[asmb] Book Club discussion

-placeholder until i put the first post together like the others-

I've been wanting to read these! I've never read them before. Should be a fun classic to get into. =] I'll probably start it in a few days. I've gotta finish up two books before I can start it.

I haven't read them either. I wasn't able to get this edition but I got both books separately. I'll pick them up on Monday or Tuesday. I should be able to get them done by the middle of the month.

I've never read them either which is why I nominated them. It just seems pike stories that everyone needs to actually read once in their lives. Oh and yay for the book I nominated being picked. It's the first one!

<.< >.>

I have Lewis Carroll's complete works in a leather bound edition. It's sitting beside Poe's complete works in leather. They smell good. :| :D

I think I read them when I was 6 or 7 but I haven't revisited them since so I'm looking forward to bookcase spelunking for that text once I'm through with Good Omens [it's not a slow read, I've just been enjoying it].

Ooh I'd love a leather bound copy! Barns and Nobel has classics like that bound in complete works with the gold trim on the pages. I love books like that. If I ever start a family I'd have books in that form to pass down but also to read aloud as a family.

Oh and happy bookshelf spelunking! That's always fun.

I believe that's where I got those from but years ago because the ones I have are straight classical design on the front while I think the ones they currently offer have faceplates on the front.

I really like 'old' books like that too. :) They can make even plastic stacking shelves look almost classy. :D And they also can take a beating and still be a book. Been through several moves, numerous flood events [which at the very least required grabbing books and putting them up a few feet to be safe], and a fire and they've survived it all. They'll be something to pass on to the niecelette or any other spawn that might crop up via siblings.

And I know which shelf its on...the one with all the philosophy and Stephen King books. :D

These are fun books, I'm glad we are doing them.
I think everyone will be rather surprised at how mature they really are.
Don't let Disney fool you. :D

I finally have the time to participate. :) But i have already read both of these. About two years ago. I didn't like them. They were boring to me. I kept thinking about the disney movie and how the movie seemed way more creative and interesting. So since i don't want to re-read them, I'm going to read Hid Dark Materials series again.

I haven't started either these. >_< I've been so frickin' slow at reading the past few weeks. Oye.

I'm on page 68 of the first book(I got it in two books). I think they're boring too. My problems so far are: I think Lewis Carroll had a very good imagination, too bad he can't write for shit. My second problem is, I don't like Alice, she's annoying and rather stupid. I will try to finish them just to be able to say I did, but so far, no joy.

Jk I'm so glad I'm not the only one in a reading slump. I haven't read anything new since finishing Feed. I haven't even picked up a book in over a week. It's sad really

I'm not reading much either. Sometimes I just don't. Since I last posted I've read a whole 18 pages in Alice. I just don't care right now. I'm going to have to start soon though, or return my library books unread.

I'm in the same predicament but with another book. I've had it for 3 weeks and its due tomorrow so I'm tryin to finish so I can turn it in. And its not that I dislike the book it just that it hadn't elicited my 'omg I have to know what happens so I'm locking myself in my room' response. But I'm going to do nothing but read today so that I should finish unless I become apathetic and just return it half read

I always liked Louis Carrol's "voice". I generally
prefer the older style of English to modern though.
As for Alice being rather dumb, that is a cultural thing. When this was written, little girls in particular were regarded as flighty and of less than sound mental faculties.

It is much the same situation as people calling Mark Twain a racist for his character of N-word Jim in Huckleberry Finn, or the various people of ill repute in the secluded towns of an H.P. Lovecraft story.

I guess that cultural belief annoys me then. It's probably a personal problem. I have progressed all the way to page 98 now. I slog through it in short bursts.

Twain and Lovecraft don't bother me. I believe Twain was showing the reality of the times he lived in. And Lovecraft just entertains me with his weirdness.

I haven't read Lovecraft yet [got a big ol' book of him on the shelves waiting to be devoured]. But perhaps the difference in Carroll's vs. Twain's cultural voice is that Twain is more recent. American folksie is still young to many and it's sorta in our blood stream whereas the Victorian writing can sometimes be a little too distant to fall into right off the bat. Plus, a lot of people get forced to read both in high school and / or college which can take away the joy someone might find if they actually found it for themselves. For example, I had to read Twain in high school and to me, it's ok but nothing awesome. On the other hand, I read Dickens myself and find myself having to pace my classics habit or risk running through everything in a single go. :D

I fall into the Victorian crap way too easily. Writing with a feathered quill pen on a daily basis probably doesn't help much either. :D

Mary wrote: "I'm on page 68 of the first book(I got it in two books). I think they're boring too. My problems so far are: I think Lewis Carroll had a very good imagination, too bad he can't write for shit. ..."

you pretty much summed up my feelings about the books.

