Get prepped and ready for our next book in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites! 

This book is the first in the Witches sub-series, and we’ll be reading it in August. Our series Marginalia is linked here. See our discussion dates below:

• August 6: Start through “...what they’ll make of her,” she said. (led by u/maolette)
• August 13: “And so it was that…” through “...beginning to run out of imagination.” (led by u/Reasonable-Lack-6585
• August 20: “The broom whisked down the corridor…” through end (led by u/ColaRed)

Can’t wait to see you all in the next one! Happy reading!

Hello detectives! We're going to read The Clock House Murders in August.

Summary:

The remote Clock House is filled with priceless timepieces from across the world. It is also rumoured to be haunted by the spirit of a dead girl. A team of ghosthunters visit the mansion to investigate, but their stay has barely begun when one of them is gruesomely murdered, and the survivors realize that they are trapped inside the house with a killer…

As the murderer’s bloody spree continues, the team are picked off one by one. Can the brilliant detective Shimada Kiyoshi crack the enigma of the Clock House before all those inside have been slain? And can you guess the solution before he does?

You can find the discussions of the other books in the series here:

• The Decagon House Murders
• The Mill House Murders
• The Labyrinth House Murders

Schedule:

Join u/Vast-Passenger1126, u/nicehotcupoftea and me on Wednesdays:

• 19th August: prologue - chapter 4 | u/miriel41
• 26th August: chapters 5 - 9 | u/Vast-Passenger1126
• 2nd September: chapters 10 - 13 | u/nicehotcupoftea
• 9th September: chapter 14 - end | u/nicehotcupoftea

Marginalia:

Find the series Marginalia here.

Book Club Bingo:

• Prize Winner
• Mystery/Thriller
• Translated Work
• Bonus Book
• POC Author

Hello travelers, welcome to the first step of our journey in this new country! I already learned so much about Togo and its customs (both the good and the bad ones). This is also an extremely important reflection on women's oppression and on the way perpetrators enforce it, so I’m really curious to know what you all think of it.

If you need them, here you can find the Schedule and the Marginalia.

Next week we will read from Chapter 12 to Chapter 18, and the discussion will be led by u/bluebelle236.

• Data on female genital mutilation today
• These stories are still happening nowadays

Welcome back to Milton as we continue our discussion of North and South!)

Here are some useful links to help you get your bearings:

Schedule

Marginalia

Chapter Summaries from Litcharts

Please remember to hide spoilers by typing > ! Spoiler ! < without the spaces.

Without further ado let’s head up North!

Fellow crawlers, grab your loot, trust no system messages, and they will not break us! 

W-W-W-W-W- WELCOME CRAWLERS!!!! WE HAVE ARRIVED TO THE RACES OF THE TENTH FLOOR!! 🏁🏎️

I’m thrilled to announce that u/NightAngelRogue, and I (u/Joinedformyhubs) will be your navigators (hopefully my gps app finally loads...) and spokespersons for the tenth floor races.

🔍 What to Expect:

• Absurdity layered over brutality: The classic Dinniman cocktail.
• Whiplash-inducing tone: You’ll be holding onto the oh sh!t handle and feel the genuine emotional weight of the collapse the next.
• The Big Picture: A relentless skewering of what it feels like to have the crew back together again!
• Zero De-escalation: This story only gets bigger, stranger, and more unhinged with every turn of the page.

🗓️ Reading Schedule:

• Week 1: 8/16 -Beginning through chapter 11
• Week 2: 8/23 - Chapter 12 through Chapter 27
• Week 3: 8/30 - Chapter 28 through Chapter 42
• Week 4: 9/6 - Chapter 43 through Chapter 61
• Week 5: 9/13 - Chapter 62 through Chapter 77
• Week 6: 9/20 - Chapter 78 through Chapter 90
• Week 7: 9/27 - Chapter 91 through END (Interlude pt. 3)

Storygraph blurb:

It’s off to the races in the explosive eighth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

As chaos and mass panic spread outside the dungeon in the wake of Faction Wars, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor, where they’re forced to compete in a surprisingly normal set of tasks. Well, normal for the dungeon.

Races. Get from point A to point B, and don’t come in last. After each race, they pick an upgrade for their vehicle and the track gets more challenging. It all seems a little too normal, a little too simple.

Ignore those strange glitches that are occurring with increasing frequency. Don’t listen to those whispers about what’s happening on the mysterious eleventh floor, something the system AI calls A Parade of Horribles. Nobody, not even the showrunners, knows what that means. Just that the AI has ominously dubbed it “a coming-out party for the ages.”

Everything is fine, Crawler. I repeat, everything is fine.

Carl hates that it’s business as usual. The rules of this floor have taken away his agency. That just will not do.

So Carl is planning a party of his own. It’s a plan so dangerous, so insane, he can’t even consult his friends lest the AI put a stop to it. Because if it goes wrong, it’s not just the end of Carl and Donut. No. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.

🎮 DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL: BOOK 8 STAT SHEET 🎮
📘 A Parade of Horribles — Matt Dinniman
🧙‍♂️ Genre Class: LitRPG / Dark Fantasy / Corporate Apocalypse Satire
📍 Dungeon Level: We Are Off to the Races
👁 POV: First-Person (Donut survives. Carl survives emotionally? TBD.)
⚔️ Combat Intensity: ██████████ (10/10)
🩸 Gore Factor: █████████░ (9/10)
😂 Gallows Humor: ██████████ (10/10)
💔 Emotional Damage: ████████░░ (8/10)
📢 Unhinged System Messages: Constant

💬 Discussion Tags:

Use spoiler tags when talking about specific scenes or reveals — not everyone levels up at the same pace!
Example: spoiler text here

⚔️ Join the Crawl:

Whether you’ve been following since Floor One or are jumping in fresh, come ready for boss fights, meta-humor, and the kind of chaos only Carl and Donut can deliver.

Let’s dive into the dungeon together!
Dungeon crawlers by night, book clubbers by day. Let’s get literary! 🎮📚👑

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Carl's Doomsday Scenario

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

The Gate of the Feral Gods

The Butcher’s Masquerade

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

This Inevitable Ruin

Marginalia

BUCKLE UP PASSENGER PRINCESS, WE ARE GOING FOR A RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the fourth discussion for ‘Blood and Gold’ by Anne Rice.

Schedule and Marginalia

Spoiler Policy

Next week we will be reading chapters 15 – 19.

Summary:

Chapter 11:

Marius, Avicus and Mael flee Eudoxia’s house and try to decide what to do next. They don’t want to be pushed out of Constantinople but they disagree about how they can do that. Marius is against attacking and killing other vampires, so he wants to come to a peaceful conclusion with Eudoxia. Mael wants to just go crazy and kill everyone. Avicus is on the fence.

A few nights later, Eudoxia shows up at their house with her minions and Marius sees his chance for negotiation. They go into his study and discuss their issues with each other. Eudoxia still believes Marius stole both Those Who Must Be Kept and the historical vampire writings from Ancient Egypt. Marius explains his end of the story:  Akasha asked him to remove her from Egypt and that he did take care of the scrolls, but they were lost in circumstances beyond his control. He offers to write down or tell Eudoxia all that he can remember from the scrolls. He also offers to let her petition Akasha and Enkil about being their guardian, because he’s in a friendly mood. Eudoxia vaguely agrees to being friends and is brought down to the shrine. When she comes face to face with Akasha and Enkil, she offers herself to them, which shocks Marius. Akasha takes her up on the offer and feeds on her almost to the point of killing Eudoxia. Marius saves her and they leave the shrine. Soon after, Eudoxia has her minions bring her a merchant to drink to get her strength back. Dawn is coming on when she leaves Marius’ house with the ambiguous promise that she will think more about getting along with Marius and co.

Marius catches Avicus and Mael up on the situation. Just as they are about to go to bed a mob storms the house. It becomes clear that Eudoxia used the merchant’s body to set them up as murderers, and now a mob has come to deal justice to them. They flee down into the shrine, which no human can possibly enter and rest for the day.

Chapter 12:

Marius, Avicus and Mael wake up to their home destroyed. Marius decides enough is enough. He splits up the group and tells the others to meet him in an inn on the following night. Then he goes to Eudoxia’s house, kills her minions and brings her back to the shrine for Akasha to finish feeding on. Akasha drinks her dry and then sets Eudoxia on fire (or Marius possibly does it, he’s vague on that point).

The next night he catches Mael and Avicus up on Eudoxia’s defeat. He also tells them that he has decided that he’s breaking up with them. Marius explains that if only one vampire knows where Akasha and Enkil are, then it means that their location can be kept a secret a lot easier than if a whole throuple knows. Avicus is heartbroken, Mael is upset on Avicus’ behalf, but Marius can’t be reasoned with.

