Comments, Questions & Suggestions

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book]

In reference to the group read idea, we could do buddy reads as well. There could be a thread for buddy requests that people could post in. For example, lets say I'm going to read Ender's Game, I can post that I'm going to start reading it and ask if anyone wants to join me. Then people who are interested can post that they will too (the person initiating could put when he plans on starting the book) and then they can have their own little group - they can either chat about it away from the group - or have a discussion thread here in the grouop if the Moderators were okay with that.

[Zoe, UK Book Club Founder]

Claire wrote: "Hi everyone,
I think this might be the best place to ask as I'm getting a bit confused.... as a GR group, do you ever do group reads or anything like that where everyone reads the same book or same..."

The problem with this was trying to get hold of the same book at the same time, as without sticking to mainstream ones it's hard to find one that every library will stock (and we have people like our Book Squirrel who's already read them all! ;-)


Kim, that sounds like a good idea to me! What do you other mods think?

[Ian, Former Moderator]

We already do buddy reads....I did one with Lynne ages ago - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, but it's never been particularly organised. I've opened up a new discussion thread called Buddy Reads to make it more formal.

[Em]

Great idea! I've done a couple of buddy reads too but doesn't hurt to have a formal place to suggest books and find co-readers.

Any excuse to talk about books is fine with me.

[Nikks]

I think its a great idea, and I saw the empty discussion thread, so whose gonna start ?

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book]

lol no clue - I just thought of speaking up about the thread when someone else asked about group reads. I typically don't do very many group reads beacuse I typically don't read what most others want to read and vice versa.

[Nikks]

I would be worried that I can't keep up. I read at medium speed, but get many 10, 8 and 4 year old disruptions !

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book]

lol yep Nikks that too ;-) although mine are older now I still get the disruptions LOL

[Nikks]

So rude isn't it ! Hahaha

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book]

seriously! lol

[Em]

Mum reading, like Mum making a telephone call is an invitation for children to commence conversation or start a big dispute which only you can help to resolve.

I'd be worried about falling behind too, I did a group read of Far from the Madding Crowd with another group and although I was enjoying the book and for the most part the discussion, it was a bit of a stress that I wasn't up to speed!

An alternative could be to chose a book, read it at your own pace then talk about it afterwards. When I've been involved in book discussion/buddy reads within this group, that's what I've generally done.

[Nikks]

I think I would enjoy the second option too - more like a bookclub and less stressful. Choose a start and end date.

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book]

that's what I like about the buddy reads is you have more time to finish the book usually. At least that's how I've seen others do it.

[Nikks]

I just started Bel Canto - wanna join me Kim ?

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book]

let me see if I can find it at our library and I'll let you know!!

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book]

Hey Nikks - it may take me a few days to get it, but I "think" the library has it - their website isn't very clear lol. So, I'll keep you posted!!

[Helen]

I'm behind on all my group reads. I'm in 3 fantasy groups and on one I'm 3 behind in a series; the other I've read; the other to start. I also have 2 other groups that I haven't started. One I really don't fancy- for an actual group, real miserable books seem to be picked.

[Nikks]

That sounds tough helen. I think joining a buddy read will be different as you only join if you fancy the book. I have to read 2 books a month for bookclubs, that I didn't choose. Sometimes it's hard work !

I'm gonna go & start a buddy read for bel canto.

[Ian, Former Moderator]

I tend to avoid group reads for the same reason. Much prefer the buddy read idea. Hope you get some fellow travellers with Bel Canto Nikks.

[Nikks]

Me too ! I've never done it, and you'd gone to all that trouble to make the thread - thought I'd populate it with something :)

[Ian, Former Moderator]

I'd join you but it's not on kindle.......I hated State of Wonder by the same author but I'd still have given it a go.

[Nikks]

Maybe next time Ian :) I started Bel Canto already, and I am really enjoying the writing, the story and the characters. This is my first Ann Patchett book. State of Wonder is on my tbr list. I set myself this 50 books challenge, so better get on with it really !

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book]

Nikks I'm going to look for the book at the library this weekend. I'll glance through it to see if I like the writing style and will let you know if I'll join on the buddy read. :-)

[Nikks]

Ok

[Andrew]

Hello I have just joined the group, I recently picked up Bel Canto on a stall at a local festival. Once I finish my current book I will give it a try. I recall a few friends reccomending it when the Orange but I never got round to reading it.

[Sue]

Didn't know where to put this!!! The BBC are starting a series on foreign detectives. Know a lot of people enjoy crime so it may be worth a listen. They start on Monday 22 October at 13.45. Details here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mn...

