Would it be objectionable to people, when we read a pair of books, if some of us end up reading only one? Would it detract from the conversation?

No problem. Though I hope that if and when we do a pairing we have at least two months notice on it. Which can easily be done with a little planning.

Can we get the thread head changed to mention whatever the current book is, for easy reference for lazy wankers like me?

I think I kind of understand what you're suggesting, Wolfram -- it's late, I'm hungry, so my brain is not firing on all cylinders. I'll just keep an eye out for the deadlines.

What if we change a deadline in-thread, but, say, SusanW is reading a book because it happened to ping her, but she doesn't hang out here regularly so is only planning to come in on the discussion date. Only, she'll find we moved it up by a week, which, bummer. Press announcements for changes like that? Or am I getting bogged unnecessarily? It's quite possible that I am.

Oh -- yeah, I was thinking about suggesting what Gandalfe said, too. I mean, wouldn't help much if you're unsubbed, but ... maybe people check the uber home page from time to time. I know I do.

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.

This does this former interlibrary loan librarian's heart good to see. I was going to suggest it myself, but am tickled to see someone else did! ILL will be even more practical for future books, where we have a little bit more notice. We request books from all over the world for folks, but far away books often take a while to obtain due to the mail time. Check with your local library to see what surprising and wonderful services they may have. And if you have any library questions, particularly related to the book club, email me at my profile address and I'll be glad to help.

::Taking off librarian hat, blushing.::

but libraries are just so cool, I just can't help myself

What if we change a deadline in-thread, but, say, SusanW is reading a book because it happened to ping her, but she doesn't hang out here regularly so is only planning to come in on the discussion date. Only, she'll find we moved it up by a week, which, bummer. Press announcements for changes like that? Or am I getting bogged unnecessarily? It's quite possible that I am.

Well in my suggestion a read-book-by deadline would never change so nobody would get caught with his/her pants down. What could change would be start date of discussion (which may be what you're getting at), and a simple Press post could alert folks that we've moved on. Maybe even a day warning - like discussion on X book will begin tomorrow - or in another alternative, we could always have discussions start on, say, a Monday, and only start new discussions a week or two weeks early depending on the climate.

That's what I did, too, libkitty. I love inter-library loans. I love that libraries will do this for me. For nothing. I mean, how cool is that? Very cool.

would be start date of discussion (which may be what you're getting at), and a simple Press post could alert folks that we've moved on.

Yes, this is what I meant. Susan would've been expecting us to start talking on the 15th, only to come in and find out that we'd been talking about it for a week already.

It just occurred to me to ask because of the discussion triggered in Burea about the mere once-a-month post, and realizing it'd probably be more like a couple of times a month (what with shifting discussion start dates,) which I also think is completely legit use of Press. So, check, Press announcements. Time for dinner.

I think we want to keep the press posts to a minimum. I don't mean to suggest we can't use it at all, but I know use of press is a somewhat divisive issue, sometimes.

I love inter-library loans. I love that libraries will do this for me

This is my mom's job. I need to show her this to make her smile.

Isn't it the coolest shiniest, Lilty? It gave me a grin yesterday, and now a smile all over again.