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Welcome goonlings to the Awful Book of the Month! In this thread, we choose one work of Resources: Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org - A database of over 17000 books available online. If you can suggest books from here, that'd be the best. SparkNotes - http://www.sparknotes.com/ - A very helpful Cliffnotes-esque site, but much better, in my opinion. If you happen to come in late and need to catch-up, you can get great character/chapter/plot summaries here.  For recommendations on future material, suggestions on how to improve the club, or just a general rant, feel free to PM me. Past Books of the Month [for BOTM before 2015, refer to archives] 2015: January: Italo Calvino -- Invisible Cities February: Karl Ove Knausgaard -- My Struggle: Book 1. March: Knut Hamsun -- Hunger April: Liu Cixin -- 三体 ( The Three-Body Problem) May: John Steinbeck -- Cannery Row June: Truman Capote -- In Cold Blood (Hiatus) August: Ta-Nehisi Coates -- Between the World and Me September: Wilkie Collins -- The Moonstone October:Seth Dickinson -- The Traitor Baru Cormorant November:Svetlana Alexievich -- Voices from Chernobyl December: Michael Chabon -- Gentlemen of the Road 2016: January: Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the Dog!) by Jerome K. Jerome February:The March Up Country (The Anabasis) of Xenophon March: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco April: Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling May: Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima June:The Vegetarian by Han Kang July:Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees August: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov September:Siddhartha by Herman Hesse October:Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse November:Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain December: It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis 2017: January: Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut February: The Plague by Albert Camus March: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin April: The Conference of the Birds (مقامات الطیور) by Farid ud-Din Attar May: I, Claudius by Robert Graves June: Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky July: Ficcionies by Jorge Luis Borges August: My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber September: The Peregrine by J.A. Baker October: Blackwater Vol. I: The Flood by Michael McDowell November: Aquarium by David Vann December: Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight [Author Unknown] 2018 January: Njal's Saga [Author Unknown] February: The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle March: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders April: Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio de Maria May: Lectures on Literature by Vladimir Nabokov June: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe July: Warlock by Oakley Hall August: All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott Current:   The Magus by John Fowles Book available here: https://www.amazon.com/Magus-Novel-John-Fowles/dp/0440351626 About the book: quote:The Magus (1965) is a postmodern novel by British author John Fowles, telling the story of Nicholas Urfe, a young British graduate who is teaching English on a small Greek island. Urfe becomes embroiled in the psychological illusions of a master trickster, which become increasingly dark and serious. Considered an example of metafiction, it was the first novel written by Fowles, but the third he published. In 1977 he published a revised edition.[1] In 1999 The Magus was ranked on both lists of Modern Library 100 Best Novels, reaching number 93 on the editors' list, and 71 on the readers' list.[2] In 2003, the novel was listed at number 67 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[3] About the Author quote:John Robert Fowles (/faʊlz/; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international stature, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work reflects the influence of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. quote:In 1951, Fowles became an English master at the Anargyrios and Korgialenios School of Spetses on the Peloponnesian island of Spetses (also known as Spetsai). This opened a critical period in his life, as the island was where he met his future wife Elizabeth Christy, née Whitton, wife of fellow teacher Roy Christy. Inspired by his experiences and feelings there, he used it as the setting of his novel, The Magus (1966). Fowles was happy in Greece, especially outside the school. He wrote poems that he later published, and became close to his fellow expatriates. But during 1953, Fowles and the other masters at the school were all dismissed for trying to institute reforms, and Fowles returned to England.[6] quote:In the same year, he adapted The Magus for cinema, and the film was released in 1968.[9] The film version of The Magus (1968) was generally considered awful; when Woody Allen was later asked whether he would make changes in his life if he had the opportunity to do it all over again, he jokingly replied he would do "everything exactly the same, with the exception of watching The Magus."[11] Themes I haven't read this one yet so I'm entering it blind, which I am told is the proper way to read it. Pacing Read as thou wilt is the whole of the law. quote:In Jasper Fforde's comic detective novel The Well of Lost Plots (part of the Thursday Next series), The Magus wins the "Most Incomprehensible Plot" Award at the annual "Bookie" Awards, the awards programme that characters in literature give one another. Apparently there are big plot twists so please use spoiler tags, and consider posting discussion of spoiler material later in the month when folks have had a chance to catch up. Please post after you read! Please bookmark the thread to encourage discussion. References and Further Reading quote:John Fowles wrote an article about his experiences in the island of Spetses and their influence on the book.[7] He acknowledged some literary works as influences in his foreword to the 1977 revised edition of The Magus. These include Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes, for showing a secret hidden world to be explored, and Richard Jefferies' Bevis (1882), for projecting a very different world. In the revised edition, Fowles also referred to a Miss Havisham, a likely reference to a character in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations (1861). Final Note: Thanks, and I hope everyone enjoys the book!
