Book Club!

[Tarvark]

Inspired by this post:

http://forum.interference.com/t167166.html

I was wondering if anyone had any interest in an internet book club. Lets erase that connotation of the elderly, sitting about, droning on about “emotional complexity”, waiting for Oprah to announce the next book they wont read because they didn’t have time, had to watch the kids, or because they “remembered it really clearly from their college days”.

Lets do it with some style.

How about this.

Lets pool some options in this thread, get some ideas, build up a bank of books for now and the future. Then when we choose a book, I will open up a new thread for discussion. We will have a strict no spoiler policy, limit discussion perhaps to a set number of pages per week, and just have a good time discussing some good or not so good lit.

I have access to an extensive University library, so I can probably pull up some crit, out side resources’ and info to get us going on the book.

Now I would strongly suggest we start slow. Take it easy with a shorter book. Still I want what we read to have some punch, to fire up some discussion.

I think the ideal book would be Heart of Darkness. A short novella with big themes. We can pull in a movie component. Available on the internet.

http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/to...xts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all

http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Darkness-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486264645

What are your thoughts?

Books to recommend?

Interested in the project?

Have any ideas for the group?

 

[U2Man]

sounds like a nice idea.

 

[U2Girl1978]

It's a good idea. I have a ton of books that I still need to read or can recommend to people.

 

[pattip2000]

I think it’s a great idea. You can get it for under $5 on Amazon, we should try to pick fairly cheep books, so if people don’t want to have to visit that local building that lends you books for two weeks and only charges 5 cents a day if you are late getting it back, they won’t have to spend too much money to get it.

 

[Tarvark]

Dr. Jykll and Mr. Hyde would fall in this category too. As would The Pearl, Mrs Dalloway and Billy Budd. Just to get some suggestions going.

 

[pattip2000]

The Pearl

 

[Mr. Green Eyes]

Great idea, just finished Billy Budd in Lit class. It was pretty good. I thinks that my favorite classic would have to be Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

 

[yeter]

I think this is a great idea!

 

[love_u2_adam]

omg what a sweet idea!!!!!




the history of love is my choice

 

[Kristie]

I think it's a great idea as well... I'm always in need of new books to read and never can decide what to get

and if you're super cheap like I am (and in the US, I suppose), you can usually get books used on half.com for a dollar or less

 

[ylimeU2]

I love this idea.

"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson Mccullers would be a good one.

 

[UberBeaver]

Sounds cool. I'd be willing to give it a shot, but I don't get much time to read, so I don't know how active I'd be.

I'd recommend Turn of the Screw. Short, not too difficult to sludge through (unlike Heart of Darkness - that book drives me up a wall) and very cool from a conceptual point of view.

 

[Caroni]

I don´t speak english but if you do this club I´m gonna be visiting to read comments and if that week I can get the book then I´ll post my comments too, this is a good way to learn more about your languaje

PD. We should save the link for this thread in favourites

 

[Tarvark]

Ok, I am guessing Heart of Darkness is out. Those other suggestions sound good but I would like to stick in to a vein of classic noterity when it comes to the first few books we do, its just more likely people will have them on shelves and will join in.

The Pearl?
The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde?

 

[redhotswami]

books!!!

my recommendations are:
the once and future king (EASY read)
the name of the rose
stranger in a strange land
anna karenina
1984

these are all very cheap at a used bookstore. library has them too. all these have been sitting in my shelf collecting dust...i need peer pressure!

 

[U2Man]

how about starting out with the new dan brown book?

now, before everyone slaughters me, - i actually think that this could be a good idea. we need something light, easy and poppy to get the book club going. then, when the book club is well established, we can bring in the heavier material.

 

[Tarvark]

how about starting out with the new dan brown book?

now, before everyone slaughters me, - i actually think that this could be a good idea. we need something light, easy and poppy to get the book club going. then, when the book club is well established, we can bring in the heavier material.

I agree with sentiment but isnt the new dan brown a way off?

I am really starting to dig the idea of the pearl. I do think short is key first time around.

 

[UberBeaver]

Steinbeck?

 

[UberBeaver]

Well I hope so. Just got one on eBay for $4 w/ shipping. If not, I've always meant to read it anyhow.

Is this the one about the horse?

 

[snowbunny00774]

I'd read The Pearl again, and it's short.

Stranger in a Strange Land I'd love an excuse to read this again.

If we do Dan Brown I'll opt out of that one .


The only thing is I'm not sure how much time I can devote to it. What kind of time line are we looking at alloting for each book?

