I like the idea of paired books we read in tandem, like Jekyll & Hyde + [modern interpretation thereof]. They automatically provide something to talk about: a basic compare/contrast. Someone suggested Starship Troopers and The Forever War back in Literary, and I could be persuaded to try these. Other doable pairings: two different novelizations of Arthurian myth; Brave New World and 1984; two novels with unreliable narrators. Note how this only works with shorter books -- trying to read two 800-page novels in a month can only end badly.

This pairing idea excites me to the point of being unseemly.

Also, I think that we should have at least two books "in the hopper", so to speak, for upcoming months and this is why: I'm sure that for some books the discussion is going to be long and intense. I suspect that for others NSM. If we were all a book ahead it would allow us to truncate a dead discussion (say if the thread were quiet for more than a few days) and move on to the next book without having to wait for the month to be out.

And I like Nova's proposal.

Also, without naming names, there are several Buffistas who previously made their enthusiasm known for this thread and mentioned wanting to make recs, who we have yet to hear from. So how about we keep recs open until tommorrow evening, narrow them down (however we agree to do that) by Thursday evening, and we make the selections (however we agree to do that) on Friday?

t popping into thread

t bouncing

I have many book suggestions, but I'll hold off this month.

I also wanted to x-post with my b'cracy post that once discussions actually start, I have a plethora of reading discussion techniques (not moderator stuff, just ways to get conversations going etc.) that I'd be glad to share. I promise not to get too English teacher if anyone takes me up on it.

Also wanted to pimp Reading Reminders by Jim Burke, not as a book club suggestion (it's nonfiction) but as a great set of suggestions to have active and engaged discussions about lit. The book is designed for English teachers, but it might be interesting to many of you.

I've never been in a book club per se (since I pretty much run five of them throughout the school year!), but I imagine many of the techniques I use in the classroom would be useful here as well.

Just to be clear, I am in no way trying to take over or tale charge or tell everyone that I know the "right way" to discuss books. I just wanted to offer up my experience FWIW.

t still bouncing!

I've only posted here a few times, but I lurk. I'm very excited about the book club thread. I used to be an avid reader, but then life and two little ones happened, along with some time-consuming rl stuff, and reading got lost in the shuffle somewhere. I like having a deadline. It'll motivate me. I hope.

So how about we keep recs open until tommorrow evening, narrow them down (however we agree to do that) by Thursday evening, and we make the selections (however we agree to do that) on Friday?

Sure. I picked 2pm board time as about 24 hours after collecting recs for 24 hours was mentioned :-). I can shift it, no problem.

I've never done any sort of book club at all. I'm really looking forward to this.

From Nutty:

The way that book clubs live is by finding books all or most of the members want to read all or most of the time.

While we're doing recs, just thought this could use another mention.

Suggestion: Lilty got the first post in this thread. If she would be so kind as to share her post, we could keep the list (and whatever other structure-related things we settle on) in her post. She could edit them in. The first post of a thread is any easy place to find stuff, and people new to the thread will hit on it first.

Also? Although I think we should follow Wolfram's idea of closing suggestions at whatever time tomorrow, for our first book (or first set of books), we have a whole month where we have nothing to post on, because we'll be reading. If people want to make suggestions, and pimp stuff in the meanwhile, is that okay? Because this is the first month, it's going to work a little differently this time, than it will in the future.

I'm very excited about reading books with the buffistae, but the idea of suggesting one scares me (What if everyone hates my book? What if it's boring? What if it's dumb? and so on.) So, I probably won't be suggesting anything, but I will definitely read once we choose something.

ETA: I think that picking one person to choose the book could be a lot of pressure (see above) but that's just me.

I don't think we'd force you, Nonian!

(What's your book? Tell me in white font. I won't tell anyone. :)

Weren't we getting to more of a "here's 3-5 books I think we might want to read" place for the recommender? Eases the pressure somewhat. And you'll have all the recommended books that haven't been read, yet, as a resource.

ETA: I also really really like the idea of reading pairs of bboks. Maybe a couple of times a year we could take extra time and do that, or something?

I'm with Nonian, on the "what if they hate my book" point. Not that I think you will hate any book I suggest, but random draws of some sort will minimize the problems. If we do get a huge list, though, some discussion would be a good thing.