Traveller’s Comments (group member since Jan 14, 2015)

Traveller’s comments from the On Paths Unknown group.

Hmm, I've been told that "Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova" is a bit of a ghost story, so I almost feel inclined to suggest that one for after the Jackson story so that it's close to Halloween still, and then maybe one from one of his other collections that are easier to come by for Oct 1?

Another possibility is that we do The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for October 1. It's one of his more notable works, considered by himself as one of his most important, and is a long short story or very short novella. I might have read it long, long long ago, as a teenager, and from what I can remember, it should actually be very topical in subject matter what with what has been going on in the world lately.
I must just warn that, as is actually quite usual with GGM, there are a few graphic images of death here and there.

If you guys are are on board with that, it's available here https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/19... though please heed Amy's warning with regard to New Yorker access, since this is also in the New Yorker.

FWIW, one can copy and paste the contents into a Word doc. Just saying. I just tested it and it works, even though FWIW, I do have my own treebook copy.

BrokenTune wrote: "Sounds good!

I'm tied up in a Halloween game so may not be able to read the Shirley Jackson with you all.

I have put in a reservation for the Murakami short stories at the library and it should b..."

Cool about the Murakami, sorry to hear about the Jackson. Maybe we can still do something halloweenish early November as well, let's see how we feel.

Ok, so one yay so far for Murakami, as long as we move it on a bit, though some people might of course prefer to start on the weekend - maybe we can do 2 while we're at it? Let's see how it goes!

Hello everyone! Group revival time! A few of us have had a lot of discussions in the Chit-chat thread recently, and we decided we only have time for short stories for the time being. We discussed various candidates, and based upon that, I am proposing the following for the upcoming month of October:

So, I was thinking, let's read a Murakami from his short story collection First Person Singular: Stories starting Fri October 1, then an Okri, Marquez or one of several Chinese/Japanese authors which I will put to the poll, on Fri, Oct 15, and then there's been a request to read a Shirley Jackson for Halloween, starting Fri October 29 ? Sound good?

If at least 2 people agree, I will send out a group message and poll by evening of Fri Sept 24.

I've been thinking and thinking about what to do here, and I've come up with an idea: How about we read two short stories a month until we've nicely gelled as a group again, and then at some later point we can always change direction and decide on something longer if any of us so wishes?

I've been reading through this thread again, and there seems to be some appetite for stories from around the world, and also suggestions to read at least one Shirley Jackson story on or around Halloween.

So, I was thinking, let's read a Murakami from his short story collection First Person Singular: Stories starting Fri October 1, then an Okri, Marquez or one of the Chinese/Japanese authors mentioned earlier, on Fri, Oct 15, and then a Jackson starting Fri October 29 ?

PS. I'm so sad to see all the restrictions being imposed more and more on GR. Why, why why, was this previously fantastic site sold out? I don't want to sound too mean, and who knows if I might have been able to resist the temptation myself, but sometimes people end up selling their souls to the soulless for money... :(

Hi Amy, I've actually been feeling very bad that I've not done that poll and message yet, so it's good you're letting us know. As far as I know, I am friended with everyone who took part in the latest discussion on this thread, but you guys might have let other people into the group (that I'm not friended with) in the years that I was gone. So they might fall through the cracks. I'll try to counteract that by also putting up a message on other general threads.

I've been tied up a bit in RL but I promise I'm going to do that poll and message tomorrow.

Esthy wrote: "Maybe some Shirley Jackson for Halloween?"

I'd say Shirley Jackson's quite solid, good idea, she shouldn't be hard to get hold of, and she (her writing, I mean) is suitably strange. Did you have anything specific in mind, Esthy? Perhaps something out of her "Lottery" collection? Remember that we want to keep it short. :)

Ok, I'm wanting to send out a group message, but I can't quite fathom what we all agreed on in the end. I'm wondering if I should put up a poll containing short stories from Haruki Murakami, GG Marquez, Ben Okri, and some kind of foreign mystery story.

Whoever else sees this post is welcome to give more suggestions here in this thread before I put up the poll.

And how about we start somewhere between October 15 and Oct. 25 so we'll be in time to do a dark or mystery story for Halloween? Not sure if anyone here does NaNoWriMo and if it's still in November? Anyway, I guess it will never be the perfect time to start, so we may as well jump in as soon as we can. :)

Multitasking!

Ok, so I'm still pretty busy with Proust right now, but if all goes well, at some point, I'll set up threads for the reads we all agree on, even if all of us don't agree with all of them, at least there will be something that each of you wants to do. I'm a multi-reader, meaning I struggle to keep with a book at a time unless it's VERY gripping, so I don't mind hopping around. It's been my modus operandi since I was little, in any case. :)

(And now, in my mind's eye, I see this small kid hopping all over the place. 😏 )

Hi Linda, great to see you back here again - tell me, would you be on board for our short story endeavor? I'm in exactly the same boat as you with Crime and Punishment and would love to finish it sometime. Have you thought of listening to audiobooks while commuting to work? I've downloaded an epub reader to my phone that can do text to voice, or I put an audiobook on it for those spare moments that we get from time to time. Funnily enough, I prefer the text readers.

