Book Club?

lemon_of_old

Hi all,

I was just browing through the Galway forum and spotted this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055064051

I'm just wondering if there's something similar in Sligo as it sounds like a great evening and something a little bit different. It beats being stuck in front of the box every night!

Xiney

Sounds good to me, the only caveat being that I work evenings so I probably couldn't go

(Unless we were to hold it on Thursday evening )

TequilaMockingBird

I'd enjoy that!

lemon_of_old

Pity you work evenings Xiney, I used to do the same myself for a few years, I know the feeling!

Well I guess the best thing to do is just see if we can get enough people interested, and sit down and work out the time that suits everyone to meet. Spread the word guys!

Mrs.T

There is one in (dare I say it.....Co.Leitrim - Dromahair to be exact). I think they meet in the local pub too.

lemon_of_old

Eek! Dromahair! Was hoping there'd be something in Sligo town.


*Doesn't even really know where Dromahair is but it sounds faaar away*

Mrs.T

lemon_of_old wrote: »

Eek! Dromahair! Was hoping there'd be something in Sligo town.


*Doesn't even really know where Dromahair is but it sounds faaar away*

It's only a 15 minute drive from Sligo. Ask at the library, I'm pretty sure they'd know where there was one.

TequilaMockingBird

I'd be up for one in town, but I can't make Dromahair, my passport is out of date.

lemon_of_old

LOL! Agreed! I might pop into the library during the week and see if there's anything in town, if not, who knows, we might get enough boardsies to start one of our own. Dunno how many people are based near the town though.

takola

That would be fun.

Let us know if you find anything in town Lemon of old and if not we can see about setting up one for boardsies in town. I don't have a car so it would need to be in town for me to make it.

Madge

Hey lemon_of_old, thats a good idea!
I'm def interested, and a town location would suit me

Mrs.T

So, if you were to have a book club, would you be able to put the title of the books you're reading here on the boards? I'd be interested to see what everyone's reading.
I probably wouldn't be able to commit myself to reading a book in a "deadline". I have "The Curious Incident About A Dog" to read, which I've wanted to read for a long time. I just can't seem to find the motivation to read it.... I'm quite hopless that way

TequilaMockingBird

Mrs.T wrote: »

So, if you were to have a book club, would you be able to put the title of the books you're reading here on the boards? I'd be interested to see what everyone's reading.
I probably wouldn't be able to commit myself to reading a book in a "deadline". I have "The Curious Incident About A Dog" to read, which I've wanted to read for a long time. I just can't seem to find the motivation to read it.... I'm quite hopless that way

Its a great book Mrs T.

We could have a thread aswell, discussing the chosen book, which could be fun if any of us can't get to a meet. I read alot, but have the memory of a goldfish, so I would re-read if required. I LOVE books!

Oooh I'm looking forward to this, thanks Lemon!

lemon_of_old

I'm delighted so many people are interested in this, it's something I've always wanted to try, and like yourselves, I love reading but need the motivation to find the time sometimes.

Yeah definitely we could make it a combined group/thread club, and spur each other to get the book read when one of us is lagging behind!

I like the way the group in Galway did it, they took the list of books shortlisted for the Booker prize (I think??) and then decided to pick 3 books from the list to start from. After those 3 books were finished, each member took it in turn to suggest a book they thought would be a good choice. They gave themselves 2 weeks to read each book.

And it's a great idea to discuss the book on boards, maybe we could have a book club sticky? And each week have a good chat about the book, whether we can make it to the meeting or not?

Glad to see such interest!

Xiney

Yeah I've got about 5 books going at the minute. It's on my list of things to do :rolleyes:

Still, if there was a thread, it would have to be in conjunction with an actual Sligo book club in real life. Otherwise it doesn't belong in the Sligo forum but in the literature forum, I'm afraid.

TequilaMockingBird

The Glasshouse might be a good venue, they have those circular booth things in the bar upstairs that would be good for a chat, and they are a little enclosed as well, which would help, I think.

Go Sligo Boardsies Book Club!