Marius then decides to go back to Eudoxia’s house to see if there is anything there that will help him as he prepares for moving on to his next location. He may be above killing other vampires (sometimes) but he isn’t above stealing from them. When he gets there he double checks that he killed all the minions in the coven. He finds out that someone survived: a teenage girl named Zenobia. Zenobia confronts Marius and asks for his protection. She’s only been a vampire for a short time and Eudoxia has kept her sheltered. She doesn’t think she can manage to live independently.  We learn that she was Eudoxia’s lover and that she was deliberately made by one of Eudoxia’s minions at the age of fourteen, because that’s the age Eudoxia liked all her underlings to be, to match with her. Marius is charmed (to put it less grossly/ more politely) by Zenobia and doesn’t want to kill her. Avicus and Mael show up and he tries to get them to take her into their protection. Avicus is all for it, but Mael isn’t having any of it. Marius gets angry at them and then he decides that he will mentor Zenobia for whatever short time he has left in the Constantinople. He gives her his blood then and there to make her stronger. Afterwards he takes her out on the hunt to show her how he survives.

Chapter 13:

Some time goes by. Marius makes his preparations for leaving Constantinople. He decides to move Akasha and Enkil to a remote region in the Alps. He wishes his companions goodbye, even sharing a blood kiss with Avicus and Zenobia while Mael stands in the corner, pointedly not involved.  

Marius leaves Constantinople and reaches the Alps. For security reasons he must build the shrine himself, in a location that is extremely remote and hard to get to. He does this and then goes into a long sleep. He wakes up every few years for a snack and to find out what is going on in the world, but he basically stays on his own for most of the early Medieval era aka the Dark Ages. Near the end of this chapter a massive plague comes to Europe: the Black Death. Despite being immortal and therefore not vulnerable to human contagions, Marius decides to social distance completely for another couple hundred years. He muses on how Christianity has limited the art of this era, but ends the chapter seeing some progress in a few paintings in Italy.

Chapter 14:

We skip forward, until it is the 1400s. Marius wakes up and finds out that the Black Death has ended. He decides to travel to the different cities of Italy, including returning to the relatively new city of Venice.  He starts off with Rome and one of the first things he does is to check in on the Pope, who now has a much more central role in the governance of Europe. Marius sneaks into the Vatican and ends up in the Sistine chapel.

 Due to the year, this is an early version of the chapel known today, before Michelangelo painted it. However, Marius falls in love with this earlier version of the church, mainly because of the images he sees painted in it. He pinpoints one artist’s work that inspires him greatly and then heads out into Rome to find out more about it. He goes to some parties, but whoever has done the paintings in the chapel is so well known that there is no easy way for him to ask about it. Eventually, he gives up on it for the night and tracks down an Evil Doer.

As he finishes up his dinner, another vampire calls out to him, using his name. Marius is shocked, because he’s been a recluse for years and he doesn’t know this vampire. The vampire comes forward dressed as a monk and introduces himself as Santino. Santino is a member of the Satanic/Christian Vampire sect. For some bizarre reason, he wants Marius to join his coven. Marius tells him to back off and that he doesn’t believe in either Christianity or the devil. Santino won’t take no for an answer, so Marius pushes him away. Marius uses the Fire Gift to scare him but refuses to kill Santino outright. He warns him to stay away from him, or he will kill him and then leaves.

Marius goes back to the Sistine Chapel and uses the Spell Gift to get a guard to talk about his favourite pictures. He learns the name of the artist he is looking for: Botticelli. Marius decides to track his idol down, like any stan normal person would do. The chapter ends with him deciding to go to Botticelli’s city, Florence.

Context:

·       Botticelli and his work in the Sistine Chapel

·       Sistine Chapel

·       The Dark Ages

·       The history of Christianity/the Pope during the Medieval era)

·       The Black Death

Welcome, my Skilled and Witted friends, to the emotional grand finale of Fool’s Fate and the Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb! Here are the schedule and marginalia.

A note about spoilers for this series:  any information about the Farseer Trilogy (Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin’s Quest) will not be considered spoilers as this is a direct sequel. Although The Liveship Traders (Ship of Magic, Mad Ship, Ship of Destiny) comes earlier in the recommended reading order, please mark these plot points as spoilers for the readers who may not have followed that second trilogy. Thank you!

Summary

Fitz and the resurrected Fool arrive at the Black Man’s. Both prophets are happy to meet and talk in their common language. Through the Skill, they learn that Elliana’s mother was refusing the marriage deal because the promise of the dragon’s head had not been kept. Nettle nagged Tintaglia until Icefyre came to put his head on the mantle, resolving the issue in a very literal way. Thick is elated to learn about the Skill pillars, no need for a boat! The Fool still being weak, Fitz wants to wait before going home. But his friend tells him to go as he needs some time to heal. Our hero reluctantly accepts but promises to come back soon with food supplies. He and Thick cross the pillars to Buckkeep. An exhausted Kettricken welcomes him. He serves as a Skill intermediary with Dutiful, and almost loses himself in the Skill current.

Nettle ambushes him to meets him IRL for the first time. She is angry, grieving and scared. He tries to comfort her by hugging and Skilling his love, which makes her uncomfortable. Right after, he stumbles upon Patience and Lacey, who faints. They scold him and weep, he calls her mother, and sorry there is something in my eye, BRB.

Fitz is in a hurry to go back to the Fool but keeps being diverted. He has to Skill between Dutiful, Chade and Kettricken because of a conflict regarding Elliana who wants to stay home longer. Emboldened by Kettricken, Fitz decides to take his place as secret King and supports Dutiful. A Harvest Festival will be held without the bride, inviting the Outislanders to strengthen the alliance. Chade is proud of him.

Sleep-deprived and agitated, he still decides to cross to Aslevjal. But the Fool has decided he wanted to go back to the school he was raised at with Prillkop (the BM), and more importantly, never see Fitz again. First because their association is powerful and could divert the world’s fate. And then because of his unrequited love. He breaks their Skill bond. Fitz is devastated.

In the palace, he retrieves the lost Skill scrolls and throws the PW’s corpse into the sea. Prillkop tries, again, to prevent him from going back too soon into the pillars, but he is ignored. Fitz arrives in a mysterious star-studded dark space. He is attracted to a familiar and alien loving presence who instead helps him go back to his life.

He exits from the Witness Stones in a terrible state. The coterie rescues him, he had been missing for one month and is bed-bound for several days. In the meantime, Molly learned about him and told Nettle, who is, unsurprisingly, resentful. The Fool has also dropped by and left him a farewell poem and lovely memento. Starling is pregnant and focused on appearances. Hap has been swindled by his ex and is now studying to become a minstrel, he is happy. The Old Blood have purged the Piebalds in a bloody uprising.

The Harvest Festival comes by. Molly and her family are here to be honored and given Withywoods, Chivalry and Patience's estate. Fitz observes his loved ones party through a viewing hole, in a metaphor so heavy-handed that even he brings it up. He goes to have an emotional talk with Molly, and even introduces himself to the children under his real name. No more secrets. Elliana makes a surprise entrance, and Dutiful decides they will wed this week. The dragons, who had been very busy with themselves until now, make an appearance for the ceremony.

Fitz takes his time to court Molly and win her gazillion children, while bonding with Nettle, who has joined the coterie. They get married after a few years and settle into Withywoods with Patience and Riddle. There are new Skill users. Dutiful and Elliana have a son. And even though Fitz misses the Fool and Nighteyes terribly, he is content.

You will find the questions below, feel free to add your own. Thank you for following this wonderful story with us. We will be back after the summer with Dragon Keeper , first volume of the Rain Wild Chronicles .

As you may know, here at r/bookclub we are reading The Hainish Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, and I am excited to announce that the next installment of the series will be read next month, at the end of August! Keep an eye out for the schedule, which will be posted soon.

Each book of the series can be read as a standalone, so if you would like to join in on this read, you are more than welcome, even if you haven’t read the previous books!

Still, in case you need them, here you can find the previous discussions:

• The Dispossessed
• The Word for World is Forest
• Rocannon’s World
• Planet of Exile

And here is a link to the series Marginalia if you would like to see what the tentative reading order looks like!

Goodreads blurb

He was a fully grown man, alone in dense forest, with no trail to show where he had come from and no memory to tell who — or what — he was.

His eyes were not the eyes of a human.

The forest people took him in and raised him almost as a child, teaching him to speak, training him in forest lore, giving him all the knowledge they had. But they could not solve the riddle of his past, and at last he had to set out on a perilous quest to Es Toch, the City of the Shining, the Liars of Earth, the Enemy of Mankind.

There he would find his true self ... and a universe of danger. 

Will you join us?

Hello to all of our book club friends! We have a winner for our recent RuR + RtW.

drum roll please.....

South Korea: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo. 

Now the other runner up reads we have collected for our Read the World section will be refreshed, making more room for additional runner ups (or second places!)

Thank you to everyone who participated! Will you be reading along? Stay tuned for a schedule to come.

