Was there talk of a BE read?

[Mike Weaver]

My return to the list (after a year of failed attempts to subscribe) was 
partially driven by me currently reading BE. I'm only reading a few 
pages a day, and will probably finish it in a week or 10 days, after 
which I'd be quite happy to go through it again at a faster pace.

I did wonder whether a different approach might work, not a chapter by 
chapter read but a discussion on particular aspects - the themes, the 
range of characters, the take on the city...

Or how about a read based around the BE wiki? Discussions triggered by 
group readings of the featured articles? Approach the book indirectly?

The chapter by chapter approach has the advantage of being accessible to 
newcomers to the book, but returning to the list after a couple of years 
away, what I see is a much reduced bunch of familiar male contributors 
suggesting in the absence of anything new from Pynchon that the list may 
have been reduced to its core all of whom will be familiar with the book.

Cheers
Mike



On 03/11/2021 16:29, Joseph Tracy wrote:
> The last 2  or 3 times there was a group read, they petered out, in one case rather early. I thought it was quite possibly that the pace was too slow. I suggested this and a quicker  pace. You disagreed and insisted on your time frame. I did not continue the argument but went with the plan and was one of the last participants as interest disappeared. I still do not know for certain that I was right about the pace being the problem or part of the problem but since Mike Weaver(I think) was interested in BE at same time as I was reading it I suggested  a group read with a faster paced schedule. I also said we should be open to slow it if there was more that people had to say on a  given chapter/segment. I was not surprised at your disagreement but since no one else had your concern I felt hopeful to start when Michael expressed interest. You are welcome to join and even slow the pace down through active participation. I feel we have all read the book and are ready for a discussion driven, topic driven, text drive consideration that is bit more free ranging, but it is really up to how people participate. I do not want to override and am not a natural organizer but simply thought to move along at a pace that keeps people involved and see if that works any better to keep interest and participation.
>
> I am sorry you feel this way and hope you will change your mind, perhaps consider listening to the audio version.
>
>> On Nov 3, 2021, at 3:50 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Joseph,
>>
>> Your inability to ever compromise, an opinion, or YOUR only way, despite my attempt to work out something different is why I will not be participating. You mostly want
>> to write your mini-essays, many decent, not allow a group read to happen even close to the way others in the group may need to participate comofrtably.
>>
>> So it goes. Just you being you.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 2, 2021 at 11:33 PM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net <mailto:brook7 at sover.net>> wrote:
>> My email provider’s server went out sunady so i has been several days since I wrote this. The daes would have to be adjusted but I just wanted to see if anyone Michael is interested.
>>
>> I put out a question a little while back to see who might be interested. We may only get 3 or 4. Love to see more. My idea was to move faster than we usually do, no concern about spoilers, more holistic,  just leaving the floor open for new input as we move along.  More about digesting and understanding what we can about the novel, and testing ideas against text than than a finegrained study.
>> How about we start with 4 days per chapter and if that is not working make adjustments.   If people go deeper into sentence by sentence, or a particular sentence/paragraph/pattern we stretch the 4 days to fit the interest.  If someone wants to go back to an  earlier segment just do it. Also looking in the archives as we move along might be fun. Suggestion:The audible version moves right along if people have a hard time making time to read.  Each host can decide where their focus lies and others can add. I was in a group read of ATD called Chumps of Choice where each host of the segment did a minimal summary. quite nice IMO. I will also be putting out at  the beginning a list of most characters with description and key story roles. More through than the Pynchon wiki, I think.
>>
>>
>> Tentative plan
>> start in 4 days on Wednesday November3
>> Michael if you are up for 1st chapter I will take the second on the 7th Nov
>>
>> Others?
>>
>> Input?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Oct 30, 2021, at 9:49 PM, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com <mailto:michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>> wrote
>>>
>>> Thought i sniffed the 4711 cologne in the  air.
>>>
>>> Who’s assigning bits?
>>>
>>> I’d like to participate, please.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Michael Lee Bailey
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l <https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l>
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l


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