[TTLG Book Club] An introduction and August's selection: The Life of Pi (discuss!) - by Stitch
Fingernail on 2/7/2006 at 09:47
I've read it, will be in for the discussion and just generally yes.
I need to read more as it is, this is the perfect excuse.
Aerothorn on 2/7/2006 at 18:20
Sounds very cool. However, my most trusted book advisor really didn't like Life of Pi at all, so I think I might skip out on this first month (I'm reading Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver at the moment and that will take me a while to finish).
Second off: as far as the expensive hardcovers and graphic novels thing goes...that's what libraries are for:)
And third, while, as noted, the decision is ultimately up to the community, I wholeheartedly disagree with fantasy/sci-fi being somehow 'less discussable' than real-world literature. I mean, it all depends on the book - obviously there is plenty of mindless genre fiction schlock out there - but the best sci-fi is just as discussable - maybe even more so, as it brings new ideas to the table instead of the usual 'follow the relationship threads'. For instance, Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, which I read last year, is currently being done by my mom's book club, and has already been done by my dad's, and I think they found it very discussable. Fantasy I don't read much so I can't really speak for.
As far as book recommendations go...well, the aforementioned Never Let Me Go is good. And, being nice and throwing literary style stuff in instead of my preferred sci-fi novels, I've been meaning to re-read The Minotaur Takes a Cigerette Break and think that would be very discussable (though I think it's also one of those love-it-or-hate-it books).
OnionBob on 2/7/2006 at 19:03
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
(I'm reading Neal Stephenson's
Quicksilver at the moment and that will take me a while to finish).
How are you finding that? Cryptonomicon was one of the best books I've read in years, but Quicksilver I found myself unable to get into. Does it improve as it goes on, or is it all as self-indulgent and go-nowhere as the first few chapters?
ignatios on 2/7/2006 at 19:40
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
I wholeheartedly disagree with fantasy/sci-fi being somehow 'less discussable' than real-world literature.
It's not so much that sci-fi and fantasy are somehow 'less discussable' but that we as a community have probably read more than the lion's share. Examples like the ones you mention are perfectly reasonable suggestions (for me especially because I've never heard of them), but the whole idea behind the book club is to read (and hopefully enjoy) books that we might otherwise never read. Schatten put it perfectly:
Quote Posted by Schattentänzer
I'm a notoric reader of the books you'd like to keep out of here, and use this as an opportunity to peek over the border.
As long as we avoid the 'mindless genre fiction schlock' (regardless of the genre), I'll be happy. Ultimately, I think everyone else will be happier too.
Ulukai on 2/7/2006 at 20:14
I passed by a bookshop yesterday, and as I hadn't yet ordered via Amazon I popped into see if they had a copy of The Life of Pi.
Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the name of the book or who wrote it, the one fact that had stuck in my brain being that 'Pi' was in the title.
The bookshop clerk was a stereotypically bookshoppish short, plain girl with long hair and black rimmed spectacles, with the kind of stance that screamed DON'T BOTHER ME. Figuring thinly veiled scathing and the wrath of God was headed in my direction dare I ask if she had a book about pies in stock, I decided to carry on home and order the book from Amazon anyway.
Now the Royal Mail will wrap it in so much cardboard they will fail to get it into my postbox and I'll have to go and collect it from the part of Crewe where we don't go anymore for fear of being mugged for drug money, being offered drugs or being asked for drugs by undercover policemen.
You mangs had better have some shit hot opinions on this book :D
Aerothorn on 2/7/2006 at 20:46
I just talked to my dad about Life of Pi - apparently he found it bordering on creepy Christian allegory...so that should make interesting discussion here.
Onionbob: I don't really know how to answer that. I'm on page 140 or so, and therefore am like a seventh of the way through or something, so can't comment on the heart of it. If Cryptonomicon is anything to go by, book 2 will be both pretty different and more exciting than book one (just as Bobby Shaftoe's chapters were pretty different and more exciting than Lawrence Waterhouse's). In fact, I noticed there are never publishing it, in mass-market paperback, as its component books; so Quicksilver is now 3 seperate books.
I dunno how to compare it to Cryptonomicon. I think Cryptonomicon was the easier read, and maybe faster...but I recal that being pretty slow in the beginning, too. And while I liked it, I don't recall it having any real solid conclusion - I think I'd have to re-read it to get any overarching message out of it. Quicksilver is self-indulgent, but it brings to mind something a TTLGer told me about Gormenghast - you read it for the writing, not the story. Course, I couldn't get into Gormenghast at all wheras I'm moderatly enjoying Quicksilver, though at the moment, yes, it is a bit of a slog.
But if there's one thing I've learned on TTLG, it's that opinion on Neal Stephenson novels seem particularly subjective, and as such I wouldn't take my enjoyment of it to mean that you missed anything. Maybe it gets better; if you still have your copy lying around, you might want to just skip book 1 and start book 2 and see if that's more fun, or something. But otherwise, yeah, maybe it's just not your thing.
D'Juhn Keep on 3/7/2006 at 00:34
I'm in for this one, assuming I can get a copy from the library. What is this "buying" you speak of?
As for the next months, I would recommend Trinity by Leon Uris. I'm halfway through it now and it's really fantastic.
Deep Qantas on 3/7/2006 at 04:48
Pi, eh? I saw the movie version, mind if I join the discussion? :p
Stitch on 3/7/2006 at 06:10
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
Sounds very cool. However, my most trusted book advisor really didn't like Life of Pi at all, so I think I might skip out on this first month
Take a chance, you horrendous pussy. Part of the point of this whole club is to broaden your reading scope, and if you end up not liking it, then you'll have something to talk about, eh? I fully expect I'll read some clunkers while in the service of TTLG but that's okay as long as the reading itself isn't a chore and it generates discussion.
On a slightly less hostile note, I am truly delighted that this has generated so much interest! I'm sure ignatios would agree but he has sort of fallen off the planet.
Also: picked up my copy of <U>Life of Pi</U> today, bitches!
Shayde on 3/7/2006 at 06:44
This is an excellent idea, I'm in.
For September I suggest Vladimir Nabakov's "Lolita", it is beautifully written and will generate more than enough controversy to make for an interesting discussion.
