Book Club Books for the month!

nesf

The results are in, and it was a close one, but people seemed to converge on a few titles (for heavys anyway!) so:

Heavy Books for the Month

Primary Book for the Month:
Book: Lolita
Author: Vladimir Nabokov

Secondary Book of the Month:
Title: "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
Author: Ernest Hemingway

I chose the above due to peoples responces and their choices, these would not be my personal pick of the books suggested (Umberto Eco's works are amazing), but we'll have different books next month

Casual Books for the Month

Right there wasn't any real convergence on a book choice here apart from Dan Brown, and I know some of you don't want to discuss him, we've been discussing him for too long on here!

So I'm going to chop and change it a little and give plenty of options! If you disagree with me choosing to do this, well, complain away, although the only book to get more than one vote was the Da Vinchi Code, and we've talked that to death on here.

So I propose:

Book: Digital Fortress
Author: Dan Brown

His first book iirc. It's a page turner and easy reading but it does allow easier critique of his style. Also a good topic of argument could be in drawing parallels between this book and the better known Da Vinchi Code. The reason why I didn't go with the Da Vinchi Code, is because it's been talked to death. This book is very similar in style and delivery, so it should appeal to fans of his. It also shows a lot of the flaws that are present in the Da Vinchi Code (we can discuss this later )

Book: The Wasp Factory
Author: Iain Banks

This is Iain Bank's debut novel. It's a fascinating read with interesting plot twists and some very evocative imagery. It's very accessable and should prove to be quite controversial. It is a book that most definitely gets a reaction from it's reader and I think it could provide some good material for discussion.

Book: Sophie's World
Author: Jostein Gaarder

Ok this book is not heavy reading!! It's a book for a weekend, and is to philosophy what pop science books are to physics. It's interesting, and is very accessable. It will be very interesting to debate the merits and flaws of this book. It really does divide people, I know philosophy majors who attribute this book as their inspiration to study it at third level, and I know people who have a lay interest in philosophy who can't stand this book or it's style. It will divide us, just like any good book should



With the above casual reads, I've tried to give people a good spread. Theres a good page turner in Digital Fortress, an intense and slightly disturbing image laden work in The Wasp Factory, and in Sophie's World there is a book that tries to communicate very complex concepts in a way that anyone can read. I think that the casual reads should provide enough choice and provide a lot of talk and discussion. If people disagree, then I'll change them, but my experiment with book suggestions didn't seem to work too well with casual reads. I think it is because it is too broad a catagory. So I've tried to give a good choice of books here. Remember, the whole idea of this is to get us all back into the habit of reading and thinking about what we've read.

I look forward to discussing the books with you all

theCzar

I've just finished "For Whom the Bell Tolls" can we discuss that now? I'll see if i can check out Lolita in the mean time

good job nesf, hopefully people will read a few of those!

nesf

theCzar wrote:

I've just finished "For Whom the Bell Tolls" can we discuss that now? I'll see if i can check out Lolita in the mean time

good job nesf, hopefully people will read a few of those!

Get off the mark first on Hemmingway mate! I'm sure there are others here who have read it and who are dying for a chance to debate it!

0utshined

Good choices! I've had a few of those books on the shelf for a while now so this is an incentive to get round to reading them finally.

smileygal

thanks for all your work nesf

Bri

Appreciate the effort will try to get reading!

dudara

OK, I'm looking forward to the serious reads, but I don't particularly like any of the light ones. "Sophies World" is more serious.

simu

Is there a set date for when they have to be read?

ronano

Is it online discussion? i know i've said it before but lolita is 5 euro in hmv

nesf

simu wrote:

Is there a set date for when they have to be read?

Not really.

the whole idea is to finish at least one book this month. If you have the time or inclination you can read them all in the month. But there isn't a set date for when they haven't been read. The idea is to read at your own rate and have others to discuss the books with.


New books will be chosen next month, but again the same thing applies. We don't need to be pressuring ourselves into reading more than we want. We should have plenty to discuss even with just one book to read this month.


Sorry dudara about the casual reads, I tried to give a broad selection for people. I can't please everybody

dudara

No worries Nesf, these are my own views, which is what hopefully I'll be bringing to the discussion, if only the college bookshop had "For Whom The Bell Tolls" in stock.

Good on you for organising all this

nesf

ronano wrote:

Is it online discussion? i know i've said it before but lolita is 5 euro in hmv

Online discussion.

Afaik we're spread out across the country so meeting in real life would be difficult.