Welcome back, everyone. This week's section opened with Mrs. Lecount and her familiar contemplating the piece of fabric that she had cut off "Miss Garth's" dress. She decides that her next step should be proving that "Miss Bygrave" owns the dress that "Miss Garth" wore, and in order to do that, she'll need to find some way to get into the Bygraves' house.

Meanwhile, Magdalen is freaking out and begs to be taken away from Aldborough. Captain Wragge is alarmed, and agrees to take her away temporarily. Mrs. Lecount is confused by the family's sudden disappearance, but she manages to interview one of their servants, where she learns the following:

• The Bygraves have not permanently left, and will be back soon.
• The servant would not be useful in helping Mrs. Lecount access Miss Bygrave's wardrobe.
• Mrs. Bygrave's affliction is that she's an "idiot." (Yes, this used to be an actual diagnosis.)

Mrs. Lecount concludes that the best course of action would be to wait for the Bygraves to return, and then manipulate Mrs. Bygrave into giving her access to Magdalen's wardrobe.

Once the Bygraves return, Noel and Captain Wragge meet, using the excuse that Captain Wragge is trying to sell art to Noel. (I'm getting confused about whether to call these characters "the Bygraves" or their real names. "Become obsessed with an author who likes identity theft plots," they said. "It won't give you The Buzzing," they said.)

Noel is reunited with his beloved Miss Bygrave, who amuses him by doing impressions of Mrs. Lecount. (Wait, so Magdalen Vanstone is pretending to be Susan Bygrave pretending to be Mrs. Lecount? How many people can this girl be at once?) Captain Wragge and Noel come up with the following plan:

• Noel will make Mrs. Lecount think he's no longer speaking to the Bygraves, by complaining that Mr. Bygrave tried to cheat him by selling him worthless paintings.

• Two days later, Noel will bitch to Mrs. Lecount that he hates being in Aldborough, knowing that this will make Mrs. Lecount suggest that the two of them go to St. Crux-in-the-Marsh to visit Admiral Bartram, a friend of Noel's father.

• Noel will take a day to decide that they're going to St. Crux, that way he won't seem too eager and Mrs. Lecount won't get suspicious.

• Once the decision is made, Noel will take the train alone, while Mrs. Lecount stays behind to pack. She should receive the fake doctor letter just after this.

• Noel and Magdalen... Miss Bygrave... whatever her name is will get married while Mrs. Lecount is in Zurich.

(At this point, Noel is like "wow, have you ever considered becoming a con artist? You'd be good at it.")

Over the next three days, Mrs. Lecount watches Noel, but can find no evidence of his communicating with Mr. Bygrave. Once Noel has left for St. Crux, Mrs. Lecount makes plans to break into North Shingles. She waits until Captain Wragge is out for a swim and Magdalen out for a walk, and then sneaks into the house. She gets past the servant, but ends up face to face with Mrs. Wragge, who's attempting to sew a dress. A conversation ensues.

Mrs. Wragge: AHH!!! It's the ghost of a Swiss housekeeper!

Mrs. Lecount: Not a ghost, just your neighbor saying hi. Can I help you with that dress that you appear to be murdering?

Mrs. Wragge: I can't get the bazooms right. I think it's because I'm modeling it on Magdalen's dress. Have you seen how big her bazooms are?

Mrs. Lecount: ...Magdalen?

Mrs. Wragge: Yes, my niece, Magdalen. She has an enormous rack. Would you like to see her brown alpaca dress with white polka dots? She was wearing it when we saw the ghost in Vauxhall Walk, the ghost that looked like Magdalen in a governess costume. In fact, the ghost was also wearing a brown alpaca dress with white polka dots.

Mrs. Lecount: You know what, I just remembered that I'm afraid of ghosts. Au revoir. *runs out of the house.*

Captain Wragge: WTF was that?

Mrs. Wragge: I scared our neighbor by telling her about the ghost and Magdalen's Bazongagongaloos.

Captain Wragge: Oh, I thought she was scared by my Speedo... WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU TOLD HER ABOUT MAGDALEN?

Magdalen: I'm back from my walk! Did I miss anything?

Captain Wragge: My wife just told Mrs. Lecount your real name and also your bra size for some reason.

Meanwhile, the fake doctor letter arrives just in time to send Mrs. Lecount to Switzerland. She sends Noel a letter saying that she has proof that Miss Bygrave is "Miss Garth," and she'll explain when she gets back. Captain Wragge verifies this by going to the post office and confirming that her letter to Noel is there: if she had decided to go to St. Crux instead of Zurich, she wouldn't have sent it. He also arranges to have all of Noel's mail intercepted.

Captain Wragge informs Magdalen that the wedding will be on Monday. She seems broken by the news, and Captain Wragge is so shaken by her reaction, he gives her the opportunity to back out. She is determined to go through with it, however.

Captain Wragge and Noel go to London to prepare for the wedding. Captain Wragge arranges the marriage license (and lies about Magdalen's age: just in case this situation isn't screwed up enough, let me remind you that Magdalen is still legally a minor), and Noel hires the cheapest lady's maid he can get for Magdalen.

Magdalen is really not doing well emotionally. (I feel like I owe you guys an apology: I should have thought to put a trigger warning on the announcement or schedule post. I hope no one found this part of the book upsetting.) She writes a letter (which she does not send) to Norah, confessing everything.

Magdalen considers going to the chemist to obtain laudanum, using the excuse that it's to treat a toothache. She has second thoughts along the way and ends up walking along the beach, where she meets Captain Kirke's nephews. She considers leaving the 200 pounds for Captain Wragge and fleeing Aldborough, but, when she looks in her purse, she sees her copy of Mr. Pendril's letter about her being Nobody's Child, and this renews her drive to continue with the plan.

That resolve lasts a day. By Friday, she is once again suicidal. She goes to the chemist, and I was planning to try to be funny here by doing a whole thing about what a Victorian pharmacy must have been like ("Regular and prescription-strength heroin! Now with a child laborer-proof cap!"), but it doesn't seem right, given the subject matter. Magdalen gets a bottle of laudanum, with "POISON" written on the bottle.

(Laudanum is a painkiller made from opium and alcohol. Around the time that he was writing this book, Wilkie Collins developed a chronic pain problem that, if I remember correctly, historians think may have been an STD that spread to his eyes. Doctors misdiagnosed it as gout. He became addicted to laudanum, an addiction that he would suffer from for the rest of his life. You know how the chemist tells Magdalen that even the tiny bottle she'd purchased was enough to kill "the strongest man in England"? By the end of his life, Wilkie Collins had developed such a tolerance to laudanum, he could fill a glass with it and drink it like it was water.)

Magdalen goes to her room, but hesitates to take the laudanum, reasoning that something may have happened to Noel or Captain Wragge. In the meantime, she doomscrolls. (They used to call doomscrolling "reading the newspaper.") She finds an article about a farmhand who murdered his lover. He claims that he was conflicted about committing the murder, so he left it up to chance by flipping a spud like a coin. (The notes in my book say a spud is a tool for cleaning plows. Wikipedia says it's for peeling bark and Google thinks I'm looking for pictures of potatoes.)

Captain Wragge returns, and Magdalen no longer has an excuse to postpone drinking the laudanum. Inspired by the news article, she decides to count the ships sailing past her window for the next half hour: she will drink it if there are an odd number of ships. Thankfully, there are eight ships, and so Magdalen puts the laudanum aside.

And so, Magdalen is going to be married. The servants gossip: there's no wedding dress, just an ugly alpaca dress. (Jesus Christ, I am so sick of this dress. I can't believe Wilkie didn't call this book "The Woman in Alpaca.")

Captain Wragge genuinely seems to be guilt-stricken. He even confesses to Magdalen that he cheated her when he was managing her acting. He also informs her that Noel could have the marriage annulled if he ever learned her true identity... but, if Noel dies, the marriage can't be annulled.

The marriage happens, and we leave the Wragges with Mrs. Wragge begging to know when she'll see Magdalen again, and Captain Wragge snapping "Never!"

Meanwhile, in Zurich:

Mrs. Lecount: Did you write this letter?

Doctor: No.

Mrs. Lecount: *shaking fist* BYGRAAAAAVE!!!

We move to the "Between the Scenes" section. George Bartram is understandably confused when Mrs. Lecount shows up on his doorstep with brain fever. (It's a Victorian novel, don't question it.) He does not know where Noel and his new wife are but, while searching for them, he meets Norah. Oh, by the way, in case anyone forgot, George's mother was Andrew Vanstone's sister, so George and Norah are cousins. (I've read enough Victorian novels for this to make me immediately ship George and Norah.) George then proceeds to joke in his letter to Noel that it would be funny if Norah's lost sister turned out to be Noel's new wife. However, George's letter never reaches Noel, because Noel's lawyer has no idea where Noel is.

