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Tue 31 Dec, 2002 08:11 am
I have discussed this a few times with various people, but it has never happened.
I would envisage, if people are interested, that we all read one book in say a month - and discuss that book online.
First thing - is anyone interested and willing to make the commitment?
Second thing - what book?
If you are interested, can you say so, and say if monthly suits you, and, if you like, suggest a book.
If there is interest, then I will set up a poll to choose the book - and we would commence say at the end of January?
My notion is that it would be a serious discussion group - but for everyone...people could be as impressionistic, bewildered, emotional, intellectual, whatever as they wanted ...... but light discussion and banter also encouraged - as long as we stuck to matters relating to the book under discussion.
I would be happy, personally, with fiction, poetry, non-fiction - whatever people are interested in.......
Over to you guys.....
I would be quite interested in discussing Geoffrey Eugenides "Middlesex" - which has, as have so many other books, been sitting on my coffee table gazing at me reproachfully for over a month now!
But, hey - I am easy.
I am interested. I can create a user group for you, if you'd like, but you don't need that in order to get started.
May I suggest something which can be found online? That way, people can copy/paste passages, if they wish, into their discussions.
Might want to check out the Gutenberg Project for this:
http://promo.net/pg/
I may be interested as well but I suppose it may depend on the specific book read each month. I'm not real big on expanding my horizons! lol
i think the Gutenberg stuff is just classics, no, Jespah?
I love classics -but i have found that most people do not seem to - and I am interested in expanding my horizons...
What sort of thing do you normally read Fishin'? Politics? History? Angling?
I do tend to read a lot of things related to US History and Politics (mostly stuff concerning the founding of the US and the development of our legal system..) but I also read a lot of technical type stuff. One of my latest:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0964559846/qid=1041348349/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/103-0103579-5344621#product-details
lol Not stuff most people would be interested in!
Beyond that I do like classics. I just generally don't go off of the NY Times Best Seller list or anything. If the book has been written in the last 5 years it isn't likely that I've read it.
Actually, I like the classics myself. And the advantage is, no one needs to buy the book (although, of course, please use the Amazon link :-D).
Plus we might get people who'd already read the book, so you could have drop-ins.
I'm interested in "Middlesex", for sure. Read an excerpt in the New Yorker and it looks great. I'm interested in the new Zadie Smith, too. $$-wise, I prefer books that have come out in paperback, but my library is pretty great and may well have those available for checkout.
I'm currently reading "Fury" by Salman Rushdie, and it's started fantastically well. Rather eerie, though, as it is very specifically set in New York City, late summer 2001.
I prefer modern fiction to classics -- the classics I like I've read a bazillion times and written a bazillion papers on, the classics I don't like, well, I don't like. But I understand about availability online, and if that's the most practical way to go, that would be fine.
I would be interested, but have read so little fiction lately... it may take me a while to get up to speed. I think we'd need to choose a book and give people (like me) time to read it. Choosing, for a start, a classic that everyone has likely read.
I admit I would prefer books that, while they are edifying, are also entertaining.
There's a good book called "What To Read"... gives good ideas for books that have done well in reading groups. I was in a book group for about 8 years and we found some books that we all agreed on immediately weren't that good for discussions.
Can you 'splain the Gutenberg Project a little so I don't have to go there right now? I'd leap there now, but would probably immediately topple this house of cards which my computer builds and it would be a long process to get back here. Must take this beast in for a tune-up.
Piffka - From the site "Project Gutenberg is the brainchild of Michael Hart, who in 1971 decided that it would be a really good idea if lots of famous and important texts were freely available to everyone in the world. Since then, he has been joined by hundreds of volunteers who share his vision. Now, more than thirty years later, Project Gutenberg has the following figures (as of November 8th 2002): 203 New eBooks released during October 2002, 1975 New eBooks produced in 2002 (they were 1240 in 2001) for a total of 6267 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks. 119 eBooks have been posted so far by Project Gutenberg of Australia."
I thought it must be something like that... didn't realize the scope. Sounds great... we ought to be able to find something there.
A good thing, aside from being free is that we could all be referring to the same text. That can be very handy.
Might be interested, but I'm not a terribly analytic reader.
Just what is middle sex, Deb?
I'm interested, in theory at least. I read a lot and, of course, would love to discuss the books I like to read. As would everyone else, no doubt. But count me as intrigued by the idea!
Watching and waiting ....
Very interested.
Would depend on the material. I have to link up to the voice of the author to stay with it.
Will follow progress. Look forward to seeing list of choices. Could you decide on a day of the month where the next month's choices are proferred? This way, if we can't hang one month, we can look in the next.
Very good idea.
Not sure we have a group yet, Lash Goth!
Jes - when you mentioned a user group - (I know I should know this!) - that would not be private or anything, would it? My notion - if this thing gets off the ground - would be that people might see the interactions and decide to join in next book....
dlowan - i posted some links to book group facilitation/management on littlek's what are you reading thread. you may find them useful.
I don't believe that we have to make a user group totally private. Or, you can post a little something in an open category, like Books, e. g. "We're going to cover Emma Bovary on the 15th, here's a url to where you can find it online: ___. Please go to the user groups page and join the Book Discussion user group in order to join the discussion." Something like that.
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