MuseBlog Book Club, 2010 edition
As before, a thread for reading and discussing specific books for extended periods of time.
First, we need a book…
Date: March 21, 2010
Categories: Fiction, poetry, and fanfiction, Things We like
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
As before, a thread for reading and discussing specific books for extended periods of time.
First, we need a book…
Date: March 21, 2010
Categories: Fiction, poetry, and fanfiction, Things We like
Thanks, GAPAs…so, how should we start? Does anybody have any suggestions for a book that most Musers on here would like? I would suggest something that’s not too long but would appeal to a lot of different people. That’s sort of hard to cover, seeing as we have a very wide span of readers though…a few that are coming to mind are the classics (Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, etc.) or we could always go for something more modern. Suggestions? (GAPA’s, your ideas are welcome too of course, as you have so much wisdom.)
(Choklit for a semi PoPo *choklit*)
I have lots of good books in my overflowing bookcase. The True Meaning of Smekday; Hurt Go Happy; Lots of Ibbotson books…
I love the book Hurt Go Happy!!!! A really great book…
I loved The True Meaning of Smekday. It was genius.
I’d love to participate as well, but as I’ve noticed on the Book & Reading threads, it doesn’t appear that I like most “Muserly” books. For example, I can’t sand “classics” (for the most part), and most fantasy. I don’t know… Does anyone else feel like this? But you can choose to ignore this self-absorbed post and continue on with the thread.
Um…A suggestion could be Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, but I don’t know if the male MBers would like it.
I’ve read that. Why wouldn’t male MBers like it?
I personally tend to prefer “classics” to more recent books. Mark Twain is always good. As is Arthur Conan Doyle. And any of the dystopian novels. Hm… Tolkien would probably be too long. Some other books would be to inappropriate. What to read, what to read… Oh, Shakespeare would be good.
Er, wait: Watership Down!
I need to read that.
We could do Sherlock Holmes stories. I bought a collection of them, but have yet to start.
Something by Wendy Mass. A Mango-Shaped Space, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, Every Soul A Star ….
I’d like to suggest The Book Thief, but since a lot of MBers seem to have read that, maybe something else by Zusak… I am the Messenger, maybe?
I am the Messanger (sorry, don’t know how do italics) might not be deemed appropriate by some of the younger (ie, sixth grade) MBers parents.
Yeah, good point. Bad idea.
What about something “easy” to start out with; Alice in Wonderland? It doesn’t take that long to read, but there’s plenty of it to discuss.
Whoops. Then my suggestion certainly won’t ego first.
If I may suggest a very good book: A Thousand Splendid Suns.
It’s about women in Afghanistan before and during when the Taliban took over. It is a bit mature, but not completely inappropriate (i.e. MBers can handle it). And it’s certainly emotionally intense. When I finished it, I cried for a little bit. Have any of the GAPAs read it? It’s by Khaled Hosseini.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is on my “to read” list, but I haven’t read it yet. I think we could all stand to know more about Afghanistan.
I’ve read it. It was definitely intense, but I think MBers can handle it.
My English class read The Kite Runner earlier this year (same author, also set in Afghanistan) and several of my classmates were reading A Thousand Splendid Suns as well. I haven’t, thoughTKR was good enough that I would definitely like to.
A fantastic book: The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. However, given that a lot of us seem to be Gaiman fan-types, so we may have read it…?
I love The Graveyard Book! Coraline and M is for Magic are awesome too! (I’m sorry I don’t know how to do italics, I really should learn them if I want to post on this thread…)
Umm, people don’t always seem to know about his short stories, and those are good, although maybe those are a bit too…short.
Surrounding text with <i> and </i> will create italics.
Thanks for caring!
Three Cups of Tea? I haven’t read it, so I can’t say, but I’ve heard it’s good.
I’ve got the Young Readers edition, and Mum won’t let me get the original. Phooey.
But it’s a great book. Very eye-opening.
Yeah, my younger sister read the Young Readers edition, but then they returned it to the library before I could get a chance to read it. *pout* My mom is sort of strict, and I heard that the original might be a little bit mature, but I’ll see.
The original is a bit mature, but in my opinion it’s whole lot better. I can’t read with bolded glossary words jumping out at me.
Oooh, I’ve wanted to read that for a while!
I read the adult one because my mom had it because we were doing a Pennies For Peace program at my church.
