u/Vast-Passenger1126

[Announcement] Community Rules Update: Respecting Our Volunteers

Hi book friends! 📚

We’re incredibly lucky that our sub is run by such a fantastic group of volunteers. From our heavily involved mods to our occasional read runners, there’s a whole group of people working hard behind the scenes to keep everything ticking along.

There’s a LOT that goes into running Book Club - coming up with themes for our reads, managing nominations and votes, organizing schedules, running discussions, planning all our fun extras, answering questions, and keeping up with all the day-to-day admin that comes with running a big sub. We genuinely believe that the time, effort and enthusiasm our volunteers put in is a huge part of what makes this community so successful.

With that said, we’ve unfortunately seen an uptick in some rude and entitled comments recently. While we absolutely welcome varied opinions and discussion about the books and the content we read, some of these comments have instead been directed at the people volunteering their time to run reads, organise votes, plan schedules, and keep the community going.

As a result, we’ve added a new sub rule around respectful conduct toward moderators, read runners and other volunteers.

We always welcome constructive feedback about how we do things at Book Club. If you have suggestions about things that work particularly well, or ideas for things we could do differently, please send us a Modmail. That allows us to keep track of feedback, discuss it as a team and consider whether changes would genuinely benefit the community.

What we will no longer tolerate, however, are comments targeting individual read runners, posters, moderators or other volunteers because you don't like how they've chosen to run a discussion or organise something. These comments will be removed and result in a ban from the sub.

If you see comments that cross this line, please report them so the mods can take a look. We’re usually pretty good at catching this sort of thing ourselves, but we don’t see everything (particularly on older discussion posts) so reports are really helpful in bringing things to our attention.

We also want to take this opportunity to clarify what we actually ask of our read runners, because we’ve seen some comments suggesting expectations that simply don't exist.

Our only requirement for a read runner is that they post on the scheduled day with some sort of prompt or questions to start a discussion about that week’s section. That’s it.

There is no requirement to include a summary, external links, a particular format, a certain number of questions, or anything else.

Every read runner has their own style and the freedom to run their discussion in the way that works for them. We are all human beings with our own lives, jobs, families, responsibilities and endless TBR lists to manage! We all have different amounts of time and energy available, and different preferences for how we approach a discussion.

Some weeks you might get an incredibly detailed post with links and background information. Other weeks it might be a handful of questions to get everyone talking. Both are completely fine. Volunteering to run a discussion does not mean signing up to provide a bespoke service to the sub.

You don't have to love every theme, schedule, discussion format or decision we make. You are absolutely welcome to disagree with ideas and suggest improvements. But there is a difference between constructive feedback and feeling entitled to someone else's time, and we expect everyone to know the difference.

Our volunteers give their time because they love books and want to make this community a great place to be. Please help us make sure volunteering remains something people want to do. ❤️📚

Thanks to everyone who contributes, participates, runs reads, answers questions, helps behind the scenes, and generally makes this such a brilliant community. We couldn't do it without you!

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u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 2 days ago

[Discussion 2/7] The Rose Field by Philip Pullman | Chapters 5-10

Welcome back friends to our second discussion of The Rose Field.

The master schedule for this read is here.

You can find the marginalia, which will be shared between both His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust series, here. Beware of spoilers!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Summaries:

Chapter 5 - Ionides takes Lyra to the garden of the Brazilian embassy. She asks him about the spaces between the good numbers and he says they might be a type of number people haven’t discovered yet. Lyra suggests the good numbers could describe points in a field and Ionides says the secret commonwealth is a field and so is consciousness. Lyra tells Ionides she wants to go to the red building in Lop Nor and that Mustafa Bey gave her the pass to help her journey.

In Constantinople, Delamare meets Leila Pervani, Zafar Sayadov and Omar Hussain from the ‘men from the mountains’. He wants to cut out Thuringia Potash and work directly with them. Pervani says they believe the red building is a source of evil that they want to destroy, whereas Delamare wants to control the traffic that goes through it. He argues that if they simply destroy the building without understanding it, it may come back in a different form. Delamare agrees to stop persecuting their organisation, but says they need a public identity by which to be known across the world. The three agree to discuss it and leave. Delamare asks his secretary to find out everything he can about Leila Pervani specifically. 

Chapter 6 - Timur and Malcolm stop outside a Thuringia Potash building, but it seems to have been abandoned. Malcolm goes to the cafe across the street and learns it’s been closed for two weeks because a project trying to make a drug went wrong. He then meets Nasssim, the chief accountant, who says there’s now a new project further east but doesn’t give more details. 

Lyra falls asleep in the garden and then wakes to find Oliver Bonneville attacking her. Lyra fights back and manages to injure his daemon which causes Oliver to run away. 

