PLEASE...If you are not interested in joining us, this isn't the place to tell us about it. Feel free to argue pros and cons on the other thread, if you like.

danquixote's idea was to take turns selecting the book of the month. I agree that this will probably result in a larger selection of books than a true democratic system. This will also greatly simplify the process. If it doesn't work out, we'll change it.

The only ground rule for selecting books is that if you go with a series, we have to stick with the FIRST book. I garuntee if you pick book 10 of the Wheel of Time Series no one can catch up their reading in time. Even if the first book has been discussed, let's not move on to book 2...there are many great authors and part of the point is to get some wide exposure to a lot of good writers, not stick with one writer through a series. We can finish the series on our own if we like it that much. Otherwise, no holds barred. Pick fantasy, scifi, romance, mystery, combinations of the above...not nonfiction, either, though....because we're really studying fiction writing here.

So, sign up. I'll take May 1st and volunteer to lead the first discussion. I already mentioned a suggestion for a book that could be read quickly in the three weeks we have, and I think I'll stick with it. So May's discussion will be on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone if you're in Britain...not sure why they had to change it. ) If you haven't read it...WHAT's WRONG WITH YOU? I mean, go ahead and get it and read it. If you have read it, might want to brush up on it. I hope that in the future we get to read many new books that we might not otherwise have run across, but I thought it might be best to ease our way in with an old favorite.

As for everyone else, you don't have to pick a month yet. Just reply and say you want to participate. I figure anyone at all can join in the discussion if they want, but we'll randomly choose the person who gets to pick the book from the list of those who have officially signed up here. (I'll choose names from a hat or something fair...first come first serve is rather unfair to those who don't spend all day lurking around here. )

So sign up please!

[This message has been edited by Christine (edited April 08, 2004).]
 

Lee
 

LDS
 

Sign me up for the book club.
 

Rux
:}
 

I'm in
 

Now I have to snag HP#1 from my 10 year old daughter! She comes out of her room, after reading for 15 minutes, to tell me all about what happened! (And yes, we've both read it several times! )

So what's the deadline for finishing? (And if you've already told us, I apologize-- I'll check your post again to make sure! )

Okay... I re-read your post, and now I get it! I guess my daughter and I can be HP-reading-airheads together!!

[This message has been edited by Lullaby Lady (edited April 08, 2004).]
 

CVG

*--an off-topic question: how come it's good to be sub-par in golf, where the word "par" originated (I think; I've done absolutely no research on the topic ), but it's not good in every day life? Just wondering. **

**--I noticed Christine used a lot of happy faces in her first post (which I have no problem with, BTW. I'm glad you're so happy ), so I thought I'd try to keep up.

There. Should be enough. Just in case, though....

[This message has been edited by cvgurau (edited April 08, 2004).]
 

Seriously, though, if someone wants to read one of those great american novels on their month it's their choice....but if no one plans to read a novel for a given month they might let the month's facilitator know in advance so they can pick something else. For example, I have no intention of ever reading the Great Gatsby again either. On the other hand, there are some classics I would read, like Twain.

All smiles!

OK, we now have 11 members. More are welcome to sign up (or just read and discuss), but as we have almost a year's worth of book selectors, here's the list (randomly picked using a pseudo-random number generator with a time stamp seed).

May: Christine (HPATSS)
June: Gen
July: AeroB1033
August: danquixote
September: Lord Darkstorm
October: Silver6
November: punahougirl84
December: Khyber
January: Lullaby Lady
February: cvgurau
March: teddyrux

Anyone else who signs up will get tacked on to the end of the list...may or may not last that long but we'll see how it works out.
 

I assume (oops!) that we announce the next book a month before that discussion starts. So on May 1st, when we start doing HPATSS, Gen will announce the book for June 1st, and so on?

Lee
 

Do you want a separate forum for your book discussions, or shall I change the title of the Discussing Published Hooks forum? (I could change it to Discussing Published Books, but then where would the Hooks discussion go?)
 

Christine, can we come up with a book earlier? I know that when I visit a used book store I walk out with a stack of books. The problem for me is that I don't get to go to one that often, not a good one anyway.

I just thought I would ask.

LDS
 

CVG

PS--

quote:

---

All smiles!

---

PPS--I was wondering (and feel free to say no), can we change from one month to...say 2 weeks? Or even 3?

It's just that 4 weeks seems like an awfully long time to go through one book. I can probably breeze through HP&TSS in a couple of days. Again.

Just a thought.

 

quote:

---

PPS--I was wondering (and feel free to say no), can we change from one month to...say 2 weeks? Or even 3?

It's just that 4 weeks seems like an awfully long time to go through one book. I can probably breeze through HP&TSS in a couple of days. Again.

