Kaseadillla’s Comments (group member since May 04, 2016)

Kaseadillla’s comments from the EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club group.

Welcome, Cait, Ellen, and Jen!

Welcome,Brittney and Bri!!

It was kind of slow until they got on the boat I'll admit... just kinda powered through lol

Welcome, Heather and Kim!

Welcome, Harshita!

Leesa I read the first Gone book - AMAZING I loved it.

Apologies for not replying to all of these... have been brainstorming what to do here given all of the different ideas.

Marcos - I like the idea of a second vote... though I think it is just logistically simpler to have a single voting period per month. I've made polls open for a week and NOT blind so that people can see how to vote is shaking out and can decide to switch their vote if they want. Hopefully you all received a message from me earlier today with a reminder that polls close tomorrow and if you are interested in doing so, you can see the leaders and switch your vote. Given the amount of new users... we'll see how this goes this month and if it doesn't seem to be working, I would consider two rounds of voting. Hopefully a good compromise?

To Carolyn, Christine, Marilyn, and Ying Ying - the buddy read/third category is tougher. For now, I'm inclined to keep it to two books a month, agreeing with Leesa and Sarah. Totally understand that it's frustrating to have a close vote, especially for those who were gung-ho for the 2nd place finisher. Given that poll voting is a clear indication of interest, I've implemented a policy for book suggestions that any book that has previously been suggested/nominated for polls is automatically eligible again. Also, books that lose in a certain month... well we can always read them in a future month! That's what has happened with a few books so far; they fell short in their first poll and won the second time around. I favor doing it this way as opposed to adding additional books in a given month as 3+ books in a month is a lot to ask and having 2 allows more people to participate. If you've already read the book, then you have a free month! And you can participate in spoiler discussions =)
As for categories/themes, love that idea! We've done it somewhat organically so far... we read horror themes around Halloween, some holiday-themed books in December, and had a sci-fi/dystopia month with The Handmaid's Tale and 1984. Would be open to making this more structured and picking a general theme for a month in terms of suggestions. At this time, would like to do it within the current two-books-per-month framework if we can as opposed to adding a third category. Would love to hear ideas and maybe we can make month-by-month themes more formal. June polls are up and July BOTM discussions are going; any specific theme ideas for August?
Buddy reads in general - the original idea here was to capture the too short and the too long. Aka, a classic short story that can be read in one sitting or a VERY long book that would make more sense to read over a number of months and, therefore, outside of the month-to-month framework. Now? Ahhhh I don't know how to use this category and I've made it so vague I feel like I've confused the bejeezus out of everyone... that's my bad. My apologies again.
Let's keep discussing the buddy reads thing b/c, frankly, it's undefined.

Welcome, Sarah and Daphne!

I read the killing and such as children's fantasy as I feel at that age people make believe "die" but it doesn't really mean anything. I feel like that's how it read in the book too - people dying didn't really mean anything.

I've heard versions upon version of this story so many times that it was great to read the original. Surprisingly clever and had tidbits that felt clearly written for adults. Fell just a little flat for me as I didn't quite feel the fantasy. Maybe it was length or writing style or the fact that I knew what was going to happen, but the whole magic of Neverland was lost on me.

Kristin and Amy - so many group reads in there!
Amy - we read The Joy Luck Club last summer, discussion is here!!
Kristin - looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this month's books!

Welcome, Emilie and Kim!

Welcome, Mary Lou!

Welcome, Sierra!

THAT'S what it stands for, I had no idea.

Carolyn - would be interested in a memoir/biography group, though! Have always been meaning to read more non-fiction in general. Feel free to direct message too if you want to discuss

y'all can visit me when you do!!!

For bookseries... can never decide. Maybe by category? Constantly changes

Fantasy: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone hand's down
High Fantasy: right now, A Game of Thrones of Song of Ice and Fire as others have said
Sci-Fi: Unwind or The Hunger Games for different reasons
Young(er) Adult: The Screaming Staircase or Leviathan

Individual book? oh boy no idea

I really like sports memoirs, recently read The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and thought it was amazing!!!
Even if you aren't a crew fan (I didn't know much) or don't care about sports, I still think you would enjoy it. It takes place during the beginning of WWII and a lot of the book talks about not only the crew team but also the beginning of the Nazi movement and their use of the 1936 Olympic games as a political and marketing stunt. Really interesting,

Welcome, Kathie!

I will say that the beginning was a little hard for me to get through, despite the humor.

Whelp.... any book that makes me emotional gets a high rating from me.

To clarify, 5% of the group's members, at the time, needed to vote "yes I would like to read this book as a third book for the month" in order to add it as a 3rd book. Nothing to do with previous polling.

If we did it today... if we have a really close vote in the Classics category (looks like we might), may consider opening up the poll for the 2nd place finisher. Based on old rules, would need 5% of current members (so 60ish people?) to vote yes indicating interest to add.