Alice is taken to be interrogated by Inspector Mackenzie of the ‘ORD Corrective Division’. Mackenzie asks her about Malcolm and Lyra and insinuates that Malcolm has inappropriate sexual relations with his young students. Pauline, who works at the Trout, has apparently claimed Malcolm is the father of her baby, but Alice says they’re making it up. Mackenzie says ORD stands for the Office of Right Duty, the new name for the CCD. Ben attacks the inspector's daemon, Alice throws the table on him and they escape. They steal a pickup truck and ram through the fence. 

Chapter 7 - Malcolm is at a villa in Aleppo and picks up the mystery stone. He decides to write on it and is shocked to learn it can communicate with the other stone Glenys Godwin has. No time to chat though because Ionides appears. They discuss Oliver Bonneville and the Rusakov field. Ionides says he used to study the Rusakov field but after the authorities commanded him to stop, they fabricated a scandal to ruin his career. He believes that the Rusakov field is closely related to human consciousness, but its strength doesn’t vary from distance, but from the attention of a human observer. Thuringia Potash has been trying to synthesise the rose oil, but can’t because a molecule in the oil changes every time it is analysed. Ionides gives Malcolm a copy of the speech Delamare is going to make in Constantinople declaring war on the imagination. FINALLY he mentions Lyra which gets Malcolm all excited and they go to the hotel which has been ransacked by ‘police’. Thankfully Lyra isn’t there so they go to the embassy garden to look for her. 

Oliver Bonneville and his injured daemon return to the office of the Magisterial Nuncio, Father Gerhardt, who is meeting with Leila Pervani. Gerhadt is not pleased with Bonneville and says he’s going to go find Lyra and Ionides himself. 

Chapter 8 - Pervani goes to visit Bonneville and asks about Ionides and why he’s working with Lyra. 

Malcolm and Ionides find Lyra injured and sleeping on a bench in the embassy garden. No time for a loving reunion because the Magisterium is on their way. They trap them and start attacking Ionides, but the gryphons appear! Lyra hears Pan but can’t see him. Malcolm is taken by a gryphon, leaving Lyra and Asta on the ground. 

Chapter 9 - Lyra and Asta run and hide in the bushes until the men have gone. The gryphons take Malcolm to a plateau and he’s greeted by Pan, but Malcolm is distracted by a spangle ring. Pan tells the gryphons he’s having a vision of gold and the gryphons say he is treasure and must be brought to the queen to keep. Guyla says Malcolm is the man of gold who they’ve always known is coming and that they speak in pictures when they have something eternal to say (like the alethiometer). Malcolm tells the gryphons he is gold of knowledge, which he will share with the queen, but they must let Pan come with him. They fly away. 

Lyra wants to find where Ionides is and rescue him. They ask a police officer where to find the Office of Right Duty and Asta lies that Lyra is the daughter of Prince Edward of Windsor to get him to cooperate. They find the nuncio’s palace and Lyra pretends to be a housemaid to sneak in. They go down to the basement and find Ionides’ cell. Lyra uses the needle of the alethiometer to slowly cut through the door. When she gets to the deadbolt, the needle won’t cut! Lyra realizes she needs to focus her mind in the right way to get it to work and then cuts through it in one stroke. Ionides is severely injured and Leila Pervani appears. 

Chapter 10 - Pervani helps Lyra and Ionides escape. At the research station, Chen now has a new companion, Dilyara, who cleans up the labs. She thinks they are holy places and is fascinated by the work that happened there. Lyra, Ionides and Asta get a bus to Baku and she asks about Pervani. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Discussion questions are below, but feel free to also add your own!

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 13 days ago

[Announcement] August-September Discovery Read WINNER

Hello book friends! A big thank you to all the fantastic nominations for our next Discovery Read. There were some amazing choices and we're excited to share that the results are now in...

  • 5th place - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  • 4th place - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  • 3rd place - Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
  • 2nd place - The Shining by Stephen King**

And our winner is....

1st place - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

**This book will be added to the Wheel of Books for a chance to become a Runner-up Read in the future

Will you be joining for this one? It will start around the 21st of August so look out for a schedule soon!

And if you’d like to start thinking about what you’ll nominate next time, our next Discovery Read topic will be: Non-English Award Winners.

u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 14 days ago

[Announcement] Reminder to Vote - 24 Hours Remain

Hello all you wonderful readers!

There are LOTS of amazing nominations for our next Discovery Read. We now have 24 hours left before the winner is announced so be sure to head on over and make sure your faves are upvoted!

Remember you can (and absolutely should) upvote all and any of the books you would read with r/bookclub if they win. The second place book will be added to the Wheel of Books for the chance to become a Runner-up Read in the future.

Happy reading upvoting 📚

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 15 days ago

[Discovery Read Vote] August-September | Book to Film

Hello book friends. It's time to choose our next Discovery Read!

