Jenny’s Comments (group member since Feb 16, 2024)

Jenny’s comments from the Ursula K. LeGuin group.

For those who are ready to move on - let's feel free to keep talking about Betrayals on the other thread if we still have something to say though.

Francisca wrote: "Hello everybody,
I'm wondering if we should set a date for the discussion of the second story.

Perhaps we could start the discussion next Monday (25th) giving it until Sunday (31st) so that anyon..."

I was just thinking that. I wondered about putting the thread up now so that anybody who was ready could start talking about the second one while anybody still with things to say about the first one could continue there?

Thank you, everyone! That's brilliant. I'm going to go back and start reading again and I'm sure it will make more sense to me this time.

I'm hoping somebody will be able to explain this story to me, because I don't really understand what it's about. It seems to me to be a series of incidents in Yoss's life, and I'm not sure what connects them.
I suppose the title must be a clue, but I still can't see it!

I'm sure this is me being stupid, because UKLG is a great writer and it can't be her fault. So what am I missing?

I beg your pardon, I misunderstood!

Judy wrote: "I've never before participated in this type of Group Read. I'm delighted to have an opportunity to discuss my favorite author with others who admire UKLG. Could you please explain what we should ex..."

Well, the advantage of an online discussion is that it can go in several directions at once, so nobody need feel they have to wait their turn to say something. It's really just a question of reading the book (or story in this case) and posting to say what you think, or to ask any questions you have or answer anybody else's question.
Anybody's view is as valid as anybody else's, though if you're studying ULG for a doctorate perhaps we should consider you the horse's mouth!

If you want to see what a discussion looks like, why not pop into the other group I've just become moderator of and read some of those? It's an open group, so you don't have to be a member. This is the current discussion: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... : what we're talking about at the moment is whether the book is primarily romance or farce, and who is to be considered the heroine of it.

GR Support has now made me a co-moderator, so I can create folders and edit them. I'll create threads for group reads in the Group Reads folder, which I assume will become visible when there's something in it!

Meanwhile, if anybody else would also like to be a co-moderator, I'm sure that could be arranged, and indeed I'd be very happy - I've only been given the job because it was I who asked GR Support about it! And I've only got a couple of months' experience as moderator of another group, so anybody who knows more about moderating than I do would be very welcome.

In the absence of the group founder and original moderator of this group, GR Support has created me co-moderator, since I was the one who asked them about it.
However, though I'm willing to take on the job, I don't intend this as a power grab and would indeed be glad of some help, since I'm also the very new moderator of another group.
Would anybody else care to join me?

Amy wrote: "I’m thrilled to see this discussion group form, and will be reading the comments. I have read nearly everything Le Guin ever published at least once. I adore her. I have read Four/Five ways to Forg..."

Pleased to see you, Amy!
I know all too well the limitations ME imposes - I'm 10 years into a second bout myself, having enjoyed a 14-year remission, but I'm not doing too badly at the moment, though I still get sandbagged sometimes. I'm very sorry to hear how seriously you're affected, and that you're not able to read. That must be miserable for you, and I hope things look up soon.
I hope the discussions here will trigger memories for you and that you'll be able to take part when you're up to it.

Judy wrote: "Is there a specific time?"

There only seems to be the facility for setting the date, without specifying time or even time zone. I'll try to set up a thread in advance, but otherwise whoever's ready first can.

OK, I've set it up for the 15th on the group home page; I'm not sure where the discussion will take place, since I can't see that there is a Group Reads folder - it may have to be on here. But GR Support may have contacted Lindsay by then and got back to me. I don't think it really matters.

Francisca wrote: "Friday 15th looks good to me, but... are we doing whole book at once or each story separated?"

15th is fine by me!

I think for this one, each story separately at first and then the whole book - is that OK?

So it looks as though we've all got a copy or can get one any time now.

How long do we need to have read enough to start talking? I'm no judge of these things, because I read all in one go, but shall I open the bidding at next Friday? Who needs longer or wants to start sooner?

Bahar, have you got a copy of 4 Ways ...? Do you need us to wait for you to get one?

Judy wrote: "I'm in southwest France, near Agen, halfway between Toulouse and Bordeaux."

Where the prunes come from!

Judy wrote: "I'm 78 and have taught English to French speakers most of my life. I live in Southwest France ..."

Really?! I did that for a year as part of my degree course and I spent it in Bigorre - where are you?

Judy wrote: "And, while we are waiting for people to have the time to get the book and read at least the first story, we could introduce ourselves? How we discovered Le Guin? Our favorite book? How she has influenced us? If others agree, I'll be happy to start..."

I'm something of an introvert, so that isn't something that comes naturally to me, but I'm willing if others are!

I'm 71 and live in the south of England; I spent most of my career as a school librarian, which is probably where I came across the Earthsea trilogy (as it was then), which, with the sequels is still my favourite part of ULG's work. I think I only realised she'd written other things when I moved to the library I spent most of my career in, which had a copy of The Dispossessed.
I've never really got on with her 'Central Europe' stories though; I don't really understand them.

GR support says they're contacting Lindsay - officially this group's moderator - and they'll get back to me.

I nearly always read a book all in one go, so it makes no difference to me. But it does make sense, in this case, to discuss each separate story separately and then perhaps to look at the sequence as a whole.
I have found, though, that where it's just a case of 'discussing the whole book' that a lack of focus tends to cause the discussion to fizzle out. How can that be overcome?

I'm in two other groups that do group reads and they work slightly differently, but they both choose a start date, to give everybody a chance of getting hold of a copy.

Then one of them has two threads, at the moment one for the first half of the book and one for the whole book, but we might tweak that; each discussion lasts a calendar month. The other has a leader for the discussion, who decides how far along we're talking about at any one time and suggests when it's time to move on; and discussions carry on until we feel we've finished. I prefer that approach myself, though it does depend on the leader staying alert!

What does anyone else think?