 

[Sad_Girl]

books!!!

my recommendations are:
the once and future king (EASY read)
the name of the rose
stranger in a strange land
anna karenina
1984

these are all very cheap at a used bookstore. library has them too. all these have been sitting in my shelf collecting dust...i need peer pressure!

These are great recomendations - but then again I would go with any of the suggestions as a book-aholic I suppose you won't get much argument out of me. Although I am not particularly interested in Dan Brown or many other more current Authors - for one thing because of the cost of newer books can definitely cause issues in a group discussion setting.

the older, more established titles which are cheaper and easier to come by would be a good place to start in my opinion. I'm a huge Ray Bradbury fan, and the Bronte Sisters are great to read.

Steinbeck's 'Of mice and men' is a possibility or 'To kill a mockingbird' by Harper Lee is one I think everyone should read

I'm definitley on board for this - how do we organize and decide where to start, though?

 

[UberBeaver]

If we do Dan Brown I'll opt out of that one .


The only thing is I'm not sure how much time I can devote to it. What kind of time line are we looking at alloting for each book?

Ugh, Dan Brown. DaVinci code was like Titanic, just god awful drivel.

And the timing concerns me too. I'll be lucky if I can get in 10 pages a day, 3 if it's a Faulkner book. I know lots of people read fast, so....yeah. What's the strategy?

 

[snowbunny00774]

Ugh, Dan Brown. DaVinci code was like Titanic, just god awful drivel.

And the timing concerns me too. I'll be lucky if I can get in 10 pages a day, 3 if it's a Faulkner book. I know lots of people read fast, so....yeah. What's the strategy?

I know - I hated that book, and I read Deception Point too before I realized it was the same guy, equally eye gouge inducing.

Do we meet on a set day, and only discuss up to a chosen point, and then people can add as they stop by the thread, and then next set day we can discuss further in the book to the next chosen point That way people will know to avoid the thread if they are not up to the set points yet. Any other ideas anyone?

 

[enggirl]

Oh! Oh! I'm in! As a former English major, and someone who started a book club in her 'hood, I love the idea of a 'net book club (and no one will have to bring the brie and crackers or wine!).
I'm open to whichever book is selected. Personally, the classics have never been my thing (I went through a grad program that "killed the canon" so to speak), and I got out alive without ever having read Moby Dick (and proud of it, too!). I've done Heart of Darkness and would do it again, but I've never read The Pearl.

carry on!

 

[Kristie]

maybe we could make a poll and have people vote on which book to read first, of the ones listed?

...I know the popular vote doesn't always end up with the best decision, but it would be democratic..

 

[Sad_Girl]

^that sounds like a good idea to me

 

[U2Man]

i knew i would be slaughtered

 

[redhotswami]

the older, more established titles which are cheaper and easier to come by would be a good place to start in my opinion.

yeah, I agree. the ones on my list had multiple copies in the used book store when i got them. Since I've already donated one arm and one leg for textbooks, I have to go as cheap as possible for my leisure reading.

I'm a huge Ray Bradbury fan, and the Bronte Sisters are great to read.

Steinbeck's 'Of mice and men' is a possibility or 'To kill a mockingbird' by Harper Lee is one I think everyone should read

Agreed! I'm a big fan of the Brontes and Steinbeck. I haven't read these books in ages. It'll be great to re-discover them now.

 

[snowbunny00774]

i knew i would be slaughtered

Not for the reason you thought though:

how about starting out with the new dan brown book?

now, before everyone slaughters me, - i actually think that this could be a good idea. we need something light, easy and poppy to get the book club going. then, when the book club is well established, we can bring in the heavier material.

Ugh, Dan Brown. DaVinci code was like Titanic, just god awful drivel.

I know - I hated that book, and I read Deception Point too before I realized it was the same guy, equally eye gouge inducing.

Don't worry - we'll find you some quality light, easy and poppy books

With the format we are using there could quite possibly be two books being read at the same time - those with time constraints could read a lighter one, and those with time could do both if they liked, basically opting in to whatever suits you best.

 

[UberBeaver]

I know - I hated that book, and I read Deception Point too before I realized it was the same guy, equally eye gouge inducing.

I read Angels and Demons before DaVinci Code, because people told me DC was the sequel. And I kinda sort enjoyed A&D until, like, the story kicked in. The history part, not so bad. The writing and story, nosogood. But all that's in the past. Dan Brown is dead to me now.

So what's the plan? I ordered the Pearl, maybe prematurely, but whatever. I'll read it on my own if need be. Let's get this (geek) party rollin!