Are you new to Chunksters? Please introduce yourself :)

[Pat]

Cindy wrote: "Hi, I’m bran-new here. You might say “spick and span new”.

My name is Cindy and what brought me here was a Google search on Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend, the chunkster I am currently tackling along..."
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
We are currently just starting Middlemarch in the Big Book Year Long Study!

[Mark]

Been a Goodreads member since 2016. Have met a lot of interesting people, and have been introduced to some wonderful books. I’m always eager to spread the good word about my favorite author James Joyce. Would readily nominate either Dubliners or Ulysses for a group read. Retired, married, college graduate.

[Nike]

Hey, I just wonder if the group is still active? (⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠)

[Hugh]

Sorry, I haven't been giving it much thought recently but we could do another round of nominations.

[Cat]

Yes please to another round!

Mark wrote: "I’m always eager to spread the good word about my favorite author James Joyce. Would readily nominate either Dubliners or Ulysses for a group read."

Greetings, Mark! Ulysses would be so exciting!

[Nike]

I'm about to start reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Maybe some of you are interested in a group or buddy reading? Different editions are between 495 and 766 pages, mine's 695 pages.

[Hugh]

I read that one years ago and I don't remember it being long.

[Nike]

Hugh wrote: "I read that one years ago and I don't remember it being long."

Well, if you follow the link you'll see that it is. I'm not lying. ＼⁠(⁠◎⁠o⁠◎⁠)⁠／

[Cat]

Nike wrote: "I'm about to start reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Maybe some of you are interested in a group or buddy reading? Different editions are between 495 and 766 p..."

Let's goooo, Nike! This ed. - Alone In Berlin - is at 588.

Hugh, please would you be so kind as to create a bud/mini-group thread for us?

[Nike]

Cat wrote: "Nike wrote: "I'm about to start reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Maybe some of you are interested in a group or buddy reading? Different editions are between ..."

Yes 🙂

[Nike]

Cat wrote: "Nike wrote: "I'm about to start reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Maybe some of you are interested in a group or buddy reading? Different editions are between ..."

Ah, I'm sorry - I missed that you asked Hugh, I created one myself - I hope I didn't break any rules. Here's the link https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...#

[Brian E]

Nike wrote: "I'm about to start reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Maybe some of you are interested in a group or buddy reading? Different editions are between 495 and 766 p..."

As I am trying to read In Search of Lost Time, The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy I don't think I have time for another long book at this time.
I have read Fallada's Little Man, What Now? and have considered reading him again. But, if I do read Fallada, I think I'd choose to read Every Man Dies Alone instead. It's only 529 pages ;)

[Nike]

Brian E wrote: "Nike wrote: "I'm about to start reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Maybe some of you are interested in a group or buddy reading? Different editions are between ..."

(⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

[Hugh]

I think Every Man Dies Alone is the same book as Alone in Berlin.

[Brian E]

Hugh wrote: "I think Every Man Dies Alone is the same book as Alone in Berlin."

Yes, it is. Hence the wink ;)

I spent much of 2023 watching the prices of these two editions in my Amazon cart and Blackwell's wish list while trying to decide which of these two to buy for the August 2023 Never Too Late To Read Classic GR Group's read of Fallada as its German author of the month:


I liked the Penguin edition of Alone in Berlin because it matched my copy of and the title would help identify the book with the author in the future. I also much prefer having art rather than photos of people on my book covers.
On the other hand, I prefer the more poetic nature of the melancholic Every Man Dies Alone title.

I finally solved my dilemma by deciding not to participate in the Fallada read.

[Nike]

Brian E wrote: "Hugh wrote: "I think Every Man Dies Alone is the same book as Alone in Berlin."

Yes, it is. Hence the wink ;)

I spent much of 2023 watching the prices of these two editions in my Amazon cart and ..."

Oh, no - I understood your answer as if you were going to participate! How can I make you change your mind? Why not vary the editions every second chapter? 🙃 I do understand your predicament, I recently read "Two cities" and thought it difficult to choose from my two different editions that I have. I solved it by letting my partner read one and I the other. If that counts as a solution.

(And I totally agree with you by the way, I too believe Every Man Dies Alone is a more beautiful title and I too prefer art covers to photos of real human beings as cover. )

[Brian E]

Nike wrote: " How can I make you change your mind? Why not vary the editions every second chapter? 🙃 I do understand your predicament, I recently read "Two cities" and thought it difficult to choose from my two different editions that I have. I solved it by letting my partner read one and I the other. If that counts as a solution.."

Nothing to be done. Truthfully the deciding factor for my decision to skip reading Alone in Berlin back for the 2023 Goodreads Group Read is the same as for my decision to skip it for your current Buddy Read. Lack of time. I have a lot planned already in the next few months, none I want to jettison.

I will be reading these books as part of series in GR groups or in a series I started due to a GR group:
The Plains of Cement by Patrick Hamilton
Party Going by Henry Green
The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden
With No Crying by Celia Fremlin
The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust (a Chunkster)
Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith
The Sum of Things by Olivia Manning
Miss Mapp by E.F. Benson

and also reads of these books through June:
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell
Towards the End of the Morning by Michael Frayn
The Stars Look Down by A.J. Cronin (a Chunkster)
The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (a Chunkster)

So much time and so little to read.

[Nike]

Brian E wrote: "Nike wrote: " How can I make you change your mind? Why not vary the editions every second chapter? 🙃 I do understand your predicament, I recently read "Two cities" and thought it difficult to choos..."

I do understand! I always have to many books/reading plans every months since I participate in a wast number of reading challenges here on Goodreads. You gave me a pair of interesting reading suggestions.