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[UPDATE: we will be discussing "Puppy," by George Saunders, proposed by cda, starting sunday 6/11] would anybody here be interested in an informal literary chat type of deal centered around short stories? I was reading (rereading) a short story the other day, "Controlled Burn" by Scott Wolven, and I thought it might be interesting to roll it around a little bit with some other folks. the story is quite short and an easy read, but I also think it's well constructed, lean in the right ways, both powerful and compellingly ambiguous. the biggest issue I see here is giving people access to the story. you could of course buy or borrow from the library one of the books in which it is collected, including Controlled Burn: stories of Prison, Crime, and Men by Scott Wolven and the anthology The Best American Noir of the Century. otherwise if the story is somehow available online I don't know about it. what do people think? are they interested in this story specifically, or if not maybe interested in doing something similar for another story? Manifisto fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Jun 6, 2017 |
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Jun 4, 2017 17:32
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yes |
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Jun 4, 2017 20:49
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Yes For short stories I recommend SmokeLong Quarterly |
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Jun 4, 2017 21:09
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yes, lets find a short story that's online and read that and discuss it
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Jun 5, 2017 00:10
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id do a richard scarry book
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Jun 5, 2017 03:06
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yeah this is a kick butt idea
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Jun 5, 2017 03:08
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cool, it sounds like enough people are interested to give it a try! if anyone wants to nominate a story that's available free online, please speak up . . . I'll try to pick something perhaps by the end of the week the "short attention span" concept is not entirely a joke, I'm guessing more people will be interested if the selections aren't too too long |
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Jun 5, 2017 13:32
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Here's my nom: "Puppy," by George Saunders
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Jun 5, 2017 17:47
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cda posted:Here's my nom: "Puppy," by George Saunders okay ya this is a good one. unless anyone thinks differently I'd say let's start with this. I'm thinking I'll start a new thread for each story we discuss (assuming we get to more than one), and give people a bit of time to read and organize their thoughts--a week maybe? |
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Jun 5, 2017 19:07
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This will be exceptionally low effort for me bc I've alreadyread it 
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Jun 5, 2017 19:52
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alnilam posted:This will be exceptionally low effort for me bc I've alreadyread it  then you will have to read it backwards, mister
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Jun 5, 2017 20:02
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Manifisto posted:
okay i will do a guided reading of it backwards t a fine letter, reminiscent of the crucifix and then i a self indulgent letter, the letter of me me me, but also the letter of sight and vision. powerful |
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Jun 5, 2017 20:23
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alnilam posted:okay i will do a guided reading of it backwards you appear to have skipped over the parts with the space alien horror clown |
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Jun 5, 2017 20:27
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Manifisto posted:you appear to have skipped over the parts with the space alien horror clown turn off your monitor |
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Jun 5, 2017 20:31
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Manifisto posted:turn off your monitor |
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Jun 5, 2017 21:37
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big fan of byob book club
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Jun 5, 2017 22:26
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okay, let's shoot for this Sunday, 6/11, to start discussing "Puppy". for prepared people, that's enough time to read it more than once; for the more freewheeling types, hopefully you'll be able to find a few minutes on sunday to read the thing. or, you know, just dive in and start spewing opinions without actually having read it, a fine tradition of book clubs and book reports throughout history. I'll start a thread for discussing the story--please don't discuss it here.
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Jun 6, 2017 14:05
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does anyone have the cliffnotes?
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Jun 6, 2017 14:12
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quote:would anybody here be interested in an informal literary chat type of deal centered around short stories? |
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Jun 6, 2017 16:08
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Hogge Wild posted:does anyone have the cliffnotes? yeah ---------------- |
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Jun 6, 2017 17:06
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hah, hell yea finally, an excise to kick the hell back, put on my favrite tunes, feet on the couch, smoke up somee of my finest herbs of the byob drug 'weed' variety, and finally learn myself how the hell to read a drat book
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Jun 6, 2017 23:52
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I will do this thing |
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Jun 7, 2017 02:46
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just conceptualizing here but would a picture book be ok for a future book club pic?? if so im gonna suggest...  i kno the hard copies are kinda pricey (tho very very worth it) and ofc the originals are about the size of a pickup truck and go for a kool $5-10 mill but it looks like google books has all sorts of different editions up -- including a coloring book which im totally printing once everyone leaves 4 the day edit: coloring book is $4.20 shipped w/ Amazon prime...im pulling the trigger Impkins Patootie fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Jun 8, 2017
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Jun 8, 2017 19:20
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is it sunday yet?
