Hardcore Literature Book Discussion (June 2021) (Patreon)

Dear Book Club Readers,

You wanted a space for general open discussion, so now we have opened one up!

Welcome to the first open thread general book discussion. Let's talk about the format and philosophy to kick things off.

Why is this open thread here?

At this point, we have a lot of videos and lectures but you might not know which one is the right place to post your comments.

Maybe you're reading a book ahead of schedule, related to the schedule, or related to a book that's buried down the feed.

Now you have a place to put all those discussions and points you want to raise.

As these posts will rotate on a bi-weekly basis and are dated, you can structure your reading and provide yourself with some accountability.

You can also get all the other wonderful book club members weighing in on your thoughts, responses, and recommendations. I'm hoping this is a nice recurring area for readers to check in and see how everyone else is approaching their reading.

Format - book titles and spoiler warnings

Please begin your comments with an indication of which book you're talking about (if relevant) and give us a heads-up if there are spoilers, so those who haven't read the book can avoid if desired.

Example:

(Siddharta, Hesse) *spoilers* Hey guys, I've just finished reading Siddharta and wanted to know if anyone else noticed the parallels between ____ and ____

Example:

(Tolstoy & Hugo) *no spoilers* I've got started on Les Misérables ahead of the schedule last week and am currently enjoying ~5 pages per day. I had a question about Jean Valjean and Levin specifically for anyone who happens to know some French and Russian ......

What should you talk about?

In short:

Anything you like.

• Short stories
• Author details
• Areas to explore
• Your current Big Read
• Questions about literature
• Things you're finding difficult
• Things you want to recommend
• General life updates (we're interested)

If you have deep thoughts about specific topics brought up in the long-form lectures, the comments section there is still the best place to put those - and I have made it my mission to respond to everything I see personally.

But this will be a nice rolling area to put anything that doesn't fit in those areas or for those of you would want to start specific conversations based on your recent reading.

We've got a great book club "family" vibe going on here - and I have you all to thank for that.

There is no other book community that can boast such a rich array of diverse and nuanced thought.

So let's open up a general conversation, get to know each other better, talk among ourselves, and chit-chat about books in whatever level of depth you fancy.

I will add tags based on the authors and works discussed and link these book chats over on the contents page to make them easily searchable for future reading, thinking, and discussion.

I'll get us started by leaving my own comment below.

Thank you all!

Happy reading!