In My Book: Center of Diabolical Knowledge

Cranfod

2009-01-25T13:37:00.000-08:00

I finished it, and I think that it was interesting. Was it a serial? It seemed like it was... a chapter an issue.

The masterpiece theater says that it was a compilation of three of the Cranford novels, so there were two more than I read, but I suspect the other two weren't called Cranford. What does you book say?

2009-01-03T01:40:00.000-08:00

I got this book for Christmas and I think it should be our next read

Cranford and Other Stories, By Elizabeth C. Gaskell

There are several Cranford books, so the ISBN-10 for this one is: 1840224517

I checked the Kindle and they have Cranford, so we could see if they were the same or had different stories. This is the book that the TV mini-series was based on.

Stupidest Angel

2008-12-28T21:33:00.001-08:00

I loved the first half of the book. Laughed my butt off, and really enjoyed it. But then the second half started. I expected it to be witty and have an interesting ending. But I was really disappointed in the ending. The kid makes a wish and the angel grants it???? Seriously, my catz could have come up with a more interesting ending.

Sorry for the long absence

2008-12-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

So just in case this isn't just Jen and I (which I doubt) :) the next book is...

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

I forgot how much I loved his quirky sense of humor. I didn't realize when I chose this book that it was set in the same town as "Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove." It's great though. He's one of the few authors who makes me laugh out loud.

Finished

2008-10-29T03:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, I finished this book. I don't think my opinion was changed by the last couple of stories. Bland, boring, predictable.

The stories I did like were the cheating wife who broke her ankle and the ghost minister. I can't say that if I had read them on their own in McSweeny's or something that I would have liked them, but they were the most enjoyable of the book.

Overall, I'm pretty disappointed.

I say for the next book we try a different set of short stories. Stephen King oddly enough has some really good ones. I've also heard that the Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing (not actually about hunting or fishing) is a good one. Or we can go for a McSweeny's.

Not Yet finished

2008-10-27T01:15:00.000-07:00

I'm still working my way through the book. It is my train book, so I only get to read it while traveling to and from uni.

I'm trying to figure out what it is that links the stories together. At first I thought it was supposed to be one area of London, perhaps stories about a certain neighborhood. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm not sure if there is a unifying theme or quality.

I also think a lot of the stories are predictable. Just a few paragraphs in and you can guess the direction she is taking with them. Maybe I've read too many short stories in my life and I'm a bit cynical about them, but hers don't inspire. I would like to see some surprises in the stories.

Anyway, I'll see what I think when I reach the end.

Finished

2008-10-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well, that was an easy read - I finished it at lunch today.

I have to admit, some of the "stories" were interesting, but none of them unique. Most of them were just rehashes of other people's stories with different names. I could have watched Paranormal State on A&E and gotten most of the book.

The ones I kind of liked:

The one about the black bishop
The one about the kid going to med school during the war

well, actually I guess that was it. I didn't really like the first story, but the lawyers made me want to read the book (that I think is an actual book) about them.

On the whole, I'd give it two out of five stars. Mostly lacked originality or style.

Privilege Hill

2008-10-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

I'm about half way done. It's a strange book, and I'm afraid that once I get used to the format, it's going to be over. It seems to me that she wrote a bunch of bits while she was trying to figure out what would work and what wouldn't. Then she put them all together and called them "short stories". Some of these aren't stories - they simply introduce characters. I'm hoping that there is a wrap up of how these stories are going to interact, but I'm not holding my breath.

Suggestions

2008-09-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

For non-fiction:

The Bottom Billion. I've been wanting to read this for a while

Rome 1960: Olympics that changed the world.

The Mind of the Market

People of the Bomb - it's an anthro book where people like me are studied. I'd like to know what it's like being the subject.

For Fiction: American Wife: A novel. I don't know that I would enjoy chick lit written by a man, but it was recommended by NPR.
Anathem.

Classics: Catch 22

I'm done too!

2008-09-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

I loved this book. At first the story seemed to drag and the characters were obnoxious, but it still managed to suck me in. I realize I could not have survived at court. The level of manipulation and strategy involved in staying on top would be too much for me. I don't think I would have ended up a head shorter, but probably like Mary I would end up banished to the country. Of course that would have been totally fine with me.