Alice in Wonderland sounds great. I suggest that we pick something in the public domain so that people can find the book online if their library doesn’t have the book or something.
Wikisource has Alice in Wonderland, I know that.
Books that I’ve seen as suggestions and also suggest:
1) Alice In Wonderland
2) The Book Thief (I have it sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read)
3) I Am the Messenger (Love this book)
4) The Graveyard Book (I’ve also been meaning to read this one.)
5) Wicked, anyone? I am reading it now (very slowly!), and I think it would be great to discuss.
Wicked might be a tad too risque for some bloggers, I think.
I suppose… Although, I think anyone on here can handle it. It’s not that bad, but I’m not finished… So I can’t say much.
It gets a lot worse toward the end. A. lot. Trust us.
Wicked…. *shudders*
I’m still a bit scared from reading that book in 6th grade.
Alice in Wonderland is a wonderous book. And it is classical. Not to mention, not too hard to find. So that shall be nice.
I suggest Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, if people haven’t read that yet. I recently started reading it, and it’s quite interesting.
Alright, how about we propose five books (this will be a task to select. Maybe the five most mentioned so far, and if that’s not enough, we’ll just take the earliest ones), and then we vote on those. Then, the one with the least votes gets knocked out. We then do the same thing four times.
Then, we’ll decide a date, when everyone should start. We could make a deadline or the amount of pages per day (so we’re on the same page. PUN).
That sounds like a good idea. Alice in Wonderland should probably be one of the five, seeing as a lot of people have already mentioned it. Does that sound good?
This isn’t exactly a single book, but it’s a good series – Keys to the Kingdom?
I love “The True Meaning of Smekday”
Everything by David Lubar is awesome. But, as he isn’t in the public domain, I suggest Holmes. There is actually a free app for iDevices that has the complete Sherlock Holmes. I’m working my way through The Memoirs right now.
Hm, yes, I think something in the public domain could allow more people to participate.
Alive in Wonderland and The Book Thief are both on my “To Read” list, and I’d be happy to read either (I’d prefer Alice in Wonderland, personally, but whatever)!
I’m going to to make a “Long list”. Add to it, and then we can narrow it down.
1)Alice in wonderland (I think we should stick Looking glass here as well)
2) Holmes (Need to narrow this down, a Novel or some Short stories)
3)The True Meaning of Smekday
4) Three cups of tea
5)Hurt goes Happy
6)Life as we knew it
7)Watership down
8)The Book thief
9)I am the messenger
10)A Thousand Speldend Suns
11)The Graveyard Book
12)Wicked
13)Martian Chronicles
14)Litte Brother (This is Creative Commons, which is like PD)
A novel I really liked was “The Doom Machine,” by Mark Teague. It’s set in the 1950s and it’s about aliens planning to take over the universe, basically. It’s much better than it may sound… Anybody else read it?
I’m reading What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by the author of Wicked, Gregory what’s-his-face. I can’t seem to remember his last name. I like the book so far, though.
Books that I would like to suggest:
•Mansfield Park
•Emma
•Catch 22
•The Last Unicorn
•Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
•The Death Ship
These are all books that I have been meaning to read/am already partway into. I think I’ll have to participate sporadically in this activity, though, because I don’t have much time to read and my book list is already so long…
Oh, I’ll second Mansfield Park and Emma! I already read Emma, but I adore rereading books, so…
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was weird. Just plain weird.
I haven’t read Catch 22, The Last Unicorn, or The Death Ship, though the last two have intriguing names.
Jane Austen is always good. I’ve been planning to read Emma anyways, so I’d be happy with that.
These are all great books, and I have a number of them on my own reading list!
Seeing as how this is the reincarnation of a popular but often troubled thread, I’d like to make some suggestions.
The book must not be too long. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, while it’s an excellent book I do suggest to all of you, it’s also too long to be discussed at this stage in the club. As previously suggested, works in the Public Domain, or under a sympathetic Creative Commons licence are very accessible. The book must not be horrifying. Moving, that’s different. But nothing too tragic, please. Also remember that there is an age issue present.
Spoilers: Necessary for posts that reveal Important Things. Necessary, yes? I think this would work well: MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB SPOILER. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB SPOILER. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB SPOILERS.
Now, onto further business. Perusing the last Book Club thread, it becomes apparent that it’s hard to have a good book discussion while everyone is absent writing their own. I’ve never really been too comfortable with the idea of a book club, actually, perhaps because I’m not altogether familiar with them. I’m also not too comfortable with book discussion questions, but that could be due to some sort of ego thing. Does anyone meet with a book club of their own? Do you usually just discuss reactions, or go into lit. theory, or is there something else?
I think that starting with a short work would be best, to iron out the mechanics of the club. Alice in Wonderland is found here:
http : // en . wikisource . org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland
Yay/Nay? A Read-By date?
All of your points you make are good ones, so I pretty much agree with all of them:
1. Not too long
2. Not too horrifying
3. Preferably in the public domain
4. Spoiler warnings, please
5. Keep the age group in mind (I would say that the book should be age appropriate, or at least to a reasonable degree, for anyone as young as 11/12 but still enjoyable for anyone as “old” as 20. That being said, this could be debatable, but I’ve always felt like most MBers on here a more mature than the “average” 11 year old. Of course, a lot of this would depend on the individual book.)
Also, I am a part of a book club, and the way we are organized is that the person who picks the book leads the discussion. This really only means that the leader has the responsibility to come up with between 8-10 questions, but these are only used as guides. Most of the time we actually only cover 3 or 4 questions during an hour or so period because most questions prompt us to get off into random tangents on other sections of the book, and that’s really the only purpose of our questions. We’re not a very structured or serious club, so the questions could be about anything – overall development of the book, plot, characters, etc. Sometimes one of us even prints out an info page on the author and we discuss that too. But every book club is different and operates differently, so you’ll find different opinions all around.
I don’t know. I don’t mind Alice in Wonderland, but since I heard the guy was on drugs while writing it…
He wasn’t.
Ah…
Sorry, I’m just wondering how some of the things in those books made it in if he wasn’t on drugs, or something.
I suppose it’s possible he was just really good at writing as if it’s a dream, but if you look at it…
That’s not all I heard about him, but the other stuff is much more unverifiable.
Apparently, some of the stuff was actually based on math… Like the Mad Hatter’s tea party is supposed to represent a form of non-Euclidean geometry.
He was British and a mathematician, what other drug did he need? He also had migraines, though their effect on his work is subject to debate.
In any case, I find it hard to believe that anyone who has spent a fair amount of time on MuseBlog would doubt the power of imagination.
I don’t understand why no one seems able to believe that you can come up with weird things without being on drugs.
Yeah. I mean, just look at some random threads. Some people, I bet, would think we had, like, five cases of marijuana before writing some of the posts. Like the garlic-vampire war.
Or that we were just spritely children. Which we are.
Of course we are. We’re completely innocent, nice and sweet little (pink) bundles of cuteness.
No, we’re just mostly harmless. Emphasis on Mostly.
Mostly Harmless seems to describe all of MB pretty well.
Conrad. Please. Maybe Heart of Darkness-it’s short, so anyone can read it. Or the Secret Sharer or the Shadow-Line. Just not Nostromo, Victory, Lord Jim, or any of those long ones.
Haha, I read that and freaked out a little, as my name is also Conrad!
I think that while Heart of Darkness is an excellent book, it’s too gut-wrenchingly horrifying for these purposes.
Ha, that’s what I thought cromwell meant as well. Only now do I realize he meant the author by that name.
Something on top 100 NAQT literature would be good… I need to study for Scholastic Bowl. (More proof for the “Scholastic Bowl has eaten my life theory.”)
Allllllllllrighty then, I am going to say some things and sound authoritative!
(Everything I say is up for debate, but I think what’s needed now is some direction. Especially the date, which I chose by guessing.)
The book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Available on Wikisource, as previously mentioned.
The date: April 12th
That’s about a half a chapter a day. I know it can be read much faster, but I think a careful reading will be necessary.
I’ll have some discussion points ready, but I’m looking forward to see what happens!
Cool. It’s also available from Gutenberg. *likes Gutenberg*
That sounds good to me. Who else is in? Can some people please come on here and post so that we can make sure we have enough people who are interested and aware of the deadline?
(Psst…a reminder on the Random Thread might not hurt, either. I might post something later in case some people aren’t checking this thread often now.)
I’m definitely in? And also, for people who are doing this, what format are you reading the book in (and are there illustrations)? I’m reading it in book format with what I think are the original illustrations.
