My personal plan to slow down next year involves embracing bookstagram fomo and reading my own shelves. I have so many wonderful books to read and re-read, and I'm really looking forward to relaxing a bit. I'm being made redundant in March (fickle academia) so next year has a rather large question mark hanging over it. But at least there will be reading. And coffee. And bookish chat.
Aha, that is a question...I'm swaying between just reading them in shelf order or using my usual approach of following my mood. I think the former would give a more interesting mix of titles but I know I'd be delaying getting to some I really like the look of. Any tips?
And to answer your questions, I think War and Peace this year might be the longest time of actively/continuously reading a book for me, though I’ve certainly put books down for extended periods and come back to them. A year has felt slow but doable in terms of staying current with the book. I haven’t attempted Finnegan’s Wake. Maybe 28 years is warranted? Gah I still can’t actually conceptualize that.
Yes obviously it all depends on the book and I think the group of readers. I think there's a War and Peace group out there reading it over eight years. That seems way too slow for me.
Thanks for introducing me and others to your group! What a cool community you are making. Not surprised about your achievements; your enthusiasm is infectious.
Good to see you - hello 👋
I saw that about the Finnegan's Wake book club. That is WAY too long for me, but I'm impressed with them. I would rather read it and then re-read it a few years later, and again (more like what you do, and what I do as a teacher and researcher). Because I thin having the whole in mind as you go back to another read just delivers more than going at such a slow initial pace. And yes, this book is worth reading! I haven't re-read it though. I've read Dubliners about 15 times at slowish pace with students, and I always get more from it.
Dubliners is a book I really really must read, and how you talk about it and use in with your workshops and classes really reminds me of why I must get to it. Seeing a place through the many lives that intersect there, is something I really want to explore in my writing.
I recommend supplementing your reading of Dubliners with an audiobook version by an Irish narrator. For me it really brought those snippets of life to life.
Excellent point. I was actually going to say that Audrey have done a few of the stories. Audrey is an audiobook app that accompanies the recording with notes from an expert. I'm pretty sure the narrator is Irish.
It's a fairly new app. I made the guides for Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis. Currently working on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 👍
It is SO rich. I was lucky that I first encountered it during my student teaching with a guy who had taught it forever and loved. So that was my entry, and it keeps giving back. One year three of my students named their band after one of the stories!! "A Painful Case"
My favorite line from this article: "Fialka, who started the group in his early 40s, is now 70. “I don’t want to lie, it wasn’t like I saw God,” Fialka said, of reaching the book’s end."
At least he's honest! I tend to spend a lot of time with books, but it's simply because I am a slow reader. So looking forward to the read, Simon - and thank you so much for all of the effort that you will be (and I'm sure already have been) putting into this.
It's good to meet everyone. Looking forward to getting to know you - and Thomas Cromwell - better.
And as much as I try to fight my persnickety inner Virgo, it's SO HARD - and so I can't help mentioning that I'm Jodi, and the name of my blog is just Beautiful Things and it's actually about travel. :)
Truly, no worries at all, it's an easy mistake - fiftybeautifulthings is in my username. (I've just used it since the dawn of time on other social media, and can't seem to give it up.) Anyway, thank you - I appreciate that you took the time to change it!
Cromwell is more than enough - though if I were investing 28 years I would totally hope to see God!
Fabulous to hear your voice, Simon, and to tune into your passion for ‘slow’ and ‘curious’. They are two of the overriding characteristics of this space which I love ... I’m adding ‘intentional’ too. Thank you SO much for the generous mention. What a heck of a list of outstanding writers to find myself on! A delightful encouragement for a sunny Friday. Have a fabulous day and well done for trying out the video! I find my voice very annoying to listen back to - it may be some time before I am as brave!
I have to be exceedingly brave! I don't like listening to my voice, but I do like listening to stories over reading them, so I'm trying to do more video and audio.
I was interviewed for a podcast recently and when I got past the discomfort of the sound of my blethering, the substance was worth putting out there so I do want to be braver. I’ve been - very kindly - invited to do a video interview which doubles down on the discomfort but I’ve said yes in the spirit of ‘pushing myself forward’.
I know this feeling well. And I've hid behind words all my life. But I think I am getting braver and people are very kind and never seem to be quite so bothered about how I look and sound as I am!
Thank you for the shoutout, Simon! More importantly, thank you for championing slow reading, curiosity, and creativity! What you're doing—what you've achieved—is so impressive!
‘Fialka leans into that visionary aspect, describing his group as “more a performance art piece than a book club”, and also referring to it as “a living organism”, a “hootenanny”, and a “choir”.’
It sounds like this is just as much about the communal aspect as the book itself.