As always, our Discovery Reads are a chance to read something a little different, step away from the BOTM, Bestseller lists, and buzzy flavor of the moment fiction. We have got that covered elsewhere on r/bookclub. With the Discovery Reads, it is time to explore the vast array of other books that often don't get a look in. 

This month we'll be nominating:

Books adapted into movies

Voting will be open for four days, from the 1st to the 5th of the month. A reminder will be posted 24 hours (+/-) before the vote is closed and the winners will be announced asap after closing the vote. Reading will commence around the 21st of the month so you have plenty of time to get a copy of the winning title!

Nomination specifications:

  • Must be a book that has been adapted into a movie (sorry, no TV shows allowed!)
  • Any page count
  • Any genre
  • No previously read selections

Please check the previous selections to determine if we have read your selection. You can also check by author here. Nominate as many titles as you want (one per comment), and upvote for all and any you will participate in if they win. A reminder to upvote will be posted on the 4th, so be sure to get your nominations in before then to give them the best chance of winning!

Happy reading nominating 📚

Note - The mod team does not constantly review nominations so if you suspect that a nomination does not fit the specifications you are welcome to report this and note that it "Does not fit Specifications". The mod team will review it and approve or delete accordingly. Any comments on the validity of other users' nominations will be removed immediately. Winning nominations are always confirmed to fit specs before the winners announcement is made

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 18 days ago

[Discussion 1/7] The Rose Field by Philip Pullman | Start - Chapter 4

Well, the time has come friends. We've reached the final book in the Book of Dust Series, The Rose Field by Philip Pullman. It's time to see how (or if) all these different plot threads can get tied up and what ending awaits our beloved Lyra and Pan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The master schedule for this read is here.

You can find the marginalia, which will be shared between both His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust series, here. Beware of spoilers!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Summaries:

Chapter 1 - Nur Huda tells Lyra she met Pan and he is going to where the roses come from to find something Lyra had lost. A man hiding from a big bird stole her daemon Jamal. She thinks he’s in the ruins but “the voices” won’t let her see him. At first Lyra can’t hear the voices but she acts like she’s reading the alethiometer and then can. They tell her the building the roses come from is an opening into another worlds and mention the alkahest or ‘destroyer of bonds’. The voices also say Jamal is being kept by a man in the Treasury. 

Lyra finds the daemon but he’s trapped in a cage. She realizes the only thing that could cut the metal is the needle of the alethiometer. She takes it apart and uses the needle to cut the cage, but the man wakes up and grabs her. He steals the rest of the alethiometer and runs away but is taken by a half lion, half eagle. Nur Huda and Jamal thank Lyra and go on their way and Lyra returns to Ionides. 

Chapter 2 - Glenys Godwin has not disbanded Oakley Street despite official orders. Makepeace visits and gives Glenys two stones from another world that are able to communicate with each other, but how they work is up to her to figure out. He believes that while it’s difficult for humans to travel between worlds, objects do find their way and he’s honed his sense of how to spot things from other worlds. He also advises whoever she communicates with to find out about the alkahest. 

Marcel Delamare and a crew hike above Les Diablerets to visit an opening to another world. The next day he meets with one of his advisers, Hugo Beamish, who says he’s visited 17 others across the world but it’s a struggle to capture photos of them. Once he leaves, Delamare orders Colonel Schreiber to make him vanish and come up with a plan for destroying all the openings. 

Pan floats along a river when he spots a massive bird trying to kill another creature. He gets involved in the fight and kills the bird. The creature he saves is a gryphon named Gulya who tells him the birds are called Oghab-gorgs who have come from far away to find a war. The rest of the gryphons join and Pan tells them he’s searching for Lyra’s imagination and he believes there’s something in the desert of Karamakan that nurtures it. The gryphons say they want to take Pan to their queen to explain the imagination and it does NOT go well when Pan tries to say no. So off he goes into the sky! 

Malcolm is taken to military prison and is not in good shape. The governor thinks he’d make for good conversation so wants to keep him alive, but no one else he works with seems to give a shit. The orderly comes in to say Malcolm must have died because his daemon is gone. But of course Malcolm Sue isn’t dead which freaks everyone out. He explains that Asta is gone due to ‘post-traumatic cytokinesis’, but really she had escaped. 

Chapter 3 - Lyra feels sad the alethiometer is gone, but also slightly relieved. Ionides tells her it was a gryphon that took the man last night, likely looking for gold. Lyra tries to lie about what happened the night before but Ionides doesn’t believe any of it. They chat about imagination.

Back at the military prison, Colonel Grigorian arrives and takes Malcolm and Asia is waiting for him in the car. 

