Ordered and in transit. Should be with me early to mid next week, assuming they can find a Express Post kangaroo bouncing in the right direction.
Alright! So it’s looking like by the 4th… let’s say 6th of February, people should have their books in hand? 6th sounds like a good day to start reading, because it’s a Friday, but if we’re ready to go before that, then even better. We’ll wait if someone can’t get their book in time, of course.
So, does a week per chapter sound okay to everyone? They’re around 40-50 pages long.
And then the discussion - should we reserve seperate time for that, or discuss the previous chapter while the next week of reading starts? I think we should do the latter because otherwise this will take a long time, but whatever works best for people.
So if we say we started reading on the date 6/2, the deadline for the chapter would be 12/2, which is when we would start a discussion in a dedicated thread. We can let the discussion go on for the whole next week, or should at least try to wrap it up before the next deadline - though it doesn’t really matter if people still wish to quibble (I’m not sure that’s the word I’m looking for…?) over some little details even after that.
So the schedule would be something like this (these dates are just an example):
06/2 - 12/2 - Reading Chapter 1
13/2 - 19/2 - Discussing Chapter 1 while starting to read Chapter 2
20/2 - 26/2 - Discussing Chapter 2 while reading Chapter 3
27/2 - 05/3 - Discussing Chapter 3 while reading chapter 4
– and so on
Thoughts?
2 Likes
Given that NZ postage relies on sheep and the occasional wandering hobbit rather than conveniently pouched marsupials, it might take @aeon a little longer.
3 Likes
Personally, I’m going to start reading it tonight and try to read a chapter a night…
But I’ll try to write up my thoughts elsewhere after each chapter so I can join in when the discussions start.
I can’t imagine intentionally dragging out reading a book to one chapter a week.
1 Like
Yeah, of course people can (and will) read whichever they way please. The deadlines are just so we can all match our reading speeds and schedules easily enough for reasonable discussion. We could in theory read a chapter every 2 days, but then some people who are too busy to read (even one time) that fast wouldn’t be able to keep up.
I’ll probably either read the book in one go and then go back to each chapter when we discuss it, or read it in good sized chunks and take notes and then wait a while in-between so I don’t get too far ahead (knowing what happens next might influence my thoughts, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing). But definitely no spoilers in the discussion threads, though!
I’m gonna repost this list with all the names (hope I didn’t forget anyone!) and their book status. And this way the people will get called to this thread to tell us what’s happening.
1 Like
No, I am gonna try one more library route then I guess pay the publishers insane price for an ebook.
… and although the Rural Delivery postal hobbits have vans, they first accept international parcels at an urban warehouse then bring them out to us a day or 3 later. The vans aren’t sheep powered, though, so there’s that.
Don’t wait just for me — I’m currently working my way through a textbook and a different novel for an IRL book club anyway.
1 Like
I should have it early next week.
I’m holding.
these kids need to get off my damn lawn with their $16 for a paperback, geez.
this seems reasonable. I’m totally open to anyone else’s ideas, though. I’ve never been in a book group before.
Since we’re doing discussion chapter-at-a-time, I think any longer than a week might be too slow, but it wouldn’t be intolerable or anything. Conversely, even though I’ll probably read it rapidly and think I’ll want a quicker schedule, it seems like setting aside time to get to the thread and discuss might actually be the bigger time factor? plus after a big day at work I’m liable to blow it off for a night. so I’m wary of basing the discussion schedule solely on our reading speed (which I’m sure is quite rapid for this group.)
so anyway, yeah; reasonable I guess but not sure how to call it, book club noob.
@Raita I got the book the moment I knew we had officially picked one. Sorry, didn’t realize this thread was in progress or I would have mentioned it ( 
).
I skimmed the thread but I’m not sure if we’re still discussing at what intervals to … discuss the book?
