Chicks On Lit discussion

Our next chunky read!!! Anyone want to lead the discussion and/or co-lead with me?

As soon as I get the book I will post the reading schedule. Plan on the start date of February 8th.

Who is in?

I'm in, Meg, and I can co-lead with you as time permits with busy season in full swing by February. I'm looking forward to it!

How long will this run, do you think?

How great!

We try 100 pages/week. I don't have the book yet so I can't give an exact determination.

This is one of my favorite books, I will have to re-read this one!

The hardback I have from the library is 792 pages, so roughly eight weeks?

Lisa, that sounds like quite an endorsement for such a long book. I hope you'll join us!

Cool! I may be a bit late to the party as I'm hoping to be reading The Waves as a regular group read and The Beautiful and Damned as a classic group read in February, but this one was on my TBR, too!

So many books...

Yes Laura, let's figure 8 weeks.

Glad to have you join us Lisa and Jennifer.

Jennifer W wrote: "Cool! I may be a bit late to the party as I'm hoping to be reading The Waves as a regular group read and The Beautiful and Damned as a classic group read in February, but this one was on my TBR, to..."

I hope this chunky can fit into your schedule Jennifer!

Meg wrote: "Yes Laura, let's figure 8 weeks."

Sounds good, Meg. I may wind up buying this one. For some reason both local libraries have only one copy each. This surprised me! Are you buying your copy?

Has anyone read a book by this author before? Mark Helprin

I hear such wonderful things about him, but this will be my first.

I'm in. Jennifer, I'm going to be reading both Waves and Beautiful and Damned too, so I will be doing the best I can to keep up with all three of these too.
We can cheer each other on if we get behind. :-)

Sheila wrote: " We can cheer each other on if we get behind"

We usually do! :)

SOLDIER OF THE GREAT WAR is one of the great books of literature!!!! Not just about war, but about life, love, aging and remembering. Mark Helprin is really a brilliant writer, some of his phrases take your breath away. Even his short stories, though I don't believe in his politics. He's a good author to read if you're trying to be a writer.
Look at his blurbs! Critics compare him to Hemingway, Camus, Tolstoy, all the immortals! The book is huge, read it in chunks like novellas. And happy reading! And alohas,
Kiana Davenport, Author, THE SPY LOVER

I don't want to put too much expectation on this book! I read it in my middle 20's and then again in my 30's. Since I just hit my 40's a few months ago, this seems like a great time to see if my memories about this book have changed. I have never read anymore by this author, but this book spoke to me for some reason. It reminds me to stop and appreciate the beauty around me every day.

Biography[edit]

Helprin was born in Manhattan, New York in 1947. His father, Morris Helprin, worked in the film industry, eventually becoming president of London Films. His mother was actress Eleanor Lynn Helprin, who starred in several Broadway productions in the 1930s and 40s. In 1953 the family left New York City for the prosperous Hudson River Valley suburb of Ossining, New York. He was raised on the Hudson River and later in the British West Indies. Helprin holds degrees from Harvard University (A.B. 1969), and Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (A.M. 1972). Helprin's postgraduate study was at Princeton University and Magdalen College, Oxford, University of Oxford, 1976-77. He is Jewish-American, and he became an Israeli citizen during the late 1970s. He served in the British Merchant Navy, the Israeli infantry, and the Israeli Air Force.[2] Helprin is married to Lisa (Kennedy) Helprin. They have two daughters, Alexandra and Olivia. They live on a 56-acre farm in Earlysville, Virginia, and like his father and grandfather who had farms before him, Helprin does much of the work on his land.[3]

Novels, short stories and periodicals[edit]

Helprin states that his literary creation “always starts with something very small”. “I can sit down to write a story just by thinking of the first two words of a F. Scott Fitzgerald story: ‘This Jonquil’—it’s a woman’s name. This always gets me in the mood to write. We create nothing new—no one has ever imagined a new color—so what you are doing is revitalizing. You are remembering, then combining, altering. Artists who think they’re creating new worlds are simply creating tiny versions of this world." His inspirations include Dante, Shakespeare, Melville and Mark Twain.[3]

His first novel, published in 1977, was Refiner’s Fire: The Life and Adventures of Marshall Pearl, a Foundling. The 1983 novel Winter’s Tale is a sometimes fantastic tale of early 20th century life in New York City. He published A Soldier of the Great War in 1991. Memoir from Antproof Case, published in 1995, includes long comic diatribes against the effects of coffee. Helprin came out with Freddy and Fredericka, a satire based on Prince Charles and Princess Diana, in 2005. His latest, In Sunlight and In Shadow, was released in 2012, and has been described as an extended love song to New York City.[4]

Helprin has published three books of short stories: A Dove of the East & Other Stories (1975), Ellis Island & Other Stories (1981), and The Pacific and Other Stories (2004). He has written three children’s books, all of which are illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg: Swan Lake, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows. His works have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Helprin's writing has appeared in The New Yorker for two decades. He writes essays and a column for the Claremont Review of Books. His writings, including political op-eds, have appeared in The Wall Street Journal (for which he was a contributing editor until 2006), The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Criterion, National Review, American Heritage, and other publications.

I am going to give it a try!

Lisa wrote: "I don't want to put too much expectation on this book! I read it in my middle 20's and then again in my 30's. Since I just hit my 40's a few months ago, this seems like a great time to see if my ..."