Meanwhile, Delamare has got the British government to agree to deploy troops in Central Asia to support the Magisterium in their invented war. This work is supported by Thuringia Potash (TP)m a sketchy corporate PR firm. Delamare shows TP photographic evidence that they’re behind the ‘men from the mountains’ and all their attacks. Their most prominent spokesperson is Zafar Sayadov but there is also an academic, Leila Pervani, who’s important to them. 

Colonel Schreiber tries to blow up the mountain opening and man walks by at the exact wrong time and gets killed. The opening is must smaller, but not completely gone. 

Colonel Grigorian is actually the historian Timur Ghazarian and he’s talking Malcom to Aleppo. The spangled ring appears. Timur reveals that the new master of Jordan College is an executive of TP. He gives Malcolm the stone from Glenys. 

Chapter 4 - In Aleppo, Ionides tells Lyra never to mention the men from the mountains. They go to Marietta’s cafe to meet Mustafa Bey, with Lyra pretending to be a witch queen and Ionides her magician. Lyra tells Mustafa her plan to go to the red building and that she thinks it contains an opening to another world where the special roses come from. Mustafa Bey reveals that Ionides uses to be a professor of mathematics and has since worked as a spy for commercial interests. If he’s agreeing to guide Lyra, he likely has his own interests. Mustafa Bey says he’ll help Lyra on her journey if she reports back about everything that happens along the way. 

The research station where Dr Hassall had worked was completely destroyed by the men from the mountains. But one camel herder, Chen, has stayed behind. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Discussion questions are below, but feel free to also add your own as there's a LOT going on!

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 20 days ago

[Marginalia] Discovery Read | Flesh by David Szalay

Welcome to the marginalia for our next Discovery Read, Flesh by David Szalay. This is a communal place for things you would jot down in the margins of your books. That might include quotes, thoughts, questions, relevant links, exclamations - basically anything you want to make note of or to share with others. It can be good to look back on these notes, and sometimes you just can't wait for the discussion posts to share a thought.

When adding something to the marginalia, simply comment here, indicating roughly which part of the book you're referring to (eg. towards the end of chapter 2). Because this may contain spoilers, please indicate this by writing “spoilers for chapters 5 and 6” for example, or else use the spoiler tag for this part with this format > ! SPOILER ! < without the spaces between characters like this spoiler lives here

Note: spoilers from other books should always be under spoiler tags unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Here is the full schedule and looking forward to seeing you in the first discussion next week!

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 1 month ago

[Schedule] Discovery Read | Flesh by David Szalay

Hello book friends! It's nearly time for our next Discovery Read - Booker Prizer Winner Flesh by David Szalay.

Discussion Schedule:

20 July: Chapters 1-3 with u/infininme
27 July: Chapters 4-5 with u/toomanytequieros
3 August: Chapters 6-7 with u/YewBetcha
10 August: Chapters 8-10 with u/YewBetcha

The Marginalia is here in case you read ahead or just want to note down your thoughts ahead of our discussions.

See you soon!

u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 1 month ago

[Announcement] QNF and Discovery Read Winners

Hello, reading friends! I’m here with a double announcement of our winners for the Quarterly Non-Fiction and the Discovery Read!  

For the summer Quarterly Non-Fiction (Any), the winner is:

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe

2nd place - A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson**
3rd place - The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

For the July-August Discovery Read (Booker Prize), our winner is:

Flesh by David Szalay

2nd place - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje**
3rd place - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

***The 2nd place books will be added to the Wheel of Books for a chance to become a Runner-up Read in the future!

And if you’d like to start thinking about what you’ll nominate next time, here are the topics for our future votes:
- Quarterly Non-fiction (Autumn - voting in October):  Philosophy
- Discovery Read (voting in August): Book to film

Will you be joining us for one or both of these amazing books? Discussions will start sometime around the 21st of July, so look out for schedules soon.  Now, get yourself to a library or bookstore and find a copy to read along with us!

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 2 months ago

[Announcement] Reminder to Vote - 24 hours left

Hello, readers!  The voting posts for both the Discovery Read and the Quarterly Non-Fiction are full of amazing selections. We are now down to the last 24 hours, so be sure to head on over and make sure the one(s) you wanna read are upvoted.

Discovery Read - Booker Prize Winners

Quarterly Nonfiction - Any

Remember you can (and absolutely should) upvote all and any of the books you would read with r/bookclub if they win. The second place on both posts will be added to the Wheel of Books for the chance to become a Runner-up Read in the future.

Happy upvoting 📚☑️

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 2 months ago

[Discovery Read Vote] July-August | Prize Winners - Booker Prize

Hello book friends. It's time to choose our next Discovery Read!

As always, our Discovery Reads are a chance to read something a little different, step away from the BOTM, Bestseller lists, and buzzy flavor of the moment fiction. We have got that covered elsewhere on r/bookclub. With the Discovery Reads, it is time to explore the vast array of other books that often don't get a look in. 