Haha yes that's true. I think that's often more important than the book. And especially if you've got to spent 28 years with it! Hope we can have a hootenanny next year!
I’ve been dying to listen to you and hear your voice all day... now I’m waiting for the school bus and have just finished and I just want to say thank you.!! For being brave and stepping out of your comfort zone but also for your massive support to ‘community’ - it is and will continue to be a joy to be here... 🍂
Simon, beautiful post as always. Really appreciate the shoutout. What a wonderful community is being built here. I am very excited about several projects for next year. The Wolf Crawl of course (I ordered my copies last night), my read-through of Steinbeck's works, and I am going to tackle Joyce for the first time but not Finnegan's Wake. I will be reading The Iliad and The Odyssey as precursors, then finishing off the year with a slow read of Ulysses.
Hurrah! Simon, this is so lovely, and I’m super chuffed to be a part the community forming here. I haven’t read Finnegan’s Wake, but I have spent years with a book. I have Iain McGilchrist’s ‘The Matter with Things’ at my side, currently, and I expect to be reading that for the rest of my life. I don’t think there’s such a thing as too slow, personally. I adored reading about the club in Venice, and that closing sentence: “This November, they started back on page three. “There is no next book,” Fialka told me. “We’re only reading one book. Forever.”” !!
I kind of want to hang out with Fialka for a day and absorb his dry wit and wisdom. And yes here's to books for a lifetime and forever. Great to have you here, as always, Chloe.
Haha, I am glad I sent you that piece about this group. I KNEW it would resonate with you.
The longest I have spent with a book is definitely this years readalong. I think I have found it hard in the past not to feel like taking ages with a book is somehow a failure but your read-along has given me a whole different view on that.
I have not read Finnegan's Wake. My husband who has read some other Joyce work said he tried it and just couldn't get on with it. I don't think it is for me but hats off to those folks in that group who have dedicated themselves to get through it
Glad W&P changed your view on slow reading. I think Finnegans Wake isn't for most people, I'm not sure I'd be interested in reading it. I would like to read Dubliners though – which I've heard good things about.
I was definitely one of those people who thought I would never read W&P. Finding your readalong maybe think maybe I could and I am SO happy I gave it a try. I have loved it. Your chapter summaries have totally opened the text and the story up for me and I find myself almost a bit sad that soon I will leaving these characters behind after having journeyed along with them for a whole year.
I’m behind with my Substacking this week so please forgive the late thank you. You have been such a support since I started The Thread of Her Tale just a few weeks ago - and it is very much appreciated. A toast to Master Secretary!
Thanks for sharing a video and introduction, Simon, and huge congratulations on the milestones. Amazing achievements! One can but dream of reaching such heights 😊
Never read Finnegan's Wake, no. Sounds difficult. Can't believe they manage to keep that book club up.
Not sure what the longest time I've spent on a book is. Certainly something I didn't enjoy but persevered at. There's a few candidates. One that I gave up on was Gravity's Rainbow. I really wanted to like that book, but ultimately I fell off of it.
Thanks for introducing all the writers. Hopefully not all the stuff I write is weird ... 🤔
I've never picked up Gravity's Rainbow because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't finish it either. Maybe I'm wrong, but your experience and others add weight to this suspicion.
If not weird, how would you describe your writing in three words. I don't want to misrepresent you!
I actually have no idea how I'd describe my writing, to be honest. Maybe Kate can come up with something if she sees this. It's totally fine as is. Maybe I'll run with that if I ever need to describe my writing 😉
Re: GR. It just feels so ... difficult. The writing is impressive but at the same time so dense and unparseable. I think you could spend a day on just a few pages, which perhaps isn't any different to Joyce!
My personal plan to slow down next year involves embracing bookstagram fomo and reading my own shelves. I have so many wonderful books to read and re-read, and I'm really looking forward to relaxing a bit. I'm being made redundant in March (fickle academia) so next year has a rather large question mark hanging over it. But at least there will be reading. And coffee. And bookish chat.
Uff Nicola I remember you saying. I hope there's some security and stability in it all. And like you say, we will always have books.
Do you have any plan for how you want your tackle you own shelves?
Aha, that is a question...I'm swaying between just reading them in shelf order or using my usual approach of following my mood. I think the former would give a more interesting mix of titles but I know I'd be delaying getting to some I really like the look of. Any tips?
Thank you for the shoutout Simon! Such a wonderfully community to be part of.
Also excuse me while I go wrap my head around a book group reading Finnegan’s Wake for the entire span of my life.
And to answer your questions, I think War and Peace this year might be the longest time of actively/continuously reading a book for me, though I’ve certainly put books down for extended periods and come back to them. A year has felt slow but doable in terms of staying current with the book. I haven’t attempted Finnegan’s Wake. Maybe 28 years is warranted? Gah I still can’t actually conceptualize that.
