Boards Book Club - Book Selections for Months of August & September

wayhey

Well guys and girls, I meant to get on last night but couldn't - sorry about that!

The reception for a Boards Book Club has been really positive. If you haven't heard we're going to choose a book, read it for that month and create a thread where we can discuss it. That's all there is to it!

Here's the general plan right now:

• Lay out a 6 month plan of themes/genres/ideas to pick books under
• Select our two Books of the Month for August and September
• Get reading our chosen book in August and discuss it in a dedicated thread Don't forget spoiler tags!!

I'll PM out selections as soon as they're known. Let me know if you want to be added to the list. I've taken usernames from the original thread already.

At the end of August we will choose a book for October; at the end of September for November, and so on. I think that gives people plenty of time to get their hands on books from a secondhand bookshop or the library on time

I've never done this before so it's all on a trial basis! If something doesn't work for us we can always change it.

Most importantly, I want this to be enjoyable! I understand that people are busy and might only dip in or out or might miss a month's reading. Even if there's a few people to discuss a book with that's grand with me!


So, suggestions for themes/genres? I personally think "Classics" would be a good place to start for August- there's plenty of classic books I haven't read, and I think that they're easy for people to get their hands on!

Please select 3 themes and 3 genres. (Keeps the numbers nice and simple for totting up) You can vote for someone else's suggestions by including them in yours.

My Suggestions for the 6 Month Plan:

Themes: Redemption, Revenge, Fear.
Genres: "Classic" Books, Autobiography/Memoir, Crime (Fiction).

I'll add them all up, choosing the most popular and get the list up ASAP.
The deadline is 9.00 am, Thursday, 28th July 2011. Then we can choose books under the most popular themes/genres suggested!

EDIT: Suggest past the deadline and I promise I'll do my best to get it into the plan! Either way, the plan is going up on Thursday at some stage

Einhard

I like this!

Only thing I'd have reservations about though, is the whole classifying of books into themes and genres. Many of the books I read are somewhat difficult to place in one particular category- how would one classify Kafka on the Shore, or Grendel for example? Even the more obvious categorisations cause some difficulties- is Fatherland a historical novel, an altered states work, a thriller, a crime work etc?

I know there has to be some sort of order, or else we'd have shortlists of 100s every month, but if we stick too rigidly to categories, I fear that some excellent novels might slip through simply because they can't be easily defined.

Asphyxia

Love what I'm seeing so far but I do agree with Einhard. I'm going to have a think tonight about what I'd like but for the most part I'm happy seeing the suggestions from others

Slow Show

I want to take part in this but I'm actually not too bothered how we go about it so can I be forgiven for not entering my ideas, because they'd more than likely just be pointless and skewer the whole thing.

dr gonzo

Slow Show wrote: »

I want to take part in this but I'm actually not too bothered how we go about it so can I be forgiven for not entering my ideas, because they'd more than likely just be pointless and skewer the whole thing.

+1 to this, i'd throw out book ideas but im not great on themes and that kind of thing so i might just take a step back and leave it in more capable hands. Although im very keen to take part.

Asphyxia

I agree with the above posters I'm not great the themes and such but would still love to read what's suggested and take part in the discussion afterwards. I'm still very interested and excited about it

wayhey

Einhard wrote: »

I like this!

Only thing I'd have reservations about though, is the whole classifying of books into themes and genres. Many of the books I read are somewhat difficult to place in one particular category- how would one classify Kafka on the Shore, or Grendel for example? Even the more obvious categorisations cause some difficulties- is Fatherland a historical novel, an altered states work, a thriller, a crime work etc?

I know there has to be some sort of order, or else we'd have shortlists of 100s every month, but if we stick too rigidly to categories, I fear that some excellent novels might slip through simply because they can't be easily defined.

Your last paragraph nails the whole point of this! I don't want to get bogged down in themes/genres and analysis, but I do feel it'll stop us getting huuuuuge shortlists of books to choose from.

When we have our criteria for picking books you get the chance to nominate a book under that criteria! A quick sentence saying why we should pick it would be all that'd be required. That's also why I threw in themes, to capture books that aren't easily categorised into a genre. It also works vice versa

I was thinking that if this is all too complicated and heavy I can just throw a list together with popular themes/genres and we could get to sorting books out, but I wanted ye all to be as happy as possible with any choices.

