As we approach the beginning of the group read, more people have decided to follow along. In the past week, these fine folks have given us a mention or two:
If you are following along on your blog, be sure to leave a comment (and a link).
Introducing the Trackers
One way this group read will be different from other previous group reads is that we will have several readers assigned to tracking different strands or threads throughout the novel. We will post on these strands or topics every week. In some cases that will mean adding to a running tally, and in some cases it will mean posting a new batch of summaries. We have six volunteer trackers following five strands. Part of the idea here is to make more of an analytic study of the novel. The weekly commentary will also delve deeper into the themes and ideas interspersed throughout the book.
The trackers are:
Daryl L.L. Houston – Dream Tracker (short summaries of every dream sequence in the book)
DARYL L.L. HOUSTON of Infinite Zombies signed on to blog Infinite Jest for the original installment of Infinite Summer and had so much fun doing it that he decided to stick around and blog Dracula as well. Now he’s here yet again to write from time to time about 2666. He has worked as a pig farmer, roller coaster driver, and copy editor and now pulls levers and knobs as a computer programmer in Knoxville, Tenn
Brooks Williams – Character Tracker (an annotated list of all the character names in the book)
BROOKS WILLIAMS lives in rural Illinois. He blogs at 4everoverhead.blogspot.com and is @brooks on twitter. He wishes he could bathe in the smell of old books.
Meaghan Doyle – Vocabulary Tracker (a list of difficult words and their definitions)
MEAGHAN DOYLE is a lawyer, librarian, and lover of books, TV and movies—but not necessarily in that order. In her spare time, she helps maintain the blog Infomavens’ Desktop, a fun and insightful (hopefully) blog about books, media, information and anything else they find interesting.
Michael Cooler & Nicole Perrin – Death Trackers (an annotated, numbered list of every death in the book)
MICHAEL COOLER was born in 1983 and grew up in Lakeview, a remote town in Eastern Oregon, land of sagebrush and cattle. Now living in Springfield, Oregon, he enjoys reading, hiking, brewing beer, and cooking pizza.
NICOLE PERRIN is an editor, reader, and print junkie who blogs about
books at www.bibliographing.com.
Sara Corona Goldstein – Location Tracker (a list of all place names in the book)
SARA CORONA GOLDSTEIN is a graduate of Pomona College, where she studied English and Spanish and spent time in Santiago, Chile. She works as a college admissions officer.
Don’t forget: the group read launches next Monday (January 25), but you can read up to page 51 before then. The schedule is here.
A Clarification
I’ve had several people ask if they should begin reading 2666 now so they can discuss the first 50 pages starting January 25 or if they should wait until January 25 to begin reading the first 50 pages.
I say start reading now.
Our kickoff post on January 25 will give an overview of the first 50 pages and discussion throughout that week will focus on the first 50 pages (remember, no spoilers). At some point during that week, you’ll also need to do the next week’s reading. I know this seems a little clunky at the start of things, but once we get into the groove of it all, it will make a lot more sense.
New Design
I’m switching wordpress templates.
I thought the other one was a bit old and boring.
I’m really excited about this 2666 Group Read and can’t wait to announce all of the things we have planned. Get ready!
Call for Volunteers
I am looking for four volunteer readers to track specific strands or themes throughout 2666. For example, I am looking for someone to keep a log of all the deaths in the book. The only requirements are that you commit to reading the whole book and keep a weekly log. Email me at matt@bolanobolano.com if you are interested.
UPDATE: I think we have enough volunteers now. Thanks, everyone!
More Groups and Links
Another thing I forgot to mention is that you are all stuck with paper:
eBookNewser points out that there is no ebook version of 2666 yet.
For this Group Read I have also created discussion groups at Shelfari and Goodreads. Feel free to join and discuss there, too.
GoodReads Group
Shelfari Group
There is also a mention of adding discussion at the forums of Something Awful. (All shapes and size, Vincent.)
A few other places that are following along:
Facebook Group
If you’re on Facebook and want to take advantage of some of the discussion features there, I’ve created a Facebook Group for this group read:
Feel free to join and follow along there, too.
2666 Hours & more links
The publication of the German edition of Infinite Jest (Unendlicher Spass, translated by Ulrich Blumenbach) coincided with the end of Infinite Summer. Looking to replicate the success of that project, the German publishers, Kiepenheuer & Witsch (aka KiWi), launched their own read-along site: http://www.unendlicherspass.de/
Well, word comes yesterday that there is also a German equivalent of the Infinite Summer/Las Obras-esque read-along site & project for 2666: http://zwei666.de/ They even have their own twitter account (2666de) and hashtag. Perhaps the coolest part of their project was the challenge to read the whole thing in 2666 hours (111 days), which I’m just now realizing is about the same amount of time we’ve allotted on our schedule. They have reached the end of 2666, however and moved on to The Savage Detectives and Bolaño’s other works: http://www.wilde-leser.de/ All this to say: over the next few weeks we are going to feature some posts on this site from Marvin Kleinemeier and our German counterparts.
In other news…
The Infomaven’s Desktop is geared up for the 2666 challenge. Darby over at The Grue is contemplating jumping into the fray. Come on! Just do it! You know you want to! (No pressure, though…) And he links to Stephen King’s Top 10 Novels of 2009 which of course includes 2666 (even though it was published in 2008; whatever):
This surreal novel can’t be described; it has to be experienced in all its crazed glory. Suffice it to say it concerns what may be the most horrifying real-life mass-murder spree of all time: as many as 400 women killed in the vicinity of Juarez, Mexico. Given this as a backdrop, the late Bolano paints a mural of a poverty-stricken society that appears to be eating itself alive. And who cares? Nobody, it seems.
Again, if you’re planning on posting about 2666 on your own blog during the group read, please leave a link the comments!
Some Starter Links
The start of the group read received a nice write-up over at the LA Times Jacket Copy blog.
Daryl Houston and the crew over at Infinite Zombies are gearing up to tackle 2666 as well. If you haven’t bookmarked or RSS’d their blog yet, now is the time. If you have a blog and plan to follow along as well, post the link in the comments and I’ll add you to the roll.
After reading The Savage Detectives in 2007, Garth Risk Hallberg wrote this article for The Millions: Why Bolano Matters. It was written before the publication of 2666 (so no spoilers), but the points he makes apply to the deeper themes of Bolano’s work.
One thing I forgot to mention in the previous post is there is probably a sixth section of 2666 out there. A shorter version of The Savage Detectives was also found among his papers so it’s not entirely clear if this sixth section of 2666 is just an early and discarded draft (likely of the Amalfitano section) or an uncompleted piece of the book. One of the posthumous novels mentioned in that Guardian article, titled The Third Reich, is set to be published in Spain (by Anagrama) this month.
Comments
I got some reports yesterday that people were unable to post comments on this blog. I’ve turned off the requirement to register to post comments now.
If you are still having problems, email me at matt@bolanobolano.com
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