Jordan’s Comments (group member since Jan 18, 2015)

Jordan’s comments from the Return of the Rogue Readers group.

If they try to remake the LotR trilogy I will chain myself to the studio doors in protest. I hope they NEVER do that, at least not while I am alive.

Amy, did you get to watch the movies? I'm curious to hear what you think. They are probably my favorite film adaptation of book series. Galadriel is a cool character, and if you liked her you should dig into the lore behind the books. She is actually over 7000 years old. To give you some perspective, Gandalf is about 2000 years old.

That is a little deceptive though, as Galadriel, Gandalf, Sauron, Saurman, and many others "lived" before they came to Middle-Earth. Their ages are measured in how long they were in Middle-Earth, and most of them were created by the "gods" before time began. I have not read every piece of Tolkien lore, but in what I have read I have not seen a figure for how old that universe is. It could be they are thousands of years older than we think, or maybe millions.

Gretchen, I understand what you mean by the narrator doing the heavy lifting. I tried to read The Silmarillion on and off over the course of my life and couldn't keep up with it. I was finally able to finish it in audiobook form.

Ryan, I understand where you are coming from too. When you have seen the movie, or read a book prior to listening to the audiobook version you already have a sound in your mind for the characters. Sometimes when I listen to the audio version of a book I read in print form years ago it is a little difficult to get into at first, but that almost always passes.

What did you guys think of Tom Bombadil?

Hello everyone, I hope all are well and ready to discuss this book!

As usual, I listened to the audiobook. The narrator did a good job with almost everything, better than I would have, but the song Galadriel sings at the end was delivered with some difficulty on his part. Other than that I thought it was well done.

This fictional universe is one of my favorites. Tolkien created so much depth, there is so much do dig into if you are motivated to do so. Beyond the mythos of this story is the rich history of Middle Earth, the elves, the gods, the various creatures, etc. Tolkien even created his own fully fleshed-out languages for this world!

This is the first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the story of the Fellowship continues. I am eager to hear what everyone thought of this!

Gretchen, I too have my copy and I am ready to roll. Given the chaos of the world, perhaps we should give this one some extra time? How about Sunday, May 17th? That gives us about two months.

Ryan, I support this decision, even if you broke protocol by starting your own post, haha. Do you live in Steubenville?

Audiobooks are the way to go, Gretchen. I'd never get through a tenth of the books I read if not for audiobooks. I have an hour commute each way to work, and combined with mowing the grass, exercising, and the other monotonous tasks of life it seemed like I was wasting a lot of time. Audiobooks help make the best of those empty hours.

Does anyone intend to read the sequel?

Gretchen, take your time and catch up to the discussion whenever you are able. As Ryan mentioned, I treat deadlines flexibly. haha

Ryan, I agree with your thoughts on the characters being real and the plot not being mundane. There were a few times during this novel where I caught myself thinking "I know this story, I know what will happen next..." only to find the characters acting differently than I expected, and the plot moving in another direction.

In comparison to some of the books we have read in this club this book could be considered mundane. There were no ancient nameless horrors or supernatural creatures, after all. Yet, I was never bored, my predictions were all wrong, and I never went into "auto-pilot" as you call it, Ryan. It was a fresh experience and I enjoyed it.

I too listened to the audiobook and was not quite sure what to make of your concern over the writing style, Gretchen. After reading your comment I looked into it and it seems we lost some of the artistic intent in the conversion to an audiobook. I've read Saramago took an unconventional approach to punctuation. Perhaps you or Ryan can fill us in on what that experience was like.

Danielle, the Doctor's Wife interested me too. Initially, I thought she was just a literary tool, someone to progress the plot. As she took a more prominent role in the story I expected her to go blind at some pivotal moment. When that never happened, and the others gained their sight back, I expected her to go blind at the very end. Like I mentioned earlier, I was not very good at predicting which way this story would unfold, haha.

Speaking of wrong guesses, I expected the blind accountant to play a more significant role in this story. When we became aware of his existence I thought he would rise quickly through the hierarchy and become the king of the blind.

Danielle, your thoughts on the collapse of behavioral norms after the blindness took hold make a lot of sense to me. First, with how the military treats the blind people, then later with the rapists and thugs in the other ward, we see people abandoning the normal rules of society and humanity with little hesitation. Some of them gleefully. I agree that while shocking and horrifying, it was not surprising.

Only a few days late this time, haha. Let's discuss Blindness by Jose Saramago!

Gretchen has chosen Blindness by José Saramago for Book 30.

Blindness was the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all odds.

It's about 350 pages. How does Sunday, July 28th sound for our discussion?

I listened to the audiobook as well. I believe it was from Audible originally, but I use a different audiobook player. After the usual audiobook end credits the interview began. I was cutting grass when the book finished and I didn't get to my phone right away. Otherwise, I may have turned it off before the interview began.

I agree that the narrator did a good job with the voices. Sound-effect comedy (voices, animal sounds, screaming) really isn't my thing anymore, but I still enjoy much of Robins stuff. Hook was probably my favorite, but I saw that at just the right time to be the prime audience. I was just old enough to be able to process movies rather than just absorb them and the magical aspects really pulled me in. On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum was What Dreams May Come, which is a close second.

