#discussion masterpost

[readerbookclub]

Discussion Masterpost - Stardust

I didn’t do this for the last two books. I was too busy when we read Never Let Me Go. As for Dubliners, there was no discussion to be summarized. But I did it this time! 

As always, I quote people’s reviews and posts. If you don’t like the way I quoted you message me and I’ll fix it immediately. Also, if I don’t know someone’s name (or nickname) I refer to them by their username. 

These are only excerpts, so if you want to read the whole thing, I’ve provided links to all the reviews and posts :)

Book Reviews:

Emma’s Review - “I really enjoyed this book! I love the classic fairytale elements and how each archetypical story beat hits perfectly.”

Generalblizzarddreamer’s Review - “Aesthetic, fairytale, and meh”

Melissa’s Review - “Gaiman’s style of writing and others like his tend to be my favorite because it’s direct, yet very descriptive and somewhat magical.”

Lina’s (My) Review - “I found the writing to be very lyrical [...] and fell in love with the fairy tale atmosphere.”

Ann’s Review - “A fairytale ‘for adults’, that didn’t exactly mix the darker themes with the unnuanced characters.”

Rey’s Review - “My expectations were pretty high because I remembered the movie and I loved it. [...] Did the book meet them? Not really. But I didn’t hate it altogether, it was an interesting read.”

Questions and Asks:

Ann asked : “Who was your favourite character in Stardust?”

I answered: “I think it has to be the hairy little man. He was such a fun character who added humour to the story [...] Yvaine is a close second.”

Ann asked: “Tristran just thinking that he wouldnt say goodbye to his family at the market and that he would never see them again anyway felt really harsh. What did you think about his attitude to his family?"

I answered: “I definitely agree that he was very cold towards his family. I don’t think I thought about them much at first (how often do hero’s journey books focus on anyone but the protagonist?). But it was after Tristan returned and his sister was crying that I realised how much he’d hurt them”

Ann asked: “What did you think about Tristran as a character?”

V answered: “I did not like him, but I didn’t hate him either. He just felt very flat to me, and very stupid. I mean sure, he was dedicated in finding the star for his “true love”, but he was just stupid. Like childlike stupid.”

Ann asked: “ Did you have a favourite quote or some moment that was very memorable in Stardust?”

I answered: “for there is no competing with the sea in a man’s affections, since she is both mother and mistress, and she will wash his corpse also, in time to come”

I asked: “What did you think of the dynamic between Tristan and Yvaine?”

Ann answered: “I normally love the enemies to lovers trope, but it wasn’t really developed well. Tristran was hung up over Victoria, and then he became a mouse, and suddenly he was in love with Yvaine.”

I asked: “The book is quite short, so I was wondering: did you wish there was more? Or did you feel satisfied by the end?”

Ann answered: “I felt the overall arc was finished, but the ending left me unsatisfied anyway. The ending felt rushed, because it tried to add onto the ever after [...]  Perhaps it would have ended on a more positive note, had it just ended at the market place.”

I asked: “While reading this book, I was reminded of fairy tales and children's stories. Did you feel the same thing?”

V answered: “This was definitely the kind of book I used to read as a kid, everything with the faerie world and the fallen star, adventures through magic forests, unicorns and stuff.”

Melissa asked: “I tend to want my main characters to be slightly evil. It bothers me when characters are so morally perfect. I find it strange that I didn’t hate Tristan, but instead love his character. What did you think of his character? Would you have preferred him to be a little evil?”

I answered: “While I enjoy books where the main characters have major flaws (it makes them feel more real), I don’t think I like evil main characters. [...] So I’m glad that Tristan wasn’t more evil.”

Other Cool Stuff:

Ann’s fascinating post about how stardust was originally meant to be a  “story book with pictures”. On a similar post, here’s her other post about Charles Vess’ illustrations of the story. Thanks a lot for sharing these :)

Then we have some fantastic fan art, you can check out at these talented people’s blogs: shuravf, cinnamoonie, and  lackadaisycal-art.

[readerbookclub]

Discussion Masterpost - This is How You Lose the Time War

If anyone doesn’t like how I referred to them/quoted them, please let me know, and I’ll fix it immediately!

