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

Maureen’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

it's been ages since e-monk gave us a poem but i suppose WCW will do in a pinch. :P still bummed he's not going to the dork even though WE BEGGED HIM. :)

well, despite the fact that i know i shouldn't have done it because things are increasingly unstable over here, i just booked my flight. i am flying into LA and driving up with ben on the 21st. i will be departing on the night of the 27th, also via LA, and ben has agreed to ferry me thither (yes, of course, i'm updating the spreadsheet) the cheapest sacramento flights were minimum five hundred bucks more so that was the only way i could even remotely make this work.

and now that i've got all my "probably shouldn't have done it but i'm doing it anyway" portion of the message over...

HURRAY! i am REALLY looking forward to seeing you all! i'm not sure you know how much! and to adventuring (twain cabin!! trees! old mines!) and relaxing and cooking with our beautiful hostess, ms. smarty kate. i did wonder if there's any point in meat lasagna this time around as i'm not sure we even have very many meat eaters left amongst us. (that said, there'd BETTER be at least one package of bacon around. though i will miss our jennie's morning breakfasts. :)

i'm also looking forward to watching you all swim. my purple hair and pool water don't mix, but i might dip in a toe or two. :)

Martha wrote: " Mo? Cookie? Pops & Deb? Please say yes, I think it will be lovely. And I am SO looking forward to a break...."

my most wonderful smarty kate, i can't tell you how sorry i am that i can't give a definite answer yet. things here have been hard, and my initial plan for this trip needs a revisit. i thought i'd know by this week, after this pay cheque, but i may not know until the cheque following. i want to say absolutely yes but given how many horrible surprise/emergency drains on my meagre resources (both mental and financial) i've faced this year, i just can't say that right now.

but i would like to say yes. i would love to take a break with you. :)

i promise i will give you an answer either way by the end of the month.

has anybody followed up with shel and alan? they were 75% yes at one point but i haven't really seen shel around goodreads in months so she may not have seen this. and i think michael checked in on the infinite jest thread but he's never really been much for this venue either. i'm guessing somebody has posted an "all aboard" message on facebook? (i feel some pleasure in not knowing this, i'm afraid. that's the joy of a facebook deactivation/break. :)

:( jennie, sorry to hear you think you won't make it this year but i totally understand. i'm still on the fence as well. but i'm glad you're still an optimist. and i'm glad you and the boys and dave are happy and healthy. mo/xo

Dan wrote: "First, it was sold for something like 150 million dollars. Which is a good deal of money considering Goodreads raised less than 2.5 million on its own. If I created something and the devil himself offered me 150 million for I’d hardly hesitate. ...."

you wouldn't even hesitate a little? sort of surprised to hear this kind of statement from you, dan. i prescribe some adam curtis documentaries to you. :)

my two cents is that i'm very unhappy that this has happened but i don't see a viable alternative for me to goodreads right now. i've had a library thing account since before i got my goodreads one and i never liked the interface. in general, i don't read the kind of literature that amazon is going to market to me is the kind i want -- i don't read current best-sellers, and i have a clear predilection for OP books.

i am waiting-and-seeing but i can't help feel put off by otis and co -- they got us to do a lot of work for them for free when they stopped using the amazon database (which i can't help but seeing now as a ploy in their no-doubt ongoing negotiations with amazon). i have a lot of reviews i've written that i would like to continue to see as my content, not amazon's.

about the group itself: we moved from myspace to goodreads to try to salvage the group, and i'm not sure how well we succeeded. i don't know that it could survive another one. but maybe it's time to accept that the group has served its purpose and is in its twilight anyway. once upon a time a thread like this would have had a bazillion comments... not that i don't appreciate the efforts of people who still post here... i really do. but i think one more move would effectively end this.

as much as i'd like to give betterworldbooks the whole-hearted support patty (and chris) gave them, i can't -- though i love them in principle.

i've ordered for them twice and got books that were literally falling apart twice -- there were other books that were okay in the package but they were all listed an "excellent" condition at their website. that's not to say i wouldn't use them again but it's been terribly disappointing, and that's why i still order from abe -- for used books i can trust... but i saw somewhere say they thought abe has been absorbed by amazon as well? does anybody know if that's true?

amazon is my list ditch attempt. if i can't get it anywhere else, i'll go there but otherwise, i've been avoiding it for years but i'm in a city with a lot of book culture that hasn't been totally destroyed (though we too have felt their impact) by them. i mean, i have a great used bookstore that is 400 feet from my apartment building. but that won't always be the case...

my apologies for being gone so long everyone. i lost my beloved cat hexter, and i needed to reorganize my priorities when he got ill.