OMG, I've just had an epiphany! Spanish... Gabriel Garcia Marquez is Spanish and his short stories are fab! What do you guys think - how about we do a few Murakami's, a small Chinese story, a Ben Okri short or two, and then a few GG Marquez stories!? And later, maybe a Russian side-read/holiday read for those who want it, heh heh.

Which Spanish books would you like to suggest, Linda?

Adding Hero right away!

Amy, is that from The Untamed?

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I loved Crouching Tiger. That's a very encouraging comparison. Flying Daggers has been on my to watch list forever; I should really try to get to it soon too."

Like the films mentioned, Word of Honor is in the Wuxia tradition, but it may not have the same emotional depth since it seems to focus more on martial arts wars between several martial arts houses. But do yourself a favor and watch Flying Daggers, it's one of my faves.

Btw, have you seen The Warrior's Way (The film)? It's got more of a fantastical bizarro Wild West flavor, but nice actor, heartwarming story, and de cutest most mignon widdle babykins you will ever see!

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Traveller wrote: "wait.. hold on Amy - now I suddenly realize why you like Untamed! So much eye-candy! :)"
and
Yolande wrote: "I have become addicted to K- and C-dramas because of the languages, st..."

I was going to mention Word of Honor yesterday! It's stylistically very close to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and House of Flying Daggers. If you haven't seen the latter, it's beautiful. Of course, if that type of 'floating' martial arts is too far-fetched for you, you wouldn't like it, but from what you've been watching, I think you might like it!

Ah yes, Lupin! I kept meaning to watch it and getting sidetracked! Thanks for reminding me of that! :)

Oh, and graphic novels also help.

Yolande wrote: "I've been learning French for years and though my reading ability has reached at least a high intermediate level, I still can't really speak it much."

But I find French is a particularly hard spoken language to attain for an Anglophone person. I can read it ok-ish,still missing a lot of vocab and struggling with tenses, but I have to really strain when listening, and I'd be too afraid to try and speak it myself- the way that words flow together in sentences. I probably know about as much German as I know French, but it's so much easier to speak!

Anyway, I've now started watching French films and TV shows, and I must say that that does help a LOT.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I will absolutely pitch in on First Person Singular. I was dying for someone to talk to about it when I read it."

Ok, you're on!

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Chinese is really beautiful. I watched The Untamed last year and really I could listen to it forever."

As I mentioned elsewhere, I love watching Chinese, Korean and Japanese TV shows (well, I did before I came back to GR - now there's no time). In any case, interestingly, to me Korean and Japanese sound similar enough that it takes me a while to figure out which language it's in, but Mandarin is very distinct with that almost sing-song intonation and very soft, almost English-like expression of consonants. It's a much 'softer' language than the other two. Maybe not so much in Untamed, but in Qin Empire - Alliance, which I've been watching, you really hear a difference. My word, I love the intro to that show!

Anyway, Korean shows are still my fave.

Yolande wrote: " I have a huge interest in Mandarin these days and have started learning it in small bits when I can squeeze in the time. Blame it on a Chinese talent competition I watched, I started hearing it so much that I fell in love with the sounds of the language. ..."

I'd be too afraid to try and learn Mandarin, it seems massively hard because of the pronunciation and the alphabet. At least in Japanese one can still get away with ...wait.. hold on Amy - now I suddenly realize why you like Untamed! So much eye-candy! :)

Hi Yolande! We could perhaps start a side-read, maybe just a thread to post comments in of Masks, if you like? I think sadly most of our friends have read it by now.
I've been looking at Chinese works, but it seems as if most of the works from mainland China are preoccupied with their form of statehood- you know, Communism and the cultural revolution, etc. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it can become monotonous in the sense that all the Russian writers being preoccupied with their own political drama became a bit monotonous. But it might be that I have only by chance found older authors and that the modern ones are more diverse?

Seems so, because Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth seems cool! I'm going to see if I can get hold of it, thanks for suggesting it!

Well, Amy has had a lot to say about it, (which I purposely didn't read in detail yet) so maybe we can make it a sort of longstanding buddy-read, on which Amy will hopefully pitch in. ...but then maybe choose a small something else for our big read? :P

EDIT: LOL, we must have posted simultaneously. I'm good with Ben Okri!

Okay... Amy has read it, so nevermind...

Well, let's all check our shelves, and post what we have, and then obviously choose what is easiest for all of us to get hold of. I wonder ... would it be cheating to suggest that latest short story collection by Murakami, First Person Singular: Stories

Murakami is so household that he doesn't feel distinctly "Japanese" to me anymore...

Please tell me you guyses haven't read that one yet?