What book(s) are you reading?

[#1rish]

any good?

This is right up my alley.

Seconded. Would like to know how this one is.

Just started:

 

[IrishLion]

There is uproar over Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman, which drops tomorrow.

Atticus Finch, THE MOST BADASS MAN IN ALL OF LITERATURE... is suddenly a racist?

Harper Lee's latest book has Atticus Finch fans aghast - CNN.com

 

[gkIrish]

There is uproar over Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman, which drops tomorrow.

Atticus Finch, THE MOST BADASS MAN IN ALL OF LITERATURE... is suddenly a racist?

Harper Lee's latest book has Atticus Finch fans aghast - CNN.com

I'll probably read it either way but wtf?

 

[IrishLion]

I'll probably read it either way but wtf?

Yeah idk, there isn't really an explanation besides "it was actually written before Mockingbird" and "a man in Alabama at that time wouldn't have been completely okay with black people."

 

[gkIrish]

Yeah idk, there isn't really an explanation besides "it was actually written before Mockingbird" and "a man in Alabama at that time wouldn't have been completely okay with black people."

It wouldn't be a big deal if Mockingbird addressed his racism in some way but he is like a champion of equality in Mockingbird so it doesn't make sense.

 

[woolybug25]

Pretty shocking turn of events, imo. I'm not entirely sure if I want to read it or not. I am going to keep reading small pieces and reviews as it comes out, but if Go Set a Watchman ends up being a lesser book and one that destroys the image of one of my favorite literary figures, I may just say "ignorance is bliss" and pass. That being said... I really have been looking forward to this book. Part of me says to just trust Harper Lee.

Here is a good comment on Atticus from the Washington Post. *WARNING - SPOILER REGARDING FINCH*

The adult Jean Louise (Scout) encounters a different Atticus from what readers of “Mockingbird” will remember. He joined the Ku Klux Klan and attended one meeting and is now a board member in one of the newly formed Citizens’ Councils springing up in communities throughout the South to oppose desegregation, in “protest to the Court . . . a sort of warning to the Negroes for them not to be in such a hurry.” This is the harsh reality with which Jean Louise must contend. In prose less nuanced than that of “Mockingbird,” prose steeped in the political rhetoric after the Brown decision, the characters in “Watchman” carry out an ideological debate that began in the South but would come to occupy the national consciousness in the 1960s and 1970s and in many ways continues today.

In Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman,’ a less noble Atticus Finch - The Washington Post

 

[ACamp1900]

Every book hits people differently, and maybe the fact that it was a book that I was forced to read in high school about social issues that, as a kid in so cal with largely minority friends and girlfriends, I had very little experience with, but I just never enjoyed Mockingbird all that much... It just never connected, and I have really zero desire at all to read Lee's new one.

 

[woolybug25]

Every book hits people differently, and maybe the fact that it was a book that I was forced to read in high school about social issues that, as a kid in so cal with largely minority friends and girlfriends, I had very little experience with, but I just never enjoyed Mockingbird all that much... It just never connected, and I have really zero desire at all to read Lee's new one.

That's fair. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Just please note, that your opinion differs from the great majority of readers in the world. TKaM is widely heralded as one of, if not THE, finest novel every written. Not just by me, but by pretty much every book critic or reviewer. It's in the same rare air as Gatsby, Of Mice and Men and Catcher in The Rye.

and you expect us to respect your opinions on food... pftt...

 

[ACamp1900]

No I get that it's just a case of, 'I didn't get it'... and I enjoyed the other novels you mentioned much more... everyone has their versions of that somewhere, Mockingbird is one of mine...

It blew my mind this past winter when I had my 12 year old daughter read Lord of the Flies... both my wife and I were convinced it would rock her world...

she thought it was okay,... she's the mail man's baby.

 

[woolybug25]

No I get that it's just a case of, I didn't get it... everyone has their versions of that somewhere, Mockingbird is one of mine...

