Possession by A. S. Byatt ~ Book Club Online for June

[Gumtree]

The Beguiling of Merlin
by Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1872-1877)

"Gorgeously written…dazzling…a tour de force." (NY Times Book Review)

"Brilliant…. Both a mystery and a love story…. A feat of human ingenuity."  (Diane Johnson, the New York  Review of Books)



"One of the best books of the year." (New York Times Book Review.)

"A masterpiece of word play and adventure." (Los Angeles  Times Book  Review)


Winner of England's Booker Prize and the literary sensation of the year, Possession is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once an intellectual mystery and a triumphant love story. (Vintage International)


"The most dazzling novel of the year." (USA Today)


What a book! This is a novel for every taste… an altogether magical performance." (Washington Post Book World)

Discussion Leaders: ginny & Marcie

Interview with
A.S. Byatt on Possession Submitted by Jude S.


Schedule of Discussion:


June 1-6      Chapters 1-5  (102 pages)
June 7-13    Chapters 6-11 (126pp)
June 14-20  Chapters 12-17 (102pp)              
June 21-27  Chapters 18-23 (123pp)
June 28-30  Chapters 24- end  (90pp)  

Well I missed Iliad & Odyssey so would be glad of a chance to do Aeneid.

Picked up a copy of Possession during the week. My bookseller (a chain of 72 across the nation) had his 2010 Booklovers Best Top 101 List promotion going - 3 for price of 2. Possession was there at No 89. Lots of others on the list which we've read here - will post more details in the Library.

I'm salivating at the thought of starting to read Possession

[ginny]

It's had too many accolades to be bad, and even if it were a hands down stinker, which those here who have read it can attest it's not, we can find something  in every book worth talking about. I have a feeling this one's for the Books! hahaha

Wow 2010 Booklovers Best Top 101 List,  Possession is 89 in Australia!



Another vote for The Aeneid!

[JudeS]

Today is rather wintry and rainy. 
To improve the day I Googled Possession +Byatt.  I went to the first entry (there are many,many) and read the synopsis of the book. And then......Eureka! What a find.  At the end of the article was a link to a site called BBC World Book Club which gives you a 25 minute radio interview with a long list of authors.  I listened to the one with Byatt and enjoyed it immensely. 
She sounds like a fascinating person.   I think it's a great introduction to the book and to the author.

[ginny]

Whooo, fabulous! Thank you so  much. We'll definitely put that in the heading asap!

[ginny]

 Yes! Here is it with a host more, there's Chinua Achebe  of Things Fall Apart, I just bought that, and there is AS Byatt on Possassion:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml

Scroll down and hear the interview!

[salan]

Just received notice that my book is in the mail.
Sally

[ginny]

Oh, good! Mine is sitting here on top of the computer staring reproachfully at me, like OPEN ME! But I like to wait until a lot closer so it will be a fresh experience. I keep thinking about Brideshead Revisited,  how could so many people carefully read a book  over a month and longer  and disagree about  something as simple as what it was about? Even when the author's own words  were quoted.

How? That's one of our book discussions!  Nothing like it.

Sometimes authors intend one thing and something else completely comes out and sometimes not. Love it.

[Gumtree]

Well, of course, it's like that. I think it's because we all bring to our reading our own experiences and knowledge and ignorance - and then words mean different things to different readers... it's fascinating! I opened my copy and read just a little and was immediately reminded that it's not a book for an idle read - I've put it aside again until closer to the time but can't wait to be involved with the ... story

[Jonathan]

I'm halfway through it. What a story. Putting it down leaves me feeling dispossessed and lonely.

[ginny]

Well those are two exciting posts.

I love this one: I think it's because we all bring to our reading our own experiences and knowledge and ignorance - and then words mean different things to different readers... it's fascinating! That's so true, isn't it?

One word may hit all somebody's buttons and experiences, reminds me of that old Vaudeville joke, when the guy heard "Martha," he went nuts, do any of you remember it? MARTHA?  Slowly I turned...step by step...

There's a Classics Radio station on Sirius which I get in my car. I just found it, it's right next to the Book station, and they are playing some of the old things I remember which nobody else seems to, like the song "you'll never get rid of the bump bump bump," no matter how hard  you try." They just played that one Friday in the car, I nearly drove off the road. I knew I didn't imagine that song.

Jonathan, I've been looking for a book like that, hopefully at the end when you have to put it down it won't be the same effect.

[Gumtree]

Dispossessed and lonely

How perfectly apt.

 I know that feeling but not every book has that effect - the good ones sometimes do but the great ones always leave one feeling somewhat bereft when one lays it down for the last time. Sometimes I need a little time before another writer can fully claim me.

[JudeS]

My book arrived today-600+ pages. Looks like a serious undertaking.
I am going to an Orthopede tomorrow who will let me know if I need an operation on my knee. If I do need the operation I imagine that 'Possession" will accompany me during the recovery.  Rather read it while being mobile but the body does wear itself out as we age.
After reading "Still Alice' (about a Harvard Prof. who gets early onset Alzheimers) all maladies seem bearable as long as you have a functioning brain and are able to communicate with peers and loved ones. 

