PS Bookclub - Next Book?

[dragonfly411]

Are we going to start planning book two soon?

 

[Haven]

I'd be in for a new book. The ongoing discussion is difficult for me, but once I finish I can participate.

I can't finish The Moonstone because I lost it! It was the library's, too, so I'm feeling pretty awful about it.

 

[jas]

I am in for book two. I am just super swamped until next week and don't feel right jumping into a book discussion right now. I'd love to get in on the ground floor of the next one.

Sorry about the book, Haven. I hope it turns up!

 

[elrohwen]

I'm in for a second book, but I don't really have any suggestions. I mostly read books in the same genre as our last books, so I'm open to whatever everyone else wants to read for the next one.

 

[rainwood]

Several people said they were Barbara Kingsolver fans so I'd propose what I think is her latest novel "The Lacuna."

How does that sound?

 

[dragonfly411]

I'm down for Lacuna if others are! I loved The Poisonwood Bible

 

[brightblue]

Can I play? A great fairly quick read is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. It has been out for a while so should be readily available at your local libraries. It is excellent.

 

[vespergirl]

Hi everyone, I would like to recommend either The Corrections or Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. I am reading The Corrections right now, and Freedom is also supposed to be excellent, despite the fact that Oprah just announced it's her next book club book.

I also like Barbara Kingsolver though, so I'd be up for The Lacuna.

I'm sorry that I never participated with The Moonstone. I actually tracked down a copy, but I tried to start reading it & I coudlnt' get into it I definitely am still interested in participating in book club though ...

 

[elrohwen]

Kingsolver would be good with me - I liked the Poisonwood Bible.

 

[dragonfly411]

Should we take a vote either here or in hangout?

 

[monarch64]

Sorry, I'm not for any book that's been approved by Oprah.

I vote for "The Neverending Story."

Love you all!!!

 

[dragonfly411]

Monarch - Oprah's book club has done some pretty awesome books, coming from someone who worked at a bookstore, eat sleeps and breathes reading.

 

[AGBF]

I have been feeling bad about The Moonstone discussions, too. I am just not sure what wen wrong with them, but they never really materialized. Maybe it isn't time to give up on them since there is a group of us who have read the book now and we could pick an aspect of it that was worthy of discussion.

It seems to me that for a group that is is able to get into passionate debates on topics, that somehow we really missed the boat with the, The Moonstone I think it is that boat-missing which has made me reluctant to sign on for another book. I am not sure what made the discussion of the first book fall flat.

Having said that, I loved Kingsolver's The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible but couldn't/wouldn't read Pigs in Heaven. I would want to know more about Lacuna before signing on to read it. I don't want to read melodrama like Pigs in Heaven.

Deb/AGBF

 

[dragonfly411]

AGBF - I wonder if others didn't have trouble staying interested in The Moonstone. The transition in narrators really made it hard for me to stay interested. I had to force my way through.

Would you guys like me to make a poll based on the books that have been suggested and we can determine our next book that way?

 

[AGBF]

AGBF - I wonder if others didn't have trouble staying interested in The Moonstone. The transition in narrators really made it hard for me to stay interested. I had to force my way through.

Would you guys like me to make a poll based on the books that have been suggested and we can determine our next book that way?

I don't know if I am ready for a poll yet, dragonfly. I am still stuck on what went wrong. I am afraid that that I will read another book and have nothing to say again. But I am willing to participate in a poll now if that is the will of the majority. And I want you to know that I really apprectate your enthusiasm about the book club!

Hugs,
Deb

 

[rainwood]

I vote we do a poll now. It's October 12 and that means we'd be starting discussions sometime after November 12 (Happy Birthday Mom!) to make a selection and give ourselves a month to read. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to get much closer to the holidays than that. There's so much to do then, I wouldn't want to commit to reading and discussing a book between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So if we skipped the holidays, we'd then be talking about January. If we want to keep the book club active, that's probably a little long to wait.

As for the book to select, I generally agree with Monnie about avoiding Oprah book club selections, but I also don't let O's picks dissuade me from a book I would otherwise want to read. Barbara Kingsolver falls in that category for me. I just looked at a list of her books and I've read all of her novels. I agree with AGBF about Pigs in Heaven (Animal Dreams was my favorite of the southwest novels), but I didn't think either Poisonwood Bible or the Prodigal Summer (the one about the park ranger in the Appalachias) bore much resemblance to her earlier novels. According to the back cover, The Lacuna is a story about a Mexican-American man in the 30's and 40's, is sort of a sweeping epic in scope, and has gotten rave reviews. That's all I know. My guess is that it would be rich with topics to discuss if we're so inclined.

