Welcome, all readers. Here is a run-down of how our book club works. Jump in any time. This is just informational, so the topic is closed to responses. The only thing that will be added here will be notices that voting polls have been posted and other announcements.

1. Every three or four months I run a random number generator to select three books from the 1001 list. The new polls will be announced here along with the date and time polls will close. I usually give a couple weeks for voting and try to post the choices about a month in advance.

2. The choices are posted as polls (see the sidebar - click polls)

3. Vote only once by clicking the book you want to read. Note: descriptions of the books are located at the bottom of each poll or can be found by clicking the link to more information. If you can't find the link, run the title through goodreads search.

4. When polls close, I'll announce the winners here.

5. Important: We begin the discussions on the 15th of every month, not the 1st. Books should be read before the discussion, not during. Though this is sometimes unrealistic, this is still the goal. We should ideally be a month ahead. That is, we should be reading the book for next month while discussing the current book. We don't worry about spoilers. You can say anything. The policy is, if someone hasn't read to the end, too bad :-)

7. Anyone can begin the discussion on the 15th. Please post the topic in the 1001 Book Club folder, and start us off with some questions or thoughts.

Thanks everyone!

SUMMER LINE UP

According to the polls we want to talk about

Dead Babies by Martin Amis for JUNE

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller for JULY

and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf for AUGUST

Breakfast at Tiffany's will by posted on May 15

In August we'll talk about To the Lighthouse, which is the last book we have planned for the summer. Since we like to be a month ahead it's time to vote! I'll post the choices for fall (as always picked from random number generator) in the polls section. Voting ends August 15 (I don't know what time, morning probably).

The choices will be taken from the 2008 list

OK - For fall we have

MIDDLEMARCH by George Eliot - SEPTEMBER 15
GHOSTROAD by Pat Barker - OCTOBER 15
POISONWOOD BIBLE - Barbara Kingsolver - NOMEMBER 15

It has just been brought to my attention that Ghost Road is the third part of a series. Does this bother anyone? Some reviews say it is important to read the first two. Should we add redo the poll? I can run the number generator again for an alternate choice. Tell me what you think here.

I generally like to read a series in order, but I will go with the majority.

I'd prefer something else. I was planning on skipping it because I don't have time to read the whole trilogy and i didn't want to read it out of order.

I don't know why but our library only has Ghost Road. I'm not sure why they've only got the last part of the trilogy but I assumed that it wasn't necessary to read the first two. But I'm game either way, I'll go with the majority vote.

The entire Ghost Road trilogy is about the same length as Middlemarch, and looks like it could be an easier read. I was planning on reading the whole thing, since I also saw reviews that strongly advised reading it in order.

It also looks like reading I will enjoy.

I'll probably want to read the trilogy eventually, I'm with Mark

I would definitely read the two first books in the trilogy before reading 'Ghost Road'. They sound interesting and I can probably easily be persuaded to read all three in October.

Maybe we just switch out the first book in the trilogy for this one. I was going to skip since I would want to read the first two before Ghost Road.

LDB wrote: "Maybe we just switch out the first book in the trilogy for this one. I was going to skip since I would want to read the first two before Ghost Road."

You know, I second that suggestion since vol. 1 in the trilogy (Regeneration) is also on the list. Then nobody is 'forced' to read the entire trilogy but can do so if they like vol. 1.

I third the suggestion made by LDB and Christina. I don't think I would be able to get to all three in October, it is a busy month for me. But still want to read them in order. If #1 is on the list, that works for me.

I would like to read the first two in the trilogy before Ghost Road.

Here is what I think. I love the idea of reading the trilogy. But I think we should have that be an option (the full trilogy) for the season after. It's almost September 15 and I am imagining that since Middlemarch is such a long book a lot of people have probably already started it.

So! I am going to post another poll for October, replacing Ghost Road with another option. Let's plan on offering a poll for the winter season offering a choice between the whole Ghost Road trilogy for the season or 3 separate books.

I hope this isn't a problem. It seems to be what will work best for everyone.

The trouble is that I don't remember what the original choices were, ack! I will just have to post 3 new, no biggie...

mara wrote: "The trouble is that I don't remember what the original choices were, ack! I will just have to post 3 new, no biggie..."

I think you accidentally created duplicate polls for October.

Voters note that Smiley's People is the third volume of a trilogy (that probably should be read in order in order to avoid spoilers for previous volumes).

sigh...oh, dear Sorry :-)

I was sure to look through the descriptions this time and didn't see anything about it being in a series...

mara, How long are we voting? If Smiley's People wins, can we worry about it then? So far Trainspotting is taking the lead.

yeah let's just let it ride I guess...We'll hope people read this and don't pick Smiley. I'll close the poll right before we're ready for Middlemarch

Hey all you Smiley's People..people! Go in and revote for Trainspotting or Life:A User's Manuel. We need to break the tie! Voting ends my time (Eastern USA) on Sunday at 5:00

Trainspotting it is

Ok! New plan!

September 15 - Middlemarch
October 15 - Trainspotting
November 15 - Poisonwood Bible

I like the new thread title, mara

What can anyone tell me about Trainspotting? It was apparently dropped from the original list of 1001 Books to Read..., and the first listing of that book looks to be in French - at least the summary is(?)

So I just went and read some of the reviews, and sorry to say it just doesn't look like something I'm going to bother reading. Looking forward to the Poisonwood Bible though.

I'm think we should start a meta-thread. This one is really supposed to be for announcements. If people post here, it makes it hard for others to see the annoucements quickly because they have to slog through other posts. So I'm going to close it again. But I'll open another for questions and such.

So!

TRAINSPOTTING - Not for the faint of heart lol! October 15

POISONWOOD BIBLE - November 15

Polls for winter season have been posted. Vote by November 1!

WINTER READING SCHEDULE

December - Everything the Rises Must Converge - Flannery O'Conner

January - July's People - Nadine Gordimer

We are tied for February. I put the winners up in the poll up to run from until the 7th of November so that latecomers can vote and break the tie

The Swarm has it mwahahaah