The Will You Join Me Reading-experiment: Mr. Standfast by John Buchan

I did the same thing last night! I discovered that I hadn't transferred it to my ereader so I did that, and I ended up reading the first chapter before I finally turned out the light to go to sleep. I read the second chapter before I went to work this morning.

This is book 3 in the series. I read Greenmantle, book 2, earlier this year. Hannay refers to the events of Greenmantle, but it seems like he does it in a way that provides enough information if you haven't read Greenmantle without giving out spoilers. Do you feel like you're missing something if you haven't read Greenmantle?

Greenmantle was written and published during the war, before Buchan knew what the outcome would be. Mr. Standfast was published in 1919. I'm not sure when Buchan started writing it - before or after the war ended. I'm interested in both how it reflects popular opinion about the war and how it might have influenced popular opinion about the war. I marked this passage in chapter 1:

...now I realized that I had a new home. I understood what a precious thing this little England was, how old and kindly and comforting, how wholly worth striving for. The freedom of an acre of her soil was cheaply bought by the blood of the best of us. I knew what it meant to be a poet, though for the life of me I could not have made a line of verse. For in that hour I had a prospect as if from a hilltop which made all the present troubles of the road seem of no account. I saw not only victory after war, but a new and happier world after victory, when I should inherit something of this English peace and wrap myself in it till the end of my days.

I also have enjoyed all the mentions of books and reading, and the Pilgrim's Progress connection. I haven't read that one, but I've seen a movie/TV adaptation so I'm familiar with its general characteristics. The aside about the Russian novel. "Leprous Souls" made me think of Dead Souls. I'm not sure if that's what Buchan intended or if something else would have come to mind for his contemporary readers.

I've just finished a re-read of Greenmantle and so will probably go on to Mr Standfast and follow this thread. Do you mind if I make comments? I won't overtake your progress and leave spoilers.

>5 CDVicarage: I'd love to hear your thoughts about the book.

I didn't have a lot of reading time last night. I've got family and friends visiting from out of town this week. They're not staying at my house, but I'll be doing things with them most evenings when I would otherwise be reading. I did finish chapter 4 before I left for work this morning and I'll get in another chapter or two during lunch. I'll add more comments later.

I was amused by the description of the novelist, Aronson, in Chapter 2:

He told me that he sought 'reality' and 'life' and 'truth', but it was hard to see how he could know much about them, for he spent half the day in bed smoking cheap cigarettes, and the rest sunning himself in the admiration of half-witted girls.

Substitute something Netflix for smoking and I could probably find one or two university students just like him. They're very much in the minority in my decades of experience with students, but those few tend to leave a strong impression.

Heading back to work now...

Yeah, Andrew Amos is a challenge for me, too. Reading out loud helps. I've also been able to find at least some of the words in my ereader's dictionary by clicking on an unfamiliar word.

I think commenting as we go along might work best. It looks like I might be a little ahead of you so I can use the spoiler feature and let you decide when you're ready to read comments on each chapter.

I finished part one kast night and Had some comments to make, but the weather got the best of me. I get headaches when there is a low pressure, and we had storms yesterday. About the only thing I can do is sleep it off.

This is a re-read for me but I went through it very quickly the first time and probably missed lots of details. This time I'm going at a slower rate. I've also read quite a lot of other John Buchan in between so I feel I'm more familiar with his style and subject matter - not that all his books are the same! I did wonder how non-British readers would cope with the 'Britishness' of it all, particularly the Scottish dialect... I haven't read Pilgrim's Progress either but I think it has somehow seeped in to my brain from all the mentions it gets in so many other books.

I've reached the end of Chapter 4 and Brand/Hannay is just about to set out in the boat to the West Highlands. I'm struggling a bit to remember all the characters but I think I've got the important ones.

The racist comments and opinions seem more noticeable in this book than in the previous two. Obviously Buchan writes from his era and position in society and I can usually make allowances for that when I read books of this time, but it does jar slightly from time to time.

>11 CDVicarage: The racist comments and opinions seem more noticeable in this book than in the previous two.

Funny you should mention that. I had noticed the same thing.

This reminds me more of The Thirty-Nine Steps than Greenmantle, especially the chapters where he's making his way through Scotland while trying to evade capture.

I think I've finally got a handle on Hannay's rank. The references to him as a general were confusing me, since he seemed to be at the front lines of the war and not at a staff headquarters. Through a bit of Googling I discovered that a brigadier general was the highest ranking field officer, just above a corporal.

>12 cbl_tn: I don't think you've quite got the ranks right, Carrie!

A Corporal is Other Ranks: they are (starting from the bottom) Private, Lance Corporal, Corporal, Sergeant, Colour Sergeant, Warrant Officer Class 1 and Class 2.

Then you get the Officers: (starting from the bottom) Second Lieutentant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier (1 star), Major General (2 star), Lieutenant General (3 star), General (4 star).

So Hannay was quite high up the scale and had reached the highest rank for a Field Officer.

>13 CDVicarage: I meant colonel but my fingers typed corporal! I'm afraid I'm getting old enough to classify it as a "senior moment"!

I've finished Chapter 14 and thought I'd catch up on comments. I'm finding it hard to stop reading long enough to do that!

Chapter 2 I thought that Hannay made an interesting observation about the pacifists gathered in Biggleswick:

I made out that there were three schools. One objected to war altogether... The second thought that the Allies' cause was tainted, and that Britain had contributed as much to the catastrophe... The third, and much the largest...held that we had fought long enough and that the business could now be settled by negotiation, since Germany had learned her lesson.

Could those three schools be boiled down further to conscientious objectors, moral equivalence, and peace at any price?

Chapter 3
The reference to Billy Sunday jumped out at me as a pop culture reference to someone who may not be universally recognized by today's readers. I'm only familiar with him because of my undergraduate studies in Bible and religion. The American character, Blenkiron, is the one who makes the reference to the American evangelist. I'd be surprised to learn that Sunday traveled internationally, but he does seem to have had international fame since Buchan knew of him and assumed his readers would, too.