Yeah. I'm that way with Grapes of Wrath. I read it several times and just never really could get into it. Which is weird, because Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is one of my favorite books.

 

[Cackalacky]

Yeah idk, there isn't really an explanation besides "it was actually written before Mockingbird" and "a man in Alabama at that time wouldn't have been completely okay with black people."

This is absolutely true and the rule more than the exception at the time.

There is also a long-standing/unconfirmed rumor that Truman Capote ghost wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird" or at least was heavily involved in the story/editing.

 

[woolybug25]

This is absolutely true and the rule more than the exception at the time.

There is also a long-standing/unconfirmed rumor that Truman Capote ghost wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird" or at least was heavily involved in the story/editing.

There was also a rumor that Go Set A Watchman was the quasi first draft of To Kill A Mockingbird. That the stories were actually one longer novel, spanning several decades. Then the publisher (Who Capote brought her to) told her to go back and finish it, but to focus on the perspective of Scout. So she spent the next two years, through donations of friends (which certainly adds incentive for Capote to help), finishing TKaM.

 

[IrishLion]

This is absolutely true and the rule more than the exception at the time.

Oh I have no doubt it is true.

It's just odd reasoning when you consider Atticus' views on equality from Mockingbird. He was a man that supported dignity for all humans, a man that defied the conventional beliefs of a man from Alabama at that time... and yet, now he's racist? Unless this change in his character is supported with a plot point, I'm chalking it up to the fact that Lee didn't know what type of character Atticus would be in Mockingbird when she started writing Watchman.

There is also a long-standing/unconfirmed rumor that Truman Capote ghost wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird" or at least was heavily involved in the story/editing.

Ima have to google that. I love a good conspiracy theory.

 

[ACamp1900]

If this is a major part of the story then I'd be pretty comfortable predicting it's just a prequel in terms of timeline and is just meant to show how a heart can change...

 

[Cackalacky]

There was also a rumor that Go Set A Watchman was the quasi first draft of To Kill A Mockingbird. That the stories were actually one longer novel, spanning several decades. Then the publisher (Who Capote brought her to) told her to go back and finish it, but to focus on the perspective of Scout. So she spent the next two years, through donations of friends (which certainly adds incentive for Capote to help), finishing TKaM.

I will probably read this as I love to challenge my notions on literature. I mean I have read TKaM so many times its not even funny, and every time, I am a different person when I read it so I cull different things from it because my perspective has changed with new life experiences. This won't be any different and probably won't change my perception of Atticus from TKaM much. Maybe.... LOL.

 

[Emcee77]

It's false that Truman Capote wrote the novel, but the character Dill is based on him and I have no doubt that he had a lot to do with it.

TKAM is one of my favorite books of all time. I can't wait to read the new book.

 

[Emcee77]

I will probably read this as I love to challenge my notions on literature. I mean I have read TKaM so many times its not even funny, and every time, I am a different person when I read it so I cull different things from it because my perspective has changed with new life experiences. This won't be any different and probably won't change my perception of Atticus from TKaM much. Maybe.... LOL.

I'm not really concerned if the Atticus of the new book is a different character from the Atticus of TKaM. They are different books, after all. One is told from the perspective of a young girl; the other from the perspective of an adult woman. It's bound to be a different take.

I see it as kind of like a Gone with the Wind/The Wind Done Gone dichotomy. Two different books, and the new book may provide new insights into the first because it is told from a different perspective, but it can't change the old book. It (and Atticus) will always be what it was for me.

 

[Cackalacky]

Oh I have no doubt it is true.

It's just odd reasoning when you consider Atticus' views on equality from Mockingbird. He was a man that supported dignity for all humans, a man that defied the conventional beliefs of a man from Alabama at that time... and yet, now he's racist? Unless this change in his character is supported with a plot point, I'm chalking it up to the fact that Lee didn't know what type of character Atticus would be in Mockingbird when she started writing Watchman.