This year's theme is Prize Winners and this month we'll be nominating:

Booker Prize Winners

We will be accepting winning works from both the Booker Prize and the International Booker Prize.

You can find the winners for each prize here to make searching easier for you.

Voting will be open for four days, from the 1st to the 5th of the month. A reminder will be posted 24 hours (+/-) before the vote is closed and the winners will be announced asap after closing the vote. Reading will commence around the 21st of the month so you have plenty of time to get a copy of the winning title!

Nomination specifications:

  • Must be a book that has won either the Booker Prize or the International Booker Prize
  • Any page count
  • Any genre
  • No previously read selections

Please check the previous selections to determine if we have read your selection. You can also check by author here. Nominate as many titles as you want (one per comment), and upvote for all and any you will participate in if they win. A reminder to upvote will be posted on the 4th, so be sure to get your nominations in before then to give them the best chance of winning!

Happy reading nominating 📚

Note - The mod team does not constantly review nominations so if you suspect that a nomination does not fit the specifications you are welcome to report this and note that it "Does not fit Specifications". The mod team will review it and approve or delete accordingly. Any comments on the validity of other users' nominations will be removed immediately. Winning nominations are always confirmed to fit specs before the winners announcement is made

u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 2 months ago

[Marginalia] Discovery Reads | Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman and Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Welcome to the marginalia for our poetry Discovery Reads, Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman and Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. This is a communal place for things you would jot down in the margins of your books. That might include quotes, thoughts, questions, relevant links, exclamations - basically anything you want to make note of or to share with others. It can be good to look back on these notes, and sometimes you just can't wait for the discussion posts to share a thought.

When adding something to the marginalia, simply comment here, indicating roughly which part of the book you're referring to (eg. towards the end of chapter 2). Because this may contain spoilers, please indicate this by writing “spoilers for chapters 5 and 6” for example, or else use the spoiler tag for this part with this format > ! SPOILER ! < without the spaces between characters like this spoiler lives here

Note: spoilers from other books should always be under spoiler tags unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Here is the full schedule and looking forward to seeing you in the first discussion next week!

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 2 months ago

[Announcement] June-July Discovery Read WINNER

Hello book friends! A big thank you to all the fantastic nominations for our next Discovery Read. This was the closest race I've ever seen, but the results are now in...

  • Tied in 3rd place -  Bluets by Maggie Nelson, The Flame: Poems, Notebooks, Lyrics, Drawings by Leonard Cohen, and Poems, 1913-1956, by Bertolt Brecht (1 vote behind 2nd place)
  • Tied in 2nd place -  You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson and The Hurting Kind: Poems by Ada Limón (1 vote behind 1st place)

And our winner is....ALSO A TIE! And since they're shorter reads, we're going for both:

1st place -  Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman AND Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Will you be joining for this one? It will start around the 21st of June so look out for a schedule soon!

And if you’d like to start thinking about what you’ll nominate next time, our next Discovery Read topic will be: Booker Prize winners.

u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 3 months ago

[Announcement] Reminder to Vote - 24 Hours Remain

Hello all you wonderful readers!

There are lots of great poetry nominations for next Discovery Read. We now have 24 hours left before the winner is announced so be sure to head on over and make sure your faves are upvoted!

Remember you can (and absolutely should) upvote all and any of the books you would read with r/bookclub if they win. The second place book will be added to the Wheel of Books for the chance to become a Runner-up Read in the future.

Happy reading upvoting 📚

reddit.com
u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 3 months ago

[Discussion 5/7] The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman Chapters 20 -23

Welcome to our next discussion of The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman!  This week, we will discuss Chapters 20-23. You can find the Schedule here and the Marginalia is linked here.  

References to the books we've read so far in His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust will not be considered spoilers.  Please use spoiler tags to hide references to other books/media or anything from later in this book such as chapters we haven't read yet. You can mark spoilers using the format > ! Spoiler text here ! < (without any spaces between the symbols themselves or between the symbols and the first and last words). 

Discussion questions for this week’s chapters are in the comments below. Feel free to add your own questions or thoughts, as well! In case you need a refresher, here is a recap of our reading for this week! 

CHAPTER SUMMARIES

20 - Lyra arrives in Prague, prompted by a memory with Pan and perhaps the secret commonwealth. A man named Vaclav Kubicek stops her on the street and he also doesn’t have a daemon. He tells Lyra he was expecting her and that there’s a man who needs her help. Vaclav says there is a whole group of people whose daemons have left them and he can give Lyra the names of some along her journey. 

He takes Lyra to his house and introduces her to Cornelis van Dongen who is…made of fire? Cornelis wants Lyra to help find his missing daemon, Dinessa. Cornelis’ father, a natural philosopher, did an experiment where he assimilated their central selves to the elements fire and water. A magician then came and paid to take Dinessa away. Cornelis tells Lyra he knows she can help because her name is famous in the world of the spirits. Lyra finds the name and address of Dr Johannes Agrippa in her clavicula notebook and they all go to the address. 

Lyra finds a lab downstairs with Dinessa in mermaid form. Cornelis bursts in, he and Dinessa reunite which causes them to disappear into steam which powers a strange engine. Agrippa claims he is Cornelis’ father and this was his plan all along. Agrippa tells Lyra she’ll find Pan but “not in the way she thinks” and that she should look in the calvicula to tell her which way to go next. She finds more words telling her to go south and Agrippa says Makepeace wrote them. Agrippa also tells Lyra there are other, easier ways to read Dust, including a pack of cards with pictures. He knows where the Blue Hotel is but says it will take great pain, difficulty and sacrifice to leave with Pan. And finally akterrakeh is actually Latin for aqua terraque which means by water and by land, the ways a human and their daemon need to travel to reach the red hotel. Vaclav helps get Lyra to the train station and points out a woman from the clavicula Lyra should contact in Smyrna. 

21 - Delamare is pissed at Bonneville and sends the CCD after him. Meanwhile, Bonneville is still using the alethiometer to watch Pan and realizes he’s right outside. Bonneville catches him in a net, but is then arrested.

Malcolm and Karimov set sail in Mignonne. Karimov tells Malcolm about the rose oil he was commissioned to bring back for Delamare. He claims the men from the mountains didn’t destroy the entire research station at Tashbulak because they were forced to flee by the Simurgh, a monstrous bird from Jahan and Rukhsana. Karimov thinks Delamare knows a lot about the men from the mountains and was pretending the information was new. A massive storm comes and they are forced to dock in a forest - Malcom finds a cave. 

Bonneville is questioned by the police and somehow convinces them they got their orders wrong and he’s actually helping Delamare. They go to talk to Pan and find he’s escaped through the window. Bonneville now wants to find ‘Matthew Polstead’ - the man who killed his father. 

22 - Lyra arrives in Constantinople and spends her time trying to be inconspicuous and feeling lonely. She decides to go watch the celebrations to honor St Simeon, the new president of the Magisterium. 
St Simeon is having a bath and complaining to his eunuch, Kaloumdjian, that his usual boy is missing and the rose oil for his bath is inferior. Simeon is then dressed by Brother Mercurius. They are attacked and Kaloumdjian and St Simeon are killed. Brother Mercurius escapes through a door and as the council is also attacked by the assassins, he decides the best thing is to return to the body of the Patriarch to be discovered praying over him. 

Outside, Lyra and the crowd hear rumours about the assassination. Brother Mercurius comes out and an English speaking woman tells Lyra he’s a shameless opportunist. She invites Lyra to coffee and we learn her name is Alison Wetherfield and she worked as a teacher in Aleppo. She tells Lyra about the rose panic, where rose growers are being persecuted and their gardens burnt by the men from the mountains. She knows Lyra is seeking the blue hotel and says she will need to find a guide. The Magisterium elects Delamare unanimously as their new president and he immediately increases his power. 

23 - Lyra gets the ferry to Smyrna and spends time reflecting on her distance from Pan and her own beliefs (or lack thereof) in the secret commonwealth and imagination. Suddenly, the ferry hits a boat full of refugees. Lyra helps bring people onto the ship and finds that Alison Wetherfield is also on board and is taking charge of the situation. She gives Lyra a girl named Aisha to look after. Lyra takes her to the deck and wraps her in a blanket and Aisha’s daemon cuddles with her. She dreams of the cat again. The next morning, Alison gets off the boat to help with the refugees and tells Lyra to visit Father Joseph in Aleppo. 

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u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 3 months ago

[Marginalia] Discovery Read | Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Welcome to the marginalia for Gilead and apologies it was posted late! This is a communal place for things you would jot down in the margins of your books. That might include quotes, thoughts, questions, relevant links, exclamations - basically anything you want to make note of or to share with others. It can be good to look back on these notes, and sometimes you just can't wait for the discussion posts to share a thought.

When adding something to the marginalia, simply comment here, indicating roughly which part of the book you're referring to (eg. towards the end of chapter 2). Because this may contain spoilers, please indicate this by writing “spoilers for chapters 5 and 6” for example, or else use the spoiler tag for this part with this format > ! SPOILER ! < without the spaces between characters like this spoiler lives here

Note: spoilers from other books should always be under spoiler tags unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Here is the full schedule and looking forward to seeing you in the first discussion soon!

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u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 3 months ago

[Discovery Read Vote] June-July | Poetry Collection

It's the first of the month which means it's time to choose our next Discovery Read and this time is all about POETRY. 

A Discovery Read is a chance to read something a little different than the award winners, bestsellers, and trending titles you might be seeing just about everywhere. With the Discovery Reads, we get to branch out and explore the huge catalog of books that might not be as well-known. So dig out those TBRs, ask your favorite librarian, or browse the aisles at a local bookstore for some inspiration, and get nominating in the comments below!

Voting will be open for four days, from the 1st to the 5th of the month. A reminder will be posted 24 hours (+/-) before the vote is closed and the winners will be announced asap after closing the vote. Reading will commence around the 21st of the month so you have plenty of time to get a copy of the winning title!

Nomination specifications:

  • Must be a collection of poetry (can be by a single author or a compilation of various authors)
  • Any page count
  • Any genre/style of poems
  • No previously read selections

Please check the previous selections to determine if we have read your selection. You can also check by author here.

Please check the previous selections to determine if we have read your selection. You can also check by author here. Nominate as many titles as you want (one per comment), and upvote for all and any you will participate in if they win. A reminder to upvote will be posted on the 4th, so be sure to get your nominations in before then to give them the best chance of winning!

Enjoy Nominating and Voting!   

Note - The mod team does not constantly review nominations so if you suspect that a nomination does not fit the specifications you are welcome to report this and note that it "Does not fit Specifications". The mod team will review it and approve or delete accordingly. Any comments on the validity of other users' nominations will be removed immediately. Winning nominations are always confirmed to fit specs before the winners announcement is made

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u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 3 months ago

[Discussion 2/3] Bonus Book | Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse | Chapters 18-30

Hello friends, welcome to the second discussion of Storm of Locusts. The plot is certainly thickening, the girls are bonding and the crew have gained a new member in Aaron. But will it be safe to keep him for the next part of their journey?

You can find our full discussion schedule here and the marginalia here in case you get too eager to read the last section and need to jot down your thoughts.

Please read on for the chapter summaries and don’t forget to come back next week for FINAL discussion.

Summary:

Chapter 18 - Mosi points out that Caleb is still alive (yay) and she takes him down from the wall. But he does now have wings (yikes!). Rissa appears and Caleb screams. 

Chapter 19 - They knock Caleb out with booze and Ben tells Maggie how she got her clan powers from the Little Keystone Massacre. Ben says her purpose is to kill the White Locust. Maggie finds Mosi and asks if it was Kai who forced everyone to leave the settlement, but Mosi says it was something much stronger. Maggie reveals she can’t use the lightning sword. 

Chapter 20 - Rissa punches Maggie in the face and they fight. Caleb says Gideon made the wings and did the surgery, but Kai helped with the healing. Gideon also said Kai has another special purpose, so didn’t need his own wings. The female archer Maggie fought earlier was left behind by Gideon after she punched Caleb. Caleb says he volunteered to have wings and stay behind as the messenger to ‘Tell the Godslayer to come to Amangiri.’ Clive decides to stay behind with Caleb and Rissa goes with Maggie, Ben and Mosi. 

Chapter 21 - They enter the Malpais and as it gets dark, they’re attacked by an airplane and a group of men. Maggie tries to fight them, but they catch Ben so she surrenders. 

Chapter 22 - Maggie wakes up in the ‘Reaping Room’ with Rissa - where humans are harvested for their organs to sell. Rissa claims her family was never involved in it, but she knows a bit about it and they’re in Knifetown run by Bishop. The airplane pilot, Aaron, appears to inject the girls with something to knock them out since Bishop is running an auction and doesn’t want it to be disturbed. Rissa tells Aaron who she is and it turns out her older brother Cletus was involved in harvesting before he died. Rissa promises to take Aaron to Dinetah and make him rich if he helps them escape. 

Chapter 23 - Aaron opens the cage, but then two other men appear. They were planning on raping Maggie and Rissa while unconscious which Aaron is not a fan of - he kills one of them and does something awful to the other. They escape. 

Chapter 24 - Aaron explains that Ben is being auctioned off as a bride, but that’s not bad like rape because all women want to be married and have kids. To save her, they decide to pretend Rissa is attending the auction as a representative for her family and Maggie is her body guard.

Chapter 25 - Before the auction, they meet Elena Urioste of the Burque and Maggie pisses her off. Bishop gets on stage and makes a speech to the crowd, but things then get awkward when the auctioneer leaves. Turns out the ‘exotics’ have gone missing, and then a bomb goes off. 

Chapter 26 - Ben shows up - she was the badass responsible for the bomb! Elena appears to telekinetically attack Maggie, but the group manage to escape and find Mosi in cat form in the plane. They fly away and bomb The Tank on their way out. 

