Slow Read 2020 Discussion Thread

NeilNjae

@Apocryphal said:
Bit difficult to say as I haven read it, but based on the past two slow reads ive noticed that one tends to want the breaks to reflect episodes in the text. Eg. if there are two episodes in the Lazaret then they should be in the same week. On the other hand, one also wants each weekly read to be roughly the same length, and also the same number of chapters so it’s easy to remember how many to read! Meeting all three at once is likely to be impossible.

It if makes sense, I don’t think we need to stretch the book out to Christmas. If it makes sense to do 66 chapters in 33 weeks I think that’s fine.

The books have two for three viewpoint characters, and chapters (roughly) cycle between them. I think the whole trilogy is shorter than the Book of the New Sun, so we could go with two chapters a week and finish in the autumn. (The interludes in the first couple of books are only a page or two, so don't count in terms of reading time.)

I think the whole trilogy is about the same size as The Book of the New Sun, if that influences anyone's thoughts.

NeilNjae

@Michael_S_Miller said:
Once you settle on a schedule, and after the holiday, I'll make a Google calendar. Let me know when things are final, @NeilNjae

Thank you!

Apocryphal

FWIW with The New Sun we read about 20 pages per week, which was usually almost exactly 4 chapters each week.

NeilNjae

I don't know how many pages are in each chapter, as I've only got the books on Kindle. But I've just re-read a couple of chapters, so two chapters a week should be fine.

Shall we start at that pace? We can always adjust if things are going too fast or too slow.

NeilNjae

I've updated the schedule to indicate when we'd be reading if we did two chapters per week. If we discuss the first two chapters on 9 January, we'd finish the book on 20 August.

dr_mitch

Judging from when I read it over the last, 2 chapters per week feels right.

Michael_S_Miller

Okay, first attempt at the Google Calendar is up. I've made it public, so you shouldn't need to use Google Calendar to view it. Here's the link: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=uthpt0lpmhm58234gbgrjv04fc%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York

If anyone wanted to embed it in a website, this is the code to use: <iframe src="https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=uthpt0lpmhm58234gbgrjv04fc%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York" style="border: 0" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Let me know if you have any problem.

NeilNjae

That looks fantastic, thanks @Michael_S_Miller !

I was going to to suggest perhaps having "recap weeks" after each book, to reflect on the book as a whole. But I don't think they're worth going through the effort of rejigging the calendar you've created.

Michael_S_Miller

Do what you think is best, @NeilNjae . I can delete that calendar and create a brand new one from the spreadsheet pretty easily. Just let me know what you decide.

NeilNjae

Thanks, @Michael_S_Miller . I've adjusted the spreadsheet to have a recap week after each book. I think it will be useful for us to reflect on each book as a whole as we go: there are some big-picture themes that emerge from the books, which could do with discussion.

If you could adjust the calendar, that would be most excellent.

Apocryphal

I’m excited for this!

Michael_S_Miller

Awesome! The revised Google calendar is up: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=5iar78lru0hgailkc1uo6lh6ag%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York

If anyone has any issues, or wants the specialized URLs for embedding, linking with iCal, or whatever, let me know.

I read the Prologue yesterday. Holy smokes was that amazing! 2020 is looking up already!

WildCard

Broken Earth Trilogy purchased. Ready for the slow read.

NeilNjae

@Michael_S_Miller said:
Awesome! The revised Google calendar is up: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=5iar78lru0hgailkc1uo6lh6ag%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York

If anyone has any issues, or wants the specialized URLs for embedding, linking with iCal, or whatever, let me know.

I'm having trouble importing it into my Google Calendar set. Google Help says something about clicking the "get sharable link" option.

I read the Prologue yesterday. Holy smokes was that amazing! 2020 is looking up already!

It's fun!

RichardAbbott

I think the embed link is not the one to use to import into Google calendar. When I try adding from URL and use this, I get the error message
Sorry, https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=5iar78lru0hgailkc1uo6lh6ag@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York is not a valid URL.

Michael_S_Miller

Ah, I see. That's the "public link".

But this is the "shareable link" https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=NWlhcjc4bHJ1MGhnYWlsa2MxdW82bGg2YWdAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ

Here's the web page embed code: <iframe src="https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=5iar78lru0hgailkc1uo6lh6ag%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York" style="border: 0" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

And here's the iCal format code: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/5iar78lru0hgailkc1uo6lh6ag%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

Hope that helps! Happy New Year, everybody!

WildCard

Broken Earth Trilogy purchased. Ready for the slow read.

NeilNjae

That's working great for me. Thanks, @Michael_S_Miller !

RichardAbbott

Great, all sorted in my calendar... now I just have to buy the first book and read the first portion...

clash_bowley

If I could get through the New Sun, I can get through anything...

NeilNjae

Just in case people have missed it, I've posted the first thread about the book. Further threads will be in the Broken Earth category.

dr_mitch

> @clash_bowley said:
> If I could get through the New Sun, I can get through anything...

James's Joyce's Ulysses for 2021? I'll be out, but I'll enjoy watching everyone else.

clash_bowley

Dammit, you are correct, curse you @dr_mitch! (shakes fist at sky) If I could not get through Moby Dick, I couldn't possibly wade through Ulysses!

Apocryphal

I certainly had no trouble with Moby Dick, but I appreciated it more after reading the short afterword. I’d enjoy it all the more on a reread, now that I know how to read it. I think it would be a good book for a slow read, going in manageable pieces that each incorporates some story chapter and some exposition chapter. Lots of gamable content in that book, especially if you like to use gaming to explore themes.

Ulysses, or PK Dick’s Exegesis (as @BarnerCobblewood once quipped we should read) I struggle to see as being as useful.

RichardAbbott

> @NeilNjae said:
> Just in case people have missed it, I've posted the first thread about the book. Further threads will be in the Broken Earth category.

Thanks! I had missed it on account of the default of no notifications for new categories...

WildCard

Yeah, I still don’t have notifications exactly figured out, but I’ll find the posts and try to figure out how to turn on notifications there.

NeilNjae

The Chapter 2 and 3 thread went up a couple of days ago.

RichardAbbott

Thanks... I thought I'd updated my notification settings but obviously then forgot to save them

WildCard

I actually got the notification. Yay! But was working all weekend, morning, noon, and night, and didn’t have time to respond until now. Boo!