Sorry. I've actually had to work today.
What I envisioned was a continuing discussion of a specific work which would mean, for the most part, on any given day there would be a book under discussion as well as a book or books assigned for reading for the next discussion. I don't think the Literary folk would appreciate their thread being hijacked just to hammer out the details of book club, much less, to actually hold book club on a regular basis.
This is pretty much what I thought with some in between discussions about which books might be next.
When I brought it up, I'm not sure what I thought as far as the (I really wouldn't even call it a kerfuffle) thing. One of the points Hec and hayden made was that there was little discussion of a book and it's various interpretations and themes and all that stuff that makes my toes curl. While I didn't agree with some of the things that were said, I did agree with that part.
The Literary thread was to me, like that guy you know is good for you, and he's really nice, but you don't really feel that zing, you know? There's no chemistry. I want toe curling, soul-lifting (or crushing I suppose) discussion of books.
It was mentioned that us not having that kind of discussion, when we seem to have no problem doing it with tv shows, might be an argument for the anti-intellectual bias of the thread. A counter-point was made that in the show threads we're all reading from the same text, and I thought "Hey! All of us reading from the same text would be cool!"
So no, not a solution to what ails Literary, but me wanting to tell Literary that it's nice, and I hope we can always be friends, but a thread where I can get down and dirty with a text (kinda like that nice guy's hot moody older brother).
Not an argument, just 'splanin myself, and probably far too much about my love life.
What I'm still unclear on is, to put it as bluntly as possible, which side goes where? Did people want to move the litcrit to the Book Club thread and leave Literary to the anti-intellectuals, or the other way around?
If nothing else, you had me laughing out loud at my desk, so thanks for that at least.
More seriously, I agree that this isn't so much intended to separate the two groups as it is responding to one aspect of the kerfuffle, which is that some people are really jonesing for some more focused literary discussion. For a handful of reasons, that's not a need that the Lit thread is currently meeting. My hunch is that there won't be much of a change at all in the current Lit thread, though already the kerfuff does seem to have sparked some interesting discussions.
Has anyone checked in Literary to see if they'd allow a book club thread to operate inside there? It's really not a viable alternative if it's a non-starter.
I would think- and this may just be me, that a book club would take over that thread if it operated within it.
It's not just that the conversation was disjointed before (like Natter or Bitches where everyone hops from one topic to another), but it had to be disjointed, because the chances that any of us were reading the same book at any given time were so slim that it was pretty much always going to be "I read this really good book!" "Me too, but it was years ago, I liked it though" "Hey I read
this
book." There really was no way around that. A book club however would be pretty focused discussion. It would be like matter and anti-matter. I think maybe a better analogy than drabble and foamies would be Press and Angel trying to exist in the same thread.
I could be completely off base though.
I think maybe a better analogy than drabble and foamies would be Press and Angel trying to exist in the same thread.
Maybe trying to do Angel deathmatch in Angel?
JenP has said what I was thinking about saying. I'll just point towards her and nod vigorously.
Heh. My analogy's probably faulty too, but my point is that with one really focused discussion (Angel episodes) and one that bounces hither and thither and yon- the hither and thither one will likely get eaten, and I think the Literary thread as it is does work for some people.
A concern:
Who will lead the duscussions?
Will it be something like Aimee suggests Boox about X, Heather suggests Book Involving Y, and Kat suggests Book Sorta Like Z and then the "participants" do a quick vote/BS concensus and then whose ever book is chosen leads?
I ask because I think that all precautions should be taken so that this thread doesn't turn into someone's personal treehouse and the vibe isn't the same as most of the other threads where enyone has the chance to lead a conversation.
Meaning, I would like to see all books have the chance to be discussed ad nauseum.
