May '05 Book 1: 'Hyperion'

[Scheherazade]

Please post your thoughts and questions regarding Hyperion here.



Book Club Procedures (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?p=57103#post57103)

[Nightshade]

Im new here can I join in please? or do I have to wait a while or somthing?

[Scheherazade]

You can join our Book Club anytime you want... Welcome to the Forum! :)

[Nightshade]

Thank you.

[papayahed]

We've all been duped into reading 2 books this month. It's a conspiracy I tell you!!

[SleepyWitch]

i'm gonna skip this month, alright?

[Scheherazade]

We've all been duped into reading 2 books this month. It's a conspiracy I tell you!!
My library does not have them so I ordered... And they delivered the The Fall, not the Hyperion. So I can't start reading yet... :rolleyes:

Sleepy, join us again whenever you feel like :) I really enjoyed reading your comments about BNW!

[papayahed]

My library does not have them so I ordered... And they delivered the The Fall, not the Hyperion. So I can't start reading yet... :rolleyes:



Sure you can, we already know what happens to Hyperion - It falls. :lol:

[Jay]

LMAO!!! Papaya! SHUSH, lol, now all the librarians are glaring at me! :D

[papayahed]

LMAO!!! Papaya! SHUSH, lol, now all the librarians are glaring at me! :D

Sorry Jay!

I started reading, anybody else? So far I'm liking the characters, although I'm wondering how to pronounce "Shrike" Is it like "Hike"? I'm not liking that word in the book.

[Jay]

Sorry Jay!
You're so not :D

I would guess it pronounces like 'hike', I would read it like that.

[Nightshade]

I got the book this afternoon and started reading.
So far Ive got part way through The priests story. Ill probably read till chapter 3 tonight.
Theres alot of referances to Keats in this book isnt there?
Also does anyone think that reading the cantebrey tales might help in a wierd sort of way?

[Scheherazade]

I got to the part when they start telling their stories as well and thought exactly the same thing... That it might turn into a Sci-Fi Canterbury Tales or Tales of Decameron...

[Taliesin]

I started reading, anybody else? So far I'm liking the characters, although I'm wondering how to pronounce "Shrike" Is it like "Hike"? I'm not liking that word in the book.

Yes, it pronounces like that. We checked it in the dictionary.

Shrike is IRL a small bird that has got a lovely habit of empaling its prey (bugs, little rodents) to sharp things such as sharp branches or barbed wire thorns when eating.


And yes, Hyperion is actually very commonly compared to "Canterbury tales".

That is also the reason why just reading Hyperion and not reading TFoH is well, doen't seem complete. Hyperion practically consists of the "tales", which's common denominator is relation to Hyperion. In TFoH there is the "plot"

[Scheherazade]

That is also the reason why just reading Hyperion and not reading TFoH is well, doen't seem complete. Hyperion practically consists of the "tales", which's common denominator is relation to Hyperion. In TFoH there is the "plot"
You have just given me a reason to keep reading, Tal! :p

[caspian]

I have to be satisfied just with on-line books. as "Hyperion" is non-available, I've already started reading "Sense and Sensibility" - got encouraged by seeing movie recently

[Scheherazade]

Sense and Sensibility reads nicely... I like Austen. For next month, maybe you should vote for one of the books which are available online :)

[Nightshade]

You probably noticed this but Silenus quotes the opening to Keats's Hyperion at the begining of chapter 2 "Deep in the shady....

Does anyone know what it is Kassad is quoting or misquoting when he says
"but if it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly"

[Scheherazade]

I have finished reading Hoyt's (the priest) story... I am still not sure why Paul Dure wanted to 'punish' and forced himself to exile in the first place... Any ideas? Any who is exactly Edouard? Only a close friend?

[papayahed]

I have finished reading Hoyt's (the priest) story... I am still not sure why Paul Dure wanted to 'punish' and forced himself to exile in the first place... Any ideas? Any who is exactly Edouard? Only a close friend?

I think he was forced to either resign or get in trouble for planting evidence that relics from the church were found somewhere where they weren't. He had a reason for going to Hyperion but I dn't recall what it was, it might just have been the hopes of finding those people (what's their names??) that he found.




So far I'm in the middle of Kassad's story, is it a couincidence that both have religion in common?

[caspian]

Sense and Sensibility reads nicely... I like Austen. For next month, maybe you should vote for one of the books which are available online :)

certainly. actully saying "clas. is always good" i meant: "because they're always available in net" :p even if I can't find in English, russian version is always on. :banana:

[Nightshade]

:cool:
I have finished reading Hoyt's (the priest) story... I am still not sure why Paul Dure wanted to 'punish' and forced himself to exile in the first place... Any ideas? Any who is exactly Edouard? Only a close friend?