For most of the book I didn't like Anne Boylen, but towards the end I started to appreciate how intelligent she was. She was trying to get ahead (no pun intended) in a man's world and against all odds got exactly what she wanted.

The interesting thing is that it reminds me of an archaeological theory I learned in our Peru class. The Inca rise to power because they split inheritance over a large family. New kings are driven to conquer because they inherit nothing but the title. This is in part what drove the fast Inca conquests, but it also caused their downfall by spreading them too thin and using up all their resources. Anne rose to power by changing the very laws of church and the power of the king. She toppled the Queen from her throne so that she could take her place, but in doing so, she made the position of Queen unsteady and gave Henry a bigger sense of his own power. Her the mechanism of her fall was imbedded in the way she gained her power.

On that note, what should we read next?

And I'm done WITH SPOILERS...

2008-09-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid I couldn't stop myself - and I just read through the last few days. It was really quite good, though, overall. Like I mentioned in my last post, it was a little light on the descriptive details, which may have made it easier to write a movie script out of. But I have to admire the dialogue - it was clever enough to keep me engaged.

I thought it was interesting also that she told the story of Anne Boleyn through the eyes of her sister. I was wondering when I bought the book if the story of Anne Boleyn wasn't actually just a tired one and I was curious to see if it was going to hold my attention (although I truly believe that after finishing Titus Groan I can finish any book). Although of course, telling a story of one person through the point of view is not unusual, but I hadn't seen it done through Anne's sister, and I think it was really clever. I would have liked to see the book not end at Anne's death, however. The last page (SPOILER ALERT) that talks about how Mary inherited her family's fortune and how they lived quite happily, and I think it would have been great to see that part of the story as well. I did like how Gregory started and ended the book with a beheading - it created a nice technique.

Some thoughts

2008-08-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Sarah mentioned that she doesn't read much non-fiction. I'll admit that I don't read much fiction. So maybe we should switch every month - Sarah can choose the fiction books, I'll choose the non-fiction? We can all become more well-rounded.

The Boleyn book is interesting. I'm at around page 200. I can't put the book down - it's really well written. Something nagged at me about the book for a while, though, and I think it's that there really doesn't seem to have been much research. The book, while well written, has very little description of the surroundings. It's almost all dialogue with the occasional "they are in the queen's chambers". There isn't even much description of actions. Yet, somehow, it seems to have worked for at least 200 pages. I'm curious to see how it works out.

I'll probably slow down on the book now that I'm going to school half time and working full time, and getting married in a month and a half. So, hopefully you'll all bear with me.

Next Book!!!

2008-08-30T23:37:00.001-07:00

Ok, next we have The Other Boleyn Girl. Avivah has been racing ahead on this one, so she is responsible for the first couple of posts. :)

Moving forward

2008-08-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Answering Avivah's question in my own way.

I think it was worth it. I know on some level this is probably a wasteful attitude, but I think we should always try to stretch ourselves and do what it takes to better understand our universe. So much technology is developed during those times that may not be practical right away, but often becomes so in the future. I'd also rather have those resources channeled into scientific research than military spending. I also agree that it is embarrassing to have started something so amazing and monumental just to let it fizzle out.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I don't usually read non-fiction (outside of archaeology) but I'm encouraged to try more.

Was It Worth It?

2008-08-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

I finished the book, and I'm left with Smith's question - Was it worth it?

As he points out, it did only cost about $13 per person per year, but what was the overall impact on humans worth it? Politicians took the noble goal of increasing the nation's science and math abilities to bring humans to the next frontier and yet they took it and twisted it so their careers would be advanced. When they usually do this, I don't mind, but for some reason when they ruined the US's scientific future it bothers me.

I do think that it was worth it. It showed the how far behind we were in math and science. The fact that half of the engineers on the project were from NASA should have told us something the first time. The fact that we haven't advanced much since then should embarrass us.