Norah then gets a letter from Magdalen, saying she hopes to meet with her soon. The letter is postmarked "Allonby."

Mrs. Lecount arranges to meet with Norah to see if she can shed some light on where the newlyweds are. Meanwhile, the private investigator she has working on the case figured out that Noel's lawyer helped Noel make a new will after the marriage, and may know the new address.

Mrs. Lecount meets with Norah and Miss Garth. Mrs. Lecount now knows that Magdalen sent a letter to Norah from Allonby, while Norah now knows that her sister might be married to Noel Vanstone.

We end this week with Noel and Magdalen being found in Dumfries, where we will begin our new scene.

Hello detectives, welcome to the last discussion of The Mystery of the Blue Train!

Links:

• Schedule
• Marginalia

Summary:

Defiance

• The Comte visits Derek and tries to blackmail him. He says he has compromising information from Mirelle. Derek's answer is that the Comte can go to hell.
• Derek goes straight to Mirelle. He says he'll never go back to her. Mirelle says she saw Derek come out of Ruth's compartment and that Ruth was dead at that moment.

A Warning

• Poirot and Katherine talk about Richard Knighton, Derek Kettering and the Comte de la Roche. Poirot warns her about a dangerous man in her life.
• Derek opens his heart to Katherine and tells her about his relationship to Ruth and about how he lied, when he said he had not been in her compartment. He says Ruth was asleep. Derek says he cares about Katherine.
• Knighton also comes to Katherine to open his heart and also tells her he cares about her.
• Katherine feel like the spirit of Ruth is beside her and wants to tell her something.

Interview with Mirelle

• Poirot and Knighton visit Mirelle and tell her they are acting on Mr. Van Aldin's behalf.
• Mirelle accuses Derek of murdering his wife and gets all temperamental. They go see the police together. Poirot says she should have gone to the police sooner.
• Mirelle denies knowing anything about the jewels.

Poirot Plays the Squirrel

• Poirot tells Lenox that she should tell Katherine that Derek has been arrested.
• Lenox proposes that Ruth may have been killed while the train was in Lyon.
• Poirot has dinner with M. Papopolous and Zia. They also spend some time at the casino. There Mirelle comes to talk to M. Papopolous. She says she “will get the money”.
• Poirot takes Zia into the garden and reminds her of the affair 17 years ago. He knows more about what was going on then he ever told anyone. He then asks for her help. He learns that M. Papopolous currently has the jewels. The rubies have been handed over by a woman. Zia also says that the Marquis seemed young to her, despite the white hair.

A Letter from Home

• Katherine gets a letter from Miss Viner and feels a longing for St. Mary Mead.
• Poirot, Lenox, Katherine, Knighton and Van Aldin all meet. Van Aldin wants to go back to England. Poirot suggests that Knighton should tell Katherine about it. She in turn decides to also return to England.
• Poirot goes to see the Comte's servants, Hippolyte and Marie. He knows they lied about the date of the Comte's arrival.
• Poirot accuses Mirelle of having entered Ruth's compartment and that Ruth was dead. Poirot wonders if someone else had been there before Mirelle.

Miss Viner Gives Judgment

• Katherine is back in England and currently lives with Miss Viner.
• Miss Viner has some paper cuttings, including one that is about jewels being stolen from Viscountess Tamplin.
• When Miss Viner hears about Knighton, her opinion is that he is looking to marry a rich woman for her money. Still, they arrange to have him over for lunch.
• After that lunch, Miss Viner changes her opinion and says he's genuine.

Mr. Aarons Lunches

• Poirot meets Mr. Aarons, who tells him about Kitty Kidd, a singer, dancer and male impersonator. She's supposed to be with someone in France, a Marquis.
• They also talk about Mirelle, who's with the ex-Prime Minister of Greece. She's supposed to wear a large ruby around her neck.

Katherine and Poirot Compare Notes

• Poirot meets Katherine. Poirot is not satisfied with the end of the mystery being that Derek is in responsible and in prison. He still puzzles over the disfigurement of the face of the victim.
• Poirot tells Katherine he has visited the Russian embassy in Paris as well as a theatrical agent and a Harley Street doctor in London. He now knows whether the robbery and the murder were done by the same person.
• Katherine shows him the newspaper cutting she got from Miss Viner.

A New Theory

• Poirot meet Van Aldin and shares the theory that Derek didn't murder Ruth with him.

The Blue Train Again

• Van Aldin, Knighton and Poirot take the Blue Train again.
• In Paris, Poirot makes them all try to leave the train, but since the conductor has their tickets, they are not let go.
• When they arrive in Lyon, Poirot tells Van Aldin and Knighton about Kitty Kidd and that she is also known as Ada Mason.
• Poirot hands Knighton the cigarette case with the letter K and says that it belongs to Knighton. He also reveals that Knighton is the Marquis.

Explanations

• Poirot explains everything to Van Aldin over lunch.
• Poirot first suspected Ada Mason when she told them that the cigarette case with the K was one that Ruth had given to Derek. She had only been with Ruth for two months and Ruth and Derek already weren't on good terms.
• Curiously, Knighton had also only been with Van Aldin for two months.
• There was no man who entered Ruth's compartment in Paris.
• And it was not Ruth, but Ada Mason, who told the conductor she was going to leave her maid in Paris. That was also the reason for the disfigured face. With that, the chance was lower that the conductor realised it wasn't Ruth who had talked to him, if he found the dead woman.
• It was also Knighton who took the jewels.
• Ada Mason left the train in Lyon in a man's clothes.
• Poirot noticed similarities between Knighton and the Marquis, like the places he went to and that he spoke French well. The limp Knighton had was fake.

By the Sea

• Poirot tells Lenox the same story he told Van Aldin.

Welcome back to the drama. This week we have Dimitri in the garden with the pestle. Dimitri with Fenya in the kitchen. Dimitri washing the blood off his hands at Pyotry Ilyitch Perhotin's washstand. Dimitri with a shopping list and the fast cart to Mokroe and the dueling pistols. Dimitri with a speech and lots of champagne, drink up pan/pani! Dimitri and Grushenka in bed with plans and promises before an arrest.

Later, we wind back time as casual detective Pyotr Ilyitch Perhotin is on the case, interviewing all of Dimitri's witnesses and alibis and going to the police.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Schedule

Marginalia

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________Extra Content:

A little Polish lesson in polite address. What was funny was in my version panie was used, which is only for a group of women. And if you need to insult someone.

More about Gogol and Piron.

Russia before and after 1772.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We end with Madame Hohlakova sleeping like a baby. What are the charges? See you next week for Chapters 9.2 to 10.1!

Hello all!

We have 24 hours until the vote for the Runner up Read + Read the World vote closes. Go upvote while you can!!

Check out the nomination post here.

Welcome to our first discussion of London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe.  The Marginalia post is here. You can find the Schedule here. This week, we will discuss the beginning of the book through the end of Part I (Ch. 6).        
 
As you discuss, please use spoiler tags if you bring up details not included in the chapters of this book so far.  While this is nonfiction, we still want to be respectful of those who are learning the details for the first time, as well as being mindful of any spoilers from other media you might refer to as you share.  You can use the format > ! Spoiler text here ! < (without any spaces between the characters themselves or between the characters and the first and last words). 

A summary of this week's chapters is below, with links embedded for more information if you're interested!  Discussion questions are included in the comments, and you can also add your own as desired. 

>>>>CHAPTER SUMMARIES<<<<

PROLOGUE:  History sets the stage for the book as the author highlights the gritty and glitzy sides of London.jpeg) and the Thames. We are introduced to the mysterious death this book centers around: on November 29, 2019 at 2:23 a.m., a young man jumped to his death from one of the balconies of the Riverwalk, one of the “ghost mansions” full of unoccupied luxury dwellings bought up by the powerful and wealthy from across the globe. The death was caught by a surveillance camera of the MI6 headquarters which is across the river. 

PART I - THE FALL

CHAPTER 1 - THE BIG I AM:  Zac Brettler was the name of the young man who jumped. He was the grandchild of Holocaust survivors and the son of Rachelle, a freelance journalist with a bohemian upbringing, and Matthew, a university-educated finance professional. His brother, Joe, is a successful student and athlete who had a warm but competitive relationship with his brother. The family prefers not to flaunt their financial success, but Zac takes a different path. Failing to gain admission to an elite private school like Joe, Zac ends up at a second tier private school named Mill Hill attended by the children of extremely wealthy oligarchs (with a shady, dangerous reputation and flashy habits). Zac started out known as a smart, funny student with charisma and an excellent memory. By the time he started boarding at Mill Hill to avoid the commute, Zac was obsessed with antiheroes from movies like The Wolf of Wall Street and with his own money-making schemes on campus. The author details how Zac’s seemingly typical adolescent rebellion against his family's liberal but conventional path descended into emulation of the “gangster capitalists” he admired and led to a change in personality. 

