The July Big Read

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 22 Jun 2005, 14:08

Getting the Big Read back on course, the outstanding suggestions at the end of April were:

Buddha Da
Catch 22
Cloud Atlas
English Passengers
Only Say the Word
Running With Scissors
Tuesdays With Morrie

Votes please by next Wednesday

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 22 Jun 2005, 15:58

Running with Scissors (have it in my pile to read)

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 22 Jun 2005, 16:02

Sandra wrote:Running with Scissors (have it in my pile to read)

We're not allowed to run with scissors at all in our house.

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 22 Jun 2005, 16:03

mr magnolia wrote:
Sandra wrote:Running with Scissors (have it in my pile to read)
We're not allowed to run with scissors at all in our house.

I'm surprised you are allowed to move about at all.

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 22 Jun 2005, 19:01

I'd like to read Catch 22 again after 30 years

to see what I think of it now! But any book OK by me, really.

foxy · Post by **foxy** » 22 Jun 2005, 22:17

Same here...I've read Bhudda Da and Catch 22, but happy to go with the majority vote

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 22 Jun 2005, 22:38

Ditto, I don't mind, didn't read man in high castle as it was not my type of book.

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 30 Jun 2005, 09:22

The July Big Read will be:

Running With Scissors
by Augusten Burroughs

(I notice that it's currently being made in to a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Feinnes, Annette Benning and Brian Cox - due out next year)

Poppy - I'd like to re-read Catch 22 as well, so maybe next month?

c'lam · Post by **c'lam** » 30 Jun 2005, 12:43

ooh that is such a fantastic book. how does this thread work?

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 30 Jun 2005, 13:28

c'lam wrote:ooh that is such a fantastic book. how does this thread work?

I just lost all my message.

I was asking which of the two books you mean, Catch 22 or Running With Scissors, and I was also suggesting you look at these threads, c'lam:

November

and

January

And while I was searching for those threads, I saw the one that says "Where's Hell's Cat?" and I read "Where the Hell's the Cat?". Think I must be wearing Poppy's specs by mistake...

BB

Pal of Porty · Post by **Pal of Porty** » 30 Jun 2005, 14:09

I will lower the tone. I am just about to read 'The Story of VIZ' by Chris Donald.

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 30 Jun 2005, 16:38

Sandra wrote:Ditto, I don't mind, didn't read man in high castle as it was not my type of book.

tut tut sandra! you sound like the magnoliettes telling me they don't like vegetables that they've not tried yet! Get yourself to the other PKD books on offer and try them. You'll love them.

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 01 Jul 2005, 16:54

rathbone wrote:The July Big Read will be:

Running With Scissors
by Augusten Burroughs

I am about half way through so if anyone wants to borrow when I am finished they are more than welcome. Its a great can't put down book although a bit bizarre.

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 01 Jul 2005, 21:39

mr magnolia wrote:tut tut sandra! you sound like the magnoliettes telling me they don't like vegetables that they've not tried yet! Get yourself to the other PKD books on offer and try them. You'll love them.

Mr M which ones do you suggest?

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 01 Jul 2005, 23:29

mr magnolia wrote:Jump in with TMITHC if you wish - it is indeed a fine work; just a bit too fine for me.

I'd start with some other 'non-sf' books that are nevertheless 'weird' enough to get a flavour - Mary and the Giant, The man Whose Teeth were All Exactly Alike, Humpty Dumpty in Oakland - all weird enough but more readily readable IMHO

edit: spelling and titles!

Sandra - if you want a straight recommendation from me I'd say Mary and the Giant. Lovely book, more about the (potential) strangeness and disconnectedness of the ordinary than about 'science fiction' - it's a people thing, not a machine thing.

er, I'm off now to check I'm talking about the right book...

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 24 Jul 2005, 13:33

Finished Running With Scissors last night. (Thanks for suggesting it Sandra)

Using the tried and tested Marya Marking Matrix:

Plot: Can you genuinely have a plot in what purports to be autobiography?? I did wonder at times whether Burroughs had tweaked his real life story in order to get the 'narrative' to flow.

Setting: For something which was set in a very specific location (Massachusetts) there was no sense of place at all. This could have been anywhere. Perhaps that was deliberate, to create an everyman feel, but I suspect not. Even on the domestic scale, apart from the fact that the Finch's house was badly maintained on the outside and bizarrely maintained on the inside, there was no tangible setting.

Characters: Like the plot, it would be interesting to know the extent to which Burroughs enhanced the real characters. The measured tone of his ackowledgement of 'a certain Massachusetts family' at the end speaks volumes. All of the characters, grotesque or otherwise, are well drawn, though I was left wanting to know more about his father and his brother and, ultimately, what happened to Neil Bookman ( I felt: he "was never seen nor heard from again", was a bit of a cop out).

Theme: The old one of they f**k you up, your mum and dad, coupled with the perils of trying to live the liberal dream, but at least this time it has a bit of a twist and is funny.

Language:Nice and straightforward. It was refreshing to read a book about psychiatry, psychosis and seventies America which didn't disappear up its own linguistic backside.

Narrative Style: Back to my first point. Autobiography posing as fiction or fiction posing as autobiography? Either way he lived up to the maxim he quotes at the beginning: Look for the ridiculous in everything and you will find it.

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 24 Jul 2005, 18:57

rathbone wrote:Finished Running With Scissors last night. (Thanks for suggesting it Sandra)

It was actually Bellybabe which suggested it first time round

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 24 Jul 2005, 19:15

Yep, non-fiction requires a slightly different approach, but I'm on my hols so I'll spare you another of my potted guides to literary criticism.

I better get round to BB's and borrow her copy of "Running with Scissors" pronto (and return her copy of "The Five People you meet in Heaven").
It sounds like a good read Rathbone. I'm looking forward to it.
I'm currently reading Nicky Campbell's autobiography "Blue Eyed Son". Wasn't a great fan of the man, but his book is proving a really interesting read. He writes very honestly and well . Incidentally, did you know he was born in Portobello?

I've also just finished "Cloud Atlas" so guess what I want August's read to be?

rathbone · Post by **rathbone** » 26 Jul 2005, 12:01

Sandra wrote:
rathbone wrote:Finished Running With Scissors last night. (Thanks for suggesting it Sandra)

It was actually Bellybabe which suggested it first time round

Then double thanks for suggesting it Bellybabe!!

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 28 Jul 2005, 13:25

De nada, querido.

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 19 Sep 2005, 21:26

mr magnolia wrote: Sandra - if you want a straight recommendation from me I'd say Mary and the Giant. Lovely book, more about the (potential) strangeness and disconnectedness of the ordinary than about 'science fiction' - it's a people thing, not a machine thing.

Mr Magnolia I have recently ordered Mary and the Giant from Amazon - will let you know how I get on/like it.

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 19 Sep 2005, 22:03

Sandra - I'll keep my fingers crossed for you (and me...)