So.

[quigonejinn]

It came up in another another thread, but anybody else up for a group reading of the Hornblower books? God knows I could use the help in untangling Horatio "Contact with Reality is for the WEAK" Hornblower.

Since we'd be at least familiar with each other, personally, I'm thinking a very informal kind of thing -- the point is to know more about the books, after all, and not to read them all or something. So no mods, no leaders, not much of a schedule besides the knowledge that, say, next Tuesday, we'll start chattering about ________. If you're done reading, jump in. If you're not done reading, then you can choose between jumping in or staying out until you're done. Chatter contines until people are like "quigonejinn, STFU and move on." And we do!

Totally flexible, though. Just point me in the direction of an excuse to re-read canon, and I'll be all over it. :D



ETA: navalchronicle is up with an organizational post and a members-only one, too.

1. Should we do this on a mailing list or on LJ?

2. Approximately how fast do we want to go through the books? A book a month? More? Less? How fast do you want to read?

3. Do we want to go through the canon a book at a time, or should we go through them in chapters or bunches of chapters? (ex: we'll talk about chapters 12-19 of FC this week?)

4. Should we follow any kind of order? (IE, Forester publication or chronological? Or should we just go for the books that we damn well feel like?)

Comments

[iansmomesq.livejournal.com]

I like the idea.

1. Perhaps we keep it on LJ and start up a community specifically for it.

2. Speed -- we can start out with your idea of a book a month and then see where that gets us. I've done these where we go through a book every two weeks, or two months... depending.

3. Chapters. That way everyone's on nearly the same "page."

4. I'm thinking chronological. See the development of Scary!Crazy!Horatio as we go along that way.

Just my .02.

[black-hound.livejournal.com]

1. I like the idea of LJ too. One stop shopping since we're all on here already.

2. A book a month sounds like a good starting point. Since we've probably all read these at least once already, as it goes along we may be find that we can speed up the timetable.

3. I have no real preference for chunking the discussion a whole book at a time vs. doing it piecemeal. How's that for decisive. *g*

4. I'm torn between chronological and the 'whichever way the wind is blowing'. But for the semblance of some sort of order I'll stop waffling and say chronological.

[damned-colonial.livejournal.com]

Don't assume we've all read them already. I haven't read past Hotspur, because Forester's prose just started to bug me. I keep *meaning* to continue, though, so I'm up for this if it happens.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_oggy_/]

sounds fantastic., count me in.

my vote is for chuncks of chapters other than whole books, just so i can keep things fresh in my head.

[cleverthylacine]

So let me know if you guys do this, because I should probably actually read the books. (I've only seen the movies.) And I would want to read them in chron order, because I'm weird like that.

[font.livejournal.com]

yes please!

either mailing list or lj, you choose. i am partial to mailing list, but lj is just fine.

book a month to start sounds great. but really, we should just go along at our own pace, as dictated by how quickly we work through our -->

chunks of chapters, i think, except for the first book -- 1 chapter at a time there, i think. also the last book -- 1 story at a time.

i say in chronological order. but i will go with whatever anyone else wants. same for all of it.

it is 4am and i have class in <5 hours and i cannot sleep.

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

chunks of chapters, i think, except for the first book -- 1 chapter at a time there, i think. also the last book -- 1 story at a time.

We're talking publication order, right? Beat to Quarters with its inimiatble Crazy!Horatio and then Crisis, at the end, with the extra storie at the end that they threw on for padding?

Group conensus makes it look like we're probably going to do it in chron order, unfortunately. Are you minded to do Midshipman one story-chapter at a time?

Re: it is 4am and i have class in <5 hours and i cannot sleep.

[font.livejournal.com]

sounds good to me. i will take anything you guys put together. :x:x:x:x:x!

Crazy baby boyfriend lovers of the world unite

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

1. An LJ comm. If you want help with it, let me know.

2. A book a month seems good for people who are reading for the first time, though not as fast as I want to consume them.

