Cellar Book of the Month discussion group
 

The success of the just starting cd-exchange has given me the idea of setting something up like it, but with books.

Mailing books isn't as easy as mailing cd's, so I don't think that would work. What I had in mind is that we all read the same book in a two week (or maybe a month) time period, and we discuss it. We would each have to buy or take out of the library the book in question in order to be in.

Each period, someone new gets to pick the book for the following period. The books should not be War and Peace, Don Quixote, or The Stand sized for the sake of sanity.

Is anyone interested?

I guess so, I'm always reading something, but if we start to get into a quilting circle I'm outta here! :D

I am interested, that sounds like a good idea, one question though once we are in this do we have to do it every time? Like what if someone chooses a book I have read and I dont wanna read it again can I just skip a month?

The idea is flexible. If you want to step out for a month, that works. If you've read the book, you could participated in talking about it.

I like this idea, but since Alan and I rarely get time to read (much to our dismay) Please, Please, Please make the time you have to read the book in something like 3 or 4 weeks. But thats just me.

I vote for 3-4 weeks also, sometimes my schedule gets a little crazy and I wish I could only sit and read a book!

okay, 3-4 weeks sounds good to me.

Er, if it's "Book of the Month," shouldn't the amount of time dedicated to reading the book be... a month? Call me crazy. :D

That would make things too easy :D

How will you decide what book to read? Nominations, voted on or drawn out of a hat? Or just the first person to speak up?

I WILL BE DICTATING THE BOOKS THAT WE'LL READ.

you will all learn to enjoy what i enjoy.


the first book will be:


Curious George ( the original unabridged version)



ok, start reading!

I think we should all suggest books that we'd be interested in reading, and then have some one pick them from a hat and set up a rotation.

Perhaps Fiction Month One, Non Fiction Month Two and back and forth.

I also think the month time frame is the best.

I felt this book was disjointed, and for the most part the characters' actions were completely unmotivated; however, there is an extreme sense of irony in the "happy" epilogue which makes up for any discontent the reader may have felt throughout.

The most grievous error, in my opinion, is that character background is virtually nonexistent, and their relationships remain undeveloped to the last page. The Man with the Yellow Hat is hinted to be a psychic or medium of some sort, inasmuch as he apparently knows George's name without the latter's ability to communicate, yet that is never explored further or even given the proper justification. How might such a man live with always knowing his beloved pet's true feelings about him? We will never know.

But in the end, when George's carefree nature is tested to the ultimate limits by his institutionalization at a local Zoo, I as a reader felt his misanthrophic ways were only getting their just desserts, and I was quite pleased with the karmic outcome.

Put me down. But I would pretty much need the whole month as slow as I read. Plus, that makes it easy to know when we have to be done and all. A different freq would be hard to keep track of (just my $.02, tho).

I love to read but haven't read a decent book in several years (Clive Barker's Sacrament was the last thing I read and that was in the previous century).

I probably will just go along with whatever everyone else picks to read since I'm so far out of the loop these days with what authors and books are good to read.

10 POINTS.

someone make a note of it

Awesome, awesome review, clodfobble.

I think you really touched at the existenial heart of one Happy Monkey, there.

Book club is an extraordinarily cool idea, slarti. It is clear that lumberjim is despondent over not having come up with the idea himself.

hey, my back hurts as it is from carrying you people.

actually, i get my inspiration from others, usually. as im sure most of us do. your keychain thread, wolf. the cd thing came from :censored:f, the art gallery from ....damn, i cant remember, but i credited in the 1st post.....the whole dave thing was onyxcougar's idea .....;).....somtimes ideas kind of backfire......., and sometimes they're great. I also steal ideas from jinx, cuz she's too shy to post her own threads. ( she makes me do it)

you get the drift.

i'll post a new thread at the drop of a hat, that's all. I'm out of control.

Nominations?

Well, the books on my stack are:

The Exile, by Albert Camus
The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara S. Tuchman (if I can find it).

I still haven't read Stranger in a Strange Land.

Others on the stack which probably are not valid entries:
Assassin's Apprentince, by Robin Hobb
Saturn's Quest, by Larry Niven

Have most of the people on the Cellar already read Guns, Germs and Steel?

Methods for choosing the book


1) Each month a new person chooses the book. We can pull names from a hat to determine order. This gives a lot of power to the chooser, but if everyone complains about the chosen book, it can be vetoed and the chooser has to pick an alternate book.

-OR-

2) The chosen person picks three books, then everyone votes on which of the three will be the book of the month.

-OR-

3) Everyone nominates a book, and then a vote is made (1st choice 3 points, 2nd choice 2 points, 3rd choice one point). The book with the most points becomes the book of the month.

Personally, I like method 1 or 2 the most, but I'll go with what people agree.

Thanks Wolf! Now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. (must be that cat I swollowed)

LJ don't worry, you can still come up with Fish of the Month or Ideology of the Month, there is still a lot of ideas to choose from..

The second method sounds good.

Everyone reciting a list of books a la me will probably result in a quickly overwhelmed and fading thread.

*Torrere ponders deleting the post

Two votes for Option 2 (torrere and I)

Anyone else?

I like option 2 as well ... makes the whole experience more participatory ...

And we should set April to be the first month. We will need to know which book it is by march 24.

That would give everyone a week to pick up the book, is that enough time?

allows sufficient time for amazon shipping and handling, I'd say ... even if people start late, having a month to read the book is more than sufficient, unless it's a really, really long book, which we said we weren't going to do.

Sounds good to me. Reading is my life.

*stands up, takes a deep breath, and says"

Hello, my name is Shattered Soul, and I'm a bibliophile...

I'm right there with shattered. I'm usually reading a couple of books at a time, but I can always add one more.

