Beth’s Comments (group member since Mar 06, 2014)

Beth’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Moderators of NBRC wrote:"Let me know if you need thread and I'll set you up.

Well I haven't had a response yet, should I wait for a reply before I ask for a buddy read thread?

⁀☆‿Ang ‿☆⁀Team Tapir wrote: I actually started Seveneves. I got about 10 pages in and that's all. Do you want to try for a certain number of chapters a day?

I forgot to check this thread, so I'm seeing this a bit late, but I can still do a buddy read. I am further along than that since I have read the free sample from the library (which went up to "Casting of Lots.") I just downloaded the book yesterday. I would be fine with slowing down and discussing a chapter or two a day though until you (or anyone else joining) catch up. Should we have a thread set up?

Is anyone interested in reading Seveneves sometime this month? I have reserved the ebook from the library, but someone else still has it checked out, so I'm not sure exactly when I'll start it.

28. Do you think this book handled questions of racism and sexism well?

Nothing was really resolved, but that seems pretty realistic. Since this is the first in a series, I wonder if the status quo will be challenged more in future books.

29. If you had a familiar do you think you would be able to sacrifice it as Prunella did?

That really disturbed me. The Exchange is kind of horrifying in itself, and I'm not entirely sympathetic to Zacharias's reasons for accepting it. His choice is understandable, but not really defensible, and so I have a hard time justifying Prunella's sacrifice of Nidget. She decided to make someone else pay the price of getting him out of a situation that he clearly got himself into.

31. What did you rate the book and why? Will you be reading the next books in the series?

I gave it three stars - I enjoyed it, but it was kind of unsatisfying. I did like the characters for most of the book, but the ending changed how I felt about them somewhat. The darker and lighter elements of the book don't always mix perfectly, especially toward the end. It was jarring at times.

Finished it! I will try to answer the discussion questions when they're posted (later today?), but might not get to them until tonight. I will be away from the internet tomorrow though.

I just love this line from chapter 7 - Sir Stephen's reaction to Zacharias's reformist impulses (p. 81):
"But that was the trouble with children, Sir Stephen reflected. They were confoundedly liable to pattern themselves upon one's conduct, when one would rather they simply did what they were told."

I really like the book so far. I will skip some of today's questions.

1. What do you think of the writing style? Does it help define the setting? Do you find it cumbersome?

I’m enjoying the writing style, which isn’t really surprising since I really like Susanna Clarke. (Both of them are clearly inspired by 19th-century English novels. From what I’ve read of those I really prefer Dickens to Austen — but I like this book enough that I’m wondering if I should give Pride and Prejudice another try sometime.)

4. Racism and sexism will likely play a major role in the book's theme. Do you find it difficult to experience the ways Zacharias and the witches are treated?

Even though the social attitudes described in the book are appalling, I think Cho’s sense of humor makes it enjoyable to read about. I’m really interested to see where the book’s going with these themes.

"I had seen a partial eclipse in 1970. A partial eclipse is very interesting. It bears almost no relation to a total eclipse. Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him, or as flying in an airplane does to falling out of an airplane. Although the one experience precedes the other, it in no way prepares you for it."

Annie Dillard, from "Total Eclipse" in Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters.

Started this yesterday. I don't have much to add yet, but I really like this quote (p 63):

"Justice of Toren's holds will be full of ancillaries for the next million years. If not longer. Those people are effectively dead. So what's the difference? And you don't like my saying that, but here's the truth: luxury always comes at someone else's expense. One of the many advantages of civilization is that one doesn't generally have to see that, if one doesn't wish. You're free to enjoy its benefits without troubling your conscience."

I will try to join this, but I won't have the book for a few days.

Is there an end date for the buddy read? How soon do I have to finish it to join?

I have just reserved the book. I'm pretty sure I can make time for it. I haven't participated in the monthly reads for a while but this one is intriguing.

I'm not sure if I could come up with discussion questions though, as I haven't read the book before.

fantasy subgenre challenge:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

SF Subgenre Challenge:
current level: Star Trooper - 16 books read
goal: Time Rider @ Warp Speed - at least 30 books in 18 categories
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

My favorite sf authors far are Ray Bradbury (especially The Martian Chronicles, but also other short stories), Ursula Le Guin (The Left Hand of Darkness and some short stories) and Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Also, I love The Time Machine but never got around to reading the rest of Wells's sf. I have Connie Willis, Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ, Samuel Delany, Poul Anderson, Vernor Vinge and CJ Cherryh on my tbr list.

current level: Star Trooper, 24 books read
goal: 2 books in the 18 categories below - 36 books, Time Rider @ Warp Speed level