While I’m a pretty fast reader when it comes to the actual act of reading, I’m pretty slow when it comes to finishing a book. Partly my dyslexia (wish I knew of a way to use an RSVP (did not vet current wikipedia page for usefulness but at least it’s not an ad, amirite?) app in concert with the ebook format of my choice here) and partly time and energy considerations. I took a poke at chapter 1 so I wouldn’t be behind. Normally, I’d suggest something like three chapter chunks but there’s really a lot going on in chapter one.
Didn’t get to chapter 2 on … Tuesday night? So I’m not sure if it’s that conceptually dense all the way through but I’m definitely thinking—at least for chapter one—discussing the chapter by itself is probably a good idea.
Yeah, something like this. Best to have a framework in place that you can modify as circumstances dictate. If you’re going to improvise, have a script to ignore.
Damn! That’s the equivalent of nearly $6 more than I paid. What’s it bound with? Unicorn glue?
1 Like
Heh. It’s less than the shipping for mine. I assume most of the cost of that was danger money, with scorching deserts, treacherous mountain passes, bushwhackers, venomous wildlife, sharks, drop-bears, yowies and bunyips.
Quite a bargain, thinking of it like that.
2 Likes
Anyone out there got any recommendations for a kindle? I’ve been reading @jlw 's reviews, he seemed pretty happy with the paperwhite until he got a voyage.
The voyage seems like a splurge too far, the regular kindle seems like I will regret not having a backlight. But if I’m going to drop £110 on a device, why not just go a little extra and spend £169. Mmph. 
Is the voyage that much better than the paperwihite? Slightly higher resolution, slightly thinner and lighter, and the textured surface.
At first, I was pretty adamant that I should just get the advertising-free version of the original kindle but seeing everyone rave over the paperwhite made me reconsider. Now I’m thinking of the voyage, spending £100 more than my initial budget of £69. LOL, this is how they get you.
Edit: I’ll probably also want to jailbreak the thing… which seems relatively easy but I don’t want to brick an expensive device. Decisions, decisions.
I am completely sold on the voyage. If you read an hour or two a day the $100 is worth it.
- sharper display
- better lighting controls
- easier to clean/keep clean
- the buzzers turn off
I look at it like good sun glasses, a $5 pair will work but persol or luxottica lenses and construction ARE that much better.
The paperwhite is good, the voyage is better. I gave my mom the paperwhite.
2 Likes
Thanks.
Having just been blinded by the winter sun because of some overpriced, garbage sunnies I bought at Charles de Gaulle airport, I agree that going the whole hog is probably the best idea.
Also I get to feel the buyers high just a little bit more intensely. 
1 Like
Let me know how the jail break goes. I am afraid to wind up with a tool I use 2-3 hrs a day bricked just for epub support… epubtomobi works just fine 
2 Likes
Speaking as an owner of both a Kindle 3g and an ipad 3, it comes down to one thing-- Can you read a PDF that was formatted for Letter or A4 sized paper without zooming, and panning, and generally resisting the intended two or three column layout. On the ipad retina, (2048x1536) you can. On a kindle 3G (800x600), you can’t.
now, the kindle 3g has no problems with kindle books–it’s just pdfs that are awkward. And because I am just as likely to read a pdf as a kindle book, I almost never use my kindle 3g. (I was actually thinking of lending it to @MarjaE, along with a copy of the Quarry), and reading my copy on my iPad.
Anyway… that’s where resolution comes into play. If the Voyage is significantly better than a paperwhite (which is significantly better than a 3g), in this regard, it is added utility, (assumming you like to read Academic Literature).
2 Likes
I read ebooks a lot, had a Kindle 3G, but gave it to my niece after I got a Fire (now also gone in favour of an iPad Mini 2). I don’t have any eyestrain problems and I prefer not to use a bedside light. I guess any of the later backlit kindles would be fine - but I do almost all my reading in bed so issues with battery life and reading outside don’t come into play and the tablet works fine for me.
1 Like
Hey!!!
/mom mode
2 Likes
I gave my mom my prior paperwhite, she gets all my old tech toys. I actually struggled with which one to keep. Thing I really like least about the Voyage is the Origami case. Get a different case and not Amazon’s. I ordered one earlier this week and will review it, if I decide I like it. I think I will.