That would be really interesting, Lisa. Particularly from your 20s to your 40s, sooo many things change.

Kiana wrote: "SOLDIER OF THE GREAT WAR is one of the great books of literature!!!! Not just about war, but about life, love, aging and remembering. Mark Helprin is really a brilliant writer, some of his phrases..."

Nice to hear, thanks Kiana!

Meg wrote: "Biography[edit]

Helprin was born in Manhattan, New York in 1947. His father, Morris Helprin, worked in the film industry, eventually becoming president of London Films. His mother was actress Ele..."

So interesting, thanks for posting this, Meg.

Hilary and Rebecca, I hope you both decide to join us!

READING SCHEDULE

Read up to page 193, Chapter III
February 9 - Discuss through 193 read up to page 275, Chapter V
February 16 - Discuss through page 275 read up to page 358 Chapter VI
February 23 - Discuss through page 358 read up to page 452 Chapter VII
March 2 - discuss through page 452 read up to page 584 Chapter VIII
March 9 - discuss through page 584 read up to page 675 Chapter IX
March 16 - discuss through page 675 finish the book
March 23 - discuss book in its entirety

I have my library copy, on the list for paperbackswap

Can't wait to discuss this with everyone!

Me too, thx for doing the schedule Meg!

This looks good. I need to get a copy. Want to join in.

Great! You are welcome Laura.

I am planning on joining this one.

Welcome, Kathy! Looking forward to starting this one.

I started this one last night, and I think I am really going to enjoy it! It seems very well written, and sucked me right in.

Yay! I have the book and am starting today.

I'll hopefully be starting soon. I'm trying to finish Burial Rites, and yesterday I picked up a holdlist book I've waited for for months....may just get on the waitlist again, though I know it'll be an age before I see it again if I do.

I'm glad you're enjoying it so far, Sheila!

I've ordered the book and look forward to participating in another "chunky" group read. It's a been awhile!

That is great Beth! Love to have you!

Welcome, Beth!

I hope to be starting this weekend. :)

I love this group [though I'm quite new!], but you're making me work so hard!! I'm doing The Waves and The Beautiful and the Damned also.

That said, I'm in. I'll be ebook-ing it.

Has anyone got past the first 100 pages of this one? Sad to say, I'm not feeling this at all. It's a slog for the most part so far. I had read a review that advised giving it 100 pages, but not sure I'll be able to. I'm on p 63 of the hardback at this point. :(((. The audio version isn't helping, either, although I'm primarily reading vs listening.

I was wondering how everyone else was doing with it.

I'm on page 87 of the hardcover version and I am actually enjoying this one, much more than I am enjoying The Waves! LOL

I like the story of the old man, and am very interested to learn more about him and his life.

I have to sit this one out--too much going on. Also, war stories get me anxious. I'm looking forward to finding out about the story vicariously from you ladies though :)

I am only on page 50 and so far I am looking forward to finding out more.

I'm glad to hear some of you are faring better than I am. I'll try and sit with it again, but I don't know. I think it's his writing style. I read the first few pages online and really enjoyed it, but after 70 pp., it's just...I think I want him to get to the point.

I think Burial Rites has ruined me for almost any other writing. I'm gonna blame that book, at least for awhile lol.

Laura, for what its worth, I thought the book started with a bang, then slowed down some (just after the beginning).....but then it picked up again quickly and was wonderful to the end. It's maybe worth a few more pages of investment. I hope it turns around for you.

What is a "chunky book"? Lots of pages is all I can figure out. Am I close to being right?

Exactly Laura. A chunky read is just a book with lots of pages. Those BIG, LONG books that are sometimes hard to finish on your own, that you still might want to read. We do them as group reads to give each other encouragement to continue on till then end. :-)

So is everyone up to date with the reading?

Laura had trouble with the first 100 pages, did the second 100 pages hook you?

I'm caught up with this week's reading. :-)

Meg wrote: "So is everyone up to date with the reading?

Laura had trouble with the first 100 pages, did the second 100 pages hook you?"
I'm just a little behind; sorry. Talk amongst yourselves and I'll join in . . . in about 2 hours . . .!

I haven't picked it back up, but I hope to soon. Life has been getting in the way, most recently, with my daughter, who's away at college in Virginia, needing major car repairs. Her dad went down to bring it back here to MD and had to be towed part of the way back - the transmission is gone.

I'm glad to hear it got much better, Petra. Like you, I thought I'd love it at the beginning, and then it fizzled for me. It really annoyed me that the old guy kept calling the young one stupid! I thought he'd be more lovable, lol.

For everyone who is up-to-date, how are you liking it? I think I'm only about 80 pp in.

I was wondering what you thought of Alessandro the old and Alessandro the young.

For me, so far, it is hard to believe that they are the same person.

How so, Meg?

Laura, Niccolo is uneducated and Alessandro is trying to make him think. He's just getting Niccolo's gears going and making him think of the world, its actions, his place in it.
I found it very touching that Alessandro defended the unknown young man and lost his seat on the bus for him. What would make a man put himself in such a desperate spot for someone he didn't know? It was a wonderful show of humanity towards others.

That's a good point, Petra, but I guess I found it hard to reconcile his actions on the bus with his actions off it.

I haven't met Alessandro the young yet.