3. I don't care.

4. I think we should go in the order Forester wrote them, because that's what I did first and it makes sense to me. Plus I find Atropos even more heartbreaking if you already know what happens to those kids.

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

#4 marks me as a sick SOB doesn't it? Oh well.

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

*slaps a Hornblower Ghoul badge on you, points you in the direction of black_hound who is sitting happily in the corner and playing with a bone saw*

Alas. I think we're going to end up doing them in chron order. :/

[black-hound.livejournal.com]

*thinks she needs to icon herself a Hornblower Ghoul badge*

And I'm back to waffling over the chronoogical vs. publication order. There's advantage and disadvantage to both for new readers.

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

*proud member of the Ghoul Brigade*

I was talking to a friend tonight who is about to embark on reading the books (my powers of pimping are mighty), and I talked myself into the opposite opinion than I had before, just because she is very spoiler-averse wrt movies and tv, and knowing how the story comes out really ruins it for her. She's kind of on one end of the spectrum there, but I think there's a little of that in many people. I don't personally have that issue, but also, people do seem to do better with linear storytelling, in my experience in fandom.

[karabou.livejournal.com]

Book club! If it's on LJ I'll join.

[flameofdeath.livejournal.com]

I like the format of the a_chapter_a_day (except maybe we can have, like, a chapter a week?). How we post the chapter number of a certain book and for that whole week, we discuss it amongst ourselves in comments. That way, conversation is easier to find and whatnot.

*shrugs* Just a suggestion, of course. If you need help, I'd be glad to help.

[flameofdeath.livejournal.com]

I would say go chronological, as most new readers to the fandom, who don't have much prior knowledge, are reading it like that. I have a friend fadedacolyte who's reading it like that simply because it's easier to get a hold of.

[phantomsangel.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a grand idea to me! Count me in!

I think the idea of a LJ community would be the best way to go.

Perhaps a chapter a week would be a good pace, as most people on LJ do have real lives. ;)

No real preference as to the order, though I think it would be neat to do them in order and be able to discuss this with others. :)

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Real life? WTF is that? XD

Chapter a week would really do a lot to provoke in-depth discussion and dense analysi, but I think mots of us are inclined to push a little faster. Plus, there are some total filler chapters, esp. in the ones that were really written to be serialized, so yeah.

Would you be OK with doing four to five chapters a week?

[phantomsangel.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yes, four to five chapters should be all right! And if I don't have all the time to do a complete reading, I could probably scan them to refresh my memory so I could participate in discussions. :)

[ms-nerd.livejournal.com]

I'm here from despatches. Great idea - I was planning on reading them again (and again) and this is just the kick in the pants I need to get going.

1. lj
2. One book a month
3. Chapters because it gives us a smaller chunk of book to work with and would probably lead to more in-depth discussion.
4. chronological

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! The more the merrier. :D

And navalchronicle is up with an organizational post and a members-only one, too.

[zebra363.livejournal.com]

Hello, I'm here from the recent crack_van rec. I love the Hornblower novels, but have never got into much of the fanfic since it's so often based on the TV series and Archie-centric! Love your long post about Bush's characterisation, and have just joined your new reading community. I'll be away for the first two weeks, but look forward to joining in after that.

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

:D We'll be thrilled to have you when you come back, man.

And yeah, fandom depressed the hell out of me in the beginning because even though I love Archie and movieHornblower, I desperately wanted fic about Flying Colours and crankycaptain!Hornblower and, you know. The wonders and marvels of Bush. I'm amazed you made it through the hellaciously ginormous and wanktastic bit of analysis. XD

Anyway. There's a little wedge of us hanging out here with an abiding interest in the books. Come hang out with us.

[zebra363.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to it. Maybe I'll pack Mr Midshipman Hornblower to take with me! I have a few hours on a plane and waiting at the airport to kill.