Chris

The Idle Book Club 1: The Sense of an Ending

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I'm so excited about Idle Flippin' (right? right?). I hope it'll encourage me to pick up more current literature.

I'm totally clueless when it comes to contemporary stuff, so I'm excited about that, too.

And more generally, I'm excited to have someone basically telling me what to read, because left to my own devices I'll get stuck in a weird rut where I keep reading the same author or something even when I should switch it up.

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Yeah I have much the same thoughts on this. It's quite hard to get good book recommendations, for some reason. Even the book recommendation thread here on the forums can be a bit of a chore to sift through for things I think I might genuinely enjoy. I'm hoping the book cast will give me at least one book each month that I can take my time to look into and see if I want to read it.

I'm heading to Germany on Friday and I always end up reading a lot while I'm over there due to being mostly disconnected from the internet, TV, games and so on. I already have a copy of Sense of an Ending on my phone - given its apparently short length I might even read most of it during the flight.

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Completely, but the immediate dismissal of "The Hunger Games" pointed in the other direction. I'm not suggesting that you should read "The Hunger Games", but maybe there is a book targeted at "young adults" which would suit the cast, a novel which is less in the public eye and closer to literary fiction. Straying from the beaten track makes the most sense in the Idle Thumbs approach, You aren't focussing on the Call of Dutys of games, so why would you go with the Harry Potters of novels. The only thing I'd suggest is keeping the variety of books high, maybe hit comics, poetry, or if you are feeling extra special choose your own adventure books.
I suspect we'll talk about the underlying motivations related to this, but we absolutely would not be scolds about it. I don't even think Jake, for example, feels the same way on the issue, so if it does come up it would be as a dialogue, not a unified front. And despite having linked to that article and agreeing with many of its underpinnings, I would never have taken the author's angle if I were writing the article myself.

Chris and I were hanging out when he tweeted that article berating adults for reading adult fiction and it's worth pointing out that Chris and I (and I won't speak for Jake) differ on the value of reading a literary/young adult/genre fic quite a bit but feel like we're pretty in line for the intent of the Book Cast -- a way for you guys AND the three of us to read and discover new things that someone on our side of the fence has deemed worthy of your time (which is exactly what we do with games).

And while we'll be reading and discussing a single book each week (and the suggestion concerning format by Xeneth above is a good one) our plan right now is to cycle through the members of the cast getting to pick a book each month. Chris has chosen The Sense of an Ending but Jake or I will be picking the next book and so-on. I think that will yield lots of different types of literary fiction -- I can easily foresee Jake or I picking a book that is more genre-fic (like, say, The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler) and Chris or someone else being put-off by its genre-ficki-ness. That will still result in fantastic discussion about the literary methods used, the characters, etc, but one of us will probably call Chris an elitist douce, he will cop to it, and the conversation will continue.

I don't have the same knee-jerk reaction to books like The Hunger Games as Chris does, but I also don't think it would be that interesting of an endeavor to bring it (or books like it) to the cast. My whole family read the Harry Potter books. I grew up reading a lot of pulp fiction and found literature on my own -- and generally eschew dismissing lighter fic fare because of that.

The book cast will be about exploration and newness for everyone, so expect a lot of things flying in from left field.

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Wwwwwwhen would the first bookcast be happening? I'm trying to plot in when I can best read The Sixth Sense (of an Ending). If it's still three months off I'll wait a little longer.

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That's a good plan. I started reading the book as soon as I heard what it was, and finished it not long after... I sorta regret being so quick to pick it up.

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I can't wait for the return of the thumbs but I must agree the book club is possibly the most exciting bit. "Thumbin' Through" is good. I bought A Sense of an Ending for a relative this Christmas, and just bought another copy for myself, waiting to dive in.

Very much in favour of more interesting contemporary books and literary novels, but it may be good to break it up with lighter fare. I guess it depends on how often an episode is. I have a number of books sitting on the shelves to get to, how about Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Madame Bovary, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, or Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?

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Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?

Or Plato's dialogues

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It will be monthly.

