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

Traveller’s comments from the On Paths Unknown group.

Okay, I'll do some research and come back with more info, and/or do a poll and/or wait for someone else to pick their favorite Naipaul.

Oh, and we mustn't forget China's book! When would you like to do that? Late Novemberish and then we do Fahrenheit and then after that American Gods, the latter maybe starting late Decemberish or early January?

Hmm, and a Naipaul also needs to go in there somewhere...

Yaye! Let's put it on the shortlist then. My problem is that I'd personally be too busy to lead any discussion in the next month or 2. Cecily is doing a stellar job with Borges, so I was wondering if anybody else has an itch to lead something at around October-ish.

Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "I was thinking Naipaul, too."

Okay, but which one?

Hmm, I guess it's a good idea to look at multiple prize winners. Of the three you mentioned, Derek, I think I'd lean most towards Naipaul...

Would you people be bored if we did Wolf Hall? Or what about a Naipaul?

Also... I have been dying to discuss Fahrenheit 451 sometime.

Cecily wrote: "With this story, perhaps the greater issue is whether a modern reader can detach themselves from Borge's future/our present. "

Yes... the story has a timelessness about it which is always a feature that allows people to re-interpret a text to suit their own times. There's a lot of that in Shakespeare's work, which is of course why his work is evergreen and classic. I suspect one could say the same of Borges.

I hear what you're saying to me, specifically, because I know that with this specific work, I personally have been interpreting it in contemporaneous terms, but I don't feel that is wrong of me, because - well, as we get from Borges' work itself, - people love to see patterns in things, and for me, this text works very well for that, and I do derive satisfaction from it which gives the text an almost "social" value as it were. (Don't know if I'm explaining that very well).

But I do see the problem that can create - being that one can lose Borges and his original intention with this scenario if you put too much of your own interpretation on it.

Showrunner Bryan Fuller estimated in May 2015 that the show would likely air in "late 2016." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America...

Listen, people, I'm itching to try out one of these, and I don't much care where we start, so do you guys have any suggestions here? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Another thing I had been thinking of, was to ask Derek if he feels like leading a discussion of The Three-Body Problem for us. What say you, and what says Derek?

Ruth wrote: "Ha! This has been my wait for round two. I read it the first time I don't know how many years ago. I want to read it again before I watch the film."

American Gods? Tell you what, why don't we both watch the film before our discussion in December, which will give an opportunity to discuss the film as well - or, alternatively, we can make a separate thread for discussion of the film, if you rather want to leave it for after.

EDIT: Ohhh you mean the upcoming TV series?

Oh btw! I'd been meaning to ask on Mievillians if you guys want to read China's new book towards the end of the year! I suppose I should go and ask there, huh?

Ruth wrote: "Of course we can wait :)"

Poor Ruth. How many years have you been waiting for American Gods now? :P

I'm feeling guilty, don't worry!
Your (and American Gods') day will come! @_@

Ruth wrote: "Is American Gods still on the list?

Personally, I would like a few more Borges before we move on. I disliked the second less than the first. Perhaps the trend will continue..."

Oh of course we will do more Borges! We're going to do all of the Borges that was voted for, at least! I meant for October/November. :)

Can we do American Gods in December rather pleeez? It's so thick...

Not to mention that we have hardly even touched on the 2 Borges that we'd started so far...

Do we have any definite suggestions for what our next discussion should be on?

On the one hand, I really want to start reading prizewinning literature, but on the other hand, I feel we need a good dose of plot and characterization after our Borges stint, in whatever genre.

Paul Martin wrote: "Traveller wrote: "PS, so don't you enjoy GGM?"

I'm not sure. I started One hundred years many years ago (think I was 13 or something) and found it incredibly boring. I don't really trust my own ta..."

I agree that 100 years is long and seems to start off slow-ish, but his short stories are a much better bet if you're so inclined. And might I also recommend Chronicle of a Death Foretold

the gift wrote: "i like 'unanimous night', never heard it before, it makes natural moment, natural scene, into something consensual and quasi-human (or other spirits), and i would say foreshadows entire constructed..."

That's very sweet of you, thegift. I like your take on it, even though it's origin might just have been an
"irresponsible" move by the young Borges... -you have turned it into art! ^_^

Cecily wrote: "Huxley uses "unanimous night" as well. It is a startling opening phrase, but I don't know what to make of it, other than poetic licence v"

LOL, and here we just read about: This much is already known: for every sensible line of straightforward statement, there are leagues of senseless cacophonies, verbal jumbles and incoherences. ;)

Anyway, so I looked up unanimous night, and I found this:

Norman Thomas di Giovanni, who has been translating Borges full time for the last four years, and has done more than anyone else to push Borges’s work in the English-speaking world, says,

You can imagine how much has been written about that “unanimous.” I went to Borges with two translations, “surrounding” and “encompassing.” And I said, “Borges, what did you really mean by the unanimous night? That doesn’t mean anything. If the unanimous night, why not the tea-drinking night or the card-playing night?” And I was astonished by his answer. He said, “Di Giovanni, that’s just one example of the irresponsible way I used to write.” We used “encompassing” in the translation. But a lot of the professors didn’t like losing their unanimous night….
Well.

Okay then, 'foreshadowing' rather.
While I have your attention - how is a night unanimous? <_<

I suspect the translation has a lot to do with the enjoyment of this story. I've found a different translation now, which reads better to me.

The translation by Andrew Hurley feels more contemporary and accessible to me.

Hmm, and why do I have a foreboding about how this story is going to end? ;)

Allen, are you out there?

Well, now, I'm always learning new words on Goodreads. Apparently, to dilacerate is to tear or rip something or someone to shreds. Ouch!

...and "gradin" - is that a terrace?

Okay, now I finally got my MAN Booker winners formatted into post 4, with the help of an HTML Whizz.

So now I'd like to know if we should start gunning for group discussions on these.

I'd be happy to do a poll, but putting in so many choices will take a lot of time, so I'm hoping to get some suggestions from members of what they think we should discuss out of any of the winners or runner-ups mentioned in posts 2, 3 and 4.