Category: Archived DMs

“so much depends
upon
a Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch Chat Thread
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.”

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

“You best start believing in chat threads for Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarches, Miss Turner; you’re in one.”

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

Hi,
Per the previous entry, this is the spot to post re the latest chunk of Gravity’s Rainbow. For chat, please scroll down to the next entry below.
Note: And for completists, don’t forget to take a stroll through the first batch of comments this week, over in the original Week 3 thread.
Thankee, -Cecil

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….)

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

Welcome to the end of week 2! This is the place to comment on (roughly) pp 50-113 (p/v). That said, as last week rolled on, a lot of people dropped comments past the mark, to keep up with what they were reading that day. I thought that went great. So in the course of this week, feel free to comment on page 120, 130… Just use a little restraint on spoilers for later sections.
There was some confusion amongst prize-peoples regarding the first two weeks. In the spirit of loving-kindness that is the GRDM, we’re gonna count both of those two weeks as one, meaning if you commented Week 0, but not Week 1, you’re still a candidate for potential “Grand Poobah” status. Those who haven’t commented yet, don’t give up — highly regarded “Poobah” and “Big Poobah” status are still well within reach!
Hope everyone’s holding up OK. Me, it’s work, and I’m about 12 pages behind. But hell, that’s still about 94 pages farther than I’ve ever gotten before. Mainly I’ve been surprised how much fun there’s been along the way. More like a Hallucinatory Death Dance than a Deathmarch, methinks…
Next Tuesday: Let’s meet back up at page 167 ((195 in the Bantam edition) a week from today — it’s the section that ends: “Is God really Jewish?”
See you there, -CV

I’d like to try opening a new thread on Week 1 of GRDM — we have 26 comments on the first thread and it might help us to start fresh every 20 or so comments.
So if you’ve got a comment to add on the first batch (or so) of GR pages, please starting posting those comments on this entry.
And if you want to read what’s already been said in the last three days, you can find the first piece of this thread right here.
Thanks. Rainbow on, -CV

Welcome to the end of week 1! Got any insights on the first 50 pages? Advice for the weary? Complaints about bunions? If you’re on the march, this is the spot to share, to care, and to shout out.
(I should also say, for them what’s interested in qualifying toward Poobah status and fabulous GRDM prizes, this also marks the first week that “counts,” stats-wise — the league has ruled last week as sort of a warm up.)
Next Tuesday: Let’s meet back up at page 113 (132 in the Bantam edition) a week from today — it’s the section that ends: “tarnished silver crown….”
If you missed last week’s thread, be sure to check it out — a number of entertaining comments were dropped off just yesterday, including an entirely unexpected bodyslam on Kurt Vonnegut, jr.
Thanks much for joining in and see you at the tarnished crown,
-CV