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World Without End (Feb-Mar 2015)
message 51:
by
Lahni
(new)
Mar 11, 2015 11:11AM
That is exactly why I love to read huge books via e-book. Well, that and I don't get as discouraged by how many pages I still have left to read because I can't see them!
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Same, Bea. I noticed with my last library book sale that the size of books seems to have increased greatly over time, not in written length but physical size. What once fit in the hand is now twice the size, with a mid range height appearing for a period in between.
So, add to the physical impracticalities already, a book of such written length is really, really awkward and uncomfortable.
Finished chapter 10 a couple of days ago, and saw THAT coming. Haven't had a chance to pick it up since, work REALLY sucks, and I am trying finish Cloud Atlas before it is due back on Saturday (not happening, will pay the fines!).
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can't you just renew it? Or have you used up your 'renews' on this book already?
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so... I'm curious -what do you guys think of Philemon's motivation of wanting to become a monk? Do you think he has some kind of faith (misguided or not) or just because he sees it as a position of power (& perhaps even of security, ie. food on table everyday etc)...
(view spoiler)
Gah! I finished chapter 10, got stuck in Cloud Atlas, and have spent the week taking my cousin around Melbourne. No time to read during the day and physically exhausted at night ( my butt is sooooo sore, and my cousin is 70!!! Not sure how he is doing all this! )Having a great time doing things in my hometown that i have never done or don't often get to do (and a beer with lunch each day is quite nice too!), but I am very much looking forward to tomorrow and staying in bed all day reading (before heading in to town again on Sunday for the Children's Book Festival and hearing some of our most recognised children's authors speak and sign a few of my daughter's books.
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I expect to get to chapter 29 later today. At least that is my plan; but, yesterday I did not get all my planned reading done.
i'm so far behind...been slammed at work and I was out with bronchitis last week (was sick enough that I didn't feel like reading) - so i'm trying to make up hours at work (because I killed all my leave balance)
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oh, no, you must've had it really really bad! glad to hear you're better now! Don't work too hard that you get sick again, make sure you still have a good rest in between :)
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I have never liked or trusted Philemon from very early on. Interesting how, in several of the families, there's one much more honorable sibling (Merthin, Gwenda, Caris), and one much less so (Ralph, Philemon, Alice). True, people's options were so much more limited, so they were pushed to much more drastic measures than we're used to thinking of. But the contrast seems a bit extreme. And Philemon seems nearly as totally self-centered in his motivations to me as Ralph does. I'm somewhere in the middle of Part IV, and am nervously waiting for the second shoe to drop in the latest assignment Godwyn has given him (regarding Caris).
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Yes, absolutely. Now that you've raised the question, I see a lot of ironies running through many people's stories: Where disasters for Caris' father and her desperate measures to deal with that lead her; also what has happened to Ralph (at least up to where I am), looked at in the light of what he's wanted all his life and what he's done to try to get it. {Can you tell that I'm trying to write cryptically without using spoilers?}
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I'm just starting chapter 41. I'm really liking the book but I find the middle frustrating. It's a loooong middle and the obnoxious characters never quite get unobnoxious so the torment seems to go on and on. I remember feeling that way with Pillars too.
Ok I'm on chapter 42 and I have to say if things go badly for Caris, I may have to stop reading the book. I'm disappointed in Godwin (although not surprised by any of his actions). And I am forever grateful I wasn't a female back in that time period. Actually I'm glad I didn't live back then as a man either. What a tough life all around. But definitely worse for women!
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Planning for a comeback on the long weekend. I would probably get more read if on the nights my husband works I didn't invite my girl into me bed to read, then have to turn the light out when it is time for her to go to sleep :((At least SHE is getting through her books. Not her library books, which are almost due back, but her own books. Her reading has really picked up doing this.)
UGH!!! UGH UGH UGH!!!! This book has too many pages to get through to see if the ending is what I want it to be!! I feel a little better now having let that out.
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I feel a little better now having let that out."
Lahni wrote: "Ok I'm on chapter 42 and I have to say if things go badly for Caris, I may have to stop reading the book. I'm disappointed in Godwin (although not surprised by any of his actions). And I am forev..."
LAHNI!!! I'm so so so GLAD that I'm not the only one feeling this way :D :D :D
btw, I *whispers* peeked at the ending and um, I still say that I will finish reading this book but um, maybe at my own pace, ha ha ha
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Ha Ha TIen! I'm scared to peek at the ending. I'm afraid if it doesn't end well I'll throw my book and since I'm reading the e-book on my phone, that could be bad!
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I must admit to being glad of this buddy read even though we are not discussing the book much. It is helping me to accomplish a really BIG BIG book, without it taking 4 years! It has also stimulated me to pick up Fall of Giants, which had begun to languish on my bedside.