anyway, if anybody still wants to chat about this, i have some thoughts:

i just wrapped up my re-read of rebecca and now i'm a good way through my cousin rachel and i have to say i'm really loving the latter even more than i did the last time i think, perhaps especially in comparison. i just posted a status on the book saying that i now think rachel echoes rebecca and maxim: she is small rather than tall like rebecca but shares her dark hair and luminous white complexion. she is also ostensibly ten years older (i haven't yet seen a definite age -- this is louise's conjecture being repeated) and philip ashley responds to her in much the same way nameless does with maxim, fawning, and dare i say, even obsequious adulation. and i still feel like meeting rachel is like meeting rebecca in the flesh rather than the haunting we are treated to in rebecca. she is, rather, bewitching but i never quite trust her -- perhaps again, because i instinctively trust louise?

elizabeth points out the importance of the gardening and stewardship in both novels and rightly so. i also suggested in my status that nameless and philip share affinities, but i suppose he too, is maxim, especially as regards the home he holds in trust from ambrose. both "r"s also seem to impact the shape of the estates: rebecca's alteration of the happy valley, rachel's planning out the plantings ambrose had accumulated in italy...

bri's point about the oedipal connection is completely on point, and i don't know if i have ever thought about it in that way, perhaps because i'm so interested in doppelgangers (has anybody else read du maurier's the scapegoat?) and philip's idea that ambrose has perhaps possessed him. but yes! of course!
people often talk about du maurier's relationship with her father. does anybody care to relate any info regarding her mother? (i could look it up but hey, i'm trying to leave some openings in this mess of impressions for discussion :)

both novels are slower starters than i remember, and i'm sorry jacob didn't enjoy his rebecca experience. mood sometimes matters yes. for myself, i was a tad impatient reading through rebecca this time -- i found nameless particularly provoking, and i wanted her to stop fantasizing her life and stop being so stupid. on the other hand, i'm enjoying rachel more than i expected to -- after rachel arrives, things move much more quickly... and she is as daring as i would expect rachel would have been. the things she says to philip! my cousin rachel is more provocative as a result, i think -- it struck me how very humourless rebecca is, when so many of the others display an arch wit, if not outright humour.

one last, perhaps telling of my particular frame of mind: nameless sometimes remarks that she is like jasper, the dog in relation to maxim, and indeed there were times when i thought that's what their relationship seemed to be, one of lord and companion, until she started feeling that he was jasper. and jasper i worried about most of all. in the end i wondered had anybody thought to save jasper? she mentions at one point that he had passed on but not when... and it is sad that the old dog in the basket doesn't really ever give a hang for her though. to be slighted even by the dog! her non-presence is fairly complete. the animals in her books always kick ass. and i feel like i could have written a graduate thesis about the relationship of the classes in daphne du maurier: the servants are never stock characters, there are always different ones in every novel i read... i don't even think frith and seecombe are at all alike.

anybody else have any thoughts regarding this, that or the other?

hey everybody:

sweet smarty kate sent me the pdfs so i copied and pasted all the info in them into more tabs on the spreadsheet. there are now six along the bottom of the spreadsheet:

Attendees
Airports and Rides
Driving Directions (from four different towns)
Check-in/Check-out
Rules of the House (including info about pets -- if the skipper is bringing the dogs, we'll need to inform them)
Amenities (basically an inventory of everything in every room in the house)

here's the link to the spreadsheet one more time!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/c...

saw this great post featuring nine fan letters from one famous writer to another. my favourite is james joyce's letter to ibsen. the last letter in the set is william burrough bitching out truman capote. kind of bummed they included that because it was nice to see unsolicited praise between writers that never appeared on the back of a book. :)

http://flavorwire.com/377707/10-illum...

sketchbook is tapping in to the femme fatale motif that i mentioned. there certainly is strong evidence for du maurier's fascination for it in the catalogue of titles listed. i've been following conversations on jessica and elizabeth's reviews, and i was thinking i should post links to them here because there is some interesting stuff there. in elizabeth's review there's a feminist slant that i tend to overlook -- i'm so fascinated by the characterization, and the humanity that i miss the impact on women in general. :)

i really have to apologize for how absent i've been. some stuff has come up and i'm reading but unable to really lead conversation right now. if people want to pipe up about rebecca for this next week or so, i'd like to suggest we discuss my cousin rachel the first week of april?

sorry sorry sorry. i'm so scattered right now. i will be back in a couple of days, i promise.

whoohoo! lara has booked flights! it's starting to feel more real. :)

just an fyi: we already had a second tab on the spreadsheet regarding airport rides so i've moved lara's info there: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/c...

if you look on the bottom left you'll see that there are two tabs: one for attendees yes and maybe, and one for airport rides. :)

i'm still on the fence. waiting to see on a couple of things but feel like i'll have an answer in may.

hi everybody! guess what? my birthday celebrations kind of got in the way of reading this weekend. but i will be back on wednesday or thursday to check in and try to get some discussion going. :)

jessica! good friends and times and lots of snow from what i gather?

kerry! are there a lot of arrangements being described? what chapter? i don't know if i've ever really taken note of this propensity!

hi Jessica! I am envious of your attendance at awp! I have heard great things! I hope you have a fun and productive time! as to the movie I was sort of thinking a different Sunday... maybe in a couple of weeks after we knew for sure everyone had finished Rebecca... since Sunday is my birthday and I anticipate some carousing this weekend. :) we will see how it goes!