Einhard

wayhey wrote: »

Your last paragraph nails the whole point of this! I don't want to get bogged down in themes/genres and analysis, but I do feel it'll stop us getting huuuuuge shortlists of books to choose from.

When we have our criteria for picking books you get the chance to nominate a book under that criteria! A quick sentence saying why we should pick it would be all that'd be required. That's also why I threw in themes, to capture books that aren't easily categorised into a genre. It also works vice versa

I was thinking that if this is all too complicated and heavy I can just throw a list together with popular themes/genres and we could get to sorting books out, but I wanted ye all to be as happy as possible with any choices.

That's a fair point, and I'm happy to sign up to whatever you think is best, but I still can't figure out how I'd classify many of the books I've read!

Perhaps...if the genre/theme doesn't work out, each participant could nominate a book, and then have a vote on which one we read?

Anyway, for my genre I'd choose...hmmmm....historical fiction...fantasy...themes of friendship...

I'll leave it at that. TBH, and I hate to seem like I'm being a nuisance, but I can't really think of many works that fit a defined category beyond that.

Eliot Rosewater

Myself, Denerick, raah! and others tried this a few times, and it didn't work out. The books we tried were Dead Souls, Death and the Penguin and The Little Stranger. I think the main thing you need is someone who will push the club on the forum regularly to get people reading and discussing the book. Otherwise things seem to fall by the wayside. Anyway, don't be disappointed if it doesn't work out!

I think it would be good to select a short book (say 200 - 300 pages), and something recent enough and so accessible? Also, I personally think focusing on themes and issues and general literary analysis will make the club too heavy - if you select a good book those kind of discussion points will flow naturally.

cailin_donn

This is a great idea! My themes/nominations are

-books that deal with adolesence (not confined to adolescents only! Think of books like the Catcher in the Rye or The Go-Between?)

-romantic classics- Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights etc

-an "Irish" themed month? books by famous Irish writers such as Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw. Also contemporary writers.

-a month for plays- Playboy of the Western World, Translations, some Shakespeare maybe....

-books that have been made into popular TV shows/ films - the LOTR, True Blood series, even Pride and Prejudice which has 2 major screen adaptations and then we could discuss differences from book-screen etc...

wayhey

Einhard wrote: »

Perhaps...if the genre/theme doesn't work out, each participant could nominate a book, and then have a vote on which one we read?

Absolutely! We can chop, change and re-arrange to get the book club to work best for us. If this doesn't work I'm happy to go with whatever people want to do

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Myself, Denerick, raah! and others tried this a few times, and it didn't work out. The books we tried were Dead Souls, Death and the Penguin and The Little Stranger. I think the main thing you need is someone who will push the club on the forum regularly to get people reading and discussing the book. Otherwise things seem to fall by the wayside. Anyway, don't be disappointed if it doesn't work out!

I think it would be good to select a short book (say 200 - 300 pages), and something recent enough and so accessible? Also, I personally think focusing on themes and issues and general literary analysis will make the club too heavy - if you select a good book those kind of discussion points will flow naturally.

Thank you for the advice, absolutely all of it is invaluable and knowing the books you tried is really interesting too. I can't disagree with anything you're saying.

Maybe I haven't been clear enough, but the last thing I want to do is get bogged down in any sort of heavy analyses of the books! If people want to, feel free. The 6 month theme/genres/ideas just lay out a general framework and I think will help to get people out of their comfort zone reading-wise.

Asphyxia wrote: »

I agree with the above posters I'm not great the themes and such but would still love to read what's suggested and take part in the discussion afterwards. I'm still very interested and excited about it

Please feel comfortable to suggest something! I'm sure you've read lots of good books and have a favourite genre? Maybe you could suggest that and nominate a book under it for us to read? Or maybe there's a genre you'd like to get to know?

I want to stress no suggestion will be discarded!

Slow Show

OK well this won't take too long so I might as well add some input.

