Item 26 was about book discussion groups -- book clubs, if you will.

I thought it was time that Grex itself have a book club, and the books
conference also seems like the right place to put the "club." It would
as I envision it, be similar to any other book discussion group, in that
members of the group would all read the same book, and then have an open
discussion about it.  Rather than all meeting the same day, though, we
will use Grex.  We miss out on the cookies, coffee, and sitting around
someone's living room, of course; but on the positive side, the discussions
can go on for more than one evening each month; and simultaneous meetings
on different books area easy to manage.

I thought that we could use these last few weeks of the year to get
organized: picking out books, setting up basic discussion schedules,
and the like.  

It would be nice to get started in January, wouldn't it?

86 responses total.

How do book discussion groups choose the books to read and discuss? 

How do the Grex walkers choose restaurants?

Wrestle?

Re: 1-3.  Well, that question, if I read it correctly, is asking
how book groups choose what they read.  I'd guess that most either
have a demogogue leadership, or choose via nominations and voting.
I suppose it's a question better asked in item 26.  

Now, on Grex, though, I was hoping for an organized anarchy.  :-)
 
Seriously, I'd envisioned loose nominations and voting.  I thought we
might try 4 books in '95, figuring one per quarter or so.  I was also
hoping for distinctly different genres, sticking with fiction, since
it's easier to discuss as literature than non-fiction.
 

Sounds like a neat idea.  I'll participate.

        This sounds like a great idea, in fact it might be cool if it
evolved into occasional ftf meetings at some cafe in Ann Arbor.

 Count me in, as long as the books chosen aren't as dry as the desert wind
and as lifeless as a buffalo that has been caught out on the prarie in
the middle of a snowstorm ;)
  So, who picks the books?

Throw out a few suggestions and see what Josh says :)

I think we should start with Schopenhauer or Veblen.  :)

I've been very leery of book discussion groups ever since I joined
one, and the book was The Birds (Aristophanese). The "discussion"
went into the relevance of the book to current affairs (a Russian
immigrant had strong opinions on its relevance to communism), and

Yes?  Yes?

Shit happens.

Sounds like a good reason to avoid most things...

Well, to continue #10 after the crash....in brief, everyone wanted to talk
about the relevance of The Birds to their particular passion, but no one
wanted to talk about its relevance to 400 BC. It was both comical and
frustrating because no one was listening to anyone else, and they were all
trying to get the conversation back to what *they* thought. Blahhh. How
about, The Birds?  8-o.

Is there a particular genre of fiction that people are interested in?
Can we get a consensus on that?

I'd read anything just to get back into reading again.
I haven't read a book in over three months.

Yeah, sounds kinda cool.
I'm in. How about these suggestions....
Hemmingways "Men without Women"
Charles Bukowski's "Post Office" or "Tales of Ordinary Madness"
Umberto Eco's "Name of the Rose"
Camus "The Outsider" or "The Plague"
Steinbecks "Desolation Ropw"
William Carlos Williams "Goodnight, Encredia".
The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.
Anyway lets choose one we all agree on, soon.
Bye for now

Rightnow I'm in themiddle of Insomnia, which, with my negligible amount
of free time, will take awhile..  BUt I'd love to participate.  How
about some Mark Twain.  Have started several some years back but never
finished many.

 I vote for that Barbara. How about "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court". If we used that one, at least I wouldn't have to go buy it.

  We could also look at some of Larry McMurtry's works, like "The 
Desert Rose" or " Anything For Billy" 2 of which don't seem to be
long at all, and are reletivly available cheap ;-)

re 15: How about selecting four different genres, first, and then selecting
representative samples, second?  This way, we can move forward without
committing ourselves to any individual authors.

Here's my four genre suggestions, and why:

1.      Science Fiction.  Some may say "cool."  Others may say "ewww."  
However, this type of fiction is wildly popular among the computer literate
population here on Grex.  I'd even go so far as to recommend the subgenre
commonly described as "cyberpunk" for its close-to-home feel.

2.      Romance.  No, not the fantasy sex books my wife buys by the
caseload from Harlequin and other bodice-ripper factories.  I was thinking
more in the lines of well respected literature.  I'm hesitant to 
give examples, since I don't want to influence a choice yet, but I'm 
looking for something generally recognized for quality: National Book
Award, Nobel Prize, etc.  Subcategory I'd recommend would be published
in this century and written in English, both to avoid anything like Rane's 
experience with "The Birds" and to avoid any possible translation
interpretation problems.

