Chris’s Comments (group member since Mar 16, 2013)

Chris’s comments from the r/books group.

I have almost finished with the Golem and the Jinni, the story has me hooked, it's definitely a page turner!

Gday Goodreaders,

We have chosen our selections for March (click for Reddit post)

The general book is: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

The gutenberg book is: Walden & Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Happy reading folks!

Every year I do a big journal entry, try to summarize the year, the goals for the year following .etc. A round-up, if you will. I also keep scrapbooks, which is a collection of little heirlooms, quotes from books, the odd journal entry or thought. Nothing consistent though.

I'm also a devotee of Evernote as well. That stuff is the bomb. And ever since I got a smartphone things like Papyrus & QuickOffice & Google Drive get used a fair bit.

Never taken writing courses but I was very interested in writing fiction when I was younger. I never really had the dedication or patience back then and have been trying my hand at it again this year (with a little more success).

I'm interested in writing because i'd like to replicate the experience I've had with books... but mastery of the thing is difficult, that's for sure.

Just a few quick thoughts.

I would teach this in a classroom. There's so much you could talk about w/r/t power, freedom, family, environment .etc. But I think I would particularly focus on ideas of identity, memory and history.

From the historical notes:

“As all historians know, the past is a great darkness, and filled with echoes. Voices may reach us from it; but what they say to us is imbued with the obscurity of the matrix out of which they come, and, try as we may, we cannot always decipher them precisely in the clearest light of our own day”

The addition of the historical notes highlights that Offred's narrative isn't a confessional, but a historical document. The 'diary' isn't in its original form, which means it's no longer a document of subjective memory, but of collective memory. I think this makes Offred's necessity to 'reconstruct' extra significant - memory and history are both interpretive and acts of creation.

And this ties into identity as well: in the Night chapters Offred is away from the gaze of authority and she tries desperately to hold onto herself by holding onto the past (this is her rebellion, her resistance to the imposed order), but except for a few small fragments, she has mostly been lost and erased (we still don't know who she is, what happened to her). I remember the doctor focusing on the identity of the commander and other details about time/place/the railroad .etc. so I think the historical notes can be read as another erasure of her identity.

I also found it interesting that reading is a forbidden activity in Gilead, which I think underscores the vital importance for Offred to tell her story, no matter what the cost.

You could easily draw parallels to oppressive middle eastern regimes and the Iranian revolution which was contemporary at the time of release.

Hi Goodreaders!

I have just posted a new thread to vote for the r/bookclub March books of the month.

We have a General category and a Gutenberg category, and the books with the most upvotes end up winning! This means there is a tendency for well-renowned classics to win.

Check out the thread, FAQ or prev selections or feel free to ask me any questions!

Hi r/books! I'm gonna to start keeping you all updated with what we are reading over at r/bookclub. Hopefully this is the best folder for that.

So our February books of the month are:
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
and
- A Room with a View by EM Forster.

Check out the sidebar for past selections: we welcome conversations about any books that have been read in the club! Also, in the next few days we will be nominating and voting for March, so feel free to drop in!

Anyone that was considering reading The Goldfinch, I will def recommend it, it's a page-turner!

Hey Megan! I'm doing great, how are you?

I'm only about halfway through Midnight's Children as well. I haven't picked it up at all this week so I will have to get back into it! There are enthralling sections (usually the real historical events) but I find for most of it I can't read in small doses. I need a long period of time to really sit down, get through big chunks and digest it.

Since I know you're reading it i'll put in some dedicated effort to push a bit farther on!

When Atwood wrote this in the 80s, Reagan was in power and there was some kind of backlash against feminism at the time. It's also alluded to in the narrative, about how sex shops and pornography were starting to 'take everything too far' .etc. I'm sure this was a very real conservatism at the time and Atwood wrote this partly as a social commentary.

The Bible (or Scripture in general) as a weapon is very real: some radical sect, group, town, province, country .etc. misappropriate and manipulate certain sections of their Holy Codex to make a point that caters to their radical views. Theocratic regimes exist in the world. I think everything in the novel is something that is real and has happened in history.

Haven't started yet because I still haven't been to my parents' house to pick up my paperback copy but i'll get it ASAP! *And I hope you're feeling better Kim!

Annie wrote: "Is there a possibility for society to be restructured like this?"

As you're reading, get beyond Offred's narrative and consider the general principles of Gilead society: are there societies in the world that exist like this, or have existed like this in the past?

I won't be re-reading but i'm looking forward to the discussions. There is a really great quote early on: “This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.”

Count me in for any. I'm very curious about The Dark Tower because of all the reddit hype.

He does a good job of starting with something small, then leading down some different paths and digressions, then coming back round full circle.

I was getting frustrated because I found the grammar and the intrusions of Saleem and Padma jarring at times, but now that ive got the rhythm of it im enjoying it a lot!

There are more than a few series I would love to read. If youve read any of these let me know what you think because theure all on my TBR list.

Foundation by isaac Asimov

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (I dont know how well connected they are but a lot of these are free for kindle on gutenberg)

The Gomerghast series by Mervyn Peake

Book of the Nre Sun by Gene Wolfe

The Culture novels by Iain M Banks

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

The Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick OBrian

The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F Hamilton

One of my favourites is The Count of Monte Cristo. I recommend it to everyone. It might be long, but I find the story of Edmond Dantes enthralling, definitely a page turner.

To name a few that I really love: Shakespeare, Wells, Melville, Salinger, Faulkner, Borges, Camus... I think i've liked most of the classics i've read.

There aren't many classics I don't enjoy. And even if I don't enjoy it much I always try to find what other people love about them. I could never get into Paradise Lost. And from Steinbeck i've read Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and I didn't like them very much. He writes well but the work is preachy... GoW was too political and EoE was too moral.

Thanks Annie!

Jennifer, you will still be able to access the discussions on r/bookclub anyway! and you're always welcome to post a thread about a former selection.

Megan, fair warning, Midnight's Children (Part One, in particular) is a bit of a slog to read. It pays off, but it's demanding and not all that much fun until you get some momentum.

I set my goal to 52 books this year. Lower than last year, but I have a big year of study and I want to tackle some big books and classics, stuff like Tolstoy, Dickens and Dostoevsky. One of my goals for the year was to read more non-fiction.

I have a few old favourites I will reread, like some Philip K Dick and Christopher Isherwood.

Howdy folks, and happy new year!

Over at r/bookclub this month we have selected Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

Is anyone in the Goodreads group interested in reading these? If so, I would be happy to post some discussion threads.

Don Quixote isnt a slog, its a really fun story that anyone can enjoy. You dont need a reader! The latest translation is edith grossman and its really easy to read, has helpful footnotes for some of the historical refences but doesnt weigh it down at all.

It's holidays! I can't hold onto a book for long. I picked up some great Australian books from the markets so I've dropped the Russian kick: now i'm reading The Fatal Shore and A Secret Country.

Also, I got the biography of Steve Jobs for Christmas, so there's that too.

What about The Luminaries for the January book? I know r/bookclub will be selecting it for their January book, it won the Man Booker, getting rave reviews .etc. *The Goldfinch has been getting rave reviews as well but I was going to read The Secret History first. Can anyone recommend it?