fiction files redux discussion

look at you! successful posting is key. i mean if you're going to hit submit, there'd better be pay off. :P

it's true. i should be crowing about shirley jackson. i didn't see an actual title suggested though. i guess because they read a short story? anyway, we should read her all the live long day. that said, i'd love to read some of these authors of smaller novels in combos. like a group read of life among the savages and the haunting of hill house might be interesting. everybody knows i've been dying to compare my cousin rachel and rebecca for years. or maybe same themes different authors? not to derail this one obviously, but it would be great if we could do that sometime rather than committing to a longer work which generall y means a sprawling kind of book that requires a different kind of dialogue? maybe not? maybe the same?

i'm not sure if adrian's not teasing me specifically mocking me for being driven mad by wittgenstein's mistress and never finishing. :P

Yeah, except now I have total GoodReads PTSD, like those poor lab rats who SOMETIMES get a pellet when they push the lever. OMG OMG will it go through -- ??? Like that.

i should be crowing about shirley jackson. i didn't see an actual title suggested though. i guess because they read a short story? anyway, we should read her all the live long day. that said, i'd love to read some of these authors of smaller novels in combos. like a group read of life among the savages and the haunting of hill house might be interesting.

Ohh, I like that. I think I'd compare Hill House to Sundial, tho, or Hangsaman to Bird's Nest, they're more similar. The Lottery would work as a book-length group read, all the stories are connected.

everybody knows i've been dying to compare my cousin rachel and rebecca for years. or maybe same themes different authors? not to derail this one obviously, but it would be great if we could do that sometime rather than committing to a longer work which generall y means a sprawling kind of book that requires a different kind of dialogue?

Yeah, the thing I like about longer group GoodReads books is I'm more compelled to finish them than if I were just reading on my own - like with Anna Karenina, altho I never actually participated in discussion (a winner is me). It's not an effort to reread Rebecca. Then again it would probably be more fun to read Rebecca with a group and people might feel more comfortable discussing it, so.

i'm not sure if adrian's not teasing me specifically mocking me for being driven mad by wittgenstein's mistress and never finishing. :P

You didn't like it? //big tear-filled blue kitten eyes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_the...

look! it is on the youtube! http://youtu.be/pccO1RBJZL8 :)

i remembered it but i didn't know what it was called. do you know the name of the daffy duck one with chloe? and it's like a mad scientist house? that's one of my favourites. :)

i like the way you think regarding these combos, but i do see your point about the long ones. :) still, i want combos!! there are so many options!

as for wittgenstein's mistress it wasn't that i didn't like it. it was that it was making me extremely depressed and dis-associative. i had wittgenstein's mistress stockholm syndrome. so i had to stop. it was a dark time. thank you for making me realize i should put it onto my "books dangerous to my sanity" shelf. :)

OMFG that cartoon made me sob SO HARD as a little kid. SO. HARD. I think my parents forbade me from watching it when it came on. "The kitten - the blender - !!!" Oh, Warner Bros.

do you know the name of the daffy duck one with chloe? and it's like a mad scientist house?

Oh Lord, I remember that one, yeah. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxDjgv... It is SO WEIRD to see all these immediately accessible on UTU, I remember waiting every week to see what they'd show on Saturday and sometimes you would have to wait A MONTH to see a favourite one. //carbon dates self

as for wittgenstein's mistress it wasn't that i didn't like it. it was that it was making me extremely depressed and dis-associative. i had wittgenstein's mistress stockholm syndrome. so i had to stop. it was a dark time. thank you for making me realize i should put it onto my "books dangerous to my sanity" shelf. :)

Ohhh dear. Yeah, I dunno how I might have reacted to that one if not on all my Shiny Happy Medz. I think for me part of it was I focused a lot on the intricate webbing of literary/artistic references, not so much on her mood.

Please keep me in the loop. I would love to get in on a group read. Been too long. (And wow, JR would be fantastic.)

Maureen wrote: "i should be crowing about shirley jackson. i didn't see an actual title suggested though. i guess because they read a short story?"

I can't tell what you are saying. Are you saying that there was a book that was suggested somewhere in this thread and when "they" were compiling the list, "they" missed it? If that's what you are saying, please let Dan know. Maybe he can still add it, otherwise it could be added the next round of voting. "They" didn't leave anything off the list intentionally.

