New Discovery Book Club

[Deleted member 1244]

They say to be a better writer read and read some more!

But I already read lots, and I read what I like, so I figure I will go back to the main menu, choose NG+ and select hard mode.

I am going to read books that I would otherwise never read, and then write what I thought about it here.

People are welcome to join the book club or make recommendations for little-known books. (Ideally, finishable books. and not 1000+ chapter web novels)

Rules/Process:

1. Declare a book you are going to read. Deadline one month.
2. Once you finish, write about what you think / If you can't bring yourself to finish by next month, say "DNF" and if you want write a few words about it.
3. Choose a new book.

P.S. Don't know how invested I am in this, might do one book, might do 1000.


----
For my first book, I am going to read a Russian lit.

Dead Souls, 1842 by Nikolai Gogol

From the Back Cover
Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale; as a paean to the Russian spirit and as a remorseless satire of imperial Russian venality, vulgarity, and pomp. As Gogol's wily antihero, Chichikov, combs the back country wheeling and dealing for "dead souls"--deceased serfs who still represent money to anyone sharp enough to trade in them--we are introduced to a Dickensian cast of peasants, landowners, and conniving petty officials, few of whom can resist the seductive illogic of Chichikov's proposition. This lively, idiomatic English version by the award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky makes accessible the full extent of the novel's lyricism, sulphurous humor, and delight in human oddity and error.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Good luck.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale;

? ? ? You can be either one or the other.

Also, I can either imagine that you fail or you read it in a month but don't come out with anything worthwhile. Classical literature is meant to be read slowly, and maybe reread with a pencil in hand.
If you wish to improve yourself as an author, you should not read translations if possible too imo.

 

[Deleted member 1244]

? ? ? You can be either one or the other.

I wouldn't take the back of book advertising too seriously.

But if we are nit-picking can't an exaggerated tale of the heroism of... say... a soldier, also be a realist portrait of life in the military?

Also, I can either imagine that you fail or you read it in a month but don't come out with anything worthwhile. Classical literature is meant to be read slowly, and maybe reread with a pencil in hand.
If you wish to improve yourself as an author, you should not read translations if possible too imo.

Perhaps.

All the same, I am going to read it... have been reading...
truth be told, I don't believe people become better authors by having some kind of epiphany by reading one book. I do think reading a great variety of books is a good thing. And what people pick up on or are influenced by reading however minute adds up... I think.


However, I would say:

I can either imagine that you fail or you read it in a month but don't come out with anything worthwhile.

Seem like a massive assumption on a stranger on the internet.

Or is this some kind of elitist gate-keeping of the classical lit that if I am not studying in the way you describe I am not meant to read it?
Because as you say, there is a way a person "meant" to read it, what I am doing is assumed to be "wrong".
Therefore whatever I gain will very likely be a pointless waste of time.

Then I wonder, not reading it, is that the same as reading it but not gaining anything from it?
Is the journey to a goal not something of value?

Though I always thought the taste of food is important, and that the process is pleasurable even the cooking...
maybe I am doing it wrong, and that, only the value of the vitamins, counts of calories and proteins is of "value".

But I am a simple person with simple tastes. I am not looking to min/max my life.

So if I don't improve by reading, or I am reading a book "wrong", I am cool with it.

The advice is duly noted...

-

Maybe I will read a book on the history of the suffragette movement... after
or maybe something by John le Carré, I have read very few spy thrillers.
Or some teen romances I have actually read none of those.
Actually, only read bits and pieces of Ovid's Amores during university maybe I should go back to bits I didn't read.
Ah, which reminds me I never got around to reading anything by Rainbow Rowell, maybe I'll do that too
Of course, never read Master and Commander or all the naval genre...
And maybe the genre of historical mystery novels,
I know of it but never really picked up The Cadfael Chronicles, Monks Solving Crime.
Never read any Jim Butcher either...
Infinite Jest... argh...
and the whole genre of "Christmas novels", Westerns, and Amish murder mysteries WTF?
Actually, I should do more non-fiction.

