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Ophelia 
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Grim
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 Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:32 pm Post subject:
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Nabokov is a literary icon, I have had Lolita in my sights for some time and would love the opportunity to dive into it.
My only concern would be that perhaps the plot is too mature for the forum?
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Ophelia
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:10 am Post subject:
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By "too mature for the forum" I suppose you are referring tactfully to the main theme?  I see no reason why we couldn't tackle this.
This book has been at the back of my mind for a while, with its reputation of being one of the masterpieces of English literature.
The study of language sounds enticing, and I'm also attracted to the opposition between Europe (Humbert) and America (Lolita, Quilty) and how this is worked out in the novel -which I haven't read yet.
Here is another reference if you don't know the book and want to know what it's about:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lolita/themes.html |
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Grim
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:45 am Post subject:
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That particular link is very useful thank you soo much.
I've ordered the book from Amazon, now we only need a 4th person to agree on Lolita and we can make it official.
Any ideas? |
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Raving Lunatic
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:11 pm Post subject: Lolita
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| I would not mind reading Lolita. I have watch the black and white film verison and would love to read the book. So if you need a 4th vote, I am your girl! |
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Chris OConnor
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:07 am Post subject:
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I agree with Ophelia in that nothing is really too mature for this community. We don't have children as members and there are great books out there with very mature themes.
The Lord of the Rings idea is the most exciting to me, but based on my meager participation in past discussions I don't want to sway the vote too much. Whatever book we choose we should do so VERY soon. And then it would be wonderful if members would help spread the word all over the web. Any site you visit you could leave a little message about the upcoming fiction book discussion - and include a link to BookTalk.org. Would you guys be willing to help in that fashion? |
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NouveauLingua
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:25 pm Post subject: Lolita
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| I've picked up Lolita repeatedly through the years, but I'd really like to have some external motivation to read it. |
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geo
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:27 pm Post subject:
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I'm fairly new to this forum and I don't want to sway the selection process either since I'm not entirely sure I'll participate at this point. It sounds interesting, to be sure, but I find that my reading time is already limited. Regarding the Lord of the Rings, that's quite a mammoth undertaking. Would you divide the discussion into one book at a time? Over how long a period of time would the discussion go?
Thanks in advance for the info. |
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Ophelia
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:38 pm Post subject:
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Geo wrote:
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Regarding the Lord of the Rings, that's quite a mammoth undertaking. Would you divide the discussion into one book at a time? Over how long a period of time would the discussion go?
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I'm a specialist in mammoth books.
Most people prefer short books but I keep suggesting them because that's what I read and I think I've already suggested every short book I know-- this is to say that during the time I've been at BT we've never discussed a long book. If Lord of the Rings was chosen I imagine that we would read the books in chronological order, and plan for a two-month period. |
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Ophelia
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:45 pm Post subject:
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I'll recap my choices here:
1- Lolita.
2- Lord of the Rings. |
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Ophelia
Embodiment of Reason
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:51 pm Post subject:
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Nouveaulingua: welcome to Booktalk!
Would you like to tell us a little about yourself by writing an introduction in the Introduction threads? |
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Saffron
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DWill
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:16 pm Post subject:
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I'd again second Saffron's nomination of The things They Carried. This is not only because it sits on my bookshelf unread. It is recognized, I believe, as the best fiction to emerge about the Vietnam War.
DWill |
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JulianTheApostate
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 11:08 pm Post subject:
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I've enjoy a couple of Isabel Allende's books, but that was over a decade ago.
Another possibility is Neal Stephenson's Anathem:
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| In this follow-up to his historical Baroque Cycle trilogy, which fictionalized the early-18th century scientific revolution, Stephenson (Cryptonomicon) conjures a far-future Earth-like planet, Arbre, where scientists, philosophers and mathematicians—a religious order unto themselves—have been cloistered behind concent (convent) walls. Their role is to nurture all knowledge while safeguarding it from the vagaries of the irrational saecular outside world. Among the monastic scholars is 19-year-old Raz, collected into the concent at age eight and now a decenarian, or tenner (someone allowed contact with the world beyond the stronghold walls only once a decade). But millennia-old rules are cataclysmically shattered when extraterrestrial catastrophe looms, and Raz and his teenage companions—engaging in intense intellectual debate one moment, wrestling like rambunctious adolescents the next—are summoned to save the world. Stephenson's expansive storytelling echoes Walter Miller's classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, the space operas of Larry Niven and the cultural meditations Douglas Hofstadter—a heady mix of antecedents that makes for long stretches of dazzling entertainment occasionally interrupted by pages of numbing colloquy. |
I didn't care for Stephenson's Baroque trilogy - I struggled to complete the first book -- but his previous novels were pretty good. |
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Chris OConnor
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| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 12:58 am Post subject:
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I've now looked through all of the suggestions in this thread and this is what I see. I'm only commenting on books that have more than one person interested.
Saffron, Dwill and Baby Blues all like "The Things They Carried"
Ophelia and Grim like "Lord of the Rings."
Nouveau Lingua, Devi, Ophelia and Grim all like "Lolita." But Only Opehlia and Grim are actually likely to participate. Nouveau has 1 total post, Devi has 2 and Raving Lunatic has 4. From experience at least 2 of these people will never even return to BookTalk.org and 1 will come back but not actually participate in the discussion. I could be wrong, but this is how it always has been over the years. So only Ophelia and Grim are real votes. And in the last fiction discussion Ophelia stopped posting when nobody else showed an interest in posting, so I'd give Lolita a really low score right now. The 3 members that are mentioned above as having less than 4 posts each can demonstrate their interest in this book by making a follow-up post or two right here in this thread.
In a seperate thread below this suggestion thread Yuvie suggested "Orlando," by Virginia Woolf, and it looks like quite a few members supported this nomination. Ashleigh, Dwill, Saffrom and Penelope. And maybe Ophelia...not sure.
So, based on all that has been posted and discussed let's go with the following....
Orlando - October & November
The Things They Carried - November & December
If a few more people express an interest in Lolita we can do that book soon too. |
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