[Nikks]

Andrew wrote: "Hello I have just joined the group, I recently picked up Bel Canto on a stall at a local festival. Once I finish my current book I will give it a try. I recall a few friends reccomending it when th..."

Hi Andrew, I enjoyed it. There is an interesting dynamic and it is based on actual events.

[Nikks]

Sue wrote: "Didn't know where to put this!!! The BBC are starting a series on foreign detectives. Know a lot of people enjoy crime so it may be worth a listen. They start on Monday 22 October at 13.45. Det..."

Russel Quant is my foreign detective of choice :) Anthony Bidulka
Sue, is it a radio show ?

[Dave]

Nikks wrote: "Sue wrote: "Didn't know where to put this!!! The BBC are starting a series on foreign detectives. Know a lot of people enjoy crime so it may be worth a listen. They start on Monday 22 October at..."

Looks like its on Radio 4 Nikks so should be accessible in Canada via the website/app??

[Nikks]

Thanks Dave, I have an internet wifi radio. I will look out for the radio show.

[Jennifer]

Apologies if this question just reveals my general ignorance and confusion - I'm just a fairly basic user of goodreads really - but why has a book suddenly appeared on the book club homepage? The Etruscan

[Ian, Former Moderator]

Dunno Jen......have removed it as we don't have group reads.

[Jennifer]

Thanks Ian - I get confused easily!

[Belinda]

A Sealed Fate


Terrific read:
'A Sealed Fate' is not my usual kind of read and so I didn't expect much, but I was surprised to be hooked from the first chapter and devoured the whole book in one sitting!

I was impressed by the tightly plotted structure, unusual in a first novel, and even at the most shocking moment, everything still made sense. I have to be careful not to spoil the plot for other readers, but although I was completely surprised by the action of one character, I didn't have any trouble believing the event... the character was so fully rounded, and described so well in earlier chapters. I wonder if I would have been so shocked if a male character in a similar situation had done the same thing. Probably not, so I learned something about myself there!

Although the themes of the book are serious, Ms Gordon has a light touch and a rich vein of humour runs throughout. I laughed out loud on the train more than once. The story is thoroughly modern, but spiritual themes are woven into the plot and the motivations of the characters with a deft hand: a reader without an interest in these subjects would not be bored, but a reader with some knowledge might notice the cleverness of many little details in the writing... extra fun for me!

But the best thing about this book is the characters. The author understands so well how people hang together, how one thing in life relates to another, and how we tend to act in line with our personalities, no matter how perverse this may occasionally be! A real warmth shines through the writing... this author really cares about these characters and I really fell in love with the two main ones! I had a bit of a crush on the love interest too!

My one regret is that we did not get to find out more about Larissa's life beforehand, and I would love to know what happened next. I do hope that the author is planning a sequel, or even a prequel!

[Andy]

I love this group, but get a bit frustrated that a lot of the discussion topics get buried by individual peoples challenges.

Nothing against the challenges, it's just that they dominate the groups current topics and make the more discussion topics less visible.

Little moan now over.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Andy wrote: "I love this group, but get a bit frustrated that a lot of the discussion topics get buried by individual peoples challenges.

Nothing against the challenges, it's just that they dominate the groups..."

Hi Andy, Thanks for the feedback. Do you have any suggestions on how we could arrange topics to prevent this from happening? The challenges and discussion related to them (including personal lists), tend to be grouped together to prevent topics getting muddled, but if this isn't working, then we should take a look at it.

[Dave]

Liz I must admit I find the same thing as I tend to go through the unread lists to find posts.

It generally means wading though challenges to get to the interesting stuff.

not sure there's much you can do about it through - and you often find interesting books in the challenges.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Dave wrote: "Liz I must admit I find the same thing as I tend to go through the unread lists to find posts.

It generally means wading though challenges to get to the interesting stuff.

not sure there's much y..."

Andy, Dave (and everyone else), I've done a small reshuffle of folders, moving recommendations, favourite books etc nearer the top and the challenges lower down. Let me know how you get on....

[Andrew]

I'm mixed about this. I love the challenges and I'm reading more varied work and have increased my reading rate , I expect that will only expand as the genre challenge moves into areas I don't normally go. I also like seeing what other people are reading and have found some great recommendations, as dave says the various challenges do lead to interesting side tracks. I think the change liz may stimulate discussions and the real issue is if someone starts a new discussion people will engage if they're interested. Anyway enough of my ramble I should really do some work but overall I am really enjoying the group and the ease with which it distracts me proves, the curse of having an iPhone!

