Thursday, January 31, 2008
Choosing our next book...
I know we haven't finished the first book yet, but I think we should start talking about how we want to choose the next book, especially since some of us, especially Eden, may need some time to order the book from a store or library. I talked to Sarah yesterday and her suggestion was to come up with an order and then each person in turn would choose the next book. Do people like this idea? Does anyone else have an idea to share?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Chapters 3 & 4
Rather than just repeat my post for chapters 1 and 2, let me keep this short and sweet, as I only have one quick question to ask....
What do we think happened to Grigg's father at that party?
01/29/2008
Reflecting on what I had read to so far, it occured to me that there is no way this author is married (although potentially previously married and now divorced), and I think that affects not only her content (the closest thing to marriage in the book being a divorce) and perhaps the realism of some of her characters. To confirm I looked her up on Wikipedia. As I suspected, no husband, although she appears to be a single mother. Also, she seems to be of the feminist bent (not surprising had I pondered further). Here's the link, probably would be instructive if ya'll take a chance to check it out. Not that long of an article, and no spoilers for our book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Joy_Fowler
To clarify, so as to hopefully avoid ruffling any feathers, or getting labeled a "smug married". I'm not saying that you have to have been married to be able to write realistic characters when it comes to matters of love. My point was more that I would have had a hard time believing that someone so cynical towards love could be in a marriage. Perhaps before the end of this book we will see some concession towards a positive side of love, but given what we have so far, I'm highly doubting it. Another question, along these lines, for discussion....
Does anyone yet have a feel for what the whole point of this book is? I see some possibilities, but I'm not sure I'm able to grasp where this whole thing is going or to what purpose, yet.
01/30/2008
What do we think happened to Grigg's father at that party?
01/29/2008
Reflecting on what I had read to so far, it occured to me that there is no way this author is married (although potentially previously married and now divorced), and I think that affects not only her content (the closest thing to marriage in the book being a divorce) and perhaps the realism of some of her characters. To confirm I looked her up on Wikipedia. As I suspected, no husband, although she appears to be a single mother. Also, she seems to be of the feminist bent (not surprising had I pondered further). Here's the link, probably would be instructive if ya'll take a chance to check it out. Not that long of an article, and no spoilers for our book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Joy_Fowler
To clarify, so as to hopefully avoid ruffling any feathers, or getting labeled a "smug married". I'm not saying that you have to have been married to be able to write realistic characters when it comes to matters of love. My point was more that I would have had a hard time believing that someone so cynical towards love could be in a marriage. Perhaps before the end of this book we will see some concession towards a positive side of love, but given what we have so far, I'm highly doubting it. Another question, along these lines, for discussion....
Does anyone yet have a feel for what the whole point of this book is? I see some possibilities, but I'm not sure I'm able to grasp where this whole thing is going or to what purpose, yet.
01/30/2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Completely Frivolous
Chris, you may not want to participate.
Which Austen Heroine are you?
I swear I just randomly found this on a friend's blog. How crazy is that?
According to the difficult quiz, I'm Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey. Which I guess I'll need to read.
Funniest part is it's one of the two Austen stories that's partly set in Bath. Oh the irony!
On another note, this blog is set on Mountain time I think. It's actually the 26th at about 3:10 in the morning for me.
Which Austen Heroine are you?
I swear I just randomly found this on a friend's blog. How crazy is that?
According to the difficult quiz, I'm Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey. Which I guess I'll need to read.
Funniest part is it's one of the two Austen stories that's partly set in Bath. Oh the irony!
On another note, this blog is set on Mountain time I think. It's actually the 26th at about 3:10 in the morning for me.
I am not that easily influenced.
Just thought I'd put that out there first. With books anyway, I'm pretty set in what I think, although the best part of discussion is seeing something in a different light.
Gathering my thoughts...I read the first two chapters on Monday and forced myself to stop so I wouldn't spoil anything unintentionally.