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Aug 31, 2018 06:21
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I'm cautiously excited for this one, it's been on my reading list forever even though I know literally nothing about it.
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Aug 31, 2018 06:49
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Excited to read this with y'all! One of my most frequently recommended books in the recommendation thread. I'm a bit surprised that is considered meta-fictional as I wouldn't consider it such, but it's a ripping good read and I can't wait to see reactions as we read through it. It was noted in the OP but I'd like to emphasize that it's best to go in as blind as possible. Even the brief synopsis does a bit of a disservice to the reader imo. One final note: there is a revised edition that clears up a few minor plot details but I don't think it's a significant enough difference to worry about. If your library or used book store only has the original version it's perfectly fine. regulargonzalez fucked around with this message at 13:09 on Aug 31, 2018 |
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Aug 31, 2018 13:06
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I hate this book. Maybe it was groundbreaking at the time, but to me it reads like a schizophrenic episode of Lost.
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Aug 31, 2018 13:16
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Read some of that book several years ago, the parts I remember most vividly was protagonist talking about how he hosed a child prostitute just as casually as if he was talking about ordering a McDonald meal. Also him lusting after his teenage students.  Good old Fifties, am I right.Is it worth finishing, though?
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Aug 31, 2018 13:50
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font color sea posted:Read some of that book several years ago, the parts I remember most vividly was protagonist talking about how he hosed a child prostitute just as casually as if he was talking about ordering a McDonald meal. Also him lusting after his teenage students. you do realize that just because a narrator does something like that it doesn't mean you're supposed to view it positively or uncritically, right
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Aug 31, 2018 20:05
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font color sea posted:Read some of that book several years ago, the parts I remember most vividly was protagonist talking about how he hosed a child prostitute just as casually as if he was talking about ordering a McDonald meal. Also him lusting after his teenage students. I think if those are the only things you remember about the book, then yeah you should probably keep going. It's a book that starts off a little slow.
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Sep 1, 2018 23:36
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I have a crazy week of work but I'll try to get through the first few chapters tomorrow and post.
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Sep 2, 2018 03:43
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my copy just arrived today. it's Large
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Sep 2, 2018 22:33
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I’m through the early section in England and he’s met Conchis and they’ve talked a bit about war. It’s interesting and there’s this sense that things are going to get really weird but so far it’s been very subtle tricks and manipulation that the main character is mostly able to reason through. Looking forward to when it gets beyond his depth. Also I don’t think Urfe has sex with anyone underage. He describes the prostitute as a nymph but that doesn’t mean underage. And he cant be lusting after female students because he teaches at a boys school. Ccs fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Sep 5, 2018 |
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Sep 3, 2018 16:54
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Ccs posted:I’m through the early section in England and he’s met Conchis and they’ve talked a bit about war. It’s interesting and there’s this sense that things are going to get really weird but so far it’s been very subtle tricks and manipulation that the main character is mostly able to reason through. Looking forward to when it gets beyond his depth. Are you reading the revised edition? Fowles re-wrote some passages entirely, according to the forward in the revised edition I'm reading. I think I'm at the same point that you are, more or less. Urfe has gone 'scnorkeling' with Conchis. Really enjoying it.
