Category: Archived DMs

I’m so far behind, I think the Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch just passed me on the trail. Hey guys!
As with all things of late, I blame the Golden State Warriors. See, as a Warriors fan, I’ve been conditioned to expect to have substantially more free time in May, not substantially less. Still more proof of the end times, and all that.
One thing I’ve noticed — the more I fall behind, the more comments we get on the thread. So really, I’m just taking one for the team here. At least, that’s my story this week. As for next week…
Tuesday 5/22 It’s entirely possible that I’ll meet you at the bottom of page 848, where “it surprised him, and did not surprise him.” He’s complex that way.
(which is to say…. please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 848. Aim to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
(Here) Pugnax! (Here) Pugnax! (Good) Pugnax!
-Cecil

I’m chasing a tangled ball of yarn, I am — still a little bit behind, not quite a week’s worth. Seems like most folks who were likewise lagging have now caught up, which is kind of exciting. Infuriating, too. But mainly exciting.
I count 13 of us still in this thing. 13! Could 13 of us really finish? That’s an awful lotta mugs. Exciting! Infuriating! (But mainly exciting.) By contrast, I think 8 of us finished the Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch and 7 folks wrapped up Don Quixote. So 13 would be a mighty crowd at the finish line.
Let’s hang tight shall we? And more to the point….
Tuesday 5/15: …let’s meet up at the bottom of page 792, where there’s some danger that our yarn may blow away, “as if taken by the wind.”
(which is to say…. please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 792. Aim to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
(I miss) Pugnax!
-Cecil

After two whole weeks of being on target, I’ve fallen a bit behind. My hopes to stall some more and catch up before going live this week were dashed when two DMers showed up in an innocent little sidepost about deviant flip-flop habits and jumped me with an (admittedly well-deserved) “where’s this week’s deathmarch post!”
So here’s the post, you goons! You thugs! You people who are not behind this week!
Tuesday 5/8: Let’s make tracks for the bottom of page 747, which “would never be here, never exactly here, again.”
(which is to say…. please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 747. Aim to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
Pugnax!
-Cecil

13 weeks in now, fellow lit folks dropping all around us. Good folks. Strong folks. We march on.
Like I think pretty much everyone, the Quaternions wore my marching toes down to a nub, but I liked Bradh’s take on it in the comments: “I read the maths like a foreign language: just to enjoy the rhythms of the words.”
Things started to get a little zippy with Kit and Günther’s duel (“how lucky to have provoked your quarrel here, in the dueling capital of Germany”), the return of Lew, Lew’s encounter with the hanging man, gas traffic, and then Kit, Foley, and the mickfest. By the time we met the “jelly doughnut” man, it was like being handed a new pair of sugar powdered socks.
If you get a chance, take an amble back in time to one of the early posts. I wandered through Week 2 this morning, tipping my invisible hat brim to lost companions — calliscrapy, buffo, Ms. Maggo, AnemicPrince…. We’re down to around 14 hardy souls now. We few, we proud, we folks who get to enjoy lines like “a dog was howling at a moon no one could see, perhaps imagining that, summoned repeatedly enough, it would appear with food of some kind” and names like “Gus Swallowfield” and “Willi Dingkopf.”
Tuesday 5/1: Part Four’s within reach, so let’s lunge for the bottom of page 693, where I for one plan to howl hungrily “at the unexplained and unresponsive moon.”
(which is to say…. please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 693. Aim to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
Pugnax!
-Cecil

Finally caught back up, even if I had to delay posting this week to make it across the line. I was particularly hung up on the Quaternion section from the end of last week — underlining more than usual, understanding less. One thing’s for sure, as Pynchon sez, “all mathematics leads…sooner or later, to some kind of human suffering.”
But before long we were into the mayonnaise museum, Pugnax’s disturbing taste for human blood, Ryder Thorn, Umeki, and the most powerful weapon in the world. It all seemed a little extra vague and hazy, like Venetian fog, I suppose, but well worth ‘marching through.
I wondered at points what must it be like to read this book as a scientist. To me, there are definitely sections that sound like so much arfing from a hyper-intelligent blood-hungry guard dog. Does the scientist reader laugh along with all that arfing? Or do they just say “come on now — ridiculous!” Any scientists among us? Who will speak for the scientific community?
Tuesday 4/23: While I’m asking questions, what I really want to know is: Can I stay caught up for a whole week? The answer lies on the bottom of page 636, but unfortunately, “you know who I am.”
(which is to say…. please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 636. Aim to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
Pugnax!
-Cecil

I will accept no questions this week about exactly where I am in the reading. Suffice it to say, matters were not helped by an especially raucus Dyngus Day celebration! And then I got all angry about some marketing copy I found. And then someone told me I smelled like Indian food. Really, it’s been a rough week.
Still, here we are eleven (11!) weeks in, with double-digit comments and the very real prospect that significant bucks will be spent on mugs before this thing is through. Thanks all for hanging in there. And once again, extra special thanks to the redoubtable Steve “Heurtebise” Evans for cooking up some nigh-edible summarizing notes.
Tuesday 4/17: It’s a shorter than usual romp — let’s call it a catch-up week for folks like me who could use one, without actually taking a full week off. I’ll see ya at the bottom of page 587 where word is someone “had better kiss her, and soon.”
(which is to say…. please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 587. Aim to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
Pugnax!
-Cecil

