Welcome to The Preliminary Steemit Book Club Plan.
Based on the Comments in response to my IntroduceYourself post, it’s officially time to start the first Steemit Book Club.
And as agreed almost unanimously in the comments, we are going to kick it off with this literary monsterpiece:
Here’s how I’m thinking it will work.
Let me know your feedback in the Comments section below, and based on the discussion there, I will make any changes and then post: The Official Steemit Book Club Plan.
Question: How is this book club going to work?
Answer: We will have conference calls every week to discuss the book, as well as a simultaneous Steemit.chat. Afterward, a recording, summary, and the reading assignment for the following week will be posted on Steemit for anyone who missed it.
Question: When will these calls be?
Answer: Monday evenings at 6:30 pm PST/9:30 pm EST/2:30 am GMT/11:30 am (Tuesday) UTC. We will be using Freeconference, which offers international toll-free numbers in most countries as well as a web link to join the call.
Question: Who gets those Book Club Steem Dollars?
Answer: All Steem Dollars generated from weekly Book Club posts will be divided equally among book club members after finishing each book. In order to receive a share of the Steem Dollars, the book club member must:
- Stay in the book club until the completion of the book.
- Attend 75 percent of the calls or chats.
- Read the entire book.
Question: That’s pretty cool: So you get paid to read and incentivized to finish the book?
Answer: Is that a rhetorical question?
Question: What book are we starting with?
Answer: We are starting with the book ranked by the Modern Library as #1 on its list of the 100 best novels of all time. Another book by the same author holds the #3 spot:
However, Ulysses by James Joyce is no easy reading. Trying to just pick it up and read it on your own is like being thrown in the middle of the ocean without anything to float on. So most readers who pick it up toss it aside soon after. But with some guidance and orientation, the book becomes crystal clear, and opens up as a fantastic puzzle, adventure in reading, and community experience. It promises to lead to some great discussion and interaction.
Question: Where can I find the book?
Answer: I’d recommend getting the Gabler edition of Ulysses. Besides being my favorite, it has line numbers in the margins so we can all communicate clearly and be “on the same page”: https://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-original-James-Joyce-ebook/dp/B017WQ5WTI/
If you don’t want to pay for the Gabler edition or can’t find it in your country, you can find an earlier edition of Ulysses for free via Project Gutenberg: https://archive.org/stream/ulysses04300gut/ulyss12.txt
And free on the Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-James-Joyce-ebook/dp/B002RKT6QK#nav-subnav
Or in any format you prefer: http://manybooks.net/titles/joycejametext03ulyss12.html
Question: When do we start?
Answer: Ideally, Monday, September 5th allows everyone to get the book, but it’s also Labor Day in the U.S., so if anyone prefers, we can start on Monday, September 12th instead.
Question: Is there any other way I should prepare to read Ulysses?
Answer: You don’t need to. Everything will be explained. But if you want to get a head start, read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (which is a prequel of sorts). And if you’re really eager, read the stories in Dubliners (some of the characters pop up in Ulysses). And maybe re-acquaint yourself with The Odyssey, which Ulysses parallels in the modern day.
Question: Anything else I can do to prepare?
Answer: You can pick up an annotated guide to the work. And keep this image handy. It’s your “map” to the book:
Question: Is there anything I can do?
Answer: If you are a Joyce scholar or a professor who teaches the book—or if you know of one—it would be great to have an expert guest on some of the calls. Let me know in the Comments below. Would be amazing.
Question: What’s the reading assignment for the first call?
Answer: We will read the first pages together as a group on the call, and afterward there will be weekly reading assignments.
Question: What’s the next book going to be?
Answer: It could be any book worthy of discussion. Infinite Jest was recommended in the Comments section of the Introduce Yourself thread, and I like the idea of reading books together that we might not otherwise finish on our own. But I’m open to any great work. The remaining members will decide together in the last weeks of the Ulysses calls.
Question: Anything else I should know?
Answer: Yes. I’m going to invite my entire Inner Circle mailing list (www.neilstrauss.com) to join Steemit and be part of the Book Club. There are a lot of people on that list. I hope some of them will become great additions to the Steemit community.
Special thanks to the-alien for helping to make this happen.
Brave New Books would like to be involved. We would be willing to sell and ship books for Steem.
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I think selling and shipping books for steem is a great idea. There needs to be more of an economy, and I'd be interested in buying books right now.
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Dystopia futures are always interesting to read about, it is surprising how many parallels metaphorical or literal that you can draw to Modern times. Which parts do you find that are very similar to your way of life?
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I see the Irish are being punished with a 2.30am kick-off time for spawning Joyce and inflicting Ulysses upon the world. Fitting I suppose. (I jest).
Actually, left field question here. Is that a young Norma Jean reading the book in the photo?
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Haa, good point.
