Queereaders discussion

We are now in 58th place among the most popular groups in Goodreads, with 994 members:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/popula...

We need only six more to make 1,000. Tell all your friends!

We're now up to 1021 members!

A warm welcome to all the new folks who recently joined us.

Cheers! Let us celebrate!

Barbecue at my place, everyone invited. Just take the next plane and bring some beer. ;-)

Yay, Nancy!

A party in Brazil? I'm there ;)

Lucas, I would love some fried plátanos. Is that a part of Brazilian cuisine?

Can I bring

I think most everywhere in the world has a lower drinking age than the US. :)

I'm all for corrupting minors.

Oh. Did I say that out loud? {snicker}

Nancy, where are readers posting comments on "call me by your name"? It doesn't seem that many people read it. Am I right?

Joseph, look under our Group Reads topic. I've moved the posts up so you can find them easily. It looks like Kernos and I are the only ones who read and commented so far.

Thanks, Nancy, what do you think of the book?

My review is here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I liked it, but didn't love it as much as I wanted to. We can discuss it further in the appropriate topics if you'd like. Have you finished the book yet?

Yes, I finished it. I liked it and have been think about it. It's intellectual - we go into the mind of a precocious kid - and I read somewhere that it is kind of a meditation on time and memory. I also throught it had a dreamlike quality and at times it was beautifully written. I'm interested in knowing what other readers thought of it.

Here's the discussion topic:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

I hope others will plan to read the book. Even though I had mixed feelings about it, I was really taken by the imagery and the beautiful language.

I really gotta read "Call me by your name". I'm quite late for this one.

Matthew wrote: "Lucas wrote: "Barbecue at my place, everyone invited. Just take the next plane and bring some beer. ;-)"

Hey Lucas,
What's the legal drinking age where you are? I'm 18, can I come???

Matt"

Yeah Matt, legal drinking age is 18 here, but even minors manage to get alcohol pretty easily (which is actually sad). It's really unfair that Americans only get to drink at the age of 21... there isn't much of an age difference there, right? And it doesn't make sense: you can be a porn star at 18, but not drink.

Actually, the other thing I find strange about the US is that, depending on the state, you can't be served alcohol after 2 or 4am.

Plus people generally only get two weeks vacation leave.

Am I still right in both respects?

I'm jealous of most Europeans. They get six weeks break, I only get four plus long service leave.

I'm up to five weeks vacation leave now, but I've worked at the same company for 20 years. Yes, typically people start with two weeks (or three) depending on the company and position you have.

I just looked at the list 1501 members, and the group is 30th. :)

I just checked and it looks like we've climbed up to 54th place. Where did you see we were 30th, Christian?

On http://www.goodreads.com/group/popula...

It lists group titles started with #21, we are 11th on the page.

Of course, being a math genius I now notice that means we are at 32. ((sigh))

That's the m/m romance group that's in 32nd place. :)

Yikes, totally got that backward. Sorry for the confusion. :)

That's OK, it happens to all of us, even math geniuses. ;)

Nancy wrote: "I'm up to five weeks vacation leave now, but I've worked at the same company for 20 years. Yes, typically people start with two weeks (or three) depending on the company and position you have."

Ouch. Ours is four weeks from the beginning of employment, and after ten years service you get three calendar months off as a reward for staying with the company.

I forgot to mention that vacation policy in the US is not mandated by government but by employers, based on years of service. After one year of work, you receive about 7 days or so of vacation time. After 5 years, about 14 days. After 15-20 years, 18-25 days. This depends on the company you work for, of course, and the level of position. Higher levels can negotiate for more time. I imagine people who leave their jobs have to settle for less time off even though they have worked for years.

After working for 20 years in the same company, even five weeks doesn't feel like enough time off.

Check out this topic for more discussion about vacation time:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Nancy, it sounds like the american people are not much better than the chinese when it comes to vacation time. They get about one week during their new year celebration.

It's a sad thing to see companies ruling this aspect of people's lives. One month vacation every year seems to be just fair to me. Here in Brazil we get to chose between taking 30 days off or "selling" 10 days to the company and taking only 20 days.

Greetings from Tijuana where the drinking age is 18, give or take! They don't get much vacation time in Mexico, either, that's why they just don't show up for work when they don't feel like it.

Greetings Erik and welcome! Glad you hopped on to join the discussion!