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Kraken
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KRAKEN buddy read (running Oct. 7th thru Oct. 21st)
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Teresa
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Oct 06, 2013 10:18PM
I hope I did this right...this should be where we check in every 2 days to keep each other on track. Anyone interested, hop on in! The more the merrier! Just let us know you'll be joining us! Thanks, and happy reading, all!
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Elizabeth: Yes, we are still doing this. Netanella told me she was behind on Tankbread, and up to part 1 on Kraken. So you don't have that much catching up to do. We were trying to aim for 6 chapters a day from Kraken, but I am a bit behind on it, but ahead on Tankbread. I'm going to catch up with Kraken today, though. You can PM me if you want to do it...
Elizabeth - join in! The more perspectives on this read, the better, in my humble opinion. So, I'm diving right in with my thoughts:Billy Harrow, the uber-cool geeky nerd curator at the natural museum in London, gets his giant squid stolen out from under his watch. A huge bottled giant squid.
As patently ludicrous as this may seem for the set up of a story, Miéville does an excellent job in pulling it off in my estimation. I really enjoy his choice of language, which adds to the weirdness factor of what's going on. Page 23 describes the shelved bottles of marine specimens, and then, "Even sound sounded bottled suddenly, as if something had put a lid on it all." I had to read that three times to get the full effect, and I pulled it out of context. (Of course, the effect was more impactful as I just got of a plane with a head cold, and my head felt like it was in a bell jar.)
I'm finding obvious Lovecraftian elements, with the whole giant squid cult factor going on. This, I'm finding, is a really neat angle, and I hope it gets developed further. And of course, the introduction of the two magical jack-in-box characters who literally inhale Leon away reminds me of the weird humor of Clive Barker.
I confess I'm not very far in the book, but it has really piqued my curiosity so far. The cops investigating the giant squid theft, the recurring theme of the peeping Tom squirrel, the strangeness of the city at night.
Mod
Mod
Hey Elizabeth, basic set up is 6 chapters a day, check in every 2 days or 12 chapters to keep the push on.We're all way off schedule, but whatever! It's a fun book, and I've made it through Part I, I believe Teresa has as well. Jump in whenever, whatever. I'm not scared of no "spoilers"!
I ain't scared of no spoilers neither! And I have made it thru chapter 15, and may get through chapter 16 on my way home from work (LISTENING! NOT reading while driving- although I DO wish there was a way to do so safely lol), and I am loving the book so far. Jump in, Elizabeth! I just know you can catch up. While the chapters aren't as short as 'Tankbread,' they are very short for such a HUGE tome. That's what's making it fly by for me...that, and the fact that its a magical, mesmerizing, magnificent, and every other 'm' word you can think! I LOVE it!!!
Mod
Have ya got very far, Liz? PM me or Netanella. I THINK we are both still behind. I KNOW I am :-( Chapter 17 is where I am; that'll give ya an idea of whether you wanna dive in and try to catch up or not (which I sincerely hope you do, that way I'm not the only one behind!)
Mod
So far I'm pretty intrigued. It's a little slow right at the moment - they're sharing their theories with whatshisname, the main character. I'm hoping it picks back up shortly.
Push on! The whole giant squid history and science background is fascinating in a nerdy kind of way - I feel like I need to take a trip down to the Museum of Natural Science with my kids and look at some preserved animal species.I just discovered what was really going on with that peeping tom squirrel and have to say I laughed my behinny off about its payment. Sarcasm goes a long way in my book.
Mod
And I just found out about the squirrel too. LMAO! Most excellent.
So where are you ladies? How far behind am I?
Not far at all! I just started chapter 20, and have slowed down my reading to allow for catch up. It helps that the chapters are short. :)My thoughts so far: Our boy Billy Harrow has taken to ingesting squid ink (shades of spice and the Fremen of Dune) to bring on dreams of the Kraken. I'm really enjoying the author's writing style (prone to lyricism - is this a word, Teresa? or am I ingesting squid ink?)
Billy's got some major problems - all of these warring factions think he knows something about the stolen Kraken, and everyone thinks he has it. And Billy seems oblivious to the plots and sub-plots and machinations of the groups. Goss and Subby work with the Tattoo, but then they have their own agenda. The cultists worship the Kraken and consider Billy a prophet, yet he escapes with one of their own, Dane, who also appears to have his own agenda. I can't keep up with the crazies of the London police - although I find the character of Collingwood both fascinating and repulsive. Like a car crash, you can't help but crane your neck.
Elizabeth wrote: "I'm just going to put this here. Because we needs it.http://build-a-diy.tumblr.com/post/60..."
I am picking my jaw up off the floor.
My sewing skills are non-existent - I so need a giant squid in my life, though!
