Re: FOG Book Club

[Gadreille]

Looks like they have it at Barnes and Noble online, though I have no idea if they will have it in your local bookstore. I am going to have to get to the library tomorrow...I'm crossing my fingers!

[Kathryn Lacey]

Ryona, thanks for the heads-up! There are three different Barnes and Noble stores near where I live, so it should be at one of those locations.

Ryona, you know... if your library isn't too small, it probably has a website where you can check the catalogs. Even when I lived in Iowa where the two nearest libraries were miniature, I could always look it up online to see what they had. You could probably save yourself a trip by checking that way.



Kalon, what's the ISBN of the book you have?

[Gadreille]

Ooh, great idea! I searched the catalog, and it looks like there is but one copy in town, and there are two of us who need it Not sure if I am going to just buy it used somewhere or what.

[Lara]

Hey all, so I'm not yet sure if I'll be able to access this month's book. The library closest to me technically has it, but I have no library card, can't get one, and it's currently "withdrawn" with no due date in sight.

My parents are coming up to visit for the 4th of July, and my mom says she's going to try and get it from one of the libraries at home and bring it up. So here goes nothing =D

[Kathryn Lacey]

So... neither of the three Barnes and Nobles in the area have Kalon's book choice. It's not available as an ebook, and none of the nearby libraries have it.

Kalon, I don't know where the hell you found this book, but I may miss out on the first week of the reading. I'll try to get it cheap and used off Amazon, but yeah... Bleh...

[Gadreille]

I'm not sure when I'll be able to get ahold of it either. I can't find anywhere that isn't charging outrageous amounts for shipping...I thought of scouring the used bookstores in town but that may take a bit.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Well, Amazon has some for like... a couple of dollars used, but it's four dollars for shipping. That's pretty much the best for which I can hope.


EDIT
I can do it. Jonathan found an ebook version of it. He found it for free somewhere, but he had to convert it to get it onto our Nook. However, he won't tell me where he found it because he doesn't want me to get into trouble for advertising it. ^;_;^

He said, "It's one thing to find free things on the ground, but it's another to go around advertising it." =\

[Mojave Wanderer]

I finally finished The Road! The end of the book was quite depressing, for reading the ending was sad even though I knew the ending. I dont really have anything to write on, because I sped through the second half of the book . Hopefully I can keep up better with this next book, but I havent even found the book yet .

[BehindTheMask]

Hello everyone. I love to read and was just wondering if it might be possible for me to join the book club from time to time (I don't know if I will always have time, but I do right now). I found the upcoming book available to read online, I think. I'm not too sure if it is the actual book or not. But in case anyone is still looking for it, I can always message you the site I found it at. ^.^

[Mojave Wanderer]

Ill tell Ryona you want to join BehindTheMask and as long as she says yes, you can be a member . You also dont have to drop in and drop out because you can skip a book if you do not have time. As long as you are not skipping any books because you dont think you would like them, its fine. Im pretty sure Ryona will let you in because we are starting a new book , but she should respnd to you soon.

[Gadreille]

Here I am, and yes, you can join, and yes, send me the link, because I sure could use it

[The Ghost Writer]

I'm going to have to pass whether or not Ghost Writer would let me go ahead of him, so go ahead and let Kalon know. Sorry, again, it's just that I really have no access to books that are not currently in my apartment (none of which are book-club worthy) until if/when I can get to the library, which won't be until Friday at the absolute earliest due to my work schedule.

By the way, if I can't get access to the library, I may have to pass on participating with the next book in general. =/ Just a heads up.

I just read all of the latest posts. Sorry for my absence, guys; been a bit busy myself.

Lara, if you find a book before then, then I have no problem yielding to you going first. I've already got a book in mind, but I don't want to bump you from your turn if I don't have to.

As for my thoughts so far on the book we're working on; I'm still collecting them. I actually finished it a while ago (hey, when you're stuck on a plane for twelve hours every other day as a job, you have to find something to keep yourself awake ).