My only bias when it comes to selecting a book is that I'd much rather pick one I already own. I have a big backlog of books on the shelf waiting to be read so I can't justify going out and buying more until I work through some of those. The Lacuna is one I already have, but so is The Corrections. I'd be willing to read that but would be hesitant to make that our second selection because I've heard from several people that it can be a bit of a tough slog. Another book that I'd be willing to put to a vote would be The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd just because The Secret Life of Bees was so wonderful. I also have Water for Elephants and The Help waiting on the shelf so I'd be up for those too although I'm afraid many of you may have already read them.

I too was disappointed in the discussions about The Moonstone, but can see why they stalled. There wasn't a lot to say other than whether we did or didn't like the book. I probably wrote the longest comment and that's about all I said because there wasn't much else to focus on. The characters were kind of one-dimensional and the plot was kind of wacky. I could have written about how I don't even like yellow diamonds, but that's probably better suited to another one of the forums!

And having now written a novel myself, I'll shut up.

 

[elrohwen]

I agree with most of what Rainwood and Deb have said - I agree that it's sad discussions of The Moonstone didn't go anywhere and I'm not really sure why. However, it was a book I was planning to re-read anyway, and I enjoyed it, so I'm not going to overanalyze. Maybe another book will just be better for discussion? I haven't really done the book club thing enough to know which books make good discussion books - I only know which books I typically read, which might not be the best books to talk about with others.

I haven't read any of the choices, so I can't make any suggestions there. I would also say to not let Oprah's book club dissuade anyone. Heck, she's picked Anna Karenina and East of Eden in the last few years - with the number of classics on her list I don't think we can rule out any book just because it has her stamp on it. She's gone far beyond the standard chick lit mushy books that I think she used to pick.

I also agree with Rainwood that we should probably pick a book now so that we can finish before the holidays start. I actually have far more free time during the holidays, but I imagine most have a lot less and discussions would lag even more, so we'll have more chance of success if we work around the holidays.

 

[dragonfly411]

To offer up another idea when it comes to the discussion, perhaps we need to make sure we have topics to discuss/questions. There are some books that have book club type questions at the back for book club discussion. I'd be happy to find some basic questions to start with and see what we come up with for each book

AGBF - I seriously love to read, and have always wanted to be in a book club, but haven't wanted to have to GO somewhere to attend meetings, so this was perfect for me and I really really want us to see if we can't generate more interest in it so I can continue to talk about these books with you all!

 

[AGBF]

I am, now, interested in reading Lacuna, because when Kingsolver is good, she is good. And it sounded as if, this time, she is good. Dragonfly, you are going to wear me out, child!!! (I happen to know from my vast reading that "to wear someone out" is a colloquial phrase for to beat him.... No such pun was intended in this context.)

Deb/AGBF

 

[Blackpaw]

Im with you AGBF - im really not sure what went wrong with the Moonstone discussions?! My guess is that the style, period of the book was, i dont know, opaque, for some readers to get into...Victorian novels after all have a very different flow to them than contemporary fiction?

I guess ill give it one more a shot though...I have another suggestion, its an oldie but if not too many people have already read it i believe its meant to be fantastic, Tony Morrison's Beloved...ive always wanted to read it!

 

[elrohwen]

Im with you AGBF - im really not sure what went wrong with the Moonstone discussions?! My guess is that the style, period of the book was, i dont know, opaque, for some readers to get into...Victorian novels after all have a very different flow to them than contemporary fiction?

I guess ill give it one more a shot though...I have another suggestion, its an oldie but if not too many people have already read it i believe its meant to be fantastic, Tony Morrison's Beloved...ive always wanted to read it!

Can I have veto power because I read the last book? If so, I call veto! Haha. I'll have to sit out if we pick that one because I really didn't enjoy it the first time through.

 

[AGBF]

Can I have veto power because I read the last book? If so, I call veto! Haha. I'll have to sit out if we pick that one because I really didn't enjoy it the first time through.

I never read anything by Toni Morrison but am prejudiced against her. One member of the real life book club to which I belonged knew her and spoke very disparagingly of her. I could never shake that!

Deb/AGBF

 

[elrohwen]

Can I have veto power because I read the last book? If so, I call veto! Haha. I'll have to sit out if we pick that one because I really didn't enjoy it the first time through.

I never read anything by Toni Morrison but am prejudiced against her. One member of the real life book club to which I belonged knew her and spoke very disparagingly of her. I could never shake that!

Deb/AGBF

Interesting! What did she say?

I don't read many books that I truly dislike, but I didn't find many redeeming qualities in Beloved.

 

[AGBF]

Can I have veto power because I read the last book? If so, I call veto! Haha. I'll have to sit out if we pick that one because I really didn't enjoy it the first time through.

I never read anything by Toni Morrison but am prejudiced against her. One member of the real life book club to which I belonged knew her and spoke very disparagingly of her. I could never shake that!

Deb/AGBF

Interesting! What did she say?

