Arctic’s Comments (group member since Aug 25, 2008)

Arctic’s comments from the Alaska Book Group group.

Thanks for the link - I'll definitely check it out! Good point about the age of the comicbook readers.

A friend was asking what I'd compare this book to. What do you think? I suggested Everything is Illuminated and The Prestige, but I'm really not that far in the book yet.

Another friend who has read it already warned me that the book gets really boring after the section on the golem. Hope he's wrong.

Well I'm just starting on the second section, but I have to agree Chabon's writing is pretty amazing in itself. I'm really enjoying this book so far. I only wish I was more familiar with comics so I could appreciate more of the references.

What is so amazing about Kavalier & Clay's adventures? Discuss The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

hi Jon. no, this has never been a terribly active group...we're still working on getting off the ground so to speak.

I've been interested in reading Kavalier and Clay for quite some time and will gladly start it now if you want to talk about it. :)

Ok, so it's the end of November and I'm almost finished with this section. I really can't say I'm wild about the character of Tom, or many of the other characters for that matter. I do like how Follett has put the book together though, stringing the various storylines together as we go, gradually making things more and more complex. Kind of like a work of architecture, which I suspect may be part of his point.

What frustrates me is how predictable the character flaws and general story arcs are. That said, I still have trouble putting the book down even though I know what's going to happen.

This thread is for discussing the first four chapters of Pillars of the Earth (PotE or Pillars).

Pillars is a long book, the holidays are coming up and this is a small group still, so I'm thinking we'll stick with this book through December. Though we'll see how it goes.

I just started reading it today, but feel free to begin discussing below. Also, if others are way ahead, feel free to create threads for the other sections as you go. Otherwise I will as I get to them.

Happy reading and I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts. :)

I've been meaning to start Pillars since...January I think. O_O November sounds like as good a time as any for me. I think the length has been what's keeping me. Otherwise I've heard nothing but great things about it from everyone I know that has read it.

I have the sequel as well, but I'll see how the first book is before I commit to reading both right now.

In any case I'll post some Pillars of the Earth discussion threads early next month. It's a good starting point if nothing else. :) Thanks for chiming in and welcome to the group, Charles!

what did you think of The Only Kayak?

Hi Carol - welcome to the group. Glad to see you post!

The Only Kayak looks like a fascinating read. Can you imagine kayaking in Glacier Bay? or maybe you have yourself. I've visited there by ship, but it must be even more awe-inspiring by kayak. I've got a particular interest in the conservation vs. development theme myself, so that sounds appealing as well.

It also brought to mind two other Alaska books:
Coming into the Country by John McPhee
and
Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer

welcome again, and if there are any books you'd like to read as a "group" please let me know! :)

I suppose we should add Kaylene Johnson for her biography on Sarah...

Sue Henry and Shelley Gill. who else?

read If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name recently. pretty good actually.

I know there's a ton of others. Michener's Alaska and L'Amour's Sitka also spring to mind.

Thought I'd start off by sharing some of my to-read list, to give an idea of my reading interests. These are from my to-finish and desperately-want-to-read-soon shelves. no particular order:

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Generation X by Douglas Coupland
Christ the Lord Out of Egypt by Anne Rice
Saturday by Ian McEwan
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Middlemarch by George Eliot
A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
Rincewind the Wizzard by Terry Pratchett
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
The Paradise War by Stephen R Lawhead
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
The Trial by Franz Kafka
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos