Old Books, New Readers discussion

Hi Everyone,

The Book of the Month for January 2024 is Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges for the theme of authors from outside Europe and North America. I have added the reading schedule below based on my copy of Ficciones; you may have different page numbers.


Week 1 January 1-7 Pages 9-55
Part One: The Garden of Forking Paths
Prologue
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim
Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote

Week 2 January 8-14 Pages 57-101
The Circular Ruins
The Lottery in Babylon
An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain
The Library of Babel
The Garden of Forking Paths

Week 3 January 15-21 Pages 105-141
Part Two: Artifices
Prologue
Funes the Memorious
The Form of the Sword
Theme of the Traitor and the Hero
Death and the Compass

Week 4 January 22-31 Pages 143-174
The Secret Miracle
Three Versions of Judas
The End
The Sect of the Phoenix
The South


From what I gather, although these are short stores, they are not light reading; I can't wait to dive in to and hear everyone's thoughts on these.

Cheers,
Ian

Thank you

Ian wrote: "Hi Everyone,

The Book of the Month for January 2024 is Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges for the theme of authors from outside Europe and North America. I have added the reading schedule below based ..."

Thanks, Ian and Happy New Year! I'll be reading along and following your schedule. Looking forward to the conversation.

I started this last night and am finding it to be an interesting, creative, playful, topsy-turvy whirlwind of a read so far. I had to refer to the Wikipedia article early on in the first story to get my bearings and then got in to the spirit of things. Finishing off the first story today. I wasn’t expecting the amount of philosophy that appears. Lots of rabbit holes to explore in depth or just a fascinating funhouse to stroll lightly through. I’m not sure which approach I’ll take yet. Looking forward to others’ experiences. Happy new year and happy reading everyone!

Helene wrote: "I started this last night and am finding it to be an interesting, creative, playful, topsy-turvy whirlwind of a read so far. I had to refer to the Wikipedia article early on in the first story to g..."

Rabbit holes galore and each has the gravitational force of Orbis Tertius. Hume, I cannot go on without reading Hume. :)

Finished this and was glad to be done. I did not get along with this at all. It was really out there and confusing in the approach for me. Maybe I'm just not getting all the references but maybe I don't want to do the work that it would take to get them.
Hopefully it's just me and the rest of you get more out of it than I did.

Finished the readings for Week 1; I'm following Ian's plan. I am so glad we are reading this book - I don't know why I've avoided Borges before. My fave was The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim. I have always loved intellectual play and the absurd. It does scare me, however, that I couldn't get through Bleak House but am not put off by Borges.

I am on to the Library of Babel now. I am not sure what I think of this book. For the most part so far, it seems to be commentary on fictional authors and works; in some cases I think I may be getting the broader point he is trying to make...lol

Yes, I feel like I maybe got the broader point, too. But I definitely did not understand all of it. I liked maybe 2-3 stories, the rest were somewhat of a puzzle. Having read many many academic texts in my life, I particularly enjoyed Borges' humorous take on the "intellectuals" and their convoluted style of writing (like citing numerous other writers, the use of Latin etc.)
I'm glad I read the book, but I'm also glad the OBNR group made me stick with it. I'd propably have given up on it otherwise.

How is everyone doing with this book? I finished it a few nights ago, and it was not my favorite short story collection I have ever read. I liked 5-6 of the stories but most of the rest were a bit to cryptic/bizarre/etc.

I'm glad to have finally read this and I very likely would have abandoned it but for reading it together with this group. My reactions to it have been all over the map (what map?). The unreliability of this collection was at times amusing and delightful and at others, a slog. Not being able to have any trust in the narrator or in Borges led me to hold back from the text, as I felt unwilling to spend, or waste, time chasing his meanings around only to find myself staring at a dead end or a mirror. So I ended up reading lightly rather than deeply. I'm also reading Anna Karenina right now and have the opposite relationship to Tolstoy - I know he's not yanking my chain. My alternate self in a parallel universe is taking much more time with Ficciones, fully imagining and savoring Borges' visions, reading philosophy, researching obscure references, journaling my dreams. But THIS girl is ready to move on to firmer literary ground. I'm filing this away with "Last Year at Marienbad": glad I visited, glad it exists....glad to be home.