I don't read many books that I truly dislike, but I didn't find many redeeming qualities in Beloved.

dragonfly-

It was a constant barrage of belittling statements about how derivative she was and how conceited she was and how superficial she was. I cannot remember any specifics. (This was 20 years ago.) I just got the impression of a woman who could drive another woman to hatred! Now, we all know that great authors can be dreadful people...but I don't like to read about gratuitous torture. After Blackpaw suggested, The Beloved I read a review of it. I don't think so!!!

Deb/AGBF

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Can I have veto power because I read the last book? If so, I call veto! Haha. I'll have to sit out if we pick that one because I really didn't enjoy it the first time through.

I never read anything by Toni Morrison but am prejudiced against her. One member of the real life book club to which I belonged knew her and spoke very disparagingly of her. I could never shake that!

Deb/AGBF

Interesting! What did she say?

I don't read many books that I truly dislike, but I didn't find many redeeming qualities in Beloved.

I'm not in the bookclub, but I had to chime in here - I really disliked Beloved.

Unfortunately, I'm not a Kingsolver fan either so I'll just read the bookclub discussions rather than participate

 

[elrohwen]

Can I have veto power because I read the last book? If so, I call veto! Haha. I'll have to sit out if we pick that one because I really didn't enjoy it the first time through.

I never read anything by Toni Morrison but am prejudiced against her. One member of the real life book club to which I belonged knew her and spoke very disparagingly of her. I could never shake that!

Deb/AGBF

Interesting! What did she say?

I don't read many books that I truly dislike, but I didn't find many redeeming qualities in Beloved.

dragonfly-

It was a constant barrage of belittling statements about how derivative she was and how conceited she was and how superficial she was. I cannot remember any specifics. (This was 20 years ago.) I just got the impression of a woman who could drive another woman to hatred! Now, we all know that great authors can be dreadful people...but I don't like to read about gratuitous torture. After Blackpaw suggested, The Beloved I read a review of it. I don't think so!!!

Deb/AGBF

I'm not dragonfly, silly

 

[AGBF]

I'm not dragonfly, silly

First response: Prove it!

Second, more measured, response: Uh oh! My senility is showing!

When I (briefly) taught middle school I called all the kids by the wrong names. I had never done this when I taught high school in my twenties. The (middle school) kids would loudly protest, "I'm not Robert! I'm Connor!" and "I'm not Rebecca! I'm Kadijah!". I told them all that my grandmother had called us (her grandchildren) first by her sisters' names; then by her daughters' names; and finally gotten around to the names of her sons-in-law and grandchildren. We were lucky if she ever hit on the right name for one of us. So I came by problem naturally.

I have to say that I didn't expect to have the problem on-line, though! I apologize, Elrohwen (although I adore dragonfly).

Deb/AGBF

 

[AGBF]

I'm not in the bookclub, but I had to chime in here - I really disliked Beloved.

Unfortunately, I'm not a Kingsolver fan either so I'll just read the bookclub discussions rather than participate

B.E.G.-

Anyone can be in the book club. There is no rule that says we must read either Toni Morrison or Barbara Kingsolver. Would you

participate if we read another author? Whom do you like?

Deb/AGBF

 

[elrohwen]

I'm not dragonfly, silly

First response: Prove it!

Second, more measured, response: Uh oh! My senility is showing!

When I (briefly) taught middle school I called all the kids by the wrong names. I had never done this when I taught high school in my twenties. The (middle school) kids would loudly protest, "I'm not Robert! I'm Connor!" and "I'm not Rebecca! I'm Kadijah!". I told them all that my grandmother had called us (her grandchildren) first by her sisters' names; then by her daughters' names; and finally gotten around to the names of her sons-in-law and grandchildren. We were lucky if she ever hit on the right name for one of us. So I came by problem naturally.

I have to say that I didn't expect to have the problem on-line, though! I apologize, Elrohwen (although I adore dragonfly).

Deb/AGBF

Hahaha. Your story reminded me of a teacher I had in high school - we often had siblings go through my school, and it made perfect sense that she would call my friend, Heather, by her older sister's name occasionally. One day she called Heather by her older brother's name though, and then we were really confused! "Uh, Teacher, there's no Jeremy in this class." "Oh sorry kids, I meant Heather!"

 

[TravelingGal]

I vote first that we take the bookclub discussion to Hangout. I know we have the library, but really, not much traffic through here.

Secondly, I also vote for the Help. Many have read it, many want to read it and a lot of people already own it TBR. If anything, there's lots to talk about on that book so we can see if a book that many people have already read will spark the type of discussions everyone wants to see.

I also say we give a time limit to read, then start one long thread in hangout. Join when you want, but don't break it up into topics like it happened here.

So in a nutshell, The Help, 2 weeks to read it, and reconvene in Hangout under "The Help" thread.

My two cents.