I’m in.
I’ll join.
I’ve already read it, and I think many of us have. Perhaps I’m wrong. I could always read it again.
It’s the type of book that people can read over and over and over again without being bored, so I suppose it’s a wonderful choice.
Alright. I’m in. Should we have periods of time in which we should finish a certain amount of pages? That way I can read it on the side as if it was a book assignment in school.
Sure, I’m in. I’ll try and see if I can get it done by the “deadline”. ((Technically that should be easy, but you know, school and all))
I read it once awhile ago, but….Yeah, that was awhile ago. And I’m babbling.
Sure, I’ll try it.
SFTDP
I would also like to suggest The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I have been meaning to re-read it, and I think more people on MB should experience the froodiness.
I’ve already read it, but it was awhile ago and I’ve been meaning to pick it up again too, so that would also be a good choice if not Alice in Wonderland. (Which I’ve never read before.)
And, of course, to any MBer who hasn’t read it, of course the froodiness must be spread.
Anyone who has the option should definitely read The Annotated Alice, with notes by the inimitable Martin Gardiner.
Ooh, I really want to read that. But I don’t think I have a copy (although I wouldn’t be surprised if my family does have a copy somewhere in the house). I do know that if I get the English class I want next year, we’ll be reading it.
Alice in Wonderland sounds perfect! Especially since I’ve been spending the past few weeks reading it bit by bit (aloud in study hall, with voices of course)
SFTDP (Man I am getting a bunch of these lately… *pies himself*)
Since Alice in Wonderland is about 120 pages long (at least, my copy is), we could read ten pages a day, or the equivalent in separate books.
P.S. I have the Barnes&Noble Classics edition.
Not sure how long my copy (which has Through the Looking Glass in the same book) is, but I know that it’s been a very fast read for me. I started yesterday, and I’m halfway done already.
May I join in here?
Of course!
Okay, just to make sure I’m reading this right: The plan is to read Alice and Wonderland and Though the Looking Glass or just one of them?
Just the first one, I think. Personally, I’m planning on reading both, but I think we’re just discussing the first one.
33.1 – Thanks!
29- Hey, that’s the copy I read! I also saw the movie a few days ago.
I realize this is a bit late, but I’m in to discuss. I love Alice in Wonderland! And of course, all various spinoffs, esp. the one featured in my avatar. Oh, Hatter… *sighs*
It’s in the public domain, right? I haven’t even started yet…oh yeah, sorry, now I see the link.
May I reccomend “Elsewhere” for your next book? I’ll poof in when it’s time for disscusion….
oh… sorry… I just realized that it say you are to have finished it by the 12th….. In that case I will pick up a copy….
Wow that was a quick read…. And I think I understood it pretty well…
Are we reading “through the looking glass” as well? I am planing to read it anyway but still….
I think a few of us have, or will read Looking Glass, we’ll see if the conversation eventually ends up there.
I’m glad that Carroll didn’t stop with AiW. Without Through the Looking-Glass, there would be no Jabberwock, no Tweedledee and Tweedledum, no Walrus and Carpenter, no Humpty-Dumpty, and no White Knight.
Ahem. Here I will debunk any myths anyone might have picked up from A View From Saturday. *glares at E.L. Konigsburg* Humpty Dumpty came from a nursery rhyme. Look it up on Wikipedia. And yes, there would be no White Knight, but what about the Black Knight?
*still needs to finish Through the looking Glass* So today is the deadline, is it not? Shall the discussion commence?
o.0 Luna must confess she fell massively behind, and only got the first two chapters read….And although she read the book ages ago in whole, she doesn’t remember it well enough to still contribute.
I’m afraid I’m only at about the same place, maybe three or four chapters in though. Ugh, now I feel awful, because I’m in a book club and I know how annoying it is when other people don’t finish the book. Sorry, all. I’ll try to catch up.
Wait, we needed to read Through The Looking Glass?
Nope, reading Through The Looking Glass is optional.
Gah, I meant to post something last night, or atleast have something ready, but I’m behind again. More later!
I did have the pleasure of reading Alice’s Adventures; I see a few of us are still finishing up. That’s fine, you might just not want to check back here until you’re done. Speaking of spoilers:
MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILER. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILER. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS.
Now, I wonder, is the book really nonsensical?
