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

Traveller’s comments from the On Paths Unknown group.

Is someone prepared to help out with the translation of the opening quote? I have: "Let us not mock the insane (the mad, fools, the crazy?), for their folly/madness outlasts ours; there ends the difference."

for : ""Ne raillons pas les fous; leur folie dure plus longtemps que la nôtre… . Voila toute la différence."

Ruth wrote: " I am passing on Ulysses, though I did manage The Dubliners. Does that get me off ..."

That's a bit like asking: "Does having read Neverwhere get me off the hook from reading American Gods?" Heheheheh, sorry Ruth! XD

We could always do a Joyce POLL and a Pynchon POLL . :P Ha ha.

Death before a boring book!~ I like that. I'm very bad that way. I abandon books when I feel I'd rather be cutting my toenails than continuing with it.

There are other books that I abandon because they simply seem to big and daunting. The following are in this list:

- American Gods by Neil Gaiman

- Ulysses by James Joyce

- À la recherche du temps perdu / In Search of Lost
Time
by Marcel Proust

- Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

I'd better finish The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner before I have to add it to this list. It's not big, it's just... rather confusing at the start.

Hmm, Greg just reminded me in another thread, of what good fodder for discussion Shakespeare can be, and there is one particular Shakespeare that I have never quite fully figured out for myself, and would therefore love to discuss: you guessed it: it's Hamlet.

Is there anybody around here who would be interested in doing a discussion on Hamlet sometime in 2016?

Hamlet is a very finely written, very complex play, as is the character of Hamlet himself. I have not quite made my mind up yet whether Hamlet is sane or not.

As for Shakespeare being melodramatic, well, I think most drama is, because -DRAMA- right? ;) ... but seriously, I suppose they have to spice it up a bit to keep it interesting...

In spite of the dramatic style sometimes bordering on melodrama, Shakespeare yet manages to fit in a lot of social commentary and some philosophy as well.

Right, thread for the first story is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thread for discussion of the first "King in Yellow" story, The Repairer of Reputations.

Let's confine our comments to chapter one for now.

Jonfaith wrote: "
I'm all about paper and this appears interesting, although likely not scary as such."
Ah, okay, understood about the paper.

Jonfaith wrote: "Yes Traveller - we viewed both seasons of TD, the 2d this last weekend.
."
...and so, you are all in and primed on some of the influences this book has had...

Greg wrote: "The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain.

Do yourself a favour and read this sad book."

Ah, yes! Been wanting to read that, but keep forgetting.... thanks!
Hm, I see you are British? ...or no, Australian. Ah yes, so my night would be your day, I must remember that...

...speaking of censorship, you guys down under have quite strict ones, eh? I've noticed with films and games in particular.

I feel so, so happy to have someone sharing my thoughts and musings here, Amy! You have made my day! I am so, so glad that I found you (that was a really great find! ^_^) (view spoiler)[Like gemstones on the beach (hide spoiler)] and that you found this group!

I apologize for momentarily abandoning this discussion again- please bear with me while I shoot back to the "ghostly" discussions, but I'll be back here in a day or two.

Shall we discuss the 'festival' (I am not there yet in my current reading) along with the ending spoilers here? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I'll need to read a bit more to see which would be a good crossover point, unless you feel like suggesting one.

Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Is the Darkover series good?"

If you like pseudo-scientific fantasy... which I do :-) It's all ostensibly set in a far-future galactic civilization, but it's positively med..."

Andre Norton! I used to love her stories as a kid!

*a little later* ...and now I have followed your link, and felt a bit shocked at the... err prim-looking older lady she had become. In my mind's eye, she had always been this sexy, sultry figure sprawled sensually over a divan, much like some of the females you see adorning the cover art on her books! Ha ha ha silly me.

Nah, I'm the one who must apologize. I noticed that there are groups who do more than one reading at the same time, and thought to try it out, but admittedly, those are usually for different genres or subjects.