---

The only problem that I have with 2 or 3 weeks is that while I can read a book in less than a month, it would be easier to have the extra time to. Life has a habit of getting in the way.

:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}

Rux
 

And please, please don't ever make me read The Great Gatsby again! I had to read is THREE TIMES between middle school and high school. (I changed schools twice during high school, so there were several repeats. I didn't really mind doing Twain more than once.)
 

Kathleen, I was considering using the Discussion of Published Hooks forum, and I still think it would work. Although I don't want to encroach on anyone who wants to discuss a published hook, I have noticed that that particular section had kind of lost energy anyway. And I think that if someone still wants to discuss a published hook, it would clearly fall under a discussion of published "books" as well.

Rahl22, you're welcome to join in but I didn't give you a month. If I put you on the list it wouldn't be until NEXT summer anyway.

Lord Darkstorm "Discussion of Published Books and Hooks"...sounds great to me.

And ABSOLUTELY...come up with a book earlier! I was thinking about making the suggestion but I thought, one step at a time. But yes, people who scan for books at used books stores might well want to pick up next December's book if someone already knows what it is. So anytime someone's ready, just post your book and your month and I'll occassionally post the entire list to keep everyone up to speed. (I have it on an excel spreadsheet.)

cvgurau, I also considered more often than every month. And you're right, we don't need a month to discuss a book, and this month we don't even really need a month to read the book in question. But unlike many of the threads here, this is more work. We actually have to acquire and read a book that we potentially never heard of before. But who knows? Let's get our feet wet and then consider changing the rules once we see how it all works.

Eljay, I am sooooo sorry, you poor, poor troubled soul. BTW, at one point I considered the Great Gatsby to be the WORST book I had EVER read. I have coped with this by completely forgetting everything about it, so I might have read worse by this point, but I'm not going to drudge up old nightmares to figure it out.

[This message has been edited by Christine (edited April 09, 2004).]
 

But I'll find one that is still available.

LDS
 

I am going to think on this a bit more, but I have several good reasons for the one I'd like to use.

Should we actually tell as soon as we have chosen, so people can arrange getting the book?
 

After those thirty seconds, I went back and worked out some reasons why I liked this choice:

• It's an interesting mix of fantasy and SF ideas/tropes, which is rare, and it works with some ideas you don't see as commonly as well as some ones you do;
• It has some interesting bits about writing;
• When I read it I found a lot of things I felt like discussing;
• It's something I suspect most people won't have already read;
• It's in a less conventional narrative form for our genres;
• It's in print and readily available;
• It's set at a SFF convention; and
• I like it. Recursive, but there you go.

There's couple different versions of the book. The one linked to from the word "Deep" in the book title was a YA release, and apparently some of the dialogue has been bowlderized. The one linked to from "Secret" is the mass-market general release. (Both of them seem to have used copies available through Amazon, as well.) If you're looking at offline bookstores, it may be in the YA section, although I think it was originally intended for an older audience, or at least an audience who didn't mind salty dialogue.

And a and a and a , just for good measure. I like fitting in.
 

I guess we'll never know.

Just wonderin'
CVG.
 

As to the specs in Gatsby...symbol of the all-knowing eyes of God. [As best I can remember].
 

Starting May 1st, I'm going to start a *series* of threads in the Discussion of Published Hooks forum. Each will begin with the title "May:" and will include a brief topic description after the semicolon. At the moment, I am planning such topics as opening hook, climax, characterization, etc. This way our discussion will be spread out over several threads because otherwise no one would ever get their say about anything because the topic would change too radically and too often. By splitting the discussion up into multiple threads, we can hopefully stay relatively on topic and thus give those who do not post as often a chance to have their say. Also, after I get the ball rolling any new threads would be welcome. So if you want to, you can just start your own thread and then get your word in that way.

Does that make sense?

I think there will be plenty of room for even those who post rather seldom to be involved. But live chats...when do you have them? Some people work days, others nights, some weekends, then there's family time...I just don't think it would work.
 

The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman

It is scifi, but this one is on my favorite list. I tossed in a link to amazon...but you can get it at most bookstores.

LDS

 

Christine May Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Gen June Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones
AeroB1033 July
danquixote August
Lord Darkstorm September The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Silver6 October The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip
punahougirl84 November
Khyber December
Lullaby Lady January
cvgurau February
teddyrux March
TheoPhileo April
Ergoface May
Eljay June
sassenach July
Kickle August
mogservant September

 

And Just for the record the book I'd choose is: The Siege of Mt. Nevermind by Fergus Ryan. It's in the Dragonlance Saga, but it explains it's setting and races well enough to stand alone. It is also in a series, in fact the last of the series, BUT the series doesn't follow any line, in fact I think they all take place at the same time, just different places. So, as I said it stands alone, and is wondefull in it's comedy and the villain char is quite interesting.
 

