Sign up with GoogleSaalocin Rekked
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I would like to start sort of a REAL book club, online, Where we take serious literature and read it and discuss it; Is there any interest for such a thing?
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English Literature Discussion
- Thread starter Saalocin Rekked
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I would be interested. What did you have in mind to begin with?
Saalocin Rekked
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What about Spike Milligan, wayne? I just got DH Lawrence's John Thomas & Lady Jane According to Spike Milligan. Re-reading it after like 12 years
Gosh, has it been that long??
Ok considering the mention made of Spike Milligan, why do we not start with a short, and easy to read; timeless classic.
What do you guys think, we can read Mary Shelly's Frankenstein(The Modern Prometheus) (1831 edition 'final')
and compare it to Spike Milligan's version or if that is too much reading we can compare it to Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein(motion picture). Which is considered the best rendition of the original story to date.
Frankenstein does not have copyright on any more so, a digital version can be made available for those who cant get hold of a copy or who do not want to spend money (cheap copy can be bought from penguin for about R30)
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rwenzori
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Morning Wayne!
rwenzori
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I might be wrong here.
I think it is going to be difficult to get people to go off and read a specific book, just to discuss it here. Personally, I have plenty of other books I intend to read before a book like Frankenstein - I do have a paper copy I read decades ago ( memory fails ) that I can't find, it's not the type of book I tend to read, and I HATE trying to read a book on a screen. To discuss a book constructively one has to have read it fairly recently. Maybe it's just me, as I read hundreds of books but have a useless memory.
I do like this idea from Saalocin Rekked of book discussions though.
Might I suggest something along the following lines:
Having been reminded of Catch-22, I'll try and do one on that.
Do we have to be restricted to pure "Eng. Lit."? I know there are some avid readers of Military History on forum - Alan, Nanfeishen, me (LOL! ) - can we include those?
Any thoughts?
I think it is going to be difficult to get people to go off and read a specific book, just to discuss it here. Personally, I have plenty of other books I intend to read before a book like Frankenstein - I do have a paper copy I read decades ago ( memory fails ) that I can't find, it's not the type of book I tend to read, and I HATE trying to read a book on a screen. To discuss a book constructively one has to have read it fairly recently. Maybe it's just me, as I read hundreds of books but have a useless memory.
I do like this idea from Saalocin Rekked of book discussions though.
Might I suggest something along the following lines:
- if you feel like discussing a book, write a short "report" on it
- state a bit about the author, period, relevant background
- state a brief description of what the book is about
- state why you think others should read it, or ignore it as crap
- state your questions or criticisms
Having been reminded of Catch-22, I'll try and do one on that.
Do we have to be restricted to pure "Eng. Lit."? I know there are some avid readers of Military History on forum - Alan, Nanfeishen, me (LOL! ) - can we include those?
Any thoughts?
rwenzori
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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Catch-22 is my favourite novel by miles, so here goes!
Background
It is a hilarious, satirical, yet tragic book about war and about the human condition. It was published in 1961 after having been "assembled" from screeds and screeds of disjointed manuscripts by Heller's editor. Consequently it is somewhat disjointed and the "plot" is not that easy to follow. No matter!
It is set on American bomber base in the Mediterranean in 1943 and its "hero" is a bombardier named Yossarian. The "catch" is the catch that prevents anyone getting out of flying bombing missions, even though the number of missions required to complete a tour keeps getting raised:
The Book
The novel spends most of its time exploring the paradox of the catch in its numerous guises, much of it through the absurd characters that populate it. The first half or so has chapters about these characters, after which the novel gets somewhat darker as the tragic implications of living in a catch-world make themselves apparent.
The catch is everywhere. The war is effectively run by an ex-PFC who happens to sit at the communications hub of the military campaign and who alters orders to suit his whim. Ex-PFC Wintergreen wants to rise to the rank of ex-General. Yossarian's squadron commander - Major Major Major - can only be seen when he is out, but cannot be seen when he is in. His dad made a lot of money by not growing alfalfa - the more he didn't grow, the more the government paid him.
Capitalism also comes in for a bit of stick. The mess officer, Milo Minderbinder, buys eggs for 7c and sells them for 5c, and makes a massive profit. He even contracts with the enemy for the unit to bomb its own base, for a tidy fee. But "everyone benefits" because they are part of Milo's syndicate, even though such "benefits" are not apparent, especially when your own bombs are raining down on you.