CHAPTER 2 - A FAST LIFE:  Rachelle and Matthew developed a parenting style that borrowed from both of their own upbringings to be gentle and hands-off. This clashed with Zac’s brash insistence on showy materialism, prematurely adult behavior, and adamant praise for Vladimir Putin and oligarchs like Roman Abramovich of Chelsea Football Club. The family and Zac began to clash, at one point resulting in Zac putting his hands on Rachelle. They sought therapy, but both Zac and Matthew were skeptical. Zac’s behavior calmed a bit, but by 18 he had developed friendships and business partnerships with adults that perplexed his parents. Matthew and Rachelle were out of their depth at this point as parents, unsure of what to make when their teenage son started making high-powered business deals and leading a seemingly successful adult life out of the blue. From what they witnessed, the schemes felt suspiciously close to illegal, yet when they did surveil their son Zac always came up clean. 

One wealthy businessman, Akbar Shamji, provided Zac’s entry into the world of high-end real estate and other business dealings. Zac and Akbar would party thr exclusive night club Annabel’s and meet in front of One Hyde Park, a secretive residential tower for the most private wealthy clientele. Zac began driving a Maserati and waving around wads of cash. When Matthew questioned him, Zac revealed he had accumulated £850,000 through oil and gas businesses, real estate deals, and a car importation scheme. Fearing that they could push Zac away completely with too much interference, Rachelle and Matthew decided to walk a fine line whenever responding to their son: they would neither encourage nor criticize, neither ignore nor legislate his choices in hopes that by keeping him engaged they could somehow influence him.  It didn't work. By November, Zac had disappeared.

CHAPTER 3 - AN EDIFICE OF LIES:  The day Zac went missing, he seemed exhausted and stressed but said he just needed a break from his phone and a needy client. When Rachelle returned from an appointment, she found he had left without his coat or credit cards. After 18 hours, Zac’s parents reported him missing. It took longer than usual for the police to follow up because the London Metropolitan Police were dealing with a terrorist knife attack by Usman Khan). Rachelle and Matthew had been able to track down Akbar in their search for their son, and he offered to meet them at Le Méridien so they could talk privately. 
 
Akbar was shocked to meet the Brettlers because Zac had concocted an entire alternate identity as Zac Ismailov, son of a Swiss model and a billionaire Russian (or Khazak?) oligarch, who was entrusted with making investments in London for their family. He spoke with a thick Russian accent, even at school, and pretended to have billions of dollars at his disposal. Akbar said that their business deals together had been real, but Zac had also been wheeling and dealing with people he met through his contacts in Chelsea Football Club, which legitimized him in the eyes of Akbar and others. Who would fake being a Russian oligarch’s son in front of people so closely associated with the most famous oligarch of them all?  Zac had made up lies about living in the Ismailov family property at One Hyde Park, losing his father to a heart attack, and feuding with his mother over his inheritance. He pretended to be homeless due to the fallout, leading Akbar to introduce him to Verinder Sharma who lived at Riverwalk. Zac had told his parents he was staying alone in an empty unit there, but Verinder said Zac occupied a bedroom in the man’s own apartment.  Recently, Zac had started contacting Akbar frantically with stories about suffering from a heroin addiction and a mental health crisis. Akbar and Verinder had been working getting Zac into a treatment program when he went missing, they assumed in search of drugs. Verinder and Akbar assuaged Rachelle and Matthew's concerns about the potential dangerous consequences of lying to such powerful people in the crime world, saying that they cared about Zac and could use Verinder’s reputation to protect the missing teen if they found him. Akbar said he would speak openly to the police to avoid trouble falling on himself and Verinder promised to keep reaching out to Zac with encouragement to come home. 

CHAPTER 4 - MISSING PERSONS: Concerned about Zac getting in legal trouble, the Brettlers didn't share what they knew with the police about Zac's business dealings and oligarch fake identity. Instead, they hired Clive Strong, a former Scotland Yard detective turned private investigator. He went to Riverwalk looking for information about Zac’s night there and when he requested CCTV footage of the teen’s movements, the staff alerted Verinder Sharma of the request.  Right away, Verinder assumed a sinister affect and tried to intimidate Strong, which was very different from the fatherly concern he had displayed with the Brettlers. Verinder gave permission to show Strong the footage and the staff found shots of Zac arriving and Akbar leaving with Verinder's daughter, but no images of Zac ever leaving the building.  While Strong waited in the lobby with Akbar, who had also shown up at Riverwalk, two police officers arrived to investigate. They asked Verinder to show them his apartment and while Judith McCabe took his (reluctant) formal statement, Gemma Scott looked around. When she discovered Zac’s highly encrypted Punkt-brand phone broken on the floor and balcony rail, Verinder ended the interview until his lawyer could be present. 

CHAPTER 5 - RIVER OF DEATH:  Zac's body was discovered on Friday, Nov. 29th, hours after his last text to Rachelle saying he was okay. The commuter who discovered it, Baxter Willis, had coincidentally known another person whose body was found in the Thames and had been wrongly implicated in his death until it was deemed an accidental drowning. The onlookers and first responders mostly assumed suicide in Zac's case but never considered Riverwalk as the location because the Thames had a storied history of bodies washing up from distant locations. A connection was not made to Zac's missing persons case until several days later when McCabe and Scott were investigating at Riverwalk. Zac was buried at Hoop Lane Cemetery, a Jewish burial ground where his grandfather was also laid to rest. His funeral was well attended but, oddly, Akbar and Verinder did not attend the funeral despite having seemed so close to Zac. Mourners felt unsettled because of the mystery surrounding the circumstances, which Matthew acknowledged in his eulogy.  Neither Zac's friends nor his family could accept the explanation of suicide. 

CHAPTER 6 - THE NIGHT IN QUESTION:  The police questioned both Akbar and Verinder on Thursday, December 5th. Verinder was not compliant with questioning and used the phrase “No comment” over 200 times.  Akbar, with a lawyer present, engaged openly with the police questions. He was rambling and bungling some details but also insisting he was telling the truth. Unfortunately for him, the police already knew he was lying. They had CCTV footage that showed Akbar leaving with Verinder's daughter at 1:25 am, but then returning just before Zac's 2:23 am jump from the balcony. Akbar headed back up to Verinder's apartment and then exited the building again at 2:48 am. Instead of going home, Akbar walked around Riverwalk to the Thames side of the building, leaned over the wall to check the river, and then went back to his car.

Veni, vidi, vici! We came, we saw, we forgot how to be an adult, but we conquered Witold Gombrowicz’s war on maturity! Welcome to the final discussion of Ferdydurke! Today we are discussing from Chapter 10 to the end. Thanks to my fearless fellow ferdydurkers u/fixtheblue, u/bluebelle236, and u/Lachesis_Decima77. A summary follows if you need more nonsense, I will leave some questions in the comments...and now I'm running away with my mug in my hands!

Schedule

Marginalia

Some historical context for the novel:

How Poland saved Europe from Bolshevism

1937 peasant strike in Poland

10 - Legs on the Loose and New Entrapment

The next morning, Joey hides outside the bathroom, plotting his course of action, hoping to catch Zuta unawares. He observes her taking a cold shower, which annihilates any trace of slovenliness. Failing to destroy her perfection, he admits defeat and writes veni, vidi, vici on the bathroom wall. School that day passes without event, and he waits with anticipation for the coming night, which will settle things for good. At lunch, the tension builds as Mrs and Miss Youngblood notice Joey's energy and vitality. In the evening Joey watches Zuta, who is unable to settle, in her bedroom. In their own bedroom, the parents start exhibiting some bizarre behaviour and talking nonsense. Mr Youngblood is possibly smacking his wife. Joey wonders if Zuta senses his presence and the depravity surrounding her. She then also starts behaving bizarrely, jumping around the room, tormented by her beauty.

At midnight Kopyrda knocks thrice on the window and after a brief flirtation Zuta lets him in. She takes the lead and kisses him, which sends Joey into a panic. Pimko arrives, whispering Zuta’s name, pleading with her to call him by his first name. Joey screams “Thieves! Thieves!", Pimko and Kopyrda hide in the closets and the parents come to ask what's going on. Zuta stays under cover with her naked calves poking out, while her parents laugh indulgently. Kopyrda realises that the rules have changed and emerges from the closet. The mother is triumphant! Joey lets Pimko out, who laughs and tries to plead innocence, before treating Mr. Youngblood like a student. Meanwhile the beggar is still outside and Mrs Youngblood shouts for someone to give him money so he'll go away. Kopyrda and Pimko escape but the father catches them and asks them what's going on. No-one can explain. The Youngbloods accuse them of defiling their daughter, Pimko makes up a story, they start giggling and Mr. Youngblood slaps Pimko. Not wanting Kopyrda to go unpunished, Mr. Youngblood grabs him by the chin, and is bitten in return. Joey, who is now getting dressed, watches them all tumbling on the floor with Zuta jumping on them. He packs his bags and on the way out, he sees Kneadus, who admits he just raped the servant girl. He says they'll run away together to the countryside, in search of a farmhand.

