Reading the Chunksters discussion

I thought I'd add this thread where we can put any links relating to astrology or local colour or similar so they will be easier to find.

Some astrology links:
http://www.alwaysastrology.com/mercur...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets...
http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology_p...

A bit of local colour: Historical Hokitika
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYtXk...

Thank you for sharing the links, Nicola! I especially liked the YouTube video. I was almost pronouncing it correctly!

I really loved the bit where they're selling this book. And wow, that book is so physically big! (I am reading the kindle version.)

A map of the parts of the south island depicting the areas mentioned in the book. Warning - don't expand the notes because they do mention things that we haven't read yet. They didn't look to be major spoilers from what I saw from a quick glance but I didn't want to confirm by closer reading.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?...

The earlier goldrush that we've heard people mention was around central Otago (Dunedin). By this stage it had pettered out and people had mostly moved on to the Hokitika region. Getting there was a problem, for, as you can see by looking at the map, there is a huge mountain range which runs right down the entire length of the South Island and these aren't little foothills. Even during the height of summer they have snow. It sounds like there is some sort of vague track between Christchurch and Hokitika by this point in history (originally there wasn't anything) but it clearly isn't anything as definite as an actual road. This is why people who could afford passage by ship came that way.

Nicola, do you know what midnight dawns mean?

A youtube video of a flight over the southern alps during what looks to be summer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO7J6...

Mekki wrote: "Nicola, do you know what midnight dawns mean?"

No, I don't.

Edit. Oh I understand what you mean now I think. I'll respond in the appropriate thread.

thanks, Nicola

Thanks for providing the map. I travelled around NZ for about 3weeks but didn't recall Hokitika. Now I know it and recall driving through there on our way from the Fox Glacier to Abel Tasman. I think because they mentioned Dundedin, I was thinking south shore.

some notes on the planets:

sun and moon are usually called the luminaries.
this novel didn't use the modern planets but just the traditional planets.

so far the houses have been important.
look at the spreadsheet of houses and Interpretation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House...

Mekki wrote: "so far the houses have been important.
look at the spreadsheet of houses and Interpretation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House..."

Ah yes, I noticed previously that the start of the book listed 12 places of interest which I figured must match the 12 star signs. Thanks for that. Now I've just got to try working out which is which...

2. Hokitika - Hoki: to return; tika: direct. A band of Ngai Tahu warriors in search of greenstone were about to attack a Ngāti Wairangi pā, when the chief of the invaders was drowned while trying to cross the river. The leaderless taua then returned directly to their own home.

Te Rau Tauwhare (a greenstone hunter): Aries
Charlie Frost (a banker): Taurus
Benjamin Lowenthal (a newspaperman): Gemini
Edgar Clinch (an hotelier): Cancer
Dick Mannering (a goldfields magnate): Leo
Quee Long (a goldsmith): Virgo
Harald Nilssen (a commission merchant): Libra
Joseph Pritchard (a chemist): Scorpio
Thomas Balfour (a shipping agent): Sagittarius
Aubert Gascoigne (a justice's clerk): Capricorn
Sook Yongsheng (a hatter): Aquarius
Cowell Devlin (a chaplain): Pisces

Mercury = Walter Moody
Jupiter = Alistair Lauderback
Mars = Francis Carver
Saturn = George Shepard
Sun?/Moon? = Anna Wetherell

Lydia Wells = Venus
Emery Staines = sun/moon

Thank you, Nicola (and Mekki) for the character/signs chart. Most helpful!

Eleanor Catton on The Luminaries – books podcast

http://www.theguardian.com/books/audi...