Our Book Club: Book Selection & Organizational Issues

[LSky94]

I know, why don't you guys start by reading Brokeback Mountain?  lol, jk. 

When I was an undergrad, I thoroughly enjoyed my Humanities courses, the format was really like a book club in many ways.  We read maybe a book every 2-3 weeks with the chapters split up evenly according to how many times our class met, during the allotted time.  Depending on the length of the book I think a month should be sufficient for regular books.  We did Homer's Iliad in a month because it is a more indepth read.  Then I think we read some Greek plays  according to the 2-3 week schedule.  We then met and had a round table type discussion of all of the themes and so forth, with our professor as moderater (which you need to have) to guide the discussion.  Of course, it is easier to cover more ground with personal conversation.  I think the one poster's idea of reading Annie P.'s short stories might be a good starting point for you all, as opposed to reading an entire novel initially.   Less intense at first until people get used to the format.  Just thought I would chime in.  Have fun.   

[south_wind]

I think somebody needs to decide.

[whiplash]

I think breaking up chapters and then discussing after a group of chapters would keep us on topic and the work would be fresh in our minds.

[mobody]

How about Laurie R. Kings "A grave Talent"?  its a good read, well constructed mystery and the main character is a SF Detective who is gay. There are a series of these, I think the 4th or 5th one is due out soon, but this is the first, it won an Edgar award (which is the highest the literary equivalent of an Oscar for mystery writers) "A Grave Talent" remains, as far as I know, the only mystery novel to win the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and feature a lesbian detective as its main character.

[Desecra]

Ooh, I like a good mystery .

[johnbeene]

Not long ago I began reading All The Pretty Horses.  McCarthy has a unique style of writing but I found it easy to adapt to.  He often writes in long flowing sentences that somehow manage to be both lush and spare.

I have to tell you in all honesty that his writing is some of the most beautiful I've ever read.  At times it is rushing and rapturous and you find yourself breathless.

His description of landscape are so evocative.  The story feels big (you know that there are great themes being addressed) but the inner life of the characters is never lost.

There is a lot of Spanish in the story that is not translated.  Much can be inferred from the story line but I have a link to all the translations so that shouldn't be a problem.

I would love to discuss this book with lovers of literature.

[Dixon]

 This sounds good and I'll be happy with whatever book is chosen. A month sounds fine to read it, and what, a month to discuss it before the next one? I've never been in a book club before TBH I've not read many books in the last ten years apart from factual stuff but I used to read a lot (I have bookcases full of books) and it'd be good to get into the habit again. I commute to work by train now so I have plenty of regular reading time available.

[LSky94]

A month sounds fine to read it, and what, a month to discuss it before the next one?

I think this is where you guys need moderator or something like that.  In the example I gave earlier, our professor had us read a few chapters and discuss the themes until we progressed to the end.  For an online situation maybe reading the entire book would work better?  The only time we read something in its entirety before discussing was when we read a short story.  I don't know.  Either way, a moderator is helpful to guide the pacing of the discussion, and anyone can bring up any other element of the book as it progresses.  Might be a good idea to have someone who has already read the selection and is more intimately familiar with the novel to lead or moderate, you can take turns too.  I don't know why I am posting this, I really don't think I will participate at this point, I just like for people to read more, lol.  Good luck.

[whiplash]

LSky94 I agree with you and I mentioned this earlier.  Unless we are reading a short story, it would be best to read 3-4 chapters at a time and then discuss those before moving on.  To discuss an entire work at one time would be daunting and the discussion would be too fragmented - IMO.

[michaelflanagansf]

I would suggest that as opposed to a haphazard approach we could split the book into quarters (or the closest chapter we would come to) and discuss them once a week - our likes, dislikes, questions, general thoughs, plot points, character development, etc.

I would further suggest that it would probably be a good idea to do this on a weekend, so that those who work would have a good chance to catch up if they needed to.

The nice thing about an online book group is that if you haven't caught up, you wouldn't need to read the thread till you were.  And you could read and post after the fact.

I'd be glad to act as a group leader here, if no one has any problem with that.

I'm going to put up a poll with people to vote on suggestions.  We should  be able to come up with our book by the beginning of next week and then give ourselves the remainder of the week to pick up the book.  That would put us in line to discuss the first quarter on the weekend of 6/2, the second quarter on 6/9,  the third on 6/16 and the final quarter on the weekend of 6/23.

This sound okay to all?

[All4one]

I have read without comment, but for the record, am happy to read whatever is chosen, and to try to do it on the timeline you suggest.
Thank you for all the work that went into presentation of suggested readings, Michael.

[michaelflanagansf]

I have read without comment, but for the record, am happy to read whatever is chosen, and to try to do it on the timeline you suggest.
Thank you for all the work that went into presentation of suggested readings, Michael.

You bet!  And, I'm really happy follow the suggestions of the forum to move this along so we can get started.

[notBastet]

I'd be glad to act as a group leader here, if no one has any problem with that.

I'm going to put up a poll with people to vote on suggestions.  We should  be able to come up with our book by the beginning of next week and then give ourselves the remainder of the week to pick up the book.  That would put us in line to discuss the first quarter on the weekend of 6/2, the second quarter on 6/9,  the third on 6/16 and the final quarter on the weekend of 6/23.

This sound okay to all?

Sounds good to me!

[Junior]

You bet!

And in the interest of having a head start on finding the next book, maybe we could do as was suggested by someone and decided on the next book half-way through the first one?

[whiplash]

Sounds great MichaelF! Let me know if you need any help, not sure what I could do, but would be happy to help in any way, Lydia