And Marilyn Monroe is reading Ulysses in the photo. She had her own system for reading it, explained here: http://time.com/3809940/marilyn-monroe-james-joyce-photo/
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@neilstrauss, great idea! :)
Really liked your image of Marilyn Monroe. That Time article had a link to more pictures of Marilyn reading: http://mycroft.com.au/2011/10/photographs-of-marilyn-monroe-reading/
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This is a wonderful idea! Always love some encouragement to pick up and finish a good book :)
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Exactly! Let's all encourage each other :) I think this is gonna be an awesome Book Club!
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Thank you for making this happen! I'm really looking forward for this :)
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Yeah, I will have to consider how much of my identity I want to make available to the steemit crowd/book club crowd, any suggestions of how to best keep my identity slightly private?
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Ridiculously excited, steemit just gets better and better. I am in, please.
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Haha that's great @meesterboom! You're in of course. :) And you're right, steemit keeps getting better and better.
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I know this is on a bit of a different line, but has anyone thought about doing a Steemit book exchange as well? I would certainly be willing to help out as much as possible. Maybe I will enlist some help from those involved here.
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When I love a book, it's hard for me to part from it, like an old friend whose wisdom I like to consult from time to time. That said, I support the idea and would glad to provide duplicates I have of my favorite books and my own books to get the circulation going.
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I feel you there. Completely understandable and I am the same way. I'm looking at my bookshelf and there aren't a ton that I would want to part with. I'll let the idea fester on the back burner and see if I want to pick it up again at a later time.
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Hi guys if you are starting with the list of top 100 books, you might check also https://www.gutenberg.org/. There are a lot of classics that you can download for free :)
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Thanks, @thebluepanda - a lot of the public domain books are free on Kindle, Kobo, and other apps too.
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Omg, this is so cool. I am in! Do I need to do anything aside from saying I am in, getting the book, and staying posted? :D
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Hi Laura!
I'm glad that you're in :) There will be another post I think as the date gets closer. But I will post about it before hand about it on all the groups (private and public) so you won't miss it :)
I'll even P.M you the details if you want as the date gets closer.
So glad that you're joining. It'll be a great experience. :)
Btw, sorry Neil for jumping in, and if I'm overstepping.
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Yes, please pm me! i have been buying books again and own hundreds and hundreds but I like it when I have people to discuss them with and motivation/deadlines to finish them and I especially love classics! Seriously, so excited. :)
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I will! And I'm happy that you're excited about this, I am too :) And you're right, that's the point. to discuss it with each other every week :)
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Once a week is a bit of a challenge but I like that. I used to read like 4-6 books a month and lately it's been a shameful number and not due to lack of time. squeeee
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I might have missed this idea, but with contemporary books, what about having their authors join as "Special Guests" when possible? For example, I'm already in discussions with the author of the book I reviewed here — https://steemit.com/science/@freeradical/the-moral-case-for-fossil-fuels-an-unabashedly-biased-book-review — and could probably talk him into "appearing."
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Don't think anyone mentioned: That would be great to discuss contemporary books with their authors.
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Hi Neil. I am in the UK and would like to join in, but there are time zones to consider. This will be in the middle of the night for me, can you tell me what US time zone this will be "broadcast" on?
Looking forward to this one. I find that a read of the Annotated Ullysses goes a fair way to understanding it.
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great idea, i have not read this book so far. I'm still not sure to be available at this time. Do we need to read the book in english or a translation in our native language is also possible ?
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It's hard to read in English when English is your first language, so I can only imagine what it would be like reading it if English isn't your first language. Feel free to read a translation if that works better for you. Would be interesting to find out how they translated some of the more experimental passages.
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This is an incredible idea. Kudos to @neilstrauss and @the-alien - I'm definitely in! (I currently have volleyball on Monday nights, but I'll try to move it for this). I'm good with either Sept. 5 or 12th start.
I bought Ulysses about 12 years ago. It's been gathering dust on my bookshelf ever since. I'm really excited to try to understand it, once again.
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Hey Wade!
I'm glad that you want to join, and I hope you can make it :)
It's great that you have the paper edition btw!
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Are you still doing this book club? I'm writing a book on my steemit blog. Any comments would be most welcome!
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Really good idea!
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Fantastic idea! I'd be interested in joining as Ulysseus has been in my backlog for far too long now but I just realized the call times are terrible for me.
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Cutie, suggest some better times for you. Can't promise that we can change them, but if it's convenient for even more people, we can.
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Thanks @neilstrauss and @the-alien! I'd like to join. I can be prepared by Sept. 5 if necessary, but prefer Sept. 12 because I'm getting married on Sept. 3. Please let me know what date you choose and if there's anything else to do.
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Request noted. Looking forward to "meeting" on the call. And congratulations, @edgeland!
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I'm looking forward to meeting you too. Thank you!
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I was just reading the comments again to send invites for anyone who is interested in the meeting and I saw this.
I hope the wedding went great and that it was an amazing day! I wish you guys a lot of happiness!
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Thank you! The meeting is tonight, right?
