Lucy’s Comments (group member since Sep 08, 2014)

Lucy’s comments from the Discourse in a Digital Age group.

I finished the book this afternoon, and like it very much more than I did at first. Gay's essays on race (racial profiling, persistent negative stereotyping & prejudice, injustices large and small), sexual violence and the supposedly more enlightened modern views of men about women and women's issues are particularly strong. To me they make up for those that dealt with more trivial subjects. The last essay, reconsidering whether she is a "bad feminist", is a great finish. I'm going to get a copy for my daughter.

About halfway through, and I'm finding that such a large dose of feminist thought is wearying. And while I can relate to her pop culture enthusiasms, a whole section on the Sweet Valley High books?!
Might as well admit that I seldom truly enjoy nonfiction (Packing for Mars and Beyond the Beautiful Forever being notable exceptions).

I saw the movie (did we go as a group?), but still can't picture Taraji Henson playing anyone painfully shy or awkward. Some of her own personality must've bled through whatever stereotypical nerd mathematician the director was going for.
Finished the bk last weekend, and my only real complaint is that it tends towards hagiography, if that's the correct word. Lots to discuss.

Oops, my goof -- it's the 13th, not the 16th, unless we decided to do Sat instead of Wednesday?? Re potluck, I''m really only good at desserts, so ok if that's my contribution?

Ok, what's the plan for 12/16? Are we meeting at the Lib, and going out somewhere (Vino, to check it out?) to discuss "Hidden...", then have a party? Or everyone bring something and we'll discuss & munch potluck at the Lib? Or?? Need everyone to chime in here!

Still reading - about 1/2 thru and enjoying it. Loving the attention author pays to the Langley labs in WW2, local & national (lack of) racial progress and actions towards civil rights and the stories of so many more black (and some white) women than the movie covered. Her jumping back and forth in time as she takes up another person's story is a little awkward, and my eyes glaze over during long passages of exposition on aeronautics/engineering research. But as always with a bk/movie situation, better to have read the book first, for the extra richness of detail & perspective.

There's always Breadco, tho' I don't know if they'd guarantee us a table every mo. I've seen ladies quilting/knitting together at large tables in my Breadco, unmolested. And of course, your laptop would fit right in. Any chance Left Bank would host us, if we weren't buying the bks there? You resident CWE'ers must know some friendly little coffeehouse that would welcome us, or how about on South Grand somewhere?
Re proposed bks for next 3 mos, Jules Verne???

Very astute comments, Ken. Wish I'd been there to hear the group's reaction. I agree about the view/treatment of women (putting on a pedestal, then cheating on and abusing) is appropriate to the place & period.

Very cool website -- so good to see the 'Net contains more than a way to link crazies with the legions of other crazies!
I loved this book, which is so marvelously steeped in the time & place that Barcelona is a character itself. All I knew about the Spanish Civil War prior to reading "Shadow..." was Guernica, Franco and the involvement of Nazi Germany on the Fascists' side and the Internat'l Brigades on the side of the leftist-Republicans. The story has all the necessary elements: a bookstore, several love stories - some ending tragically, cruelty, madness & passion, a little fabulism, and a deep dive into the history & culture of a place and time.
Unfortunately I'm going to miss this discussion too - I'm in Colorado staying with my sis until the 18th.
I promise to be there in Nov.!

Anne and all,
I'm so sorry to have to miss this totally great event for bookies.
I drove up to Kalamazoo, Mi, this am - my oldest brother is in hospice here, and is not expected to survive more than another day. I'd planned on coming up to be with him, but had no idea til I got here that we'd be losing him so soon. Family are all gathering, so lots of support.

Hate to miss Robin Sloan & Ann Leckie, tho' I did get to meet the latter last year at an author breakfast. Mention of the Imperial Rache make me want to go back and read the whole trilogy again -- still one of my all-time fav reading experiences.
I'm with you in spirit!

Finished it this morning, and am looking forward to the discussion next Wed.
I am currently in Michigan, as my oldest brother had a stroke last wk and is in hospice. We are all taking turns sitting with him. I'll drive home to StL Tues morning if he is stabilized and out of immed. danger.
Any reactions to the book so far? My nagging thought as I read was that much of the historical-political content sounded too mature & sophisticated for a 15-yr old and was likely the work of Christina Lamb, her co-author.

I just finished Tom Rachman's The Rise and Fall of Great Powers (2014), and need to hear what others thought of it -- has anyone in our group read it?

Almost against my will, I'm loving this book too! So far my fav questions are #30, 36, 59 and 62. Many of the questions with their possible answers are like mini-short stories, and those that deal with the woman (women? wife? girlfriend?) he has loved & lost are little jewels. I'm leaving for SW Mich again tomorrow am, for a wk, so will miss what should be a very cool (i.e., HOT) discussion; wish I didn't have to be gone, but my oldest brother needs someone to stay with him. See you all, I hope, in Sept.

I finished the book last week, and in looking online for a map of the cities, if any existed, came across:
https://locativeliterature.wordpress....

The discussion with it is pretty philosophically deep (for me, at least) but interesting.

Yes, yes!! Why has no one made a film of this -- imagine the possibilities, and what's CGI for, if not this??

Oh so funny (and terrifying -- our inevitable future?). America will get there before Britain, so thank the gods (no TM required?) for satirists like Mieville.
I'm enjoying City & the City, about 1/3 in. Had to get past my annoyance at stories like this that confuse & mystify until the reader finally says "the heck with it" and gets caught up in the plot without understanding the most basic thing: do these 2 cities occupy the same physical space, or?

Definitely a Discourse... Book group field trip! I heard Leckie speak at the Carondelet Lib last year -- very interesting.

All great comments, and Kim and Anne, you will be sorely missed. Hope some Millennial comes to defend it, because otherwise it'll be a lot of "I Hate This Book!". I'm less than 1/3 thru, and have used up all my sticky notes writing snarky, outraged reactions to it. Good Novel, Bad Novel, pooh! -- no kind of novel at all, said the Old Fogey. Yes, hope Sylvester got to read it, and anxious to hear what David has to say.

Ken, I see the justice of your comments, and they make me wish even more that I'd been there for the discussion. I like the idea that Joseph's special gift (affliction?) was to hyper-feel emotions thru touch, and that he reinforced his close tie to his mother with the splinter ritual.
Still unsatisfied with the story-telling...

Did not like "Particular Sadness...". The author's refusal to give more detail about Joseph's condition (is it too much to ask of a novel to give the reader enough info about its characters for us to care?) seemed coy to me. As the story "progressed", the superfluous descriptive language about things that didn't advance our understanding (scenery, street scenes, etc) of what the heck was going on frustrated me a lot (can you tell?). Scorn me as as a literalist, but unsympathetic characters (all of 'em except George) and deliberately obscure
plot spoiled this book for me.