There are many wonderful characters. Dori Duz is a "lively tart" who likes to humiliate men with her superior sexual techniques. Lt. Scheisskopf lives for parades and wants to nail troops' elbows to their sides to get them to march properly. There's the dead man living in Yossarian's tent.
Everything is circular. Everything is paradoxical.
Why Read It?
If you have never read it, do yourself a favour and read it. It is incredibly funny for the most part, and will have you laughing out loud if you have the slightest sense of humour. The way in which Heller brings the catch into everything is stunningly clever. But it also has its tragic moments - the most poignant of which is Yossarian trying in vain to help Snowden whose guts are pouring out after Snowden is hit by a chunk of flak on a mission.
On the surface it is about war, but it is extensible to our experiences of paradox, bureaucracy and absurdity in our daily lives. Is there any way out of the catch? Can one escape its clutches?
The opening words of the novel are "It was love at first sight." Appropriate.
EDIT. Ooops! I forgot the Lepage Glue Gun! How can you not read a book with that in it??? -
Catch-22 is my favourite novel by miles, so here goes!
Background
It is a hilarious, satirical, yet tragic book about war and about the human condition. It was published in 1961 after having been "assembled" from screeds and screeds of disjointed manuscripts by Heller's editor. Consequently it is somewhat disjointed and the "plot" is not that easy to follow. No matter!
It is set on American bomber base in the Mediterranean in 1943 and its "hero" is a bombardier named Yossarian. The "catch" is the catch that prevents anyone getting out of flying bombing missions, even though the number of missions required to complete a tour keeps getting raised:
The Book
The novel spends most of its time exploring the paradox of the catch in its numerous guises, much of it through the absurd characters that populate it. The first half or so has chapters about these characters, after which the novel gets somewhat darker as the tragic implications of living in a catch-world make themselves apparent.
The catch is everywhere. The war is effectively run by an ex-PFC who happens to sit at the communications hub of the military campaign and who alters orders to suit his whim. Ex-PFC Wintergreen wants to rise to the rank of ex-General. Yossarian's squadron commander - Major Major Major - can only be seen when he is out, but cannot be seen when he is in. His dad made a lot of money by not growing alfalfa - the more he didn't grow, the more the government paid him.
Capitalism also comes in for a bit of stick. The mess officer, Milo Minderbinder, buys eggs for 7c and sells them for 5c, and makes a massive profit. He even contracts with the enemy for the unit to bomb its own base, for a tidy fee. But "everyone benefits" because they are part of Milo's syndicate, even though such "benefits" are not apparent, especially when your own bombs are raining down on you.
There are many wonderful characters. Dori Duz is a "lively tart" who likes to humiliate men with her superior sexual techniques. Lt. Scheisskopf lives for parades and wants to nail troops' elbows to their sides to get them to march properly. There's the dead man living in Yossarian's tent.
Everything is circular. Everything is paradoxical.
Why Read It?
If you have never read it, do yourself a favour and read it. It is incredibly funny for the most part, and will have you laughing out loud if you have the slightest sense of humour. The way in which Heller brings the catch into everything is stunningly clever. But it also has its tragic moments - the most poignant of which is Yossarian trying in vain to help Snowden whose guts are pouring out after Snowden is hit by a chunk of flak on a mission.
On the surface it is about war, but it is extensible to our experiences of paradox, bureaucracy and absurdity in our daily lives. Is there any way out of the catch? Can one escape its clutches?
The opening words of the novel are "It was love at first sight." Appropriate.
EDIT. Ooops! I forgot the Lepage Glue Gun! How can you not read a book with that in it??? -
Last edited:
waynegohl
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rwenzori just reading what you have written here sounds like a good book to read, i will look out for it.
has anyone read Stand Up Virgin Soldiers, i read it years and years ago and from what i can recall it was a funny book and wanna get my hands on a copy again.
has anyone read Stand Up Virgin Soldiers, i read it years and years ago and from what i can recall it was a funny book and wanna get my hands on a copy again.
Saalocin Rekked
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yes by the same name... enjoyed it immensely! very dark.
How would this work if we are all reading different books? For this to work we would need do this in the manner suggested by the OP. Anyway, we would need a minimum of maybe ten people to make any discussion interesting...and it seems as though that might be hard to achieve due to a lack of interest.
Saalocin Rekked
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Thats the problem, unfortunately like mentioned, people do not want to read a prescribed book, who has the time these days... but if we don't make it orderly, it just wont work it will be harder for us to find 10 ppl who have read the same book recently than to convince 10ppl to read the same book, also if we just review books then it is the same as what book clubs have been watered down to in our modern times.