Kenneth’s Comments (group member since Sep 04, 2014)

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

My favorites in the book club were probably Handmaid's Tale, Nimona, and The Martian. I really, really enjoyed the bizarre discussion for I'm Trying to Reach You, though.

Outside of the book club, I finished Gaiman's complete Sandman saga, which was pretty rewarding. I'm having difficulty remembering what else I read, and my borrowing history is largely books I checked out trying to get the self-check to work. Maybe if I kept up on my Goodreads, I could do better with this.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams is good fun. Perhaps I should have us do Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The end of the year on the internet is generally filled with "best of" lists and catalogs of favorite things. What were your favorite books we read this year? What were your favorite books you read this year? Feel free to go outside of our book clubs. Of course, if it seems relevant to this club, I might put it on a list to consider...

Some links to what we viewed:

@JustineSacco, now.
The Twitter Hall of Shame. No doubt collapsed because there was just too much to keep track of.
The Price of Shame" by Monica Lewinsky. The most important thing we watched, and worth watching the rest of the talk.

Kim - That's perfectly fine! Thank you much!

http://gawker.com/justine-sacco-is-go...

This article is excellent.

Hey, it's about time to talk about our next book. We're discussing So You've Been Publicly Shamed next week, 12/14. I am in charge of the treats, so don't you worry. (But do give me suggestions if you have any!)

This fascinating book does an excellent job at describing the return to public shaming as a punishment by itself. Critics claim that the book lacks answers, and is politically insensitive. (The most interesting bad reviews seem to use it as a chance to get in extra digs at Justine Sacco and Lindsay Stone.)

SLPL has books by Jonah Lehrer in our collection, including Imagine. Googling Lindsay Stone is fascinating. You can see how the published book brought her back into public discourse, as expected, but you can also see the resilient links about other Lindsay Stones, as described by the reputation repair company.

There's a lot we can cover in this discussion and online. We could talk about the terror of #Gamergate, the death of Cecil the Lion, or the fact that some people are evidently immune to public shaming, like the President Elect of the United States. If anybody knows somebody who has experienced online shaming, we could maybe talk to them. (The names given in the book are, perhaps understandably, difficult to contact.)

Let me know what you think. Travis will be joining us for this discussion, as he enjoys this book.

I have wine and iced tea, though feel free to bring your own favorite type if you like.

We are good to go for Monday. The film will start at 7 PM or thereabouts at my house. I will email Teresa, Lucy, and Donna the information. I will provide some snacking fare, but it might be nice to have some help with that. It is important that I have an accurate RSVP, so our small-ish living room can plan for adequate seating.

To your question, Lucy. Writing the novel was his own project while he was working as a programmer, so he really thought it through mostly by himself. The biggest inaccuracy in the book is the sandstorm that starts it off - because Mars has little atmosphere, they would really not be dangerous. He thought of having equipment failure cause the problems, but ultimately bent the science because he wanted this to be a man vs. Nature story.

To the watch event, I think we're almost a go. I have Teresa and Lucy - anybody else? I will email you with the relevant information when I confirm it. Right now, I'm thinking Monday, 11/7, 7 PM.

Um so if you have quick short questions for Andy Weir post them quickly as I have a dialog going with him. He won't be able to speak to the club, but so far I have established that his primary research tool was Google.

Whelp, those two comments, plus the fact that I am busy this weekend, give us a really narrow window if we're going to see it together before the book discussion. How would you two (and others!) feel about the evening of Monday, November 7?

Alternative to my house, I may well be able to arrange an extemporaneous viewing at the library, though we would be able to have more food and drinks at my house, and it doesn't really change the schedule timetable.

Weir won me over on page 16: LOG ENTRY SOL 11 - I wonder how the Cubs are doing. Especially considering how the Cubs are doing now, I guess. I marked the page where he finally reaches the MAV to read from. I felt his joy.

I enjoy how the book used perspective, swapping from log entries, to the helpless buffoons back home, to the omniscient narrator that presaged a Mars disaster. What did you think?

I'm considering hosting a Martian watch party at my house in the next week or two. Would anybody be interested in such a thing?

As a coda to the discussion, here is my saga to find the owner of the picture found in Anne's book.

Using library detective skills, I found the last person who had the collection checked out. She identified the boy in the picture as Weston, the son of a friend. He was sitting with the Easter Bunny and their school mascot Fireball. I asked if she wanted the photo back. She said she would check with her friend and let me know. She has not written back.

There is also no word on what kind of creature Fireball is supposed to be.

The Final List:

January 11, 2017 – The Last Policeman by Ben Winters*
February 8, 2017 – Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari*
March 8, 2017 – The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender*
April 12, 2017 – Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
May 10, 2017 – Ms. Marvel (1) by G. Willow Wilson
June 14, 2017 – I Hate the Internet by Jarett Kobek
July 12, 2017 – The City and the City by China Mieville
August 9, 2017 – Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra
September 13, 2017 – I am Malala by Malala Yousefzeh
October 11, 2017 – The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon*
November 8, 2017 – All my Darling Daughters by Fumi Yoshinaga
December 13, 2017 – Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

I'll be real, I chose this book as a popular read featuring something that fascinates me, lighthouses. It was serendipity that a film came out at the same time we have this discussion. I found some awesome pictures of lighthouses that I'll be sharing here. We don't have the big screen this week (we will meet in the gallery because the auditorium is having new carpet installed), but it will work out.

Anyway, weigh in as you like. What did you think of the novel? Were the events too forced for you? Personally, I rather enjoyed the humor in the writing and the omniscient narrator despite the melodramatic content. The discussion is at 7 PM tomorrow. See you soon!

Certainly - waiting for word back from the top.

I think I will go with I am Malala.

I may yet bend to Lucy's ardent plea against the old stuff. How about The House of the Spirits by Allende? Miseducation of Cameron Post by Danforth? Probably not House of the Spirits if I'm already doing Shadow of the Wind. Miseducation of Cameron Post is a good topic.

Habibi is another that goes on the list of things I wish we could do. Vendor doesn't have it in paperback. And did I seriously choose hardly any Sci-Fi books to do for July? I'll swap the Mieville title to July - it's kinda close.

Read that for my first book club when I started leading in, what, 2010? Been a while. Probably not, but thank you!

Aight, Beyond Magenta is unavailable. I need a replacement. It should be a banned book, since it takes place in September. A replacement that deals with transgender interests would be fine. I'm also considering a classic sci-fi title like 1984 or Brave New World. I'm probably deciding today, so give me tips ASAP!