It is one of the strangest structures for a novel I've encountered. I'm most curious at who the narrator is. Because the way she (assuming it is a 'she', it is after all Jane Austen books) talks about everyone's Jane Austen, "six of us," but never says who she is, well, it's just very mysterious. And the first two people she details for us in the chapters she speaks about distantly. Maybe she's each of the members, a sort of universal all-knowing second person point of view. Kinda weird, but it works as far as I can tell.
I'm not offended terribly by the sexual encounters that were more or less detailed about Jocelyn or Allegra. I think for the most part it was tastefully done. I actually had to read it twice to make sure I assumed what happened correctly. And in the description of each member, I find myself intrigued to know each one's story, even if I have nothing in common with them (which at this point is how I feel). Maybe I'm dense (a possibility), but I haven't really attached any of them with Austen's characters yet. Maybe it'll hit me later.
I get annoyed with sexual encounters being the 'life-changing' experiences when people give us characters' pasts. It's just so cliche, so that bugs me. Although, I like the take on Allegra and her ex and how her ex used her for story material. I thought that was not so typical, at least not the way Fowler presented it. I won't do that to you guys, not without your permission. :)
What kid cries over the colour white????? This is what annoyed me about this book. The self-awareness of the members as young people. Not that we can't be self-aware at a young age. But the idiosyncrasies seem very unrealistic. Very artsy and writerly/literary. Does that make sense? I don't care if the character's artistic or whatever, that just seemed a bit over the top for me. Maybe I'm being unfair.
I agree with sarahbear's comment about the Austen-bashing by Grigg. The women are so snooty about Austen, and heaven forbid if you call her Jane. I think she'd like that. If her readers felt so close to her that they could call her by her first name.
I dig Jocelyn, I must say. The feeling of power about the boys and not meaning to lead them on, while I can't directly relate, I get it. And I do think that these women are real in a lot of ways. Maybe a little too quirky in the way that independent movies have their quirky damaged characters that are great, but get on your nerves.
But I like the characters, despite my issues. I do want to know their stories.
That's it for now, I guess. So, should we figure out what Austen characters we each are? :)
Gathering my thoughts...I read the first two chapters on Monday and forced myself to stop so I wouldn't spoil anything unintentionally.
It is one of the strangest structures for a novel I've encountered. I'm most curious at who the narrator is. Because the way she (assuming it is a 'she', it is after all Jane Austen books) talks about everyone's Jane Austen, "six of us," but never says who she is, well, it's just very mysterious. And the first two people she details for us in the chapters she speaks about distantly. Maybe she's each of the members, a sort of universal all-knowing second person point of view. Kinda weird, but it works as far as I can tell.
I'm not offended terribly by the sexual encounters that were more or less detailed about Jocelyn or Allegra. I think for the most part it was tastefully done. I actually had to read it twice to make sure I assumed what happened correctly. And in the description of each member, I find myself intrigued to know each one's story, even if I have nothing in common with them (which at this point is how I feel). Maybe I'm dense (a possibility), but I haven't really attached any of them with Austen's characters yet. Maybe it'll hit me later.
I get annoyed with sexual encounters being the 'life-changing' experiences when people give us characters' pasts. It's just so cliche, so that bugs me. Although, I like the take on Allegra and her ex and how her ex used her for story material. I thought that was not so typical, at least not the way Fowler presented it. I won't do that to you guys, not without your permission. :)
What kid cries over the colour white????? This is what annoyed me about this book. The self-awareness of the members as young people. Not that we can't be self-aware at a young age. But the idiosyncrasies seem very unrealistic. Very artsy and writerly/literary. Does that make sense? I don't care if the character's artistic or whatever, that just seemed a bit over the top for me. Maybe I'm being unfair.
I agree with sarahbear's comment about the Austen-bashing by Grigg. The women are so snooty about Austen, and heaven forbid if you call her Jane. I think she'd like that. If her readers felt so close to her that they could call her by her first name.
I dig Jocelyn, I must say. The feeling of power about the boys and not meaning to lead them on, while I can't directly relate, I get it. And I do think that these women are real in a lot of ways. Maybe a little too quirky in the way that independent movies have their quirky damaged characters that are great, but get on your nerves.
