September Big Read

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 31 Aug 2005, 16:28

Time to vote for the September Big Read:

Buddha Da - Anne Donovan
Anne Marie's Da, a glaswegian painter and decorator, has always been game for a laugh. So when he first takes up meditation at the buddhist centre, no-one takes him seriously, especially when his pursuit of the new lama ends in a trip round the Carmunnock by-pass. But as Jimmy becomes more involved in a search for the spiritual, his beliefs start to come into conflict with the needs of his wife Liz. Cracks appear in their apparently happy family life and the ensuing events change the lives of each family member.

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The 19th century journals of an american notary in the South Pacific islands are subsequently unearthed 80 years later on by Frobisher in the library of the ageing, syphalitic maestro he's trying to fleece. Frobisher's waspish letters to his old Cambridge crony Rufus Sexsmith in turn surface when Rufus is murdered. An account of the journalist Luisa Rey's investigation into Rufus' death finds its way to Timothy Cavendish, a London vanity publisher. In a Blade Runner future, a genetically engineered fast food waitress sees a movie based on Cavendish's unfortunate internment in a Hull retirement home. The waitress ultimately becomes worshipped by the natives of a South Pacific island .....

English Passengers - Matthew Kneale
Captain Kewley wants only to smuggle a little tobacco, brandy and french pornography from the Isle of Man to a secluded beach in England. Yet somehow in the process he and his crew end up weighing anchor for Australia. Worse, they are forced to carry three temperamental englishmen bound for Tasmania on a mission to discover the exact location of the Garden of Eden.

Only Say The Word - Niall Williams
Jim Foley loves his parents, his brother, his sister, Dickens and God. Later he loves Kate and later still his children. This is Jim's story from his early days in County Clare to early adulthood in America and then back to Clare again.

Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom that person was Morrie Schwartz. This is a chronicle of their time together.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 31 Aug 2005, 16:43

My vote would be for Buddha Da, but don't pay any attention to my vote because I don't have a hope in hell of reading anything that's not college-related for quite some time to come...!

What a helpful post this is.

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 31 Aug 2005, 17:00

Cloud Atlas. It sounds brilliant.

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 31 Aug 2005, 18:05

Cloud Atlas because it is brilliant

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 31 Aug 2005, 18:26

Marya wrote:Cloud Atlas because it is brilliant

Can I borrow your copy please?

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 31 Aug 2005, 18:33

Dadaist wrote:
Marya wrote:Cloud Atlas because it is brilliant
Can I borrow your copy please?

Delighted. I've been trying to persuade one of my Higher English class to use it for the personal study, but they've all knocked me back so far. I hope one of them asks for it tomorrow

P.S
Two of them want to use a Dan Brown novel. Aargh!!

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 31 Aug 2005, 18:37

I like Dan Brown novels. They are softer on my tushie than Charmin Ultra, and at least all that turgid verbiage goes to a good home.

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 31 Aug 2005, 18:43

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 31 Aug 2005, 19:09

Rathbone's cheating with Cloud Atlas coz he's already read it........and left it lying under the bed for me to tidy........

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 01 Sep 2005, 10:04

So that's where it got to!

Come to that, I've read Buddha Da and English Passengers as well.

The point is that each of the books was suggested by someone on previous big read threads. They don't come off the list just because I've read them.

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 05 Sep 2005, 12:02

Just a reminder that this poll ends today. Unless we get some more votes in, it looks like Cloud Atlas. (Epykat, at least, will have no excuse this time round)

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 05 Sep 2005, 19:27

I vote for Cloud Atlas too but for some reason I don't seem to have the vote option available.
Maybe Ali voted for me or maybe I voted already but I don't remember doing that.

Is the author Canadian do you know? I'm intrigued about the name given to the character Rufus Sexsmith.

Rufus Wainwright and Ron Sexsmith are both wonderful Canadian singer-songwriters. Perhaps the author's a fan?

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 05 Sep 2005, 22:19

ecm wrote: Rufus Wainwright and Ron Sexsmith are both wonderful Canadian singer-songwriters. Perhaps the author's a fan?

...or a gestalt.

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 06 Sep 2005, 08:26

ecm wrote:I
Is the author Canadian do you know? I'm intrigued about the name given to the character Rufus Sexsmith.

Rufus Wainwright and Ron Sexsmith are both wonderful Canadian singer-songwriters. Perhaps the author's a fan?

The author is English, but lives in Ireland. However, there is a musical connection in the narrative, to the character Rufus Sixsmith, ecm, so maybe he is paying homage.

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 06 Sep 2005, 09:29

So there you have it:

The September Big read is Cloud Atlas.

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 06 Sep 2005, 16:38

Dadaist wrote:
ecm wrote: Rufus Wainwright and Ron Sexsmith are both wonderful Canadian singer-songwriters. Perhaps the author's a fan?
...or a gestalt.

I shall pretend you didn't say that........

cos I don't know what it means.

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 06 Sep 2005, 21:05

you and me both ECM

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 06 Sep 2005, 21:18

Well, really, didn't you know that it means a physical, biological, psychological, or symbolic configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts.

So simple, when you think about it.

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 06 Sep 2005, 22:04

Aye, wan a them.

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 06 Sep 2005, 22:36

Poppy wrote:Well, really, didn't you know that it means a physical, biological, psychological, or symbolic configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts.

Now, you see, I thought that was the definition of a Mightily Morphed Power Ranger

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 19 Sep 2005, 18:14

rathbone wrote:So there you have it:

The September Big read is Cloud Atlas.

Well, I have the thing now, at least.

3 for 2 together with the 'Princess Annual 2006' and some other thing at one of those big book shops that are destroying authors' freedom of thought and our freedom of choice (apparently).

Oh, and I had to drive there, 'cos it's just up the road (as long as you go by car)

I'll let you know how I get on. The magnoliettes approve of the cover colour so that's a good start.

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 19 Sep 2005, 22:10

Since I really don't have an excuse this month I'll join in.....

(although, I don't really fancy it)

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 02 Oct 2005, 13:27

From the frenetic activity on this thread do I take it that people want a roll-over to give them time to finish the book and/or work out what the hell it's about, before posting?

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 02 Oct 2005, 19:51

rathbone wrote:From the frenetic activity on this thread do I take it that people want a roll-over to give them time to finish the book and/or work out what the hell it's about, before posting?

I'm not at all sure that I want to accept the offer of a roll from a stranger,

but I certainly need to get past page 64 berfore starting another!

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 02 Oct 2005, 21:18

And I've lent my copy to Dada, which means that without the text by my side I will be toiling to recall the names of characters and other 'minor' details

Honestly, I swear my brain started to turn to mush as soon as I had a kid and still hasn't recovered fully

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 08 Oct 2005, 12:17

mr magnolia wrote:but I certainly need to get past page 64 berfore starting another!

Good, does that mean I can miss out the first 64 now, instead of just the 48?

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 09 Oct 2005, 20:10

Give me another couple of weeks and I'll be able to tell you whether to bother at all...

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 09 Oct 2005, 20:17

This second hand book reviewing is great - give me far more time with Real Homes magazine

foxy · Post by **foxy** » 09 Oct 2005, 21:28

rathbone wrote:From the frenetic activity on this thread do I take it that people want a roll-over to give them time to finish the book and/or work out what the hell it's about, before posting?

Don't think I'm going to make it

....only on page 17...and read another couple of books meantime...not a good sign

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 09 Oct 2005, 22:02

Don't give up Foxy . The book has dramatic changes of genre throughout.
If you aren't enjoying the historical bit there's a complete change of story and style coming soon.

foxy · Post by **foxy** » 09 Oct 2005, 22:09

Marya wrote:Don't give up Foxy . The book has dramatic changes of genre throughout.
If you aren't enjoying the historical bit there's a complete change of story and style coming soon.

Thanks Marya, maybe I'll try to persevere then...if I can stay awake

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 31 Oct 2005, 16:31

We've had Cloud Atlas running for two months now, so it's probably time to start posting some conclusions:

I think this is a great book, which manages to say some pretty profound things while remaining entertaining. However, it is a literary novel with literary in capital letters. Though initially I found the going difficult, I realised after the first read that the problem was actually the stylistic device of splitting each 'story' into two parts. I read it again, taking each story complete and it made perfect sense! It explores so many themes and ideas that I'll probably have to read it several more times to ferret them all out and understand them all.

For me the brilliance of Cloud Atlas is how each story has its own language and rhythm. This helps keep each one unique from the others, so that the novel doesn't read like a set of repeated ideas.

The stories explore similar themes, but each is presented in a different way through vastly different perspectives. Each of the six protagonists lives in a dystopian world where brutality, enslavement, and violence threaten their well-being. If survival or redemption is to be found, it can only be achieved by reaching out to someone else.

That's a message I can take.

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 31 Oct 2005, 19:42

Em.......yes.......well.......my thoughts entirely......

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 01 Nov 2005, 14:56

Good! .......I just knew you'd love it.

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 01 Nov 2005, 23:52

Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies...

Oh perLEEEZE!

lay me down, I'm going to be sick.

I'm sorry to say, that even having scoured (well looked briefly) the internet for support for my views and finding none, I have to maintain my firmly held belief that this book is absolute mince.

I apologise as this will read as a bit of a rant rather than a considered set of coherent thoughts in the marya approved manner, but I cannot get over my distaste for the generality of the experience of reading this thing.

I thought the different writing styles were all feeble, I thought the characters were poorly drawn, I thought the individual stories were trite, I thought the device of splitting them up was childish and unhelpful and I thought the linkages between the stories were ridiculous. The only element that I came near to being interested in was the central story, which wasn't broken up (er, i think), but that was interesting only as it was short.

Reading this in small late night chunks obviously didn't help me come to grips with it, but I really think that if I had come properly to grips with it my children would not have been safe in my company, as a badly wounded soul really needs to lash out wildly.

If this is literature then give me The da Vinci Code any day. At least you can read it quickly.

Oh by the way, this isn't a proper review as I couldn't bring myself to read the final half of the first story. I NEVER put books in the bin, but I may make an exception for this one.

Talk Porty ~ Portobello

September Big Read

vote for the September Big read

September Big Read