Scales and Tales

My flist is a joy to read, full of people kayaking, hiking the Oregon Coast trail, sewing, and otherwise keeping busy and accomplishing things (not always in fun ways; my condolences on your multiple rounds of removing paint from paws and removing painted pawprints from surfaces, cimorene!) Meanwhile, I feel as though I'm not doing anything.

I'm halfway through my annual reread of Digger as part of the 'Pictures' challenge on readingtogether; Digger has just uncovered Murai's backstory and gone to reunite with Ed. Pick something with pictures in it and join us!

Every time I reread Digger, I also re-realise that I still don't have a Digger icon! So I went and poked around in my hard drive for possible icon bases, but couldn't make anything satisfactory so I shelved it yet again. Someday!

In recent days I have made banana bread, organised some collectible objects, vacuumed the downstairs and cleaned the stove, discovered that one of the Great Blue Lobelia plants in the yard is blooming, picked cherry tomatoes from my two plants, and brushed a cat who really needed it. The list of things I should do and haven't done is, as always, much longer! Can we add an extra day to the week, please? :D

Aaaaaaaaaand we have finally come to the end of things! This is the discussion post for chapter 14-16, our final section.

I hope everyone has had fun -- I've definitely loved the entire experience, and thank you all very much for being such amazing co-readers! :D Congratulations on making it all the way through.


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Thoughts on the last section: has it gone in directions you expected at the beginning? Has your view of Bren, the atevi, or anyone else changed dramatically? Do you have a favourite part, or a least-favourite section? Things you still want to know? Secret yearnings to ride mecheita-back over the mountains (or to never set foot near such a beast)? :D

This is the discussion post for chapter 9-13.

I am now heartily wishing that I'd looked at chapter content as well as at page-counts, when setting up the reading schedule! (I thought even then it might bite me, and it has!) This reading was composed of a hundred pounds of action, a hundred pounds of disconnected info-bites, a thousand pounds of questions, and half a gram of explanations! My brain was churning faster than Babsidi's legs, but reached even fewer coherent thoughts than Bren manages.


On the other hand: yay, mecheiti icon becomes more appropriate than ever! :D

Putting this up a bit late today; sorry to keep anyone waiting!

How have chapters 7 and 8 been treating you? Any new observations, theories, sore points, fabulous quotations?

I hope you enjoyed chapters 5 & 6, in which even more excitement finds Bren...

Discuss away! Has your view on anything changed? Do you have new suspicions or insights? Things you're hoping will happen, or hoping won't come to pass?

I hope you all enjoyed chapters 3 and 4!

Let the discussing commence!

Welcome to chapters 1 & 2!

Commence discussion, now that we've met our Actual Protagonist(s?) for this trip!

1. Impressions of Bren so far? (If you can make such quick judgments on only two chapters?)

2. Thoughts about or observations on what we've suddenly been introduced to regarding the aiji's court and (now technologically further advanced) atevi society? Unlike Ian, Bren's right in the middle of it; what stands out to him, what stands out to you, and how much overlap is there? :D


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Regarding spoilers: how far along is everyone? I've read either all, or all but one, book; someone mentioned they were only as far as the third book; and I think one of us has never read any Cherryh before...? So far I've been trying to avoid spoilers for absolutely everything beyond our current reading point, so the "Spoiler Edition" post will follow this one.

Welcome to the first sixty-one pages, everybody! :D Anyone have anything to discuss?

Some ideas, since this is a reread for me (I will try to walk the delicate line between "discussion topics" and "spoilers") and thus certain details stand out to me:

1. This is the only time in the whole novel where we get an ateva's POV; before and after Manadgi, it's through-human-eyes all the way. Thoughts? (Why do it that way? What do we gain, or what is hidden, by Cherryh presenting the first contact through a nonhuman perspective? What do you get out of it, or wish had been included?)

2. While "Books" within books are certainly something I've seen before, the setup in Foreigner has always felt a little odd to me, with two very short "books" -- almost prologues -- prefacing a third, novel-length story. I'm genuinely curious about why it was set up this way! Anyone have any theories?

3. Personal reactions so far? First impressions of the atevi, or the humans of either/both Phoenix and the station?


I'll be back in a little while to post my own reactions; must run a couple of errands first, but I wanted to get the post out there in case anyone else has finished their reading!


Edit To Add: If you wish to take the discussion down a spoilery path, make any spoilery replies here and then link to them, so anyone wishing to avoid spoilers can do so!

A last post on this till -- hopefully -- Thursday, just to confirm everything.

As it stands now, we'll be reading short sections twice a week, and discussion posts will go up on Thursdays and Mondays.

( Reading Schedule )

Well, what an indecisive lot we are. :D Reading plans 1 and 2 were tied with two votes for each, and discussion-posting was tied with two votes for once-per and two votes for twice-per. *giggling*

I didn't vote, which I guess makes me the tiebreaker...

Based on my own preferences, it seems to make more sense to either do Plan 1 with a once a week discussion post (as the smaller sections mean less to discuss), or Plan 2 with a twice a week discussion post.

* Clarification: As I pictured it, if we were to have two discussion posts per week, we would also be reading two sections a week; otherwise, discussion could get too time-lagged and would be harder to keep cohesive.