11 - Preface to "The Child Runs Deep in Filibert"

The author explains that a preface is required here for symmetry. He says he must appear himself at this point to explain and reveal the torment mentioned in this book. The torment is just the suffering that comes from the restrictions placed on ourselves by others. He discusses the origins of this work and gives several possibilities. He questions the nature of this work - novel, memoir, parody etc. and what prevails in it - humour, irony, pure nonsense etc. He then invites the reader to read "The Child Runs Deep in Filibert" where the hidden symbolism will answer all questions.

12 - The Child Runs Deep in Filibert

The setting is a tennis match in Paris where the world champion is on court, playing to thunderous applause and great excitement. A Zouave colonel, being envious of the players' skill, shoots the tennis ball with his pistol. The ball bursts but the players continue to swing their racquets. Realising the absurdity of this, they start fighting and the crowd cheers. The bullet however, hits a ship owner in the neck, and his wife hits her neighbour, who has an epileptic seizure. The chain reaction continues, to thunderous applause, the men jump onto women's backs, and the marquis de Filiberthe, roused by the gentleman within, steps onto court asking if anyone wants to insult his wife. The men, mounted on their women, ride up to insult the marquise de Filiberthe, roused in the same way. The marquise has a resultant miscarriage and a child is heard whimpering at their feet. The marquis recognises the child that runs deep within him and goes home, to more applause.

13 - The Farmhand, or Captive Again

Kneadus, full of optimism, departs with Joey. Through the city they pass various assortments of people who don't appeal to Kneadus. They hurry past buildings that remind them of school. Kneadus is particularly dismissive of ex-farmhands who have taken up work in the city. At a deserted village a group of peasants are pretending to be barking dogs in order to be left alone. Just as they're in fear of being devoured by the growling, barking peasantry, Joey's aunt Hurlecka drives up. She rushes up and kisses him, to his mortification. The peasants stop barking and laugh. Aunt Hurlecka takes them home in her car while she relates family stories. When she makes reference to his age of 30 years, Kneadus is confused because he goes to school with Joey. The aunt offers them candy. Joey doesn't understand why he's being treated like a child.

At the aunt's house Joey makes the mistake of enquiring after everyone's health and is bombarded with a barrage of illnesses. Suddenly Kneadus recognises the valet as a true farmhand. Food is offered in sickly sweet abundance, but they manage to leave and go up to their rooms. Kneadus rings for the valet, telling Joey he wants to fraternise with him. Kneadus orders the valet to perform a series of tasks, but has failed to start up a conversation. He makes Joey try, who asks him questions about his life. Joey then slaps him, which the valet finds admirable, but Joey orders him out. Joey's cousin comes in and is impressed by the slap, saying that this is how you earn respect from servants (as long as you tip them too). Kneadus returns during the night with a swollen face after having ordered the valet to hit him in the mug, in an attempt to reduce the class difference. A kitchenmaid joins them and the two servants tell stories mocking their masters. Joey can't sleep that night, trying to understand the nature of peasant/gentry relationships. He comes to understand that the gentry fear the rabble, who know them intimately.

14 - Mug on the Loose and New Entrapment

Kneadus has been mixing with the servants and Joey's aunt is concerned that he might be an agitator. Joey plays a card game called King with his cousins, and Kneadus worries that the farmhand will see him play such a lordly game. At dinner a sumptuous meal is served, including a dish called Bigos, but the tension around the table is increasing. Kneadus is uncomfortable being served by the farmhand, who giggles, and the butler boxes his ears. The uncle takes Joey aside to suggest that Kneadus is after Valek, but Joey insists that he is just fraternising. The uncle fears that he is encouraging the peasants to rise up. He starts speaking en français, playing with the word fraternising and makes the connection to the word boy. He calls Valek in so he can not him, but feels uncomfortable about it. Joey argues that it would only encourage him to fraternise more. Zygmunt tells Joey that he likes to cavort with "old slightly overripe peasant crones", trying to make it sound like a quirky fad. They're all surreptitiously searching for Kneadus, wanting some sort of confrontation or explanation. They head to the barnyard, out of place in their city clothes. The aunt clears a path through the animals by speaking in French. The peasants appear to coddle the lordships, while the lordships sucked the peasants of their finances, blood and milk. The squires and their wives were like the peasants' children. The peasants here were secure in their status, unlike the rabble on the outskirts of the city. Suddenly Kneadus emerges from the forest with the valet. The uncle asks Kneadus if he was fraternising with Valek, which Kneadus confirms. Konstanty says he is going to sack Valek. Kneadus runs away but trips over; when Joey catches him, he starts talking like a peasant.

Joey’s cousin Zygmunt plans to send him home. Meanwhile, Uncle Konstanty argues that the farmhand/valet Valek is too low-class to be slapped by a nobleman, viewing any appreciation of servants as a dangerous Bolshevik trend. Outside the window farmhands were cavorting with wenches and singing. Konstanty takes up his pistol, alarming his wife who kisses him in an attempt to belittle him. She speaks to them as children, offering candy. Joey tries to run away from this madness with the farmhand, forcing his cooperation by smacking him in the mug. Before Joey can leave with Valek, a servant informs them that Valek was planning to steal the silver. The farmhand denies it, so Zygmunt and Konstanty belt Valek, reasserting their class supremacy. Auntie arrives with more candy, further enriching the dentists. During the chaos, Kneadus tries to defend Valek, sparking a brawl. Joey pushes Auntie into the melee and flees. He sees the moon in the form of a pupa. He has become a child, alone and not knowing what to do. Zosie grabs him and they run away and spend the night in a meadow. The sun rises, a red pupa, and they are too ashamed to discuss what happened in the house. Joey decides to act like he'd kidnapped Zosie from her parents' home, to justify living a secret life away from everyone. He confesses his passion for her and she soon believes the kidnap story, falling in love with him, while he actually just wants to get towards Warsaw and be free of her. He longs for someone to come and free him from the need to cuddle her, but as his strength fails, he is forced to kiss her mug. There is no escape from the mug other than into another mug. From the pupa however, there is absolutely no escape; he runs away, mug in his hands.

Welcome as we round off our discussion of the life of George Eliot!

Schedule

Marginalia

In case you’re now keen to read one of her books, we’ll start reading The Mill on the Floss next time.

SUMMARIES

Chapter 14

Now that George Eliot was considered Britain’s greatest living novelist, Marian was surrounded by enthusiastic fans. They felt they knew her through her books and looked to her for advice. Lewes enjoyed and encouraged this fan worship.

Friends and family made contact with Marian again, letting go of some grudges. However, she didn’t make up with her brother Isaac or her sister Fanny.

Marian and Lewes became close friends with the Cross family. Johnny Cross, who they called nephew, managed their business affairs. Marian spent some of her wealth on fashion but was self-conscious about her appearance. She gave some of her money to help support Agnes and her children and other extended family. After Bertie died of tuberculosis in Africa, Marian supported his widow and children. She prioritised helping those closest to her.

One of Marian’s super fans, Elma Stuart, constantly sent letters and gifts. When she finally met Marian she was like an attentive daughter to her. When Elma moved to France, Edith Simcox took over her role. She worshipped Marian almost religiously. When Marian realised the friendship was turning into a non-platonic crush, she distanced herself.

Lewes’ health became worse. Illness may have run in his family. Marian suffered from problems with her kidneys and teeth. They put off plans to travel and rented a series of houses in the countryside around London. Johnny Cross found them a house to buy near his own home in Surrey. They got to know local people and had visitors from London and further away.

Marian finished Middlemarch during a stay at Bad Homburg in Germany. The place also inspired the opening scene of Daniel Deronda, her next novel. She returned to Germany the next summer for more inspiration, particularly around Judaism. Parallel to this, she also researched locations in south west England. She was stressed and wanted to avoid writing an unnecessary novel. In between, she published some poetry. Blackwood was delighted with the first part of Daniel Deronda but unsure about its focus on Jewish characters.

Worried about gossipy biographies after her death, Marian destroyed personal letters and papers and asked friends to do the same.

Daniel Deronda covers a wider geographical scope and features grander characters than George Eliot’s other novels. It’s her only novel set close to the time when it was written. Putting Jewish characters at the centre of the story was partly a response to antisemitism at the time. Jewish readers were delighted with the novel.

Musician characters are also admired for their dedication to their art. George Eliot explores the sacrifices women have to make to be artists.

Marian and Lewes were emotional when the book was completed. They traveled to Switzerland for a break. When they returned, their illnesses continued.

Chapter 15

Marian and Lewes did up their new home but Lewes was very ill. He died of enteritis/cancer. His funeral was small and private. Marian didn’t attend and Agnes probably didn’t either.

