SA reads discussion

Kill Mandela by John Mountford will be our group read for January 2014.

The discussions will be led by the author himself. Please feel free to join us in reading this brilliantly written book (just read the prologue and you will be intrigued!)

John will post his reading schedule to this thread. Discussion will commence next week in the new year.

Dear group members. Thank you for accepting my novel, KILL MANDELA, for this group discussion.

As you are aware, this is my first novel, and the first in a trilogy. While I will welcome and enjoy your positive feedback, I do realise I have much to learn. As such, please also do give me constructive criticism that I can implement in my writing going forward into volumes two and three. This is the first real chance I have to measure myself as a writer amongst educated and experienced readers, and I do not want it to be wasted.

So, with my speech made, here is the reading schedule:

Ending Fri. 10th: Prologue - Ch. 20
Ending Fri. 17th: Ch. 21 - 37
Ending Fri. 24th: Ch. 38 - 55
Ending Fri. 31st: Ch. 56 - 73

Please try and keep your comments in each weekly thread to the chapters for that week. This avoids spoilers and confusion.
At the beginning of and during the week, I will post discussion points to provide some direction, however I do not want things to be too rigid. Feel free to raise your own.

To assist you in preparing to read, here are some links to my website:

http://www.johnmountford.com/history/
For those that would like some historical context.

http://www.johnmountford.com/location/
A slide show of some of the important locations in the story.

http://www.johnmountford.com/this-is-...
http://www.johnmountford.com/so-what-...
These are blog posts telling how I came to write this novel.

While you are on my site, please do not go to the CHARACTERS tab until you are into week two - some spoilers!

Finally, I would love to have as many group members as possible join in. This story will appeal to all age groups (two of the main characters are teenagers). Get your kids to read along as well - I would love their feedback! I am happy to make the text available in any format you want to enable your reading. Let me know and I will send you the files.

Enjoy the read!

Thanks for posting these informative links! I hope to begin "Kill Mandela" very soon, and I am grateful for the background info, as I know next to nothing about South Africa's history or current political and socio-economic standings. I'm a newbie eager to learn! :)

Great, Sarah. I, and the other SA group members I am sure, are excited to share some of the issues and moral dilemmas of this unique period of world history. However, KILL MANDELA is not just about socio/political matters - it is primarily a human drama, and I look forward to us tackling some of the tough questions about life and happiness as well.

Yes, I am excited! I didn't mean to imply that Kill Mandela was predominantly about sociopolitical themes; I just like to have a general understanding of that aspect before I read any book, regardless of the subject matter, because it tends to help me process what's occurring within the story. I'm glad to hear that it's a human drama, and I look forward to diving in soon! :)

Sarah wrote: "Yes, I am excited! I didn't mean to imply that Kill Mandela was predominantly about sociopolitical themes; I just like to have a general understanding of that aspect before I read any book, regardl..."

I know what you mean, understanding background adds to my appreciation of the drama.

Lisa! So glad you could make it. I know you are busy, but we all appreciate your educated and insightful contributions. Thank you.

John wrote: "Lisa! So glad you could make it. I know you are busy, but we all appreciate your educated and insightful contributions. Thank you."

Thanks.likely to pop by once a week only, but definitely enjoying the book!

Adele,
A suggestion to the group:
I have noticed that some group members finish reading long before the end of the month. I suspect that they would prefer to give their comments as they read, and not have to wait for the appropriate week.
How about opening the threads for all 4 weeks at once? Each reader can then leave their comment in the appropriate thread without confusion or spoilers for other readers.
I would be happy to manage the discussion in all 4 threads at once, and could post appropriate discussion points in each thread in advance. Readers could move between threads as it suits them - a lot more dynamic.
What do you all think?

I think that can be arranged! I will do it only for your read at first and we can see how it works out.

Glad to be the guinea pig!

The issue with that are spoilers. So each individual must be cautious about looking ahead

Yes, you are right. Rather stick to the thread you are busy reading in, and not be tempted to jump ahead.
I offer this as a suggestion only - if you, and the group feel otherwise, I am happy with that.

Maybe we can an idea from other readers participating to hear their feeling toward opening further weeks' threads in advance please?