Chapter 27 - Maggie wakes up and eavesdrops on Rissa and Aaron’s conversation. They’re talking about Aaron’s brother Gideon who he claims is dead. Rissa says she regrets not telling her mom about what Cletus was involved in and they hold hands. Mosi wakes up and says the plane is crashing - they land at the Twin Arrows Casino. 

Chapter 28 - We learn its Nohoilpi, the gambling god, inside and he likely won’t let Maggie in as she has the lightning sword. ‘He’ comes to the door and the others go inside, tempted by all the comforts. Just as Maggie realizes it’s a trap, Nohoilpi reveals himself to actually be Ma’ii in disguise!

Chapter 29 - The Coyote comes out with a bottle of tequila and they catch up. He has trapped Nohoilpi inside a suite in the hotel, and Maggie wants him to come out and play the shoe game. He agrees to help Maggie get her friends back if she wins after they play all day. They taunt each other over the game and eventually tie. Nohoilpi says everyone is free to leave the casino and as a gift for bringing him Mosi, he tells Maggie to go to the old man at Wahweap before Amangiri. 

Chapter 30 - Rissa comes out of the casino with coffee and actually apologizes to Maggie! Rissa also thinks the White Locust is Aaron’s brother and wonders if it will end up being a bad idea bringing him with them. But he has a big dick so she’s keeping him for now! The crew take a car from the casino and head to Wahweap where they could take a boat to Amangiri. 

u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 3 months ago

[Discussion 6/6] Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey - Chapter 41 through Epilogue (The Expanse Book 9)

Welcome to our FINAL discussion of Leviathan Falls and the end of The Expanse series. What a journey it's been and I certainly teared up at the end. You can find the full Schedule to catch up on past discussion dates and the Marginalia if you have any other musings.

SUMMARY:

41 - Jim, Tanaka, Teresa and Miller enter the station. Tanaka worries about Jim’s condition with the protomolecule. Tanaka takes the lead on finding Duarte and Miller warns Jim he may need to shoot her again. 

42 - Naomi, Alex and Amos repair the Roci and get it ready for battle. The hive mind impulse is getting stronger and whole ships have been taken over.  Naomi wants to Roci parked just outside the ring station to give Jim as much time as possible. 

43 - Jim suggests they use heat to track Duarte like they did on Eros. He asks Miller what it will be like when the protomolecule fully takes him over. Tanaka tells Teresa she’ll make the approach to her father. They come across sentries and Jim/Miller disable them. They find Duarte. 

44 - Teresa is worried about Jim as she hears him speak to “Miller” on their journey through the station and realizes the protomolecule is killing him. Tanaka privately tells her there may come a time when she needs to kill him. Duarte tells her the protomolecule creators were too fragile, but humans will be able to take over the universe with a hive mind. He’s too far gone to listen to Teresa and as she tries to rip the web holding him, he tries to kill her. The group are surrounded by the alien sentries. 

45 - Naomi and crew continue to fight the hive mind ships until the Whirlwind comes through. There’s a strange moment and the hive mind is ended, but the threads of black attack the ship. 

46 - Tanaka goes independent and starts attacking the sentries/Duarte. She sacrifices her armor and continues to go for Duarte until she smashes his heart and kills him. She’s fatally wounded from the fight and in her final moments wishes she could kill Jim and “shoots” him with her fingers. 

47 - Jim realizes he has to connect himself to the protomolecule web to be able to save everyone. He can see the black threads an pushes against them. Miller explains that the hive mind could allow humans to truly defeat the threads, but Jim doesn’t want to. Jim ‘speaks’ to Amos and says to tell Naomi to order everyone out of the ring space so he can destroy the station and the gates. He clears a path out of the station for Teresa. 

48 - The Roci crew gets ready to depart the ring space and Alex decides he doesn’t want to go to Sol, but to Nieuwestad to be with Kit. The rest of the crew join the Falcon and he takes off alone. 

49 - Teresa gets out of the station and reunited with Amos and co. Jim and Miller blow up the ring gate. In Sol, Naomi and Amos discuss the situation and Naomi claims humans will find their own way to traverse the different systems. 

Epilogue - In the future, Marrel transits for 31 days from Dobridomov to Earth. On Earth he meets…AMOS! 

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u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 3 months ago

[Schedule] Discovery Read | Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Hello bibliophiles! It's nearly time for our next Discovery Read - Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.

This is a short one so will only be two check ins.

Discussion Schedule:

June 2 - Start to the end of page 122, with the paragraph that ends "He'll get a laugh out of that." with u/Vast-Passenger1126

June 9 - Paragraph starting with “Young Boughton came by again this morning, with some apples and plums from their trees.” to the end of the book with u/nopantstime

The Marginalia is here in case you read ahead or just want to note down your thoughts ahead of our discussions.

See you soon friends!

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u/Vast-Passenger1126 — 3 months ago