Our Book Club: Book Selection & Organizational Issues

[michaelflanagansf]

Hello,

I've put up the books for our 4th selection today.  Discussion for 'Last Picture Show' will be going through Sept. 18th (we are taking the last week for summing up and a discussion of the film vs. the book).

So, we should start reading this book on Sept. 25th and begin discussion on Oct. 2nd.  Is this enough time for readers to get the book, or would you prefer we begin reading on Oct. 2nd and discussion on Oct. 9th?

Followup question - should I post a followup poll immediately after this one ends (next Monday) for the 5th book so that readers will have over a month to order it?

Michael

[michaelflanagansf]

A quick note about the selection process.  Dejavu, you asked how we select books - a lot of the books selected are those suggested by both our book club members and others (I get p.m.s - trust me).  Oftentimes I'll 'tweak' them a little - like I took your suggestion for a James Baldwin book and slightly altered it, suggesting another book.  The current list contains a suggestion from Nikki, Playitagain, Dave Cullen and yourself (albeit altered).

Usually I will include books in one list but not the subsequent list - for example, besides the new books on this list all of the books are top vote getters in previous lists, but I didn't include ones that deal specifically with the west as we are reading Larry McMurtry now.

As Edmund White's book was quite popular (as was 'The Front Runner' the first time it was in the vote) I decided to include more 'coming out' novels.  As someone noted 'The City and the Pillar' isn't exactly cheery (neither is 'Giovanni's Room'), but I thought they would give an interesting historical contrast to 'Brokeback Mountain'.

So that is how I select books for voting.

mf

[Nikki]

Followup question - should I post a followup poll immediately after this one ends (next Monday) for the 5th book so that readers will have over a month to order it?

Michael, I think posting a followup poll right after this one ends is a good idea. Although I have a few of these books myself, I may have to buy the winner if I don't already own it. A month should give us enough time to track it down.

Nikki

[dejavu]

Michael,

First question:  I would prefer to begin reading next book on Oct 2, discuss on Oct 9.  Some of the books may be easier to find than others, but that would give everyone enough time.  But it's not a big deal to me either way.

Second question:  I feel more strongly about this.  Let's get the poll up for 5th book as soon as possible (next week sometime?) so we could have maximum time to obtain.

[Dave Cullen]

I'm just going to keep voting for Jesus' Son until it wins. Hehehe.

It just came up in a discussion with a friend yesterday, oddly enough. And I seem to love it more with each passing day. Definitely holds up. One of the best books I've ever read. Prolly in my top five with Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying," whatshisname's "The Sheltering Sky," Salinger's "Catcher In The Rye," Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meaney," and of course Nabokov's "Conclusive Evidence" (aka "Speak Memory). Is that more than five?

hmmmmm. for pure line by line writing, "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest" is also just about perfect. I literally could not find an imperfect sentence in the whole freaking thing. it didn't affect me like the others, though.

[michaelflanagansf]

'Cukoo's Nest' would make a good a good selection too!  Next time....

'Sheltering Sky' is Paul Bowles - certainly an interesting writer (as was Jane Bowles).  Your 'pure line by line writing' description has me thinking of Kerouac's 'On the road'. [Of course, you could call it an amphetamine rant too.... ]

I'm just going to keep voting for Jesus' Son until it wins. Hehehe.

It just came up in a discussion with a friend yesterday, oddly enough. And I seem to love it more with each passing day. Definitely holds up. One of the best books I've ever read. Prolly in my top five with Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying," whatshisname's "The Sheltering Sky," Salinger's "Catcher In The Rye," Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meaney," and of course Nabokov's "Conclusive Evidence" (aka "Speak Memory). Is that more than five?

hmmmmm. for pure line by line writing, "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest" is also just about perfect. I literally could not find an imperfect sentence in the whole freaking thing. it didn't affect me like the others, though.

[Dave Cullen]

On The Road kinda bored me. i only got halfway through. i loved its moments sometimes, but i also grew impatient.

cuckoo creates a world so rich and so intense and characters so vivid and real and so perfectly matched, and every line is necessary and moves the story and/or enriches it. an amazing economy of words.

[WyomingBoy]

Really great book.  "Last Watch of the Night" by Paul Monette.  Great great!

[All4one]

I second that.

[michaelflanagansf]

Really great book.  "Last Watch of the Night" by Paul Monette.  Great great!

Thanks for the suggestion!  I keep a list of these suggestion for future book club selections.

So as a librarian, I'm always wondering how people find the books they like (especially in rural communities) - did you read a review of this or was it recommended by a friend?

[All4one]

Alice Hoffman wrote At Risk, a story of a child with AIDS. I gave the book to my daughter, then about 12 years old. When she had finished the book, I told her there was one line that had great impact on me.   
"She would have been beautiful" my daughter said. That was the line. It was a moment I'll always remember, second only to the moment when I realized that she could read ( I still have the copy of The Best Nest that was in her hands at that moment.

Anyway, after reading the Alice Hoffman book, which was fiction, I looked for more on AIDS - on the personal experience of living with AIDS. The first thing I found was Paul Monette's Borrowed Time. Then, everything else by him I could find...

[Dave Cullen]

OK, i know i'm going to lose this month with Jesus' Son, so I'm starting my campaign now to read it in Oct.

what is it going to take to convince you people?

hehehe. but seriously?

[dejavu]

I went through all the reviews for the 4th book, and noted plus and minus points.

The reason I didn't particularly like the idea of Jesus' Son was that it says the format is a collection of short stories -- "linked" short stories, but nevertheless.  I thought it might be hard to deal with that in the way the book club operates (usually a novel, 1st third or 1st quarter, etc.)  Dave Cullen, do you really think this book would work for our format?  If so, maybe we'll give it more consideration next time it comes up. 

Other considerations like that might be:
  Is it so old that it's only available through used booksellers, which might be hard to track down
  Is it so new that it's only available in hardcover, thus more expensive
Just some thoughts on what I considered, in addition to whether the story itself sounded good.

[michaelflanagansf]

Just a quick comment - if anyone has any additional comments or suggestions for November's (or December's) books, please get them to me.  You can either leave a note here or p.m. me.  I've already gotten an additional suggestion (and I love to get them, so please don't be shy!).

mf

[Dave Cullen]

The reason I didn't particularly like the idea of Jesus' Son was that it says the format is a collection of short stories -- "linked" short stories, but nevertheless.  I thought it might be hard to deal with that in the way the book club operates (usually a novel, 1st third or 1st quarter, etc.)  Dave Cullen, do you really think this book would work for our format?  If so, maybe we'll give it more consideration next time it comes up. 

Other considerations like that might be:
  Is it so old that it's only available through used booksellers, which might be hard to track down
  Is it so new that it's only available in hardcover, thus more expensive
Just some thoughts on what I considered, in addition to whether the story itself sounded good.

jesus' son is supposedly short stories, with some superficial distinctions between narrators now and then (eg, sometimes he's a recovering heroin addict, sometimes alcoholic, sometimes current drug user), but in my read, it's all the same guy. reads like the same person to me. reads like a novel. that's something we could discuss.

but i'm not clear on what your concern is with reading short stories regardless. why would they not work for us?

as for the other concerns (i'm not sure you meant them applied to this book, but just in case), jesus' son is a perennial seller, and every time i've looked for it in a local shop, it's in stock. amazon has it always available. it should not be hard to get. and it's in paperback.