Failed Patternmakers Bookclub

Sometimes reading questions and discussions about plot, theme, and craft are enough. Sometimes, we want to try a different kind of conversation.

[failedpatternmakersbookclub-blog]

Next book of the month! A pick by Kate. Let's maybe give this one a read by the end of October. 

Be sure to let me know if you have some books to add to the list in the next few months. 

[failedpatternmakersbookclub-blog]

A Post Family Photo Album

Here are the family portraits and landscapes Emma Straub created with “The Vacationers.” Mallorca is lovely but 2-D, framed and printed and polished with a matte finish. The Posts are a collection of similarly flat characters who lack any oomph to either make themselves known as unique individuals beyond rote roles of Summer-Before-College Daughter, Betrayed-Writer Mother, Trying-to-Right-His-Wrongs-Erring Father. These characters are privileged, given successful careers and educations, struggles, seemingly, relatable.

But at most turns, I thought, oh, of course. This, perhaps, could me my life with no surprises. Which makes it a difficult book to support, despite how much I hope to see Straub continue with her writing success. When I travel, by book or by my own body, I am seeking something ugly or beautiful or comforting or nourishing. But even Franny’s food, no matter how hungry I was while reading, never made me very full. 

[failedpatternmakersbookclub-blog]

Well, the first month or so of bookclub has gone by very quickly, and I've admittedly slacked on keeping up to date with postings. 

Did you finish "The Vacationers"? If not -- why? If yes -- why? I'm still getting the hang of this Tumblrness, so hopefully you will be able to post responses of any sort to this. Let me know if that doesn't work. I hope to have my reactions up soon, but certainly don't wait on me -- I really look forward to hearing and seeing your thoughts on this one!

[failedpatternmakersbookclub-blog]

Book list?

  What should be on our list of reads in the upcoming months? I was looking over at Powell's list of 25 Books to Read Before You Die. I'd put Flannery O'Conner and Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale on there for sure.

These can be books you've always wanted to read, (for me: Atwood) or books you'd liked to read again (again, me: O'Connor), books you'd like to have conversations about. 

Once I get a list going, I'll try put up a schedule for the next few months.

[failedpatternmakersbookclub-blog]

Vacations?

As you get started, I'd love to hear your take on vacations -- share a story of your own, of what 'vacation' makes you think about (versus, maybe 'tourist' or another term?), something that gets us thinking in some direction as we are reading, a space to move towards or away from as we get into Emma Straub's writing here. 

[failedpatternmakersbookclub-blog]

I'm hoping this can be the August book of the month, and our kickoff read! There are plenty of days left in the month! I'm looking forward to seeing how it feels to be a Vacationer at the end of the summer travel season. 

Stay tuned near the end of the month for how to post your reactionary pieces. Can't wait!

[failedpatternmakersbookclub-blog]

Welcome!

After a friend and I talked about having some kind of long-distance bookclub, I put out this call to a small group to see what kind of interest there might be:

Hello Friends! 

I am inviting you to join me in a project I've been thinking of but thought, per most of my cognitive appraisals, I needed a fully formed notion of what I'd hoped to see. I'm throwing that out the window to say: here is an idea, let's see what happens! 

Sea to shining sea book club! There are lots of you whose beautiful brains I wish I had more access to on a regular basis, and sometimes we need a little structure to make that happen, no? 

So, my thought is, we read a book once a month (or so -- in my unemployment, I'm not terribly busy except for a severe lack of motivation to do anything that wander aimlessly on job boards, but I know many of you are in transition and/or just general Super people who are quite busy).  And then we create a response in whatever way feels interesting -- a poem, a photograph, a menu, a wardrobe, a critical analysis, whatever. We can just share these among ourselves, or (hopefully) we (me?) can create a website that will be a cool format for this exchange. Tumblr? I'm new to making websites so I'd take suggestions, but, yeah. Such is the notion.

.

If you've been invited, heard it through the grapevine, wandered along a hashtag cookie-crumb trail: welcome! I'm hoping we'll be able to share some interesting responses and ideas about the books we read and that our list of contributing Patternmakers will grow and shift and flux so that each month we just get to see how the common ground of one book influences us. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what we come up with!

Big hugs, xtine