Quotes

Here are some of my favorites – what were yours?

On the northern margin of the Alaska Range, just before the hulking ramparts of Mt. McKinley and its satellites… a series of lesser ridges, known as the Outer Range, sprawls across the flats like a rumpled blanket on an unmade bed.

“To the desert go prophets and hermits; through deserts go pilgrims and exiles. Here the leaders of the great religions have sought the therapeutic and spiritual values of retreat, not to escape but to find reality.” Paul Shepherd, Man in the Landscape – from the longer quote at the beginning of ch.4 (I like the rest of the quote, too – but this stood out.)

 

Book #4 Nominations

Book #3 is Death by Suburb – see this post for the details. Let’s decide book #4 sooner rather than later…

Here’s the current Nomination List:

• From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War by Robert Gates (Ben – 11/12/07, 4:16 pm) – 1 votes(s) (Ben)
  
• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (Justin – 11/12/07, 5:42 pm) – 4 vote(s) (Justin, Lee, Tato, Ben)
  
• Dracula by Bram Stoker (Tato – 11/13/07, 8:38 am) – 5 vote(s) (Tato, Justin, Bonnie x 2, Ben)
  
• Your nomination!

Please consult the bylaws (tab at the top of the page) if you have any questions about nominating or voting… And remember – you can vote for up to 3 books!

 

Running from Strong Relationships

This isn’t a spoiler, you could probably guess this, but in the movie the seen with Mr. Franz is really heartbreaking: the one where he offers to adopt him. I think that this epitomizes Alexander Supertramp McCandless’ character. The book and film are both filled with his inability to make and form strong relationships… which pushes his itchy feet to run.

For one of my spiritual formation classes I had to take a family background questionnaire… and if you have done any thing like this before you understand a little bit about how your family of origin can affect who you are and in a spiritual way how you view God the Father. I talk about this frequently, but will repeat it here. Even though both of my parents were home when I was growing up I still feel a little aloof in my connection with them. There is a lot behind this feeling (being played against one another, fear of their impending divorce – which never happened, etc.) I discovered in the background questionnaire that one of the things that I am prone to having problems with is trusting others and developing stronger ties with individuals. The background study however reveal that in individuals like myself once we form bonds/trust it is very strong. As I look back on my life I see time and time again the proclivity to shy away from opening up with individuals and trusting parental/authority figures… including God the Father. As my heart opened up to truth I was able to establish trust and love, but it was hard because of how I viewed myself and how I viewed parental type figures.

 

Understanding Chris McCandless

Throughout Into the Wild, Krakauer goes back often to the fact that a lot of people think McCandless was crazy, or had a death wish–basically, they don’t understand him at all. While for many reasons I would not do what McCandless did, I do feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the urge that drove him “into the wild.” I share his desire to appreciate unadulterated nature and to sometimes do things the hard way for the sake of the experience. My guess from the enthusiasm the NOBC membership has shown for this book, that most of you feel the same way. Am I right?

Now, to offer a counterpoint to my own statement, could it be that I/we understand McCandless more because of the careful way Krakauer has painted him?

 

Religion and ethics

There’s little to go on, but it was clear from the book that McCandless did have some sense of the spiritual.  Do you think he actually followed Thoreau into Transcendentalism?

How about his moral code?  He seemed almost Pharisaical at times.  Was that merely youth speaking?

 

Motivation

Ok, here’s a question for you on Into the Wild: was McCandless more motivated by wanting to experience the untrammeled life of a vagabond, culminating in life in the “uncharted” Alaskan wild, or by wanting to get away from what he perceived to be–and what may have been, to some extent–a confining and restrictive relationship with his parents (in particular, his father)?

 

The NOBC – doing our part to fight the national trend

This is from the Executive Summary from the 2007 report by National Endowment for the Arts titled To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence:

In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts published Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. This detailed study showed that Americans in almost every demographic group were reading fiction, poetry, and drama—and books in general—at significantly lower rates than 10 or 20 years earlier. The declines were steepest among young adults.

More recent findings attest to the diminished role of voluntary reading in American life. These new statistics come from a variety of reliable sources, including large, nationally representative studies conducted by other federal agencies. Brought together here for the first time, the data prompt three unsettling conclusions:
• Americans are spending less time reading.
• Reading comprehension skills are eroding.
• These declines have serious civic, social, cultural, and economic implications.

 

Books I’m Reading

We’ll see where this goes – maybe a general nomination for the NOBC might result, or an interesting side discussion or two.  At a minimum, we’ll have an opportunity to see what else we are reading besides the current NOBC selection.  Feel free to also post your list of recently-read titles.

I know that several of us already post stuff like this on our personal blogs.  If you want to point to your blog for your book discussions, that works too.

 

Book #3 nominations close at 11:59pm, 11/26/07…

Please see this post for the current nominations and the voting to date.

As this is our first try at a 1-month reading cycle, the Into the Wild discussion will start on December 1st, and I’d like to have the next book decided by then – so please vote!  Note that voting will be open until December 1st.  Also, the next read will be a 2-month cycle, given the length of the current front-runners — unless there’s another uprising…

Also, look forward to Bonnie Kate joining in future discussions!

 

Metadiscussion: bylaw changes

Please check the bylaws for updates (reading periods may vary; nomination list stuff).

Important note: the discussion period for Into the Wild starts December 1st!