Common reads

[Rosemarie]

Werner, an informal common read was what I had in mind when I mentioned a "buddy read". The read would be for fun and open to whoever would like to participate--very informal. August sounds good to me.

[Werner]

Sounds like we're on the same wave length, Rosemarie! Is anyone else interested in joining in?

[Werner]

Bill (Kerwin), you've reviewed The Daughter of Time and given it five stars. Would you be up for contributing to a discussion of it in August, if we do a group common read of it then?

[Werner]

I'd say the interest expressed elsewhere seems to be sufficient; so barring any objection, we'll plan to do a read of The Daughter of Time this August. Looking forward to it!

[Carol]

I have read The Daughter of Time in the past, and I would read it again. It would be fun to discuss it in the group.

[Oksana]

It looks like it is the fifth book in Inspector Alan Grant series. Am I looking at the right book?

[Rosemarie]

It is part of the series, but in this case the Inspector is bed-ridden and studies the case of Richard the Third, the title king of the Shakespearean play.

[Werner]

Oksana, I'm guessing that you are looking at the right book, since The Daughter of Time is indeed the fifth book of the series.

Ordinarily, I like to start a series with the first book (though I've made exceptions to that), and if something from a series is suggested for a common read, I normally recommend doing the first book, not a later one. In this case, however, I think there are arguable reasons for making an exception. This fifth installment of the series is far and away Tey's most acclaimed novel, and the one that Tey fans and literary critics most often recommend to read, much more so than the series opener, The Man in the Queue. Also, I have the impression that the Inspector Grant series novels are each self-contained and independent enough that they don't really have to be read sequentially, or as a whole series. Maybe some readers who are more familiar with the series as a whole than I am can speak to that point?

[Rosemarie]

The Daughter of Time was the first book that I read. I then went on to read the rest of the series. If I remember correctly, they do not need to be read in order. I certainly didn't.

[Werner]

Thanks, Rosemarie; that's helpful!

[Oksana]

Thank you! I am looking forward to reading this book with you!

[Oksana]

Thank you, Rosemarie!

[Carol]

I have read almost all of Josephine Tey, I really love her, and I think the books stand alone very well.

[Werner]

Sounds like we're shaping up to have a pretty solid core group for this read and discussion!

[Abby]

detective novels and fictions under girls names

[Rachel]

I was surprised to see annual common read. Granted time is the enemy of us all but, I truly would be intersted in a summer common read. We could do one for each season. Well, Up Nort' seasons, anyway.:')

[Rosemarie]

We are looking into reading The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey in August, for a relaxing summer read.

[Werner]

Yes, Rachel, what Rosemarie says is correct. We did an impromptu common read last summer as well. In fact, since the summer season works better for some group members, I think we should move the annual read to summer, starting next year!

An annual common read is the schedule adopted in several of my groups. It doesn't, as such, necessarily mean the group can do only one common read a year; it just ensures at least one per year. Group members interested in a common read can always initiate one anytime, if there's enough interest in participation to make it viable (all of our common reads are voluntary). For people in several groups that do reads, though, four group reads a year in just one of them might be a bit taxing.

[Catherine]

if you like spy thrillers...you might enjoy Mark Pryor..Hugo Marston series and his mystery Hollow Man


also for romance lovers you might enjoy Jenny Colgan and Jill Mansell

[Werner]

Although Mark Pryor currently lives and works in the U.S. (Hollow Man is set in his adopted state of Texas, and the Hugo Marston series apparently has an American protagonist, though it's set in Europe), he's apparently British-born, and worked as a journalist in the U.K. before immigrating. Though she lives in France, Jenny Colgan is Scottish-born, and Jill Mansell lives in Bristol (the one in England, not in Tennessee or Virginia :-) ).

We could consider works by any or all of these in the poll next year when we pick our common read. (I'm not a romance genre lover myself, but group common reads of books I wouldn't normally have chosen for myself sometimes provide an enjoyable change of pace!)

[Catherine]

Mark Pryor is from Herts.....village near where my mum grew up :)

[Werner]

Catherine wrote: "Mark Pryor is from Herts.....village near where my mum grew up :)"

That's cool, Catherine! it's a small world.

