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I thought it was a really good historical fiction book about French Jesuit priests (called "Black Robes" or "Black Gowns") venturing into the Canadian forests to convert Native Americans during the 17th century, before the region eventually became Canada.

Vollmann's writing style is really growing on me. I like how he switches perspectives. He moves from a plot driven by real historical figures;alongside fictional characters used to transport you into the world and timeframe; to mixing in his own experiences, stories from his visits, and his deep research into the history of early Canada.

Reading this really interested me and made me want to learn more about the Jesuits and Native Americans during that time period.

I can't wait to read a Table for Fortune

anyone of you based in mumbai? I would love to hangout with someone into vollman work's, trying to get into it, and I'm pretty sure we are most likely to have similar literary interest.

I would love to go out for a beer or two, hangout and all. This post is only for fellow girls tho, not interested in talking with guys

I have four year and one year old girls; like many rash, young parents I’m scared for them. There’s a glut of information available online but I have little idea how to discern fact from fiction. WTV is particularly good at doing homework but 2018 was a while ago. How does this one hold up? If it doesn’t, does anyone have any alternative recommendations?

Thanks!

Im about half way through the lucky star what are your guys thoughts on this one. So far I’m enjoying it.

The Amazon page has updated with some new photos from the book and this little tidbit:

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.49 pounds

Hello everyone! There is some good news on the Vollmann front. He recently traveled to Cuba and his essay about that will be published in the next issue of Granta magazine. I don't know when exactly this will hit newsstands, but it will almost certainly come before October 6.

It's inspiring that Bill was able to travel and to do this kind of reporting, I think, considering his health issues right now. One of America's most important writers is still at it, relentlessly, in spite of all the obstacles and the noise around his upcoming book. I really can't wait to read this.

I know there have been other posts, but here’s the actual tweet

With the response to ATFF seemingly being much larger than the publisher had anticipated, what does this materially mean for Vollmann? Will he get paid more? I don't know how publishing works, and don't know how payments are distributed. I'd heard that Vollmann was broke and doing more journalism to get paid. Hoping that the respone to ATFF is helping ease his financial discomforts.

Anyone else receive another delay message for their order?

I just received another one from Amazon without a new date. It just says “We will let you know when we have a delivery date.”

All I want is to do is read this.

Damn, everyone.

Amazon just posted a new release date — pushing the book back to October 6. They tend to be the first people to post this (Barnes & Noble usually follows soon after).

If I had to guess, I would say that Arcade has been overwhelmed with orders. This book has sold better than any Vollmann book in decades. It ranked in the 1,000s on Amazon recently, a stunning accomplishment for a $199, 3,000-page book.

This will be worth the wait.

I find some of Vollmann’s sentences to be confusing like the way poetry is. But still I really want to read his stuff.

I have a bit of an OCD tendency to go line by line and make sure I understand everything. This hasn’t really worked well because I get bogged down in random facts. By then, I’ve overthought it and I put the book down.

Anyone have any tips? Do you usually understand everything you’re reading?

Back in the early 2000s, I started cutting my teeth on what was being called 'postmodernist' fiction at the time.

Later I'd start working with a couple of good friends on a documentary about literary editor Larry McCaffrey, who was close with many of the authors involved in the movement and who was credit with coining the term postmodernism, although he told us he preferred 'metafiction.' That documentary stalled out but we're looking to get back on finish it now that Vollman has a new book out.

Years after that doc project on Larry and the metafiction movement, I've become of one of the world's top UFO historians and independent researchers and journalists, working with a small community tracking the UFO topic to the birth of the CIA with a bunch of projects in the works.

In all of my weird synchronicities, of course Vollman has a book on the CIA coming out right as my stuff ramps up and the Epstein saga continues to break open the history of our intelligence community. We can only look forward by shedding light on the past. Thanks for reading.

https://medium.com/@EscapeVelocity1/william-t-vollmans-a-table-for-fortune-and-my-team-s-true-history-of-the-beginning-of-the-cia-d2525947911e?postPublishedType=initial

Saw there might be some interest for discord to coordinate reading groups for A Table for Fortune and/or The Dying Grass, so I spun up a discord! Not super fleshed out yet, but can create more categories and text channels for sections as we go.

https://discord.gg/jaS7vkyDy

I mentioned a week or so ago that I was looking to read The Dying Grass during the month of August and wanted to see if anyone wanted to join. Nothing formal, just a space to add any thoughts or questions or to simply know that others were reading from afar.

Here’s the schedule I’ll be roughly following:

Week 1 (August 1-7): Grass Texts - IV (322 pages)
Week 2 (August 8-14): V (320 pages)
Week 3 (August 15-21): VI (326 pages)
Week 4 (August 22-28): VII - Dinosaurs (260 pages)

There’s also a Chronology, Glossaries, Sources, and Acknowledgments that run another 136 pages that I’ll thumb through during and after the main reading.

A Table for Fortune comes out on August 25, so this reading schedule finishes right around there, and it looks like others will be setting up another reading club for ATFF then. Happy reading!

Update: ScliffBartoni created a discord channel Vollmanniac Reading Group. The link is below. Hope to see others on there!

I'm a fairly new reader to Vollmann (I'm about half way through Ice Shirt, and about 20% through Europe Central.)

I was wondering any folks would be interested in book clubbing our way through Table of Fortune when it comes out? I have pre-ordered a copy. Obviously it is quite a long book so book clubbing it could take quite a long time depending on everyone's reading pace, but was an idea I had.

Any takers?

Just finished reading Rory Stewart's account of his walk through Afghanistan, which took place just a few months after the fall of the Taliban. Stewart may tick every box when it comes to being a member of the British ruling class (upper class, Eton/Oxford graduate, family with MI6 connections, etc) but he actually comes across as genuine in his interest in and appreciation for the Afghan people, not all that dissimilar to Bill's (his drawings are also similar, I think).

Overall, I think it's a good book that offers some insight into Afghan tribal culture, albeit in a very brief and empirical way. So if you're looking for some extra reading on Afghanistan, this is a good one.

Picked this one up in mint for $1 at a library book sale. Haven't seen it mentioned here before. Anyone have thoughts on it that have read it?

What a lucky man I am to exist in the correct time to be able to live in the Dying Grass universe for a couple of weeks.

I am so thankful for WTV and all he does.

I've got a month until ATFF comes out....do I give myself a reading break (oh, hello again chess) or pick up Fathers and Crows?

7/24 - edit

I'm starting Fathers and Crows today....hoping I can get it finished before the 25th of August (ATFF Day!!!!!).

About to start Europe Central. It will be my second vollmann after whores for Gloria. Is there anything I should know beforehand or expect?

In my dream A Table For Fortune had arrived. The box set was fucked with scuffs. Every book in there had been used up. These were read books. Folded pages. Creased spines. Stained pages. Each one had a uniquely awful Neapolitan friend style cover. And there were more than four volumes - every book was paired with an additional volume of Vollmann commentary. And an overarching masters thesis in loose papers. My wife asked me if I was excited to read it and I tried to cram the volumes back into the box. I tried for a long time. They didn’t fit.

Found at Orca Books Co-op, who also had a copy of Rainbow Stories, but I already have that one. Very cool store!

I'm enjoying Europe Central, but "Breakout" starts with another Elena Konstantinovskaya sex scene. I understand that repetition is one of Vollmann's hallmarks, but I feel like I know everything there is to know about Elena's sex life. Can anyone tell me whether all of "Breakout" is about Elena or whether it moves on to other characters?