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Sep 4, 2018 14:11
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I just finished it, and things do get out of his depth but in ways I didn't anticipate. It was smart to have Nick's girlfriend be a major part of the mystery, as it links all the parts together and creates a more emotional finale. If it was just escalating psychological tricks centering around Nick and his perception of the girls on the island, it would have been contained. But when it leaks out into personal relationships that existed before he met Conchis, then his life gains that extra bit of unreality. Though I don't understand, if those two do get back together, how their relationship will survive going through tricks involving suicide and separation. Nick will probably have PTSD from this experience for a long time. What exactly Conchis' goal was with the whole endeavor is unclear, to try to patch Nick's deficiencies? To torment him? Also I find it kinda funny that the author wrote a character so much worse than himself. It’s basically a “what if I had travelled to teach at a Greek island but been a failure without any talent except for picking up women”. The crazy stuff that happens to Nick substitutes for the emptiness in every other part of his life. Ccs fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Sep 5, 2018 |
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Sep 4, 2018 23:05
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Found some time and read up to the point after the first encounter with Conchis. I forgot how many somewhat obscure literary references are dropped throughout the book. It's a very good book that I'll always have fond memories for but as Fowles says in his forward, it's a novel written from juvenilia and Urfe is such a callow youth. It's a step up from Catcher for sure but shares themes of the protagonist trying to figure out who he is.
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Sep 6, 2018 13:11
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chernobyl kinsman posted:you do realize that just because a narrator does something like that it doesn't mean you're supposed to view it positively or uncritically, right To be fair, that's a hard lesson to learn. I only learned so in the past few weeks. I've just finished some "easier" literature works and the kindle version of this is cheap, so I'll jump in and have a go.
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Sep 7, 2018 12:05
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OscarDiggs posted:To be fair, that's a hard lesson to learn. I only learned so in the past few weeks. How old are you??
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Sep 7, 2018 13:42
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A human heart posted:How old are you?? 28. But hey, I only just learnt it. font color sea apparently didn't know. Maybe the problem isn't that we're dumb, but that you're just a genius? Eh, it's probably both. As an aside, where DID you learn these things? I never went to university so if we're supposed to learn these little rules there I'm way out of luck. I'm pretty sure it was never covered at secondary school either.
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Sep 7, 2018 14:20
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Yeah, the American public school system often doesn't cover things like unreliable narrators or the difference between narrator and author viewpoint. I remember in college a lot of kids we're *really* thrown by John Gardner's Grendel because they didn't or couldn't realize that just because Grendel was the protagonist that didn't mean the work endorsed his viewpoint. And that was at a supposed "elite" top ten college. I'm about halfway through this one. So far my favorite part is the initial section in England. It's just a great study of a flawed youthful relationship. The stuff on the island so far seems a bit grandiloquent.
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Sep 7, 2018 15:11
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Oh poo poo, I read this when I was about 15 years old and it was an extremely bizarre experience which I didn't really process at the time. May as well give it a re-read and see what it was actually about.
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Sep 8, 2018 00:51
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OscarDiggs posted:28. But hey, I only just learnt it. font color sea apparently didn't know. Maybe the problem isn't that we're dumb, but that you're just a genius? i am a genius, but i don't understand why you would need you learn this like it's a maths equation. like, a person in real life can already say things that they dont actually believe. if a person writes a fictional book, then its even easier for them to say stuff they dont actually believe or think is positive or approve of, because its not them the person talking anymore.
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Sep 8, 2018 01:39
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A human heart posted:i am a genius, but i don't understand why you would need you learn this like it's a maths equation. like, a person in real life can already say things that they dont actually believe. if a person writes a fictional book, then its even easier for them to say stuff they dont actually believe or think is positive or approve of, because its not them the person talking anymore. The vast majority of books, particularly ones that a child will encounter during basic education, are either fiction with a totally reliable narrator, or textbooks which have the Unquestionable Truth in them. It's a relatively unusual tactic and I can absolutely see how someone who for whatever reason wasn't particularly engaged by reading (or by the kind of relatively unconventional film that would use an unreliable narrator) could then get to adulthood without encountering the idea, or considering that it might be possible to write fiction that way.