But I like the characters, despite my issues. I do want to know their stories.
That's it for now, I guess. So, should we figure out what Austen characters we each are? :)
New Members
Hey ya'll, just wanted to get this thought out there while I was thinking about it. Do we want to consider adding more members to the book club for the next book? Or do we want to keep it to the comfortable, intimate number of 5. I'm personally in favor of adding some more people, but I think we all need to be in agreement on that and perhaps even on who. Anyway, wanted to put that out there to hear what everyone thinks.
An Interesting First book
First of all I think that it is highly appropriate that we are reading a book about a book club as our first book, especially since the fictional one has only one male in it as well! Second, I have read this book before, but don't remember much so you shouldn't have to worry about me accidentally giving spoilers.
I can't say that I love this book, though I am certainly intrigued by it. Right away I began looking for comparisons between each character and the book that was being read in each chapter. I think I'm finding that characters have some character traits with a modern twist on the Austen characters. I find the personal histories interesting, though somewhat perverted in many instances. I am very glad to be reading this book with a group of Christians so that if I express my disgust at moral filth, I won't be berated for narrow-mindedness.
My natural tendency when reading almost any story is to find the character I am most like and relate to the person. Thus far I haven't found someone I am like per say. I think perhaps Sylvia is the one I feel most akin to, but that could easily change. Part of the difficulty in having only six, very long chapters, each devoted mainly to the personality of one person, is that we won't really get to know the last character until the final chapter...at least this is what I presume. I suppose we do learn bits and pieces about each person through the other's eyes.
As far as voice goes, I find it a bit out of the ordinary, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work for this book.. I actually enjoyed the part in chapter one where suddenly the story was being told from the point of view of the dog, very clever and an interesting perspective. I suppose the benefit of having the book written this way is that we get a more intimate look at each character from his or her own point of view. This book is all about the characters in my opinion, so for me, this works well as a narrative technique.
No entry on any book would be complete without my favorite quotes so here are the ones that have stood out for me in the first two chapters, though apparently they are all out of the second one only:
"What a waste those eyelashes were on a man who watched sitcoms."
"A madonna with fire-bright cheeks, eyes like mirrors."
"Sylvia had uncorked a nice Petit Syrah, something that went well with cheese and crackers, the rain and the fire."
"Another woman was writing a fantasy novel, and it had a good plot, ticked right along, except everyone in it had amber eyes, or emerald or amethyst or sapphire. Nothing the other members said could persuade her to substitute brown or blue..."
Confession about the last quote, it made me think of Eden! Chris apparently though the same thing! Anyone else think of her when they read that? :)
I can't say that I love this book, though I am certainly intrigued by it. Right away I began looking for comparisons between each character and the book that was being read in each chapter. I think I'm finding that characters have some character traits with a modern twist on the Austen characters. I find the personal histories interesting, though somewhat perverted in many instances. I am very glad to be reading this book with a group of Christians so that if I express my disgust at moral filth, I won't be berated for narrow-mindedness.
My natural tendency when reading almost any story is to find the character I am most like and relate to the person. Thus far I haven't found someone I am like per say. I think perhaps Sylvia is the one I feel most akin to, but that could easily change. Part of the difficulty in having only six, very long chapters, each devoted mainly to the personality of one person, is that we won't really get to know the last character until the final chapter...at least this is what I presume. I suppose we do learn bits and pieces about each person through the other's eyes.
As far as voice goes, I find it a bit out of the ordinary, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work for this book.. I actually enjoyed the part in chapter one where suddenly the story was being told from the point of view of the dog, very clever and an interesting perspective. I suppose the benefit of having the book written this way is that we get a more intimate look at each character from his or her own point of view. This book is all about the characters in my opinion, so for me, this works well as a narrative technique.
No entry on any book would be complete without my favorite quotes so here are the ones that have stood out for me in the first two chapters, though apparently they are all out of the second one only:
"What a waste those eyelashes were on a man who watched sitcoms."
"A madonna with fire-bright cheeks, eyes like mirrors."
