Cecil Vortex

The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 5, Book Thread

by

In last week’s comments, so-called “Bill” made the excellent suggestion that we use this week to give folks a chance to catch up, rest, recuperate. Consider this “The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch Picnic in a Trench by the Side of the Road.” Enjoy the break and use this thread for bookly comments. I’ll post a chat thread just above.
This also represents a catch-up moment mug-wise — ifn you’re missing one week in your prize qualifications, post this week and get back in the game….
See you next Tuesday at page 278 (p),
-CV

The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 4, Book thread

by

Welcome to Week 4. We’re holding pretty steady with something close to 20 people still on the march. Not bad at all… Most of us, me included, are a little bit behind. My current strategy is to catch up by skipping every other word on pages 250-300. We’ll see how that goes.
The comments flew fairly fast and furious last week — 34 of ’em, if you add all three threads together. Thanks for your patience with my monkeying around, thread-wise. In the end, the split thread approach seemed to work pretty well. Let’s try it for one more week and see how that shakes out. It’s all one big experiment, doncha know.
For now, this is the spot to have at it re pages 160-230 (p/v) or so.
Next week: See you at page 278 (penguin/viking) aka 323 (bantam). -CV

What the people did last night

by

They went driving in the rain.
They watched it fall down
on jelly-eyed twenty-eight-years-olds in gold paisley coats,
side-burned thirty-seven-year-olds in suspect camping gear,
fit fifty-year-olds wearing thick, graying furs plucked from cardboard boxes.
Early on, almost at the very first beat,
the rhythm section took their jackets off.
Red shirt, tan shirt. Suspenders. Brown towels in easy reach.
About an hour later, the piano player followed suit,
folded his coat up neatly, leaned over,
laid it to rest during the drum solo.
And now here they are — the whole gang.
They’re lighting flat matches in dry marble corners.
Thigh-high boots over too-bare skin.
Balds heads, stylized facial hair.
Then a busload of high school band kids
hauled up from San Diego
pours out all over the sidewalk.
Clarinet players. Trumpets players. Sax.
And the aged. And the infirm.
Oxygen tanks.
Wooden legs.
All rolled in to hear
some jazz sincere
on a wide stage.

GRDM, Week 3 — Chat thread

by

Hi,
Here’s an experiment — I enjoy the banter, but I don’t want it to keep us from actually talking about the book. If we had threaded comments, we could prolly do both together, but in this one-big-stew approach, I’m not sure. So howzabout we use this entry as the bantery and chat thread… And then I’ll post another entry in a sec right above this one that folks can use for more book-related posts. We’ll see over the course o’ the week if this approach works.
(In the spirit of eternal warmth and generosity, chat and book comments both count toward mugness….)

Building a flock

by

They’re building a flock of geese
out by the base.
For six months now
they’ve been working on it,
piece by piece
sun, wind, rain.
First came the bones.
Then the organs, the muscles.
Fat and flesh.
Last week they put on
a soft undercoat of feathers.
Then beaks.
(Honk.)
And I was like:
“wow, these really are starting to look
like geese.”

The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 3

by

Well, we started this venture with an astounding 35 or so folks out the gate. And inevitably, people are beginning to tumble off the trail. (Well, we wouldn’t call it a deathmarch if it was easy….)
At this rate, by my calculations, -5 people will finish the journey. But what’s math, right? A poor predictor of the human soul.
March on you valiant page turners, though thy arms ache to pluck mysteries from thy sagging bookshelf, though thy very retina begin to shake and swell, march on!
Around 20-25 people appear to be head down, still making progress, some commenting on these threads, and others reading along offline but opting to forsake much coveted Grand Poobah status. I respect that. And I will toast them when the march is done, with fine champagne in a sturdy mug.
For now, you’ve found the spot to comment on pages 113-167 plus or minus.
Next week: Let’s meet up at page 226 (263 in Bantam), a section that ends with the phrase “…with a war on….” (Sorry for the spoiler…)
See you there, -CV