[Melanie]

Greetings,

I am new (to both goodreads and the group) and on board for the group reading of The Daughter of Time.

Richard III does continue to fascinate...

I'm looking forward to a fun summer read and discussion. :-)

Cheers,
Melanie

[Werner]

Melanie wrote: "Greetings,

I am new (to both goodreads and the group) and on board for the group reading of The Daughter of Time.

Richard III does continue to fascinate...

I'm looking forward to a fun summer re..."

Glad to hear that you're in, Melanie! I'm looking forward to reading this with you, and with the others who'll take part.

[Werner]

Well, we've recently finished a very successful common read, of Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time. In message 218 above, I broached the idea of moving our annual common read, starting next year, to the summer months instead of April, mainly to make it easier for the schoolteacher members (and perhaps others) to take part. This time, we didn't have any participation from the latter, so maybe August is when they start gearing up for the next year? Perhaps June or July would be better? Bruce and Bill, what do you think about this? What do the rest of you think?

[Rosemarie]

Any month of the year is good for me, so I have no problem with changing the month of our common read.

[Oksana]

The month does not matter to me.

[Werner]

Since we seem to have a consensus that the month doesn't matter (and Bill told me the same thing, in a personal message), we'll plan to make August the month for our annual common read, unless any objections come up later. (For me, that time slot works well; it puts all four of the common reads I do annually in various groups back to back in Aug.-Nov., leaving the rest of the year as a long bloc of time for other reading! :-) )

[Werner]

Given that we plan to do our annual common read in August, it's not too early to begin to think seriously about what book we want to read. I usually put a poll up about a month before the target month, but this year my wife and I'll be leaving for Australia on June 16, and won't get back home until July 11. But I'll post the poll ASAP after I get back online, and let it run, say, through July 23; that should give everyone who wants to take part time to get a copy of the winning book. It will also give the group over five weeks to brainstorm about what books should be on the poll.

Ideally, we want at least two choices, and I'd say we should try to narrow it down to no more than five or six, though that's just my perception of what works best. Again, we want to make it possible for everyone who wants to join in to do so (it's voluntary, of course!); so we want to nominate books that can be obtained reasonably easily from libraries, using interlibrary loan if needed. (That usually means no very new books, published in the past year, and no books only available as e-books; most libraries won't lend these as interlibrary loans.) Also, we ask authors not to nominate their own books.

Back in August (on a different thread), Oksana suggested the possibility of picking Kim by Rudyard Kipling as our next common read. However, Oksana, I know you subsequently went on to read that one on your own. So would you now prefer to pick something else for a common read?

[Rosemarie]

I would be interested in reading a book by Graham Greene. His books are generally easy to get from the library.

[Werner]

Rosemarie, I think Graham Greene would be an excellent choice! Do you have any particular book by him in mind? (I've read and liked his The Heart of the Matter, though I've never reviewed it here.)

[Rosemarie]

Not really. The only book I have read recently is The Third Man. Now that I have read the book, the movie makes a lot more sense. I would read any of them.

[Werner]

I can't say that I have a preference among Greene's books at this point, either. If The Heart of the Matter is picked, I wouldn't expect to reread it, but I could certainly take part in the discussion. Besides that one, the ones the library where I work has are The Quiet American, The Power and the Glory (The Labyrinthine Ways is an alternate title for this), Travels With My Aunt, The Third Man, The Ministry of Fear, The Honorary Consul, The Comedians, Orient Express (Stamboul Train is an alternate title for this), A Burnt-Out Case, This Gun for Hire (A Gun for Sale is an alternate title for this), Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party, The Confidential Agent, and Loser Takes All. So I can get any of those without resorting to interlibrary loan; but doing the latter isn't difficult for me either. (His novel Brighton Rock is considered one of his more important works, and his short fiction has apparently been collected in book format more than once.) Maybe someone else in the group has a preference?

