Brad’s Comments (group member since Dec 27, 2008)

Brad’s comments from the The Importance of Reading Ernest group.

It's been my experience in different groups that the "big tent" discussions become too difficult for newcomers to jump into as the month wears on. With the little discussion threads, people are able to go to the topics that interest them the most, and they are generally not as confused about what's going on. Moreover, there is far less overlap. Latecomers will often want to discuss something specific and they will mention it in a "big tent" discussion, then find that it was mentioned earlier in the discussion and no one is interested in talking about it anymore because what they're saying has already been said.

You crack me up, Gary.

Nice...thanks for the link, Newengland.

Joy said: "I remember an old episode of Cheers where Diane got a 1st edition Hemingway (I'm sure it was Sun also rises) and Sam borrowed it. He was reading it while taking a bath and he got to a key part in the book and dropped it in the water! Then he tried to fix it by ripping some pages out but it was ruined! Does anyone remember that?!"

This is a cool connection Joy made in another discussion thread that I thought I'd add here. It seems familiar, and I can certainly see Sam doing what you say he did, but I can't connect it directly to Hemingway. I am sure you're right, but for some reason my brain says Dickens as I type this. I've no idea why.

What is a discussion of The Sun Also Rises without bullfighting?

Our wounded narrator...what can we say about him.

Moving away from misogyny to Lady Brett as a character, here's the place to talk about her.

Many have expressed that Hem's portrayal of Lady Brett is misogynist, while his portrayal of Robert Cohn is anti-Semitic and other scenes in the book reveal his underlying racism. Whattaya think?

If you've any cool websites to send us to, any interesting bits of info to share, or any general discussion about Papa himself (or a mojito recipe, Gary), here's the place to put it.

Welcome to our first official discussion of a novel by Hemingway. I hope everyone dives in this month, so we can start off on a high note.

I have thrown in a bunch of discussion threads to kick us off, but I will add more as we go.

We've never really tried the novels yet, Newengland. Today is our first day with The Sun Also Rises, so please stick around this month and help us make it happen.

Yeah, it's a good one isn't it? Nice choice, Gio.

Definitely. I was thinking that I would do the next poll at the beginning of May and make it a vote for his non-fiction works. That would be a perfect June book, Joy

Good choice for your fave, John. I'm reading it in Spanish right now, the first novel I've ever tackled in Spanish, and it is a beautiful experience.

78% for me, Gary. A couple of those bizarre number ones really buggered me up.

I've not seen him anywhere on here in ages.

And here I just started a poll to change things up and make novels an official monthly choice. Oh well.

I had never made that connection before, Stephen; I'm going to keep my eyes peeled this time through.

I read the opening the other day and had to put it down. The depression of that opening hit me like Mandy P--- kicking me in the balls in fourth grade.

I've read this a bazillion times and I love it just as much every time I read it, but I have never taught it and for some reason I have avoided any serious discussion of this story. I think it might have something to do with feeling the story personally.

And death is good.