Bookclub

#1

Hi All,

Anyone want to join a monthly bookclub?

As suggested by @diapasoun we will take turns running the book club. This thread will service as a signup list for the coming months but new threads will be started for each book to be discussed.

Post a reply if you want to sign up and if there is a particualr month you want to sign up for mention that as well. If you don’t mention a month or just don’t care when it is then you’ll be listed in the order you sign-up.

I’ll keep a list going here so we can see who is up next and what books have been read so far.

Any other suggestions are welcome but for the most part I think each month can be “dealers choice” as far as how to run it.

"The Rules"

  1. Page limit ~300 pages (or less)
  2. No obscure or new release books (a lot of us use our local library and new release or obscure books are harder to get)
  3. No graphic descriptions of physical and/or sexual violence (from what you can tell from a ~5 min “Google” search)
  4. In the month prior to your month to host, select four books for particapants to vote on.

Sign up Sheet (If you have commented that you want to host and don’t see your name here please yell at me tag me in a reply and say hay Haypug I want to host!
March 2020 - @diapasoun - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Little Women Read-A-Long
April 2020 - @Greyweld - Packing for Mars by Mary Roach - April Book Club -- Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
May 2020 - @haypug16 - Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - May 2020 Bookclub - Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
June 2020 - @Frecks - June 2020 Book Club--The Vine Witch by Luanne G Smith
July 2020 - @nnls - Book Club - July 2020 - I am not your perfect Mexican daughter
August 2020 - @haypug16 - Bookclub - August 2020 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. By C.S. Lewis
September 2020 - @LadyDuck - Book club - September 2020 - Howl's Moving Castle
October 2020 - @Clare-Dragonfly - October 2020 Book Club - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
November 2020 - @diapasoun - Book Club -- November 2020 -- Wizard of Earthsea
December 2020 - @haypug16 - Bookclub - December 2020 - Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
January 2021 - @Greyweld - Bookclub - January 2021 - Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
February 2021 - @Clare-Dragonfly- February 2021 Book Club

6 Likes
#2

Hell yes I’m in!

I’ve got March going for us. :slight_smile:

How do we want to do book selection – just whoever runs that month chooses? Or something else? (I feel like this is the most contentious part of most book clubs.)

3 Likes
#3

I’m in!

I haven’t been part of any book clubs that met twice successfully so I’m mostly watching during the hashing out of logistics stuff.

3 Likes
#4

I’m in!

I like the idea of a monthly rotation for who gets to pick the book. Maybe we should have some ground rules, though?

6 Likes
#5

I’ve never been in a book club, and was looking for a local one (with no luck).

2 Likes
#6

Same!

#7

I’m in!!! I need mental stimulation and I haven’t done a book club since I did the American Girl Club Book Club in elementary (LMFAO). Maybe I’ll be able to join one IRL later?

3 Likes
#8

I would be willing to “host” one month.

2 Likes
#9

Yay! people want to read with me.

Is there a way to create a voting thread? Maybe the person running the month could suggest a few books and then we could all vote on those?

2 Likes
#10

I’m in too! I had been meaning to join a book club :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#11

Re: Ground rules - Maybe no books over a certain amount of pages. One of my past Live-Action book clubs had a 300 page limit otherwise we would all show up and have to “fake” our way through the meeting or admit to not reading the whole thing. It was kind of fun if I managed to finish trying to figure out who hadn’t finished.

4 Likes
#12

From previous book club experiences:

  • Agreed that a soft page limit is good. 300 pages may be a rough limit for novels, but yeah – 400+ pages is a wild ride for a monthly book club. Been there, done that, the t-shirt sucks.
  • I would also suggest no obscure books or very recent releases – these will both be difficult to find through libraries, and we should probably encourage library use something something finance forum?.
  • We may want to discuss format (get through X chapters per week? all discuss willy nilly throughout the month? etc)
  • For voting, what most matters IME is that people feel like their desires are acknowledged. I like the idea of the person running that month suggesting a few books, and then going for what members vote on – it’s almost exactly the version I did successfully IRL with a monthly book club for four years. That gives people an incentive to run a month while still giving everyone a bit of choice.
  • We should also discuss any hard NOs that community members may have with respect to subject matter. I would like to tentatively propose that graphic description of physical and sexual violence is avoided.
8 Likes
#13

I’m interested in participating!

1 Like
#14

Should we put up polls here or in a separate thread for the month?

#15

I think a separate thread would be easiest, and at the end of the month/end of the thread we can decide who will start the new one?

2 Likes
#16

I think we might want a little more lead time than the end of the month would provide

1 Like
#17

That’s a good point, maybe a week out, but in the current month’s discussion thread? Or we could utilize this thread for group feedback, rules and voting.

1 Like
#18

I like this option.

And agreed we want at least a week’s run time – getting holds out of the library might be a Thing.

2 Likes
#19

If it is a book no one has read before - what is a good resource to check for subject matter issues before suggesting a book?

5 Likes
#20

Does The Dog Die has a limited set of books and is a good first step for those, but otherwise won’t be enough.

I’ve usually found a google search of Book Title + Thing to be pretty effective for things like explicit violence. If folks want to propose a book but don’t want spoilers, I’m happy to do that searching for people – I don’t care a whit about spoilers. :wink:

ETA: Obviously we also can’t expect someone to know all the twists and turns of a book they haven’t read. If it can’t be found in five minutes of Googling, then no one should feel “on the hook” for proposing a book with Whatever in it.

2 Likes