Question

2008-08-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

So in reading this, they talk about how lots of the astronauts are campaigning to get people back on the moon. My question is: Why aren't there any more trips to the moon? It's not like we got so much info in those few missions that we have it all figured out.

still at the beginning

2008-07-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

I'm on the first 50 pages or so. I am constantly reminded of Jerry Seinfeld joking about how people play one upmanship at parties. He wonders what people who've walked on the moon say at these parties, because what can other people say after it? You've done the greatest thing ever, now what?

Moondust

2008-07-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

Page?

so far I am really enjoying this book. I've always enjoyed hearing the "real" story and I like thinking of heroes as flawed human individuals. I think that is why I enjoy this book so much. The astronauts are so different and managed through pretty different circumstances to end up at the same amazing place. I also love hearing about everything that goes wrong aboard the shuttles. The do a huge amount of testing pre-flight, yet the errors always seem to be something they never anticipated. Also, they manage to figure out how to fix it, sometimes just by banging on the computer with a wrench. It reminds me of Apollo 13 and how all those scientists used junk to figure out how to make a new air filter. I'm constantly amazed at how clever humans can actually be.

New Book!!!!!

2008-07-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, let's try this one.

It's non-fiction.

Moon Dust by Andrew Smith

It's interviews with the men who walked on the moon and how it changed their lives.

Ack Sorry, book change!

2008-07-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

I've been informed that the Gardam book is not yet released in the states. I'll head back to the book store asap and find something else.

Next book!!!

2008-07-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry there was no vote this month (although since only 2 people voted last time I'm probably not disappointing very many people). I'm away for 3 weeks so the book selection was basically whatever I could find in the local bookstore.

Avivah sent me an article with about four interesting looking books and I headed off to the store. The selection was pretty easy since the store only had one of the four books.

The next book is...

The People on Privilege Hill

Jane Gardam

Website

2008-07-03T09:58:00.001-07:00

I thought I would post this for ideas for club books...

http://www.bookclubgirl.com/book_club_girl/2008/01/the-next-book-c.html

Response to "The End"

2008-07-03T07:09:00.001-07:00

Sarah:

What is interesting to me is that the whole story is about the savior/s, but you never know why saving the children is so important

Not Sarah:

I don't think that the saving the kids was important - it was the fact that John had to help Owen save them that was important. Up until this point, John is filled with doubt about almost everything, but especially about religion. So John has to see firsthand how Owen is a) product of virgin birth, and b) willing to sacrifice himself for the faith of others. But John also has to see how his life is intertwined in the sacrifice - he isn't just a passive watcher like most Christians are in the Christ story.

One of the interesting things about the ending, I felt, was that Owen is not resurrected. From what I understand, the crux of the Christ story is not that he is crucified, but that he is resurrected at the end. How on earth this saves people is actually beyond me, but I'll take it that it makes sense to other people. So we send all this time working on the belief that Owen might be a Christ like figure, but then we are somewhat let down because our favorite character doesn't come back.

Do if Owen doesn't come back to life, does this mean he is a Christ like figure (do you get to be a son of G-d if you don't follow the story exactly? Is the Bible a blueprint for all future Christs?)

I also walked away with the feeling that John was saying that he was saved by Owen because Owen erased all doubt about religion in his mind. I found this to be an interesting definition of "saved" but then thinking about the people I know who claim such a distinction (my parents, for example) one of the common denominators is that they claim to have little doubt and are absolutely sure of their future. But then this begs several theological discussions:

1) Does G-d really want someone who just blindly follows his/her words without any thought to it? If I was a deity (and someday I will rival that distinction when I rule the world whaa ha ha) would I really want people just fawning all over me all the time telling me how great I am? Or would I want people I could actually carry on a discussion with? How interesting would my subjects be if all I heard was "forgive me this" and "please give me that"? I've been in communities where both doubt and no doubt was preferred, and I don't pretend to have the answer.

2) Can you be un-saved later if more evidence leads to doubt? It's kind of like being rescued from an oncoming bus but then immediately shot in the head, I'll admit. Can your un-saving take precedence over saving? How does that work?

But these questions are overshadowed by the more important question in the book that was left unanswered: What was so important (assuming that Owen is a Christ like figure sent to save John) about John getting saved? Why would a deity go through all that trouble for John's saving? It's obviously not because he can then get the chicks...

