Paula’s Comments (group member since Jun 18, 2025)

Paula’s comments from the Reading the Chunksters group.

One of these days, but not yet, I'm going to nominate The Gormanghast Trilogy (again). Would that be considered Classic or Contemporary?

Dianne wrote: "Moby dick is wonderful. You can read it over and over. And I love that I don’t have to get all of the Shakespeare/Bible or other references to have it be simply a great, great story."

So interesting that you mention Shakespeare because, when I read MD, an aura of Shakespeare settles around my shoulders.

Right now, I just sat down in my reading chair, right next to my Christmas tree, with Moby Dick and a glass of wine. And Moby Dick...why have I avoided it for so long? It has cast a spell on me.

Dianne wrote: "Dan wrote: "The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution, Yuri Slezkine"

I’ll second!"

Yay! I was hoping it would get a second.

Amanda wrote: "Paula I didn’t know your Dad had Parkinson’s. My Dad is 80 and has it for 14 years. His tremors are controlled by meds but his mind is going quickly. He’s having horrible hallucinations. It breaks ..."

Thanks for sharing, Amanda. It is heartbreaking when someone you love so much starts to fail.

I lost my Dad to cancer, but his mind was sharp right to the end. The Far Pavilions was a book I read and then gave to him. And when he passed away, the book came back to me. It has a special place in my heart.

Joseph wrote: " by M.M. Kaye"

This was my Dad's favorite book. He read it many times. Thanks for bringing me such a fond memory, Joseph. I adored my father.

I remember, when the Parkinson's made his hands shake so badly that he couldn't hold a book, he had a friend make him a special book stand. This book was the one most often sitting on his stand. 🤗

Oh and the Mahabharata, unabridged. We'll see how many volumes I get through this year 🤗.

Amanda wrote: "I don’t have any specific 2018 plans beyond Moby Dick. I saw you mentioned Miss Macintosh ... are you reading that with a group. That’s on my chunksters list along with The Tale of Genji, The Resur..."

Yes, I'm reading Miss M with Ami's Chewing on Leaves Group, you should join!

I thought I'd come up with an initial plan for 2018. Here are my additional Chunksters:

Jean-Christophe (unabridged, 3 volumes) by Romain Rolland. It was tough finding true unabridged volumes. You can see them on my list.

Marcel Proust: A Life

Adam Buenosayres: A Critical Edition

Imperial

Jean Santeuil

Redwood

Along with shorter books, of course 🙃.

So, I'm curious to know from all of you Chunksters lovers: what wonderful Chunksters are on your 2018 lists of reads?

Christopher wrote: "On Rosemary and Paula seconding Cryptonomicon:

"

Ha ha!

Dianne wrote: "It’s the five most seconded that will go to poll, so re-second if you’d like, Paula."

Thanks! Just did. What a book!

Everyman wrote: "My review of Moby Dick. I posted it as a comment in the voting comments, but now that it's won the ballot it is probably worth posting it here.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

This was an excellent review, I recommend everyone read it.

Christopher wrote: "Digs deep in TBR pile for a contemporary...

I nominate
Cryptonomicon"

Oh yes! I give a second "second" for Cryptonomicon!!! It's a book that would really benefit from a group approach. Especially this group 🤗.

Dianne wrote: "Holy moly 1669 pages! That might win the chunkster hall of fame Amanda!"

I'm halfway through and have put it aside for now. Don't be impressed by the length. It's really more about 340 pages of text with a bunch of blank pages with asterisks (26 in a row in one place). Or random pictures that don't tie to anything. One fairly erudite reader, who loved it btw, said it was a weaker book when the author had stretches of prose. I thought that was hilarious.

It says it's a novel, but it's really not. Imagine spending 10 years writing disjointed, random notes about yourself or about a current event, or jotting down a couple of interesting ideas for a couple of different novels...and then deciding to send your notebook off to your publisher. That's this book. What's interesting is that the book description talks of one thread which sounds really interesting and intriguing, but it never goes anywhere. I think they used that blurb because it sounded like the most interesting one, which it was. And because it is probably the only coherent narrative thread in the book. Which is true.

There are also a lot of pages that just have the word "um". Or..."um, um, um, like, um, you, like um. Yeah."

Just letting you know what you're in for on this one. It's supposed to be oh so meta and it doesn't achieve that. Better to read Wallace or Danielewski.

Sorry, had to chime in negatively on this one. If someone read this and loved it, So sorry.

I'm going to finish it sometime, but not when there are more yummy reads on my list. And, I like a little book with my book :) :).

Dianne wrote: "Haaze wrote: "Wait! This could be fake news...

"

Well of course moby dick is real."

No doubt about that!

I've been contemplating Szabo too. I made a preliminary list of about 10 books I want to read in 2018. Does anyone else do that?

The first two I'll be tackling are Moby-Dick or, The Whale, of course, and Miss MacIntosh, My Darling.

I know that invoking the name "Amazon" can cause a stir, but thank goodness for them is what I say. I did everything online a couple of weeks ago and requested wrapping as well. With a daughter in Florida, doing stuff online was the only way I could get organized enough to finish. I didn't want shopping to interfere with my reading!

Now, if only Amazon would come to my house and finish decorating my tree. I'm great at it, but I hate every minute of it.

I don't gift books, but it's the only thing on my wish list :).

Dianne wrote: "Amanda wrote: "I’m hoping to participate in this one. I have a Barnes and Noble classics copy. I need to make sure that is unabridged. I have seen people post that the best way to get through “the ..."

Fast and loose whales? Ok, I just got an image of pole dancing, stripper whales - which I think will stay with me.

Tracey wrote: "Dianne you are never going to make everyone happy. Happiness is a personal issue. (and even friends sometimes fall out). But we are all adults here, right.

What you are doing is allowing a forum f..."

And Diane, we all very much appreciate everything you are doing!

Dianne wrote: "I think I will go with a six week schedule but keep it open for 2 months and longer if needed. Mid feb we will start a contemporary book and decide on a case by case basis how long to cover each ne..."

As long as you are comfortable, it sounds great! But if you ever need someone to facilitate a thread every now and then, I'm up for it.