[Oksana]

I have never read anything by Graham Greene. That's an excellent idea. I did read Kim already. But I was thinking about rereading The Light That Failed by R. Kipling. Another book I had in mind for summer was Cakes and Ale by William Somerset Maugham. It is the only book by him that I have not read. I have been making a so-called dessert list of the books to read when I get old. I would find a favourite author and read everything by him, except for one book, leaving it for later. I think it is time for me to start reading books from my dessert list.

[Abby]

Loved Brighton Rock

[Werner]

Oksana, we actually did a common read of Cakes and Ale in 2015 (and had quite a good discussion). But we've never done any books by Kipling, so I can put The Light That Failed in the poll. It probably wouldn't be the choice I'd vote for myself (from the description, it sounds like a heart-tearing tragedy, and that's not the type of fiction I get into), but others might like it better.

Abby, were you suggesting Brighton Rock for the poll? (If it's in print, I'm going to try to have it ordered for the BC library, IMO, it's one that we ought to have.

[Oksana]

Another suggestion is Coming Up For Air by George Orwell.

[Rosemarie]

I would like to nominate The Ministry of Fear.

[Werner]

Oksana, George Orwell is of course best known for his dystopian masterpiece, 1984. I'm not saying I'm against putting Coming Up for Air in the poll; arguably, it has the advantage of being something more off the beaten track than 1984, which would make it a more original and unique selection. But I'm wondering (since so far we've picked a different author each time) if many people wouldn't prefer, if we read Orwell, to pick his best known work; and I'm guessing that it would generate a lot of discussion. (Though perhaps it would incite controversy as well!) What do you think about this?

[Oksana]

I picked Coming Up for Air because everyone had probably read 1984. I used to teach it to 11 graders. However, I would not mind rereading it. It never gets old!

[Werner]

Oksana wrote: "I picked Coming Up for Air because everyone had probably read 1984. I used to teach it to 11 graders. However, I would not mind rereading it. It never gets old!"

Hmmm! Good point, Oksana! I admit I've read it myself (and probably wouldn't reread it, though again I could join in a discussion). Common reads do work better, I think, if at least some people are reading the book for the first time. How about it --is there anyone in the group who hasn't read 1984 (and is interested in reading it)? Or is anybody else intrigued with Coming Up for Air? (That would be a completely new read for me.)

[Rosemarie]

I read as much Orwell as I could a few years ago, and my favourites are Homage to Catalonia and Down in Out in Paris and London. I also read Coming Up for Air and couldn't really warm up to the book. The main character had a rather drab, dreary and respectable life. (That is just my personal opinion). I reread 1984 last year and found it rough going towards the end. It is an intense book.

[Abby]

I enjoyed Coming Up For Air - what about Keep the Aspidistra Flying?

[Oksana]

I would love to Keep Aspidistra Flying again!!

[Rosemarie]

I liked Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

[Werner]

Except for his essay "Shooting an Elephant," 1984 is the only one of Orwell's writings that I've ever read. (And I agree that it's an intense book!) It's not an enjoyable, feel-good read by any means.

My personal opinion is that, in polls for picking common reads, it's a good idea to narrow the nominations of books by any one author down to one. Otherwise, the voting strength of those who want to read him/her tends to be scattered, and a book by an author who got less votes overall might happen to be the individual book with the highest vote total. Of course, as the saying goes, my opinion and 50 cents will get you a can of pop! :-) But if we want to winnow the Orwell and Greene selections down to one apiece, the weeks of discussion between now and July 11 will allow time to do that.

[Rosemarie]

That sounds like a good plan, Werner. There are so many Greene novels that I haven't read, I will probably read whichever is nominated, whether it wins or not.

[Werner]

Rosemarie wrote: "That sounds like a good plan, Werner. There are so many Greene novels that I haven't read, I will probably read whichever is nominated, whether it wins or not."

They all look interesting, Rosemarie!

[Carol]

Werner, I am replying late, I have not read all the posts, but I would love to read or re-read anything by Graham Greene for a group read.
The common read where we did Cakes and Ale was really great. Carol

[Werner]

Carol, thanks for your feedback; that's helpful! (Yes, I think everyone who took part in the Cakes and Ale read had a good time. Hope our upcoming read generates as much discussion!)