I think he was forced to either resign or get in trouble for planting evidence that relics from the church were found somewhere where they weren't. He had a reason for going to Hyperion but I dn't recall what it was, it might just have been the hopes of finding those people (what's their names??) that he found.
Yeah I think he was forced to resign but it was kind of pettence (spelling?) and Edourd is like his best friend but also someone important though I dont think hes the pope.


So far I'm in the middle of Kassad's story, is it a couincidence that both have religion in common?
Not really Im halfway through the scholars tale and hes jewish! Also the poet is a pagan!
Do you think the poet is sort of Dan simmions?

[Scheherazade]

How do you picture Ousters?

Any inkling about who might be the spy among them? (Please don't give it away if you have already read that far and found out)

I am finding it weird that there should be a baby with them... I can't imagine a parent wanting to take their child to death mission like this. Why wouldn't he leave her behind somewhere safe? Also, the baby is bound to make things difficult for them...

[Taliesin]

So you haven't read the scholars tale yet?
We think that when you'll read it, you will understand.

[Nightshade]

How do you picture Ousters?

I have to admit I already read the short story that comes after all the hyperion cantos its called Orphans of the Helix and is part of the Far horizons anthology (is that the right word?)
Anyway, point is in it the Ousters are 2 groups 1 look more or less normal but the other group are "space adapted' and sound as if they look a bit like Darth vader. They dont have mouthes and have "eye coverings that make them appear bug like" also they dont talk they transmit band waves like a radio and can fly on solar whatsits currents with "wings' though Im not really sure what these are.
**EDIT** Sorry Ive been through and fixed most of my spelling now!

[Scheherazade]

So you haven't read the scholars tale yet?
We think that when you'll read it, you will understand.
I have finished reading the poet's story. I am reading a chapter a day;can't take more of Sci-fi on any given day, I am afraid! :D



Thank you, for the info, Nightshade. I was wondering about the long limbs and tails mentioned in the second chapter. They reminded me of spiders or shrimps :p

[Nightshade]

Have finished it now!! But I wont start the fall until next thursday(19)!
I Liked it but It wasnt really an "oh-my-gosh-this-is-a-simply-mindblowingly-fantastic-cant-put-it-down-not-going-to-do-anything-till-its-finished" book was it?

[Scheherazade]

WTG, Nightshade! That was quick! I am half-way through yet... Finished Scholar's story but I don't feel like reading today...

[papayahed]

I just finished the poets story.

[Scheherazade]

Has anyone else thought that the love affair between Siri and Merin (their meeting at a masked ball, the murders of cousin and close friend) reminds of Romeo and Juliet?



Finished the book over the weekend. It was better than I expected (not a Sci-Fi fan!); a good experiment with the familiar story of pilgrims telling their tales with a futuristic twist to it.

[papayahed]

Has anyone else thought that the love affair between Siri and Merin (their meeting at a masked ball, the murders of cousin and close friend) reminds of Romeo and Juliet?


huh? Didn't think of that, but now that you mention it...

I finished the first book yesterday also. And I read the last couple pages of the second book, so I know what happens!!!!!!

[Scheherazade]

Haven't started reading TFoH yet. After finishing Hyperion, I read The PowerBook and started reading a detective book as well as a breather between the two. I will start TFoH on the 20th...


There is a separate thread for TFoH here for those who have already started reading it: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4532

[papayahed]

I keep forgetting to look this up: is there a significance to the name of the treeship? Yaggdrisl (sp?) I know I've heard the name before but I can't remember where?

[Taliesin]

Yggdrasil.

It comes from Scandiavian mythology, where the World tree was called so.

[Nightshade]

I see Im not the only one who reads last pages first! :cool: I didnt think of the romeo&j connection but it wouldnt be suprising everything seems to link to some kind of literature. And shakespear was important to the real keats so maybe it is relavant.
Ps the forum dissapeared for two days where did it go??

[EAP]

Space Opera at its very best.

The Extracts from the journal of Father Paul Duri were probably my favorite parts of the story. I am a sucker for great description and Simmon's prose here bordered on sublime.

There are books about which you can write a lot, discuss them in detail, expound upon their structure, nettle out the metaphors imbued in their text and generally rip the story into tattered pieces. Hyperion isn't one of them. It is something fare rarer - a truly great story. It is considered 'soft science fiction', but what it does is that it presents the best science fiction has to offer without all the boring techincal details that bog the text down. 'All The Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy's another example of a similar book on a completely different level. So is 'The Lord Of The Rings,' 'Wuthering Heights' or 'Mission of Gravity.'

Anyway, It was so engaging that I read the whole book in one sitting. :p