Disclaimer : this isn't to dump on anyone since I think we've previously established that we all have different tastes in books. :D I feel the need to post said disclaimer for reasons not steming from here. :|

Anyway, kinda a tangent discussion query here. For those that didn't care for Carroll, is it the period writing that you rubs you wrong, like you don't really care for other types of writing from that era? And related, what would you say was your childhood home like? Not emotional! :D Physical. Would you have considered it on the modern side of things, country, wish-you-had-electricity? :D

I started thinking about my library and the crap I've got around here. I live in a Hobbit Hole surrounded by books, paper, ink, projects that lend themselves to only being made by hand. And for some reason I also started to think about outhouses and how a lot of my more favorite reads are 'classical' in nature - 'old' settings or kingdom-like set-ups, less modern convinences / more do-it-yer-dang-self situations. My brain skips around sometimes. :D Hate westerns with a passion almost as strong as that against mush novels but will read about someone hunting through a woods full of strange creatures on horseback with a bow-n-arrow for hours on end [living in Valdemar again... :D ]. Even the Harry Potter novels kinda fall into that category since they don't have electricity and relie on fire places for heat and letter writing for most communications. And it sorta clicked that when I was growing up, it wasn't in a purely modern setting. It wasn't Little House on the Prairie but it was definitely on the Luddite side of the convience scale where you often ended up fending for yourself with winters spent concerned with making sure the wood stove was stoked properely for the night and that if you didn't have something, you either substituted or made do without. I even know the horrors of ye ol' outhouse. :D And not the ones they set up in parks - the two-seater with the moon-cut on the door kind. The only thing modern about that one was that someone had attached a modern toilet seat to the hole so you didn't have to worry about splinters. :D So I grew up in a low-modern environment and have a general preference for classical type books, even the boring ones [provided they do have some forward movement in the story, stagnanted stuff pisses me off too]. I was wondering if those of us here who would profess high-modern type living have a preference for quicker type books? Like if modern day living has done more than just shorten the time it takes to do something but also attention spans in general.

Book lovers in general would probably be an anomaly anyway since if we like something, we'll read it even if it's a 1,000 pages with zero pictures. :D But I'd still be interested if there are any break-downs and I think the like-dislike of this particular book might be a decent jumping off point.

I grew up in a poor, sort of backward, home myself. My dad still had a eight track player when I was young. (Have any of you even seen one of those?) We did live in town though so we had a furnace and indoor facilities. We didn't have cable for the longest time, etc.

I don't think that's why I didn't like Alice. I like historical novels (and fantasies)that are sometimes written in mannered or period language. I have patience for long books though I do like s quick read on occasion. It depends on my mood. As far as books and crap around the house, I have a mix. I love my modern computer but I also have tons of books. I still haven't made the investment of buying a reader though I think I'd like one. But I doubt I'll ever switch over completely. I'll always have books.

So I guess what I can say about not liking Carroll that I haven't said already isn't much. I just don't care for his style. He has abrupt transitions and something about his writing makes my eyes glaze over.

That said, I am going to read Through the Looking Glass. I want to because it's a classic and I'd like to be able to know what's actually being referred to when Alice is referenced. Plus to be fair, I did get a little more used to Carroll's style as I neared the end of the first book. I still found it annoying but I was becoming more accustomed. Reading the sequel should be less painful(I hope).

One more thing, are we going to have a book for May or are we skipping a month?

Katt_goddess wrote: "Disclaimer : this isn't to dump on anyone since I think we've previously established that we all have different tastes in books. :D I feel the need to post said disclaimer for reasons not steming f..."

To answer your first question, i definitely grew up in a modern home. That being said, my reasons for not liking the books have nothing to do with the time period. I've read quite a few books written in the 1800s and some i liked, some i didn't. Like you, i much prefer books set in the times of ye olde outhouse. The majority of my books probably have stories set way back when or in alternate realities or whatever. I don't think modern day living has done anything to affect the types of book i like. As long as the story is interesting and i'm able to like at least one character i'm set. And if the story is strung out into a long, multi-book behemoth, even better.

Mary wrote: "I guess that cultural belief annoys me then. It's probably a personal problem. I have progressed all the way to page 98 now. I slog through it in short bursts.

Twain and Lovecraft don't bother ..."

I'm not excusing it, to be honest it kind of annoys
me as well, but I studied this kind of phenomenon
in writing, and I've come to the conclusion that writers really just reflect the age in which they write. Even when they try to write in a manner similar to a more colloquial voice, the modern culture still manifests itself in a lack of the subtle societal inclusions of that colloquial voice.

A great example would be people trying to write Lovecraft, ad out of habit not including the blatantly racist and sexist attitudes of the time,
or worse yet, purposely including them to a degree that is much more pronounced than it actually would have been.