The End

2008-06-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

My six hour journey turned into a 9 hour journey (as they do), which meant I had plenty of time for reading. I finished Owen Meany, and I think this is one of my new favorite books. You really engage with the characters and care about what they do and what happens to them. Despite the heavy handed foreshadowing, there are enough twists and turns to keep it interesting.

I loved how absolutely everything lead up to Owen Meany's final act. There were so many little inconsequential things that turned out to be very important. Everything about him was shaped and made for one specific moment in time, one generous act. I loved how even Owen's making fake ID's was necessary to get him to the point he needed to be at the end. Even his friendship with John was necessary and important, their closeness and complimentary personalities were made just right for working together to save the children.

What is interesting to me is that the whole story is about the savior/s, but you never know why saving the children is so important. Don't get me wrong, saving the kids is great, but why was the sacrifice needed? Why orchestrate the lives of so many people so carefully when it might have been easier to just have the grenade not work. What was it about that scene and that moment that required sacrificing another miracle boy? Especially since only a few people knew about the miracle. Owen Meany was sort of a silent Jesus.

Been Done for a Week

2008-06-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

To answer Sarah:

I really enjoyed the fact that Owen was, in some ways, a typical teenager while at the same time playing the Jesus role.

I found the parallels of Owen and Jesus to be interesting yet something of a cop out at first. But after a week of thinking about it, I am really impressed that Irving knew which aspects of the Jesus story to keep for Owen and which to ignore. Owen cannot heal people while it's a staple of the Jesus stories. Actually, now that I think about, Irving only keeps the virgin birth and knowledge of his death for Owen, there aren't any other Jesus qualities about him (what little I know about Jesus).

But Owen, nonetheless, has wisdom, like Jesus. And he has certainty of that wisdom, like Jesus, even at an early age.

Owen also has the ability to kill. This I thought was an important distinction. I don't remember Jesus killing people (although my Jesus learning is limited to a few years in Catholic school, so I'm happy to be corrected). Jesus kills demons, but that parallel would say that John's mom is a demon, which is not what I think Irving was trying to say. He is also anxious to get to Vietnam, which implies that he will have to kill people if he gets there. He feels his death is going to occur in Vietnam, so the killing is for the good of the whole, as it were. But this begs the question: would a just deity allow some to die to save others, and how would it decide? (Is there an appeals process?) Of course, the early books (Torah, Old Testement) are full of a G-d that does exactly that. But the Jesus stories were supposed to be the antithesis of this. (as Lewis Black said, "G-d was a bastard early on - maybe having a son mellowed him out"). So would having Owen be Jesus actually be g-d moving backwards?

Circa page 350

2008-06-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

I have a 6 hour train ride tomorrow and I plan to finish the book then. I should have internet access in my Hotel, but I'm not sure so I might be delayed in writing about the end of the book. I may have limited choices when it comes to the next book because I'm not sure what the bookstore selection is like. If people don't mind, we could read The Other Boleyn Girl since I already own it. It's one I keep meaning to read and never get around to.

Back to the book...

It is very strange to see the boys as teenagers and young men. For some reason they make sense as kids and the main character makes sense as a middle aged man, but they are weird as teenagers. I think it is mainly Owen who throws me. He continues to be prophetic and carry-on his "instrument of god" persona, but mixes it with smoking, watching TV and chasing girls. I know even prophets are human and have to kick back every now and again, but it throws me to see him as no longer innocent or sweet. He's become a disciple who is sometimes mean and uses fowl language. It just throws me to see the human/normal side of him.

Page 458 and Chapter 9

2008-06-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, I know I'm ahead, but I can't put the freakin' book down! I read it during my four hour math class in the last row of student seats (yes, the teacher noticed). I read it at lunch (and a little past). I read it when I should be knitting Mark's Super Secret Birthday Sweater (see ravelry) and my Netflix queue has been seriously neglected.

I will say that the foreshadowing becomes painfully obvious in about 50 pages. In fact, the foreshadowing will go on for the next 6 chapters, and there is still no end in sight.

