2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss John Buchan's book, The 39 Steps.


***Please remember to mark spoilers.***

Participants:
Cosmic, Lilac, Alison

I think I have this book on my nook. Ill join! :)

Super Alison! I have read this book before but I wanted to read it again. Have you read The Catcher in the Rye ? This book is the title of a movie that is mentioned in that book. I think it would be fun to watch the movie together, after we read the book. It is an Alfred Hitchcock classic movie.

yeah I read that book last year. I know I have this book so I'll search for it.

If you can't find it, you can read it online here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/558

I found it. I'm going to start it tonight!

I started it this morning. Haven't read much yet though.

I will start it today.

I decided I better read a little about when this book was written. It was written in 1915.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thir...

WW1 has not played itself out. The tsar has not been
overthrown. Tsar Nicholas II was abdicated March 2, 1917. America didn't enter the war till April 6, 1917, after Wilson campaigned on the promise that he would not get the U.S. in the war.

This seems to give a little history:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/54344/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Nic...

Quote:
" If you're going to be killed you invent some kind of flag and country to fight for, and if you survive you get to love the thing."

I think this is what makes talking about war hard to do for soldiers. If they do talk about it in a negative light they are condemned as not being patriotic. If they expose a false premise for war they are ridiculed.

Quote:'What about the British Government?' I said. 'They're not going to let their guests be murdered. Tip them the wink, and they'll take extra precautions.'

'No good. They might stuff your city with plain-clothes detectives and double the police and Constantine would still be a doomed man. My friends are not playing this game for candy. They want a big occasion for the taking off, with the eyes of all Europe on it.

What do you think of this?

cosmic what page is that quote on? I haven't got there yet.

Just to make sure, this book takes place in London right? they have mentioned a lot of places. I am still trying to figure out why mr. Scudder is having to run from the british government. Maybe I'll figure out more later. I just finished chapter 1 where there was a death.

You are right.
I think wiki has provide a good summary of where you are.

Here it is:
"The novel is set during May and June 1914; Europe is close to war and spies are everywhere. Richard Hannay the protagonist and narrator, an expatriate Scot, returns to his new home, a flat in London, after a long stay in Rhodesia, in order to begin a new life. One night he is buttonholed by a stranger, a well-travelled American, who claims to be in fear for his life. The man appears to know of an anarchist plot to destabilise Europe, beginning with a plan to assassinate the Greek Premier, Karolides, during his forthcoming visit to London. The man reveals his name to be Franklin P. Scudder, a freelance spy, and remarks that he is dead, which holds Hannay's attention. Scudder explains that he has faked his own death in order to avert suspicion. Scudder claims to be following a ring of German spies called the Black Stone who are trying to steal British plans for the outbreak of war. Hannay lets Scudder hide in his flat, and sure enough the next day another man is discovered having apparently committed suicide in the same building."

Scudder is not running from the British government though. He is running from a ring of German spies that have a plan to start a war by assassinating a politician.

???.

I need to go back and listen to it one more time. It is meant to be confusing because there are ciphers to be figured out. The narrator himself is not clear on what Scudder is up to or exactly what he knows. So far I think their is a conspiracy to start a war. There is a plot to assassinate a certain politician that is coming to London. Scudder wants to warn him but know that he cannot do it too soon??why? I have to reread this.

How are you doing on this Lilac?

How much do you know about WW1?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I

You may want to Google WW1 and conspiracy to see what comes up.
Black stone is a very interesting term in itself.

I think he is also running from the British police because they think he committed the murder. But who he's really scared of are those spies.

I finished it last night and I definitely enjoyed it. It was a much quicker read than I expected and the language was very simple, although that was balanced out by complicated things happening.

I know a little about world war I from school and books but I definitely know more about world war II. Did the US participate in world war I?
Oh, and I know a bunch about propaganda around that time so I definitely agree with this:

Cosmic wrote: "Quote:
" If you're going to be killed you invent some kind of flag and country to fight for, and if you survive you get to love the thing."

I think this is what makes talking about war hard to do for soldiers. If they do talk about it in a negative light they are condemned as not being patriotic. If they expose a false premise for war they are ridiculed. "

They didn't really have a choice about how they felt (or at least how they let others think they felt) about the war. Even now old soldiers from the world wars are supposed to be proud to have fought for their country and cannot regret it without being scorned and looked down on. They're still not allowed to think what they want.

Lilac wrote: "I think he is also running from the British police because they think he committed the murder. But who he's really scared of are those spies.

I finished it last night and I definitely enjoyed it. ..."