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Sep 8, 2018 12:51
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A human heart posted:i am a genius, but i don't understand why you would need you learn this like it's a maths equation. like, a person in real life can already say things that they dont actually believe. if a person writes a fictional book, then its even easier for them to say stuff they dont actually believe or think is positive or approve of, because its not them the person talking anymore. I guess it's a mix of naivety and an inability to apply lessons and knowledge to a broad scope. I had no trouble with the concept when it applied to film and tv, but it seems I have a massive blind spot when it comes to critically thinking about the written word and it wasn't until a very kind goon spelt out the idea to me, using The Sopranos as an example, that I actually got it. I'd be a terrible karate kid but an excellent car waxer. EDIT: ^^^^^ What this goon says is true, to.
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Sep 8, 2018 12:52
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So Nick is always mentioning women’s mouths and characterizing their personality by their mouth and Allison seems to always have a ‘bruised mouth’. Is than an expression or is one of the men she’s seeing hitting her? also Nick slaps her at the end. Yet we’re still supposed to think they might get back together. I guess violence against women was all cool and good in the 50s.
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Sep 8, 2018 19:56
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Haha, okay, holy poo poo. I'd forgotten how much of this book is rooted in British class structure stuff and postwar British anxiety about its place in the world, especially the opening chapters before Greece, which is really the emotional setup for the novel. This might seem like a very difficult question to quantify any answers to, but I am curious how much that's all going to make sense to a modern (American?) audience. When I first read the book I must have been maybe 15-16 years old and I barely remembered much about Nick, but now he's just the absolute worst, and only half of that is his attitude toward women; the other part is all about class.
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Sep 13, 2018 21:15
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Hungry posted:Haha, okay, holy poo poo. I'd forgotten how much of this book is rooted in British class structure stuff and postwar British anxiety about its place in the world, especially the opening chapters before Greece, which is really the emotional setup for the novel. This might seem like a very difficult question to quantify any answers to, but I am curious how much that's all going to make sense to a modern (American?) audience. When I first read the book I must have been maybe 15-16 years old and I barely remembered much about Nick, but now he's just the absolute worst, and only half of that is his attitude toward women; the other part is all about class. Well I am a dumb American who hasn't read the book before, so I could probably let you know once I finish it.
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Sep 13, 2018 21:24
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Hungry posted:Haha, okay, holy poo poo. I'd forgotten how much of this book is rooted in British class structure stuff and postwar British anxiety about its place in the world, especially the opening chapters before Greece, which is really the emotional setup for the novel. This might seem like a very difficult question to quantify any answers to, but I am curious how much that's all going to make sense to a modern (American?) audience. When I first read the book I must have been maybe 15-16 years old and I barely remembered much about Nick, but now he's just the absolute worst, and only half of that is his attitude toward women; the other part is all about class. British guy here just to confirm that 53 years after this book was published, the class system remains as rigid as it is displayed in the story.
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Sep 14, 2018 18:12
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His kind of protagonist is still common in literature. Like I recently reread The Magicians and that’s all about kids on the east coast prepped from an early age for the Ivy League. Class is just as rigid in Britain and even more rigid in America than in was 30-40 years ago.
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Sep 14, 2018 18:38
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There's another very intensely British thing going on in the opening parts of the story, after Nick reaches Greece, which again I had little idea of when I first read the novel. The British image of going to the European continent is bound up with ideas of personal freedom from the more stifling socially constricted standards of Britain - despite most of Europe being little different. Except, you know, when he gets there the Greek school is a little parcel of British style dropped into his illusion of the perfect untouched Greek countryside.
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Sep 16, 2018 13:25
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Would be nice if I'd be able to get in on this, but whoever took it out at the end of last month hasn't returned it to the library yet, and I can see from the online due date that it's a week overdue. So in case that's anyone here, take it back already, you irresponsible motherfucker
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Sep 21, 2018 06:50
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Speaking of, I need suggestions for next month!
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Sep 21, 2018 13:40
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Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden
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Sep 27, 2018 09:03
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Applewhite posted:Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden
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Sep 29, 2018 02:36
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October's book will be I'll be Gone in the Dark for some actual real world terror I'll get thread up soonish
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Oct 1, 2018 19:58
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