[ginny]

Jude, yeow,  good luck with that!! I have a friend who just had the total knee replacement and she's done wonderfully well, just what she'd hoped for, and she can now walk on the beach, something she has not been able to do in years,  but she did do the therapy, a lot of people don't want to. I agree with you on the Alzheimer's.

You are so right, Gum! That's how i felt after finishing Zafon's first, so I'm half afraid to start the second, has anybody here gotten to it? Supposedly it's a continuation of the first, but the first and I went down a long path, I'm not sure I want to read it again.

[PatH]

Judy, the key to successful knee surgery is doing the physical therapy.  If it's painful, try to make them time the pain meds to kick in just as your therapy starts.  And take advantage of all the PT your insurance allows.  I haven't had a knee (yet, I'm sure it's coming) but I have a nice shiny metal hip, and the PT was crucial in my recovery.  Nothing after the surgery--recovery, PT, etc--was as painful as the hip had been before surgery.

[ginny]

JudeS, how did that work out? I didn't know you had a shiny hip, Pat, we've got a lot of bionic readers here, setting off alarms in airports all over the world! Golly as I recall you move faster than I do!

Well, Sir, we've got ourselves a book here, don't we? I'm also glad to see Olle from Sweden coming in as it appears one of the references is to a  Norwegian or Swedish work?

I thought to self, there are 555 pages, hadn't you better start reading it, it's the first of May!  (I like to read whatever we talk about right before, even if it's the 5th reading so it's fresh). Even tho the book is not that big and not that heavy, it looks smaller than 555 pages, a lot smaller, to me, but it's not small in terms of what it's saying. And how it's saying it.

We've always said we could discuss a telephone book in our book discussions and emerge with a valuable enriching experience. This is not a telephone book, but 50 pages in I find myself turning mentally to each of you to ask what it IS? I really do. I keep sensing something which I almost dare not say, so I can't wait for June 1 and see how far off base I am. hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I think there's enough in the first 50 pages alone to discuss for a month, so we'll, I guess, out of necessity, have to pick and choose what WE think is of the greatest interest or importance  as we don't have an Iliad's time to embark on a journey thru time with it.

Everyone is welcome to join us here, if you dare tackle it.  hahaa. Oh why not? It's different. This is not an ordinary book, but we've got extraordinary readers here who can handle anything!

THIS is one book which will benefit (ME anyway) from a group discussion, and I hope you won't be shy with your opinions, no matter what they are.

This is going to be FUN!

Everyone is welcome, we begin June 1.

[marcie]

I agree, Ginny, that I too will benefit greatly from a group discussion of this book. I'm still puzzling over the introductory poems!

[PatH]

I'm holding off touching the book until closer to June 1, but I'm eager to go.

[JoanK]

I was in the last Seniornet discussion of the book, and it was a great discussion. I'm moving the ends of May, so may be a bit late getting started, but i'm in.

[ginny]

Oh wonderful, JoanK, just the thing, to sit down after all that moving  with a great discussion and a complicated (you and me both, Marcie) book TO discuss.

Marcie's done a tentative schedule of discussing Chapters 1-5 (the first 102 pages) the first week, I'll put it in the heading now, and that seems doable I hope, tho I actually can't figure out any of it hahahaa...actually I can't WAIT to see what YOU think on this one. I have some irreverent ideas which I am sure are not what's wanted!

But bring ALL your ideas good bad or ugly and we'll hash  it out! To ME there's a big surprise in the first 50 pages, not to mention 100, but I may be alone, we'll find out.

[Aliki]

PUH-lease!!! You're all scaring me!

But I did read 3-4 reviews of the book so it may be worth all the tension. I haven't discussed a book much since 'Cranford'.

But I'm staying in and trying and I'll be 'listening' A LOT!! The reviews truly look 'brill!'

[ginny]

Great your opinions are most welcome!! We'll need all hands on deck for this one, sure enough!

Come one, come all!

[kidsal]

Will be discussing this book again with a group locally in August so hopefully will be better informed.  This looks like a complicated one if you include the poetry, etc.

[ginny]

Oh wow, I'd like to sit in on that one, will you report back here maybe in the Library what they thought and where they differed? Too bad we can't get them in here and have a dual sort of discussion.

Complicated is a good word.

[ginny]

I'll tell you one thing, when I look at this innocuous looking book fairly smallish for all of it's 555 pages, looks like nothing unusual, but now that I've read the first 100 pages, it seems to me to sit there glowing or pulsating, it's no ordinary book by any means. I'm looking forward (I have my machete ready) to hacking thru to the truth with you all!~

But the "truth" may be as many different opinions as we have here. I hope that's the case, it would be fitting such a book. 