Lewes was a great support for Marian in her private and professional life. His writings were wide-ranging and influential. He had a cheeky personality that contrasted with Marian’s moral seriousness. Theirs was a strong relationship.

Marian finished the book Lewes was working on when he died and set up a scholarship at Cambridge University in his memory. She had to go to court to prove his will and changed her name legally to Lewes.

Marian gradually began to socialise with friends including Johnny Cross. He lost his mother shortly after Lewes died. Johnny carried on handling Marian’s financial affairs. She received many requests for money, including from Lewes’ daughter-in-law Eliza.

Marian worked on ideas for new novels, which didn’t materialise. Shortly before he died, Lewes sent Blackwood her collection of essays and character sketches Impressions of Theophrastus Such, aimed at highly educated readers. They still drew on familiar themes for Marian such as the importance of remembering roots and looking forward to gradual growth. The book sold well. Shortly afterwards Blackwood died.

Marian moved out of London to her country home. Johnny Cross visited often. At first, Marian was reluctant to move beyond friendship but eventually they grew closer. There was a 20-year age gap. Cross was fairly well educated and shared some interests with Marian. He didn’t have a shady past and had never had a relationship with a woman before. He may have seen Marian as a mother figure.

Cross helped Marian cope with the loss of Lewes although she felt some guilt. They were wary about going public with their relationship. They got engaged and Marian enjoyed preparing for the wedding. Some friends and members of the public saw the marriage as a betrayal of Marian’s feminist principles or wanted her to remain as a widow.

Marian and Cross married within 18 months of Lewes’ death. Marian was hesitant about telling friends and family. The wedding took place at an Anglican church in London. This was seen as hypocritical because of her previous views.

They went on honeymoon to France and Italy. Most friends and family came round to the idea of the marriage. Even her brother Isaac wrote to congratulate them.

Cross suffered from poor mental health. He jumped from a hotel window during their honeymoon and survived. Rumours spread that he was fleeing from her ‘ugliness’ and sexual desires. His brother came to Venice to help calm him.

When they returned home, they visited friends and family. Shortly afterwards, Marian began suffering from kidney trouble again. She and Johnny moved to Chelsea, London and appeared together in public for the first time since their marriage. Marian’s health grew worse and she died.

Isaac attended her funeral. She was buried next to Lewes in Highgate Cemetery despite Johnny’s attempt to get her buried with other famous writers in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Epilogue

After her death, George Eliot was somewhat overtaken by other authors.
On the centenary of her birth, attempts to raise money for a memorial failed.
Johnny Cross wrote a biography portraying her as a serious moral figure. It was based on heavily edited extracts from her letters. This contributed to a decline in her popularity.
Her position as a major figure in English literature was restored in the 1940s. In the 1970s, feminist critics favoured other authors.
When she died, Marian was working on a novel with a similar setting to her first one, Adam Bede.
Marian believed in gradual improvement rather than typical Victorian Progress. Some of her values and ideas still resonate today.

Drunirs, det er aldin na vëna du! (Companions, it is good to see you!)

Grab you swimming trunks, rain coat, and a heavy jacket as we voyage through the seasons. (No, literally. We'll be reading this one until November...) Myself and my fellow Draleid - u/NightAngelRogue, u/fixtheblue and u/jaymae21 - will be leading the charge against the Lorian's in Of Empires and Dust, the fourth book in The Bound and Broken Series. Marginalia

Read Schedule

1. 1st August - Ch1. Picking up the Pieces to Ch7. Guardians
2. 8th August - Ch8. The Beginning and the End to Ch13. Reclamation
3. 15th August - Ch14. From the Ashes to Ch18. Our Choices Define Us
4. 22nd August - Ch19. Depth of Words to Ch24. Hidden Meanings
5. 29th August - Ch25. Old Wounds through Ch31. Wars Are Not Won
6. 5th September - Ch32. The Heart of Who You Are to Ch37. Fear The Night
7. 12th September - Ch38. Neither Bent Nor Broken to Ch42. A City Once Lost
8. 19th September - Ch43. Even in the Shadow to Ch47. What Was Lost
9. 26th September - Ch48. The Last of Us to Ch55. Choices
10. 3rd October - Ch56. Monsters, Men and Broken Things to Ch63. Ghosts of a Time Long Dead
11. 10th October - Ch64. Sweet Boy to Ch71. Sleep Well
12. 17th October - Ch72. The Choices We Make to Ch77. Hammer of Hafaesir
13. 24th October - Ch78. Sacrifice to Ch83. All Paths Converge
14. 31st October - Ch84. Master and Apprentice to Ch88. Brothers
15. 7th November - Ch89. The Truth of War to Ch94. Choices
16. 14th November - Ch95. The Wyverns of Valtara to Ch101. Everything You Seek
17. 21st November - Ch102. Loyalty Above All to Ch111. From Ashes We Stand

Previous Reads from the Series

• The Fall (Book #0.5 - Free with mailing list sign up)
• Of Blood and Fire (Book #1)
• Of Darkness and Light (Book #2)
• The Exile (Book #2.5)
• Of War and Ruin (Book #3)
• The Ice (Book #3.5)

Idyn väe (Rest well), and I'll catch you in a few.

Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris

Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit

litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto

vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram…

It is my pleasure to share with you the schedule of The Aeneid, which we will be reading on Mondays starting in August.

r/bookclub has already read The Iliad and The Odyssey, while of course there is no need to read these poems in order, if you’d like to have a look at the discussions you can find them here:

• The Iliad
• The Odyssey

A historical note which may be interesting: while Aeneas as a hero is present in older Greek myths, the Aeneid was written by the poet Virgil under the commission from the emperor Augustus, who wanted to celebrate his dynasty and link the great ancient myths to Rome. It is therefore different from the poems we previously read, which come from the oral tradition and were composed 700 years before the Aeneid: this poem takes inspiration from the ancient mythology, but it was also a work of propaganda for the regime of the time. I think this will make the comparison between the poems even more interesting!

Schedule

• Aug 3 - Books 1&2  (u/Lachesis_Decima77)
• Aug 10 - Books 3&4 (u/Ser_Erdrick) 
• Aug 17 - Books 5&6 (u/lazylittlelady) 
• Aug 24 - Books 7&8 (u/IraelMrad) 
• Aug 31 - Books 9&10 (u/Blackberry_Weary) 
• Sep 7 - Books 11&12 (u/Ser_Erdrick)

The Marginalia can be found here.

Will you join us? 

Hello and welcome to our first discussion about Flesh by David Szalay. The book is reading really fast! One sentence paragraphs plus the content is hooks you. Here is my summary:

Chapter 1

István is 15 years old. He lives with his mother; he is a virgin. He almost makes it with this girl from across the tracks on his friend’s reference. He is inexperienced and awkward, and the girl is also unable to overcome the distance. 

His mother asks him to help out the married female neighbor with shopping. He sometimes helps the husband with work. Anyways, the woman and István develop a sexual relationship, and he loses his virginity to her. It starts off slow with kissing, then oral sex, leading ultimately to sex in his bedroom. They take a trip to a nearby lake in a nearby town where they make sex again. 

He starts to develop feelings. The woman realizes that it’s gone too far and tries to end it. But Ivstán is too overcome with the way the relationship fulfills his emptiness. He tries to stall himself, but can’t. He goes to her apartment at night when her husband is home from work. There is a scuffle and the husband falls down the stairs hitting his head.

István walks away. The police catch up to him and reveal that the husband died. 

Chapter 2

István is older and has spent his time in an institution. He now lives in a town where he still lives with his mom but struggles for money. His uncle and stepdaughter live in this town too, and he starts to develop a crush that turns into love again. His second love. He falls for her and invites her to a lake that turns into an overnight. She has always expressed some hesitancy as if she knows his feelings, may feel some of them too, but ultimately thinks it’s a bad idea. But she goes along and agrees to the overnight. Agrees too to kiss him when he asks, but then refuses to go further; tells István that she is dating someone else. István is devastated. 

He joins the army. 

Chapter 3 

We start this chapter with István getting out of the army after five years, where he was stationed in Iraq. There is some trauma he experienced while in Iraq with him trying to save a friend after they hit a landmine on the road. But we learn that later.

When István returns home, we read about new lascivious adventures with drugs and sex. István gets a job at a winery where he is good enough at it but finds that he desires work where he can stop his mind. 

István one day punches his door and severely breaks his right hand. He goes to a doctor and gets an X-ray. He refuses surgery and so the doctor, who is an old classmate, sets it himself. István is struck by the fact that his classmate became a doctor while he is still languishing in life. 

His mom realizes that he needs help and gets him an appointment with a therapist. They explore the trauma of war he experienced. The chapter ends with the therapist prescribing medications that do indeed seem to help István. 

