Tempest’s Comments (group member since May 15, 2014)

Tempest’s comments from the UChicago Class of 2018 Book Club group.

Jason wrote: "Ok so now to Paradise Lost. What immediately struck me is the loftiness of Milton's poetry. Paradise Lost truly hearkens back to the epic tradition of ancient Rome and Greece-the Odyssey, Illiad, a..."

Hi! So I'm WAAAAYYY behind on Paradise Lost because I cannot control myself in a public library and I may have brought home dozens of books that need to be returned. SO, once I have finished those, returned them, and finished PL, I will get back to you properly! I always do this to myself. I have these lofty goals of somehow being able to handle reading four books at once, which somehow multiplies to nine and a half series at once. I don't know where they come from, but somehow I end up paying the late fees on all these stray books.

I've got huge piles of books in my room waiting to be read... I'm pretty sure half of my public library's funding comes from my late fees.

Yes! I've been meaning to read that one. Have you read A Clockwork Orange? I am completely amazed by the author's ability to make me care about this absolutely despicable person.

Roni and I were thinking that it would be fairly independent. If you have a book that you want to start reading, set a date to start it so other people who want to read it have time to get a copy or finish their current book, etc. Then, go ahead and make a folder for your book and set a date/time that you want to talk about it and how much you will read by that time (for example, for "Paradise Lost" I'm reading a Book, or chapter, a week). That should give other people enough notice to join you!

Bad guys are more interesting! I can easily rationalize why someone would do the right thing, but what is the motivation behind a murder?

I performed his monologue (in Book 2, I think) for Speech with prose from A Clockwork Orange, the theme being free will. I have a soft spot for evil people, I guess. Just ask Hannibal Lecter and Iago, two of my favorite characters! (There's nothing wrong with me, ha-ha.)

I never thought I'd be so emotional about Satan.

Right on right on right on! It's time to get our Fall of Humanity on. We have got to decide a few things as we get started.

First of all, I think getting together once a week to chat would be a good pace. I myself am planning on having a pretty chill summer, so I think I can handle a Book a week (PL is divided into Books like super long chapters, if you didn't know), but if that's too fast for people who are actually going to do a thing or even MULTIPLE things (gasp!) during their months of freedom, I am happy to slow it down. So basically my idea for a plan of action is to be on Goodreads on Wednesday evenings (7 EST?) with the next Book read. I am open to revisions to this plan if desired. So... yeah. Godspeed, my fellow Maroons! (Haha-- Godspeed because it's about Genesis. I love Bible humor.)

So I finish high school in four days. That's pretty exciting, I think. That is also when I will start "Paradise Lost" for real (I've already kind of fake-started, because I can't wait).

I think the way we're going to do this, to account for different tastes, is to have a discussion folder for each book we read. If you want to read something, go ahead and add it to the list of "to-read" books. When you're looking for something to read and chat about, scroll through the list and see what's on the menu! Then, just join in the discussion! Each group should set their own pace and decide how they'll do discussions, maybe pick a time once a week and decide how much they will have read. That might help with the
issue of spoilers.

I'm so psyched to get this started. I am going to read so much good stuff this summer, thanks to you guys!

Hey everybody! I'm Tempest, and I am here because, like the huge nerd that I am, I borrowed my teacher's copy of "Paradise Lost" (complete with his college notes in the margin-- thanks, Mr H!) to read over the summer. Soon, though, I realized that by myself, this endeavor could get boring very quickly. So, I thought I'd put out a call to anyone else who's interested in reading some cool stuff this summer! And I got a lightning-quick response. Boy, you guys loved this idea. Which brings us here. The lovely and talented Roni created this group for us, so we can be geeky together, and here we are!

I am so excited to do this! I can't wait to get dozens of book recommendations and recommend dozens of books to other people. I can't wait to get into philosophical debates about how much of a HUGE JERK Dante Alighieri was (he was, and I will fight you on this). And I can't wait to meet you guys!

My English teacher will be so proud.