For Book Reading Group Discussion and Dissection.

[AndyAdmin]

Grab a book and a few other like minded folk, read the book, then chat about it here.
Please create a new thread for each book.

[Andrea]

I will lean on Doris, Greg, Ayesha, and Tom to hoist their heinies over here to this shining new forum for book chat.  Our little reading group is on hiatus until September due to heat-induced lassitude and high summer distractions.  We tossed around the idea of jumping back in time a bit and reading George Sand, about whom I know little except,  besides writing, she dressed up as a man an had an interesting and liberated time moving around French society.  

From wiki: One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac in England in the 1830s and 1840s, ...

[Andrea]

Balzac is also a possibility. Greg said that he was checking out Balzac for a potential book choice.

[greggu]

I’ve started rereading “ Lost Illusions “ by Balzac . Really enjoyed it the first time around. I also found out that it was made into a French movie in 2021. The movie got great reviews.

I forgot about George Sand. Will look up what she had written and see if anything she wrote is still popular.

Masterpiece Theatre did a miniseries on her life back in the early seventies. ( I don’t think it’s available anywhere ) some journalist said the broadcasts were kinda funny because the announcer ( good old Alastair Cooke ) obviously hated her.

There is also a film from early nineties. It’s called “ Impromptu “ and it’s a light comedy. Judy Davis as George Sand , Hugh Grant as Chopin , and Emma Thompson as a slightly daffy French aristocrat.

[Andrea]

I DO like it when we read something that has been made into a movie or a mini-series.    So far I think the best adaptation from book to screen that I have ever seen is of George Eliot's Middlemarch, the Juliet Aubrey/ Rufus Sewell version..  The novel is wonderful and in my opinion is  arguably the best Victorian novel ever  written.  Not that I've read every Victorian novel, but of those  in the domain of my brain.

[greggu]

I remember someone saying that Middlemarch is the best English novel period. And I don’t think that I’ve seen all of the television series. . I loved Howard’s End , the book, the movie, and the television series.

[Andrea]

Posting Greg's link to share.  Who knows, we may read some George Sand someday

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZbXA4lyCtqokp-U8cSY2TSLQUlXcUzXJ

[Andrea]

Anyone have any ideas to  how we can repopulate our book club group?  Haven't seen Ayesha in ages.  Frank joined us for a zoom book discussion in the spring, then vanished.  I infer Doris is completely absorbed in other stuff now.  The old Write Thread Fred meetup group is dead and buried.  I thought of advertising on a Facebook book group, but some of those groups have 15,000 members (with only two active members).  It's even harder to recruit people to read the classics as it seems stuff like Eat, Pray, Love is more popular.
.... and I sorta doubt that anyone will even read this, so maybe I will send this out as a PM...

[AndyAdmin]

Well. I read it... I am the reader of all things.. and I feel your pain, but I don't have the answers..

We're here.. the forum is here... the forum is out there too... I've advertised it, you've advertised it, google bots have dropped in for the occasional cuppa.. apart from spamming facebook groups or reddit group or other forums there's not much else we can really do... just gotta hurry up and wait... it is built and they will come

[Andrea]

I did post a comment on Reddit, on a thread started by someone who was looking for an online reading group with actual discussion. Gave our details, but likely nothing will happen. as per usual.

[Andrea]

Yay! Antonia has joined us. I was missing her (assuming she is who I think she is... unless it's Andy pulling a fast one.... or Frank has transmogrified... or maybe it's me again... or Nexus is rising....).

[Andrea]

Welcome Gillian! That is, I hope you find us and join us here.

[Andrea]

Ooops, Looks like Gillian did a runner. She sounded pretty enthusiastic on her facebook comment, but then never showed. Could it be my breath?! Anyway, this morning I posted on Reddit in the Books section. Hopefully we'll connect up with another member of two of our reading tribe by way of that platform

[rcb99]

Hello everyone! My name is Ryan. I’m a Californian boy, born and raised, 25 years behind me on this spinning rock and many more ahead! I recently graduated with an English degree and am currently working on getting a Masters in Library Science. I’m on my phone, so I’m not sure if this is the best place to put this intro, if there’s a better one plz let me know!

