Basiacally, you make a commitment to keep the discussion interesting; so being the host means you try to read everyone’s posts and reply to comments and theories, and bring news facts and ideas yourself… In a sense, you’re the one who will try to keep the discussion alive—
[size=100]It is also so because Lounge mods won’t always read the books, and they might not be to keen of reading spoilers and—well, spoiling it… So you’d be somewhat responsible for keeping an eye on stuff and reporting anything you deem questionable too… (That’s one of the reasons why only “known members” can host the circle.)[/size]
Portuguese. In one afternoon.
I’m not a big fan of Paulo Coelho’s work, to be quite honest with you, except for this one book. I loved reading the Alchemist. The other two books I read from him I didn’t like, but this one was really compelling and nice, and I think I’d like to reread it now, two years later…
I think we have a big list already. I’ll make the poll. Dharma and Noelle—can you both write short summaries of the books you have proposed? It’s [size=100]OK[/size] to copy from the first paragraph of Wikipedia’s article, but remember you’re trying to convince people these books are worth buying and reading—try to write about how you felt when reading them and why you like it so much.
I’ll write my short reviews when I’m back from dinner.
Zamyatin lived in the Communist Russia and is best known for the book I proposed: Мы, traslated as “We,” a dystopian novel about ultrapaternalist systems that influenced 1984 and Brave New World.
It’s a tough read, strongly philosophical and political but also very symbolical—sometimes, as hard to interpret as a dream.
This book goes to the fine list of stuff that changed my life. It’s a great book, although one needs to have patience and will to read it—on the other hand, I believe that a reading circle would be just perfect an opportunity to read such a book, for than you have the possibility of discussing your thoughts and theories, sharing ideas and learning a lot from what and how other people see stuff.
[color=#cc3333][size=167]The Metamorphasis - Franz Kafka[/size][/color]
Die Verwandlung is a highly symbolical novel, one of the most famous works of the last century, which has caused millions of people to try and discuss its underlying meaning and motifs.
It tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman, who—as you can guess from the quote up there—wakes up one day and realizes he’s metamorphosing into a vermin.
I can’t really emphacize how powerful this novel is for its symbology, it’s plot and its narrating voice, all of which build a fantastic journey into this nightmarish situation revealing a lot from the human nature as the character becomes some sort of insignificant beast.
[color=#cc3333][size=167]The Aleph - Jorge Luis Borges[/size][/color]
This is my favourite book in the list, but I don’t think I should write about it now—I know someone who loves it a bunch, and I’ll see if he wants to write the review; I’d be definately be glad if he did—he’s so effusively enthusiastic about this book, and since it is without doubt the one I’m hoping to be selected, I think I should ask him to write the review.
[color=#cc3333][size=167]If On a Winters Night a Traveler - Italo Calvino[/size][/color]
Calvino’s postmodern fiction in it’s best, Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore is a story about you, the reader, who just bought Calvino’s new book “If on a winter’s night a traveler” and are eager to read it.
The odd chapters are narrated in second person and have to do with this reader—you—while they discuss the meaning of reading and literature nowadays, while the even chapters are the actual reading.
I can’t say much more, unfortunately, because everything could be a spoiler to this book—just beleive me when I say it is awesome, powerful, and definately worth reading—my second favourite in the list, an amazing literary journey and an irreverent, compelling, fun read.
This is probably one of the best books from the last century, from an authors my friends are tired to know is who I consider to have been the best author of the century.
this idea seems to be dying.
but the good news is we have some good story threads in the garden forum and some are getting lots of discussion.
so if you want to share views with others while reading … it would be a brilliant idea to visit these threads and post
I hope this thread never dies!!! The only thing I love more than lucid dreaming (and running) is reading! This thread can’t be dying before I even get a chance to enjoy it! Fiddlesticks!
Alright the first time we tried a reading circle, it didn’t quite really— well, it blew! But as the guy who suggested it in the first place, I’d also like to see it working. Fair enough, want us to give it another try? What book do you suggest that we read?