I'm itching to suggest a book...!

cronndiesel

there are ''quick reads'' books some can be read on a 1hr journey etc theyre great for those who are in a rush or who d like to read but cant just bring themselves to- just an idea
just ask at your local liberary for the ''quick reads'' section

N.B. be sure to ask as well for the large print books the selection usually isnt great but you can order a book from an other liberary in the county/country

Xiney

A quick read would be great - maybe one of yeats' poems to get started? It is a Sligo book club after all

(And I hate to admit it but I've never read one of his poems in full...)

takola

Xiney wrote: »

A quick read would be great - maybe one of yeats' poems to get started? It is a Sligo book club after all

(And I hate to admit it but I've never read one of his poems in full...)

Oh please for the love of god no! I've never finished one of them either and I was born here

lemon_of_old

We studied Yeats when I was in school, and I quite liked it. I still remember some bits "What need you, being come to sense, but fumble in a greasy till". It's weird the things you remember from school

Not sure if I'd be up for reading a book of his poetry though, too many memories of a nun peering at me from under her glasses (and her habit).

Why don't we get the ball rolling and suggest some titles? We can make a list and each take a turn to choose one?

Btw, didn't get a chance to call into town to hit the library today, work went a bit haywire, but I should get a chance tomorrow.

Oh and about the venue, I've never been to the upstairs bar in the Glasshouse, but it sounds like it would suit us perfectly!

DenMan

That's a great idea. I do work for a film production company which is based in Dromahair. A book club would be a fantastic idea. I did a lot of writing courses in Dolly's cottage in Strandhill. Very worthwhile and a lot of fun. It is great to get the chance to work in that environment and be surrounded by like minded individuals. Brilliant.

Xiney

I'm suggesting it's held on the second and fourth Thursday night of every month starting on the 26th of June.

2 reasons:

1) that leaves peoples fridays free
2) that gives us a couple of weeks to read a book, 3 weeks for the first one
3) that means I can go

lemon_of_old

That's cool with me, but 7.45 - 8pm is the earliest I can make it on Thursday - Thursday is surfing day! If others are ok with having it at that time, then I'll second it.

lemon_of_old

Just some ideas for our first few reads:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/82
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html
http://www.richardandjudybookclub.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=15201&storeId=10101&categoryId=45136&langId=100&parent_category_rn=15551&top_category=15551
http://www.oprah.com/tows/booksseen/tows_booksseen_main.jhtml

TequilaMockingBird

If poetry is a choice, then it not for me.

How about starting with a title from the Man Booker Prize list?
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1021

I'm not bothered what book, hopefully no chick-lit or biographies, other than that I don't mind.

I was told today that if we do organise a Sligo Boardsies Book Club, that we can contact the library and they will order in the amount of copies of the title we require. Cool!

TequilaMockingBird

Haha! Snap Mz Lemon!

Some great lists there.

Stick them all in a hat, and pick one.

Xiney

mmmm Salman Rushdie


I love fatwa in the morning

Mrs.T

DenMan wrote: »

That's a great idea. I do work for a film production company which is based in Dromahair. A book club would be a fantastic idea. I did a lot of writing courses in Dolly's cottage in Strandhill. Very worthwhile and a lot of fun. It is great to get the chance to work in that environment and be surrounded by like minded individuals. Brilliant.

Where is the company based? We are also in Dromahair...... ssshhhh don't tell the rest .
Going to check out the book lists too. I would like to join a book club in the future, I think it's a great idea to read books that you wouldn't normally read. Some of my favourite books have been found on the off chance.
That's great that the library will get the books in for a book club too!

Sligored

a book club ... wow .. that would be a shocking idea - in the middle of summer. please get out and do something useful or worthwhile. sligo is a great place. maybe a sightseeing club or a walking club ... but a book club - dont do it.
or at least take the discussion to another forum -

takola

Sligored wrote: »

a book club ... wow .. that would be a shocking idea - in the middle of summer. please get out and do something useful or worthwhile. sligo is a great place. maybe a sightseeing club or a walking club ... but a book club - dont do it.
or at least take the discussion to another forum -

Sligored if either of the mod's thought this discussion deserved to be in another forum we would have moved it. It just so happens that we're both in favour of this idea.

If you don't like it, feel free to not visit this thread.

And no, we won't be taking this discussion to another forum.