Yes obviously it all depends on the book and I think the group of readers. I think there's a War and Peace group out there reading it over eight years. That seems way too slow for me.
Having a little emotional moment over this post. Thank you for everything. Keep going, Simon! 💟
I should really stop making you cry Kat. Have a great day and thanks as always for your support!
It only happens on Substack... 🥺
Oh I blame substack then.
Thanks for introducing me and others to your group! What a cool community you are making. Not surprised about your achievements; your enthusiasm is infectious.
Good to see you - hello 👋
I saw that about the Finnegan's Wake book club. That is WAY too long for me, but I'm impressed with them. I would rather read it and then re-read it a few years later, and again (more like what you do, and what I do as a teacher and researcher). Because I thin having the whole in mind as you go back to another read just delivers more than going at such a slow initial pace. And yes, this book is worth reading! I haven't re-read it though. I've read Dubliners about 15 times at slowish pace with students, and I always get more from it.
Dubliners is a book I really really must read, and how you talk about it and use in with your workshops and classes really reminds me of why I must get to it. Seeing a place through the many lives that intersect there, is something I really want to explore in my writing.
I recommend supplementing your reading of Dubliners with an audiobook version by an Irish narrator. For me it really brought those snippets of life to life.
Excellent point. I was actually going to say that Audrey have done a few of the stories. Audrey is an audiobook app that accompanies the recording with notes from an expert. I'm pretty sure the narrator is Irish.
Oooo, that sounds extra interesting! I'm not familiar with that app, I'll check it out, thanks.
It's a fairly new app. I made the guides for Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis. Currently working on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 👍
OH yes we did some of this in class! Also my former school head was Irish and she came to read for us. Was SO lovely.
It is SO rich. I was lucky that I first encountered it during my student teaching with a guy who had taught it forever and loved. So that was my entry, and it keeps giving back. One year three of my students named their band after one of the stories!! "A Painful Case"
Enjoy.
Haha brilliant. Definitely going to find a copy.
I'm watching this with my marmite on toast this morning.
What a wonderful things you've created 👏
Oh wonderful Susan. I wondered whether this might be breakfast watching for a few people. Just fixing the porridge and tea.
I absolutely watched it over my breakfast. Really pleased things are going well for you 😊
And thank you. 💛
And thank you for the kind shout out 💙
You're welcome! So happy you're here.
My favorite line from this article: "Fialka, who started the group in his early 40s, is now 70. “I don’t want to lie, it wasn’t like I saw God,” Fialka said, of reaching the book’s end."
At least he's honest! I tend to spend a lot of time with books, but it's simply because I am a slow reader. So looking forward to the read, Simon - and thank you so much for all of the effort that you will be (and I'm sure already have been) putting into this.
It's good to meet everyone. Looking forward to getting to know you - and Thomas Cromwell - better.
And I doubt you'll see God next year. But you will see Cromwell, which may be more than enough!
And as much as I try to fight my persnickety inner Virgo, it's SO HARD - and so I can't help mentioning that I'm Jodi, and the name of my blog is just Beautiful Things and it's actually about travel. :)
Oh no! How did I get that wrong! I did my research and everything. I'll update it. Thank you!
Truly, no worries at all, it's an easy mistake - fiftybeautifulthings is in my username. (I've just used it since the dawn of time on other social media, and can't seem to give it up.) Anyway, thank you - I appreciate that you took the time to change it!
Cromwell is more than enough - though if I were investing 28 years I would totally hope to see God!
Definitely. I think I'd be asking for my money back! Or at least my time.
Fabulous to hear your voice, Simon, and to tune into your passion for ‘slow’ and ‘curious’. They are two of the overriding characteristics of this space which I love ... I’m adding ‘intentional’ too. Thank you SO much for the generous mention. What a heck of a list of outstanding writers to find myself on! A delightful encouragement for a sunny Friday. Have a fabulous day and well done for trying out the video! I find my voice very annoying to listen back to - it may be some time before I am as brave!
I have to be exceedingly brave! I don't like listening to my voice, but I do like listening to stories over reading them, so I'm trying to do more video and audio.
I was interviewed for a podcast recently and when I got past the discomfort of the sound of my blethering, the substance was worth putting out there so I do want to be braver. I’ve been - very kindly - invited to do a video interview which doubles down on the discomfort but I’ve said yes in the spirit of ‘pushing myself forward’.
I know this feeling well. And I've hid behind words all my life. But I think I am getting braver and people are very kind and never seem to be quite so bothered about how I look and sound as I am!