I find it a testament to his writing style that the story can be so compelling and yet so obvious for so very long. Although there are some very strange twists and turns that I somehow failed to predict (and yet seem obvious in hindsight) and I can't wait to see the next one.

I still don't see how Owen "saves" him. I have a feeling this will come at the very end, since it's the point of the book, but my curiosity is piqued. Of course, I have to admit up front that I've never really understood this "saving" business anyway.

Side note that I always thought was funny: In grad school there were a bunch of Chinese kids, who, of course, grew up without religion. One day I was walking across UNM with one of the women, Whe, and the Gideons (I think) were preaching on campus. And they told Whe if she followed Jesus she would be saved. She asked,

"Saved from what?"

Pg 200?

2008-06-19T05:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I don't have the book with me so I can't look up the exact page or chapter number. I don't have internet at home right now, so I'm writing this from school.

If you haven't already read the christmas pageant section, prepare yourself. I found it very funny, and yet very strange. The lead up to the pageant was light hearted and funny in a silly way. I think it was the first time I've laughed out loud reading this book. But the pageant itself was very strange and dark. I'm not sure what the author was trying to do in this part, so any thoughts would be appreciated. Most of the time I feel like he foreshadows everything and events have more meaning the further you go into the book. I'm just not sure what this was foreshadowing. I know I could be patient, but I like to try and guess what will happen next. I feel like there is some event coming that will link together the mother's death, their draft dodging, this christmas pageant and John's certain belief in god.

CHAPTER TWO

2008-06-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

The LBS offered me two versions of the book, and swore this one was easier to read, but the downside is that I think the page numbers don't correspond, so I am going to post chapter numbers instead, if I can keep track, and it's a really good thing that my grammar teacher taught me about run on sentences...

AND WHAT IS UP WITH THE CAPITAL LETTERS????? I AM WONDERING IF HE IS THE TYPE OF PERSON THAT SENDS OUT EMAILS IN ALL CAPS AND THEN WONDERS WHY HE GETS AGGRESSIVE RESPONSES AND CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHY PEOPLE EVENTUALLY STOP EMAILING HIM...

I get the Owen Meaney has caps because he supposedly has a different type of voice, but he seems to be getting a little enthusiastic about them. I think I may be having a negative reaction to them as well because my dyslexia doesn't allow me to read caps as well as regular script and it's annoying me that I have to slow down a little to figure out what is going on.

And since I spent my first college years (you know, the ones I spent majoring in beer) in Massachusetts, and worked in New Hampshire, it's nice to be brought back to the area again without having to actually drive through it or fly into it.

Page 100

2008-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

This is still just the beginning of the book, but I am really enjoying it. Irving's writing style really draws the story along even when he repeats things over and over. The characters are weird, but likable and I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes. Because I had such a hard time getting through the Titus book, I thought I would really struggle with this book club. Turns out I just didn't like the book! :)

A Prayer for Owen Meany!

2008-06-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

Get your books and we'll start next week.

I'm Back!!!

2008-05-24T03:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, sorry about the long silences and short posts. My excuse is that I had a research trip shortly followed by a conference trip. That meant I had lots of work and running around with little to no internet access. I'm back now and ready for the next book.

And now for the vote!

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being

2. Atonement

3. A Prayer for Owen Meany

4. Lolita

The Nature of Fantasy

2008-05-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

Since the club seems overwhelmingly in favor of fiction, I thought I would share something that I inadvertently found on the web:

# Fiction can teach us about rare but important events few actually see in reality.
# Fiction can describe how familiar situations appear to many different parties.
# Fiction can suppress irrelevant detail and emphasize important essences, like a math model.

I got this from the Overcoming Bias blog

Now, I admit that my first preference is non-fiction, but I still read a fair share of fiction. But this blog seems to indicate that if you don't like fiction, then you are mentally unbalanced, which I would personally disagree with. Taken to it's illogical conclusion, it would suggest that a skinhead woman living in a trailer park who reads only Harlequin romance is somehow less biased than a suicide bomber who only reads interpretation of religious texts (although I realize some atheists would call that fiction too).

