L.E. Fidler > Recent Status Updates

Words to Know: briskly, gay, euphemism, visor, senses vs census

Chitchat: castles in the air, time flying, demons and monsters, Rhyme and Reason, the importance of a good sense of humor

Words to master: amiably, trivium, fissure, ignorance, insincerity

Demons and monsters! More humbug love and hate. Trying to explain allegory to small children.

The chatter: the definition of dodecahedron, the exhaustive precision of
Digitopolis, the uncomfortable nature of a humid night, how numbers and words should work better together

Somehow, we are 171 pages in and still arguing about the nature of the humbug.

Book chat: the “legitness” of there being something to see everywhere you go, how the book is really confusing but good, another crack at determining what a humbug is, the tollbooth as a portal

Figurative and literal language, the danger of the half-baked idea, what a humbug is, the need for rhyme and reason, cartography as a story map

Chitchat: the watchdog, Tick and Tock and opposites and puns, a quick refresher on tollbooths, the Duke dresses like Willy Wonka, how one can use a lot of words and say very little, bah, humbug!

Third time is a charm? Book chat: tollbooth purposes and aesthetics, parsing the etymology of Dictionopolis, connections to Greenglass Manor (and the popularity of the name Milo in male child protagonists)

We needed a change of pace. Nothing like tackling the topics of orphans and imperialism to jumpstart a novel!

Liam chat: “this is really important book, I can tell!”

Liam’s choice: learned about Cassius Clay, figurative language, JFK, making predictions about Cecile, connections to Disney/turbulence/plane travel, 1968, conversations about race

Penultimate book talk: monomania (parallels to Javert and Mom goes rogue with a long winded lecture about justice and morality), the definition of a cat burglar, what a scholiast is, the term frigidly and its connotations

Chit chat: more work in reluctance, the bug reveal, the “very British” mystery feel of the final act, mom once more is a genius, if only more of her kids were awake to appreciate it

Book chat: explaining reluctance, we solve one mystery, our Meddy theory gains traction, the expression “to catch one’s eyes” confuses the family literalist, more cartography for beginners

How brains can be brilliant, connections to game masters, more fixating on Thorin’s cause of death (he’s not in this book and we are headed into perseverating mode), making predictions about gifts and thieves

Ghost stories, power outages, smugglers vs thieves, stained glass fun, toooooo many secrets but finally some answers

Theft vs thief, too many secret identities, more conjecture about the nature of Meddy, going rogue, what a blackjack is, there’s a sequel!!!

Chatter: obsessive compulsive disorder, the smell of poinsettias, things we can hide in soap, cake of soap being a deceptively yummy sounding term, a quick practice session of “stopping dead in our tracks”

Chatter: the curious propensity for thefts and burglars in our bedtime reading, what blackjack keys are, what’s the tallest story house you’ve ever been in, why green glass is pretty

Book chat: connections to Hobbit - 1. Greed is not good (no matter what Wall Street says) 2. Choosing your path wisely matter 3. Is Meddy real, a ghost, or imaginary?!?! We don’t know!!

Book chat: the differences between Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II, making predictions, what a commonplace book actually is, wild conspiracy theories

Chit chat: role playing games, whether treasure is always gold/gems, why we value diamonds, fairy tales and make believe, the efficiency of a cat burglar, silly mistakes, is Sirin really there?

The Ginger Book Club’s next selection (“Something none of us has read”) - voted for, I think, because kids see another murder board opportunity 😂🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️