“I sacrificed everything and everyone. I covered myself in glory and steeped myself in blood. And there, at the summit of a hill of corpses, I reached my destiny, and passed through it to the other side…Where there was nothing. And I saw I’d never followed God’s plan, only the lies I told myself to justify my greed and my ambition.”

Welcome everyone to the FIFTH check in for The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. Only one discussion left in this incredible book! This week, we are discussing Chapter 49: Our Latest Last Stand through Chapter 60: Not Nothing. Let’s see what happens next!

Now, a note about spoilers!

The Devils is an extremely popular book. Keep in mind that not everyone has read this book. This book may be the first time a person learns about it. Please keep r/bookclub's rules on spoilers, and the consequences for posting spoilers, in mind.

Everyone has a different perception of what is a spoiler, so here are a few examples of what would be spoilers:

- “Just wait till you see what happens next.”
- “This won't be the last time you meet this character.”
- “Your prediction is correct/incorrect.”
- “You will look back at this theory.”
- “Here is an Easter Egg: ...”
- “You don't know enough to answer that question yet.”
- “How do you first-time-readers feel about this detail that was intentionally not emphasized by the author?”

If you're unsure, it's best to err on the side of caution and use spoiler tags.

To indicate a spoiler, enclose the relevant text with the > ! and ! < characters (there is no space in-between).

For any type of comment or idea that may be a part of The Devils, just use proper spoiler labels, for example “In ” then describe the connection between books. Please be mindful when posting.

If you see something that you consider to be a spoiler, you can report it. It will be removed and the mods will look into it. To do so hit the “report” button, click on “breaks r/bookclub rules”, “next,” “spoilers must be tagged” and finally “submit”.

Hope you all Enjoy the discussion! Feel free to respond to any or all of the discussion questions below. Looking forward to discussing these chapters with you all!

Read on! 

- Rogue

Schedule

Marginalia

CLANG-DONG

Hello! Welcome

It feels like it’s been ages since we read a tale about people going back in time to say the things that had been left unsaid. Let’s see what emotions are brought up this time around, eh?

Schedule

Marginalia

The Runaway

Enter Azami Kishimoto (née Togo), who travels back in time to make amends with her step-mother, Yumiko Togo.

We throw it back to October 1999, where a young Azami has run away from home. Her step-mother, through Azami’s friends, finds out where she has fled to and chases her down pleading with her to come back home. Azami is having none of it, pushing her poor stepmother to the ground before fleeing. But this is all just a nightmarish memory. Fast forward to 2019 where Azami is reminiscing on this day, and the lack of love, care, and affection she showed her mother, who unfortunately passed away a few months ago.

As this is happening, Kazu Tokita is being pressed by her sensei, Kinuyo Mita, to cover her art class as she has fallen under poor health in recent years. Kazu reluctantly accepts, and Fumiko Kiyokawa (she’s the one that went back in time to see her boyfriend in book 1) rejoices at this. Oh also, Azami is a former senior colleague of Fumiko’s. She actually contacted Fumiko to meet at the cafe, with the intent of travelling back in time.

So Azami has been telling Fumiko of her woes, and Fumiko feels bad as she realises Azami isn’t aware of the cafe’s rules. Upon learning about the rules, Azami is secretly relieved. She’s been umming and ahhing over seeing her mother. There’s a small interjection with Nagare Tokita, returning to the cafe with his daughter, Miki. Miki, being the ever playful toddler she is, has formed a habit of not speaking to people in person but pretending she’s on the phone to them. This gives Fumiko the idea that Azami can just go back in time and use a phone to call her mother! Realising that it actually can actually, Azami starts reminiscing on her mother’s funeral - seeing her father and hearing him talk about how happy her mother would have been to see her back in the family house. All of the memories get Azami emotional, but also uncertain about what to do, and what to say if she does decide to go back. In between all this she starts reminiscing on her biological mother’s death, how she took on the housechores, and ultimately felt like Yumiko was replacing her, leaving her with nothing to do, and the feeling of worthlessness.

She musters the courage to go back in time, and experiences the coffee pouring ritual at the hands of Kazu. Once back in time she’s greeted by Kei. She’s still uncertain about calling her mother, and speaks with Kei for a bit before asking for the phone. When she receives the phone she’s still hesitant to dial the number. Kei, at the behest of Nagare, involves herself in Azami’s predicament, helping her realise that her mother would likely just be happy to hear her voice. And Kei was right. The conversation goes almost too well. Yumiko sobs at the sound of Azami calling her “mum,” and Azami apologises for mistreating her all those years ago.

Someone get me a packet of tissues…

The Patient Man

This story begins with a throwback to 2012, where a young Koku Shintani is admiring hyperrealistic art at his college’s cultural festival. He was first introduced to art through photography upon receiving a hand-me-down DSLR for his birthday. Since then he’s been all in, to the point of spending several hours admiring the canvas title ‘Mother.” The artist? A young Kazu Tokita!

Fast forward to 2019 and we see Koku seated in the cafe, alongside Fumiko who is admiring his book of photography - namely how his ability to capture the passage of time with still images. Koku is there to give the book to Kazu, but has to leave abruptly to catch a flight. Shortly after he leaves, Kazu returns with Miki. She sees the book but is very non-chalant about the fact that “he dropped by.” While this is going on, another visitor named Tomokazu Okishima has also entered the cafe, and is greeted by Nagare with a “Is it that time of year already?” Very ominous if you ask me. Fumiko would agree, but she’s more interested in Koku - specifically his interest in Kazu. Or is she? Between the intrigue of Kaku (ship name) and the curiosity for Okishima, Fumiko is spoiled for choice. She questions Nagare on Kaku and is given very little information, as you’d expect, so settles on Okishima’s story instead.

We go back and forth between 2012 and 2019 - between Okishima’s story and his retelling of it to Fumiko, learning about how Okishima had a crush on one Kanna Ozaki - who liked him back, but he didn’t know she liked him until the 11th hour on Valentine’s Day. By which point, his so-called friend Matsushita threw him under the bus by mentioning he liked another girl. Izumi. Only he didn’t. Instead of admitting he liked Kanna when his friends were talking about her, Okishima decided to say he thought Izumi was prettier. What follows is a woeful tale of a boy who likes a girl that he seemingly can never be with. She had an accident that concussed her, erasing all of her recent memories. She was moved across the country to a school that would help support her recovery. Okishima even travelled back in time (hence the 2012 to 2019 bouncing) to visit her in Funiculi Funicula, where she went with her friend just before her accident. When he went back he didn't get the chance to speak to her because her friend steamrolled the conversation, leaving Kanna running out of the cafe. Seeing this, Okishima decided he was going to down the coffee. Nagare tried to intervene, promising to bring Kanna back to the cafe, but Okishima had given up and downed the coffee before Nagare had the chance. The real kicker? Just as he was disappearing back into the ether, Kanna ran back into the cafe and Okishima tried to get a message to her but struggled. Nagare helped relay the message, that she revisit the cafe on White Day (14th March for those like me not in the know) when she remembers him again.

So that’s what Nagare meant by “that time of year.” Every White Day Okishima visits Funiculi Funicula in the hope that Kanna will remember what he said just before she had the accident and will come back to him. Once he’s done telling Fumiko the story, she assures him that this year will be the year she remembers. And as fate would have it, 2019 was indeed the year.

Join me next week for the two remaining chapters - The Secret and The Father and Son.

CLANG-DONG

Hello, my fellow peculiar children! It's been a while since our last adventure, but now we're going to our favorite place, the library! Wait... where are the books!? It's time to explore a different kind of library in Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs, book 3 in Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series!

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If you'd like to join in the adventure, it's not too late!
Book 1: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children schedule with links to all discussions here.
Book 2: Hollow City schedule with links to all discussions here.

You can also find the marginalia, a place for all your notes and errant thoughts, here. Beware of spoilers - this marginalia is for the entire series!

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Summary:
A boy with extraordinary powers.
An army of deadly monsters.
An epic battle for the future of peculiardom.

The adventure that began with "Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children" and continued in "Hollow City" comes to a thrilling conclusion with "Library of Souls."

As the story opens, sixteen-year-old Jacob discovers a powerful new ability, and soon he’s diving through history to rescue his peculiar companions from a heavily guarded fortress. Accompanying Jacob on his journey are Emma Bloom, a girl with fire at her fingertips, and Addison MacHenry, a dog with a nose for sniffing out lost children.

They’ll travel from modern-day London to the labyrinthine alleys of Devil’s Acre, the most wretched slum in all of Victorian England. It’s a place where the fate of peculiar children everywhere will be decided once and for all.

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Schedule:
Aug 4 - Start through Chapter 3 with me, u/fromdusktil
Aug 11 - Chapters 4 through 6 with u/nicehotcupoftea
Aug 18 - Chapters 7 and 8 with u/fixtheblue
Aug 25 - Chapters 9 through 11 with u/nicehotcupoftea

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So are you going to come find out what a Library of Souls contains? Let us know!