If anyone thinks I'm getting too pushy or picky, please let me know.

Not at all. I've noticed, in this thread, that sometimes we're too "non-pushy". A little pushiness helps keep things moving.

Since HotB seemed to be the leader, and I needed the practice, I put it up here: [link]

Deena, you rock! (Like Nilly, I skimmed through on Firefox and it looks great.)

One problem we had with the suggestion/selection idea was that it was hard to find a book that a critical mass would enjoy and discuss. By shaking it up a bit, first with Harry Potter, and now with a consensed selection from Gutenberg, we can get a lot more people engaged. I do think we should wait until Friday to "call it" for HotB, but I don't think a vote is necessary.

Now if we can consense a discussion start date, on Friday we can put an announcement in press with a link to Deena's fantastic format. I'm thinking Tuesday after Labor Day (9/6/05). Too long? Too short?

I'm thinking Tuesday after Labor Day (9/6/05). Too long? Too short?

That sounds about right. Isn't HotB a novella? (I haven't read it yet, and I've always wanted to.)

Deena, It looks great in my browser and will really facilitate easy reading/discussion. Thanks for the effort.

I'm glad you all like it.

I'm not sure of the exact length, but it was only 15 relatively short chapters, so it shouldn't take long to read. (I kept finding mistakes in the code where I started reading and forgot what I was doing.)

I have read it before but it's still a great read. I was a real Sherlock Holmes groupie when I was a kid.

I think I'll be a snob and read HotB from my Baring-Gould two-volume annotated Holmes. God, I love those books, early fandom gone mad.

I'm looking forward to reading Sherlock Holmes in English. I don't think I've read any of the stories in anything but Hebrew before.

Oh, and I'm (again) with AmyLiz (hi back!) with agreeing with Wolfram. I couldn't participate in discussions before, but it seems like enough time even for me to read the whole of the text in English.

Thanks for all the reassurances. Please keep the question in mind, however, and do let me know if the situation changes.

Everything sounds good to me, and the text looks great in my IE at work, Deena. Thanks for putting it up! Wolfram, didn't you do the notices before? Do you want to put a notice announcing that HP discussion will be coming to an end and the next book, link and dates? Perhaps you could include a discussion guide or (in whatever form) from Ginger.

Lilty, are you reading here?

I've now realized that the new annotated Holmes won't include the novels until this fall. (I'm reading through my two volumes slowly, because it's like reading the phone book. My arms get tired.) Still, I think I can put together a Holmes timeline, links to criticism and some discussion questions.

One thing that occurred to me is that, particularly since this is a short novel that's available online, we could have something more like a read-and-post, i.e., we could schedule chapters x-xx for a week, rather than the whole book at one time. What do y'all think?

Do you want to put a notice announcing that HP discussion will be coming to an end and the next book, link and dates? Perhaps you could include a discussion guide or (in whatever form) from Ginger.

I was going to wait until Friday to give folks time to weigh in on both the selection and the closing of HP discussion.

One thing that occurred to me is that, particularly since this is a short novel that's available online, we could have something more like a read-and-post, i.e., we could schedule chapters x-xx for a week, rather than the whole book at one time. What do y'all think?

I love this idea. Cindy had suggested something similar several months ago, and considering the convenient formatting that Deena did, and the length of the novel, it just might work.

Concerns I'd raise are: a) how would we limit discussion by chapter for people who've read the book previously or couldn't stop themselves from reading past the cutoff (like me); b) how would we chop up the chapters so there'd be enough to discuss; c) how long should each discussion period be; and d) would we then have an overall discussion period of the entire book.

I've now realized that the new annotated Holmes won't include the novels until this fall.

See, my first image from this was that the minders had just started tattooing Katie's interview lines directly on her skin.