Darryl Says...

I'm in chapter nine of the second book, enjoying it very much. Had to look up another word "colleen", couldn't guess the definition by the context (something about telling stories without any colleens or battles). Turns out to be an Irish expression for a young woman.

Barbara Says...

Finally finished book one and know I am behind schedule.  Me favorite character so far is Merlyn.  I think it would be most confusing to spend your life in a timeline backwards from everyone else.  But I guess if you have to keep up with cross species communication and magic - attention to the details of time would be a minor concern.  I enjoyed the fantasy of learning by becoming an animal.  Though I dislike the books tendency to be so detailed about the environment and sequence of events, yet seemingly disconnected between chapters.  Admittedly there may be obvious connections and importance of said details that I am missing. I intend to read the referenced discussion questions before continuing with book two.  Hoping for some focus to spur my reading.  As usual I began reading without any information about the book and just recently realized there were three books.  A lofty goal for a monthly reading group, at least for me.  But I am newly inspired to keep reading about young Wart and his new found Kingship.  I just can't promise I will make the deadline.

Mary Says...

On page 275. Was really enjoying the book, the last 50 pages have kinda been boring and I feel I am struggling to make myself read again.

Its not that I don't like the book.  I just feel I got to the part where it's kind of stalled.

Third Week

Over at one of my favorite web sites, LibraryThing, they have started a group read project.  Running through February 10th they are reading "The Picture of Dorian Grey", by Oscar Wilde.  They are following that up with Neil Gaiman's "American Gods"

I thought folks might like to check it out.

http://www.librarything.com/groups/onelibrarythingonebo

LibraryThing is free to join, they provide a web application that allows one to catalog/track books, and have a feature rich social platform as well.  The free membership allows up to 200 books to be cataloged, or something like that.

Also, today is Thursday the 23rd, and this is week three of our group read.  Folks should be somewhere near page 300 of Once and Future King today.  I'm still behind, but will catch up this weekend.

I'd like to ask folks to share any impressions you have so far, so I can post them on the site for others to think about.

Share your thoughts

I didn't get much reading done last week, various things going on around the house and at work.  But, that's why I thought a hundred pages a week might be a good rate of reading.  On some weeks I may read Once and Future King every day and knock out several hundred pages.  This week just past, I read a grand total of zero pages, so I am running behind.  I'm at the start of chapter 11 (about page 97)

As of Thursday the 16th, folks who are exactly on schedule should have been on around page 200, or the start of the Second Book, "Queen of Air and Darkness". This coming Thursday (the 23rd) you should try to be around page 300, or about the start of chapter 13 of Queen of Air and Darkness.

I'd like to ask folks to shoot me an email with your thoughts about what you have read so far, and about where you are in the book. I'll create posts (like I did with Darryl's status from last week).  I'm thinking everyone would like to know how others are doing, so share!

I think Nastasha is interested in reading with us, though her work schedule may keep her from this first meeting.  I'm adding her to the club list.

Update from Darryl

I am through chapter 8, and am enjoying it more than anticipated.  I am not taking the time to look up all the words I don't know and likely am missing many subtle meanings, but there is just too much of that stuff (for example, "this Beast has the head of a serpent, ah, and the body of a libbard..."  Now what the hell is a libbard?  Turns out to be archaic for leopard, but that is the only word I have looked up so far.  It would slow me down too much if I stopped for all these bizarre words and references, and I just don't care enough about falconry or jousting to research.  Instead I simply guess based on context and move along.  Still enjoyable though, the writing is good.

Early Reflections

I have read to the end of chapter 10, which occurs on page 96 in my edition of Once and Future King, and thought I'd share some observations.

I am really enjoying this book, more than I thought I would.  The tone of the writing was a surprise to me, I did not expect it to contain humor or tongue-in-cheek social commentary.  I take it T H White expected his readers to be young (teenagers at least).

 I really enjoy the Latin bits, from the discussion of declensions between the Lords early in the book, to the scattering of Latin throughout the story, in songs and in Merlyn's magic spells.  I think White expected his readers to be familiar with latin in an elementary way, and to have a rudimentary or better grasp of english history, particularly the timeframe of the Plantagenets, without which some of the allusions he makes might be missed.

Some info about the contents of Merlyn's room

The oddments described in Merlyn's room may be directly understood by readers from England, but I had to look them up, and thought I would share what I found regarding some of what is described there.

When I first read "under a fox's mask, with Grafton, Buckingham to Daventry, 2 Hrs 20 Mins", I figured it was a train schedule or something similar, though I did not get the fox's mask reference. Turns out Grafton is a real hunt club where they once did, and maybe still do, hunt foxes, with running land from Buckingham to Daventry.  Presumably then, the fox from which the fox mask was taken, took 2 Hours 20 Minutes to run down?

I was at a complete loss when I first read "a 40 pound salmon with AWE, 43 Min, Bulldog, written under it".  In Scotland, there is a River Awe, where salmon fishing used to happen.  The river was dammed in the mid-1950s, after T H White wrote Once and Future King, to the detriment but apparently not complete loss of salmon fishing on the River Awe.  40lbs is a big salmon, but far from a record holder.  I now assume 43 minutes was how long it took "Merlyn" (or perhaps White) to land the fish, and Bulldog was the type of lure used to catch the fish.

Again, "basilisk, with Crowhurst Otter Hounds in Roman print" had no meaning at all for me, but there really were  Crowhurst Otter Hounds that were used for hunting (otters, not basilisk).

An Ovis Poli is a Marco Polo sheep, noted for their large heads and curling horns.  And, Peter Scott artwork is featured on a set of 25 large format cigarette cards from 1937, showing wildfowl.  White wrote the component parts of Once and Future King between 1938 and 1941.

Merlyn's owl Archimedes is named for a "greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer", Archimedes of Syracuse.

I would like others to write something about their impressions of the book so far, ideally without any plot spoilers for those who may be running behind.  For those willing to write something, please email it to me and I will post it as a blog post with an attribution.

Enjoy your reading!

What's going on here?

It's a new year, and my personal reading accomplishments in 2013 were pretty weak.  According to my LibraryThing, I managed to check off a paltry 13 books from my reading stack.  Of those 13, 4 were Stephanie Meyers' Twilight, 2 were Harry Potter novels, and the remainder were similarly themed speculative fiction.

Now, that's not to say I didn't read other things... I did, just not complete books that I could check off.  What I thought might be interesting, and potentially motivating, is to start up a book club with a few friends.

So here it is.  I'll put it to a vote in February, but I'm tentatively thinking of calling this book club "One Hundred Pages Per Week".  I can read critically at about the rate of 50 pages an hour, and am asking my friends for a commitment around 2 hours a week, thus 100 pages a week.

We'll be reading "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White as our first book.  The edition I have runs 650 pages, so that's a 7-week read.  I've added a page to the blog where our current selection, start date, meeting date/time/place, and other info can be found.

I've surfed a few other book club how-to websites, so I know we need some procedures for things.  I've added a page to the blog where my initial thoughts on procedures can be found.