Boards book club

MungBean

Probably been mentioned before and maybe even tried but would anyone be interested in a kind of informal boards book club ?

I want to get back reading as much as I used to but live in the country so an actual book club is no good, other online book clubs dont interest me as much as I spend lots of time on boards, it has a literature forum so why not have our own book club ?

Basically it would be informal, a book would be posted for the month and anyone interested would get it. Once the book is named the discussion can start as people will get it and read it faster than others or may have already read it, they can post at their leisure. Only thing thats needed is enough people to be interested so I wont be talking to myself and some way of determining which book to pick each month.

Anyone interested ?

jam_mac_jam

Sounds like a good idea. I am in.

Denerick

Every six months this is proposed. Somebody tends to take charge, a book is then decided upon by wonderfully democratic principles. The net result is: A) Very few people read it and those who have read it seem to dissipate into nothingness when a second book is proposed.

As the voice of experience, I must warn you; abandon this mad scheme now, before it is too late.

MungBean

Denerick wrote: »

Every six months this is proposed. Somebody tends to take charge, a book is then decided upon by wonderfully democratic principles. The net result is: A) Very few people read it and those who have read it seem to dissipate into nothingness when a second book is proposed.

As the voice of experience, I must warn you; abandon this mad scheme now, before it is too late.

What was the intervals between books in the past ? Perhaps allowing extra time would be the key. So even new people happening on it would be able to get a copy and give their tuppence before the "club" aka me and jam_mac_jam (so far) roll onto the next one.

Or perhaps putting up a short list of a few titles and allowing people to read one or all of them in a couple month period and discuss what they want rather than lose interest when a book that isnt up their alley pops up.

Also as an experienced man in the field of broken dreams how were the books chosen in those troubled times ?

Denerick

MungBean wrote: »

Also as an experienced man in the field of broken dreams how were the books chosen in those troubled times ?

Usually a few people nominated a few titles and it was voted upon in a poll. I must add that the poll received a far higher vote than the number of eventual readers.

They were troubled times, Eliot Rosewater in particular has a tendancy to lash out whenever he is reminded of it.

MungBean

Denerick wrote: »

Usually a few people nominated a few titles and it was voted upon in a poll. I must add that the poll received a far higher vote than the number of eventual readers.

They were troubled times, Eliot Rosewater in particular has a tendancy to lash out whenever he is reminded of it.

Added a poll to gauge opinion on it. Ya think it might work if people have a choice of a few titles and ample time to read and post about them ?

flyaway.

I'd definitely be interested!

Earthhorse

Wouldn't be into it myself but given that it's taken off and faltered a few times would it not be better to try and organise a chat room or some sort of virtual meeting place to chat about the book? I think the problem with getting something like this off the ground is that people feel they can come back to a thread whenever they like rather than having to be there for a discussion at a particular time.

Just a though. Best of luck with it, whatever you decide to do.

MungBean

Earthhorse wrote: »

Wouldn't be into it myself but given that it's taken off and faltered a few times would it not be better to try and organise a chat room or some sort of virtual meeting place to chat about the book? I think the problem with getting something like this off the ground is that people feel they can come back to a thread whenever they like rather than having to be there for a discussion at a particular time.

Just a though. Best of luck with it, whatever you decide to do.

I wouldnt know much about creating virtual meeting places. Boards would be the first thing to jump to mind anyway. Plus I think live discussion might put some people off if it interferes with other things, being able to respond whenever you have the time personally and being able to take your time while responding may also open it to a wider group so even if we dont have a large core group there could be enough people popping in and out to keep it moving along and interesting.

The only set thing people really have to do compared to a normal book club is just read the book. If you go to that much effort then posting your opinion can be done at any stage and having no strict timing will stop people saying "discussion is next week I'll never read it in time so why bother".

Plus for someone like you who's not part of if you can always just spot an interesting book that we do and join in, or if you've read it before you can join in too as opposed to a book club where your not involved if you dont get the book and discuss it at the same rate as others in a strict time limit.

cailinoBAC

I've watched the boards book clubs start and fail. I've never taken part (I don't think so anyway) because I was very enthusiastic about another online book club and enjoyed the selection process etc. but never really said too much when discussion time came. I think I always felt it was like doing English homework. I much prefer reading books and then talking about them, not writing an essay.

MungBean

cailinoBAC wrote: »

I've watched the boards book clubs start and fail. I've never taken part (I don't think so anyway) because I was very enthusiastic about another online book club and enjoyed the selection process etc. but never really said too much when discussion time came. I think I always felt it was like doing English homework. I much prefer reading books and then talking about them, not writing an essay.

Why did the others fail you think ? Just lack of interest ?

As for the essay writing you can say as little of as much as you want on boards as ya know. Some people will give an intellectual literary critique while others may simple say why they liked/didnt like it. Even if you dont have anything to say you can just thank the odd post you agree with.

ilovenerds

MungBean wrote: »

Why did the others fail you think ? Just lack of interest ?

As for the essay writing you can say as little of as much as you want on boards as ya know. Some people will give an intellectual literary critique while others may simple say why they liked/didnt like it. Even if you dont have anything to say you can just thank the odd post you agree with.

