Women and Men discussion
When do you want to read this?
I would just like to reiterate how freakin' excited i am to get my copy of this in the mail and begin reading. This is going to be fun.
I'm also giddy Geoff. It should be quite the test of my reader-ship. I feel like I've been training for this all year!
Does anyone know if it's possible and how to? Send invites to all those others that have Women and Men on their to-read list? I get the feeling that we're a bit cliquish here and I'm too lazy to contact 200 people one at a time. If not, I'll at least invite those six other people who are currently reading it.
If you send an invite, I'd make sure to send a little message along with it.
Stephen M wrote: "If you send an invite, I'd make sure to send a little message along with it.""Little," he says.
Nick wrote: "I think you'd have to contact them individually. The only people you can invite are ones on your friends list, as far as I am aware."I have just looked at the "Invite people" .I think you need to enter the email addresses (thats what it says) manually, if you are not friends already - or via Facebook which is basically the same.
A link to the group with a message might be probably a better idea, especially when its done a bit more "personally". I have noticed in general people seems to get a bit picky about what-can-be-seen-as-spam...
Stephen M wrote: "You can include the fact that this book is easily readable."That made my day. Marvellous.
I was seriously cracking up when they sent me that email. I like the "fully-functioning" part too. Maybe some thematic significance to the book?
Stephen M wrote: " "fully-functioning""An articulated structure capable of coping with a multiplicity of small-scale units.
Oh yeah, the abebooks' emailers know what's up.
Stephen M wrote: "If you send an invite, I'd make sure to send a little message along with it."Ah, screw it. Most of those currently-readings are inactive. But I'm gunno pursue a few more invites. I think more than 2 dozen people have marked it as to-read in the past month alone.
Cliquish? I've never been in a clique in my life. I've always been the outsider. In fact, you guys are/were most likely lit majors while I was an art major/engineering/pre-med/lost student who doesn't know what she wants to be.Nathan "N.R." wrote: "Does anyone know if it's possible and how to? Send invites to all those others that have Women and Men on their to-read list? I get the feeling that we're a bit cliquish here and I'm too lazy to ..."
I don't think I'll be able to dive in until December, after finishing Against The Day and The Tunnel, and maybe having a bit of a buffer zone with some shorter fiction. But at least then I'll have four month summer holidays save for pub work and an internship.
C'mon Aloha. We can be the cool kids for once!
I'm a lit major, but I'm an outsider in the sense that all the other lit majors I know don't seem to like lit.
You guys do make reading books nobody wants to read very cool! I feel like we ought to have a secret handshake.Stephen M wrote: "C'mon Aloha. We can be the cool kids for once!"
That's why I'm glad I'm not a lit major because I get a thrill out of deciphering a book.Sean wrote: "I'm a lit major, but I'm an outsider in the sense that all the other lit majors I know don't seem to like lit."
Sean wrote: "I'm a lit major, but I'm an outsider in the sense that all the other lit majors I know don't seem to like lit."It's the same at my school. It's bullshit. We read Nabokov and I had all these things to say about it but everyone else just complained that they had to look up words when they read it. I couldn't believe it.
Why in the world are they studying lit if they don't get a thrill out of playing book detective? It's really fascinating stuff. I'm really enjoying how words are communicated, including the semiotics of words. Next, I'd like to learn more about poetry. It's fun playing word puzzles with literature.
Nathan "N.R." wrote: "Jimmy wrote: "I am broke after my recent migration from Portland to Austin. I'll let y'all know. Yes, saying "y'all" is very contagious in these parts. "Powells finally fire you for reading on th..."
I guess you could say that, after five long years, I officially retired from the book retail industry in June. I moved to Austin, TX a month ago. I'm planning on bartending as I finish up with school. It was basically time to throw in the towel. Incidentally, this transition has truly revitalized my interest in reading, which is a great feeling.
Jimmy wrote: " Incidentally, this transition has truly revitalized my interest in reading, which is a great feeling. "Removing oneself from book retail can have that effect. Fortunately. Working at Borders for 8 months was oppressive.
Got my copy in the mail today. It's so massive my other mail was circling in low orbit around the box, which could have easily contained a major part of a car engine. Well-bound hardcover first edition, excellent condition, and I'm looking for an early-to-mid-October start. Giddy up.
Seller was kind enough to send this to me:
[image error]
Happy camper!
[image error]
Happy camper!
Sean wrote: "Seller was kind enough to send this to me:Happy camper!"
The pic didn't come through.
There it is. Nice.
That's strange, I can see it. Hm.
Nick wrote: "My copy should be arriving within 3-6 days (maybe a little more depending on how the postal service is deciding to feel on any given day). Even then, I have no idea when I will be able to start rea..."
Can't really go wrong.
Can't really go wrong.
Nice signature! I love the show and tell. I'm planning to brag when my copy comes in. I've pushed aside two other gems for W & M, Dhalgren and Gravity's Rainbow. They were both great but I like to be with the excitement. Probably will have to reread the parts I read.
I would like to read this but I don't know, I'm Reading Against the Day right now, and A Forlic Of His Own, and soon the Recognitions, plus I don't know if I can get a copy. But I love ,almost have to be immersed in a big long book that breaks the rules. It occurs to me that group of people trying find a rare book to read would be a good story in its self
Ives LeSpark wrote: "I would like to read this but I don't know, I'm Reading Against the Day right now, and A Forlic Of His Own, and soon the Recognitions, plus I don't know if I can get a copy. But I love ,almost have..."I do hope you stick around. Your to-read list here is very familiar to a lot of the folks in this group. I hope that, with Dzanc's possible print edition next Summer, we will have some kind of W&M Round 2 next Summer for those folks having a hard time getting their hands on a copy. The formation of this group reminds me of those early champions of books like The Recognitions and Gravity's Rainbow, even if we do appear to be coming in 25 years after publication.
I'm also reading Against the Day. Quite slowly, too.
I don't want ATD to end because after I've read it then I would have read all of Thomas Pynchon's books and I don't know if I'm ready for that. Did you get to the part that Reef rides in to Jeshimon?
I think so. I'm reading it in kind of short bursts so it's all a bit of a blur. I'm at about page 400 or so.
When a book becomes a blur, that's when I feel a need to reread it again. If a book is special enough that I'd want to do a review of it, then it's time to take out the magnifying glass to get every nuance out of it, plus all the background history. I love all the extra info. I get from research. I had to put aside Dhalgren and Gravity's Rainbow because they deserve to be read with magnifying glasses and studied thoroughly. I can't give them that attention right now.
It is Pynchon we're talking about though. I don't know if it's possible to come to grips with every nuance of one of his books because they're so (intentionally) overwhelming.
I'd like to give it a try, though, and I know I can't do it now.
I find if you write down characters as they appear it makes the reading less of a blur when you come back to the last part you left of on. It's easy to get lost in Pynchon's books as to whats happening. I had to start Mason and Dixon over, even though I was half way finished with it, and not only because my mind was fogy but because there are parts I wanted to read over again anyways. All of Thomas Pynchon's works warrent multiple readings, I often read the same parts, parts I that I was like wait what I'm lost, or parts that left me awstruck ,over again and they become a lot clearer
Ives LeSpark wrote: "I find if you write down characters as they appear"I have just seen your comment on your reading progress. There are more than 500 different characters in AtD, its good clean fun to write down all the names. :) How pretty damn good is Nog (if you have read it? cant find it on your shelves) but since you name Wurlitzer as your fave writer... Had in my hands once in a bookshop but didnt purchase it, damn.
I haven't read "Nog" but would like to Wurlitzer wrote the screen play for "Two Lane Black Top", a damn fine film you should watch if you haven't already.I read the "The Drop Edge of Yonder" which was great it's a lot like the Film Dead Man, infact it's been said that Jim Jarmusch stole the idea from Rudolph Wurlitzer, but who knows for sure. Speaking of stealing someone's art and making it your own I'm reading "A Forlic of His Own" by William Gaddis which is about that.
Is anyone pushing for a start date very soon? I'm going to be swamped with work and will be lucky if I finish Don Quixote before November (working on the election), but anytime after the beginning of November would be great for me.
No worries Drew. I think we're all going to wait so we can clear all other books off our schedules before trying to take this one on. I'll be starting mid-Oct probably, and I won't care if I'm still reading it into 2013.What kind of things you doing for the election?
Drew wrote: "Is anyone pushing for a start date very soon? I'm going to be swamped with work and will be lucky if I finish Don Quixote before November (working on the election), but anytime after the beginning..."I hope to start it mid-Oct after I've gotten a running start on Moby-Dick. My intention is to be a few pages out ahead of the pack for moderator reasons. My suggestion for those reading IJ in December is to get a few chapters under your chin before IJ. Beyond intentions to start in Oct/Nov, I've not heard too many people voicing a nailed-down schedule.
I'm a third into Skippy Dies for the October reading group. I have a The Sound and the Fury discussion group that I'm leading in October. I need to write reviews for those two books and The Master and Margarita. The Infinite Jest discussion group is in December, so I'm hoping to be able to start W&M in mid October and finish it in time for Infinite Jest, with a W&M review.
Aloha wrote: " so I'm hoping to be able to start W&M in mid October and finish it in time for Infinite Jest, with a W&M review. "Powerhouse! I'm really looking forward to the reviews and with our bevy of talented readers mayhap I won't have to wait until 2013. But I only expect Stephen M's review around next April. ; )
It's amazing how quickly I can go through a book when I'm not trying to read two at once. :o) Gravity's Rainbow and Dhalgren at the same time. What was I thinking? At this rate, Skippy should be done by the weekend. It's a light read compared to Gravity's Rainbow, but an enjoyable read.
Nathan "N.R." wrote :But I only expect Stephen M's review around next April. ; ) "Ha! Considering how long it takes me to write reviews that's probably when it'll come out.
It's not the reading that slows me down. It's writing the review. I have to read every single background material on the book, highlight all possible relevant wording in the book, get my ah-hah moments as to what the book is REALLY about....
Ives LeSpark wrote: "I haven't read "Nog" but would like to Wurlitzer wrote the screen play for "Two Lane Black Top", a damn fine film you should watch if you haven't already.I read the "The Drop Edge of Yonder" which ..."I adore Dead Man, nice that you mention it. The Gaddis one is another novel I have looked at - ok, I have looked at all his books - but never *gasp* read him. I am so bad.
You should read one of them, The thing is there is so many great books to read but in our multi-task so little time to read all of them
Women and Men
Books mentioned in this topic
Skippy Dies (other topics)The Sound and the Fury (other topics)
The Master and Margarita (other topics)
Nog (other topics)
Dhalgren (other topics)
More...
Can you create or direct us to one of those "Member's Reviews" pages? Know whad ah mean? Start up, too, a reviews thread. If you'd be so kind. It may be a while until we get reviews--months--but having quick access to status updates will be useful.