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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

What's the right pace for reading Illuminatus?

It's time to talk about a schedule for the group reading of Illuminatus!, which several of you said you'd be interested in participating in.

What would you think about a reading pace of 20 pages a week? The schedule was about 30 pages a week for Masks of the Illuminati. I'd almost like to take a slower pace for Illuminatus! I could make a case for 10 pages a week, but at 805 pages in the omnibus edition, it would take a long time to finish. At 20 pages a week, we'd be committed to a 40-week group read, about four-fifths of a year. Too long? Or about right for such a key work? And how about a start date of late February?

And is everyone comfortable with the procedure used in the other group reads, that I'd post something and then everyone can weigh in with the comments? I'm open to something else if anyone had any suggestions.

15 comments:

fuzzbuddy said...

20 pages a week, and around Feb or March sounds good to me.

There is gold to be found in them thar hills!

Eric Wagner said...

"Slowness is beauty." - Laurence Binyon

"Only sequoias are slow enough." - Ezra Pound

I'd love ten pages a week, but twenty a week sounds OK. 23 pages a week has a certain resonance.

PS Great work on the blog, as always.

Daniel said...

23, yes.

Unknown said...

Having nearly finished Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead (starting last year I've been trying to read the works which influenced Illuminatus!) I've got about a page or so of parallels between the two works which I haven't seen posted anywhere else online. When I complete the book, would anybody be interested to read the parallels, at the expense of a few minute spoilers? (Also, when I read Illuminatus! again I'm sure I'll find more connections that I missed the first time, so the list will eventually be updated.)

michael said...

Levi: Yes! By all means. I'd like to see your parallels. Count me in.

Unknown said...

Groovy. I should be finishing it in about a week, so I'll post the list to the Robert Anton Wilson Fans Facebook page (seeing as the reading group won't be started by then).

Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson) said...

Eric, I'd kind of like 10 pages a day, too, but it seems like a big time commitment.

Eric Wagner said...

Well, if you like ten pages, I would do that. Spreading the time over that long a period will make it a more epic experience.

gacord said...

I found the 20 page pace last time a bit tough at times. Depending on how my week went I'd find myself "cramming" at the weekend. I'm liking the ~10 page pace, who cares if we go over the year mark. Some segments might easily lend themselves to bleeding closer to 20 (cough. 23), of course.

Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson) said...

OK, let's do the 10 pages.

Patrick Henry said...

Hope I have the time. Certainly RAW and Thornley were close to the "mind leak" and The Manchurian Candidate of Richard Condon. And the John Birch Society links to the JFK hit as well.

Unknown said...

Hello, a friend told me about this reading group on the RAW facebook page. 20 pages per week sounds great. Looking forward to a lively discussion and forum.

Unknown said...

I'm currently on my 5th (or so) reading of this book. Looking forward!

chas said...

12 pages a week finishes the week of May 1st 2015!

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