How about a Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle? Or Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury? The Time Machine by H. G. Wells? Brave New World by Aldous Huxley? James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl? The Mind Parasites by Colin Wilson? Choose-Your-Own-Adventures (Various Authors- ought to spark some interesting conversations)? The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells? Just throwing out some suggestions… feel free to shoot any or all of them down or Google any of the books you’re not familiar with. I also just finished reading the Strange Life of Ivan Osokin (I know, that’s cheating, and I guess I would rather read a new book, too, but I just thought I would recommend it because I enjoyed it so much). I’m not limited at all, though, I would be open to anyone’s suggestions as well!
uæææ! lets make a list out of this! * A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Mind Parasites by Colin Wilson
Choose-Your-Own-Adventures (Various Authors- ought to spark some interesting conversations)
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Strange Life of Ivan Osokin
aah, way better now, i can visualise it well!
i never heard of a wrinkle in time, time machine, strange life or mind parasites could use a review for those…
farenheit was fairly boring but an interesting read after you’ve read the other dystopias, i suppose; as a matter of fact, out of the two you suggested, i’d say i prefer brave new world by far. james & giant peach (and anything roald dahl for that matter) is always game in my opinion.
choose-your-own-adventure won’t be easy, as we would have to find a book of that kind that’s been published all around the world, but we could try nonlinear or ergodic fiction, like house of leaves, or hopscotch;
finally, i must say i was a bit frustrated at how invisible man developed into a cliché plot with such a promising beginning, but that’s actually reason to propose the book… this kind of frustration is always a great topic to discuss when talking about a book.
out of those, the ones i’d like to do here the most are brave new world, james & giant peach and invisible man. you’re too new a member to host a book (which is just a formality, really, anyway) — so we’ll need a host for some of them. i’m willing to host james & giant peach and invisible man, but not brave new world or the others you proposed.
i’ll come up with a few suggestions myself, and i propose we start a campaign (with links in sig and all that jazz) to call everyone’s attention to this topic, so that people can volunteer to host the other books you suggested. when we have a couple of books that can be hosted, i’ll set up a pool.
I might be interested in joining the reading circle because I don’t read that much and haven’t finished that many books in my life so far.
From the books that you suggested, double-o-darko, I would probably enjoy reading Farenheit 451. I have heard it from other people that it’s a good book. I read the summary from Wikipedia and it does sound pretty good.
Edit: I also might be interested in reading Brave New World and Invisible Man. Why I don’t say James and the Giant Peach is because the animation film creeped me out too much.
Bruno… I have to recommend A Wrinkle In Time if you have not yet read it. While you may not like it as much as I did growing up, I think it is one of those books that I am forever grateful I did read, even if there were some things I did not like about it that sort of annoyed me (that would no doubt be more prominent now that I am older and more picky when it comes to books).
alright, i’ll look for it thanks for the recommendation. in turn, i’d recommend you a book called capitães da areia (“captains of the sand”), but it’s a brazilian book, and it’s not even famous in brazil, so i can never be sure about the quality of its translation — a shame.
talk about recommending, i’ll propose the following books: fictions by jorge luis borges (argentinian writer), stories of cronopies and fames by julio cortázar (another argentinian writer), if on a winter’s night a traveler and invisible cities both by italo calvino (italian writer); i’ll volunteer to host all of these.
wow, I’m surprised you haven’t heard about “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells Bruno, you seem to know everything and you don’t know that book (Take it as a compliment)
Now to the topic:
I’m always ready to take part in a reading circle, and I did a quick search and saw one bookstore, that had a translation of Borges “fictions”.
And I like the stories I’ve read by him.
So I’m voting Borges.
Hmmmm, what type of a read would that be, Borges? Like, it says here on wikipedia that he typically writes short stories/fiction, but how would either of you describe his style? I’m kind of in the mood for some escapism reading, so if it seems like Borges is typically a very “real” sort of writer, I might just pass on this one.
Otherwise though, I like the idea of this reading circle thingy. Get some opposite perspectives on a topic, always a good thing.
in reply to jon, a little something about the authors & stories i proposed.
