The House of God, discussion

Thank you to those who made it to the discussion today. There was a mixture of reactions to the book: some of loved it, some were turned off by the writing style, but overall we had a good discussion.

The dialogue from the chat are after the jump.

The House of God, book details and references

The discussion on The House of God is just about an hour away, and in preparation I wanted to post some quotes, questions, and details from the book.

There are a lot of characters and relationships to consider. A few that I found most important to the development of Roy in his internship are:
Fats
Dr. Saunders
Berry
Chuck
Potts
Quick and Gilheeny

Other characters to think about: Roy's father, Jo, Leggo, Fish, The Yellow Man, Hooper, Eddie, Molly, Runt, Nate Zock, Richard Nixon.

-What do you think of how the author used Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal as historical backdrop?

-What, if anything, do the gomers/gomeres represent to Roy and the rest of the staff at The House of God?

If you have already read the book and/or you have not but don't mind reading quotes from the book that reveal details, then don't follow the jump.

The House of God, by Samuel Shem

How does Sunday, January 29 at 4PM PST work for our chat on The House of God?

Whether you have finished reading, only started, or haven't even picked up the book, come join us as we discuss the stories and struggles of a first year Medical intern.

Let us know if you can make the chat!

The House of God, by Samuel Shem

We have a book number 12!

We will begin reading The House of God, by Samuel Shem immediately.

Let's shoot for a December 17-ish end date.


Hope to see you all in a bit for the Catching Fire and Mockingjay chat! We'll be testing with Google+ Hangout for this chat.

Chat 10/11 and Book 12

The Catching Fire and Mockingjay chat will be Wednesday at 7:30 PST, please make it at your convenience, it will go until about 9 PST.

As for book 12, cast your vote:

A Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, by Mary Roach

B 11/11/63, by Stephen King

C The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

D Blue Nights, by Joan Didion

E The House of God, by Samuel Shem

Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and Choosing Our Next Book

Tallyho, Still Thinkers!

To accomodate everyone's schedules, we're going to postpone our chat on Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  Our proposal: the evening of next Monday, November 14th.  Please post your availability for that evening, and propose alternate dates/times if that will not work for you.

In light of the fact that we are a sophisticated group of multitaskers, we also wanted to start our conversation about choosing our next book, which is technically Book 12.  Congratulations for all of the reading we have accomplished, and thank you for your participation!

Just think: that is so many books, you could bake a dozen cupcakes, and decorate each one differently to represent all of the books we have read.  Of course, the twelfth cupcake would be as of yet unfrosted, because we don't yet know what we're reading, so...

Also in the comments, please post your suggestions for our next book!  Without your input, our metaphorical twelfth cupcake will be forlorn and devoid of sprinkles.