Guardian Newspaper 1000 Novels discussion

We have a draw for the Comedy read!
The Uncommon Reader (120 pages) and Lucky Jim (251 pages) both won 8 votes, so we are going to offer the choice of reading either book or both.
Please come and join us in the read for June and the discussion threads.

Hi all, we are going to try something different to try to generate more discussion.
I'm going to include a weekly schedule for this book.
Each week I will post discussion questions, obviously feel free to discuss anything else about the book that is important to you.

June 1-7: Chapters 1- 6
June 8-14: Chapters 7- 12
June 15- 21: Chapters 13- 18
June 22- 30: Chapters 19- 25

Definitely in for this one.I love the idea of breaking the discussions down into segments.

Week 1

My thoughts on week one. Not really sure about this book yet. Any thoughts?

(view spoiler)[Jim Dixon is a history lecturer at a college, his area of interest is medieval history which he chose because that seemed the easiest to study.
He is 'involved' with Margaret because it was easier to be so than not. He seems like he takes the easy out in life and struggles with confrontation.

Margaret lives with the Welchs after a suicide attempt following a break up. She appears emotionally fragile and is only sometimes considered attractive.

Thus far the Welchs have provided the most comic relief, with professor welch's obsession with music.

I feel like I'm still getting into this book (hide spoiler)]

Lisa wrote: " Week 1

My thoughts on week one. Not really sure about this book yet. Any thoughts? ..."


I plan to start today.

Leslie wrote: "I plan to start today."

Great. Chat soon then. Enjoy

Me too

I feel differently about Margaret than you did Lisa - (view spoiler)[she strikes me as emotionally manipulative. Jim clearly is someone who looks for the easiest way but he is also trying to be considerate of her feelings (hide spoiler)].

I tried to pick this up from my library, but they didn't have it. I got Things Fall Apart, and The Uncommon Reader tho :).

I remember reading this when I was a college professor...actually, during the last year when I was a college professor. Coincidence? :)

Fun :) What did you teach, Dennis? (and did you take sides? which one?)

Sounds like a cute/fun book. I was disappointed my library was a bust on this one.

Dennis wrote: "I remember reading this when I was a college professor...actually, during the last year when I was a college professor. Coincidence? :)"

What were you teaching? And your thoughts on this book?

Leslie wrote: "I feel differently about Margaret than you did Lisa - [spoilers removed]."

The more I read, the more I agree with you Leslie. I'm finding it hard to like any of the characters right now.

I am REALLY struggling to get into this book. And I want to like it.

Lisa wrote: "I am REALLY struggling to get into this book. And I want to like it...."

It may just not be the right time for you to read this. Sometimes I struggle with a book, then pick it up months (or years) later and whiz through it.

Lisa, I was teaching political science at a small New England college. Sounds idyllic, right? But faculty were vain and insecure at the same time, and students were just moving toward what I gather is the current attitude: that professors are hired hands, there to wait on them. "At least I'm better off than these people," I thought, reading the book. Some watch soap operas to feel the same way.

Leslie wrote: "It may just not be the right time for you to read this. Sometimes I struggle with a book, then pick it up mo..."

I started to enjoy it!

Week 2
(view spoiler)[Jim's contact and relationship with Christine has progressed, with them even forming a conspiracy against Bernard.
Leslie, the more I see of Margaret, the more I agree with you. Very conniving young lady.
Jim is one of those people who watches the world, picking up on its absurdities and enjoying the joke.

Something that caught my eye, Amis refers to atrocities in this world post Middle Ages and includes the South African government. (This was written in the 1950s- so old Apartheid regime) It was interesting as a SAn to see that critique 50 years later; to see thoughts from people in other countries as opposed to my own and to be reassured to think that Amis would no longer be able to say this:-) Yay! (hide spoiler)]

Week 3
The more I see of Jim, the funnier I find him.
He is now flirting with Christine & annoying the Wech's
Obviously, we are headed for trouble.

Week 4
Any thoughts as to the showdowns in this section:
catch pole & Jim
Margaret and Jim
Bertrand and Jim

3 weeks later, I'm finally making a start.

Enjoy
Stick it out though, it takes a while to become funny. When it does, it's hilarious.

Enjoy
Stick it out though, it takes a while to become funny. When it does, it's hilarious.

I love it, I find Jim hilarious.

I'm totally bowled over by this. About halfway through and completely in awe.
Jim is a bit of a dreaming drifter who seems to be a bit hapless and unconnected to most people. There hasn't been any mention of any real friendships, just colleagues and acquaintances. I get the feeling for all his joviality he is quite lonely. His emotional entanglements with women are on the surface laughable but deep down I feel he is trying to reach out to someone. He is kind-hearted although not that forward at apologising for his misdemeanours and mishaps (re- the Welch's party).
I completely agree with Leslie and Lisa about Margaret and her scheming manipulation of Jim. She seems an awkward, disruptive character and I don't like her one bit.I did empathise initially when we find out about her attempted (feigned) suicide. All screams of attention-seeking, not witnessed and contrived to be found by neighbours by playing loud music.
Anyways, I'm off for more.

Just finished. What a Lucky fella Jim is. A brilliant book. I adored his love of drink and from now on, every time I've over indulged on tipples I shall consider myself 'feeling a little spendid' rather than plain drunk. Guffawed my way through this, immensely enjoyable.

I read this one last year, and what I do remember is Jim's hilarious drunken lecture at the end of the book. I think I laughed out loud during that!

Part of my (extensive) catch up on group reads that I missed. Here's my GR review.

*****

What a joy it can be to have one's preconceptions about a classic novel utterly confounded. I'd always allowed my thoughts about the fairly unlikeable views and behaviour of Amis Sr and Amis Jr to cloud by judgement about their writing.

Because of this I had always avoided Lucky Jim, assuming it to be a mix of just the worst traits of Evelyn Waugh's farces and Iris Murdoch's cloth ear for dialogue with a hefty sprinkling of 1950s prejudice, misogyny and snobbishness. Given what I'd heard of Amis' poor behaviour and snobbish attitudes, I was convinced that book could never reflect the life it aimed to portray with the realism in the likes of Billy Liar, Saturday Night Sunday Morning, A Kind of Loving or A Taste of Honey.

But...

But, I was wrong. It is brilliant. It took me 50 pages to grudgingly realise just how good this book was. It wasn't what I expected it to be. This was not Ian Carmicheal foolishly flopping drunkenly from bed to bar to lectern. This was something darker, deeper and altogether wiser. And all the time so very funny indeed. It's particularly good with the ennui and centreless disappointments with life, the tendency to be pushed by circumstances into the "just about enough" life, where nothing really gives joy, nothing really gives misery. Life is grey.

Think Sartre's "Nausea" with better jokes.

So, sorry Kingsley Amis, you're a far better writer than I ever expected you to be. But, by all accounts, you weren't particularly pleasant.