Still behind, but to quote Parliament’s immortal “Chocolate City,” I’m gainin’ on ya. Just one chapter shy of the mark now….
From the comments, it looks like a number of us have renewed energy for this adventure. Whether it’s the sweetness between Frank and Mayva, Zoltan flying off his barstool, the increasingly crude Suckling (who I keep waiting to learn is part werewolf), a side trip inside the Hotel Noctambulo, Roswell’s enthusiasm, the Thorvaldic Telegraph, my absolutely favoritist name yet in “Stilton Gaspereaux,” or the entire spectacular adventure under (or inside rather?) the sand, this felt all around like one of those “that’s why we read TP” sorta weeks.
As a few have pointed out, there’s also the sense that threads are coming together — that a few patterns that were once (dare I say) invisible, are now becoming visible. Thanks to all that lovely light, I guess.
Once again, the mighty Steve “Heurtebise” Evans has come through with a batch of madeleines — be sure to drop by for a well-earned snack.
Tuesday 4/10: Let’s make camp at the bottom of page 547, where we’ll do our best to avoid “death by mayonnaise.”
(which is to say…. please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 547. Aim to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
Pugnax!
-Cecil

Well, my head is spinning. I woke up this morning 100 pages shy of the target. That’s no good. And I can’t say I caught all the way up either. But here we are, 11:30 PST, and I’m on page 396, so that’s something. About 30-40 pages short. But back in the game, I tell ya.
And I was having good fun too, right up until page 394, when I ran into this: “You are a good man, but kind of disgusting, with all that hair growing out of your face, and you always smell like coffee.”
What the hell is that? I mean, how can I not take that personally? He might as well have added “and your name is Cecil Vortex.” It was all I could do to not light the book on fire. But I resisted because I’m strong like that.
In cheerier news, happy to see the Chums are right around the corner (in the rear view mirror for those of you on track). I think you probably know by now how much I enjoy the Chums. Should make for good reading tomorrow morning over…coffee. Damn you Pynchon!
Happy also to see new ‘marchers on the trail. Welcome! And delighted to see that Steve Evans has baked up another batch of piping hot madeleines.
Tuesday 4/3: I’m hoping to meetcha at the bottom of page 488 where, ominously enough, nobody’s talking “to anybody for a while unless they [have] to.”
(which is to say…. please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 488. Aim to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
Pugnax!
-Cecil

Almost 2 months in (!) and on the one hand, bodies are droppin’. On the other hand, we have something like 17 or 18 folks still with us, which is certainly a record for this deep into the journey.
I think RaptorMage is right when he says its the nature of these DMs to feel impossible. We’re looking for books that aren’t page turners and then we’re reading those books slow. It’s a challenge for sure. The one book in the series that really flipped itself for me was Pale Fire, and that one almost felt like we were cheating.
I remember in Book I of Don Quixote feeling like it was just going on and on and slipping away from me. But Book II picked up and good Lord the ending of DQ was beautiful and worth the trip.
With Gravity’s Rainbow, there were points when I was downright angry with Pynchon. And the last 20 pages still sounds like dogs barking to my brain. But there are so many parts of that GR that I’m glad I experienced. With AtD, I’m still enjoying the individidual segments. I’m still not pulled to pick the book up from the shelf. I’m still, unfortunately, about 40 pages behind. (Ack!) But I’m still hanging in there, watching as old pals (Merle, Dally, Kit, Vibe) come back into play, as a few characters start to become borderline real. Maybe at the end it’ll add up to less than the sum of its parts. Maybe it’ll rise to some shockingly coherent crescendo. I’m game to find out.
Doubt ye not the Week-8-summarizing skills of so-called “Steve Evans,” whose madelienes await ye here.
Tuesday 3/27: Let’s hop, and/or skip, and/or jump on over to page 428, where someone with a silly name is leaving “the Mysteries of Time” to others.
(in other words: please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 428. Try to finish reading that part of the book and to comment on it here by end o’ day next Monday)
(I miss) Pugnax!
-Cecil

Welcome to Week 7 and our slick new server. Hopefully we’ll have a smoother ride from here on out. I’m about 20 pages behind right now, still enjoying the ride.
On the thread, it’s clear that some folks are falling a little out of love with AtD. Me, I find that when I’m reading it, the love is still there. It helps that I’m a Merle Rideout fan, so I was delighted to see his return. Still, when I’m not reading it, it doesn’t linger in the brain or call to me from wherever I dropped it last. So the trick is mostly getting myself to pick the book back up.
I do keep puzzling over these racial/ethnic stereotypes. More than anything it feels like Pynchon’s just screwing with us — trying to get a rise out of his readership. He’s got my buttons pretty well configured so far. For example, every time he says the word “invisible” I twitch. Likewise for “explosion.”
On the pro/anti-Traverse(seses) debate, I’m with Andy and Cap’n M. in that they’ve started to really grow on me. They’re certainly the most human characters in this crowd.
A few random questions: Anybody have a clear sense of what year we’re in now? How old Dally is? What was in that tunnel with Dally and Frank? Mebbe these all become clear in the last 20 pages of the week’s reading, but if not, and if you have a theory, shout out.
In other news, Steve Evans has once again come through with helpful notes on last week’s reading.
Tuesday 3/20: A good chance for folks to catch up, as we’ll be doing a relatively short week. Let’s meet at the bottom of page 373, where “we’re already ghosts.”
(which is to say: please use this thread to comment on anything up to page 373. Aim to get near that target and add a comment by end o’ day next Monday)
Pugnax!
-Cecil