On Paths Unknown discussion

Hello everybody! I'm really hoping to see some old friends and new faces here. :)

Note to members: Members can add books they want to suggest as potential fodder for book discussion to the bookshelf titled "suggestions" , here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

You will find that there is a block in which you can note down what interests you about that specific book. Thanks!

I have a new face. I decided it was time to lose the gag. At least, I don't seem to have been gagged in more than a year.

I was thinking along similar lines when that terrorist attack and the whole spiel it created about freedom of speech happened, so i thought - just a little while longer...

In any case, I'm very happy to see we have 3 new members! :))

Hellloooo there!

I am here. Behold my glorious, radiant face! ;)

Oh hi, you guys! (Aloha and Ian) *happy dance* So nice to see you again - feels like long time no see! Excuse that it is still so bare here... I'll get something more member friendly going soon...

Feel free to add books to the bookshelf, with a motivation as to why you feel the book is groundbreaking or unusual or unique in some manner, and hmm, let's make a thread where we can mention books we think should be discussed around here, shall we?

Helloo :-)

I know I never contributed much to the Mievillians discussions, but I did dip in to see what y'all were saying - so I shall continue to stalk here (thanks for the invite).

Clouds! How nice to see you! Your little one must be quite huge by now! I can't remember now if you'd mentioned there was another one coming? (Apologies if I'm misremembering here...)

Howdy from the great state of Kentucky... Je suis Charlie!

Hello, everybody. Nice to be here in everyone's second-favourite European micronation. I'm looking forward to what the expanded scope will bring!

Hel-lllooo you guys! I'm so glad to see some familiar Mievillian faces - some of the usual CM crowd have not responded, and I'm a bit nervous that they might not like our changing over, but honestly, I was really starting to feel uncomfortable with trying to justify discussing other authors in a Mieville group... :P

And yes, Allen- as you see, I still, quite topically, have my gag on!

Hello, everyone! This group looks awesome, and I'm looking forward to being a part of it!

Howdy, group!

Hello Traveller, thanks for the invitation. It's been a long time since we talked. Now I'm spending much of my free time on writing, but perhaps it's a chance to hit the books again. Glad to see you again, bond girl.

Hello, hello, hello, so nice to see you guys! I was hoping we'd meet with your approval mark, and I'm very happy to see my new friend Karin here.

/me passes around the drinks. Karin, i love how you have a new avatar every few days - it keeps me on my toes not to slot you into a convenient nook in my mind - in fact my friend mark with his very distinctive avatar there below you, will sometimes wait JUST until one is used to him looking like that, and then he would slyly change his avatar once in a blue moon, just to make sure that we're all still awake. Oh the joys of the internetz, ha ha. :D

But may i complement you both on your interesting and inventive set of avatars. Karin's current one is my fave so far.

But back on topic, I do hope that you all will find something of value on our new group!

Just in time not to include Ben - hi there Ben, so you've joined the bandwagon with the writing thing? Best wishes with that, and I hope you'll pop in sometimes when we're discussing things that lie on the weirder and darker side... ;) (Yes, yes, I remember)

Yes, Trav my little boy is now 2 (and a half) and my little girl is now six months old... and the puppy arrives in 3 weeks :-)

Clouds wrote: "Yes, Trav my little boy is now 2 (and a half) and my little girl is now six months old... and the puppy arrives in 3 weeks :-)"

Ah, I KNEW there were more little ones in the pipeline! (Just wasn't too sure exactly when). So that means your life is completely in disarray at the moment, I'll bet - but also full of tender moments when you're not absolutely pulling your hair out of your head! I bet you're wondering when the day will come that you can teach the little ones to be Spiderman... nah, on second thoughts, that might just make their pulling stuff down to the floor even worse... :S

Hello everyone! Newbie here..awkwardly standing by the munchies corner!And ready for an adventure!

Hehe, I am actually a published author in my language (on Aleister Crowley, the notorious occultist) but nowadays I am writing fiction in English. I will be participating, yes, especially more often if the book we will be discussing is something I like. By the way, who selects the books? You and the other moderator?

Annie wrote: "Hello everyone! Newbie here..awkwardly standing by the munchies corner!And ready for an adventure!"

You're very welcome, Annie, - with the type of literature you prefer reading, i am sure you'll fit right in, so grab a chair and make yourself comfortable! Being a brand-new group, it will take a little while before we get to rip-roaring speed, but bear with us and hopefully we'll get there. :)

Oh gosh... we forgot to put Murakami on the bookshelf.. tell you what, would you care to make a Murakami suggestion?

Ben wrote: "Hehe, I am actually a published author in my language (on Aleister Crowley, the notorious occultist) but nowadays I am writing fiction in English. I will be participating, yes, especially more ofte..."

Well, i jumped ahead of the queue and selected the ones i would like to do, (which the other moderator happened to agree with) and I've tried to do a selection more or less representative of the range that we'd mainly be interested in. We're still trying to figure out a fair way for members to make their own choices.

Ideally, members will be able to arrange their own buddy reads. We were thinking along the lines of there must at least be 3 people interested in participating in any particular book discussion for it to qualify. Why, do you have anything specific in mind?

Oh look, a group of intellectuals discussing books. I am in!

possibly the first time I've ever been considered an intellectual. yay for Kenneth!

What mark said, especially the last part. XD Welcome, Kenneth!

Traveller wrote: "Ben wrote: "Hehe, I am actually a published author in my language (on Aleister Crowley, the notorious occultist) but nowadays I am writing fiction in English. I will be participating, yes, especial..."