(nothing makes me crazier than people talking about me in the third person when I'm still in the room!)

patty: earlier in the thread on page 1, audi suggested shirley jackson but not a specific title. shel replied that there was already a short story group read in progress (this was march 2009) and suggested audi come join that group, that "they". i don't know if you were part of that group. i imagine that when dan was culling the thread for titles he skipped that because there was no title. hope that provides clarity. i don't actually want to read a shirley jackson novel on its own, although i think moira's suggestion of reading the lottery and other stories as a whole is by far the most attractive. again, because i don't think group reads of short books have much mileage on them. hope that provides clarity on "they" for you. :)

So there's been 18 people that have casted their votes so far! Not bad.

Two of the book that appear on the poll have already been done as a group read here: House of Mirth & The Big Sleep (both in 2009) yet they are still drawing interest (6 and 7 votes respectively).

Here are links to the existing group read threads:

House of Mirth

The Big Sleep

Maureen wrote: "i imagine that when dan was culling the thread for titles he skipped that because there was no title"

Well, Dan didn't do the culling, I did. I went through the list pretty quickly, and I was only looking for titles. If anyone else feels slighted because I missed something, please speak up!

Just saw the list -- and started clicking. Then realized, I was clicking on everything. There's not a book on there I wouldn't read (and some, again). Thanks for putting this together.

Glad to see Jennifer Egan on this list. She is my new no. 1 -- reading her short stories now. rmc

We are up to 24 voters in less than 24 hours. That's an excellent return so far!

@Hugh: You're right, I found myself doing the same thing.

@Robert: I really dug Goon Squad but haven't checked out any of her other books yet.

Hey Dan, is there anyway to tell if I've already voted? I don't want to cheat and vote twice, but I can't remember if I voted, because I prevoted on the list before it was ready, but I have a really bad memory and don't know if I revoted once the list was final. Not that it really matters, I'll be happy with whatever and there are plenty of votes already, but just out of curiousity, is there anyway to tell? Will it stop me if I try to vote again?

Nah, it won't stop you as it works on the honor system. I know for a fact that one of the entries is your votes (based on the time stamps).

When you voted these were the books not present on the list:

The Instructions by Adam Levin
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
JR by William Gaddis

Want me to add a vote for any of these to the tallies?

Thanks, Dan! I would like to add a vote for Owen Meany (although you won't catch me praying for him).

Ok, A Patty for Owen Meany it is!

How long should we keep the vote open for? As of today we have 30 total voters which I think is a pretty solid number.

I think we should go ahead and close the polls. Unless you think I should send a reminder/last chance email first?

OK! So I just closed the poll. Here are the top 5 (but really 11):


16 votes: 100 Years of Solitude

14 votes: The Big Sleep

12 votes: The Code of the Woosters; Erasure, Vile Bodies

10 votes: Sense of an Ending; Passage to India

9 votes: Drood; House of Spirits; Portrait of an Artist; Farewell, My Lovely

So now how should we proceed? Read one each month as a group read?

None of these seem like they should take more than a month.

Thoughts, ideas?

Should we ask for volunteers to lead discussions, or just keep the discussions random? I'm surprised that 100 years got the most votes. I would have thought that almost everyone would have read it already!

I've tried to read 100 YOS and couldn't get past page 20.

I think it's funny that The Big Sleep got so many votes because we already did that one as a group read and I actually participated!

My number one was Passage to India because it's the only Forster I've never read. One per month sounds cool. That sure would get us through the next year!

I definitely think we should ask for leaders for each of the books. Usually having a leader/organizer helps kick things off and gets the conversation going.

It is surprising that 100Yrs got the most votes (though I've not yet read it myself). Based on Ben's Review we prob should skip asking him to lead.

@Kerry: Yeah it is weird that The Big Sleep ranked so high. Hopefully that means there are new folks who are wanting to read it. I'm certainly game to read it again.

Should we start 100Yrs at the beginning or middle of August or should we wait till Sept 1st?

I can do mid-August. Dang, I hope this isn't one of my books that is packed away. If it is I'll go to the library and check it out!

So how about this?

Aug 15th - Sept 14th - 100 Years of Solitude
Sept 15th - Oct 14th - The Big Sleep
Oct 15th - Nov 14th - Code of the Woosters
etc...

Man, if I participate I'm going to have to become super disciplined. I'm such a terribly lazy reader!

Looks good to me.

