Book Clubs

[Betsy the Quilter]

Ok, I thought I'd celebrate my 1000 post by offering up the idea of Book Club threads.  Is anyone interested in this?  Does it seem like a good idea?  My thought is that someone could propose a book to be read, or a series. (That would automatically make them the leader, LOL, unless they can con someone else into it.)  Others would join.  And of course, Kindleboards being what they are, more people would keep joining in!  Topics would be Book Club - Dead Witch Walking, for example.

I've never actually done a book club, but I would imagine that there would be some kind of schedule and questions for everyone to ponder?  I mean you wouldn't want to be discussing chapter 10 if most of the group is still on chapter 2?  There would be a WHOLE lot of spoiler code!  Is this something people would be interested in?  Would it work?  What books would people want to propose?

Betsy

[Angela]

I think this is a wonderful idea Betsy. I have been in a book club before, but I am not sure how it would work in this format. It won't be like we are sitting around a table and chatting.  Anyway, generally a book is decided on and a set number of chapters are read each week with a day designated where you discuss what you have read. As soon as I have finished The Princess Bride, I would love to be a part of one.

[Betsy the Quilter]

I think this is a wonderful idea Betsy. I have been in a book club before, but I am not sure how it would work in this format. It won't be like we are sitting around a table and chatting.  Anyway, generally a book is decided on and a set number of chapters are read each week with a day designated where you discuss what you have read. As soon as I have finished The Princess Bride, I would love to be a part of one.

Gee, seems to me like we're all pretty much sitting around a table chatting...LOL!

Betsy

[Tris]

Hey I wanna join too!   Only...how would it work?  I've never been part of a book club before.



Tris

[Angela]

Gee, seems to me like we're all pretty much sitting around a table chatting...LOL!

Betsy

Sometimes... when the boards aren't overly busy, it is almost like chatting. Other times, and I don't know if it is board traffic or my internet service, but posting and replies can be kinda slow.

[Betsy the Quilter]

Hey I wanna join too!   Only...how would it work?  I've never been part of a book club before.

Tris

Beats me.  We're going to make it up as we go along--my philosophy of life.

Betsy

[Angela]

It will definitely need someone (or several someones) to step up and take the lead for a group. That person would be the leader of the weekly discussion. A book would be chosen (generally it is chosen by the leader, but could be mutually agreed upon. A start date would be designated with the number of chapters to be read each week. A day and time would be set for the weekly meeting. Sometimes the leader leads/directs all discussion, or you can have a different person each week be in charge of leading. That shoud be decided before group begins. That is pretty much it.

[Angela]

To start I would think a topic is posted with the name of the book and when it is to start and possibly a poll as to best time of day/day of week for discussion. You really wouldn't want posting to take place on this thread until the group begins. It is important that everyone stay on the same chapters so that there is no risk of spoilers. Ideally you would want to do this in a chat room by invitation only instead of posting and replying, but we might be able to make it work. We might have to experiment to see how it works.

[Betsy the Quilter]

I think it's worth a try.  Doing it by thread instead of by chat room might be a different twist but it might work.  Doesn't hurt to try...

We can put the Book Club date on the calendar, too, if Harvey lets us. 

I'm thinking that it might be a little different than a traditional book club, there could be more than one book club, with more than book being discussed at a time, depending on interest.  The Historical Romancers might want a different book than the VampLit group (although there would certainly be some who would be interested in both.

There might be Book Club:  Twilight   and Book Club:  The Princess Bride      and Book Club:  Hitchhiker's Guide
all going on at the same time....

(obviously we're talking Books on Kindle here)

and while you might still have the schedule of several chapters a week or whatever, (locations on the Kindle), people wouldn't HAVE to all gather at the same time, would they?  We manage to bounce ideas and smart alec remarks off each other pretty well here without all being gathered at the same minute....

Frankly, I thought a lot of what was said, until it got to the point of beating a dead horse and off topic and a little personal, in the recent Twilight thread was the kind of discussion that would be good in a book club.  Hopefully, with each Book Club having a sort of leader, it could stay on topic a little better.

Anyway, just my thoughts...we can kick this around for awhile and then dive in!

[Linda Cannon-Mott]

Bets I love that idea, I have always wanted to participate in a bookclub. I have no idea how they work. Do you think we could start after the holidays since we will all be so busy & that will allow time to discuss & work out the kinks? I would think there is someone on the forum that has participated in a book club that can guide us. I like the idea of having more than one book since we have different reading tastes.

Mystery Thriller
Sci Fi
Fantasy
Love/Romance (just a free suggestions)

Linda

[Snapcat]

I think it's worth a try.  Doing it by thread instead of by chat room might be a different twist but it might work.  Doesn't hurt to try...

We can put the Book Club date on the calendar, too, if Harvey lets us. 

I'm thinking that it might be a little different than a traditional book club, there could be more than one book club, with more than book being discussed at a time, depending on interest.  The Historical Romancers might want a different book than the VampLit group (although there would certainly be some who would be interested in both.

There might be Book Club:  Twilight   and Book Club:  The Princess Bride      and Book Club:  Hitchhiker's Guide
all going on at the same time....