[Kathryn Lacey]

The end of The Road was depressing, and by the end, I was emotionally involved enough in the characters that I almost cried.

While I don't believe in any deities, it's clear that the author and subsequently, the character did/do. It makes me wonder if what happened at the end with the boy almost immediately being found by "the good guys" is meant to be considered an act of God?

[Gadreille]

I didn't really get the act of god vibe, but I suppose it was because I felt so suspicious of the man at first. It seemed too good to be true.

In the movie, they made it seem like the family had been following the boy and his father for some time, but I didn't really get that feeling from the book. Did anyone else?

Even though I knew it was coming, his death still caught me by surprise. It was hard to understand him sitting down, accepting that he cannot get back up again, and then explaining it to his son. Even with all of the rationality, it was absolutely heart breaking.

I wonder how readers would have felt if it ended with the boy going off on his own?

Edit: So Mojave and I started pondering the origins of this book. Why did he write it? What were his intentions? I thought I would share with you my theory:

I believe that it was Cormac McCarthy's intention to express how morality is upheld and measured when there is nothing and no one to reference by other than one's own experiences and beliefs. This was expressed through the values that the father bestowed upon his son, the most important of which was to "carry the fire".

Your thoughts?

[Gadreille]

Sorry to double post, but as it isn't relevant to my last post I decided not to edit:

Kalon, I ordered my book and it should be here in a week. Are we starting today, tomorrow, in a week? How many chapters are we reading per week?

[Kalon Ordona II]

I finished reading The Road yesterday, but I have to work now so I'll post my thoughts later.

Kathryn, the ISBN number for the book I got is: 0-345-43191-X

We can wait till next week to start it. It's short-ish, even shorter than The Road, so we can stick with the same pace. There are 34 chapters, most between 6 and 8 pages long. My copy is 240 pages, so we can do about 60 pages per week. I think I'll break them down like this:

Week 1: Chapters 1 through 9
Week 2: Chapters 10 through 18
Week 3: Chapters 19 through 26
Week 4: Chapters 27 through 34 (end)

Should we start somewhere around this saturday or next monday, then? Or should we wait till after Fireworks Day?

[The Ghost Writer]

Unfortunately, I'm unable to get Kalon's book where I'm at right now. So, I'll have to pass on this one guys.

[Kalon Ordona II]

Aw, man, I don't want to leave people out...

[Kalon Ordona II]

Here are my thoughts on our last quarter of The Road, as well as the book overall.

So they make it to the coast, they follow it a while, they find a boat with lots of supplies, they get to a town where someone shoots the father in the leg with a bow and arrow, they live, he recovers, they walk on for a bit, the father dies, the boy gets rescued by other carry-the-fire people.

Mountains, Cities, Forests, Coasts, seems to be how our four quarters went.

At the end, obviously the carry-the-fire people are struggling to survive as well, because it was a hard decision whether to come after the father and the boy and offer to let them join. I wonder how it would have went if the father had still been alive. I think there might have been some mistrust at first, but eventually I think both groups would have been relieved to find sane, non-cannibal people to join up with.

It looks like the author ends with an illustration of the ignorance of mankind, that no matter how much knowledge we collect or lose or rediscover, there are always more mysteries out there or right under our noses, waiting indifferently for us to discover them, only to find yet more mysteries.

I agree with Mojave/Ryona about the theme or intention of the book as a speculative illustration of the preservation of morality. The good guys are the ones that have courage enough to preserve humanity for mankind. They don't sink to lower levels. They hold themselves accountable or responsible for who they are and what they do. They see the remainder of humanity losing what makes them human, and they know that if they don't carry the fire, no one will. The fire is the human spirit, the part that transcends mundane survival, the part that knows about things like honor and justice. If we lose that, we might as well be extinct.

The road is a good symbol of humanity's march. It's not a treadmill, and it's not a trackless wilderness. I found it interesting that the man who finds the boy is surprised that they followed the road and made it so far. I guess the roads have been dangerous because of the blood cult people. That the father stays on the road is probably supposed to go along with the idea of his carrying the fire. They stay on the path, they carry the fire, they know they have to stand for something, have to stand up for it, and they don't give up. The father dying is a good illustration of what you do as you carry the fire: you pass it on.

I guess now the boy will grow up carrying the fire and will probably help humanity move on. The cannibal people will probably end up wiping each other out, and then if the good guys can survive long enough for life to resume, then the world can start over. That's the hope, I suppose. Hope only dies when you let it. So I guess the book is telling us: no matter what, always have hope, and never give up.

[Kathryn Lacey]

I think that's a very good interpretation, Kalon.

Also, I'm fine with starting whenever. I have the book now. Maybe if we wait until Monday, more people will be able to get it?

[Kalon Ordona II]

Since that's three of us, I guess we'll just wait until whatever day Ryona gets it. Maybe we can use the time to find some sort of online version for Ghosty.

I think you can get a 7-day free trial from Questia.com, but you have to cancel or they charge you. I checked and they do seem have the book on that, though. The book's short enough you could cram it in a day or two, if you didn't have much else to do. *shrug*

If you're looking for an e-book, one way you might find it is looking at the Del Rey Impact collection, where they find under-appreciated books and republish them, or something. The King of Elfland's Daughter is in that.

[Lara]

Lara, if you find a book before then, then I have no problem yielding to you going first. I've already got a book in mind, but I don't want to bump you from your turn if I don't have to.

Thanks, Ghost! I'll have to get back to you once I find out if I'm home/able to access the book I'm interested in having everyone read. If I can't, then I'm content skipping, but it'd be really nice. Thanks again. =D

So the ending of The Road actually annoys me a bit. I was happy at first when the boy came across another man, but then the back of my mind started scoffing, "What? You mean this entire time, this entire struggle, these supposed 'other good guys' were less than a week behind the man and the boy?" At the same time, it rounded out, I suppose.

I do have one other comment though. The boy convinced the dad to shoot the flare. "They couldn't see far, if you wanted to show where you were...Like God? Yeah, maybe someone like that." And then the boy fell ill. It felt like...a test. "Here I am, God. If you're nearby, come and find me."

Still waiting on my parents coming up for 4th of July (and hopefully, potentially bringing Kalon's book up with them) to find out if I'll be able to participate this month. But don't wait up for me; if I can get it, I'll jump in once I do, and if not, then I'll just jump in whenever I end up being able.

[Kalon Ordona II]

Wait, the other good guys were behind the father and the boy?
I got the idea that they were in the coastal area, and the people got wind of them there, and decided to see if they wanted to join up. They wouldn't have been surprised that the father and the boy had made it that far on the road if they had been behind them the whole time.

[Kathryn Lacey]

I got the same impression as Kalon about the other good guys just being in the area. The only people who were following the man and the boy were those two men and the pregnant woman who were going to eat her baby. :: shudders ::

[Gadreille]

As of yet, they have not even shipped the book. I am not sure how long it is going to take However, I found a website that I can read along online, if you guys want to start.

[Kathryn Lacey]

That sounds good to me. We should start tomorrow since it's a Monday. That way, we can continue with the weekday reading/weekend discussion thing.

[Kalon Ordona II]

What's the website? Share it with Ghosty so he can read, too!

And OK yeah, let's have started reading.
It's not a long book, so if any of us have to catch up, (I myself haven't started yet) it shouldn't be too difficult.

[Kathryn Lacey]

I just finished Chapter 9. That was where we had to stop for this week, right? :: looks :: Yus! I remembered correctly. ^^_^^

[Kalon Ordona II]

Yay! Good job! I've started in, and I'll be done before this coming Monday.

[Gadreille]

I just got the book today, and I've read 1-5, I am trying to finish week 1 today so that I may leave it for Mojave Wanderer.

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