GROUP READ-- KIM by Rudyard Kipling

As I cannot find the thread for the Group Read of Kim I thought I would start one.

Please don't tell me I am the only one?

I'll be participating, but haven't started yet.

Depending on how my March goes, I might join this group read as well.... I haven't read Kipling's Kim and probably long over due to do so. Worst case, I will pop in to read the discussion!

I will be starting it in a few days...

I will be following along as I read Kim last year and loved it.

I am a little over 50 pages in. I started strong but now need to moral boost of others reading as well so I am glad to have this group.

I am in, but have my parents here this week. I'll be starting on Sunday.

I'll finish up the book I'm reading and then join in. It's been decades since I've read Kim.

Okay, I am getting ready to start! Just cracking out some recipes for curry as I figure I will be craving it all weekend!

I'll add this to the main group reads thread so other can find it.

Thanks for posting the link to this thread, MJ.

I have the book ready, but haven't started yet - soon, very soon.

I think I will join this group read. I have never read anything by Kipling so - it is about time! Will have to look for it at the library.

I am planning to read this next year so will be interested to see what people think but won't read any spoilers

Finally getting to start Kim today!

I started Kim weeks ago and have somehow forgotten to add it back into the reading rotation. Bad! I'll get a good start on it tonight, though, and hopefully I'll have a chance to finish it before the week is up.

Started Kim last evening. The old language is slowing me down until I get used to it. The physical book I have is probably as old as I am. Makes it easier to read the old words when they're printed on soft, yellowing paper. Hope to make good progress over the next few days.

I just finished Kim this morning and set up a SPOILERS thread here (http://www.librarything.com/topic/134363)

I started last night, and I love it. The language isn't bothering me at all - perhaps because I spent a few years in India in my childhood, and have read a lot of books based in this period ever since. Don't know why I haven't read Kim before. Anyway, I am glad to be rectifying that. It feels like going back into one of my favourite books, but with the added advantage of not knowing the plot yet.

I'll be interested in your reactions to the book, given your familiarity with India. Every single thing about the book so far is foreign to me.

I think I'm going to have to reread several of my favourites once this is done. For example I can see how much of Ash in The far pavilions is based on Kim.

I am about half way through now, and really enjoying it. I agree with Marthajeanne, I am not sure why I haven't read it before. I recently reread Just So Stories, so am enjoying the book even more.

I just read an interesting article in The New York Times about how reading fiction affects us: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-...

I think this is what I am feeling. Kim is evoking the sounds, smells, tastes and sights that I associate with India. My nonfiction book at the moment Wonder of the age : master painters of India, 1100-1900 is probably intensifying it, and I have two Bollywood movies downstairs to watch as well. I'd better make curry for supper. Wait a minute - I had chickpea curry last night.

Ooh sounds yummy! I love channa curries. I think I have just enough curry paste for a wee bowl of curry, off to see if I have any chick peas or lentils.

Thanks for the link, really interesting, I will have to pass it on. The brain is fascinating, I am not surprised by the links between the different parts of the brain, as I am reading Kim, I can see India in my mind's eye. There was a bit in one of the Thursday Next books that talked about readers fleshing out the text as they read, so this would all be linked into what the article says. I'm an ESL teacher and all of us at the academy read voraciously, something that really helps when teaching a language.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I liked the first 2/3 where we get the story of Kim's childhood. I enjoyed the way Kipling showed how Kim was a boy of two worlds (white and Indian), but fully belonging to neither. I think Kipling resolved this issue well by having the boy straddle both worlds and utilizing all of his skills as a member of British Intelligence. What I did not enjoy was the ending. I found it quite contrived, but I guess that is kind of a sign of the times it was written in.

#24 Jill, trying not to read your post, but it's hard to avoid. Will you move it to the spoiler thread? This thread should be a safe place for those of us who haven't finished the book yet. (AKA the slow readers!) http://www.librarything.com/topic/134363

This may be unusual, I read Kim to be able to understand Hopkirks' book The Quest for Kim. Peter Hopkirk was a favorite author of mine. Kim was a challenge as it took me a little time to follow what was happening at first. Probabbly won't reread it or ever read the "sequels".

It's always a bit weird to see a new message in a starred topic that you can't remember. Did I star that? Why did I star that? Wait a minute, WHEN did I star that? Seven years ago. Time to unstar it and maybe even ignore it.