Dan’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Dan’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

Congrats Ben, that is totally awesome! You famous bastard you.

Patty wrote: "the large hadron collider was scheduled to "go live" on september 12, 2008. everyone was predicting the end of the world as we knew it. as it turned out, the world did not implode. but DFW did. and..."

You might be the coolest person ever Patty.

Great link Patty! It's great to see some of the images from the archives.

I would love to take a trip out there one day to see some of that stuff.

I am going to use a word I reserve for special exclamations: RAD!

I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Great posts Hugh! I did finish the book last week, and I enjoyed it. Luckily, I didn't find it nearly as challenging as Absalom! Absalom! This book prevented me from writing off old Faulkner altogether, which is a good thing. However, southern literature, on the whole, still ranks low on the enjoyment scale.

I will say that thanks to everyone's posts I have gotten far more out of it than I would have had I made a go at it alone.

Hmmm, that's kind of annoying that the translation is bad. Knowing that will probably stop me from reading the series.

In fact the only Swede I have read is Par Lagerkvist. I think I will stick with him for now as I haven't made it through all of his books yet.

Brian those hikes look incredible. You can count me in for some hiking! Patty I like those ideas, and I could definitely settle in for a night of drunken karaoke (at least for a song or three. as a spectator).

So, after a long (and mandatory) detour in my reading I am back on the faulkner train. A day or two ago was the first time I was annoyed by Faulkner's word smashing. It was "wordsymbols" back on page 226. I didn't see how combining these two words added anything stylistically. The next page Faulkner uses "halfdark" which I can at least see some stylistic merit.

I really like that even when given a glimpse of Christmas' parentage there is still a bit of mystery. The claim that his father was mexican and not black. Faulkner seems to enjoy this confusion, making Christmas' a bit more clear yet maybe not.

I hope to be finished with the book this weekend. Sorry for my slowness.

Margaret don't pass. It's only 4 pages!

Am I crazy (or entirely forgetful) but didn't he say he came to be married through drunkenness?

Though I think this could just be one of those things a person says to another to hurt them. I am imagining the abandonment stemming directly from being swept up in the attention from his patron (unless my timeline is out of whack).

Beliefs have led to the terrible treatment of people, it seems that this is another instance of that.

Yeah some Russian history would help here. I know next to nothing pre-revolution except what I managed to pick up while reading other Russians.

It does seem that this is some sort of patronage but i get the sense that he is only in this position because of his ability to shoot.

The fact that he has this patron has in effect caused Yegor to believe he is well above the class of his wife.

I just read the story, I had no idea it would be so short. In any case, I think you are likely right Shel, about there being more. However this is the type of story I personally have a hard time taking at more than face value.

I see the class issues but can't grasp at any allegory.

I have had On Beauty sitting here for a number of years but have never picked it up yet. From the looks of things it'll be a while before I do...

Can someone tell me how far we are supposed to be in this book currently. I am juggling too many books right now with work, that class I decided to take and this book and I want to try to stay current even if I am not adding too much to the discussion.

Thanks!

I might be up for it as well. I just like the guys name.

Maureen wrote: "hell yeah: we can all meet in the hot tub. :)

in all seriousness, yes i am coming by a miracle of divine intervention. of course, i'll probably still be flat broke so i'm hoping you guys will help..."

HELL YEAH! MOs gonna go!!

Lara, I get to SeaTac at 20:25 on the 31st of July! This is going to be a blast!

Holy shit, I guess i missed that the one he found slept 30. I thought it was only 12 but maybe that was one of the previous ones.

never mind my post, 30 it is!

Did anyone see this place?

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacati...

apparently it sleeps 10, is not far from PT and has a cottage that could also be rented if we needed more space (at a discounted rate, no less!)

JE: excellent, see you on the 31st.

Martyn: congrats!

Brian: You are the Prince of Pluto!