I think the main problem with the past few reincarnations of the book club was that the choice of book did not really lend themselves to structured debate. Certain novels provoke a heavily emotional response, cannot be analysed and hence the only contribution one can make is a rather trivial "I liked/disliked it".

And then there was the Sarah Waters book which was just bad.

MungBean

ilovenerds wrote: »

I think the main problem with the past few reincarnations of the book club was that the choice of book did not really lend themselves to structured debate. Certain novels provoke a heavily emotional response, cannot be analysed and hence the only contribution one can make is a rather trivial "I liked/disliked it".

And then there was the Sarah Waters book which was just bad.

What would you think about a 5 book list to be read and be discussed over say a three month period. Pick as many or as little titles from the list as you like, read them and discuss them as you get around to it. No pressure to read a specific book and try to force a discussion out of it, even if one book doesnt leave much to be discussed another one could make up for it.

First one could be a winter book club, if it works it works and if it doesnt it doesnt. Worst case scenario a couple people discuss the same book but it leads to nothing much discussion wise. Best case scenario a good few people read several books and the discussion is long and varied and the the spring book club gets set up. If it gets a good group following (going on past book clubs this is beyond hopeful) then if could become more organised or better structured for more frequent picks.

Denerick

ilovenerds wrote: »

And then there was the Sarah Waters book which was just bad.

I liked the Sarah Waters book. Heathen.

Einhard

I propose The Once and Future King by TH White...oh wait a second, getting a sense of deja vu here....Is this late August again??

emeraldstar

Denerick wrote: »

I liked the Sarah Waters book. Heathen.

I took it as that they were referring to the major fail that was the attempted group read of the book, rather than the book itself that was bad.

MungBean

Can anyone interested propose a book to do ? Regardless of how many are interested I'm going to go ahead with this anyway with whoever wants to join in. Even if its just me and one or two others it will be something.

Current structure:

• Winter Book Club to run until end of Jan (or beyond if a Spring one isnt done).
• Three books chosen from user input.
• One, two or three of the books can be read depending on a persons preference.
• Discussion to be kept to one thread with post title stating book being discussed.
• No set time other than the three months, read and discuss at your own pace.

Anyone with reservations or miffed at past failures please join in, this isnt a very formally structured group reading so much as its just a thread to discuss 3 recommended books that people may or may not have read recently. Hopefully having it all in one thread will keep it active and enable books to be compared, encourage others to read more than one if another title gets a good response.

Please recommend a title or way of deciding on the titles and any thoughts you have on the structure of the "club" for want of a better word. I'd like to have the titles set in the next week so people genuinely interested can get them or whatever ones they want and once the ball is rolling then maybe a few others will pick a title and join in seeing as there will be ample time and opportunity.

guyserious

Hi, I'm fairly new to boards so I've missed out on any examples of this not working in the past, but nonetheless I'd be on for giving it ago.

A friend recently recommended John Butler's The Tenderloin, "the best new book I've read in a long time" were his exact words. I've been meaning to check it out so I'd like to put it forward as a suggestion if people are interested?

Obviously if nobody esle wants tp read this I'm pretty much open to anything

dr gonzo

Nice work mungbean. I have to say, i came into this thread with a cynical attitude very much due to the sheer amount of times these clubs have fallen apart. In fairness though, a book club every few months is always better then an inactive lit board and more to the point i think youve hit upon a good idea here, the formal approach just does not work in this setting.

If you can get people to take part and the other people who skip the first book to come back you might very well have a book club on your hands.

Good luck, ill keep an eye and try and take part where i can.

Kiva.D

Hi - I would enjoy participating. However, I am a newbie to fiction, so my input into the book discussion may be terribly parochial for well-read participants.

The Tenderloin, suggested by guyserious sounds wonderful.

MungBean

Kiva.D wrote: »

Hi - I would enjoy participating. However, I am a newbie to fiction, so my input into the book discussion may be terribly parochial for well-read participants.

The Tenderloin, suggested by guyserious sounds wonderful.

Dont worry about your input, I certainly wont be breaking new ground in literary review with whatever drivel I put forward. We can hang back and just argue and contradict others to make it look like we know what they are talking about. If all else fails I'll rob a half decent review off of Amazon.

The Tenderloin does sound interesting. I dont usually read much new fiction either, only when someone directly recommends them so I have no clue how to pick a decent one. A couple of books that keep popping up when I root about though are The Sense of an Ending, The Sisters Brothers, Dark Matter and Night Circus.

Kiva.D

MungBean wrote: »

Dont worry about your input, I certainly wont be breaking new ground in literary review with whatever drivel I put forward. We can hang back and just argue and contradict others to make it look like we know what they are talking about. If all else fails I'll rob a half decent review off of Amazon.

The Tenderloin does sound interesting. I dont usually read much new fiction either, only when someone directly recommends them so I have no clue how to pick a decent one. A couple of books that keep popping up when I root about though are The Sense of an Ending, The Sisters Brothers, Dark Matter, Night Circus.

...Thank you MungBean... I am clueless as to book choice, but The Sense of an Ending and Night Circus do sound like good reads.

MungBean

Any more recommendations for this? Gonna stick up the books tomorrow and at the moment its looking like The Tenderloin, The Sense of an Ending and Night Circus. So if anyone has anything different they would like to be included then speak up.