Themes - Death, Revenge, War

Genre - Fantasy, Classics, Historical fiction.

x_Ellie_x

Themes:

Popular for a Reason {Choose a book from the best sellers list. This would be a good theme for the 1st month to get people interested}

WW2 & the Holocaust {In another book club I belong to we recently did this theme and it was really popular. The book we choose was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak -- brilliant book if you haven't read it.}

A Movie theme {Choose a book that been made into a film. Most people watch a lot of films based on books and never actually read the book which is shame because most of the time the book is 100 times better than the film. }

CdeP

Genres:

• Fantasy

• Historical non-fiction

• Science fiction

Themes:

• Change

• Identity

• Voyage

Thanks for organising this wayhey.

raah!

I have to say I didn't think the book club I was involved in was such a failure. While there was hardly a wealth of discussion, I thoroughly enjoyed what little there was. I am completely free after the 17th of August anyway.

I don't have any genre preference but I would be interested to see a book about hating things. I think this is really rarely explored in fiction or music. And I don't mean just the kind of "The nazi's hated everyone, they're terrible". But more the kind of treatment given in Jack London's 'Moon Face'. Here he doesn't spend too much time passing judgement but just presents the characters hatred of moon face as a matter of fact. Dostoyevsky's 'The Villagre of Stepanchikovo' I think was also a good example in that it inspired a great deal of hatred in me for the main character. The book was actually difficult to read because the fellow was so unpleasant.

Related things I guess would be I guess good portrayals of bad things. The likes of very well drawn ugly people. Like a picture you look at and go 'that's repulsive, but very good'.

Other than that I'm not pushed, and would look forward to reading any kind of novels again, as I have been reading mostly non-fiction recently.

coffee_cake

So this is separate to the existing boards reading club then?

CdeP

bluewolf wrote: »

So this is separate to the existing boards reading club then?

Yep. Are you a member of that club, bluewolf?

Asphyxia

bluewolf wrote: »

So this is separate to the existing boards reading club then?

There's another Boards reading club I didn't know!

Callan57

Definitely very interested ... good idea to include current bestsellers IMO if you want to generate lively discussion. I'll read just about anything with the exception of Horror and those silly vampire books.

But I think keep it simple don't overcomplicate the selection process & maybe start with quicker reads to get into the swing of it, see how it goes and then maybe move on to 'heavier' stuff.

Quality

I love this idea. I will contribute.

Denerick

I'd love to read something by Dostoyoevsky. I recently read Crime and Punishment and thought it was utterly spellbinding. I want to read The Idiot but am nearly finished Game of Thrones, and intend to finish the rest of that series before I branch out into something new. Something to bear in mind.

wayhey

I've tallied up everything. A lot came out with single suggestions, I've written them all down for future consideration.

6 Month Selection Criteria

August - Fantasy
September - Revenge
October - Classics
December - Film/ TV Adaptations
January - Historical Fiction
February - Identity

Okay, so now we have to choose our FANTASY book for August

I know Fantasy can be considered a "heavy" topic- that's why I would urge people to nominate books that are accessible and one-off books (i.e. not long, sweeping books part of a huge saga).

I know that can be some of the appeal for fantasy readers, but try to bear in mind not everybody is familiar with fantasy. Basically we want a good read and I'd like something accessible to ease everyone in gently. It's at your discretion though.

Nominate a book like so:

Name:
Author:
Brief Synopsis:
Why We Should Read This Book:

You can select a book you've read before or one you haven't; wanting to read a book is just as good a reason as any! Although I'd like if experienced Fantasy readers could pick something they think we'd all enjoy

Nominations will be taken here until 8 pm Saturday 28th July. Normally I'd give longer, but we're a little tight for time so people can have the book for August. Then we'll put nominations up for vote

Denerick

EDIT: I second Einhard instead, and vote for 'Once and Future King'.

CdeP

Nice one wayhey.