Summary: This is probably the most active discussion we’ve ever had! Isn’t that neat? Generally, people had one of two reactions to this book. Some people absolutely adored it, and it’s easy to see why. They mentioned the beautiful love story and emotional (not to mention gorgeous) letters as what made them enjoy the book so much. Others found it too difficult to grasp. This was mainly due to the unusual and lyrical prose, that left them feeling lost and confused. 

Book Reviews:

Elfspectation’s review: “I wish it was a little… easier to read? Normally I love scifi but this was much more high concept than I’m accustomed to.”

My Review: “I could appreciate the crafting of the metaphors and images but was never really moved or touched by them. Red and Blue felt like mere ideas and not real people”

Rey’s Review: “I dived in, already bracing for the angst and the banters and the underlined fluff of course. And it did come, through letters, through gestures.”

Ann’s Review:  “I love time travel stories, and this book did have an unique approach. Yet the universe remained very vague, and distant.”

Generalblizzarddreamer’s Review: “It reminded me of an elaborate chess game. Just the whole idea of these to groups of people going head to head and trying to trick the other person reminded of the strategy needed for winning a good game of chess.”

Melissa’s Review: “The concept is beautiful, I just wish more time and thought was dedicated into it because this feels like a middle school fantasy when it should be something way more complex than that.”

Megan’s Review: “I was also SUPER CONFUSED the whole time I was reading”

Questions and Asks:

Ann shared that the book might be turned into a TV series, and asked “Do you think it would translate well to the big screen?”

I answered: “I’m very sceptical. The best thing about the story is the letters, and I just can’t see how you would translate that into film.”

V answered: “If its animation I think there’ll be a lot of stuff to play around with..So if that really does happen..I am so up for it!”

Minerva asked Ann and me: “What did you think of the book, how could this book relate to other time travel books, in general if you could time travel to a part of your life; what could you change and why?”

Ann answered: “This book was very vague about actual time-travelling… rebraiding strands of time, going deep under cover in the time-line, there even seemed several timelines… It wasn’t very clear to me.”

I answered: “I think there’s so much to admire here: the creativity and uniqueness, the gorgeous writing, the letters. It’s such a beautiful book! But at the same time, it has some major flaws.”

Ann asked: “Sometimes Red and Blue would start their letters with little nicknames and play on words. [...] Did you have favourite ones?”

I answered: “There was one that I liked so much I made a note of: ‘0000FF’. It made me laugh :)”

Ann asked: “Which character intrigued you more? Blue or Red?”

I answered: “I think Red intrigued me more, just because her world seemed so alien.”

I asked: “How does This is How You Lose the Time War compare to other novels in the [sci-fi] genre?”

Generalblizzarddreamer answered: “It’s more lyrical than other sci-fi books and relies more on the character to tell the story rather than the plot that the others rely on.”

I asked: “What did you think about the allusion to Romeo and Juliet?”

Ann answered: “I didn’t think it really applied [...]  the characters were rather world-weary, while the youthful romance of the play was the tragedy of it all.”

Elfspectations answered: “I was thinking that maybe the hint in that passage was that this book parallels a version of Romeo and Juliet in a Strand where it was written as a comedy.”

I asked: “Do you think that people can truly love each other through words alone?”

V answered: “I think it’s a very pure and intimate way to fall in love.You don’t know the external appearances so you fall in love with what they truly show you, their thoughts and the connection which grows slowly.”

V asked: “I am quite confused about the shadow that followed red..I didn't really understand who it was or what it was and its significance. What do you think it meant?”

I answered: “I think it was Red herself. [...] she went back in time and traced their steps, and this future Red was the shadow.”

I asked: “Do you wish the book had been longer? If so, what would you have liked to see more of?”

V answered: “I would’ve actually liked to read more about how did the war came into being..or what position were red and blue in and why they did what they did”

Ann asked: “I was sometimes reminded of The Starless Sea as I was reading last month’s pick. Did you have similar feelings?”

I answered: “Both books have what I think is called purple prose (?) where the writers use language that’s very poetic and metaphorical, but sometimes they go a little overboard.”

I asked: “How did you feel about the setting and plot being secondary to the character's love story?”

