Continue the Read-along? Volunteers needed!

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Back in September, we re-read “The Thief” as a celebration of its twentieth anniversary and held weekly discussions in order to once again carefully dissect each and every sentence. You have no idea the details you can miss till you’ve gone over the text with a microscope!

Check those out if you missed them.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Since “Thick as Thieves” was announced, I've been plotting to continue the re-read with “The Queen of Attolia" and the other two books. I’m guessing, like me, many of you are due for a re-read, and it’s a lot more fun to re-read together.

How this will work.

My current plan is to split each book into three parts and cover one section each week with a one week break in between each book. Each section will have a lead, who will be in charge of opening discussions for their assigned part.

We did approximately fifty page sections last time, but we have more ground to cover, so each section will be roughly one hundred pages this time. People can either choose to read a week ahead or discuss as they read.

You'll notice the number of chapters differs pretty widely from section to section. A certain author is very inconsistent with her chapter lengths. I'm going more by number of pages rather than number of chapters.

(One section of CoK is shorter, because I wanted to break the book down by the parts it’s already divided into.)

My reasons for doing it this way is to keep the time spent reading mostly consistent from week to week, and to not give one lead two-hundred pages while another only gets fifty.

The break week is there to give people who’ve fallen behind a chance to catch up. I've also set a date for a chat in the Conspiracy Room the Sunday of each break week and a final chat the Sunday before “Thick as Thieves” comes out. I thought some regular chats leading up to the release date would be fun for everyone!

The following is how I plan to break things down. We’ll just go from Sunday to Saturday to make things a little less confusing this time. Also, I've planned for us to start the same week the new edition are coming out, so if you’ve pre-ordered those, this will be a great time to crack open those brand new spines. We'll wrap up the week before "Thick as Thieves" is released.

The Queen of Attolia

QoA Section One

Chapters 1-8 122 pages

February 26th - March 4th

In which there was a very traumatizing moment we never quite got over, Eddis goes to war then, and the magus sounds like the chorus in a play.

QoA Section Two

Chapters 9-14 112 pages

March 5th - March 11th

In which Helen tells a story, Eugenides remembers how much he hates sword training, and a few “worthless cannon” float down river.

QoA Section Three

Chapters 15-21 128 pages

March 12th - March 18th

In which Eugenides almost drives Irene to apoplexy, the Minister of War attempts to strangle his son, and Irene reminds her husband that window glass is expensive.

——

March 19th - March 25th

Break Week - Chat on March 19th

  ——

The King of Attolia

KoA Section One

Prologue + Chapters 1-5 135 pages

March 26th - April 1st

In which Eugenides’s face matches his purple embroidery, the king’s sense of humor plays itself out, and Baron Susa learns the king likes to sit in front of a window.

KoA Section Two

Chapters 6-10 123 pages

April 2nd - April 8th

In which Costis is far too honorable for his own good, ten golds cups are promised to a certain goddess, and the king decides to indulge himself.

KoA Section Three

Chapters 11-14 130 pages

April 9th - April 15th

In which Phresine tells the king a bedtime story, Eugenides refers to himself as “safely dead,” and we are reminded that it is a wooden sword.

——

April 16th - April 22nd

Break Week - Chat on April 16th

——

A Conspiracy of Kings

CoK Section One

Prologue + Chapters 1-12 139 pages

April 23rd - April 29th

In which many tutors are fired, Sophos gets buff, and it all concludes with Helen laughing at Sophos.

CoK Section Two

Chapters 13-16  74 pages

April 30th - May 6th

In which Helen points out that we can’t all be throwing ink pots, Eugenides gets punched in the face again, and Sophos sleeps with a knife under his pillow,

CoK Section Three

Chapters 17-23 105 pages

May 7th - May 13th

In which Sophos begins his second captivity, Lady Hankatos rises to the occasion, and Sophos breaks the truce at Elisa.

——

Chat on May 14th.

Pre-release chat!

——

Hopefully, that’s not too confusing, and I didn't make any mistakes! I’ve put this information together in a PDF, so it’s easier for everyone to keep track of the reading schedule.

What does it mean to volunteer as a discussion lead and how do I sign up?

There are nine sections total. I can handle two. checkers65477 will take one.

So, that means we need at least seven volunteers. If you have any time to spare during these months, please consider signing up to be a section lead.

If you sign up, you will be responsible for opening discussions the start of your week, which will be a Sunday. It would be preferable if the opening post is up by Saturday (the day before your week starts), but the official due date is midnight on Sunday, the first day of your week. If you’d like to see some examples, please visit the links above. Those will lead you to our discussion of “The Thief.” It would also be best if you’re available during your week to respond to comments and foster discussion, but that’s not absolutely necessary.

Sign up by emailing me at ninedaysaqueenmod@gmail.com.

Please, title your email QT read-along, so I can keep track of all you wonderful reprobates.

I will need-

Your Livejournal username.

Which section or book you’d prefer. (This helps me make decisions.)

If there are any sections you absolutely cannot take because of a RL scheduling conflict.

Whether or not you’d like to be a pinch-hitter, if someone cannot get their post done on time.

You have till February 12th to sign up. I will be sending out a mass email to all volunteers that week with everyone’s assignments and further instructions, which you should promptly destroy for security reasons upon receiving. If enough people sign up, I may assign pairs to a section.

Comments, questions, or ideas? Please, email me, comment, or stop by the chat on Sunday!

Comments

[an-english-girl.livejournal.com]

Your summaries are hilarious! Ditto the userpic :D
I'll be happy to be a discussion lead again, but I'll have to check my work schedule first to find a week I won't be too busy.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Lady Jane, the only days I won't be available to lead is for the KoA Section 3. Why don't you see what parts others want and fill me in wherever needed.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Yah! Thanks, glad to have your help again. I already have your email, so just let me know which weeks you're available. :)

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Can do! I already have a couple people signed up! :D

[live-momma.livejournal.com]

Do you have enough volunteers yet? I can do one or two if you need me to. :-)

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Yes, I still need a few more people. Thanks for volunteering! Send your email to ninedaysaqueenmod@gmail.com, and I’ll send you further instructions. Would QoA section two or CoK section two or three work for you? If it doesn’t, I can move some things around.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Ah, KoA section one is also up for grabs! :)