I liked the premise of the first bullet, but I also had to ask how nonfiction could not achieve the same thing, and not more factually. I do like historical fiction a lot, and my suggestion last month was the Other Boleyn Girl. I think the advantage to fiction here is that fiction is able to give a personal touch to the account, albeit one that is fake. This is also why people like first person accounts of events.

The second bullet floored me. Fiction cannot give different perspectives on the same event. Last I checked, most fiction is not written by committee (probably a good thing). So at most, it is one person's opinion of what multiple people might be thinking or what the author wants them to think - but it is always filtered through the mind of one person, so by default, you cannot get multiple perspectives. Non fiction can do this, although admittedly, it is also filtered through the author.

The third bullet really gets to the heart of fiction, I feel, although as a math major, I don't feel it's anything like math model. But the gold of fiction is to bring out what is important to the human soul. I submit Harry Potter. Ok, not the best written, and I got bored with the teenage angst. But the themes that presented themselves through the series really brought out some of the issues that people have been struggling with since time began - how does good manifest itself when evil is present, do poor parents love their kids less than rich parents, how does poverty affect outcomes, how does one control themselves when powerful agents are available to corrupt the rest of the world around you - this list goes on.

In this vein, I come back to poor unloved Titus. This book has been around since the 40's so it must touch on something that people identify with. One thing that has been holding my attention is that the only person who seems to be taking any kind of control over their life is Steerpike. I find this particularly interesting in light of the fact that the royalty of the group should have some say in what happens to them, but the only say they really have seems to be the timing of their reproduction of a son, and even that was given boundary conditions (ok, maybe fiction is like a math model).

2008-05-14T02:51:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I haven't really posted on this choice. Thank goodness Avivah took up the slack. I haven't finished the book because I've been running around England looking at skeletons and driving on the left, but I will try to finish it this weekend.

In the meantime, I'm looking for suggestions on our next read.

I'm on page circa 210

2008-05-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

I love the names in this book. Sepulchrave (I know I spelled that wrong, but I'm at work and left the book home), Flay, Steerpike, Slagg... all brilliant names.

I hope that something really great happens at the end, 'cause there seems to be a lot of setup in the book. I'm going to be really disappointed if it's like Heart of Darkness. I remember reading that in high school, 'cause for some insane reason it's required in NY (or at least it was 15 years ago). I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, and then the only action was in the last 3 pages. We were all terribly disappointed. Even the teacher admitted she hated the book.

But at least the setup in this book is interesting in and of itself.

I'm on page 129

2008-04-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

Now, I should mention that I was skeptical. I made it through about 50 pages of LOTR, and the back of this book said it was in the LOTR tradition. But I find I keep saying "one more chapter".

I especially love the words he uses. It's been a long time since I had to read a book with a dictionary.

Even though exactly two things have happened in about 130 pages I am waiting for something to happen and yet I am content to let nothing happen.

2008-04-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I said I would get back to posting on fridays, but I have had a really busy week. I promise will post by the end of the weekend.

Finally

2008-04-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, sorry about the hiatus. I finished Time Traveler's Wife and Titus Groan arrived from Amazon. Start reading and posts (from me) will be on fridays.

TTW:

Over all, I liked this book. I would have liked to see a little more character development from Henry, because I think you hear about it more than see it in the novel. A good sign was that I teared up when Henry died, even though I was expecting it. It means I actually engaged with the characters. I was on the train at the time, so i didn't cry. It was a close one though. I usually hate when novels use death in their story, because often it seems contrived. They don't know how to deal with rounding off a story between two people who live, so they kill one off in some dramatic fashion. Henry's death seemed to fit the story though. I also liked that he planned a party for the night to say goodbye to his friends and make sure his wife wasn't alone. If I knew the date of my death, I would do the same thing.

This Made Me Laugh

2008-04-12T15:34:00.001-07:00

I was looking through the Signals catalog (I think it's PBS' shop) and I found this sweatshirt:

My Book Club Can Beat Up Your Book Club

And the winner is....