Fantasy is not a genre I'm especially familiar with so I'll leave the suggestions up to those who are.

smilerxxx

I'm a little bit intimidated by the selection process. I think the genres, recent bestsellers etc is a great idea, however the themes is what I'm having difficulty with. Fantasy isn't my thing so as above i'll leave the selection to others

Caros

Very happy to leave the selection to others. I've already read a few books here based on reading Boardsie's opinions so I'm sure this will be grand too!

wayhey

smilerxxx wrote: »

I'm a little bit intimidated by the selection process. I think the genres, recent bestsellers etc is a great idea, however the themes is what I'm having difficulty with. Fantasy isn't my thing so as above i'll leave the selection to others

To anyone unfamiliar with fantasy, feel absolutely free to read up on a few, check the boards and recommend one you feel interested in reading! The Guardian website has a fantasy books section here if you'd like to explore a bit. There's a top 100 list I found here. That's only after a quick search- I've just seen the position of Twilight and... Watership Down... ? Not a great resource but a start!

I know flip all about fantasy but I'm hoping to read a bit and select something I'd be interested in

Blush_01

I'd be pretty interested in getting involved, been failing badly to get back into reading regularly.

Might I suggest that one person just decides what we'll read each month? We could nominate a different person each month, but to try to get consensus, even for a 6 month period, will end up being a minefield.

Having organised stuff through boards and tried to be diplomatic about it, someone needs to take charge and make definitive decisions. As long as there's a bit of variety I'm pretty sure we'll all get behind it, as it's a good excuse to read something we might not have, and an even better excuse to re:read an old favourite.

Just my 2 cents.

dr gonzo

Im not sure if this will go down well as i think the book club might want something a little... heavier perhaps?

Name: Neverwhere
Author: Neil Gaiman
Brief Synopsis: Everyman protagonist gets unwittingly roped into a game of murder and subterfuge in an alternate world beneath modern London.
Why We Should Read This Book: Like all of Gaimans stuff, its extremely imaginative with fantastic, 3 dimensional characters and it brings together the the imagination of a fantasy world in a recognisable setting with a very readable writing style.

Again im not sure if its what people are looking for but it might be a good starter?

smilerxxx

Name: The Five People You Meet in Heaven
AuthorMitch Albom
Brief Synopsis The story of an aging war veteran working in an amusement park who feels he has wasted his life away. He dies while trying to save a little girl when one of the rides goes wrong. Heaven he discovers is a processing area designed to examine the meaning of life through encounters with five people that accompany him through the most important parts. Metaphysically marvellous.

Why? It feels like a book that could create a good discussion. (hope that doesn't sound ridiculous)

wayhey

Blush_01 wrote: »

Might I suggest that one person just decides what we'll read each month? We could nominate a different person each month, but to try to get consensus, even for a 6 month period, will end up being a minefield.

Having organised stuff through boards and tried to be diplomatic about it, someone needs to take charge and make definitive decisions. As long as there's a bit of variety I'm pretty sure we'll all get behind it, as it's a good excuse to read something we might not have, and an even better excuse to re:read an old favourite.

Just my 2 cents.

Blush_01, I'm very open to your suggestion. I was thinking of that when we started selecting the 6 month plan.. and even as I tallied the suggestions and typed them up I started to think perhaps just "unveiling" a theme, idea or genre would work. Still, I'm glad we had some discussion because I can see what areas people are interested in. We'll see as the weeks go on I suppose. Maybe we could select a small panel of people to decide on nomination criteria. That'd ensure variety (I know that I would have been fearful of selecting fantasy without some encouragement people would've been interested.)

dr gonzo wrote: »

Like all of Gaimans stuff, its extremely imaginative with fantastic, 3 dimensional characters and it brings together the the imagination of a fantasy world in a recognisable setting with a very readable writing style.

Again im not sure if its what people are looking for but it might be a good starter?

I read American Gods by Gaiman in the past few weeks. I have to admit that I found his style very natural and accessible and the plot was very carefully crafted. I didn't love it, but I certainly wouldn't give up on Gaiman and I do think his style would be good for first timers to fantasy, going by American Gods anyway. Would you agree with that dr gonzo?

smilerxxx wrote: »

Why? It feels like a book that could create a good discussion. (hope that doesn't sound ridiculous)

Not at all It isn't a "typical" fantasy book at all. On Wikipedia it says the genre is "philosophical fiction". I have it upstairs and haven't read it yet. Thanks for getting involved The more nominations the better