Sligored

maybe this is the wrong place to say this but my frustration with the fact that this is more like a chat room than a forum .. i will probably get an infraction for saying this but i am not surprised the last two mods left due to nonsense posting. and i know this because i am very friendly with basquille..
this used to be a great opinions and facts forum but has degenerated badly in my opinion .. for what its worth.
please mods try and get it back to where it was

Xiney

Before we go down this avenue further, may I remind you that this is not the thread to have this discussion in, please take it to feedback, pm, or start a new thread in the Sligo board where we can discuss the "new" Sligo forum.

takola

Sligored wrote: »

maybe this is the wrong place to say this but my frustration with the fact that this is more like a chat room than a forum .. i will probably get an infraction for saying this but i am not surprised the last two mods left due to nonsense posting. and i know this because i am very friendly with basquille..
this used to be a great opinions and facts forum but has degenerated badly in my opinion .. for what its worth.
please mods try and get it back to where it was

You're right, This is not the correct place to discuss this.

First of all I would advise against you using mufflers and basquille's leaving to add to your point as neither of them are around to back you up at the moment. Also neither of them have mentioned (that I am aware of) anywhere in the forum why they've stopped modding so what you're saying there doesn't count.

I'm going to make this clear. The Sligo forum is to be used to discuss things related to Sligo. If people in Sligo want to create a book club then they have every right to do so and every right to post it in the Sligo forum. We will ask that all discussion of the book club be kept to this one thread. That is all!

Sligored it's not up to you to tell either myself or Xiney how to run the forum. If you don't like what is going on in here then I'm(we're I'm sure) sorry you feel that way. We will do our best to keep the forum as friendly and well run as possible, We won't let threads run off-topic and we will uphold the charter rules.

I'm issuing you with a warning for back seat modding. Any further off-topic posts will result in bannings.

TequilaMockingBird

Sligored wrote: »

a book club ... wow .. that would be a shocking idea - in the middle of summer. please get out and do something useful or worthwhile. -

That was quite offensive to me.


Anyhoo, Old Lemon (:D) did you pick us a book yet?

elshambo

Sligored wrote: »

a book club ... wow .. that would be a shocking idea - in the middle of summer.

Er summer is the perfect time to start a club like this, should all be in decent mood when arriving, people cant use the weather as an excuse and get into the habit of going.
By the time winter comes they are all in the habit and club is solid, try in winter, 2 one week 3 another etc

1st book: Puckoon by the milligan? his first book, set in Sligo, good fun!
ps. If you saw the film (awful by all accounts) dont hold it against the book.

VERY sligo sence of humour to it, mate from England i loaned it to some years ago jokingly asked me how many times it was read to me as a child (id only bought it 3 weeks before:D )

TequilaMockingBird

elshambo wrote: »

Er summer is the perfect time to start a club like this, should all be in decent mood when arriving, people cant use the weather as an excuse and get into the habit of going.
By the time winter comes they are all in the habit and club is solid, try in winter, 2 one week 3 another etc

1st book: Puckoon by the milligan? his first book, set in Sligo, good fun!ps. If you saw the film (awful by all accounts) dont hold it against the book.

VERY sligo sence of humour to it, mate from England i loaned it to some years ago jokingly asked me how many times it was read to me as a child (id only bought it 3 weeks before:D )

I'd go with that, if its ok with everyone else?

elshambo

sueme wrote: »

I'd go with that, if its ok with everyone else?

One warning it is more monty python than friends

takola

Sounds like a fun read! I need to sort out my library membership if they'll order in books for us. How long do we have to read them?

TequilaMockingBird

Me too Takola, I'll have to come up with an alias if I'm to join again, I'm not the best at returning books, so I think I'll have to buy them.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/026-6442387-2895635?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=puckoon+milligan

TequilaMockingBird

Sorry, another suggestion! Untill we get some idea of numbers, prehaps try to pick a current bestseller? Tesco (*spit*) often have bestsellers for 5.95.

takola

I'll have to get a new alias myself. Actually i can just get my OH to get the books for me!

Haven't seen the bestsellers in Tesco but that may be a good idea Sue!

hupyago

seems like a good idea to use books based in sligo
like local writers such as spike
since there are so many decent bookshops in sligo maybe we could buy the titles of them or arrange something to buy titles in bulk for everyone involved

Hail 2 Da Chimp

sueme wrote: »

Tesco (*spit*)

:d

TequilaMockingBird

hupyago wrote: »

since there are so many decent bookshops in sligo maybe we could buy the titles of them or arrange something to buy titles in bulk for everyone involved

I agree that we should support the local bookstores, but for some the price may be a consideration, and unfortunately, the bookshops - through no fault of their own - are usually a lot more expensive for the same title. Thats a whole different thread though!