Patrick and I will be happy to co-lead Erasure. I'm up for 1 per month, but I probably won't read them all.

I am happy lead on Sense of an Ending. Have not read it, but I have read almost everything else by him.

Are there any Marquez enthusiasts/experts out there? I think that will be a tough one to tackle without some previous experience.

I'll take a shot at leading Wodehouse's Code of the Woosters.

Less than 2 weeks until the 100 years kickoff, and I have my copy in hand (thanks to whoever brought the paperback to the Dork). Any intrepid leaders stepping forward? I can't remember who among us likes Marquez.

I liked 100 years, and would help facilitate

When I get home today I page through the novel and see how it breaks down. Hopefully it'll divide into nice reasonable chunks.

I also think that we should also break up the discussion threads the same way we did for The Idiot discussion on myspace.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

I love Marquez, and I am dying to make a dramatic return to regular participation, but as of this moment I remain completely unreliable. I shall dig up one of my copies of 100 years, and see if lightning strikes.

@Neil: Even if lighting doesn't strike (and knowing you it'd probably strike you directly) feel free to join in at any time either or during or after the discussions.

I've paged through my Perennial Classics edition of 100 Years and found that it quite nicely has 20 chapters all roughly equal in length at 20 pages.

How about we create 5 discussion threads each one covering 4 chapters and set a pace of two chapters a week?

This would allow for busy people and/or slow readers a light pace while allowing speed readers to move along at a decent clip without there being a large risk of spoilers and a discussion dominated by some future plot point or theme or whatever.

Sound good?

Dan, you are the MAN, the deadpan man, but still the MAN. I love this plan because it seems like something even I, the laziest reader in the world, can keep up with! Thanks for taking charge!

Thank you, Dan, for organizing. And Brock, for serving as spiritual leader. And Neil, for Viking lightning strikes. I'm only one chapter in, but the first line already emerges as one of the greats: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." Really? A firing squad AND the discovery of ice in the first sentence? I'm in.

I love this book. I'm in. :)

You're welcome, I'm doing the easy part!

Don't get too far ahead of us now Smarty (unless you are taking a lot of notes!) ! I don't think we are officially starting until perhaps monday (as it is closest the the previously discussed 15th).

Hey where's our resident South American Lit expert Oro? I bet he'd be able to give us a lot of insight into 100 YOS.

Maybe he can be summoned if someone says something bad about Borges?

Dan wrote: "Hey where's our resident South American Lit expert Oro? I bet he'd be able to give us a lot of insight into 100 YOS.

Maybe he can be summoned if someone says something bad about Borges?"

Hahaha! Shall I ask him? I think I know what he'll say.

Having read the Koran, I tell Borges is wrong. The word camel appears at least once there.

So here :D

Hey guys, who's leading The Big Sleep? We can probably get rolling on that at this point.

I skipped out on 100 Years because I didn't really like it the first time I read it, but I'm looking forward to The Big Sleep if that's going to happen!

I think we are still in need of a leader for that one Regan (wanna volunteer?) I am likely going to skip The Big Sleep as I was a part of the first group read we did for it.

It would probably behoove us to send a few group message reminders before starting it.

i'm sorry not to get a chance to do a group read with you yet, regan, but i too, am skipping the big sleep this time around. when we get to the long goodbye, i'll be down for that one (and lead if needed).

dan: i think the group message would be a good idea, if not an actually poll saying, who is ready to start the big sleep? it would suck if people aren't engaged and ready... and i'm fretting that since it's been almost two weeks since you posted about the big sleep and regan's the first post, that maybe people aren't as up for it as they originally thought... if it turns out there's not a lot of interest, i can swap in for the long goodbye if regan is interested, and we two can go along and incite others with our joy. :)

Good point Mo, it may be a good idea to do that. I'd be a participant for The Long Goodbye too.

I'll create a poll for The Big Sleep as soon as I get a chance.

Alright, here's a link to the poll:

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/71...

Hey, if everyone else has already read it, that doesn't stop me from reading it. And it probably won't stop me from talking to myself about it either, but since I don't really know most of you, I might skip doing that in public just yet.

So, er, if people aren't interested then perhaps we should just move on to something else when everyone is done with 100 Years.

regan! based on the poll, it looks like there are at least four other people who do want to read it! just a few weeks' later! so now you can talk to yourself in public and other people and we won't know the difference. even more fun! :)

I'm here for the Big Sleep, Regan.