I'd like to keep the thread. I've been dark lately, and am off to be dark again, but my conference is in about three weeks, and I should be able to have a life again shortly after that.

Ok, we seem to have ground to a bit of a halt here. Let's see if we can do something about that.

I'd like to suggest that we take a few days to throw some more recommendations out there, as well as volunteers to pick books.

So, my suggestion: anyone with a book to suggest please email me at my profile addy between now and Thursday. [bmercer AT grenzglier DOT com] Put book club in the subject line if you remember - it'll make sorting them out easier. I'll collect the suggestions along with those remaining from our earlier list and post them all at once on Friday. People who would like to choose a book can maybe drop me a line as well and we can do the hat thing.

I don't have anything concrete to offer in terms of what kind of book we should be looking for, but I'd say that when making a nomination, try to think about books that really left you with something to say, or something to wonder about or piece together.

Something else to throw out there - Is the fifteenth a bad time? Would the first of the month be more workable? I'd love to get started again so that our discussion dates would resume on March 15, leaving less time than ususal for reading. But perhaps April 1st would be better? Or even April 15?

Wolfram, insent.

Cindy's post reminded me that I never came back and reported after my last post. Unfortunately, I only received one response - with an excellent rec, actually, John Hershey's Grendel.

So, where do we go from here?

Unfortunately, I only received one response - with an excellent rec, actually, John Hershey's Grendel.

John Hershey or John Gardner?

I haven't posted here in forever, but I thought I'd share my feelings since I was excited by the thread in the beginning. But let me say first that I'm not really sure I have the right to suggest changes since I have sort of dropped out.

Being a student who reads a lot of rather intellectually demanding material for class, any extra reading I do is for pleasure. Honestly, there's not much of it these days, but the truth is that when I read something beyond schoolwork, I want it to be fun. However, when I'm reading a mostly "fun" book, I'm not sure how much there is to discuss about it.

I can see myself participating more actively in the future (after July) but for now, the only book I can imagine reading would be one that is pretty accessible. I"m not saying that I think the thread should close. I just wanted to explain that while I like the idea, I don't have time to truly participate right now.

Whoops, you're right. Thanks for the correction, Frank.

I have a couple of suggestions that I'd like to throw out for consideration and discussion.

First, in terms of structure, I think we need to work a bit of variety into the book choice. Most of the books we've read so far have been "new" (i.e. published within the past ten years) "general" (i.e. non-genre) fiction. My suggestion is that we create different categores and rotate through them. As a start, perhaps we could have an "oldies but goodies - pre-1970" category (as we saw with Asher Lev, a book club can be a great place to have new discussions about familiar books), a "genre" category (broadly defined here - I'm thinking mysteries, science fiction, horror, romance, maybe even biographies) and a "great new fiction" category (which would include many of the selections we've already read). Each month would have a correlated category which might make it easier for people to dip in and out of participation.

Second, I think that the person who chooses the book needs to have already read it and make the commitment to guide the discussion throughout the month - pose questions, provide information about the author, provide historical context if appropriate, maybe even act as the "devil's advocate" to generate discussion. One of the difficult things about an on-line book club is that the members can't instantly feed off the thoughts of the others so it is sometimes hard to keep the discussion energized. The person choosing the book can co-opt other people into helping with this task but I think we need a designated someone to keep us moving and it should be someone who feels passionately about the book.

Second, I think that the person who chooses the book needs to have already read it and make the commitment to guide the discussion throughout the month

I like this. If not "guide," per se, then "goose." Jumpstarting occasionally.

I love both of lcat's thoughts and ideas. Can we consense on implementing one or both of them?

Also, I picked up Dirt Music from the library last week. Has anybody read it?