Hmm... so much I wanna add to the queue...

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I wouldn't take the back of book advertising too seriously.

But if we are nit-picking can't an exaggerated tale of the heroism of... say... a soldier, also be a realist portrait of life in the military?

Yes.

Perhaps.

All the same, I am going to read it... have been reading...
truth be told, I don't believe people become better authors by having some kind of epiphany by reading one book. I do think reading a great variety of books is a good thing. And what people pick up on or are influenced by reading however minute adds up... I think.

It's not about epiphany after one book, it's about developing good habits if that makes sense.

On a side note, Gogol is probably my favorite classical authors, I hope you like his book.

 

[MintiLime]

I wouldn't take the back of book advertising too seriously.

But if we are nit-picking can't an exaggerated tale of the heroism of... say... a soldier, also be a realist portrait of life in the military?



Perhaps.

All the same, I am going to read it... have been reading...
truth be told, I don't believe people become better authors by having some kind of epiphany by reading one book. I do think reading a great variety of books is a good thing. And what people pick up on or are influenced by reading however minute adds up... I think.


However, I would say:

Seem like a massive assumption on a stranger on the internet.

Or is this some kind of elitist gate-keeping of the classical lit that if I am not studying in the way you describe I am not meant to read it?
Because as you say, there is a way a person "meant" to read it, what I am doing is assumed to be "wrong".
Therefore whatever I gain will very likely be a pointless waste of time.

Then I wonder, not reading it, is that the same as reading it but not gaining anything from it?
Is the journey to a goal not something of value?

Though I always thought the taste of food is important, and that the process is pleasurable even the cooking...
maybe I am doing it wrong, and that, only the value of the vitamins, counts of calories and proteins is of "value".

But I am a simple person with simple tastes. I am not looking to min/max my life.

So if I don't improve by reading, or I am reading a book "wrong", I am cool with it.

The advice is duly noted...

-

Maybe I will read a book on the history of the suffragette movement... after
or maybe something by John le Carré, I have read very few spy thrillers.
Or some teen romances I have actually read none of those.
Actually, only read bits and pieces of Ovid's Amores during university maybe I should go back to bits I didn't read.
Ah, which reminds me I never got around to reading anything by Rainbow Rowell, maybe I'll do that too
Of course, never read Master and Commander or all the naval genre...
And maybe the genre of historical mystery novels,
I know of it but never really picked up The Cadfael Chronicles, Monks Solving Crime.
Never read any Jim Butcher either...
Infinite Jest... argh...
and the whole genre of "Christmas novels", Westerns, and Amish murder mysteries WTF?
Actually, I should do more non-fiction.

Hmm... so much I wanna add to the queue...

I know people have been saying read slow… I’ve never read slow in my life. Maybe it shows. Maybe it doesn’t. IDK. But in any case, I think reading for the sake of reading and expanding your horizons won’t ever hurt.

I did a writing prompt thread before where I asked one to pull a paragraph from a famous novel and then write something in that style. It’s an exercise I learned from high school, where you copy the sentence structure and feeling, replacing with your own situation. It only takes like an hour and can be a fun record of your favorite passages from the stories.

And I recommend Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters, and all those classics. Love ‘em.

But non-classic wise, I have a bunch of children’s or young adult authors with unique styles. Diane Wynn Jones (original author of Howl’s Moving Castle book series), Madeleine L’Engle (author of A Wrinkle in Time, but I recommend The Ring of Endless Light, Arm of the Starfish, and And we were Young), etc.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I pick @Paul_Tromba's book. It will be the first physical book I've read in years, and I'm going in completely blind.

Not sure if it's achievable in a month due to shipping and stuff though.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I pick @Paul_Tromba's book. It will be the first physical book I've read in years, and I'm going in completely blind.

Not sure if it's achievable in a month due to shipping and stuff though.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I pick @Paul_Tromba's book. It will be the first physical book I've read in years, and I'm going in completely blind.

Not sure if it's achievable in a month due to shipping and stuff though.

Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. It is an honor to have the representative of Envy reading my story.