[Andrea]

Hey Ryan, Delighted to have you aboard! So you are in California-- that works out nicely time-zone wise as we are in BC. Three of us live in the greater Vancouver area, and one on a Gulf Island.
Here's hoping that this coming year will include many interesting books and lively discussions.
cheers, Andrea

[Tanya Z]

Hello! My name is Tanya. I got the link to your group from Andrea who posted on Reddit. Thanks, Andrea!

I live in Los Angeles. But I was born in Ukraine, moved to USA almost 25 years ago. English is my second language but I love to read! I am a member of several book groups but it’s never enough for me

I am delighted to join your group and I am looking forward to have exciting discussions about books!

[Andrea]

Welcome Tanya! So pleased that you have joined us . Looking forward to some good reading and book chat.

[greggu]

Still reading Balzac and it’s as good as I remember so far. But strange how much I forgot from the first reading, or I just got wrong to begin with.
I had the same experience with “ one flew over the cuckoo’s nest “ , but there were 40 years between the first and the second reading.

“ Lost Illusions “ the movie won 7 Cesar awards.

[Stella]

Hello! I'm Stella. I got the link to your group from Andrea who posted on Reddit. Thanks! I look forward to reading and discussing with you all.
I just finished Eugenie Grandet by Balzac and I'd love to read more Balzac.

[CallMeAnnii]

Hi, Annii (pronounce Annie) here from Los Angeles, California. I saw Andrea's post on reddit about her book club that mainly reads "Oldies". Sounds interesting, since I'm not very fond of the current books that everyone on social media seems gaga for. I've never read Balzac or Sands, though I know of her and partially watched a movie about her life.

I'm excited to join the club and can't wait for the September book selection.

[Andrea]

Welcome to our reading group Stella and Annii!

[Elmtree]

Hello! My name is Emily and I live in Wales in the UK. I also saw Andrea’s thread on Reddit and thought the group sounded great! I’ve not read as many classics as i’d like and it would be brilliant to read more and discuss.

Zoom wise not sure how it would work out with my time zone but I keep odd hours at times so I may be able to join i’m with one. No Balzac either for me but very curious.

Lovely to meet you all!

[Andrea]

Welcome Emily!   We are pleased to have another member on  'the other side of the pond'  join us.  One of our members, Frank (now dormant) lives in London, and we had a zoom meeting or two despite the time zone difference.

[Andrea]

Welcome to Ryan, Tanya, Stella, Annii, and Emily!   In the event that any of you are also writers (or artists, or photographers) as well as readers, we have a variety of threads at your disposal.  Feel free to start your own threads and populate them with your poems/nursery rhymes/limericks,/haiku, etc-- or post short stories, or chapters/paragraphs/sentences/words  of your novel-in-progress  Photographs and artworks are also welcome.

[Andrea]

So Greg has been reading Balzac's Lost Illusions, and I just wiki-ed it, read a single paragraph, and I think that this is the one!!  It has the added delightful advantage of having been made into a movie (or possibly series) in 2021.  

copied and pasted from wiki:

Plot summary
In 1820s France, 20-year-old poet Lucien de Rubempré travels from his provincial home in Angoulême to Paris after a contentious affair with a local society lady. He is sensitive, idealistic, handsome and determined to force the literary world to take notice. Contrary to his expectations, however, he discovers that he must make ends meet by writing scurrilous theater reviews and ends up beholden to the world of low-brow journalism.

At the behest of his crass boss, Étienne Lousteau, Lucien succumbs entirely to bribery and cronyism, achieving wealth and standing only at the cost of his artistic integrity and former friendships. In a last attempt to free himself from the all-consuming filth he is undone by his greatest weakness, his desire to transcend his low origins and illegitimate birth by buying a title of nobility. This too proves illusory and finally he is defeated and socially destroyed by the prevailing "fake news" cycle, returning home to defeat and obscurity.

whaddya say Greg? Good choice?

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