Welcome!
We opened this blog many, many months ago with all good intentions of starting a reading group. We had visions of smart people discussing interesting books, of giving one another insights and of learning from each other, and of live discussions on podcasts. It was going to be great, we thought, so in a fit of optimism (that was clearly not supported by our collective amount of free time), we opened a blog and got ready to welcome greatness.
You know what they say about the road to Hell and good intentions, right?
Well, to hell with that! Never being one to be particularly timid, I’ve decided that now is the time, and this is the book:
The His Dark Materials trilogy was recommended to me by a colleague of mine at the university where I teach writing. I also teach high school English, you see, and I was casting about for appropriate novels for juniors and seniors that had a strong “coming of age” theme. I have great respect for Adam’s literary judgment, and he had nothing but good things to say about Pullman’s novels; they’re challenging, he said, but they would make an amazing anchor for a high school class for the teacher who’s not intimidated by them.
I am so not intimidated.
Though my daughters already have the books, I went out that afternoon and bought a set for myself. I am currently about a quarter of the way into the third installment of the story, but I’m willing to delay my gratification of finishing the series because I’m so eager to go back to look closely at the first book. I’m sure that, for as much as I got out of it reading it on my own, I’ll be able to understand so much more if I read it with a community.
So, I’m putting this out there. Care to do a little reading with me? I’ll post questions and observations here periodically; we can have discussions in the comments. If you wish to contribute a post, email it to me at mrschili at comcast dot net and I’ll put it up for you.
Ready? Set? Read!!
Hmmm, very tempting. I have a huge summer reading list for my 8th grade class. Might be able to squeeze this in…
Darci, you might be able to USE this in your 8th grade! It’d be great to have you join me! Let’s see how many people we can get on board…
I’m in!
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Our dear friend K gifted me with the set a year ago, the first was a slog for sure. Second was dropped half way through. Might of had an ” Oh! Shiney” moment there but never got back to this series. I’ll give it a go and will ask friend K to join in.
Is there start and finish date? Might be important for either of us. No babies lurking in the works but time away at various places…solid.
What the hell, I’m in.
Will there be some sort of schedule, like so many chapters per so many days?
Yeah, I think we need a deadline, too. How about we agree to have finished the book by the fourth of July? I’m going to ask SW to see about getting a podcast set up; we’ll worry about scheduling that after we have an account, though, so we can figure out when the most readers are available.
I’ve never participated in a reading group, online or otherwise. Is there a list of rules, expectations, or something I can study? I would like to exercise my somewhat unhealthy need to exert control the situation as much as possible.
Seriously, Joe? Chill. The rules (at least, here!) are you read the book, note whatever questions have or observations you make about it, then bring those things to participate in a discussion.
The biggest problem I have observed in book groups (and many of my classes, since I run most of my classes are run like book clubs, anyway) usually comes with the people who either a) didn’t like the book but aren’t willing to do the work required to articulate WHY or b) discount the input of others. It’s okay to hate a novel, it’s not okay to offer “it sucks” as a reason why. It’s also okay to disagree with someone’s interpretation of something, but we have to at least give them a chance to chase it down and see if it really works and be open to the idea that we all come to literature (and films, and music and, well, everything) with our own unique set of experiences and prejudices. I may not see the same things you do, or I might see them in a different way, and that’s exactly as it should be.
So, those are your rules. Pay attention when you read, formulate some questions, observations, and connections, and be ready to be part of a group trying to suss the whole thing out.
You up for that?
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My books arrived today. I will get a good chunk of reading in during the next two days.
I read this one a few years ago . . . but wth, I can read it again.
I love this trilogy. I was just thinking I need to start re-reading my huge stack of favorites, so I guess I’ll start with this one.