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Yes it is :) All you need to do is to click at this link at 6p.m Pacific :
https://hello.freeconference.com/conf/call/6291831
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Q. What if I already read the book?
Really like this idea.
However, I don't have any positive contributions to add in regards to Ulysses and don’t want to bring my negative feedback on it to the group.
So for that reason I'm out.
Maybe I can catch up with you all on the next one, if I remember about the group.
Thanks
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Hope you'll join us for the next one. However, may be interesting to try Ulysses again. Maybe some context and perspective and a good group of people will help you see it in another way. Or who knows: maybe your feedback will influence me to see it in another way.
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Nope. I get the literature world explanation of it (i.e. "context") and have read Odyssey. I prefer books with a more enjoyable readability to them in the sense of sentence structure and clear story telling.
But enough about me, I really just wanted to ask the original question for others who might have already read Ulysses as well.
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I'll join in on this. I placed an order for a paper copy, since I don't have anything that good for reading ebooks (and I greatly prefer a paper book). I will be ready to go when ever it arrives.
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Great! I'm excited too! I'm a little jealous that you have the paper book ;)
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Good on you Neil and @the-alien for starting this initiative. I would love to join, however, I'll be working at that time. I think alternative ways for people to join in the book club would be desirable, as it would be difficult to find one single time that would suit everyone. I think contributing via comments to the weekly posts would be good, or another way to do this could be to establish a group on Facebook. This way, you could more easily keep track of active book club members.
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Cool idea! I guess now is as good a time as any to finally read Ulysses. I think i'll get the free kindle version.
My only prob is that I am asleep by 9:30EST on almost any given weeknight! Is there anyway we can have some discussion here on steemit? I also haven't been to the chat yet - I guess I can figure that out.
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That isn't the final time. Will look into starting earlier if it makes it possible for more people to attend.
And that's a good idea. When we post the call recording each week, we can also have a discussion on the reading in the Comments below in case anyone missed it or the time didn't work for them.
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The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man looks like an interesting read, be wary of Gutenberg as a translated version of Plato uses the word sillybillies! Any other books that you suggest reading to get a grasp of the context and time of James Joyce?
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I'd say the best prep would be to read Dubliners and Portrait (which are very different than Ulysses). And if you're hardcore, Richard Ellman's biography of Joyce.
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Thank you for the response, looks like I am going to have to hit up my local second hand bookstore. If you haven't discovered them already pelican books are amazing, they are penguin books non-fiction novels or essays. When I ever see them I buy them on the spot as they are severely underrated For example G Lowes Dickinson for Plato and Socrates, an amazing analysis of Socrates' Dialogues and Plato's Republic among others of their work.
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Fabulous idea. The call times does not work for me as I live in Oz, but I will follow with great interest. Great job. Jamie.
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I am so in! I cannot wait to participate in this discussion. I love classic books!
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Great! A lot of interest I see, so I'm sure we'll have very interesting discussions!
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Mindnumbigly incredible great idea so well suited to Steemit. Quite a wonderful idea. I'm in.
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Welcome to the club! :)
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Brave new world would be great. I would like to do tragedy & hope, the earth cronicle series by zecharia sitchin, 13 bloodlines of the illuminati, the creature from jekyll island, phantom self, and 1984.
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Good suggestions, @feedmycrash, and don't know a few of these, will look them up.
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Very excited about this. Great book choice! I had a university professor who said he spent a month on a remote island reading Ulysses.. and that it was one of the most transformative experiences of his life. Time to figure out what he meant... Minus the island.
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Wow! What a brave teacher. Now I'm looking forward to it even more :)
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I've been wanting to read Ulysses. And would love to read "Brave New World and "portrait of the Artist" again...funny how I read so much more, but online, yet don't read as much classics or novels in general as I did as a 20 year-old.
Question: Is it cool to just attend chats mostly but not conference calls?
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No problem. And you may have a good idea: could be cool to work through the Modern Library top 100.
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I've been meaning to finish reading Anna Karenina for years. I like Russian literature and Realism. I don't see that on the clasics list but there are so many good ones.
It is great to start off the book club with a novel so high in symbolism. That is the most powerful part of our consciousness...in our DNA...and so mysteriously universal.
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Actually, the Modern Library list of "100 Best Novels" contains only novels from English writing authors. There are no Russian, German or French novels of world literature on it. So its not a list of the best novels in the world - only a list of the best novels that have been written in english language.
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Right. My goto list is The Novel 100 which puts Ulysses as #3, after Don Quixote and War and Peace. The book of the same name has a few pages on each of the books and is quite well written.
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Yes, as @capitalism points out, Modern Library only is English-only, but Novel 100 puts Anna Karenina (which I want to read too) at #13. For Russian, my next read would be War and Peace (at #2 on the same list).
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solid idea
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This post has been linked to from another place on Steem.
About linkback_bot
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This sounds like a great idea which I'd be interested in being a part of. Count me in.
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Dude. I'm so pumped. Definitely in.
Also, thanks for changing my life, Neil. You have a gift with words.
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