Reading the Chunksters discussion

Stephanie wrote: i've been missing your comments, everyman, noticed that you've not been reading Mists and i just don't have the time to read more than one chunksters at a time! "

I also only have time for one at a time, if that, and have been reading (but way behind on) East of Eden.

Loretta wrote: "I'll catch up to you on Oliver Twist soon, Anne. Just had to do a little switch for an hour. I'm about to start chapter 18."

What group are you reading OT for?

Loretta,

Here's the NY Times Book Review if you or anyone else would like to take a peak. http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/in...

11:40 PDT

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things. Extraordinary stuff; I'm disappointed that I didn't get to it long ago, but excited by having chosen it now.

Starts with a paean to Venus; he calls her the "delight of men and gods," and claims that she is the goddess who is basically responsible for all life, for crops and cattle and that she alone is "the guiding power of the universe and without you nothing emerges into the shining sunlit world to grow in joy and loveliness...." This is a version of Venus I've never seen in Greek literature before; I want to follow up to see where he gets this version of her.

And the book is amazingly modern, too, in places. "Meanwhile, grant that this brutal business of war by sea and land may everywhere be lulled to rest..." - lay Mars (god of war) low by "the irremediable wound of love." Doesn't this sound exactly like "make love, not war"? Over 2,000 years, and how little has changed!

Well, I am finally here. I thought I would never get out of work. I'm starting with my continuation of The Three Musketeers. :)

More of how modern the pondering of Lucretius is:


Men "know nothing of the nature of the spirit [soul]. They Is it born, or is it implanted in us at birth? Does it perish with us, dissolved by death, or dies it visit the murky depths and dreary sloughs of Hades> Or is it transplanted by divine power into other creatures, as described in the poems of our own Ennius..."

1,500 yearslater:
"But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,"

And even today, don't many of us still wonder how man was created and what happens to our souls after death?

Lucretius was there long, long before us!

Everyman wrote: "Loretta wrote: "I'll catch up to you on Oliver Twist soon, Anne. Just had to do a little switch for an hour. I'm about to start chapter 18."

What group are you reading OT for?"

Readers Review. I've actually been leading the thread, but fell behind a week. Should be caught up by tonight.

Juliette wrote: "Denae wrote: "I'm reading slowly today, despite the coffee I've consumed. 115 pages to finish Soulless and just wrapped up 52 more pages of [book:Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the..."

I'm really enjoying it. It has the same easy, almost conversational tone as the other things I have read by Sacks, while also being extremely informative. I definitely recommend it.

Finished .

Think I'll turn back to Oliver Twist soon, but I'm thinking a 20 minute break might be in order.

48 pages of Oliver Twist down. I'm going to begin and read an as yet undetermined amount of Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq next.

Time: 12.42-2.43p (CDT) :P
Read: "The Lady of Shalott", various pages of Le Morte d'Arthur...looking for information on Elaine, Nimue, Niniane etc., Mists of Avalon (633-651)...realizing that maybe Viviane isn't really all that bad.
Total Pages: 30

Act 4 next, but time for a break. I wish I was a faster reader!

First book down!

Time: 12 - 3:50 pm
Book: Doctor Who: The Stone Rose
Pages: 1 - 249

It was cute! Bit timey wimey, but that ended up just being funny to me, as long as I didn't think too hard!

Now onto Tender is the Night.

Ran out to do some errand and was delighted to come home to so many comments! I was reading while my boyfriend was driving so I got a chunk read in

I've been reading this book on and off for months so one of my goals is to finish it by tomorrow. I'm so excised that we have the added bonus hour for daylight savings :)

Time: 12 - 4pm
Book: Before you Know Kindness
Pages: 350 - 394
Total Pages: 49
Comments: This book has moved along pretty slow but I've come to really like it. The plot is ok, the charachters is who are really making the book interesting.

Readathon total: 90 pages

Loretta, If I was your neighbor I would talk to you!

Everyman, it must be so nice to have the little ones around all the time :)

Anne wrote: "Any of you Nosy Parkers live in NYC? Try learning about your neighbors there. Depends on the building, but it can be rough. Everyone is on stimulus overload and don't want to meet their neighbor..."

I'm in NYC and in my building, the people are exceptionally friendly and social -- a lot of children with play dates. On my floor a few of us even keep spare keys to one another's apartments! But this is definitely not the norm.

Mikki, with whom do you have your play dates?

I mostly have my play dates with the neighbors across the hall. Sometimes we call them dinners. Although, their little boy (he's 9 now but have known hime since he was 2) loves to come over and watch movies with me.

Lucky you. Those sound like nice neighbors.

Mikki, your apartment building sounds like a great place to live. Extended family is wonderful to find in such a big city.

Time: 4 - 5 pm
Book: Vanity Fair
Pages: 414 - 443
Total Pages: 29
Comments: I'm starting to realize my hopes of finishing this book before I leave for Aruba Tuesday is not really reasonable...lol

Readathon total: 114 pages

Andrea wrote: "Ran out to do some errand and was delighted to come home to so many comments! I was reading while my boyfriend was driving so I got a chunk read in

I'v..."

Again, you are a gem and I am stealing your format, thanks for the structure! :D

Time: 2.43-4.15p CDT
Read: Lost in the Kitchen (essay)
Pages: 2
Total pages: 2
Comments: Essay is totally hilarious, especially if you know a man who doesn't help in the kitchen. Um, took a nap, ate some lunch...

Readathon total: 86 pages; (Children's books) 24 pages

LOL, I've been wondering if a nap is in order myself... feeling a little sleepy!

Another 40 pages of Oliver Twist down, 79 pages total for that one so far today.