3.      Mystery.  I don't read this much, but a well paced, tense, gritty
whodunit might be a lot of fun to discuss, since in few other types of
fiction is it as easy to see the nuts and bolts it took to put the
story together.

4.      Adventure.  I don't read this much either, but there's so much
of it clogging the best seller lists, we ought to be able to find one
or two good ones published in the last few years.

Comments?  

  Sounds OK to me, Josh.  

  John D. MacDonald and Elmore Leonard are 2 good mystery authors, that
I have always enjoyed. I am presently 1/3 of the way through "Freaky
Deaky" by Leonard, and it's not too bad, also, it's set in Detroit which
makes it all the more enjoyable. ;)

Re 20: Can you give a definition of what you *do* mean by "romance"?
There was a time when practically any novel was considered a romance,
including things like _Ivanhoe_ and _Robinson Crusoe_.  (Note: the
German word for "novel" is "Roman".)

I'd suggest replacing "romance" with "quality mainstream fiction" as
category 2.

Actually, I was thinking of broad, sweeping novels that would be considered
"quality mainstream fiction."  I'd actually consider Ivanhoe and Robinson
Crusoe as adventure rather than romance, but I understand the confusion.

So I'm happy to change the name to avoid confusion.  I was actually thinking
about about a better name for this category, and just couldn't come up with
one.

No comments since Sunday - do I take this as acceptance or as rejection?

Of a new name for the romance category?  Of the Grex Book Club idea?
 
Did anyone mention mysteries?  (I thought maybe someone did).  Something
like that might be fun to read and easy to discuss.  Not that I'd want
to turn this into a Holmesian debate or a Wolfe Pack or anything.  I'm
not really interested in reading any "heavy" socio-political treatise,
though.  Something light, fun, with enough intellectual challenge to
make it worth discussing.  And as someone mentioned, easily available
at the library or in paperback.

I think the book club is a neat idea, so if that's what Josh was
asking about, I accept it.  Go for it.

To keep expenses down, I'd suggest choosing a book that's widely
available in paperback and public libraries.

        I don't suppose y'all would consider changing the mystery or
adventure catagories to non-fiction and subbing something like
Annie Dillard "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek," or Eric Drexler "Engines
of Creation"?  This would make me much more interested as I don't
read any mystery or adventure books. Quality fiction and Sci-Fi
are great, I would be into poetry or travel books as well.

  I'm interested, too.  Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose strikes me
as something interesting to read, as its on my list already.

I've read bits and pieces of Annie Dillard (got into it when I
was looking for "mysterious quotes" material) but not an entire
book.  I really like what I saw and think "Pilgrim at Tinker
Creek" would be a wonderful choice.

Name of theRo, I read Focults Pendulem and thought it
was OK if maybe a little drawn out.

I'm glad this came up.  I'm all for changing our categories around to
meet the desires of the group.  I came up with the ones I did somewhat
at random, and was hoping for more discussion of them then I got.
 
So I'm happy to pull the "Mystery" section.

        Is anyone still into this idea?  I'm game if y'all are up for it...

Apparantly, there is insufficient interest.  I've been working 60-80
hour weeks since early December, and haven't had the time
to devote to selling this idea here.

Put the idea on the shelf for a while, Josh.  Sometimes good ideas
have to wait for everyone interested to have the time :(

Here's a golden opportunity to see if there is sufficient interest in
reviviing this idea.  I'm game.

Well, I suppose it would be silly to ask if anyone's really interested in
this, given that the last response was *two years* ago...but I'm game.  My
schedule makes it difficult to attend meetings, so this would work a lot
better, for me.

It's quite reasonable to expect -- and, in fact, i daresay impossible to avoid
-- people reading their own perspective into a book.  To bring together these
perspectives is what makes gathering interesting.  
 
The ability to listen, however, and the ability to relate to others, are
entirely different issues.  To the extent that we can agree to exercise
those abilities, we will have a more interactive discussion. 

So, I say, let's give it a try.  Any takers?  I'd like to get this settled
by the end of November, so we can get moving.  I would like to see a show
of hands.  Those who respond by the end of November, 1997, will form the
core of the 1998 group.  The core will agree on some selections for 1998
by the end of December.  I suggest we shoot for no more than 6 books.
that'll give us a month to read and another to discuss.  I'm looking
forward to sharing perspectives and being introduced to some new things.  

So, first, show yourselves...

Yes, I s'pose I'm game.

As am I.

Me, too, since I won't have to shovel it into my crowded schedule but 
can pop in at 3am.  ;)

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss