Book Snails Book Group discussion

We are also offering the classic The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. You can read it for free from Project Gutenberg. Here is the link...
https://www.gutenberg.org/

Just use the search engine on the left side of the Home Page to find the title. Come back and discuss it here. Happy reading!

Nice! I’ll finish one of my books first and then start this one. Very curious about this one :-D

Let me know when you’re starting, Pien! I’m working on The Great Alone but can easily pick this one up whenever!

Didn't take long for me to finish this one. I really enjoyed it, but I'll wait to discuss it until others have read it.😊

Vicky, you’re done already! It’s not a very large book then, I think? Or else you must be a turbo snail? ;-)

Erin, I ‘ll let you know! I guess in a few days I’m ready. Nice to buddy read again with you.
Anyone else interested to join us?

Sounds good to me! It is a short one and should be pretty quick, though I’m planning to read it on the side of my other read.

Pien wrote: "Vicky, you’re done already! It’s not a very large book then, I think? Or else you must be a turbo snail? ;-)

Erin, I ‘ll let you know! I guess in a few days I’m ready. Nice to buddy read again wit..."

Yeah, it's a short story.😉

Yes I'm interested ! I have a paperback edition that also includes other stories by Stevenson. I think I may try a few chapters on the gutenberg site. Do any of you like to read about the author before or after you read a story?

I hardly ever look for details about the author. Did you find something interesting about him, Fred?
I’m ready to read this book, how about you all?

I can probably start it on Monday.

Pien wrote: "I hardly ever look for details about the author. Did you find something interesting about him, Fred?
I’m ready to read this book, how about you all?"

I enjoy looking for clues about a writer's past and their personality in their writing style and the subjects they choose to write about. I'm probably chasing rainbows Pien. I've started reading both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (on the first chapter), and Around the World in 80 Days ( on chapter 15)on my notebook computer and I'm enjoying it. I haven't checked Jules Verne's biography yet . I love the Gutenberg Project site, the print is easy to read , I can have multiple books open, and I don't need a book marker!

Erin wrote: "I can probably start it on Monday."

Hi Erin, what did you think of The Great Alone ? I read it last December.

Fred wrote: "Erin wrote: "I can probably start it on Monday."

Hi Erin, what did you think of The Great Alone ? I read it last December."

Meh... it was bearable, but I didn’t really enjoy it. I don’t think Kristin Hannah is an author I’ll be reading again (I hated The Nightingale) 😕 I just can’t connect with her characters. And this one in particular felt like it was full of cliches.

Erin wrote: "Fred wrote: "Erin wrote: "I can probably start it on Monday."

Hi Erin, what did you think of The Great Alone ? I read it last December."

Meh... it was bearable, but I didn’t really enjoy it. I do..."

I didn't care for it either, I look for something more in a book than a mere story.

I start reading this book today. Yay!
Because it’s pretty short, shall we say we will try to finish it in a week instead of breaking it down in to-read parts? (This can’t be the proper English sentence, sorry!)
Are you okay with that?

Pien wrote: "I start reading this book today. Yay!
Because it’s pretty short, shall we say we will try to finish it in a week instead of breaking it down in to-read parts? (This can’t be the proper English sent..."

Are you referring to Around The World In 80 Days ? Your English is far better than my Dutch, Pien !

Thanks Fred :-)
I ment Jekyll and Hyde in a week. Do you agree with that?

I got behind in reading The Three Musketeers for my stitching book club 🤦🏼‍♀️
But I’ll try to squeeze this one in while I catch up on the other! I’ll go make myself a reading breakdown...

Pien wrote: "Thanks Fred :-)
I ment Jekyll and Hyde in a week. Do you agree with that?"

Sounds good to me Pien, I will try to read Jekyll and Hyde this week. I'm going to read Around the World in 80 Days also.

Hi! How are the three musketeers and Around the world?
I’ve finished Dr. Jekyll and I won’t go into it storywise, but I had a bit of a hard time to understand the book. I couldn’t find a free Dutch translation and in English this old fashioned way of writing... wow. It’s beautiful but often I had to read a sentence twice to get what it was actually saying and I think I missed pretty much of the subtleties in the book. Some things I still don’t understand. So, I’m curious how you felt about it and have a few questions!

I’m having a somewhat difficult time understanding Three Musketeers since it is a translation and is also written in old fashioned writing. Fortunately, the reading has been broken down over 4 months so I can take it slowly. It is an interesting story, though the main character d’Artagnan is a bit of an idiot.

And yes, Jekyll and Hyde was not a particularly easy read either, though I did finish it in 2 days. It was certainly interesting and I’m glad to now know the whole story (because who hasn’t heard of Jekyll and Hyde?) I’d happily do my best to answer any questions you have, Pien!

Thanks Erin, I’ll wait until I’m shure Fred has finished it as well.
And to wish you all a happy Easter, in these hard times, a nice and very safe visit to our Keukenhof


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a0VXJL1...

Happy Easter Pien! I hope you all are still well!
Thanks for sharing the video! Those flowers are gorgeous! 😍🌷

Pien wrote: "Thanks Erin, I’ll wait until I’m shure Fred has finished it as well.
And to wish you all a happy Easter, in these hard times, a nice and very safe visit to our Keukenhof


https://m.youtube.com/wa..."
Hi Pien, please feel free to discuss Dr. Jekyll . I am well into the story, but I took a break when the weather turned warm and sunny here. I've been repotting plants with some of our older potting soil. We are very sorry to hear about the cancellation of the flower shows . My family and I have fond memories of visiting Keukenhof for the spring flower shows . I would love to read your and Erin's thoughts on Dr. Jekyll, and thank you for sharing the video of Den Haag !

Hi Erin and Fred, yes me and my family are still doing well, I hope you are too.
How wonderful you’ve been here Fred, and enjoyed the flower show. Did you hear the farmers have cut off al the tulips’ ‘heads’ because too many people came to watch the colored fields, although we’re ment to stay in? The mayor of Lisse even said: they will be here next year to watch and the next and the next... But still.
But online Keukenhof is still there!
Did you visit many places in Europe?

And Erin, how are the musketeers going? That’s a pretty difficult read too? I tried War of the worlds about a year ago and had to quit. There were complete pages I didn’t understand!
Jekyll was easier but still, I missed a lot I think.
Did you get why Jekyll got motivated to give his worse side the chance to come out?
And what’s a cheval glass and why was it so important? And why were the lawyer and servant so scared coming in, and seeing the room? To me the room didn’t sound scary, with tea waiting and all? I understand why coming in was scary in the first place, but seeing the room what shocked them so?

If you get toooo bogged down with J&H.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_8NV...

(it gets better after the 20-second intro)

Who knows, maybe the quarantined kids might get into it this way?

Hi Pien!

I’ve got one more chapter of Three Musketeers to read before our third discussion on Sunday. It’s manageable at a snail’s pace! But I can’t read it when I’m at all tired because it takes all my brain power to comprehend it.

As for your J&H questions:

Dr. Jekyll knew how he needed to act to remain an upstanding, respected citizen. But he had “frivolous and indecent” tendencies that he needed to repress in order to do so. That’s why he was inclined to “split” himself and give his darker side a chance to come out. It was a release.

I googled cheval glass myself because I wasn’t familiar with the term. Turns out I have one! It’s a long mirror on a stand that allows you to adjust the angle. It was important to Dr. Jekyll because it allowed him to see how his form changed when he became Mr. Hyde. It was especially important when he started transforming spontaneously so he could keep track of which form he was in.

And I believe Utterson and Poole were shocked upon entering the room because they knew it was Mr. Hyde who occupied it and they suspected Hyde had murdered Jekyll. They expected to find a murderer and a gruesome murder scene. (Hence their fear about entering.) Therefore, finding the room pleasantly in order was a surprise.

Hope that helps! Let me know if anything still needs to be cleared up for you!

Thanks for explaining, that definite helped me a lot!
How did you feel about the book and the story? Like you, I never really knew what it was about exactly. I thought it was one man with a split personality, but when I was reading, with them being so different in height and faces, I didn’t understand what was going on! And I Had To Know the explanation, which proves how much the story grabbed me. Most books I finish because it’s an okay story, but when I Have To Know, it’s a very good book.
I also liked the characters (as far as I understood the descriptions). They weren’t perfect, but very likable. That made them believable. Only... That was a me-he-hen’s world! Obviously. Where were the women?

Pien wrote: "Hi Erin and Fred, yes me and my family are still doing well, I hope you are too.
How wonderful you’ve been here Fred, and enjoyed the flower show. Did you hear the farmers have cut off al the tulip..."
Hi Pien, we travelled extensively, my wife and our 2 daughters. My oldest daughter planned a retirement trip for my wife and I about 4 years ago. We did a trip in mid-December visiting the Christmas markets in Stuttgart Nurnburg, Regensburg, Saltsburg and Vienna. My daughter has been to Netherlands twice and she and her husband like to rent bicycles and visit places that way. We lived in Germany in the late 80's and traveled as often as we could. We also visited France, England, Holland and Switzerland.
We have a tulip festival here in Washington State known as The Skajit Valley Tulip Festival, but I don't think it was held this year because of the pandemic. :-)

Pien wrote: "Thanks for explaining, that definite helped me a lot!
How did you feel about the book and the story? Like you, I never really knew what it was about exactly. I thought it was one man with a split ..."

I enjoyed it, though it was strange to me that the potion could cause a complete physical transformation. I always knew that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person but didn’t know how or why that was the case.
I do wonder how I would have felt about the reading difficulty if I hadn’t been reading Three Musketeers at the same time. Three Musketeers is absolutely more challenging.
And yes, I never even registered the fact that there are basically no women until you mentioned it. But with this being such a short story with only a handful of characters, I don’t really miss having any.