2008-04-03T10:57:00.001-07:00

Almost

2008-03-29T04:37:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm almost done with the book. I haven't been reading this weekend because of a long lasting headache. Who knows, maybe I'm about to time travel. I am up to the point in the book where he visits his daughter in the future. If you haven't read that far, there may be spoilers. I don't have much to comment on (the headache is slowing me down), but I was bothered by her description of the child birth and baby. It seemed to me that all of the sudden the writing became artsy and pretentious. Through out the book the writing was lyrical and artistic, but natural at the same time. It just felt like it was all a bit forced during the baby pages. Anyway, I think that is about all I can write about it for the time being.

New Book Vote

2008-03-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

It is time for a new book vote! I've decided to include a link to the Amazon UK page for each book to help you decide.

The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillipa Gregory

The Master and Margarita - Mkhail Bulgakov

Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake

Making History - Stephen Fry

I'm Done

2008-03-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we are supposed to be halfway through, but I had to find out what happened,

Did anyone else notice that there are book club discussion questions at the end? Totally just found them myself. But I think that Sarah hit a number of them and then there are the time travel questions,

So I read the book trying to ignore the whole time travel thing. I tried to remind myself that it was just a work of fiction, but then I started thinking about it some more. There have been some works of science fiction that I ahve enjoyed, and clearly broke all the rules of physics, etc and I didn't seem to have a problem with them. So what is so different about this one?

I think the big difference is that those other books didn't even try to give an explanation for how the author's world differed from ours. It just was, and was accepted as easily as we accept ours. When I think about it, there is a danger in giving too complicated an explanation. The danger, of course, is that one will mess up the science. Or the science and/or technology will become outdated. Issac Asimov sort of ran into this problem - he could invision a world where robots ruled the world, when in fact computers turned out to be dominant. It's interesting to see that Asimov couldn't invision computers becoming entities in and of themselves, he could just see them as devices to run a robot.

So does the author's explanation for time travel hold any weight? I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought except she put out what seems to be an asinine explanation for time travel that ignores simple truths. Mark (the MAN, who is also following this, I should mention) pointed out that the impossible happened in Harry Potter, and instead of getting upset at it, I stood in line at midnight to get the next edition.

So, I guess I figured out what was bothering me about the novel, and I've made peace with it.

Call for Books

2008-03-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

I know we are only half way through the month, but next week will be the book vote for April. If you have suggestions please comment here. The books can be any topic, even non-fiction.

Spoilers up to page 270

2008-03-15T01:09:00.000-07:00

I was going to post something about Clare and Henry's relationship, but Avivah brought that up already. I'll just save my thoughts for comments on her post. Instead, I've just started noticing (I may be incredibly slow here) that Henry must have some control over his little jaunts. I don't think he realizes he's controlling them, but he often arrives at times when he is needed to bail his younger self out. His wedding is a good example. He arrives from the future just as his young self disappears and disappears just as his young self comes back, neatly avoiding abandoning his bride at the alter. There is another moment when Clare suggests they try to change the future by adding a date to a picture that doesn't have one. There is a hint in that scene that they might have more control over Henry's problem than they thought. Anyway, I'm interested to see if this develops or not.

Does Anyone See A Plot? Anywhere???

2008-03-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

Warning: I'm on page 270-something.

Seriously, I'm just waiting for something to happen. Since page 118, nobody had really done anything. We are not given enough information to understand why on earth these two people like each other, but we are given a lot of info on the mechanics of their relationship (who met whom, where, when, etc).

I would really mostly like to know why these people like each other.

Henry: a high functioning druggie for whom the best thing that can be said is that he holds a job. He has treated women like crud, and has a big enough ego to think that he is the first person to evolve in homo sapien history.

Clare: Daddy's little girl art major whose only visible means of support is daddy. The grooming by Henry (see my earlier posts) has left her insipid and dull, except maybe when she is around her sorority - like friends. In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I have always been a little jealous of the art majors - I've always wanted their daddy's money or their undying optimism that love will pay the rent (either one, I'm not picky).

Now that I think about it maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Clare - although I am going to stick by insipid. When the art major relied on Gerry Butler and his lack of shirtness in PS I Love You, somehow I didn't mind- in fact, I really enjoyed that movie. Not sure where to go with that one.

Maybe if I picture Henry as GB...

Discussion up to page 118

2008-03-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

This may have spoilers up to page 118.