Generalblizzarddreamer answered: “I think I would have loved to see more of the love story but the plot and setting was fascinating to me :)”

Other Cool Stuff:

This interview with the authors of the novel, talking about their writing process and how they came to work together.  

This fanfic that Amal El Mohtar personally recommended (thanks to Ann for sharing!). 

A very cool artist, Laya, made wonderful artworks based on this book. My personal favorite is this one. 

This cool journal spread by Emma, based off the book.

[readerbookclub]

Discussion Masterpost - Educated

Because we had so many people join in this month (thank you all by the way, this was our biggest group yet!) I thought I’d make a post to summarize it all. This way, it becomes much easier to navigate the discussion in retrospect. 

Just a few things to mention before: I include quotes from people’s posts and make minor alterations, such as shortening sentences for brevity. Anything altered is in these brackets [ ], to show that I made a change. If you’re unhappy with the way I quoted you, please let me know and I will fix it immediately :) 

Also, for people whose names I don’t know, I used their usernames. If you’d like me to refer to you differently than I did, just message me and I’ll fix it.  

Okay, that’s it. I’ll shut up know :p

Summary: 

The book club really liked this one! Not one person said they didn’t enjoy it. Many people brought up how hard it was to put the book down, and quite a few read it in one or two sittings. This was our first non-fiction book, so it was great to see how many of us found it to be so enlightening and insightful. Everyone seemed to learn something from Westover’s experiences. 

This is probably the first time we read a book and have everyone love it. Up until this point, every time we read a book at least one person felt indifferent (or worse) towards it. But this one seemed to win everyone over. That’s quite an impressive feat!

Book Reviews:

engineeriblr’s review -  “ I had already read it two years ago, so some details might be a bit hazy. But I remember it to be the book that got me back into reading!”

Megan’s review - “Many of us take a college education for granted (myself included sometimes), but this memoir has caused me to think twice about that and truly appreciate it.”

Melissa’s review - “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, stories like Westover’s comes and makes you realize you’re ignorant. But, as Westover has clearly shown, this is part of the learning process.”

elfspectation’s review - “I learned more about how dangerous insular communities can be when everyone ‘minds their own business’ to an extreme degree that they forget to care about other people.”

Emma’s review -  “ I loved rooting for Tara and seeing how she moved from a little girl growing up in the Rockies to a celebrated scholar.”

My review -  “I had to keep reminding myself while reading the book that these events were real and happened to an actual person.”

Questions and Asks: (the quotations are only snippets of the responses, to see the whole answer you have to click on the link)

V asked: “The siblings got injured many times and [their mother] always overlooked the reason why they got injured in the first place. it just doesn't really settle with me.. What did you think about it?” 

I answered: “it was incredibly disturbing to read about the abuse (if not abuse, then surely neglect) that the children had to live through. The parents found it easier to turn a blind eye than protect their family, and that’s something that no child deserves.”

I asked: “Did Tara's story change the way you think about school and learning?”

V answered: “we have all of the abilities, thoughts or stuff like that in us but education is what helps us understand it, recognise it, work on it.”

I asked: “Was there any specific event/moment from Educated that really stuck with you?”

Apples answered: “The accident that gave the mother brain damage, and the racoon eyes, that I googled. The second accident, because the dad did not learn. He did not. Not a thing.”

I asked: “Although Tara’s life is quite unusual, did you still manage to relate to her as a person? Or were the differences too big to overcome?”

V answered: “I never experienced these things directly like her but I did feel conflicted about it myself and still do sometimes. I feel like there’s a lot of gray area surrounding being a woman and the rights and wrongs and the way we judge it or in knowing and accepting what I really am as an individual and feel and think.”

I asked: “You mentioned that you'd already read Educated last year. Was it any different the second time?”

eflspectations answered: “ One thing I noticed was her love for the mountain, Buck’s Peak. In the later chapters she said a few things that made it seem like she really wanted to go back there, but the issues with her remorseless father made that something she was unwilling to do even though she felt like the mountain was drawing her to it.”

Other Cool Stuff:

In this post, elfspectation shares that Tara’s mother (LaRee Westover) wrote a memoir as a response to Educated. The post also shows a review made by Tyler’s wife, which is definitely interesting to read.