[Jennifer]

I must admit I generally function by reviewing the unread posts, unless I have a particular thread in mind. The danger of looking at the full list of discussions is that a "quick look" becomes hours! I shall have to allocate myself some time to see if the new layout reveals anything I had previously missed, though. Thanks, Liz.
I do enjoy the way challenge threads wander off topic sometimes but realistically the only way to spot that is with unread discussions as there are just so many people doing so many challenges. The challenges are good for ideas and recommendations but time consuming as you have to pop in and out of so many individual discussions. I do think the monthly genre challenge is more useful now, with everyone's books gathered together in one thread for one particular genre.

[Helen]

I tend to only go into the introduction, genre, my challenges and random. I do like it when we drift off topic and how quickly we come back when for instance, a new member pops up.

[Vicky]

I like the way the genre challenge has been changed into months with a separate challenge in each folder rather than the old way. I am finding more inspiration that way and opening up to books I hadn't even thought of. I would like to do the round the world in 80 days and a-z and challenges but don't want to wade through all the folders for inspiration (too time consuming) but would find it more useful if they were split in to letters and countries respectively. That way you could look for inspiration when you are stuck for a country or letter and perhaps keep the list of which ones you have personally read in a separate shelf on your book shelf.

[Mary]

I'm quite new to goodreads. I read lot, average about four or five books a week, but a lot of the books mentioned are a complete mystery to me. There seems to be a heavy US bias, although I am in the UK group, and the only British publications I come across are The Classics. I do read a lot of American publications, so I have nothing at all against American writers, but do you have any UK members, who read our own very fine publications? We do have quite a history of fine writing. It would be helpful to separate the UK from the US contributions, because I find myself wading through pages of posts to find a book that I either recognise, or is in the UK publications list. I also find the site very cumbersome and clumsy to navigate. To be honest, I don't bother with it much, because it doesn't seem to have any relevance to me, which is a pity.

[Vicky]

Mary wrote: "I'm quite new to goodreads. I read lot, average about four or five books a week, but a lot of the books mentioned are a complete mystery to me. There seems to be a heavy US bias, although I am in t..."

There is a thread where people are working their way through the UK by reading books from all the counties. That might be a good place to start. I also participate in the genre challenge, this months genre is modern British classics but it changes each month. We had historical in January and crime in February. The nice thing about the UK book club I think is that you can read anything you like and there is lots of inspiration. I don't mind where my authors are from but I think I read a lot from British authors too.

[Ian, Former Moderator]

Vicky wrote: "I like the way the genre challenge has been changed into months with a separate challenge in each folder rather than the old way. I am finding more inspiration that way and opening up to books I ha..."

The change to one thread for each month of the genre challenge works because it effectively only lasts for a month, so it's simple to run Vicky.

There is an immense - in terms of number of discussion threads - American group on GR just called Around the World in 80 books which does this country by country split and US state by state as well, if looking for inspiration.

[Vicky]

Ian wrote: "Vicky wrote: "I like the way the genre challenge has been changed into months with a separate challenge in each folder rather than the old way. I am finding more inspiration that way and opening up..."

Thanks Ian, I'll take a look at that too

[Helen]

Mary wrote: "I'm quite new to goodreads. I read lot, average about four or five books a week, but a lot of the books mentioned are a complete mystery to me. There seems to be a heavy US bias, although I am in t..."

Goodreads would have an American bias as it is an American company. As it has members reading all over the world there isn't any way of separating books into authors nationality. This group was intended for readers from the UK but as long as posts are in English members can be from anywhere.

You seem to be referring to the site rather than the group. I believe there is a feedback group.

[Em]

Ian wrote: "Vicky wrote: "I like the way the genre challenge has been changed into months with a separate challenge in each folder rather than the old way. I am finding more inspiration that way and opening up..."

I like the way we have the genre challenge now, but I was thinking it would take some managing to apply same theory to going around the world, espeically given the vast number of countries that have been included by members - you'd have to break it down into continents rather than countries...

[Em]

Mary wrote: "I'm quite new to goodreads. I read lot, average about four or five books a week, but a lot of the books mentioned are a complete mystery to me. There seems to be a heavy US bias, although I am in t..."

A lot of UK Book Club members are physically from or based in the UK and whilst we don't read UK literature exclusively, I think many of our discussions include chat about modern British writers. It does sound as if you mean Goodreads as a whole, in which case Helen is right, there is a Goodreads Feedback section. When I've been browsing, I haven't usually found it difficult to find discussions about writers familiar to me, even amongst American based groups.

[Mark]

My favourite category is Science Fiction. You name it and I've read it. Just take a look at my list on this website to see what I mean. I also enjoy reading Action, Adventure, Horror and War stories. I don't like Autobiographies or Romance as I find them boring.