However if anyone in Cork wants to meet for a chat over coffee about the books just drop me a PM. I'll squeeze ya in somewhere

smileygal

For anyone going to buy Digital Fortress, 25% off in Reads in Cork, presumably same in Dubbalin.

eclectichoney

good job nesf. iv had lolita on the shelf for ages so will pick it up now

just finished wasp factory about a month ago - good choice, book with a good plot, very offbeat and strange strange ending

funky penguin

nesf wrote:

Not really.

....If you have the time or inclination.....

[COLONEL_NATHAN_R._JESSUP]I have neither the time nor the inclination! etc......You can't handle the truth![/COLONEL_NATHAN_R._JESSUP]

Just finishing up For Whom the Bell Tolls....think I may go for Wasp Factory since I have it.

nesf

funky penguin wrote:

Just finishing up For Whom the Bell Tolls....think I may go for Wasp Factory since I have it.

I take no responsibility for your need for therapy after some of the imagery in it

nesf

Step 1: complete: Books purchased.

Hmm my unread book pile is getting very big. It's taking up half my room these days... I need more bookshelves, only got 3.

MissRibena

I'm about 60 pages into The Wasp Factory and so far, I'm not all that excited. It's pretty disgusting but tbh, not as shocking as I expected. Maybe it's all ahead of me yet ..... I did read the lesser-acclaimed The Bridge before and it's one of my all-time favourite reads; I found the basic premise of worlds created by our subconscious while in a coma totally fascinating. The first half at least was really cinematic and I imagined Stanley Kubrick making a great job of it. It could have been a cross between A.I. and A Clockwork Orange (just cos of the makey uppy language really). Anyway, so far The Wasp Factory is nowhere near as compelling. And while I'm whinging; Why did they change the jacket designs of Iain Banks's books? I loved the old stark black and white graphics. The hazy muted replacements are rubbish. Tsk tsk

I ordered For Whom the Bell Tolls from Play so it should be here any day. I'll flick back through Lolita nearer the time too.

Rebecca

nesf

They changed the designs on his books?? Ffs I liked the old ones.

The Wasp Factory was chosen because it is controversial, and because people will come away from it with different opinions and ideas.

I'm nearly finished Sophie's World, will finish it on the train tomorrow I think. Lolita is next. I'm going to alternate my casual reading with the "heavier" stuff.

Am definietly enjoying doing this though, even if it is only a bare handful of us doing this, some kind of reading group on here is a good idea.

Then again I'm in optomistic form atm!

simu

I'm in the middle of Lolita at the moment! I might read Sophies World again too if I have time (I read it years ago but don't remember it all that well).

John

I'm reading none of these yet until I get my exams over with, even then that'll be in two weeks so I might not make the deadline. Still, will read them and comment at a later stage.

MissRibena

simu wrote:

I might read Sophies World again too if I have time (I read it years ago but don't remember it all that well).

I read Sophie's World a few years ago too, so I'll flick back though that with Lolita. When do we start posting "for real"?

Rebecca

nesf

MissRibena wrote:

I read Sophie's World a few years ago too, so I'll flick back though that with Lolita. When do we start posting "for real"?

Rebecca

I'll start a thread on Sophie's World as soon as I'm finished, I'm assuming others will do the same. Just put a (Book Club) tag in the thread title or something.

Although there is nothing stopping a person from starting said thread early if they want to talk about something they read in the book.

And also, I hope the threads will continue past the month, give people a chance to read up and such. It is exam time after all!

Plus I view this month as more of a "let's get things started" kind of thing. Next month will be the better.

goodgod3rd

i read digtal fortress.. good bbok

skye

I spent all day last sunday reading digital fortress - cover to cover. I couldn't put the darn thing down!! Some people don't like Dan Brown and his style of writing but I really enjoyed this read. I like the way all the cryptography stuff was kept simple - I could understand what was going on throughout. I've seen this basic approach criticised for not being "correct" but for me it worked. Any Dan Brown fans out there will love this book!!

the any key

first of all why discuss dan brown??? he couldn't write himself out of a paper bag (not sure how that works???) ... why not try something by david mitchell? .... iain banks rocks!!!!! reading excession at the minute.

BossArky

This could be started up again.

Andy-Pandy

BossArky wrote:

This could be started up again.

There has been a few attempts for a book club on boards and they always seem to fail. Lots of work for someone, but if there willing to do it (im not) the ill give it a go.