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Thread: ETS Book Club Book: Colson Whitehead's "The Underground Railroad"

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegate View Post
    Yeah. I took the book off my kindle and converted it to PDF so I could read it at work and look busy.

    Almost finished with the second chapter, and as short as the 'every other chapter' chapters are three should be easy enough.
    Awesome, thanks for the info, that will be really helpful to us all!

    Let's all go for three and discuss next week, then.

  2. #32
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    i had all kinds of shit ready to discuss for chapter one-
    historical significance of places, lexical themes, etc. :P

    i REALLY fucking miss english class

  3. #33
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    Shit...all I have are passages that I liked and wonderment at how chapter 2 ended.

    Not much of a history buff so the 'changes' that are there don't stick out too much. I mean, I know there wasn't an actual railroad, give me some credit. But the makeup of the towns and such...nope.

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    i had all kinds of shit ready to discuss for chapter one-
    historical significance of places, lexical themes, etc. :P

    i REALLY fucking miss english class
    @elevenism , take notes, okay? Do you have a word processing program? Type your notes in there, and then copy and paste them into here on discussion day?

    @allegate , have you ever read Swift's "Gulliver's Travels?" This is allegedly set up to be an homage to that book as far as each "state" being a different voyage.

    I'll just leave that here for now, keep that in mind. :-)

    Since people are itching to get to a discussion, here, I move that we begin discussing the first three chapters the day after Christmas, on Monday, December 26th.

    Again, if you want, take notes, copy and paste into here at that point.
    Last edited by allegro; 12-22-2016 at 01:40 PM.

  5. #35
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    Also be mindful of this book as compared to other pieces of American slave narrative, e.g. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave," and "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Ann Jacobs.

    By the way, I HIGHLY recommend both of the above books.

    Jacobs book on Kindle HERE.

    Douglass book on Kindle HERE.

    Also, this speech by Sojourner Truth:

    Last edited by allegro; 12-22-2016 at 01:52 PM.

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    @elevenism, take notes, okay? Do you have a word processing program? Type your notes in there, and then copy and paste them into here on discussion day?

    @allegate, have you ever read Swift's "Gulliver's Travels?" This is allegedly set up to be an homage to that book as far as each "state" being a different voyage.

    I'll just leave that here for now, keep that in mind. :-)

    Since people are itching to get to a discussion, here, I move that we begin discussing the first three chapters the day after Christmas, on Monday, December 26th.

    Again, if you want, take notes, copy and paste into here at that point.
    I have, and that makes a lot of sense given how chapter two ends and chapter four starts.

    I'm pretty sure I've read the Frederick Douglass book many moons ago back in middle school, but I'll read it again and the other as well. Help me from reading too far ahead, I guess!

  7. #37
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    Also, in "The Underground Railroad," there is a lot of symbolism of "things to come" juxtaposed with the things from the past, which is why this book is not 100% historical.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegate View Post
    Shit...all I have are passages that I liked and wonderment at how chapter 2 ended.

    Not much of a history buff so the 'changes' that are there don't stick out too much. I mean, I know there wasn't an actual railroad, give me some credit. But the makeup of the towns and such...nope.
    'tis part of what i love about this kindle.
    you can highlight words and phrases and look at the dictionary and wikipedia

  9. #39
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    also, my preliminary discussion may be limited as there are going to be 4 extra people in the house and everybody congregates in here where the computer is, and they have tablets that eat up the wifi so my laptop may or may not work

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    also, my preliminary discussion may be limited as there are going to be 4 extra people in the house and everybody congregates in here where the computer is, and they have tablets that eat up the wifi so my laptop may or may not work
    Tell them it's Book Club night and lay off!! :-)

    Or tether off your cell.

    When are they arriving and when are they leaving?
    Last edited by allegro; 12-22-2016 at 07:35 PM.

  11. #41
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    Now I know how my college Profs felt. Delays delays delays.

    This will be the ONLY time we delay the schedule. Actually, I'm thinking of moving it backward again. We can get the discussion going and others can join in as they can fit into their schedule. I'm highlighting parts of the chapters for discussion.

    And I can bake Christmas cookies at the same time.
    Last edited by allegro; 12-23-2016 at 02:46 AM.

  12. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    'tis part of what i love about this kindle.
    you can highlight words and phrases and look at the dictionary and wikipedia
    HIGHLIGHTING is what I really love.

    Speaking of highlighting, I'll just leave this here (a reference from Chapter One):

    http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Ja...sed-curse-ham/
    Last edited by allegro; 12-22-2016 at 08:45 PM.

  13. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    Tell them it's Book Club night and lay off!! :-)

    Or tether off your cell.

