'Safe'
This thread is a focused discussion group. Please see the first post below for the current topic and upcoming book discussions. While natter will inevitably happen, we encourage you to treat this like a virtual book club and try to keep your posts in that spirit.
By consensus, this thread is reopened specifically to discuss Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It will be closed again once that discussion has run its course.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Seconding Heather and brenda for the next selecters, if it's needed.
Loved the bad review, Heather. Not enough people know that "boringest" is really the only word to use in some cases.
If no one objects to buying used, I know Amazon has copies of this month's pick for as little as a dollar. You pay the shipping, of course, but still, it's an option.
Feh. My library does not have this book.
Cindy, can you order it through InterLibrary Loan? Most libraries belong to some kind of exchange program with other area libraries; surely one of the libraries in the program must have it. I have the feeling that ILL will be our best friend in this book club.
And I'm super-psyched to read The Intuitionist, yay!
Yay, The Intuitionist! I can't wait to start discussing it with y'all. I think it's overall very good, but there are parts that just don't work for me, which is also true of the other Whitehead book I've read, John Henry Days.
Also, I support the Heather & brenda idea.
Just an idea to follow up on my previous post.
We set up one book/one month because we figured everybody needs at least a month to get a copy of and finish a book after it's selected. The hole in this system is, we end up being forced to discuss the one book for a month, which may end being much longer than the discussion has steam for. I think we might want to do something at the very begninning to forestall this possibility. Which brings me to this suggestion:
What if we set a separate reading deadline from the discussion date for the next books? For example we set the reading deadline for book 2 to August 31, 2004. This way we can start discussion on book 2 on either September 15, 2004 (a month after discussion of book 1), or anytime after August 31, 2004 if we deem it necessary. We can set the third book reading deadline to September 15, 2004 for the same reason even though the discussion date might not happen until October 15.
This way we have a minimum of two weeks discussion, maximum of one month, and we can adjust selections and reading deadlines 2 months in advance to suit our pace. And it allows us to tweak discussion periods to the selection rather than be bound by the one book/one month rule. With an additional bonus of being able to read and discuss more than 12 books in the year.
For this to work, I think we need to plan ahead. And if it turns out to be unnecessary and each book can sustain the month-long discussion, than all we've done is read a few books faster than we needed to.
I hope I explained that well, because it made a lot more sense in my head then it does re-reading it here.
I think it's overall very good, but there are parts that just don't work for me
That's how I felt. But I'm thinking I'll reread and see if i can't participate in the discussion! If nothing else it will give me extra motivation to organize my books and find my copy.
I like Wolfram's suggestion, but it's hard to follow.
I like Wolfram's suggestion, but it's hard to follow.
Tell me about it. Just re-reading it gave me headache.
Maybe you should just list a schedule like so:
immediately - reading The Intuitionist/discussion in whitefont
Aug 15 - we discuss The Intuitionist/no whitefont
Aug 30 - we finish reading The Consolation of Philosophy (or whatever)/discussion in whitefont
Sept 15 - we discuss TCOP(OW)/no whitefont
...and so on. Is that more or less the proposal?
For this to work, I think we need to plan ahead.
I think I followed that. Kind of. Essentially, you want to pick Book 2 (and even Book 3?) now, so we can start reading those (or those of us who are fast readers can, anyway) and be ready for a new discussion if talking about The Intuitionist doesn't take as long as we thought, yes?
I'm up for it. My To Be Read pile always needs new additions.
*blushes deeply* aww thanks. I don't mind, and while I love my suggestions, I think I'm going to pick someone else's because y'know, I've already read the books I chose.
Works for me too, and mine'll also come out of the list we've developed already. (And thanks for the Nilly on that one, I've been swamped and unable to keep up.)
I think your idea is a good one Wolfram, and I don't think it'll seem as complicated once it's all set up and scheduled.