(obviously we're talking Books on Kindle here)

and while you might still have the schedule of several chapters a week or whatever, (locations on the Kindle), people wouldn't HAVE to all gather at the same time, would they?  We manage to bounce ideas and smart alec remarks off each other pretty well here without all being gathered at the same minute....

Frankly, I thought a lot of what was said, until it got to the point of beating a dead horse and off topic and a little personal, in the recent Twilight thread was the kind of discussion that would be good in a book club.  Hopefully, with each Book Club having a sort of leader, it could stay on topic a little better.

Anyway, just my thoughts...we can kick this around for awhile and then dive in!

I love this idea! I also noticed a lot of the talk in the former Twilight thread had some good literary critcism and genre discussion - of course mixed with other stuff  .

Anyway I have never been in a book club but I think it would work out fine. We don't all need to be on at the same time via a chat setting to discuss the book, it should work just fine in the message boards. I think we should just have a designated amount of time to discuss a specific chapter before we move onto the next. Like everyone read this chapter by such and such date, and that chapter is open for discussion until such and such date (or time), then move onto the next chapter. Discussion leader (I guess whoever suggested the book) could make sure important ideas are discussed or we don't get off topic. Or if we feel like it we could have a different person "lead" the discussion for each chapter.

I hope it works off. Its a shame that everyone is finishing the Princess Bride that would have been a good one to start!

[Betsy the Quilter]

Bets I love that idea, I have always wanted to participate in a bookclub. I have no idea how they work. Do you think we could start after the holidays since we will all be so busy & that will allow time to discuss & work out the kinks? I would think there is someone on the forum that has participated in a book club that can guide us. I like the idea of having more than one book since we have different reading tastes.

Mystery Thriller
Sci Fi
Fantasy
Love/Romance (just a free suggestions)

Linda

After the holidays is good as there will quite a few new Kindlers, I think, and people with Amazon gift cards to spend.  Plus it gives us time to figure this out.

Betsy

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

We can designate three chapters a week.  Any more might scatter the discussion.  So, if we start on a Monday, read three chapters before the next Monday, then the discussion on those three chapters would be open until Sunday.  No spoiler tags needed because we'd all be reading and discussing the same chapters at the same time. 

There are many discussion question on the Internet for different books.  Some books even have discussion questions in the back.  I think I still have the questions for Outlander.  I'll have to check.  If I do, I'll be glad to start off with that.  I'll let you know.

[luvmy4brats]

I think a Book Club is a fabulous idea. I'm all for it.

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

Betsy, I definitely agree there should be more than one club either  for different books or different genres.

I found my Outlander questions, if y'all would like to start out with that.

I would also suggest The Good Earth and To Kill a Mockingbird.  Even though we've all probably read those two, there is a lot to discuss and I'm sure we can find a discussion for them already set up like I have for Outlander.

[Betsy the Quilter]

Betsy, I definitely agree there should be more than one club either  for different books or different genres.

I found my Outlander questions, if y'all would like to start out with that.

I would also suggest The Good Earth and To Kill a Mockingbird.  Even though we've all probably read those two, there is a lot to discuss and I'm sure we can find a discussion for them already set up like I have for Outlander.

Do we want to only do books available on Kindle?  Neither The Good Earth nor TKAM are available on Kindle right now.

Betsy

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

Do we want to only do books available on Kindle?  Neither The Good Earth nor TKAM are available on Kindle right now.

Betsy

You're right.  I forgot when I posted that.  Maybe we could keep them in mind for when the happy day comes that they are Kindlized.

[tc]

I like others have not done a Book Club before.  If we do this once a week with a set number of chapters to read, well sounds doable to me.  Many are already reading more than one book at a time anyway.  I would like to be a part of one.

[Linda Cannon-Mott]

I definitely vote for Kindle books only! We need a name too, don't you think?

[Harvey]

I think this is a wonderful idea.

Let me know how I can help.

- We can definitely have any Book Club event dates appear on our forum calendar, for one thing.
- And, I am researching an integrated chat capability that may lend itself well to a Book Club gathering, in addition to the forum threads associated with Book Clubs.

On the latter, I'm still working on licensing terms and product selection, but I'll go on a limb and say that we'll have an integrated chat capability here within the next four weeks.

Note: by "integrated chat", I mean a chat room capability that is embedded in our site. Ideally, it will be a situation where the chat room automatically recognizes your forum member name - and you won't have to re-log in when you get to the chat room.

[Linda Cannon-Mott]

You continue to amaze me Harvey, the capability to chat would be awesome. I love it here, I love it here. Thanks for all your dedication and hard work!

[sergirl]

I love the idea of the book club, although I've never been in one, I always wanted to join one.  Oh and BTW Harvey You Rock!! 

[bkworm8it]

I like the idea of a book club and reading three chapters in a week sounds very doable. 

Also I read the entire Outlander series, loved it! The first on is downloadable to kindle. I'm hoping the rest will be too so I can read them again. Made my whole family (ok all the women) read them! 

[Kimblee]

Very excited about this. I plan to be on board when this gets off the ground.

[luvmy4brats]

I like the idea of a book club and reading three chapters in a week sounds very doable. 

Also I read the entire Outlander series, loved it! The first on is downloadable to kindle. I'm hoping the rest will be too so I can read them again. Made my whole family (ok all the women) read them! 

The entire series is available for the Kindle.