2018 Group Bookshelf Reading Calendar

[Adrian]

Wow some great choices, and although I missed the voting somehow, I shall be joining in on some of the reads, at least August, September and October 😃

[Meredith]

Thanks Sarah Anne. Looking forward to Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Maybe some of the others, we'll see. :)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Melanie, we're preparing for a buddy read! lots of WoT this year

[Jean]

I'm a little confused. Is WoT scheduled for end of this month, or Sept? Or both? 0_0

[Ashley in Wonderland]

Jeanne, yes, both. It was scheduled as a buddy read for the end of April, and then now also voted as a group bookshelf reread for the second half of the year. So, if anyone misses out on the buddy read they can join in later for the reread!

[Jean]

Ashley wrote: "Jeanne, yes, both..."

Thanks for the clarification! Are you joining end-April?

[Maggie]

Im so excited-3 of my choices made it in! That never happens! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[Bobby]

Tomas wrote: "The Name of the Wind and The Lies of Locke Lamora are both on my TBR, but considering how slowly are the sequels coming I don't know if I'll take up reading them. For some reason I have to wonder h..."
Tomas, I have been putting off both of these titles as well, but I want to read them. Name of the Wind doesn't seem too bad, because there is just 1 book left, and it is in the works, so I might end up joining in on that one. However, The Lies of Locke Lamora looks like it might not be done for another 15-20 years, and I already weathered that type of wait with Wheel of Time, and am currently in limbo with A Song of Ice and Fire.

Overall, I really like this selection. I've only actually read Eye of the World out of all of these, but a lot them were on my radar, or are classics that I can't believe I haven't read yet.

[Ashley in Wonderland]

Jeanne wrote: "Ashley wrote: "Jeanne, yes, both..."

Thanks for the clarification! Are you joining end-April?"

Yes, I think I’m actually going to start it this week to give myself a bit of a head start.

[Jean]

Ashley wrote: "Jeanne wrote: "Ashley wrote: "Yes, I think I’m actually going to start it this week to give myself a bit of a head ..."

*Gasp* Cheater! :p

[Ashley in Wonderland]

Jeanne wrote: "Ashley wrote: "Jeanne wrote: "Ashley wrote: "Yes, I think I’m actually going to start it this week to give myself a bit of a head ..."

*Gasp* Cheater! :p"

Haha, I know, but it’s just so long and I have so many other books piling up needing to be finished or started. I need a head start, I think!

[Ashley in Wonderland]

Oh, and thanks so much Sarah Anne for putting this together!

[Beth]

Maggie wrote: "Im so excited-3 of my choices made it in! That never happens! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

Zero of mine! I'm sure at least one of the selections will fit my reading mood at the time its read comes up, so it'll all work out.

Thanks for running the survey and keeping it up to date, Sarah Anne.

[Sarah]

You're welcome :)

[Melanie, the neutral party]

Allison wrote: "Melanie, we're preparing for a buddy read! lots of WoT this year"

I won’t be won’t be able to start ‘till next month.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Melanie wrote: "Allison wrote: "Melanie, we're preparing for a buddy read! lots of WoT this year"

I won’t be won’t be able to start ‘till next month."

That's cool, I think it officially "starts" next week, but it's 1000ish pages...It's gonna take us a minute, I reckon. :)

[Paula]

Bobby wrote: "Tomas wrote: "The Name of the Wind and The Lies of Locke Lamora are both on my TBR, but considering how slowly are the sequels coming I don't know if I'll take up reading them. For some reason I ha..."

The lies of Locke Lamora actually works fairly well as a stand-alone book (I read it before the sequels were available).

[Tomas]

Thanks for the info, Paula, it'll be good to know.