Sidhe

Yep, let's do it. I like option #2 for selecting the books.

Okay, it seems like we are going with choice 2. That means we need a list of interested parties.
So far, we've got

List updated

Beastie
Slarti
Wolf
Torrere
Lady Sidhe
SteveDallas
Shattered Soul
LumberJim
Neeke
Clodfobble
Brigliadore
Hot Pastrami ??
Jinx
Cam
Griff



We also need someone to pull names from a hat. This can be done two ways.

1) If we pull all the names out of the hat now, we know the lineup to begin with, and new entrants get tacked onto the end of the list.

2) Or, we only pull only one name out of the hat, new entrants get tossed in as they join. Every month a new name is pulled.

The second one gives the excitement of wondering every month if you are next, but the first seems a little more fair to the folks that were in from the beginning, as they are guaranteed to get to go before latecomers.

I like choice two, I could go for a little bit of the unexpected.

I would suggest option two ... random draw each month, but until a full cycle has been completed, no repeats? Let everybody have a chance at being the book chooser before a second iteration starts.

Sorry Onyx, I just took a list of folks that posted in this forum, and added question marks next to those that didn't specifically say 'count me in'. I should have put question marks next to your name. Are you interested?

If I put your name in by accident, sorry, I'll take it out, just let me know.

Good point wolf. We set a deadline for folks interested. Anyone joining after that point has to wait until the whole starting group has had a turn.

I don't think there should be repeats because it is going to take long enough for everyone to get a chance at being the book chooser.

Sure, I'm in--but I can't guarantee an in-depth review like that every time. :)

And few books have as much depth as Curious George.

I'm in.

In light of my failure to grasp the fundamentals of "Solitude", I'm going to bow out. Thanks, tho. :)

I think the only thing anyone has to volunteer for is whether or not they would like to nominate books. As this is going to end up being completely voluntary anyone can join in at anytime without informing the group. It's not like the CD exchange where people dropping in and out throws the entire system off.

I think we've already seen enough interest to start the club already too. That being said I'll try and participate as much as possible.

edit: Damn somehow I missed Slartibartfast last post, I think option two is the best.

I'm in, but I reserve the right to whine about my reading load for school.

okay, so far


Beastie
Slarti
Wolf
Torrere
Lady Sidhe
SteveDallas
Shattered Soul
LumberJim
Neeke
Clodfobble
Brigliadore
Hot Pastrami ???
Jinx
Cam
Griff
Stacyv

i'll do it, but i can't promise that i won't just make jinx tell me about the book. i'll be damned if i'm going to buy 2 copies ofeach book. jinx is a fast reader, but i tend to become unconscious shortly after i open my book. I'd love to pick 3 books for your consideration, though. Does Playboy qualify as a "book"?

I like Penthouse better. You know, because of the Forum Letters, mostly. Find the bunny on the cover of Playboy is okay, though.

**rubs hands together**

i love to read. i'm in.

Hmm,

how does this sound?

Member Sign in deadline is by monday 15th

first Chooser of Books determined by 17th

Chooser should announce three chosen books some time from 18th to 20th

Voting concerning the three possible books 20th to 24th

Tallying of votes, and Book of the Month announcement 24th to 25th

Free time to go to library or buy from some bookstore 25th to 5th.

Month of April, reading time. Instead of waiting until the end of the month to start talking about this, we should figure out a way of allowing early talk without spoiling anything for anyone.

This is getting too complicated... :eek:

I can't decide whether I should attempt to participate. I like the idea, but I haven't got much spare time these days, and what little I have is consumed by a number of creative pursuits. Perhaps I'll tentatively join, with the pre-prepared excuse that I may fall behind, and therefore be unable to participate in discussions. Just put my name low on the book selection list, and we'll see if I can manage to keep up. If not, I'll give up my turn to pick a book. Fair?

Just like everything else around here ...

;)

Are you referring to "Fair" or "Complicated?" Heheh. Sorry, added complexity, didn't I?

you got your post in a hair ahead of me. I was referencing the "complicated" from Slarti's post.

I know. I was just being a Shmartass. I'd never tried it before, so I was wondering what it felt like. It feels exactly how Windex smells.

Instead of waiting until the end of the month to start talking about this, we should figure out a way of allowing early talk without spoiling anything for anyone.

...Why don't they just not read the thread until they're done with the book? Self-control is hard, I know.

The schedule must be able to repeat or it will turn into the That Book We Read in April Club. In any given month:

17th: Chooser is named.
20th: Chooser must have named his/her 3 books.
25th: Vote winner is declared. Thread is created and discussion may begin forthwith.

They changed the time slot for late night X-Files
 

Sign me up. I officially have time.

Count me in as well, I need something to do in those few hours I'm NOT at the office or in Hazelton :)

okay, so far the Current list (19 hardly literate souls),


Beastie
Slarti
Wolf
Torrere
Lady Sidhe
SteveDallas
Shattered Soul
LumberJim
Neeke
Clodfobble
Brigliadore
Hot Pastrami
Jinx
Cam
Griff
Stacyv
Dagney
Villa Sonoben
warch
mrnoodle

Sometimes "Illiterary."

I liked Harry Potter and confess a fondness for Hairy Chested Men's Adventure Series.

oh my god wolf, we have something in common...i read all the harry potter books because i wanted to see what all the hype was about...i still like jackie collins, mary higgins clark, stephen king, john grisham, and danielle steele better, though.

bet you didn't see that one coming, wolfie.

made your day, i'm sure?

I'm in. I'll give it a try.

without looking, i'll nominate the 7th person on the list to pull the names from the hat for the choice order......and that is.......Shattered Soul...damn, missed me by one.