As we're hugging our giant squid pillow to keep the heebie jeebies away, we can warm ourselves with a little help from this:http://www.drinkupny.com/The_Kraken_B...
Now there's to crackin' the Kraken!
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Mod
I love that you brought up the Ink/Spice connection. It was niggling at the back of my mind, and when I read that, I went YESSSSS!
Collingwood sort of thrills me. I loved getting the background on her. She's sassy, like me - although I'm Canadian, so - I'd have to apologize constantly LOL
Awesome! So we are all roughly in the proverbial 'same page.' I *hangs head* finished my Steampunk anthology today rather than reading this. Why, you ask? Well, because I was smack dab in the middle. Same thing with 'The Night Circus.' I have about 100 pages left in it, but tomorrow is my day off, and other than errands, I plan on reading, reading, reading. If I'm lucky, I'll get finished with Night Circus so I can just focus on Kraken (And, well, The Golem & The Jinni). Two books at once I can handle; 5 is just too damn much!
Mod
Er, I'm not going off topic AT ALL. This totally relates, because, uh, giant squid should be in a Night Circus.
SEE?
I like it quite a bit, but I'm listening to it, which detracts some of the fun (for me, at least). I've been plowing through it for a few weeks now, when I expected to get it done in a few days. But it IS magical, it IS mesmerizing, and it has a quick pace to it. So yeah, I'd say it's worth a gander. Then again, I haven't finished yet, either. I'll let ya know more concretely once I've finished. ;-)
Mod
Back on topic - these humans used as tools (the radio, the telephone) freak me right out...
Uh...yeah...lol...there are LOTS of weird things happening. I am absolutely loving the word play! That's my favorite thing about the book so far!
Okay, Wati's a character I can really get in to - not just the psychic jumping that he seems to do, from one inanimate object to the next, but particularly the whole workers union of the undead. And damn, that squirrel keeps reappearing!
So ladies, where is everyone? I JUST finished section 2. Still loving it, but don't want to give anything away. I fear I am still behind, but I'm still ploughing through The Night Circus (should be done tomorrow or so with THAT one:-). Just checking in! Hope you all are enjoying this one as much as me!
I've passed the halfway mark, and I feel like singing, "Where in the world is Carmen Santiago?" Except, it's the damn kraken that's still missing, and no one knows where it went, except Billy keeps dreaming about riding the squid. Someone needs to find that mollusk soon!So, some of my favorite scenes just occurred: Fitch the Londonmancer performing augury on London by cutting up the pavement with some circular saw thingy and getting a pile full of cement dust and bloody guts. And of course, Collingwood summoning the ghosts of deceased constables and adding video tapes of cop shows to the fire. I wonder how the ghosts would react if she tossed in some "Law and Order"?
I know, Netanella. I didn't really know what most of those shows were, but it makes me wanna watch BBC! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE COLLINGSWOOD!!! She's awesome. And I love all the non-sensical wordplay and how there are so many bands of 'cultists' roving around the UN-streets of UN-London. I read a detailed review of this, and the girl suggested that it was one of Miéville's WORST books to start out with, but I gotta say, if this is his worst book, I can't friggin WAIT to start 'Perdido Street Station'!!! I think the world of this piece is wonderfully crafted...so thoroughly magical, so intense, so perfect! I am due to start part 5 tomorrow after I finish the first section of First Days. I am still aiming to be done by the 21st, but I sure am gonna be cutting it close! Will I finish; won't I finish??? Its a mystery, but not NEARLY as exciting as the mystery Billy and Dane are solving....
Mod
Don't worry, Elizabeth! Its REALLY fast reading once you get about halfway through the second part. I read for about an hour and a half on Wed. & about the same today and got almost 300 pages down. So the short chapters and crazy mystery aspect makes this super intimidating looking read go WAY faster than a lot of shorter books I've read. Plus...I have an 'ink'-ling that I'll end up pausing this one to mod 'First Days'. I still hope to finish in the next few days so I can focus on the group read that I'm now leading. Yep! I got suckered into it ;-) Seemed like no one else wanted to do it, so here I am! Are you two gonna read it? Oh, and Liz...you oughta be THRILLED your daughter is reading! You know how many kids don't read ANYTHING these days? Consider yourself lucky to have an intelligent young lady in the making! ;-)
Hellllooooo? Are we still doing this? I'm almost done, and was just curious if you ladies are still plowing along? I LOVE it so far, and desperately hope I won't be disappointed by the ending. If you guys aren't going to finish, perhaps we could pick something else? I REALLY enjoy you guys' viewpoints, and it always helps me to have a couple friends encouraging me along...
I just put it down this morning - still reading along, got distracted by a few other books. I'm airborne this morning, so as long as the takeoff doesn't knock me out, I should be able to knock out the last 1/3 of the book.