[Sarah]

Brave New World
"Brave New World "First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Brave New World"Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
The Matrix vs Brave New World *Possible Spoilers*

Old Man's War
"Old Man's War" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Old Man's War" Finished Reading *Spoilers*
"Old Man's War" Would You Join? *Possible Spoilers*

[Ashley in Wonderland]

Sarah Anne - aren’t this month’s rereads The Last Unicorn & Ender’s Game? I think Brave New World & Old Man’s War are next month’s...

[Sarah]

Yes, Allison just told me that. I'll try to get them up later today.

[Ashley in Wonderland]

Thanks! :)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

(I've moved the discussions up, but linking takes about a trilliion hours, so I'm'a not do that. I do my time with the cursed newsletter).

[Ashley in Wonderland]

Lol

[Sarah]

Ender's Game
"Ender's Game" First Impressions - Pages 1-100
"Ender's Game" Final Thoughts - Pages 200-End

The Last Unicorn
"The Last Unicorn" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"The Last Unicorn" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*

[Lost Planet Airman]

Allison wrote: "(I've moved the discussions up, but linking takes about a trilliion hours, so I'm'a not do that. I do my time with the cursed newsletter)."

You brought that curse upon yourself. I think it was on April 1st.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

lololol

[Anna]

Sarah Anne already posted June's reread links, but here they are again if you missed them:


Brave New World - June 15th
"Brave New World "First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Brave New World"Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
The Matrix vs Brave New World *Possible Spoilers*

Old Man's War - June 15th
"Old Man's War" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"Old Man's War" Finished Reading *Spoilers*
"Old Man's War" Would You Join? *Possible Spoilers*

[Anna]

Reread threads for July:


1Q84
"1Q84" First impressions *no spoilers*
"1Q84" Final thoughts *spoilers*

Annihilation
"Annihilation" First Impressions *Lots of mild spoilers*
"Annihilation" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*
"Annihilation" Q&A with Jeff VanderMeer *Spoilers*

[Anna]

Question time!

Are you happy with voting for rereads twice a year? Would you like to do it more often? Less often? Is the current system perfect, or would you change something?

If nothing changes, we will vote in September for January - June rereads.

[Chris]

I wonder whether there is some way to merge Rereads and Buddy Reads. I like the way that Buddy Reads work. People "vote" by speaking up and participating. Who knows how many votes in an anonymous poll come from lurkers?

The idea I pitched in the past was to make the poll non-binding. Then the actual selection would be done one at a time by members who decide to read a book and ask whether others want to join - i.e., Buddy Read recruitment. The non-binding poll would provide information about the general level of interest and may help BR leaders to set priorities.

That's just one thought. I know that the poll is time-consuming to administer, but I do think that the results are potentially useful.

[Anna]

Chris, I want to make sure I understood you correctly. Do you mean that we'd vote like before, but the winners wouldn't automatically become rereads? Instead we'd look at the results, and schedule buddy reads when everyone is ready to read?

[Chris]

Anna wrote: "Do you mean that we'd vote like before, but the winners wouldn't automatically become rereads? Instead we'd look at the results, and schedule buddy reads when everyone is ready to read? "

Yes. For example, I have 20 Club books on my to-read list. If I see some getting a lot of votes in the poll, I would be more likely to say, "Hey, I'm going to read X soon. Who wants to join me?" With books lower on the poll results, I might wait.

[Sarah]

I could get behind that. With the pre-scheduled re-reads I feel like a lot of times they might be scheduled at a time that isn’t entirely convenient. So even if I want to read them (as I had planned to read 1Q84) I just don’t seem to get around to it when they are actually happening. And a lot of the time I don’t feel any great rush because they aren’t as active as the regular buddy read/group read threads.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I like the idea of making it more buddy-read-ish. Can we think of a way to guarantee 2 books will be selected at least a month in advance though?

I'm thinking if we push the poll 4 times a year (even if it's left mostly open), that should help, and then we can pick BRs from the top 10 or so selections for the next quarter maybe? Help me out!