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Jun 8, 2017 19:50
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King of the Beach posted:just conceptualizing here but would a picture book be ok for a future book club pic?? on the one hand, picture books are very much consistent with the "short attention span" theme contrari-handwise, I dunno how much there would be to discuss beyond "wow" and "cool" and such so I think maybe we'll stick with short stories for a little while and see how that goes--but posting a thread about your cool coloring book sounds like a good idea, maybe yobbers have ideas about how to color it |
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Jun 8, 2017 23:56
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Hogge Wild posted:is it sunday yet? I did not have brunch today so I'm gonna say "no," but someone with better knowledge can feel free to overrrule me |
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Jun 8, 2017 23:57
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Manifisto posted:on the one hand, picture books are very much consistent with the "short attention span" theme im thinking the same thing...it arrives saturday i haven't colored since the early 90s so should be good times... Maybe ill take it on the road with me and find some chillspot and do some coloring crayons or colored pencils? Impkins Patootie fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Jun 9, 2017
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Jun 9, 2017 01:54
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King of the Beach posted:im thinking the same thing...it arrives saturday I am partial to the colored pencils that are watercolor pigments and you can paint your drawing with water |
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Jun 9, 2017 02:30
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we should read some dostoevsky short stories
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Jun 9, 2017 04:28
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Manifisto posted:I am partial to the colored pencils that are watercolor pigments and you can paint your drawing with water thanks but ill have u kno i can hardly fill out a withdrawal slip at the bank so dont be shocked if the bird colorings look like they were done by Jackson Pollock
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Jun 9, 2017 04:36
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i cant wait to discuss this story, so please read it so i have someone to discuss it with. there is a puppy in the story. it's not one of those things where he names it "puppy" but then you have to figure out what the puppy is. it's actually a puppy.
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Jun 9, 2017 23:27
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cda posted:i cant wait to discuss this story, so please read it so i have someone to discuss it with. there is a puppy in the story. it's not one of those things where he names it "puppy" but then you have to figure out what the puppy is. it's actually a puppy. OR IS IT???? yes |
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Jun 9, 2017 23:29
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i hope i didn't give away too much by letting you know there's an actual puppy in the story. i dont think that counts as a spoiler. it's too late now, you know there's a puppy in it, so now you have to read it to find out what kind and if its cute and has a name. also, what if i'm lying. you don't know. you could work up a fine rage upon finding out that i lied to you because i figured nobody would read the story, that would be almost as good as reading a story with a puppy in it. expecting a puppy but not finding one, and having someone to hate about it (me). not quite as good, though, which is probably why the author did actually put a puppy in there. because love is better than hate.
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Jun 9, 2017 23:29
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I've created a specific thread to discuss "Puppy." please go there to discuss the story! I'm going to lock this thread temporarily just so posts go in the right place. |
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Jun 11, 2017 13:40
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hi again everyone. welp, we had our first story and our first chat--I thought the story was aces, I hope you read it even if you didn't decide to participate in the discussion. so I think there is at least some interest in another go-around. I hope so! I'd ideally love to have more people participating, even if they were just saying stuff like what they liked or didn't like about the story or whatever. so I'd welcome suggestions as to another story to address. and I'd also welcome input about the format and what if anything could be done to make things more accessible/interesting to contributors. thanks, hurf de durf&etc
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Jul 1, 2017 01:44
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i have another saunders story, Home, that I've really wanted to discuss but maybe I'll let another author happen first |
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Jul 1, 2017 02:19
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alnilam posted:i have another saunders story, Home, that I've really wanted to discuss but maybe I'll let another author happen first thats a loving good story. they're all good stories, but that's a good one (and a bit different from his usual in some ways) ---------------- |
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Jul 1, 2017 03:31
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I propose "The Sandman," by E.T.A. Hoffmann. If that author's name is familiar to you, perhaps it's because he wrote the book on which The Nutcracker was based. "The Sandman" was also the main focus of Freud's famous essay on the uncanny, so it's kind of a twofer. It's not a particularly long story, but it is really weird: a demon that steals children's eyes, sexy robots, creepy barometer salesmen, this story has it all! It's available here: http://germanstories.vcu.edu/hoffmann/sand_e.html and here's the Freud, for fun: https://uncanny.la.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/freud-uncanny_001.pdf or we could read something else. I know mine got picked last time, but what the heck. ---------------- |
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Jul 1, 2017 03:36
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alnilam posted:i have another saunders story, Home, that I've really wanted to discuss but maybe I'll let another author happen first cool, we'll put that on the list, but I agree it would be nice to mix things up a bit cda posted:I propose "The Sandman," by E.T.A. Hoffmann. If that author's name is familiar to you, perhaps it's because he wrote the book on which The Nutcracker was based. "The Sandman" was also the main focus of Freud's famous essay on the uncanny, so it's kind of a twofer. It's not a particularly long story, but it is really weird: a demon that steals children's eyes, sexy robots, creepy barometer salesmen, this story has it all! sounds freaky and like maybe a good thing to discuss! I'll pick a target date--how are sundays for people? it's arbitrary but I thought maybe people would have a little time on a sunday to set aside to read the story and weigh in by the way, I ended up buying the whole collection of stories by Scott Wolven and I'm enjoying it a lot (I originally read "Controlled Burn" in the noir anthology). maybe I'll figure out a way to do one of those stories at some point.
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Jul 1, 2017 17:53
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the ones who walk away from omelas by Ursula Le Guin is a masterpiece. I'd love to discuss it with people, if anyone is down https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf paul_soccer12 posted:everyone in the idf must die |
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Jul 2, 2017 03:21
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