[Gumtree]

I've only read 50 pages or so and it's already glowing and pulsating on my coffee table. 

I read this book the year it came out and have wanted to re-read it ever since - so now I've started - but already in the first 50 pages there are parts I don't remember reading before.... so it's going to be a whole new experience for me.

Now, just where did I put my machete? 

[Jonathan]

The book seems so straightforward to me. The ending, the whole drift of the book, is just as foretold in the pieces of poetry at the beginning. Ginny, we don't need a machete to get at the truth in this one. Then again, machete as metaphor goes right to the heart of the book.

With a proper sense of humility I will grant that I may play the fool in this one. Again.  You know, the guy who rushes in where angels fear to tread.

[Jonathan]

 (rereading) '...it's going to be a whole new experience for me.'

Gumtree, is it something like that, that gives the book literary merit. I enjoyed reading what you said on the subject in the Library.

[ginny]

It's straightforward? It's straightforward  in accordance with the poems?

Fools rush in? What do you call the person who rushes confidently behind the fool then? That's me, you lead I'll follow, I'm seeing something not straightforward, hints, HINTS.

This is going to be FUN!!!! We'll all rush right in and say our piece. Gum, I'm with you, I've now read the first 50 pages twice (don't ask, I had to test my Theory #1008) and...what...is this a magic book or something, every time something different.

It's a BOOK, I can say that.

Everyone is welcome!

[Gumtree]

I've started reading Possession in real earnest - can't help myself really. What a delight it is - I hate to put it aside for any reason. I'm just reading it - stopping here and there to make a note or insert a marker - but in the main just letting the words flow by me - I'll have to go back and diligently reread the assigned sections once we start but - it's delicious!

And you're right Ginny -  No question about it - this is a BOOK.

[ginny]

And for my own part I'm very pleased to have read the first 5 chapters which we'll begin discussing on June 1 and to find I'm enjoying the book, I think the just read it theory works better for me instead of stopping (because it does jolt you to a stop). Rather enjoying the story now. I had to get over a couple of stumbling blocks of my own, and I will be interested to see what you all made of them, it, and a lot of other things.


Finally a book with some meat in it.

Allusions, illusions, and a good story line. Finally. This may be the book which drags me back into fiction.

[Jonathan]

'Finally a book with some meat in it.'

And so well-sauced, too. And many a good bone with its tasty marrow. I've read it right through to its brilliant ending. After that quiet beginning in the BML. I'm convinced it's a true story. Even after putting it down, and this book, it seems to me, one never really puts it down, well let's hear those dreams that come with the restless sleep crowded with those possessing spirits.

And then there is the humor, the fine British humour. For some reason this book reminds me of Stella Gibbon's style in something like her COLD COMFORT FARM. Lots of fine irony and parody. Perhaps it's the same the whole world over, whether it's down on the farm or in the frenzied halls of academe.

[ginny]

Yes, this one has, just as they said, something for everybody, I can't wait to begin.

On our opening day a week from tomorrow, we'll have a gigantic heading with all sorts of questions, any ONE of which we hope will spark your thoughts or be something you'd care to comment on. But if YOUR particular idea or interest is not there, please bring it up asap and we'll add it  right on also.

The topics for your consideration are numbered but they are not a test (this is not a test!) just grab one that suits or suggest your own and hold on!  We don't seek consensus (how could anybody agree on this thing), so just favor us with your ideas and opinons or background  and let it go!

[winsummm]

Kindle edition is  eight dollars.  I just ordered the free sample to see if I like the writing etc.  At least I know that I can get it so as to join the group. I blow it up six times and use my reading glasses and a very bright light.  btw my eyes make it hard to edit so I sometimes just don't bother.  Apologies in advance.

Claire

[marcie]

I hope that you'll decide to join us, winsummm. I think you'll enjoy the book.

The author said in an interview that she knows that readers sometimes skip parts of a book (at least on first reading). There are an exciting couple of mysteries in the book, embedded among the long correspondences, poems and stories.

[ginny]

And Claire with your love of ART, you will be an incredible resource, IF you can hack the first 50 or so pages. So glad to see you.

[Mippy]

Good morning, all!
Book was ordered this morning!   I'm excited to be on board another great discussion!

[ginny]

Hey, welcome, Mippy!  What a round table this will be!!  Everybody must bring whatever knowledge and insights  they have to the table,  and not be shy about it, we'll need every hand on deck!  I am sure I have missed half the allusions here, hopefully they will ring a bell with one of our informed readers.


The trick is to get through the 5th chapter.

[winsummm]

well. I guess not for me.

but. . . I just noticed the new  Greg Mortensen  book STONES INTO SCHOOLS  is available on kindle. I loved three cups of tea. this is a sequel. maybe in the future 

[jeh]

I have read Possession at least twice.  It is a fascinating book. I don't have time to reread it but I may look in to see what you make of it.

[marcie]

We'd love to have your thoughts, jeh. I hope you'll post when you look in.