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.

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).

Loves on Heather

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.

I'd say that part of the nomination process might be scrounging up a volunteer to kick-off discussion for a particular book, or something along those lines. I don't think we'll be having Poster X's modern lit seminar if that's what has you worried.

eta, I do think that it might be worth consdering if there's a way to have some overlap on the books we're reading so that we can get a good mix of stuff without it becoming too unwieldy. But that's a discussion that I think would take place in the thread should we get to that stage.

I just want to see if I have this straight.

People want to discuss X book in depth and great detail.

These people think that, far too much the thread gets "hijacked" away from their conversation re: X book.

Question: How is that possible?

I see it like this:

Person A: "I read X book and I loved it."

Person B: "I read X book too! I loved the blah blah thematic blah blah structural blah blah cookies!"

Person C: "I read Y book."

Person A: "Yes, Person B, I too loved the blah blah cookies."

I mean...just ignore the "Y Book" post and continue your conversation. It's not like at a party where Person C would see you roll your eyes or you'd physically turn your body away to block them from your conversation. You're not being rude, here. You're just talking as though Person C were across the room talking to themselves. And, likely, Person D will see Person C talking to themself and respond "Hey, Person C, I read Y book and the blah blah fishsticks and beer really appealed to me. Howzabout you?" etc. etc.

Given this, I don't see the need for a Book Club thread. Continue your conversation about Book X and let other people talk about Book Y in parallel.