"Sylvia had uncorked a nice Petit Syrah, something that went well with cheese and crackers, the rain and the fire."
"Another woman was writing a fantasy novel, and it had a good plot, ticked right along, except everyone in it had amber eyes, or emerald or amethyst or sapphire. Nothing the other members said could persuade her to substitute brown or blue..."
Confession about the last quote, it made me think of Eden! Chris apparently though the same thing! Anyone else think of her when they read that? :)
Thursday, January 24, 2008
My take....
Hmmm....I don't know how to make this anything but scathing. I don't know whether this book disgusts me, or inspires me, in that if this lady can sell a book surely I can too. Shouldn't this book really be called 6 character sketches? I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate well developed characters. I listened to Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Gouge, and enjoyed it, and the plot was less than memorable, but the characters were engaging so I willingly went on and listened to the next two books in the series. However, at least those books had some plot. This book (if it can fairly be called that?) has absolutely, positively no plot. The plot of people discussing Austen's works, I suppose could work, however, less than a third of the book is even set in this setting so far. Most of it is flashbacks to pasts that explain the neurotic idiosyncracies of the present day character, all so obviously stereotypical that again, it just makes me think, dang....even I could write a book. (Maybe I too could capitalize on a famous author's name to sell my story. I'll write the follow up....The J. R. Tolkien Dungeons and Dragons club....that'd sell a million copies just for having Tolkien in the title right?) And as a reference point....I really wanted to like this book, to quell any worries ya'll had about my ability to enjoy a "girl" book. Believe it or not I can get through and find enjoyment in a "girl" book, as I've made it through at least one Meg Cabot book....but this is too much....anyway.....
Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, let me try to bring in some positives. First, I'm always wary of hating any story, book or otherwise, until the end ever since seeing Citizen Kane. That was by far the worst first 2 hours of a movie I have ever watched. I so wanted to just stop watching that tedious movie. However, the last 15 seconds completely changed my perception of that movie and has me acknowledging that it truly is one of the greatest movies ever. (And to think Emily didn't make it all the way through, and still has no idea what I'm talking about in this reference).
Second, despite the dullness of the plotline, I suppose the characters are still worth discussing. Mostly, being a guy, I'm interested in hearing the take of all you gals on how realistic these women seem to you? I'm not sure what to think of the leader of the group (sorry I always forget names and Emily is in the other room so I can't ask her right now). At least in her recounting of her past she seems almost too "okay" with the whole sexual assault thing. Being a guy though, I have no reference at all for this sort of thing. Whereas, I assume most women in some way or another (although obviously not all to that degree), at least have a concept of being trodden upon by men at some time or another. Not sure any of us can completely relate to the divorcee, but I have to say she seems the most realistic character in the book to me so far. As for the guy, who it will be my job to give insight on I suppose, the jury still is out. He's pretty quiet most of the time, with which I can relate (at least in a group of people I don't know well). Not really sure what his motives are in being there at this point. We shall see.....
Anyway, there's my ramblings on the first couple of chapters, and after getting through that, I am realizing that I need to wait until right before I post to read the next two chapters or I need to take notes as I go along, because I know I'm forgetting a million things I wanted to say. I look forward to hearing what the rest of you think and letting the discussions begin in the comments. Hopefully some fresh perspectives on the book will help me to find more enjoyment in the last 4 chapters.
Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, let me try to bring in some positives. First, I'm always wary of hating any story, book or otherwise, until the end ever since seeing Citizen Kane. That was by far the worst first 2 hours of a movie I have ever watched. I so wanted to just stop watching that tedious movie. However, the last 15 seconds completely changed my perception of that movie and has me acknowledging that it truly is one of the greatest movies ever. (And to think Emily didn't make it all the way through, and still has no idea what I'm talking about in this reference).