One of the questions/ideas that continually pops up in my head is who is this book about? Who is changing and being changed by the events? I'm sure both Claire and Henry are the focus, but at least in the beginning, it seems that Claire is the character who evolves the most. We see both of them from childhood, and they both deal with the time traveling issue from a young age (5 and 6), but Henry's character always seems timeless to me. The glimpses of him as a boy show him to be an extremely mature quiet little boy who grows up to mature quiet adult. I don't see a change in how he deals with his life and time travel from childhood into adulthood.

Introductions

2008-03-06T16:28:00.001-08:00

Hi! I just realized there are a few people in the group that I don't know, so I was wondering if some introductions were a good idea?

In the spirit of goodwill, I'll go first!

I'm Avivah. If you can't sleep, you can find me on the web at www.smith-nelsons.blogspot.com. I work at Los Alamos National Lab in Los Alamos NM. I am in Nuclear Design and Risk Analysis, but it sounds waaay more interesting and important that it really is. I am a foster mom for cats with the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society. I am getting married (again) in October. I really like learning about the history of my adopted town. I met Sarah when I decided to take Stone Age Europe at UNM's anthropology department.

I've taken waaaay too many physics classes

2008-03-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

So I'm a few chapters in and I just am absolutely dying to find out how the heck she is going to explain the time travel. Not a spoiler alert - it's in the first few chapters. But she's explained that she doesn't buy into the idea of conventional physicists (those that believe in time travel, and not all do). I am skeptical of an English major's ability to come up with a physically sound idea of how to come up with time travel when Stephen Hawkings can't?

But at the same time, Michael Crichton's Timeline is fantastic, with few flaws and based on good science (and yet still totally fiction). So it is possible to do well. I hope that she can pull this off just as well.

A few Notices

2008-03-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

First, the timeline for finishing the book is 1 month. Please don't post any spoilers before the month is out. My own mental timeline has me reading a 1/4 of the book each week. Feel free to post about things that happen as you read, but be careful not to skip ahead and ruin it for other people.

Second, we have a new blog author added. Avivah has been added as a blog author so you will see her posts along with mine. If you want to be able to post blogs and not just comments, let me know and I will add you to the author list.

Third, please post book recommendations as we go. In a few weeks we'll have next month's vote and I need more book ideas.

Ok, that's all for now. Happy reading!

2008-03-03T05:01:00.000-08:00

My book arrived in the post yesterday. I decided to read a couple of chapters and am already hooked. I love the scenes in which he is traveling with himself. I wonder what I would do if given the chance to hang out with me. I'm not sure I would be as responsible or careful as he is about not telling myself about the future. I would also be constantly trying to change little things just to see if I could. Maybe it is a good thing I don't have the time-traveling gene.

And the winner is....

2008-02-29T23:44:00.000-08:00

So everybody get a copy and start reading! Luckily this one can probably be found at used bookstores. I'll try to post once a week or so, but you can add comments here if you have something right away.

Vote!

2008-02-21T23:16:00.000-08:00

The list is up! The poll will close after 7 days (if I made it any longer blogger would crash on me). You can only vote once, but you are allowed to change your vote (handy for those indecisive people out there). If you have other friends that you think would be interested in this kind of thing feel free to invite them. Happy voting!

Book Ideas

2008-02-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

Well I've had good responses from people, but not many recommendations. I'm going to go ahead with a list anyway and include some of the books I found while poking around on Amazon. If the first month's book is crap I will accept full responsibility. I've included two (Patrick McCabe and John McGahern) from Irish Authors since St Patrick's day is coming up.

Welcome!

2008-02-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

This is the new home (first home) of my trans-atlantic book club. If you have a blogger account you may be added as one of the authors to this blog and create your own posts. The comments are open to every one, so you may comment on the discussion without joining blogger. It is my hope that we can start some lively discussions here, otherwise this will just be a space where I keep thoughts about current books I'm reading.

Here's the grand plan:

1 book per month chosen by members
we comment and post throughout the month while we read
maybe have one big discussion blog at the end of each month
vote on next month's book
rinse and repeat

Next post will contain book suggestions to vote on.