I'm not bothered, I'll give any book a shot.

Wheres Mz Lemon with her suggestions? Come on Missus, get it moving!

lemon_of_old

Oh the pressure!

Firstly, I agree with reading Sligo authors, I suggest that we arrange it in such a manner that every second or every third book is from a Sligo author or has a link to Sligo (if possible). I am completely ignorant of Sligo authors so I'll be relying on the rest of you to come up with suggestions!

Second, great news about the library ordering in bulk. What we can do instead of everybody trying to renew their subscription under aliases (:p) is for a couple of us to take out the books for everyone, I think you're allowed to take 2 or 3 books at a time? Just gotta make sure everyone returns them!

A good idea would be to make a list of the books we're going to read in the order that we're going to read them, possibly always having 5 or 6 books on this list. This will give people plenty of advance time to source the book if it's not available in the library or tesco (I laughed at the spitting btw!). There really isn't a great selection at Tesco though. I'm sure the local bookshops would arrange a discount of some sort if we are ordering in bulk.

Thanks for the book suggestions so far. I'm going to add mine to the list, it's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. The same author wrote "The Kite-Runner" which I just recently finished and it was a great read, I highly recommend it. This is meant to be as good if not better.

So how's about everybody suggest a book and we'll make a list to keep us going for the coming months?

brianthebard

lemon_of_old wrote: »

Oh the pressure!

Firstly, I agree with reading Sligo authors, I suggest that we arrange it in such a manner that every second or every third book is from a Sligo author or has a link to Sligo (if possible). I am completely ignorant of Sligo authors so I'll be relying on the rest of you to come up with suggestions!

I imagine we would run out of books to read quite quickly, but worth doing for the first two or three weeks. After that the connections will mostly be "he/she was friends with Yeats!".

Second, great news about the library ordering in bulk. What we can do instead of everybody trying to renew their subscription under aliases (:p) is for a couple of us to take out the books for everyone, I think you're allowed to take 2 or 3 books at a time? Just gotta make sure everyone returns them!

you can take ten books out at a time.

So how's about everybody suggest a book and we'll make a list to keep us going for the coming months?

I have no suggestions at the minute, sorry.

sobriquet

Great idea, but I think I'll rule myself out: I went on a book buying binge a few months ago to get myself back into the habit so I've a stack waiting to be read.

Just some suggestions for Sligo-related authors: Dermot Healy (novelist, playwright and poet who lives in north Sligo). More tenuous: DBC Pierre, who won the booker a couple of years back. Ozzie, but lives in Leitrim AFAIK.

gustavo

I'm in anyway , sounds like a great idea

This is another book by a Sligo author set in Sligo

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eight-ball-Boogie-Declan-Burke/dp/1903305071

TequilaMockingBird

gustavo wrote: »

I'm in anyway , sounds like a great idea

This is another book by a Sligo author set in Sligo

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eight-ball-Boogie-Declan-Burke/dp/1903305071

Yeah, I heard about that book on this forum before, I meant to try and find it.

I've read both the Khaled Hosseini books, and both are really great (in my opinion!), "I didn't want them to end" type of books.

As for another Sligo-ish book, Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks is daft but a good laugh, and he visits Sligo in it!

I've found alot of good books through the Richard and Judy Bookclub (don't snigger you at the back), it might be a good starting point?

lemon_of_old

I just popped into town on my lunch break and paid a flying visit to Liber bookshop. The girl there said she thinks we would get a 10% discount if we're buying the books for a book club but would have to check with the boss. Still, better than nothing.

Keep the suggestions coming! Would ye agree that if someone in the group has read the book already we shouldn't use it unless that person is dying to read it again?

Xiney

How about after the first meeting we save money by having meetings in peoples homes, bring your own wine sort of thing? I really like the idea of the Sligo book club supporting Sligo bookshops if possible.

Also I'd really like to read that funny book set in Sligo with the dark humour - love dark humour. However, I think we should start out with a serious book just because I'm at a loss as to how we would discuss a comedy?