But any actual loose timeframe of when the first one will hit? Will it be in a month from now or closer to three months from now? Not trying to rush you, just want an estimate for reading.

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But any actual loose timeframe of when the first one will hit? Will it be in a month from now or closer to three months from now? Not trying to rush you, just want an estimate for reading.

Whenever the video game podcast comes back. We don't know yet. We're still developing the new site. Hopefully soon though!

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Our plan is to bring everything back at the same time and we want the new site to be hearty enough to be around for a long-time without any future redesigns -- and then we'll drop new full eps, the book-cast and any other crazy shit we're including all at the same time (that's when 3MA will make it's migration as well). So, don't worry -- it's coming -- we just don't want to half ass it.

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Whenever the video game podcast comes back. We don't know yet. We're still developing the new site. Hopefully soon though!
Hope and soon aren't what we're paying you for here, Remo! We demand results!

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It actually is explicitly a book club.

I guess I was sort of grasping a bit for quick terminology... When I think "Club" I think of some of the other experiences I've had that involved a weird level of promotional sense and some sort of whitewash mechanics, like the community at large voting on which books come next.

I'm totally looking forward to this in part because I know it won't be like other book clubs I've been in any more than ThumbsClassic has been like other gaming sites/podcasts/forums, with ratings and news and console war bickering and what have you.

Thumbin' Through IS pretty choice... BookBlast? The Wizard's Library? Idle Spines? ...Nah, can't quite top it at the moment.

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Whenever the video game podcast comes back. We don't know yet. We're still developing the new site. Hopefully soon though!
Coool. Will the first episode just be an introduction & thoughts or will we dive right into the first book?

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Coool. Will the first episode just be an introduction & thoughts or will we dive right into the first book?

We may release a short episode early to "officially" announce the book, but the first real episode is intended to go live the same time as the first new episode of Idle Thumbs proper.

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Will they be released as one stereo MP3 file with the proper cast as one channel, and the book cast as the other?

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I certainly hope not! It would sound really weird and confusing AND double the filesize. Plus, I often listen to stuff with one earbud only so I would miss like half the podcasts.

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My reading suggestions:

  • Don Quixote

That's exactly what I was about to suggest.

I add Moby-Dick and Kafka to the suggestions list.

Will you guys be picking recently published books only? Or will you delve into the classics as well?

Also, how do you classify "A Series of Unfortunate Events"? I don't see it as young adult fiction. To me it's simply Kafka for Youth.

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Also, how do you classify "A Series of Unfortunate Events"? I don't see it as young adult fiction. To me it's simply Kafka for Youth.

I've only read 2 of the series book and completely disagree, but I'd be interested in knowing which elements of this series makes you draw this comparison

Edited by vimes

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Well, before anything; I should say that the story takes a big turn after the 4th book, leaving the somewhat repetitive formula of the first 4 books. Until the 7th book which is the climactic installment[?] in the series. After that, the books get a lot more engaging, making the audience ready for the ending. So, I think it's best if you continue reading the books before we can discuss this :)

+ Reading the "Unauthorised Biography of Lemony Snicket"'s a great bonus.

I'd love to reread all 13 volumes and give a detailed reasoning, which I probably will. This summer most probably.

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That's a shame, I don't think I'm going to read more books of that series.

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I'm pretty pumped up by the podcast/book club pushing me back to novels; but will there also be collections of short stories on the menu? There are some styles, authors and themes that only appear and function in that form; so I think it might be worth it.

The first book is 150 pages long, surely that qualifies as a short story?

I'm really looking forward to the bookcast, but I personally hope you won't be choosing the most popular genre fiction books like Hunger Games, or the classics like Moby Dick, because those are the things people will read regardless of whether you tell them to or not (although I won't be reading Hunger Games unless I have to). The thing I like about this sort of thing is being introduced to things I would normally not be that interested in, and judging from The Sense of an Ending at least Chris will pick books that are outside my usual reading habits (it's good, though, I'm enjoying it; I just wouldn't have bought it unless someone suggested it).

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