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one reason why I avoid medieval settings & if I do get tempted, I dragged my heels :p
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I'm really only on ch. 37 but since I've already flicked to the back, I got curious and checked out 53, ha!
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The logical answer is NO but who says I'm at all logical when it comes to buying books :p
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I'm just starting part 6 and it's getting so much better. I'd love to discuss more but it's hard without spoilers. And Tien you need to stop reading ahead!! You will ruin all the fun surprises (and miserable surorises) for yourself.
I will say that no matter what happens I hope both Godwin and Philamon die slow miserable and very painful deaths in public for all to see. They are earning it! What horrid people they are!
I have no implemented a "reading schedule", with a certain number of pages to be read for various books each day. Sounds bad and boring, but it lets me focus on the different reads better.Of course, since i was up at 4am yesterday, I was too tired to meet my target, but I did manage 20pages of this.
He sold her for a cow !?!?! So not on. Now, if it were magic beans, maybe. ;)
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I know, Amanda. Isn't that ridiculous? And the mother didn't even seem to think it was that terrible!
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Totally agreed!
Lahni wrote: "And Tien you need to stop reading ahead!! You will ruin all the fun surprises (and miserable surorises) for yourself. "
This, too. Tien, I really think you're missing most of the fun by reading out of order. Just keep plodding along at whatever pace works for you, but stay with us.
I will say that Part V has been my favorite so far. I'm holding off starting on Part VI until after Sunday, so I won't forget and spill something from a later section. But it's hard. I really want to know what happens next.
Lahni, do you know how to use the spoiler feature? You can type something, and surround it by "< spoiler>" and "< /spoiler>" (without the quotation signs and without the spaces after the "<"). Then people can choose to click on it when they're ready to see it. Personally, I'll click on anything through Part V right now, so you and I can talk about things right away if you want.
Here's an example: Part V: (view spoiler)
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This book is a PROBLEM to me - I couldn't sleep, I just kept going through what I've read and what I think should happen etc etc, so really for sanity's sake, I just had to check the ending. I can't function without sleep, unfortunately, and with a 5yo & 5 mths old baby, that's not going to be any good.
I know what you mean though, I don't usually flick to the ending but only when I really couldn't sleep because I can't stop thinking about it :p
It has been a bit hard picking this up as it's so big, it's too cumbersome to travel with me (even around the house) so it's sitting on my bedside table.
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This book is a PROBLEM to me - I couldn't sleep, I just kept going through what I've read and what I th..."
I understand, Tien. You definitely need to sleep when you can!
It is an amazing thing about this book that it can make us feel so strongly about what happens to each of the characters. But I'm not even sure that jumping ahead would have solved the problem for me the way it has for you -- I've really enjoyed seeing how Caris, especially, has grown from every terrible thing that has happened to her so far.
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I keep wondering about Godwyn in that regard. I don't think this will be a spoiler, regardless of where anyone is in the book. He keeps rationalizing to himself that all the terrible things he does are for the glory of God. And, of course, he's always been so vulnerable to his mother's manipulations. Do you think he really believes what he keeps telling himself (in which case, he's not evil as much as terribly misguided, even though it leads him to do evil things). That's actually even more scary to me -- the idea that people can truly believe that horrible things they do to other people are actually justified somehow.
I FINISHED!!! I thought a lot about that too, Susan. Godwin does do a lot of justifying his wickedness. And I do think there are people out there who really are like him. Terrorists do what they do in the name of God. Hitler was convinced he was bettering society. I do think deep down Godwin knew he was not being "Godly" but his desire to please his mom and his ambitions won out. I don't think he would have been as ambitious, or at least wouldn't have been as unethical in achieving his ambitions, if he would have had a different mother. And yet Gwenda had an awful father and turned out fine. But that same upbringing sure left Philamon with issues. I think its interesting to think about several of the characters in the context of nature vs nurture.
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I am going to fall behind a bit. I found it difficult to read in bed due to the size of the book...and I am in bed most of the day right now.
For me, it does not matter so much as I am really enjoying the book, so I know that I will finish it when I can.
I had to push to finish because it's on my Kindle and there are other books on there I need to read for reader's pursuit! For some reason I will only read 1 Kindle book at a time even though I usually have multiple books going. They have to be different formats. Lol
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I do have something I wonder about, about Sam... When Bea has finished.
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I found Godwin's death particularly satisfying.
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I am getting close - 155 pages left to go.
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Now to finish Fall of Giants. I am 70% done. Why does Mr. Follett write such BIG books?
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Pillars of the Earth (other topics)World Without End (other topics)
A Column of Fire (other topics)
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