 

[Deleted member 1244]

Gogol is probably my favorite classical authors, I hope you like his book.

I am up to Chapter 3 and I really like it so far.

I really like the mechanics of the narrator or the light-heartedness of the story with the narrator's comments.

E.g when Chichikov was with Manilov in the... the study (?)/Drawing room(?), when Chichikov looked over his shoulder, and Manilov did the same and the narrator just goes something like, "they did that for no apparent reason"

 

[Deleted member 1244]

So... I finished Dead Souls last night...

What did I think... I liked it...

it was... refreshing. I didn't know anything about the book or the author going in. I just googled, light-hearted Russian lit and that was the first on the list. I wanted to read something light-hearted because I am often given the impression that Russian lit tends to be grim and punishing, and I wanted something that goes against that perception.

It took... 2 chapters for me to get used to the pacing of the book or the way the book is structured. The switch between backstory, the narrator's thoughts and the scene took a bit for me to get used to, and this switch need geting used to. There are parts that I like and there are bits that if feel it was a bit long, I understoonld that those parts a necessay to create the feel it ended up with... there are parts i needed to think about, and the get, but I think I'd chalk it up to not being from 1800 Russia.

There are bits that I went "I imagine, people of the time would find hilarious" and others were timeless. Like when old people complain about young people, being lazy and not knowing the value of hard work, all falling into degeneracy. I thought I saw someone tweet about this a month ago. 1800s Boomers amirite?

There are quite a few highlights for me one is how the narrator feels present in the book and would address the reader directly felt fun.

In books I frequent the narrator more often than not tends to be more on the invisible side of the telling. Chichikov met all the people who were all quirky and were a lot of fun to read.

Nozdriov trying to force him to play chess or buy his horse was great. Tentetnikov and the relationship with the general's daughter and Chichikov's lies were also a good bit.

But the last four chapters did give me whiplash, and I did not realize why it ended the way it did, why Murazov and the prince seemed to have come out of nowhere until I went to find out about it online afterwards, how it was meant to be a 3 part book but ended up being 2... or more like one and a half...It was something like.. 400 or 500 pages so it was quite short...

All in all, it was a good read.

Now I have to choose another book...

 

[Woolen_Monkey]

Hmm...

 

[Deleted member 1244]

Hmm...

Got a suggestion?

 

[Alfir]

I just picked up Stormlight Archives. Hopefully, I finish Book 1 before November ends.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Got a suggestion?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sportsman%27s_Sketches

 

[greyblob]

I'd like to participate in this. got a long reading list and the one salius suggested looks interesting. will see which i start

 

[Deleted member 1244]

Have decided on a non fiction, didn't know where to start, a friend recommended, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown

And then sent me the blurb, so I am going to do that.

Blurb:
First published in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic destruction of American Indians during the second half of the nineteenth century. A national bestseller in hardcover for more than a year after its initial publication, it has sold almost four million copies and has been translated into seventeen languages. It was the basis for the 2007 movie of the same name from HBO films.

Using council records, autobiographies, and firsthand descriptions, Brown introduces readers to great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes, revealing in heartwrenching detail the battles, massacres, and broken treaties that methodically stripped them of freedom.

A forceful narrative still discussed today as revelatory and controversial, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee permanently altered our understanding of how the American West came to be defined.

 

[Deleted member 1244]

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown

God damn, that depressing book... took me so many tries to keep going.

Imagine having a culture that did not treat land as a commodity, and then some other dudes come along and go, "Actually we own all this now, because of these trinkets I gave you. Its mine now, Oh? You disagree? Let's fight, oh I will also enslave a lot of your people and ship them back to Spain. A lot will die on the way, but do worry, We will baptise them when we get there, so we are actually saving them from burning in hell."

and that is just the start of the book.

 

[Corty]

Got a suggestion?

A Talent For War by Jack McDevitt​

One of my favorite sci-fi books and series. Think of it as a sci-fi Indiana Jones story mixed in with mystery solving.

 

[Redadam04]

Cool