In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien.

Here's an Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140250948/qid=1081956070/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-0727912-0025724?v=glance&s=books
 

Thanks

Rux

 

Were you thinking "bad book" in terms of the "read slush to discover the slushpile errors and avoid them yourself" school of learning to write?

[This message has been edited by Gen (edited April 14, 2004).]
 

1. I want everyone to continue reading the bookse each month and if we keep asking them to read crap, who's going to participate. Heck, I'll drop it. That's like saying...this tastes awful, here have a bite!

2. Just because you think a book is good does not mean that there are not bad elements to learn the "not to's" from. No book is perfect. In fact, I highly suspect that each month there will be dissenters.

3. As useful as it is to learn what not to do, it is at least as important, if not more important, to see many clear examples of what TO do. There are an infinite number of ways of not doing things, in the end without seeing some correct methods they will never eliminate all the mistakes you could possibly make.
 

LDS

It won an award.
 

Restoree, by Anne McCaffrey

- There are plenty of cheap used copies available, plus new ones, plus it is available for download!

- I was in my dental office, and it turns out my hygienist is a sf fan. She mentioned OSC, Greg Bear, and some others. I finally asked if she had read any Anne McCaffrey. She replied, "Oh, doesn't she write mostly fantasy?" Oh my! So I had to correct her, letting her know that McCaffrey actually writes mostly sf, some romance, some combined, and that the confusion comes because one her most famous and beloved series of books has dragons...

SPOILER

- genetically engineered dragons, created by people who showed up on space ships and had to counter a menace coming from space! It has been described as science fantasy, and that works because of the level of civilization you start learning about, but as you progress with them to solve their problems, they learn of their extrastellar origins... not an elf or sorcerer in sight!

END SPOILER

So I thought it would be great for us to look at Restoree, which was McCaffrey's first published novel. According to her, she wrote it in response to the ridiculous way women were portrayed in sf in the 50's and 60's. But she did not write a "butch, butt-kicking girl" or a "weak damsel-in-distress" story - the protagonist is someone you feel could be very real, someone you know. What I find is that this book, unlike some others from the time period, holds up well and doesn't feel dated. I've read it several times over many years, and it still works for me. We'll benefit from looking at a successful author's first book, which happens to be a really good story, well-written - I still wish she would write a sequel.

Lee
 

Christine May Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Gen June Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones
AeroB1033 July
danquixote August In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien
Lord Darkstorm September The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Silver6 October The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip
punahougirl84 November Restoree, by Anne McCaffrey
Khyber December
Lullaby Lady January
cvgurau February
teddyrux March
TheoPhileo April
Ergoface May
Eljay June
sassenach July
Kickle August
mogservant September
SiliGurl October
Pyre Dynasty November The Siege of Mt. Nevermind by Fergus Ryan

I'm happy to say that we've got most of our selections for the next half year. AeroB1033 is the only delinquent one. (Don't worry...plenty of time.) We've even got a couple selections for next year!

One thing, if anyone feels the need to withdraw from this group at any time...PLEASE just let me know so I can adjust the month assignments.
 

"Stranger in a Strange Land" will be my March pick.
 

I started rereading HPATSS too soon - am almost done again - didn't realize how much I had forgotten (you know, all the stuff in the book that is not in the movie!).
 

(drumroll, please...) "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle

Let me know if that's satisfactory!

LL
 

LL
 

I must warn you, though, that your month to pick a book won't come up utnil December of 2005. But still, read the books for each month, join in the discussions, and if things are still going in a year and a half, pick a book too.
 

Just wondering.

CVG
 

punahougirl84, there is a lot of stuff missing from the movie. In fact, one of the threads I plan to start is a discussion of whether the movie did justice to the book.
 

I've been away for a bit so missed this thread going up. Sounds like a great idea though and I'll try to get in on the discussions.
 

Just kidding! The more the merrier! I've got you signed up to pick a book in February 2006. I'm very much looking forward to our first discussion...only a week and a half away! (I might start a few days early if I get really itchy fingers.)
 

quote:

---

Starship Troopers...now I have another excuse not to read it (I've read my quota of bad-bug books).

---

Rux

:}

"You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want." Zig Ziglar

[This message has been edited by teddyrux (edited April 23, 2004).]
 

quote:

---

I'm happy to say that we've got most of our selections for the next half year. AeroB1033 is the only delinquent one. (Don't worry...plenty of time.) We've even got a couple selections for next year!

---

I'm thinking on it, no worries. *chuckle* I'll have a selection soon.