Most of the ghost stories we have on the list, are short stories, so I figured it doesn't really matter when exactly we read them, as long as it is more or less around Halloween time. ...because, you see, the thing is that different people have been going for different stories; so I have been trying to accommodate everybody, which is resulting in there being many books being read at once atmo.

But what I was trying to say, is that, remember, we don't do our discussions in a strictly real-time format, since we have such diverse readers who read according to such diverse schedules.

I am in fact very glad you reminded me that I should be getting my behind in gear for the KiY discussion, because... yeah, I'd become a bit lost in the avalanche of reading that's been going on around here lately - which is by all means a good thing!!! Wouldn't you say? :)

COSAM won't run away, so relaaaax. :D

It's absolutely snap-crack popping with references, a lot of which I personally miss because I am not as well-read as Vandermeer. :P

This is why group readings are so valuable, because they bring a collective diversity of knowledge to the table. :)

I must admit that I wondered why the dwarf had not been called Wagner Nibelungen instead of Dvorak Nibulingen, but I am sure Vandermeer had his reasons. :)

Hmm, I think we are addressing surface semantical differences here. I won't comment on Greg's ego comment yet, (because I disagree with what it seems to say, but I have noticed from his other posts that Greg likes to play semantic games with some of his statements) but yes, I do agree that making a distinction between ethics and morality is important.

A 'moral' person tends to be self-righteous and panders to the ideas of someone outside of themselves (such as religious leaders or tribe elders) as to how they should think and behave.

An ethical person adheres to a universal code of correctness which tends to have as its aim a fair dispensation for all humanity, and in some ethical codes, animals, plants and the environment is also taken into account.

Greg wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Greg wrote: "The Bible is absurd, it is unintentionally funny."

Sigh. If you've been in jest, you do it well."

As Karl Marx said, "I treat the ridiculous seriously when I treat ..."

Ha, I meant with your ... general er... you had me trying to place you into a ... trying to place you on a discrete place on a spectrum of possibilities where I could get a better idea of where you were coming from. One will only get to see that if you draw the other person out, and I guess we've both been doing that in our respective ways.

Anyway, it's been nice chatting, I have to log off for now. If you have joined the group in all sincerity, I hope you enjoy it and your stay here on Goodreads. Have fun sinning your way into the night! :)

Greg wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Okay, you had me for a while, though I did have a distinct river-y aroma around the nostrils from the start. I just wasn't sure which variety of bridge -dweller I was dealing with..."

No, I was worried about your comment that books are a sin against God. Remember you had posted on the other thread as well, so taken in context with some of your other posts, I thought you were possibly being sincere about that aspect, though it was of course a joke... No worries, though, as I said. I did suspect that somewhere 2 and 2 was not making 4. :P

I have got a review up for the Bible here on GR, actually, and yeah, though I personally do not enjoy the literary style or the content of the OT, I do actually believe that Jesus was a historical person, and I definitely agree with the general gist of his teachings. I personally believe that he rebelled against a lot of the OT narrowmindedness and that whatever he might really have said was of course twisted to suit the purposes of whomever found it convenient to do so.

...but back to the Bible, whatever else it may be, it was HUGELY influential in Western culture.

Okay, you had me for a while, though I did have a distinct river-y aroma around the nostrils from the start. I just wasn't sure which variety of bridge -dweller I was dealing with. ;) No worries, all taken in good nature.

Greg wrote: "The Bible is absurd, it is unintentionally funny."

Sigh. If you've been in jest, you do it well.

Greg wrote: "The Bible is a book. ..."

Well, actually, not really. The Bible was initially an oral tradition. It was only penned down later. So, NOW it is a book yes, but in essence... not initially. Besides, it is composed of a variety of different texts, and which texts are included, seems to be dependent on the whim of the clergy.

In any case, if you feel that books are sinful, why do you read them and aim to discuss them?