Richard Hanney is running from the police, but not Scudder. He is the guy that is "dead". That tells Richard Hanney about the plot.

I think it is interesting that the tsar abdicated off the throne March 2,1917. America entered the war on April 6, 1917.


America did not want to enter the war. We did not want to fight on the side of the British. The Revolutionary War was still with us. Wilson campaigned saying he wouldn't get us into war.

You might enjoy this history lesson.
http://www.threeworldwars.com/world-w...

This doesn't really tell Europe side of the story.

I hope when you read The Catcher In The Rye you will be weary of people trying to make it out to he a history of Holden. It is a cleverly disguised history of war and US involvement in WW2.

HINT: DUCKS ARE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW
Mr. Spencer = Herbert Spencer "The survival of the fittest." Saxon = read first part of Beowulf which is mentioned in the book. This book has to be ciphered to get the meaning Salinger was trying to get across. He couldn't come out and say you've been duped. So he hide the history lesson in names and histories of people, music, book, buildings and symbols such as Ducks...and maps...take a look of where Holden is in Central park and it will give you a clue why he feel the way he does. It is like being a Richard Hanney character when you read it now....although that is not the "official" interpretation I think it is the correct one...

When you get to Radio City Music Hall read everything you can about it. When it was built, who built it and how he or this place promoted the war.

I would not have read or heard about this book if it hadn't been for The Catcher In The Rye.

It is interesting to follow what is going on in Ukraine right now in light of what we have been reading. Look at all war as a money making opportunity, coming and going.

Lilac wrote: "
They didn't really have a choice about how they felt (or at least how they let others think they felt) about the war. Even now old soldiers from the world wars are supposed to be proud to have fought for their country and cannot regret it without being scorned and looked down on. They're still not allowed to think what they want. "


If we talked about it the truth would come out. If we talk about the truth and war we wouldn't be so gullible when someone tries to tell us who the enemy is.

A great BBC special on propaganda is called The Century Of The Self.

I started rereading the book ..so here are some notes from things mentioned in the book

http://countrystudies.us/albania/23.htm

Ah, thank you. That's interesting.

He dined at the Cafe Royal.

http://www.hotelcaferoyal.com/

My geography is not the best. So when he said Southeastern Europe I had to look that up.
(I started the book all over again last night. I often do that. I get to a place where I Ann not sure that I didn't miss something and I begin again.

Here it is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeas...

This is part of the talk with Scudder, when he lays out why he is in trouble. These were things that people knew about then so that he doesn't go into the greatest detail.

Subterranean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subterra...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inte...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financier

This will give you a history of money. It is an award winning documentary called The Secrets Of Oz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkq2E...

(It might be fun to read The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz as BUDDY READ.)
Liliac even though you are in the UK this video pertains to you as well. He actually goes to a British museum to explain a currency that lasted the longest and created wealth for the people and was during the time of Shakespeare. Very Good!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism

"You can make money in a fallen market."

http://www.mysharetrading.com/2008/02...


"When I asked why, he said that the anarchist lot thought it would give them their chance. Everything would be in the melting-pot, and they looked to see a new world emerge. The capitalists would rake in the shekels, and make fortunes by buying up wreckage. Capital, he said, had no conscience and no fatherland."

This video shows that history repeats itself.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTrN1UI58ts

The new world order is also something Hitler talked about. It is on the American One Dollar under the great deal. It has been around for a long time.
Note since this video they are not taking about global warming, they are calling it climate change..but did you know that the sun activity has a influence over our weather? That the ice core shows that there were times before cars when the co2 was higher. Just do your own research.

Three hundred years of Russian pogroms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Jew...

Chapter 1
Achensee is a lake in Austria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achensee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia_...
My daughter and I have been reading about this in Nicholas and Alexandra A Great book about this time.

Stranger's Club
http://www.strangersclub.co.uk/

Pickled herring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickled_...

Scudder is a book on Stonewall Jackson:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewal...

Scudder is from Kentucky

was one of the border states during the American Civil War.[31] Although frequently described as never having seceded, representatives from several counties met at Russellville calling themselves the "Convention of the People of Kentucky" and passed an Ordinance of Secession on November 20, 1861.[32] They established a Confederate government of Kentucky with its capital in Bowling Green.[33]

"Though Kentucky was represented by the central star on the Confederate battle flag,[34] Kentucky officially remained "neutral" throughout the war due to Union sympathies of some of the Commonwealth's citizens. In a revival of the "Lost Cause" that has exceeded the support it gained during the war, some contemporary people observe Confederate Memorial Day on Confederate President Jefferson Davis' birthday, June 3 and participate in Confederate re-enactments.[35][36]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky...