[size=167]jorge luis borges[/size]
you know those dreadful stereotypes high school teachers tend to fit authors in, in order to be a little bit more didatic? (e.g. realism, symbolism, dadaism, post-modernism etc). well, borges is what they call a “fantastic realist” writer. as a student of fine letters, the definition makes me cringe, because “fantastic realism” has become an umbrella term which means nothing really. but for you, it ought to do the trick — and heey, that’s what those stereotypes are for anyway, right?
i know the expression “fantastic realism” sounds like an oxymoron (how can something fit into fantasy and realism at the same time?) but it’s really not. basically, borges presents situations which are strange, fantastic, often downright absurd, but which reflect the way we see the world in modern day. in other words, while you would call it fantastic at a first glance, it is really not just a random string of unlikely events condensated into a plot — it’s a very refined statement of the modern dream and the modern way of life. (not to mention modernity’s delusions).
his stories are all very short, and very easy to read. they’re full of all kinds of humour from intricate and scholarly to silly puns or slapstick sequences, and they make a delicious read. you read into a piece of borges fiction as far as you want to — that is, you can stop and ponder about the implicit philosophy of his narratives, but if you don’t feel like it, you might as well just not, and that will not make the story any less interesting. this is why i think borges ought to be a good read for the reading circle: he can be the source of many different discussions, and his work can feed some epic discussions, but it will also be a great excuse to just read something and make silly comments and jokes.
as a teaser, a fragment of the second piece of his ficciones, called “pierre menard, author of the quixote”, a piece of fiction desguised as an essay about a french author from the 20th century who decides to write the quixote, in its exact original terms, spontaneously, & out of his own personal experiences as a 20th century frenchman:
[size=167]julio cortázar[/size]
julio cortázar is also argentine, and also generally considered a “fantastic realist”, in spite of being absolutely different from borges. the book i proposed, historias de cronópios y de famas, is taken as a good place to start reading cortázar, as its both an easy read, and a book right in the middle of his work (chronologically speaking), mixing his early knock-out literature style with his later maturity, a good point between the early bestiario and the arcane rayuela.
historias is a little book of short stories divided in a number of disparate sections, which include an “instructions handbook” with instructions to cry, fear, kill ants in rome and even climb up a staircase; an account of “unusual occupations,” a series of descriptions of “unusual stuff” and finally a section dedicated to imaginary creatures of cortázar’s troubled mind, the cronopies and fames.
two teasers for cortázar, because i really like this book and can’t believe how under rated it is by the english speaking audience. the first, a complete translation of his instructions to climb up a staircase:
for the second teaser, one of my all-time favourite moments in the history literature, the beginning of his account on the “loss and recovery of the hair,” from the “unusual occupations” section, here translated by yours truly:
[size=167]italo calvino[/size]
only a few of this italian writer’s books are among my favourite, and yet i’ll admit to considering him my overall favourite author. calvino is one of the most active, brilliant minds of the last century, and his books are just awesome. among the books i proposed, se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore is the only one that doesn’t consist of short stories. it is a novel — or 10 novels, depending on your point of view — but don’t be scared, it’s also not much big, and it’s a fairly easy read. (if you don’t trust me, ask [size=100]TRJR[/size], he read this book too).
basically, se una notte tells the story of you, the reader, who just bought italo calvino’s last novel, se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore and are eager to read it. but by fabrication defect, all you can read from it is the first chapter. as you go back to the bookstore to return the book, you meet ludmilla, a female reader who you don’t hesitate in flirting with. but behold! soon, the two of you will embark on an adventure involving an editorial mafia scheme, and a bunch of unfinished stories.
the second calvino book i proposed, le città invisibili, is the toughest read among my suggestions, but the most rewarding one in my opinion. structured as a conversation between the emperor kublai khan and his guest, marco polo, the book is a succession of accounts and descriptions of the latter’s explorations of numerous fictional cities. it doesn’t seem to have a clear-cut plot at first, and will take a bit of patience to read through (although one can easily read one city at a time — they’re all very short — in between their everyday activities), but it’s one of my all-time favourite books, and a book i sincerely wish everyone would read.
no single teaser would do justice to this book, as part of its power comes from the diversity, and another part from the mindblowing relations the book starts to insinuate after a number of cities has been read. that said, i’d like to tease you with a decription from this book of 1972 which is to this day the best description of a sentiment which has only become proeminent years after the death of its author, a sentiment so particular to us, modern-day men, experiencing globalisation in its peak. i’ll tease you people with the description of trude:
the first time we tried a reading circle, it didn’t quite really— well, it blew! 
But as the guy who suggested it in the first place, I’d also like to see it working. 
Fair enough, want us to give it another try? What book do you suggest that we read? 
lets make a list out of this! 
* A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle
