I agree with DX. And my bringing this up had nothing to do with anything except... it's been six months with no book discussion activity. To me, that seems like a long time without activity and thought it might bear discussion.

I, too, like the Project Gutenberg idea. Also, having some sort of discussion guide might help us get past the, "I liked it","Yeah, I liked it too, but not this part","I like that part but not this other part" kind of conversation, and perhaps into more substance. PG's top 100 list might be a good place to start for titles. For example, a quick google search of The Art of War (currently #4) found many discussion/study guides, including this: [link] Not that I'm advocating we start up again with The Art of War, or not. I just would like to see this not die.

eta: Thanks, Jen, for bringing this up again. I was so tickled to see that there were eight new posts in this thread!

Um, I don't think anyone is agitating for its closure. If you guys want to close up shop fine, but don't close it just to satisfy some nebulous group of folks who see the thread as a thorn in their side. I don't think they exist.

I don't think anyone is agitating for its closure either. And although I don't imagine some group of Buffistas seeing the thread as a thorn in their side, I also know some Buffistas opened their own bookclub in lj, right around the time this thread was created. I don't know that it fared any better than this one. It might even be gone now, but it still seemed a little point-y. Not thorny. Just pointy. Something, with a point.

Also, a lot of the opposition was based on the anti-proliferation stance, which is as much about culture as resources. Because I share that to some extent, I'd rather see us close threads that don't succeed, so that when there is a proposal for a new thread, it doesn't have to bear quite as big a burden. Since this idea never did take off like wildfire, I now really don't see any reason this sort of discussion couldn't take place in the Literary thread.

This thread opened in July, 2004. It's August, 2005. We didn't even make it to 1000 posts.

I also know some Buffistas opened their own bookclub in lj, right around the time this thread was created

They did?

We didn't even make it to 1000 posts.

"I'm not dead yet! I feel happy!"

They did?

Yeah. I just looked it up, and got the "this journal has been deleted and purged" message. But yeah.

cereal...

I won't propose we close it, if a decent number of people in here want to keep it open. I do think it's something we should consider though, because opening new threads is a touchy subject for Buffistas who take either the pro-proliferation stance or the anti. It just feels to me like it might be slightly less tense, if, when a thread failed, we admitted it and closed it.

I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from the existence of that mysterious other bookclub. That there was opposition to this one? That buffista bookclubs are doomed in general? That all those other bookclubbers have goatees?

It just feels to me like it might be slightly less tense, if, when a thread failed, we admitted it and closed it.

I bet all the people who were so mortally disturbed by the idea of this thread have forgotten about it.

sluuuuuuuut

You go trolling for those things, don't you.