xx-temp-files

Welcome to Week 8, my very own week-of-DM-shame, as the days have slipped past and now I’m suddenly a week behind. I blame the Cannonball Run references from a few weeks back, which inspired me to go on a 750-mile trek throwing my DM schedule into mad array! But don’t wait for me. March on! March on! I’ll aim to catch up with ya before the next bend.
Next Wednesday: Let’s Gumball Rally our way to the end of Part III, Book Nine, Chapter 2, “after a long but, I believe, necessary explanation.”
(which is to say: please use this Week 4 thread for comments on pages 0-456; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o’ day Tuesday)

Welcome to Week 7! From a sort of outrageous 70 or 80 marchers, we’re now down closer to a still impressive as hell ~30. Another fun and thoughtful batch of comments this past week. I was particularly gratefully to Cookie for catching this (as So-Called-Bill pointed out) impossibly timely line:
“We are assured that the world is becoming more and more united, is being formed into brotherly communion, by the shortening of distances, by the transmitting of thoughts through the air. Alas, do not believe in such a union of people.”
I’m not sure how I missed that one, though I have this theory that whenever there’s duels and murders and stinking corpses, I’m fully engaged, and then when things switch to religious philosophy and/or 20-page prose interpretations of poems about religious philosophy, I black out.
Fortunately, we’ve been ending of late on these lovely pivot points in the action that leave me looking forward to the trail just ahead. Here’s hoping that string continues!
Next Wednesday: Let’s zip on by the midpoint and catch up with Mitya at at the end of Part III, Book Eight, Chapter 4, where he appears to be running “like a madman.”
(which is to say: please use this Week 4 thread for comments on pages 0-395; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o’ day Tuesday)

Welcome to Week 6, and let me just say: yikes. I’m talking to you, pages 246-264 in the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation. There are brains made to absorb an endless prose description of a religious poem about faith and free will (and aftermath chit-chat) like the one we experienced this past week. Some of those brains are among us, as evidenced by this week’s excellent comments section. But I’ll confess, I have that other kind of brain. To me it all sounded like the same three sentences over and over and over again. And I say: here’s to all the ‘marchers! Because I’m sure I would have been left by the wayside had it not be for the lure of the trail and the shame of constructing magnets for others whilst having no BKDM magnet to call my own.
Fortunately, Smerdyakov was waiting on the far side of this maddening section. Good old broth-making, scurrilous, creepy, super-dooper compelling Smerdyakov. Fyodor’s beard-behavioral analysis lay just beyond that. And the Brothers Karamazov Cannonball Run was on again….
Next Wednesday: Let’s meet up at the end of Part III, Book Seven, Chapter 2, “because it’s very opportune for us.”
(which is to say: please use this Week 4 thread for comments on pages 0-343; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o’ day Tuesday)

Happy Week 5! I’m about 8 pages behind, but trucking along. Did I fall asleep today in a public place with the book on my lap? And did they almost take an embarrassing picture of me, but then I woke up just in time? Counsel has advised me to neither confirm nor deny.
This one has been feeling to me a little more like a “Cannonball Run” or a “Gumball Rally” than a “Deathmarch” for some reason. Not that it’s easy or even zany. Just something about the rhythm — the book is racing along. And then I get stopped by the cops and Sammy Davis Junior has to dress up like a monk. Something like that. It’s not a bad thing though — “The Brothers Karamazov Gumball Rally” has a pleasant ring to it.
I’ve been especially enjoying the conversations characters keep having with themselves while other people watch, letting their thoughts tumble out like grapefruits from a busted shopping bag: “I don’t want an ice cream cone. Oh, you can see I want an ice cream cone, can’t you? It’s written on my face! Yes! I do want an ice cream cone! But I won’t have one. Unless you give me one. Will you give me an ice cream cone? I’m such a lowly creature! And yet, an ice cream would be fantastic right about now!” he said.
I’m guessing this may in part be because people interrupted each other a lot less back in 19th century Russia. Also, they were mostly insane.
This coming week let’s go for a slightly more slenderized serving, to give those marchers-just-a-wee-bit-behind a chance to catch up, so we can march toward page 300 with a mighty trailwind at our backs.
Next Wednesday: I’ll see ya at the optimistic juncture at the end of Book V, where “never had his heart bathed in sweeter hopes…”
(which is to say: please use this Week 4 thread for comments on pages 0-282; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o’ day Tuesday)

Welcome to Week 4! I’m racing along, slightly behind the crowd, 8 pages shy of the mark my own self. Having a good time by and large, tho I agree with “SBL” that the soap opera component is much more engaging so far than the theological back and forth. Although Smerdyakov’s theological games were a kick. Speaking of which, thanks to Colin for finding the Smerdyakov-related picture tucked in here, referenced at the end of Chapter 6, Book III.
Based on the comments in last week’s thread (and on the introduction), I may be the rare exception who likes Aloysha. In contrast to all the mayhem, I’ve found his Richie C.-like innocence charming and a little bit of a relief. I’m also charmed and pleasantly stupefied by the size of the group — great to see so many folks sticking with it. And now that we’re heading toward page 200, no point turning back, right? I mean, math aside, it’s almost farther back now than it is just to push forward, right? Trailward ho!
-Cecil
Next Wednesday: Let’s meet up at the end of Part II, Book Five, Chapter 3, where somebody’s smiling, “just like a meek little boy.”
(which is to say: please use this Week 4 thread for comments on pages 0-236; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o’ day Tuesday)

Welcome to Week 3! Things swung wildly last week from entertaining and amusing to, as noted in the thread, oft-horrifying/horrible. Whether you were looking for philosophical treatises, high drama, passion, children of unknown origin, or three different forms of confession, it was all there. As I mentioned in the W2 thread, several characters and motivations have turned out to not be what I’d glimpsed on first glance (is Fyodor a clown or a monster, or a monster-clown?), all of which has left me engaged and pleasantly unsure who or what to root for.
In the thread, a few people were reading on the road, most seemed close-to-caught-up, and at least one birthday was celebrated. Church v. state was debated, as well as whether this modern world was made for such as the K’s. Many felt (and I agree) that there was something Dickensian about the flow and feel of things, particularly when Dmitri started racing us through his confessional anecdotes.
Elsethread, Sanbu offered up adam’s apple-themed verse. Off-thread, I briefly considered swapping out magnets for “I Survived the Brothers Karamazov”-themed gudgeons (though a little research revealed that magnets are much more cost-effective and easier to ship).
All in all, a rewarding and thought-provoking seven days. Thanks for joining the trek. The thread has been a real treat and a great companion along the way. And now: trailward ho!
-Cecil
Next Wednesday: Let’s lurch forward to Part II, Book Four, Chapter 3, “far ahead, without slowing down, without turning around…”
(which is to say: please use this Week 3 thread for comments on pages 0-180; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o’ day Tuesday)