I do have a few, although I am not absolutely certain if they all match the range you guys have in mind. I am happy to make suggestions, and will leave it up to you and the other mod to pick something from them, or not. I saw a bookshelf here to which I can add titles. Can I add some at my leisure?

Ben, We've created a bookshelf called "Suggestions" here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

Please feel free to add the books you are interested in, to that shelf, since our other shelves are for already scheduled books and already discussed (in Mievillians) books. Thanks!

Will do. Thanks for all your hard work.

Traveller wrote: "Hello, hello, hello, so nice to see you guys! I was hoping we'd meet with your approval mark, and I'm very happy to see my new friend Karin here.

/me passes around the drinks. Karin, i love ho..."

Hehe. I think I FINALLY found one I like. The field of sunflowers was a bit too . . . cheerful :)

Hi everyone, here I am, fashionably late, I see.

Traveller wrote: "Annie wrote: "Hello everyone! Newbie here..awkwardly standing by the munchies corner!And ready for an adventure!"

You're very welcome, Annie, - with the type of literature you prefer reading, i ..."

Yeah of course! Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World- I've heard it said that if Gabriel Garcia Marquez and H. G. Wells sat down to write a book together, this would be it!

Hello! I am incompetent at small-talk. Also, friends with a Red Dragon.

Ruth! I'm relieved to see you here. I was wondering what you would do all on your lonesome once we had all moved over here - it wouldn't be the same place without you...

Thanks, Annie, -added!

People, please note that the dates on the books are just tentative dates. We might decide not to read some of them, or move them around, so please don't see the dates as set in stone yet.

Someone asked me if members who have already read a book can still comment on discussions. But of course! That is the entire idea of a discussion - I had thought that part would go without saying.

The way things worked over at Mievillains, our discussions were not strictly time-bound. We would all clump together (well a few of us would) and 'read' it together and discuss the book in-depth in spoilerific threads, which were clearly marked at the top in which way to expect spoilers - you can pop in to our first discussion here to see how it works.

But then anybody who has read the book already can also pop in and make comments, and people can still comment after the little group of us had finished with our "read-together" activity. (So, mark, i hope you will pop in on the Valente later on, having read it and enjoyed it already). I hope that clears up some of the potential confusion.

I'm only here because that meddlesome man from the Witness Protection Program suggested it might be "a nice diversion". Thanks for invite, Trav.

Hi Robert! So am i, but hey, we seem to do okay with it on poor old Manny's threads! XD

Hi J.! It's really good to see you around GR again, and now you're here too, yaye!

Traveller wrote: "Hi Robert! So am i, but hey, we seem to do okay with it on poor old Manny's threads! XD

Hi J.! It's really good to see you around GR again, and now you're here too, yaye!"

You are friends with a Red Dragon, too? Is it the same one? Flagon is, after all, Fierce and Friendly! ;-)

I thought I would join. I know most of you by sight.

Traveller wrote: "People, please note that the dates on the books are just tentative dates. We might decide not to read some of them, or move them around, so please don't see the dates as set in stone yet."

Well I hope the first book, In the Night Garden, does stay in the planned schedule as I am going to order a copy, just for this. Good selections by the way, Trav. I was going to add Naked Lunch to the suggestions but it was already on your list! :D

Greetings all, and thanks for the invite Traveller!

Hello, everybody! I'm glad, Paul! Hi Terry, long time no see, actually, so it's nice to see you!

In The Night Garden definitely stays. We have people who already said yeah to that one. Only to be slightly postponed in the event of people not getting their copies in time. :)

Traveller wrote: "Ben, We've created a bookshelf called "Suggestions" here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

Please..."

I just tried to add one and it did not allow me to add it to only the "Suggestions" bookshelf. I have to choose either "read", "to-read" or "currently reading"; I can't uncheck all three of them.

Hello people! I'm a lazy lightweight in Goodreads country but I'll happily read your fine sentiments :)

Ben wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Ben, We've created a bookshelf called "Suggestions" here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/books......"

Hmm, yes, i had trouble with that as well. How about for now, you mention it with a link in the interesting books thread? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

If other members see it and say that they want to read it, then we can add it to the "to-read" shelf. Thanks!

SubterraneanCatalyst wrote: "Hello people! I'm a lazy lightweight in Goodreads country but I'll happily read your fine sentiments :)"

This group is for enjoyment, not work, so relax, and enjoy! Welcome SubterraneanCatalyst !

Er.. do you mind if people call you by something slightly shorter? :P

Traveller wrote: "SubterraneanCatalyst wrote: "Hello people! I'm a lazy lightweight in Goodreads country but I'll happily read your fine sentiments :)"

This group is for enjoyment, not work, so relax, and enjoy! W..."

haha, sure thing. Most GR folks call me subcat :)

Thanks so much for the invite to this group! I'm looking forward to seeing what we're going to be reading and talking about the books with everyone. I already belong to too many groups here on Goodreads, but what the heck? LOL!

Thanks for the invite Trav! This looks like just my kind of reading :)

Glad to be here and ready to explore riveting minds, both in books and in the discussion threads! Thanks for the invitation Trav! :)

SubterraneanCatalyst wrote: "Subcat"
Teeheehee, well - that certainly has an interesting ring to it... Sure, your call. :)

Robert wrote: "You are friends with a Red Dragon, too? Is it the same one? Flagon is, after all, Fierce and Friendly! e!"..."

I see the potential for confusion there, so just to make it clear, i am both friends with a Red Dragon, and incompetent with small-talk.