Second, despite the dullness of the plotline, I suppose the characters are still worth discussing. Mostly, being a guy, I'm interested in hearing the take of all you gals on how realistic these women seem to you? I'm not sure what to think of the leader of the group (sorry I always forget names and Emily is in the other room so I can't ask her right now). At least in her recounting of her past she seems almost too "okay" with the whole sexual assault thing. Being a guy though, I have no reference at all for this sort of thing. Whereas, I assume most women in some way or another (although obviously not all to that degree), at least have a concept of being trodden upon by men at some time or another. Not sure any of us can completely relate to the divorcee, but I have to say she seems the most realistic character in the book to me so far. As for the guy, who it will be my job to give insight on I suppose, the jury still is out. He's pretty quiet most of the time, with which I can relate (at least in a group of people I don't know well). Not really sure what his motives are in being there at this point. We shall see.....
Anyway, there's my ramblings on the first couple of chapters, and after getting through that, I am realizing that I need to wait until right before I post to read the next two chapters or I need to take notes as I go along, because I know I'm forgetting a million things I wanted to say. I look forward to hearing what the rest of you think and letting the discussions begin in the comments. Hopefully some fresh perspectives on the book will help me to find more enjoyment in the last 4 chapters.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
All of Austen's Works
I thought that choosing this book was a good idea seeing as it was about a book club reading the novels of one of our most beloved authors. Now I'm wondering if we should have read Austen first! It's a little worrisome to have Chris be reading along and look up and ask, "Which one is Emma?" and then still not know even though I tried to describe it (it being the movie as he hasn't read the book!) Oh well! For anyone who isn't quite as up to date on their Austen novels and wants a quick refresher, Masterpiece Theater is doing a mini series on PBS called the complete Jane Austen. It's on Sunday nights at 9:00 pm. Last week was Persuasion and this past Sunday was Northanger Abbey. This upcoming Sunday is Mansfield Park. Pride and Prejudice is Feb. 10, 17 & 24, Emma is March 24, and Sense & Sensibility is March 30 & April 6. I hope that is helpful to anyone who wants to brush up on the stories. The first two have been pretty good and even Chris found Northanger Abbey amusing, which is by far the strangest of Austen's works.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Rules
Following Roomie's lead I will also make a proposal that barring amendments or objections we can just consider to be the "rules".
I think we need to strike a balance between the need to discuss along the way, yet not wanting to have too strict of a reading schedule. So, here's my proposal, based on Sarah's suggested finish date of February 15th.
No posts concerning what you have read until January 25th. From January 25th to February 1st posts can be written concerning the 1st 2 chapters. From February 1st to February 8th posts can be written concerning the 1st 4 chapters and then on February 15th the whole book is game. This way everyone knows if they risk spoiling anything for themselves by checking out the blog. It will be up to those posting to make sure that they do not include any hints or ideas they may have gotten from reading beyond what we are posting about.
Also I propose that in our labels we post our names so that we can separate out each others contributions more easily if we are looking back for a previous post. Also, we should use either the book or author or both in the label for the current book we are reading. Again for easier sorting. Just some suggestions.
I think we need to strike a balance between the need to discuss along the way, yet not wanting to have too strict of a reading schedule. So, here's my proposal, based on Sarah's suggested finish date of February 15th.
No posts concerning what you have read until January 25th. From January 25th to February 1st posts can be written concerning the 1st 2 chapters. From February 1st to February 8th posts can be written concerning the 1st 4 chapters and then on February 15th the whole book is game. This way everyone knows if they risk spoiling anything for themselves by checking out the blog. It will be up to those posting to make sure that they do not include any hints or ideas they may have gotten from reading beyond what we are posting about.
Also I propose that in our labels we post our names so that we can separate out each others contributions more easily if we are looking back for a previous post. Also, we should use either the book or author or both in the label for the current book we are reading. Again for easier sorting. Just some suggestions.
The First Book
After much discussion, we've finally hit upon our first book to read: The Jane Austen Book Club. Rather than wait send a schedule into committee (which would probably take weeks), I propose that we try to read this book in no more than a month. I'm uncertain what the 'rules' should be (do we want to try to read half way in two weeks and then finish it in another two?). Should we post along the way, or try to only post when the selected reading is finished?
At the very least, let's try to have finished the book by February 15th, okay?
At the very least, let's try to have finished the book by February 15th, okay?
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