    When are they arriving and when are they leaving?
    they will be here in a few hours and i'm not sure when they will leave, but i will find a way to work around it.

    also @allegro , if nothing else, my mom got a Fire tablet when L and i got the paperwhites and it runs really well even with low wifi. i will borrow that if i have to.
    Last edited by elevenism; 12-22-2016 at 09:45 PM.

  14. #44
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    I just found out that if I read the book on my iPad, I can see page numbers.

  15. #45
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    Okay, how far has everybody read, so far?

    I just started "Ethel" (I'm on page 192).

  16. #46
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    I got sick over the long weekend and instead of reading, I slept.

    But hopefully I am caught up by the next discussion day!

  17. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    Okay, how far has everybody read, so far?

    I just started "Ethel" (I'm on page 192).
    Took the weekend off because of travel and stuff but I'm starting North Carolina today.

    At the end of Georgia, when she gets out and says she's looking at skyscrapers I was totally (even though the book was dropping historical hints as to what time it's set) hoping for a slavery in the future, the South didn't lose the Civil War kind of story.

  18. #48
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    HEY BY THE WAY, ALL, I read this REALLY interesting article saying there was no Underground Railroad in the south, at all, etc.:

    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...round-railroad
    Last edited by allegro; 12-27-2016 at 11:34 AM.

  19. #49
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    Well, you guys just wake me up when y'all are caught up, okay?

    I'm just going to keep reading ahead.

  20. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    Well, you guys just wake me up when y'all are caught up, okay?

    I'm just going to keep reading ahead.
    Damnit @allegro ,
    i would have long since finished the book if i had known that reading ahead was permissible.
    i've read the new anne rice book and The Girl With Curious Hair by DFW waiting to be told when to read more :P

  21. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    Damnit @allegro ,
    i would have long since finished the book if i had known that reading ahead was permissible.
    i've read the new anne rice book and The Girl With Curious Hair by DFW waiting to be told when to read more :P
    I think I said earlier that we can go ahead and read; hell, nobody's following the "rules," anyway, it's all been delayed by a week, do whatever you want, seriously. I am.

    I suspect it's all going to be delayed indefinitely.

    Or, you and I will be discussing it. We were supposed to start discussing it yesterday but that never happened.

    I'm kinda over this book club thing already, truth be told.
    Last edited by allegro; 12-30-2016 at 11:32 AM.

  22. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    We were supposed to start discussing it yesterday but that never happened.

    I'm kinda over this book club thing already, truth be told.

    This is why my Professor friends HATE being Professors, LOL. I'm just not the whip-cracking type.

    I also hate surprises, so I already researched the ending of the book, heh.

    I was the kid who found all of the hidden Christmas gifts and carefully unwrapped them, saw what I was getting, then re-wrapped them and put them all back and acted sufficiently SURPRISED on Christmas morning.
    i was waiting to be told when to discuss it. i was trying to do it right.
    i think maybe we shouldn't have started it around xmas. it still might work :/

    it says there are 8 "hours" left or whatever which means 3 or 4 for me so i can be done with it post fucking haste if you want to do it that way.

  23. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by elevenism View Post
    i was waiting to be told when to discuss it. i was trying to do it right.
    i think maybe we shouldn't have started it around xmas. it still might work :/

    it says there are 8 "hours" left or whatever which means 3 or 4 for me so i can be done with it post fucking haste if you want to do it that way.

    I'm in "Indiana" right now, Cora is living with the Maroons.

    Let's just read and you and I can start discussing, dude.

    With zero spoiler warning, MUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA

  24. #54
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    DON'T GIVE UP ON IT

    I think it's a good idea. I wasn't anticipating getting sick and wanting to die this weekend. But I'm reading on my lunch right now, and think I'm starting to feel a bit better today, so I plan on reading for a couple of hours tonight before I drug myself up to get some sleep!

  25. #55
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    @Sarah K , I hope you feel better. I think once you start reading this book, you'll find it's pretty hard to put down.

  26. #56
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    I'm the quiet one in class that waits and listens to everyone and then puts in two cents worth based on the conversation. I'm not very good at initiating. :/

  27. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by allegate View Post
    I'm the quiet one in class that waits and listens to everyone and then puts in two cents worth based on the conversation. I'm not very good at initiating. :/
    Fair enough, we'll keep that in mind.

  28. #58
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    also, @allegro , i know you are very introverted, but you are quite outspoken and confident on this forum.
    Tis why i looked forward to you leading the discussion.

  29. #59
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    Well, I've finished the book. (couldn't put it down until I finished it, hence the late post. Egad.)

    How you doing, @elevenism ?

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    Quote Originally Posted by allegro View Post
    Well, I've finished the book. (couldn't put it down until I finished it, hence the late post. Egad.)

    How you doing, @elevenism?
    Can finish today, if that's the plan.

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