DOOM! I LIKE THOSE ODDS. :)

(sorry everybody, i've been secretly been hoping for doom for years. :)

(if you watch the movie will you tell us what you think of it? i just pictured marvellous updates from all of you and it was working me into paroxysms of delight. :)

we discuss the novels in this here thread. i am not much on these virtual sandwiches but do feel free to pop in at any time. i like bacon sandwiches especially. :P

i think we're all just circling around this thread until march 10th to give people time to read. so far, my only recommendation has been to suggest that people read rebecca first if they've never read either. i think you've read rebecca and my cousin rachel both before, yes? which one will you read first? i don't think it'll be too formal. in my last group read on the long ships with rod and jacob, i asked a bunch of questions as i went through and blabbed a bunch. that's generally how i roll. if anybody has cool or relevant links to stuff about the books or du maurier herself or FEMME FATALES or DOOM, these would also be of some interest.

WHY AM I STILL AWAKE? I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO THAT STUFF BRI DOES ON SUNDAY. :) mo/xo

jessica! i can't imagine there will be one argument for the film opening over that chapter. it is magnificent. we should perhaps dwell over it lovingly when we begin discussion but i suspect you have already done it due justice with the words you use to describe it: "hypnotic", "dreamlike", "alluring", "entranced". absolutely! :)

hopefully you will watch the entire film in synchronization. i can't stop thinking of how fun that might be. and if we did at 2 pm on a sunday, i suspect that would work for US west coast and our pals in england (i am still waiting for bri himself to pipe in about this).

what i love best about the film are two performances which i think breathe life into two of the characters in the novel very well. we will see what you think of them in due time. :)

thanks for the intel, sketch! had guessed that since i'd never ever heard of it before the "my cousin rachel" might not be so good but i can't get over the fact that olivia de havilland is rachel -- what stunt casting up against fontaine in rebecca -- it almost suits my comparison purposes too well when one considers their supposed rivalry. :)

i would be keen to read the memo from david selznick book. i think i've seen a documentary (maybe it is on my rebecca dvd? i should check) which referred to the memos (it might also have been one of the hitchocock biographies i've read) but ole "selzie" as you have him was a fascinating character. :)

kerry! very excited that you are joining us. what a cool mix of readers we have here.

and i agree on the opening chapter. i have to say i generally find du maurier novels start very strong. :)

oh! also! i was just reminded by a conversation between elizabeth and jessica that i was thinking about trying to synchronize a viewing of hitchcock's rebecca during this book conversation, say a sunday at 2pm eastern time, perhaps? i was looking at trying for the my cousin rachel film as well, but it seems harder to source. we could watch it after everybody's read rebecca, and chat on the thread as we go. :)

(i can always do this by myself but i suspect it would be a lot more interesting if other people joined in. :)

sketchbook! welcome! it'll be great to get your perspective on this comparative read! :)

martha! hurray! it's been a while since we've read something together! :)

traveller! everyone who wants to read daphne du maurier is invited. please join us. group reads with me tend to be fairly relaxed. i just want to chat about books while i'm reading them, and the comparison of these two novels charms me. i feel that they can be interpreted as two sides of the same coin in daphne's understanding of the femme fatale.

elizabeth! i'm glad you found us here! i don't trust my status updates to give proper updates. :) the fiction files is my go-to group -- i helped migrate it over from myspace in 2009 when the death knell was tolling over the groups section. the skipper of the group is jonathan evison, and it's not as lively as it used to be but it is a good place to hold discussions. :)

also! i saw your message. eyes are now peeled for that penguin copy of rebecca. :)

as for the order: it appears that most of the people discussing these books have read at least rebecca previously, if not both of the novels. i'd suggest rebecca is a good starting point, and so far sketchbook is the only person reading my cousin rachel first but seems conversant with both. so i'd recommend we talk about rebecca in general, sketchbook can talk about my cousin rachel if it suits and then move on to more comparisons as we move into my cousin rachel. i guess i'm saying i'm not too concerned about where people start. :)

it's going to be fun! i always learn something from daphne and i hope the same is true for you! elizabeth is currently reading rebecca, and jessica just finished it, and i think that would be a good order. rebecca is more knock your socks off but it's also the baseline for comparison. actually, i think jessica might also have read that collection of short stories recently as well. and bri has read it! oh! we'll all know what each other are talking about! that's the big plus of the group read. :)

when we first started off in the ff on myspace, one of the things that would chafe me would be the lack of overlap, or if there was overlap the person had read it twenty years before so didn't remember it very well. and then somebody said, let's do a group read and it pleased me very much. :) though i suppose it could work in the opposite direction -- that time rod and i were going to read Voyage, i think i turned him off with all the laughing i did about the book. :P

that won't happen here. i promise. :)