Loretta wrote: "Another 40 pages of Oliver Twist down, 79 pages total for that one so far today."

Better you than me; the 45-50 pages in each week's section are enough for me. Oliver's just so...perfect. Can't stand him.

I read all of and am 100 pages into .

Okay so I went to the grocery store, did some errands, made dinner and now I am sitting down to read The Night Circus. I finished 1 of 9 cd's for Dead to the world.

Ooh, I want to know how The Night Circus is. It seems to be popping up everywhere, but I'm skeptical.

Time: 4.15-5.16p CDT
Read: Chpt. 2 of A Repair Kit for Grading; The Scarecrow of Oz
Pages: 38-56; 1-4
Total pages: 20
Comments: I like these grading fixes and work many of them into my grading anyway...read the Intro to the Oz book, I am a nerd, and like intros.

Readathon total: 96 pages; (Children's books) 24 pages

@Denae: I'm enjoying Oliver Twist a lot. But the only reason I'm reading so much today is because I fell a couple weeks behind. I just have this coming week's section to do now though.

Kristina wrote: "Okay so I went to the grocery store, did some errands, made dinner and now I am sitting down to read The Night Circus. I finished 1 of 9 cd's for Dead to the world."

I'm also curious about The Night Circus! I've got that one on my eReader. :) Let us know how you find it!

Loretta wrote: "@Denae: I'm enjoying Oliver Twist a lot. But the only reason I'm reading so much today is because I fell a couple weeks behind. I just have this coming week's section to do now though."

I'm enjoying it in small chunks, but I don't think I would be if I weren't reading it that way. I could be wrong, but so far it seems to be a good method. I'm champing at the bit with East of Eden though!

Time: 2:45-5:00p EST
Read: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Pages: On Kindle 65% through 77% (Approx. 75 pages)
Total pages: 75
Comments: I have been struggling with this book for awhile. It is just such a soap opera! I am having very little patience. I will finish this, though.

After my walk and dinner, I will be on to Richard Matheson's Third From The Sun. That is a book of short stories. I love him! He is one of my favorite authors!

Okay, I know there are other books I "should" be reading, but decided I want to read .

Think this might be the main one for the rest of the evening.

Always go with what you want :)

3:40 PDT

After lunch, and just started back to Lucrfetius when the grandkids, this time all four of them, showed up to drag me down to the beach. Well, it didn't take that much dragging, since although it's a bit chilly it's a lovely sunny afternoon and low tide so fun to see what we can see in the tide pools. About an hour plus of that, then a bit of riding up and down the driveway on their trikes (the 18 month olds) and John Deere toy front end loaders (the four year olds), and then they went happily back to their parents and I went back to Lucretius.

I had expected this to be challenging reading, a book I've had my eye on for many years but never got inspired to actually get to until I decided the RaT was the ideal justification for getting down to it. But it's turned out not to be a chore but a delight. I'm in line for a new T-shirt: Lucretius Rocks! I'm so glad to have found him, even though I'll only get through the first book for sure and maybe into the second book, and there are others I had on my planning list, but it's just over an hour until birthday party time, so back to it I go. (After a few minutes loving the cat, who has hopped up on my desk beside the computer and loudly contending that a living cat is more worthy of attention than a man dead 2,000 years. And who knows, she may be right.)

I've only read the first ASOIAF and am really anxious to get the #2! :)

I adored the first three. The last two have been more loved for what they could have been than what they are.

Everyman wrote: "3:40 PDT

After lunch, and just started back to Lucrfetius when the grandkids, this time all four of them, showed up to drag me down to the beach. Well, it didn't take that much dragging, since al..."

Nice beach story...sigh...enjoy the birthday party! :D
I'm off to dinner with friends! :D

don't forget the twitter hashtag #RCRaT!!! :D

Andrea wrote: "Everyman, it must be so nice to have the little ones around all the time :)"

Oh, it is. Grandchildren are so much different from children. With children, you're working all day, then come home and have to deal with mealtime, bedtime, homework, friends relationships, joys and tragedies, and hope to get in a bit of quality, fun time in the crevices while worrying about doctors, dentists, teachers, sports, finding money for college, and on and on. Rewarding, yes, but also exhausting and too much to focus on in addition to the children. With grandchildren, it's almost all fun time, you're retired so no pressure of work, no matter what time of day there's always time for them, and then they go home to their parents to worry about all the parenting things. There's nothing better in the world!

@ Everyman: Isn't it funny how some books intimidate us because of their reputation? I've always been a little bit afraid of Moby Dick (for example).

Loretta wrote: "@ Everyman: Isn't it funny how some books intimidate us because of their reputation? I've always been a little bit afraid of Moby Dick (for example)."

So was I until my book group read it.

I really liked Moby Dick! It took awhile to finish it, but it was worth it!

Everyman, I didn't realize we're neighbors....sort of. I read your account of the beach visit and thought it sounded lovely. Then I looked and saw you live in Friday Harbor --> a beautiful place! I love Roche too. Gorgeous autumn day, isn't it?

I've also avoided Moby Dick, maybe we could read it as a group this coming year!

I just started this book and then my family wanted to eat dinner! Still going strong......

Time: 5 - 7:30 pm
Book: Horton Halfpott
Pages: 0 - 71
Total Pages: 71
Comments: This is a book for my 75 children's/YA challenge. So far it is a fun book with lots of fun characters and a cute mystery plot.

Readathon total: 185 pages

4:50 PDT

Finished Book 1 of Lucretius, wonderful stuff. Polished off another essay, this one William Hazlitt "On Going a Journey," now off to the birthday party.

Page 150 of .

5 stars for Long Day's Journey Into Night