Chapter 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher

(NOTE: I think this is what you have to do with the Catcher in The Rye, and this is one the reason this book is mentioned. I also think that is what makes the book a classic. It's unique writing style.)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_Ha...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_Doyle

"The second thing was that this war was going to come as a mighty surprise to Britain. Karolides' death would set the Balkans by the ears, and then Vienna would chip in with an ultimatum. Russia wouldn't like that, and there would be high words. But Berlin would play the peacemaker, and pour oil on the waters, till suddenly she would find a good cause for a quarrel, pick it up, and in five hours let fly at us. That was the idea, and a pretty good one too. Honey and fair speeches, and then a stroke in the dark. While we were talking about the goodwill and good intentions of Germany our coast would be silently ringed with mines, and submarines would be waiting for every battleship."

America I think may have played peacemaker??? Not sure.

I am reading readingThe Jungle Book. I thought it was interesting that Kipling, Rudyard I just started this book and noticed a political allegory taking shape. I like this girl's review of it

http://thefairbear.blogspot.com/2010/...

I can see this same kind of thinking when we tried to conquer America and "civilized" the Indians (mostly by killing them off and destroying their food supply).

I have read Heart of Darkness and King Solomon's Mines. Both are books by the authors mentioned.

How about you two? Have you read any books by these authors?

From chapter 4:
"The little man had told me a pack of lies. All his yarns about the Balkans and the Jew-Anarchists and the Foreign Office Conference were eyewash, and so was Karolides. And yet not quite, as you shall hear. I had staked everything on my belief in his story, and had been let down; here was his book telling me a different tale, and instead of being once-bitten-twice-shy, I believed it absolutely.
Why, I don't know. It rang desperately true, and the first yarn, if you understand me, had been in a queer way true also in spirit."

Here is an example of what I think he meant:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Rx4f-QatI

And if you read Nicholas and Alexandra you still see how they are all related to each other in the royal bloodlines. Nicholas's younger brother married a lady divorced and not in the bloodline and Nicholas was furious.

I've read The Jungle Book but none of the other books mentioned. I agree with what that review says. I'd like to read other books by Rudyard Kipling and see what ideas he presents in them.

Lilac wrote: "I've read The Jungle Book but none of the other books mentioned. I agree with what that review says. I'd like to read other books by Rudyard Kipling and see what ideas he presents in them."

Did you read both books? I am trying to get caught up on some of my children classics. When the children were growing up I bought the tape player and then mp3 players. So my kids had really good readers read to them to bed at night. But I missed out on this. So I am dedicating this month and next to more children's literature.

I think in will finish up The Thirty-Nine Steps this weekend. I am enjoying doing it the slow way.

There's more than one book? I've just looked on goodreads and there are two books listed separately: The Jungle Book and The Jungle Books. I'm not sure I know the difference. Both were published in the same year too.
This is the edition I read:

I love children's classics. My favourite is The Secret Garden. Have you read it?

Lilac wrote: "I love children's classics. My favourite is The Secret Garden. Have you read it? .."
I have read The Secret Garden. It was very good. I remember trying to read The Borrowers to my children and realizing it was too British and to Victorian for us to grasp. I loved to movie I saw of it. It might have been a BBC. I was young when I saw it.

There is a Jungle Book One And a Jungle Book Two.
I can see why I didn't read it. I am having trouble keeping up with everyone's name. I am going to start over now that I am getting a feel for everyone.

I finished The Thirty Nine Steps today. Thank you for reading it with me. I got a lot more out of it doing it with you all.

Are you two going to try Ulysses? I am. It is something I have heard about and it's difficulty sounds like a great challenge.

cosmic... thanks for your help trying to follow it. I was just going to correct u on one thing though. Pearl Harbor got bombed in WW2. We got into WW1 because an allie of ours was being invaded. I know more about WW2 history. That's about all I can tell u about WW1. lol. I'll keep reading now since both of u are done! Fifty Shades Darker has been keeping me preoccupied. lol!

Alison wrote: "cosmic... thanks for your help trying to follow it. I was just going to correct u on one thing though. Pearl Harbor got bombed in WW2. We got into WW1 because an allie of ours was being invaded. I ..."

You are right of course, I will find that and correct it.

Here is a revisionist view point of WW2
http://www.threeworldwars.com/world-w...

Yes, I am going to read Ulysses next month. I'm a little bit daunted by it, but I'm sure it'll be worth it. I've heard it's loosely based on The Odyssey so I'm starting that today so I'll be able to see the connection.

I haven't read The Borrowers either, but it was one of my favourite films when I was little.