Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Friday!
Our book club will meet Friday February 8th at Nicole's house. Keep up that reading! And everyone should be thinking about books they think we should do next month
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
about choosing books
from here
Choosing the Right Book to Discuss, Part 1
Say this is your first reading group. You’ve got five committed friends, but don’t know what to read. The health of a reading group lies in its choices. Not all good books spark a good discussion.
How do you decide what to read together? In many clubs, members take turns choosing the titles. If it’s a gathering of real book lovers, this can be a stimulating exchange, turning each other on to your favorite experiences. But it’s a serious problem if members are unfamiliar with books, if they’re selecting in the dark. Choosing from bestseller lists can be disastrous. Some delightful books have absolutely nothing to discuss. Finding the right book as a conversation piece is different from choosing a book for personal enjoyment. Democratic choosing of titles has killed many a club.
Genre books are frequently not the best choices. That doesn’t mean they don’t provide excellent entertainment. It just means that all-too-often there’s nothing much to talk about except the genre itself. Simply a good story – say, a good mystery, a courtroom drama, a fantasy epic or an edge-of-your-seat thriller – can give you wonderful hours of reading pleasure and about fifteen minutes worth of conversation.
For the best discussions to occur, there needs to be some issue that’s ambiguous, some value that’s debatable, some character whose behavior is controversial. Something on which readers can differ in their opinions. Some issue that causes a revelation of personal values.
Try this: choose one member to be the selector for a couple months. Make it someone who will happily take plenty of time to be familiar with the best titles, someone bold enough to get ideas from booksellers and librarians. In the book club at University Book Store in Seattle, I choose the monthly title. Our club’s angle is the best new title of the month from around the world. I read as many advances as I can. I try to find the best reading experiences that are also discussable. The minute you have at least two sides to an opinion, a spark ignites the group. One smart woman thinks Gilead is boring, religious nonsense. Two sensible readers think the hero of The Bad Girl is a fool. Two readers don’t believe Russell Banks’ narrator in The Darling is a realistic woman. That’s all it takes to trigger a great conversation.
When a book works, the clash of opposing opinions causes everyone’s concept of the book to deepen and change. That’s why you participate in a good reading group, to share personal responses to a provocative reading experience.
Choosing the Right Book to Discuss, Part 1
Say this is your first reading group. You’ve got five committed friends, but don’t know what to read. The health of a reading group lies in its choices. Not all good books spark a good discussion.
How do you decide what to read together? In many clubs, members take turns choosing the titles. If it’s a gathering of real book lovers, this can be a stimulating exchange, turning each other on to your favorite experiences. But it’s a serious problem if members are unfamiliar with books, if they’re selecting in the dark. Choosing from bestseller lists can be disastrous. Some delightful books have absolutely nothing to discuss. Finding the right book as a conversation piece is different from choosing a book for personal enjoyment. Democratic choosing of titles has killed many a club.
Genre books are frequently not the best choices. That doesn’t mean they don’t provide excellent entertainment. It just means that all-too-often there’s nothing much to talk about except the genre itself. Simply a good story – say, a good mystery, a courtroom drama, a fantasy epic or an edge-of-your-seat thriller – can give you wonderful hours of reading pleasure and about fifteen minutes worth of conversation.
For the best discussions to occur, there needs to be some issue that’s ambiguous, some value that’s debatable, some character whose behavior is controversial. Something on which readers can differ in their opinions. Some issue that causes a revelation of personal values.
Try this: choose one member to be the selector for a couple months. Make it someone who will happily take plenty of time to be familiar with the best titles, someone bold enough to get ideas from booksellers and librarians. In the book club at University Book Store in Seattle, I choose the monthly title. Our club’s angle is the best new title of the month from around the world. I read as many advances as I can. I try to find the best reading experiences that are also discussable. The minute you have at least two sides to an opinion, a spark ignites the group. One smart woman thinks Gilead is boring, religious nonsense. Two sensible readers think the hero of The Bad Girl is a fool. Two readers don’t believe Russell Banks’ narrator in The Darling is a realistic woman. That’s all it takes to trigger a great conversation.
When a book works, the clash of opposing opinions causes everyone’s concept of the book to deepen and change. That’s why you participate in a good reading group, to share personal responses to a provocative reading experience.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Blog?
Nicole suggested I make a blog (she's too lazy) for the book club. So this is basically a way to track book club info like the current book, when we meet, stuff like that!
So is there any day that is bad for people to meet in February? I was thinking something along a weekend day.
So is there any day that is bad for people to meet in February? I was thinking something along a weekend day.
Books! 2008!
Hey friends! Welcome to our book club!
Since I started the club I chose the first book.
The Year of Living Biblically
- A.J. Jacobs
A Review:
Make no mistake: A.J. Jacobs is not a religious man. He describes himself as Jewish "in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant." Yet his latest work, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, is an insightful and hilarious journey for readers of all faiths. Though no fatted calves were harmed in the making of this book, Jacobs chronicles 12 months living a remarkably strict Biblical life full of charity, chastity, and facial hair as impressive as anything found in The Lord of the Rings. Through it all, he manages to brilliantly keep things light, while avoiding the sinful eye of judgment.
Since I started the club I chose the first book.
The Year of Living Biblically
- A.J. Jacobs
A Review:
Make no mistake: A.J. Jacobs is not a religious man. He describes himself as Jewish "in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant." Yet his latest work, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, is an insightful and hilarious journey for readers of all faiths. Though no fatted calves were harmed in the making of this book, Jacobs chronicles 12 months living a remarkably strict Biblical life full of charity, chastity, and facial hair as impressive as anything found in The Lord of the Rings. Through it all, he manages to brilliantly keep things light, while avoiding the sinful eye of judgment.
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