Thanks, everybody. My sense was that most if not all of us were finding this a challenge and that the timing was difficult for many, also.
I'm going to go ahead and open the book thread now and people should feel free to post their thoughts as they read, or if they've given up on it discuss that. I'm just past the halfway mark myself, at the end of volume II. Let's take the long view and just this once not focus on an unfortuitous start date.
astrangerhere, how very miserable for you! I hope you recover soon. Perhaps you could give us a little historical background and your own overall perspective in the discussion thread since you've read it, please?