Goals:

-select books people want to read
-generate book discussion
-remember that some folks need to schedule ahead
-remember that some readers join the read but do not join discussion

[Chris]

I think that two per month may be too constraining. I would say post the top 10 (or whatever) from the poll, with a link to the rest of the poll results. That alone will get people moving in the right direction, I hope. Make a start date of at least a month in advance a requirement. More polls would be great, but it's been hard enough to get people to do two per year.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Chris wrote: "I think that two per month may be too constraining. I would say post the top 10 (or whatever) from the poll, with a link to the rest of the poll results. That alone will get people moving in the ri..."

Agreed. More polls seems to be inversely correlated to participation. I do like the idea of generating interest via buddy reads very much. It'd be cool to incorporate that.

[Bobby]

Allison wrote: "I like the idea of making it more buddy-read-ish. Can we think of a way to guarantee 2 books will be selected at least a month in advance though?

I'm thinking if we push the poll 4 times a year (e..."

I'm just thinking if we don't set specific books each month, it will be a bit too chaotic.

What if we just did the poll 4 times a year or even still twice a year, but then have something like the buddy read recruitment thread where people say if they are in or not each month. Maybe like a Group Re-Read Roll Call every month? That way it will generate interest, and be more visible with multiple people replying instead of just one post with the link to the threads.

[Ariana]

I think planning only 4 months out is more likely to get folks involved.

This is a small thing, but maybe also a roll call a few weeks before the way we usually do with buddy reads? The rereads are always in the back of my mind, but usually get preempted by buddy reads where I'm sure there's more people participating. If I see that several people are planning on one of the rereads, I'm more likely to join in.

[Anna]

Are you ready for August rereads starting on the 15th?
Here are the discussions:

The Name of the Wind
"The Name of the Wind" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
"The Name of the Wind" Final Thoughts *Spoilers*

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" First Impressions *no spoilers*
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" TANSTAAFL! *spoil away*
More discussions about The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

[Maggie]

Yay! I kept voting for MOON....finaly, it's time!

[YouKneeK]

I’m definitely planning to read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, although I might not start until closer to the end of August if things continue as they have been this month with lots of business travel/working and very little reading. I’m about a third of the way through The Count of Monte Cristo and I want to finish that first, then I’ll start Moon.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I can't wait for the discussion. Moon was the first SF book I read and it really stuck with me. No idea how it holds up--I imagine Heinlein and I would fight, per usual, but I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks!!

[Meredith]

I’ll be reading Moon too. Trying to make some more progress on my other books before I start.

[Chris]

Every time Heinlein mentions spanking, you have to drink. :D

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Oh, no. But my liver and I had become such good friends...

[Ashley in Wonderland]

Chris wrote: "Every time Heinlein mentions spanking, you have to drink. :D"

Lol! I’m intrigued. I already wanted to read this, now I want to play a drinking game with it too.

[Anna]

Looks like we'll have a bunch of people reading Moon. What about Name of the Wind, who is reading that?

Is a week before the start date enough notice to do an informal roll call? I don't want to start pushing these too hard, I know how annoying it is to have the same thing spammed at you all the time.

[Tomas]

Nae of the Wind is something I have on my TBR but the issue is that I have a sequel to something I like coming on 1.9. and I'll probably use the second half of this month to re-read the previous books. If I get through the new book fast enough, maybe I'd join at the end of the month (and probably go overtime).

[Anna]

Here's the updated plan we've come up with. Comments are welcome!


Starting in 2019 we'll be voting and scheduling for three months at a time, and the poll will open closer to the start date.

Voting will take place in:
- November for January-March
- February for April-June
- May for July-September
- August for October-December

Schedule will be posted by the end of the voting month. That'll give you 1.5 months to get your hands on the first books.

The polls will be closed at the end of the voting period, but opened again after the schedule is posted. Votes cast during this time will not affect the official group rereads, but you can use it as a tool to gauge interest for potential extra buddy reads. All votes will be cleared about a week before the next voting period starts.