Category 1: Alien Conspiracy: ?
1.
2.
Category 2: Alien Invasion: 1/2 books read
The War of the Worlds finished 6/22/2016 2. ?
Category 3: Alternate History
1. Pavane 10/22/2016 2. The Man in the High Castle 4/22/2018
Comedy: To Say Nothing of the Dog finished 9/07/2016 2. Bellwether 12/27/2016
Category 4: Dystopian
1. Oryx and Crake finished 8/18/2016
2. ?
Category 5: Feminist SF
1. The Female Man finished 3/20/2016
2. ?
Category 6: First Contact
1. Starfarers finished 3/19/2016
2. The Martian Chronicles
Category 7: Hard SF
1. 2312 finished 8/01/2016
2. Red Mars finished 9/14/2016
Category 8: Horror 2/2 read
1. Blindsight 10/17/2016
2. Annihilation 2/1/2017
Category 9 Military SF 1/2 read
1. The Forever War 12/05/2016
2. ?
Category 10: Nanopunk
1. The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
2. Queen City Jazz
Category 11: Near Future 1/2 read
1. The Speed of Dark finished 6/29/2016
2. Brasyl
Category 12: New Wave 2/2 read
1. The Ballad of Beta-2 / Empire Star
10/23/2016
2. Warm Worlds and Otherwise 8/27/2017
Category 13: Post-Apocalyptic
1. Seveneves finished 9/21/2016
2. Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America 9/24/2017
Category 14
Soft SF: ?
Category 15 Space Opera: 2/2 read
1. Aurora finished 7/04/2016
2. Use of Weapons 10/27/2019
Category 16 Time Travel: 2/2 read
1. The Just City finished 8/12/2015 2. Doomsday Book 10/07/2016
Category 17 1/2 read
Voyages Extraordinaires: 1. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea finished 7/12/2016
2. ?
Category 18: Xenofiction: 2/2 read
1. Childhood's End 9/01/2016
2. The Player of Games 10/13/2017

I haven't read The Martian, but "anything that's not space opera" is a pretty broad category of sf.

Maybe try Ursula Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? or (more recent) Alif the Unseen.

Does anyone want to read the fantasy novels The Just City or Freedom and Necessity with me?

chapter 53: (view spoiler)[I thought this bit was interesting, about Strange's motives - he says (referring to himself in 3rd person): "He tells himself he is doing it to get himself a fairy-servant and further the cause of English magic. But really he is only doing it to terrify Mr Norrell!"

I didn't expect that, and I wouldn't have guessed it if it hadn't been pointed out. (hide spoiler)]

Karen, I feel sorry for Norrell too. I particularly like this bit from chapter 63, (view spoiler)[ after Norrell describes some examples magical duels to Lascelles:
"And did such duels ever end in the death of one of the magicians?"
"What?" Mr Norrell stared at him, horror-struck. "No! That is to say, I do not know. I do not think so."
Lascelles smiled. "Yet the magic must exist surely? If you have your mind to it, I dare say you could think of half a dozen spells that would do the trick. It would be like a common duel with pistols or swords. There would be no question of a prosecution afterwards. Besides, the victor's friends and servants would be perfectly justified in helping him shroud the matter in all possible secrecy."
Mr Norrell was silent. Then he said, "It will not come to that."

Choosing Lascelles over Childermass was pretty stupid. (hide spoiler)]

So I have a question about chapter 64, if anyone else has read that far.(view spoiler)[ Why does Lady Pole assume that Strange has betrayed Arabella somehow? Is she just assuming the worst about him, because of her experience with Norrell? (hide spoiler)]

I'll probably be back to talk about the ending later.

Chapter 41 - favorite quote
(view spoiler)["Houses, like people, are apt to become rather eccentric if left too much on their own; this house was the architectural equivalent of an old gentleman in a worn dressing-gown and torn slippers, who got up and went to bed at odd times of day, and who kept up a continual conversation with friends no one else could see." (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 42 favorite quote
(view spoiler)["He understood for the first time that the world is not dumb at all, but merely waiting for someone to speak to it in a language it understands. In the fairy's song the earth recognized the names by which it called itself."

Apparently John Murray (who publishes Strange's book) was a real publisher during this period. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 43 - spoilers for the rest of the book:
(view spoiler)[The title, The curious adventure of Mr Hyde, is probably a reference to Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, referring to the theme of doubles, since the Arabella who "dies" is really the moss-oak. (hide spoiler)]

I've finished the reread but I'll comment on volume III later. I kind of wish this was a formal buddy read with questions, but I don't usually read the books for those discussions.

Alanna and Karen, there is another novel in the same setting in progress, described in this interview:
"I'm working on a book that starts a few years after Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell finishes, but focuses on some different characters. I got interested, while writing S&N, in Childermass and Vinculus and the people basically a bit lower down the social scale and less intrigued by the sort of Jane Austen stratum. Which is actually what really happened to Jane Austen. I mean her characters that she's writing about by the end of her career were actually a bit further down the social scale than the ones she started off with in Pride and Prejudice, where at least the heroes are incredibly rich."

A quick note about the roles of women - I think they are actually even more sidelined in this book than I expect in novels set in this period.

Yes, women's roles were limited, but on the other hand there are many books from the 19th c in which women have a bit more agency than here. (Some examples I've read: Bleak House, Jane Eyre, Romola.)

On the other other hand, this isn't that kind of book, probably for good reason. The restoration of English magic wouldn't have been accepted if it had been a serious challenge to the status quo. In this post (spoilers for chapter 30, but not beyond that) Susanna Clarke has some interesting things to say about this, and answers some other questions.