I think this is very reasonable adn IMO a good POV to have. I think Atticus in "Watchman" will end up being much more like your typical Alabama man from the time based on personal experiences of Lee. I think TKaM Atticus was white-washed by the publisher for a more palatable story (considering the time period it was published) and possibly influenced by Capote. Capote was a great writer and I have little doubt that he provided assistance or professional input to Lee considering they were very good friends and she reportedly had struggled to complete TKaM. Scout would have needed a strong moral compass based on the story told in TKaM.


Ima have to google that. I love a good conspiracy theory.[/QUOTE]
There is a lot of interesting info out there.

 

[IrishLion]

The first thing I encountered on my search for Capote's involvement with TKaM was an article saying that Capote's In Cold Blood wouldn't have happened without Lee.

Perhaps they wrote each others' works and thought it would be a good joke to switch.

 

[ACamp1900]

The first thing I encountered on my search for Capote's involvement with TKaM was an article saying that Capote's In Cold Blood wouldn't have happened without Lee.

Perhaps they wrote each others' works and thought it would be a good joke to switch.

Or they were just close and helped each other a lot, wouldn't be the first time literary giants leaned on each other....

 

[IrishLion]

Or they were just close and helped each other a lot, wouldn't be the first time literary giants leaned on each other....

That's exactly what was happening, but that's not nearly as entertaining as an authorship conspiracy.

 

[Cackalacky]

That's exactly what was happening, but that's not nearly as entertaining as an authorship conspiracy.

Well, Capote was a narcisistic limelight whore and when asked, never explicitly stated he has no involvement. Its well documented they appeared in each others stories and helped each other with research and it is entirely plausible that they conversed with each other over plots, story lines, archs etc.

Its unlikely he wrote the book I agree, but I won't go as far to say he has no influence over it. He was pissed when she got the Pulitzer. Pissed....

 

[woolybug25]

If this is a major part of the story then I'd be pretty comfortable predicting it's just a prequel in terms of timeline and is just meant to show how a heart can change...

It's not a prequel. Scout is a twenty-something year old woman in Watchman. Atticus is a 70 year old man.

 

[ACamp1900]

It's not a prequel. Scout is a twenty-something year old woman in Watchman. Atticus is a 70 year old man.

Well,.... Thanks Obama......

 

[GoldenDome]

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics

 

[IrishLion]

Any big Tokien nerds out there like myself?

His first work of fiction, an "unfinished manuscript," is set to be published in October. It's a story that lead to his creation of Middle Earth and the LotR universe, basically.

Early J.R.R. Tolkien work to be published - CNN.com

Just the basic description makes it clear that the Finnish mythology resulted in the story of Turin from The Silmarillion and the book The Children of Hurin.

Also, Tolkien's estate has always been super protective of his materials, almost TOO protective at times, so I don't think there is any worry of the publisher taking advantage of things or simply going out of their way for a money grab.

 

[ACamp1900]

Picked up 'We, The Drowned' last night, so far it's intertaining and quite funny...

Anyone read it yet?

 

[Cackalacky]

The Self-Aware Universe: How consciousness creates the material world.
-Amit Goswami, Ph.D

 

[Redbar]

The Self-Aware Universe: How consciousness creates the material world.
-Amit Goswami, Ph.D

Haven't read that book, but totally agree with the premise in the title. First hermetic principle says that everything is mind.

I am going for some easy reading right now, about to start Ara's Knights: Ara Parseghian and the Golden Era of Notre Dame Football
-Frank Pomarico and Ray Serafin

 

[Cackalacky]

Haven't read that book, but totally agree with the premise in the title. First hermetic principle says that everything is mind.

I am going for some easy reading right now, about to start Ara's Knights: Ara Parseghian and the Golden Era of Notre Dame Football
-Frank Pomarico and Ray Serafin

“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Heres Tom with the Weather.”
-Bill Hicks

It's a good read so far. It talks basics in quantum physics and its implications in material realism.