And that’s the point. We really can be our own worst blockers!
And yes to being intentional. 👍🌟
Thank you for the shoutout, Simon! More importantly, thank you for championing slow reading, curiosity, and creativity! What you're doing—what you've achieved—is so impressive!
Thank you Jeffrey! Can't do it alone so I am grateful for everyone's contribution.
The Guardian piece is a hoot!
‘Fialka leans into that visionary aspect, describing his group as “more a performance art piece than a book club”, and also referring to it as “a living organism”, a “hootenanny”, and a “choir”.’
It sounds like this is just as much about the communal aspect as the book itself.
Haha yes that's true. I think that's often more important than the book. And especially if you've got to spent 28 years with it! Hope we can have a hootenanny next year!
I’ve been dying to listen to you and hear your voice all day... now I’m waiting for the school bus and have just finished and I just want to say thank you.!! For being brave and stepping out of your comfort zone but also for your massive support to ‘community’ - it is and will continue to be a joy to be here... 🍂
Ah that's so sweet! Encouraged me to do more. Thank you!
Simon, beautiful post as always. Really appreciate the shoutout. What a wonderful community is being built here. I am very excited about several projects for next year. The Wolf Crawl of course (I ordered my copies last night), my read-through of Steinbeck's works, and I am going to tackle Joyce for the first time but not Finnegan's Wake. I will be reading The Iliad and The Odyssey as precursors, then finishing off the year with a slow read of Ulysses.
The Iliad, the Odyssey and then Ulysses. What an epic journey you have ahead of you!
Hurrah! Simon, this is so lovely, and I’m super chuffed to be a part the community forming here. I haven’t read Finnegan’s Wake, but I have spent years with a book. I have Iain McGilchrist’s ‘The Matter with Things’ at my side, currently, and I expect to be reading that for the rest of my life. I don’t think there’s such a thing as too slow, personally. I adored reading about the club in Venice, and that closing sentence: “This November, they started back on page three. “There is no next book,” Fialka told me. “We’re only reading one book. Forever.”” !!
I kind of want to hang out with Fialka for a day and absorb his dry wit and wisdom. And yes here's to books for a lifetime and forever. Great to have you here, as always, Chloe.
Haha, I am glad I sent you that piece about this group. I KNEW it would resonate with you.
The longest I have spent with a book is definitely this years readalong. I think I have found it hard in the past not to feel like taking ages with a book is somehow a failure but your read-along has given me a whole different view on that.
I have not read Finnegan's Wake. My husband who has read some other Joyce work said he tried it and just couldn't get on with it. I don't think it is for me but hats off to those folks in that group who have dedicated themselves to get through it
Alison
Glad W&P changed your view on slow reading. I think Finnegans Wake isn't for most people, I'm not sure I'd be interested in reading it. I would like to read Dubliners though – which I've heard good things about.
I was definitely one of those people who thought I would never read W&P. Finding your readalong maybe think maybe I could and I am SO happy I gave it a try. I have loved it. Your chapter summaries have totally opened the text and the story up for me and I find myself almost a bit sad that soon I will leaving these characters behind after having journeyed along with them for a whole year.
That's so lovely to hear! And yes, you really get to know characters over a year. It will be strange when it ends!
I’m behind with my Substacking this week so please forgive the late thank you. You have been such a support since I started The Thread of Her Tale just a few weeks ago - and it is very much appreciated. A toast to Master Secretary!
No need to apologise. I'm always behind on everything! Not sure Master Secretary would approve.
Thanks for sharing a video and introduction, Simon, and huge congratulations on the milestones. Amazing achievements! One can but dream of reaching such heights 😊
Never read Finnegan's Wake, no. Sounds difficult. Can't believe they manage to keep that book club up.
Not sure what the longest time I've spent on a book is. Certainly something I didn't enjoy but persevered at. There's a few candidates. One that I gave up on was Gravity's Rainbow. I really wanted to like that book, but ultimately I fell off of it.
Thanks for introducing all the writers. Hopefully not all the stuff I write is weird ... 🤔
Ha, I did mean good weird. Weird is good, no?
I've never picked up Gravity's Rainbow because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't finish it either. Maybe I'm wrong, but your experience and others add weight to this suspicion.
If not weird, how would you describe your writing in three words. I don't want to misrepresent you!
😅 I'm only teasing, sorry.
I actually have no idea how I'd describe my writing, to be honest. Maybe Kate can come up with something if she sees this. It's totally fine as is. Maybe I'll run with that if I ever need to describe my writing 😉
Re: GR. It just feels so ... difficult. The writing is impressive but at the same time so dense and unparseable. I think you could spend a day on just a few pages, which perhaps isn't any different to Joyce!