and say you use it for a scavenger salad, can you use it 5 times for each scavenged word/ingredient or only once total per meal? Thanks.

Google scores are up!

We got 3.72 so our bonus words are local, neighborhood/neighbourhood and quality.

I actually think they are easier to find than the top score words. I've found neighbourhood already.

I've got two over 500 pages books I'm reading at the moment. I think we're going pretty well, we're 4th on the raw figures at the end of round 2 but I'm not sure if that's the final score. And we haven't got the google score yet.

Finished - Book with a bully - Character Vynom described as a bully several times.

3 stars

Well done everyone. This is quite a time consuming challenge and thanks, Tina, Carrie and Rina for getting our spreadsheet up to scratch.

One more month to finish, let's just see it through with our original team . Lots going on in real life and there is quite a lot of housekeeping. I'm sure if books are posted here someone will be able to add it to the spreadsheet.

I've finished reading and updating for this round.

One more round to go. It's going to seem strange when we go back to reading without the pen and paper accessory noting that food.

How about we aim to complete this itinerary by the end of the year - 31 December 2020?

And anyone playing on we request a new one for the first of the year. I think we'll all be busy coming towards the holiday season. And won't we all be pleased to see the end of 2020!

Great to hear from you Nikk, yes very difficult times hope the job is going well for you.

No worries, Tina.

I think we're going pretty well and hopefully Nikk has a few to add as well this round.

Just a heads up, I've allocated all my vinegars for this round, got to go searching again for the final round. This challenge has really grown on me... I'm going to miss searching for those words once we've finished.

Tina, I have a left over R from a spell it out.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... - Author - Lauren Rhoads.

Regarding spell it out letters - I think you can reuse the same letter if it comes from different sources. eg a title and a character. But you can't reuse it if it's the first letter of a character's name mentioned 6 times. This came up in the Kitchen prep questions.

Here's the link to the countdown time zones -

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...

Tina ❣ wrote: "Carrie wrote: "My book has the word watermelon in it!!"

Awesome! :D
I haven't had much luck with watermelon or ube. Ube is no where except in other words - tube, etc."

I have never heard of the word ube before. It does seem a difficult word especially when we scored 19/20 for the Swinbourne bonus. I was able to spell it out once but that's about it. We do have a few watermelons though.

And congratulations Tina, well done to Victorians after such a difficult time. It must have been horrendous in such a strict lockdown for so long. But looks like you guys have eradicated the virus. Woo Hoo.

Hi Mods,

Can we have a link to the current time clock till the end of this round. Thx.

We've got one more week. I'll see if I can find the link for the time clock.

DQs Day 3 - Part 3

10.) With all of the current unrest what do you think Beatty's statement:
"for everyone nowadays knows, absolutely is certain, that nothing will ever happen to me. Others die, I go on. There are no consequences and no responsibilities."
is it still relevant and timely?

Definitely still rings true. Some people just go through life on auto pilot in their own bubble never thinking about the bigger picture at all. And unfortunately we all can think of examples of this type of behaviour in our current world. But I'm a glass half full type of gal, always got to have hope, think positive and move on.

11.) What did you think about Montag's flight from the city? Did the search go how you expected?

I was glad Montag survived and found his "people". Thought it was interesting how the perception was more important than the truth. Another unfortunate parallel to some aspects of our current world with the rise of social media.

12.) The river/railroad tracks have groups of Ivy League educated "bums". Why do you think Bradbury was so specific about their backgrounds and what do you think they represent?

I think Bradbury worked in Universities himself he probably saw his colleagues as the collective "wisdom" and free thinkers of society.

13.) Final thoughts on book? Did it stand the test of time?

I really enjoyed the book. It was a product of the time it was written but made me think and definitely still has relevance to today in quite a lot of its themes.

Bonus Question: The version I read had an introduction written by Neil Gaiman. In it he said:
"If someone tells you what a story is about, they are probably right.
If someone tells you that is all the story is about, they are very definitely wrong."
Do you agree? Why do you think he included this in his introduction to Fahrenheit 451.

Nicely put... there are always two sides to every story and truth is often based on an individual's perception.

DQ'S DAY 2

5. Part 2 is entitled The Sieve and the Sand. How does this relate to what happens in this section? What more do we find out about Montag and the situation?

6. Montag shares his concerns with his wife Millie. How are their reactions different and how does this compare to other characters throughout the book?

7. Montag reaches out to Professor Faber to help him understand his newly found feelings. The Professor has his own opinion on the circumstances and how they must proceed. Discuss the Professor's role in the book including the following quote -
"The good writer's touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies."

8. Out of all the books and literature in the world, Bradbury chooses passages from the Bible and Matthew Arnold's poem Dover Beach as part of this section. Why do you think he used these works and how do they impact what happens in the story here.

9. For a Fire Chief, Captain Beatty seems very well read and taunts Montag as they approach his house. It seems that the gig is up for Montag, what do you think is going to happen? Is there any chance at this point that Montag and Millie will survive at the end of the book?

1. What are your thoughts on the setting of the novel? Bearing in mind it is nearly 70 years since publication, how well has it lasted the passing of time - which of the projected changes in society have or haven't come true?

The book was written in 1951 and the world was coming out of the horror of Two World Wars, the rise of Communism and the beginning of the Cold War. Not a fun time and quite a lot of dystopian fiction was written around this time set in the future and the depiction being very negative. And in some ways the predictions haven't been too far off the mark. The televisions on all the time with banal content (I'm thinking reality shows) and the interactive speaker reminded me of Google Home and predictive text. And there are still many places in the world where to think and do outside the Government line means imprisonment or death.

2. What are your thoughts on Guy Montag? Would you have preferred to see why he first took a book home, or do you like being in the middle of this second jolt to his life?

Guy seems to be an everyman character. Goes along passively on the surface but underneath he can't stop his thoughts or doubts. He doesn't at first impression seem like a mover and shaker so it fits that he has been surreptitiously taking the books. His reaction can be compared to a slow burn of a fire, slow to catch but then bursting into flames. Maybe this is what the author intended.

3. Montag has interactions with three women in this section: Clarisse (is she the original manic pixie dream girl?!), poor Mildred and the old woman who self-immolates. How do these three women help shape the trajectory of Montag's life?

I really like what Sammy said here - Montag is the passive character and his thoughts and reactions are modelled on the contribution of these three women characters. And it is then his Boss that finally seems to ignite him into action. Boy, nearly tripping over all the metaphors here.



4. I noticed that Bradbury uses a lot of nature metaphors and descriptors, particularly when describing the horrific, mechanical parts of the world (like the snakes in the medical machine). Why do you think he makes these language choices? Do you enjoy the writing?

Well, snakes makes me think of the original sin, they've had a bad wrap since time infinitum and are often used as a metaphor for evil. I'm enjoying the writing as it makes me think about what I'm reading a bit more than usual.

First time reading for me. I've read the first part and wow, even though it was written fifty years ago there are still so many parallels to the world now. Looking forward to discussing with you all.