I know personally I will probably not be reading very far in advance. Also reading other books and a thesis to finish and have to write a chapter for a textbook myself!

It's funny, we are having the exact opposite discussion in another group. Maybe give it a try and see. There are pros and cons to both.

Hello everybody!!

I've been asked to start the treads for the following weeks' reading schedule in advance so that discussion can continue for people who are reading ahead. There might be some controversy about this with regards to coming across spoilers unintentionally. Please give me your thoughts as Lisa has done.

I personally feel that people that stick to the reading schedule might feel that they are missing out on discussion that are taking place in their absence and that discussion might not be flow as naturally as it would have with everybody involved.

I understand why some participants would be anxious to discuss more of the novel if they have read ahead, but I also acknowledge the concern of not necessarily having everyone discussing the chapters at the same time. I don't know if anyone else would agree, but I personally type up my comments in a Word document as I finish each section, so if I do read ahead (which I haven't for this novel, at least not yet), I can post my comments whenever the thread goes up and they will still reflect the intended chapters without spoilers, since I wrote them as soon as I finished that section. It works well for me. :-)

I do something similar- make notes on my kindle as I read

I have seen the error of my ways.

John, I do not see this as an error at all. I thought it could work, but upon contemplation, I remembered that I am quite new at the goodreads thing. And also that both of the other well established groups I belong to,strictly keep to their week by week threads and that there must be a reason for that. Our group are pretty much still in its toddlers' shoes and it is perfectly understandable that new ideas will pop up. We need to personalize our group so that it suits all/most of us. That is why I am open for any ideas/thoughts. Let's keep communicating...

Goodness. Tenses... Group IS. Sorry everybody. !!

My English after one glass of wine and a long ENT list is quite atrocious...

Actually, for the first discussion I led in a Goodreads group, I created all of the discussion threads on the first day. It worked fine, but I do see where it might be beneficial to have everyone on the same page (pun intended!). It's really a personal preference, and certainly there is no "right" or "wrong" way! It's up to the group as a whole and the person leading the discussion. It is more work and possibly more difficult for the leader to maintain several threads at once, but it's also intellectually stimulating! :-)

Well, John is willing to run these threads at once, so keeping that in mind, I'll wait for more responses until tomorrow and then open all the threads. So far nobody really against it it seems.

A compromise option would be to open one thread ahead ie. two at a time. This might be safer for our first attempt?

Good enough for me John :)

Finished!
Next book please John!

This is the most active Goodreads reading group I'm in. None of my other groups (3 others) break the discussion into weeks. And none of my other groups get anywhere near the level of activity for a whole book that we get here for a quarter of a book. Wow!

Buck wrote: "This is the most active Goodreads reading group I'm in. None of my other groups (3 others) break the discussion into weeks. And none of my other groups get anywhere near the level of activity for..."

That is interesting and encouraging feedback, Buck. To use a South African colloquialism:
Ons is klein maar ge-train'.
It translates:
We are small but well trained/organized.

Much credit for this must go to our dedicated moderators.

I've read the book through the end of the week two discussion. I decided to pause, so that my reading more or less coincides with the discussion timing. this way the details will still be crisp in my memory during the discussion. With our last two reads, I sometimes got confused about exactly where in the book something had occurred or the details were indistinct, when I had finished the book a couple of weeks before the discussion.

I usually have an audiobook going simultaneously with an ebook or print book (not literally at the same time of course), but it's unusual for me to interrupt the reading of one book to read another and then to resume the first. It's an experiment in timing. I am enjoying the discussion of this book - what our groupmates have to say and of course our venerable author. I don't want to miss out (I variously describe my memory as a fog, a sieve, or a hard drive with bad sectors.)

Buck wrote: "I've read the book through the end of the week two discussion. I decided to pause, so that my reading more or less coincides with the discussion timing. this way the details will still be crisp i..."


Buck,
I have a similar memory, and yet two of my children have memories that enable them to quote lines from a movie they've seen ten years ago.
I find that I remember impressions and emotions well, but not details. I suspect the intention of our reading determines what we remember best. I read to feel first, and for information second.