Same here, chick. I got through chapter 66, then set it down for the past couple days to do the BOTM. I kinda lost steam when we didn't post for several days. I am trying like hell to finish today at work so I can just be done already. Its NOT that it isn't a great book, its just huge! With books this long, if I don't finish in a very timely matter, I'll never end up finishing. I'm in 417 pgs with less than 100 to go...I'll be damned if I give up now! lol Work SHOULD be dead today because of all the rain, giving me plenty of time for reading and question answering. Let me know when and if you finish today. I'll post an update before I leave work! Thanks, dear :-)
Arrgghh...didn't finish - fell asleep on the plane at take off and didn't wake up until the flight attendant was collecting my non-existant trash!I did just see a commercial for KRAKEN BLACK RUM tonight on AMC while! Very very cool. I have 140 pages to go...won't give up....must find that damn Kraken!
Mod
I will keep plodding along...now that I've rescued my Kobo. I think an ereader or two will be on the Christmas list this year.
Don't feel bad, ladies...I haven't finished either! I was super busy all shift until now, and I've been doing nothing but gabbing on the other threads since then! Less talking, more reading! I need to tattoo that somewhere...but NOT in the Tattoo's workshop! EEK! I have two days off after this shift is over, and I plan on finishing both this one and First Days. I'll keep you'uns posted! Until then, have fun pondering where that damn squid is! :-)
Okay, I cranked this damn puppy out and found that pesky kraken! Can I say my expectations for this missing squid were so high, that by the time our intrepid hero and Dane found our mollusk, I was a little disappointed. However, our fearless author quickly laid my doubts to rest by following up the kraken's discovery with a bloodbath-style, all-out war amongst the magick-y folks of London. Very cool.I have to agree with one of Elizabeth's earlier comments. This is a very interesting book, but once you put it down, it's hard to pick back up. Perhaps it's the 'density' of the writing style - not a quick or easy read at all.
I AM DONE! No final review yet, no rating yet, still digesting this squiddity of molluscky-magic.Good news: I liked Collingswood in the end, particularly after her comparison to Bouddicea and then her treatment of the knacked pig.
Even better news: (view spoiler)
Netanella wrote: "I AM DONE! No final review yet, no rating yet, still digesting this squiddity of molluscky-magic.Good news: I liked Collingswood in the end, particularly after her comparison to Bouddicea and t..."
I'm so thrilled for you, Netanella! I, unfortunately, am still trudging through it, with only about 60 pages left. This overtime at work, coupled with a SUPER busy weekend, AND the BOTM have me bound up pretty tight. Thank goodness we are speeding the BOTM read up, so I will have a couple days to just finish this up. You & Elizabeth are COMPLETELY correct in saying it is not an easy book to pick up once you've set it down. I haven't read a page out of it for nearly 5 days now, so I will probably have to back-track a couple chapters to get back in the groove. No wonder that one review said this was a poor choice for people new to Mieville. I'm still going to try and read Perdido Street Station, but not for a while. I AM interested in starting Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison and Anno Dracula REALLY soon, though, if either of you would be interested in either title.
***LIZ: are you still reading this? If so, where are ya at in it?****
Teresa, I have to say that I felt like a long-distance runner in my final efforts to finish this book.
I have Anno Dracula, so I'm game for that.
Netanella wrote: "I have Anno Dracula, so I'm game for that."AWESOME!!! We'll focus on Desolation first, then talk about when to do Anno Dracula after that buddy read. Thanks! :-)
Mod
It's okay Elizabeth...it's INCREDIBLY dense, and it's hard to get back into once you've set it down, even though the chapters are super-short. I hope to be done by Thursday, but we'll see if that happens or not...
Thursday's up, Teresa! Fess up...you found the Kraken, yet?
Mod
DNF is a legitimate category, you know. No suckiness necessary, unless it's a Tootsie Roll Pop. I have a book on my "current reads" that I'm having a hard time picking back up, as well. Just lost interest, and the more I stay away, the harder it becomes to get back into the read.Who ever said absence makes the heart grow fonder? That emotion probably only lasts a week.
Mod
So many books, so little time :)
Elizabeth wrote: "So many books, so little time :)"
Exactly! Life is short - and too precious to waste doing things you don't want to do or enjoy doing! So Beetlejuice away with the kids (Happy birthday to the brood, by the way!) and I'll keep one eye open on Monster High with my ebook in my lap.
I'm still plugging along lol...like the little engine that could. I have 3 days off coming up soon, and my better half just got a new Batman game, leaving me a TON of uninterrupted reading time. I WILL finish, god so help me!!!
Books mentioned in this topic
Orange Is the New Black (other topics)Anno Dracula (other topics)