Assuming all of the material in this book is true, what did you think of the familial dispute after his death?

Let the discussion begin!

My thoughts:
I don't often read biographies or nonfiction of any variety, but I enjoyed this. I didn't know much about Robin Williams beyond his roles in my childhood favorites like Aladdin, Jumanji, and Hook (which I felt like the author didn't pay adequate respect to in this book). I knew he killed himself, but I had no idea of the illness and difficulties he faced. This book helped make him more human in my mind, less of a mythical figure from the past.

I don't think the book was particularly well or poorly written. It seemed pretty average writing, but the subject matter was engaging. The interview with the author at the end really rubbed me the wrong way though. It made the book transition from an interesting glimpse into the life of someone I'd only seen on the screen, to a self-congratulatory ego-fest for the author. Who puts an interview with themselves in their own book?

How's everyone doing? Does anyone need more time or should we begin?

No problemo, we can play it by ear.

You definitely had me, Ryan. I'm glad you have a sense of humor when it comes to politics. That's something missing from the world right now.

Robin: The Definitive Biography of Robin Williams by Dave Itzkoff runs 528 pages. This is a longer book for us, but I expect it will progress quickly. How does May 12 sound?

It's a different kind of book than we normally read and it's a little politically charged, but if this is what Ryan chooses then it shall be our next book! Thank you, everyone, for keeping an open mind even if you have reservations about the author.

The book is about 400 pages long, so let's give it a month. How about Saturday May 4th?

Ryan, I think you are next up. What will we read next?

For me, the biggest factor in my response is that I read to get away from the bitter parts of reality, not to dig into them.

Here is a quote from an interview with Baldwin:

"You know when I was working it out, because it's you blot out of your memory, I think. People think -- seem to think of it as a very harsh and bitter book and in some ways it is. But, umm, in my own mind anyway, it's a very affirmative book and if I may be corny about it, you know, it's meant to be bitter when it's bitter the way medicine is bitter. I'm trying to excavate, if I can use that word, something about what is really happening in America, according to me and from my very limited point of view, my limited vision, which is hardly ever expressed and it's really a book about the nature of the American loneliness and the -- and how dangerous that is. How hard it is here for people to establish any real communion with each other and the chances they have to take in order to do it."

You can read more here, and there is audio!

He says his goal was to excavate, and I think he accomplished that very well.

I think if I were to have read this in the summer, when I had spare serotonin, I might have found the story more digestible.

Looks like we are off to a good start in this discussion! Awesome.

It looks like I may be the only one who felt this way, but I was not a fan of this book. To be honest, I couldn't finish it. I really, REALLY tried. I made it about 60% of the way through and found myself dreading returning to this novel. I don't recall ever having done this before, but I even skipped ahead a couple hours (I listen to audiobooks while working/commuting) and found that new characters had been introduced and new events had unfolded, but it just wasn't working for me.

I gravitate to sci-fi, horror, and fantasy; and I read to get a break from the struggles of life. Another Country was a deep dive into the struggles of life. There is no enemy to defeat, no journey to make, no goal to reach.

I couldn't root for any of the characters, I didn't even like them. Ryan, you said they were flawed, troubled people, but that's at their best. At their worst, they were abusive, cruel, terrible people. I wouldn't want to spend any length of time around any of them.

I don't have your moral qualms, Ryan, so the elements of gay/bisexual sex don't bother me at all (I'm a fan of Clive Barker. Half of his novels include gay sex at some point), but the dishonesty and adultery do. Regardless of their sexual preference, these people were shitty.

I did not like this book, at all (in case that was unclear, haha) but I do think it was a GOOD book. I don't like it because I don't like reading about real people in real, average situations. This book felt very real to me, very genuine and the fact that I couldn't get into it has nothing to do with the quality of the writing (which was great). Sadly, the subject matter just wasn't right for me right now.

I think my negative reaction to this would have been far less pronounced had the book been a poorly written daytime TV drama. I don't know, I feel like I need to come back to this book at a different time and place and try again. I really want to give it a fair shake. I am happy to have been introduced to this novel, even if I didn't like it.

With that being said, I too did not realize this and Beale Street were written by the same author. I have not seen that movie, but it's been suggested to me a few times.

Gretchen, I enjoy the research you bring to these discussions. The idea that Baldwin received a grant to work on this blows my mind. Does that happen at all anymore? Do authors get grants to write? Beyond that, a black man in the 40's got a grant to write fiction? Now and then I come across little rays of sunshine in history, stories that warm it up just a bit here and there.

Amy, this was a change of pace from our more typical books and I am glad you liked it. I support your Netflix idea, although this might be better on HBO. They can get away with more. I think I would watch a miniseries about this book. With music, accurate costumes, and some good acting I think I could get into it.

Ryan, I feel like I need to go back and finish the book since you powered through it for the sake of the club discussion. That's some interesting trivia about the proximity to the time and location of Sleepers. It's interesting to imagine they were so close, yet so far away culturally.

The discussion is now live!

Ok folks, let's begin the discussion! If anyone isn't quite finished, feel free to stop later this week.

What did everyone think?

I do too! Let's give Ryan and Amal a day or so to update us and go from there.