I don’t think it’s nonsensical. Well, if you try to make sense of it it becomes nonsensical. But otherwise, it makes perfect sense.
By the way, is Alice in Wonderland a satire on the English government? That’s what my social studies teacher told me, but I didn’t believe her. It sounded like one of those theories made up by people who can’t find the sense in things.
Some of it… Most of it is a satire on the society of Victorian England… It helps if you read a copy that has the occasional footnote explaining some of the references.
MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILER. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILER. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS.
I felt like Lewis Carroll was one of those people who believed in the childlike wonder, innocence, and simple happiness of childhood. Being closer to childhood myself, I tend to disagree. I didn’t feel like I was happier when I was a kid, just that I swore less, if that makes sense. My level of happiness was the same, but I had less important things to be unhappy and happy about.
But yeah, it seems pretty nonsensical to me. It’s a dream, though, so one might expect it to be.
MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS.
It’s not simple nonsense, though. For example, the poems in the book are all parodies of poems or songs that Victorian children were expected to know and recite. (The original lyrics are in The Annotated Alice; I can post them here, if you like.) The “dry” passage in the “Caucus-Race” chapter was taken from one of their actual textbooks.
It’s also full of private jokes. There was a real Alice, who had an elder sister named Lorina and a younger sister named Edith. The book was inspired by afternoon boating trips the author took with Alice and her family, his relatives, and a friend of his named Robinson Duckworth. In Chapters 2 and 3, the Lory is Lorina; the Eaglet is Edith; the Duck is Duckworth; and the Dodo is Lewis Carroll, whose real name was Charles Dodgson. (The story of the three sisters in the treacle well in the “Mad Tea-Party” chapter is similar: “Lacie” is an anagram of Alice.)
So a lot of the nonsense isn’t random but developed as a sort of game among people who knew one another. I don’t think it spoils the fun to know a little about that.
SPOILER SPOILER AIW SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER… (and on and on)
42- That does make sense. On one hand, it reads like nonsense, but you always have the feeling he’s talking about something.
MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS.
To me the nonsense aspect always seemed very much in keeping with the way a young child sees much of the grown-up world — illogical, contrary, inexplicable, and unfair.
I must have been about Alice’s age or even younger when I first read the books, and they immediately took deep hold of me, probably because that internal psychology resonated so strongly. The fact that waistcoats and orange marmalade seemed just as mysterious and outlandish to me as any croquet game played with flamingoes only made the stories more wonderful and Alice’s heroism more impressive.
I quite liked Alice In Wonderland. I can see reasons why some people wouldn’t like it, though…
ALice! I will post about it soon when I have time and it is not the night before opening night! I promise!
(41.2) Cat’s Eye:
Many Victorians did sentimentalize childhood, but Wonderland and the looking-glass land certainly aren’t all sweetness and light. For one thing, the characters there are very rude, always insulting one another and making personal remarks. To a child brought up to be soft-spoken and well-mannered — “seen but not heard” — all the chaos and rule-breaking in the story must have been appealing.
Also, some of the jokes that Carroll breezes through are a bit dark, when you think about them. In Chapter 1, for example:
“Well!” thought Alice to herself, “after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! … Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!” (which was very likely true.)
Later, in Through the Looking-Glass, Humpty Dumpty tells Alice that her age — seven years and six months — is “uncomfortable” and that she should have stopped at seven. Alice replies that “one can’t help growing older.” Humpty Dumpty says: “One can’t, perhaps, … but two can. With proper assistance, you might have left off at seven.” Brrr… and there are many more.
Ooh…Fridge Horror.
MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS. MUSEBLOG BOOK CLUB AiW SPOILERS.
47- Yes, that second joke is chilling indeed.
I am a big fan of AiW, as I’ve said. There’s just something about it. The content isn’t logical, but it makes sense, in a way.
(I have to go. Bein yelled at to get off the computer, because I don’t “contribute enough to the household.” Well no I don’t I was gone for 10 hours today, it’s rather hard to do things when one’s not around. But I shall have to finish this later, again)
This needs revival. What should we read next?
49- Player Piano? Little, Big? David Copperfield?
Howsabout Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow? (Yes, the Cory Doctorow of xkcd fame.) It’s pretty fantastic, and good discussion material.
We should read the original Sherlock Holmes. They’re all in the public domain. If not, Ender’s Game is a good choice. That, however, is not in the public domain.