Random Book Chats

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

For members to post about random books they are reading.

[Barbm1020]

Just finished The Diagnosis, by Alan Lightman. It's a surrealistic novel about a man so driven to be more successful than everybody else at his job, that he loses contact with everybody else in his life, and ultimately loses his memory and his mobility to a mysterious ailment - my diagnosis is, paralysed by compulsion and indecision. It uses the internet and data systems failures as metaphor for physical breakdowns. A fascinating, disturbing read.

[Paula]

Barbm1020 wrote: "Just finished The Diagnosis, by Alan Lightman. It's a surrealistic novel about a man so driven to be more successful than everybody else at his job, that he loses contact with everybody else in hi..

This sounds like a very interesting read Barbm. I'll have to look for it.

[Athira]

I currently have two books going - The Monster of Florence and Anne Frank The Diary of a Young Girl. Both are a little dragging at the moment, and I can't wait to move on. I should finish both tonight, hopefully. As for the books, they are both interesting and gripping in their own ways, though I thought The Monster of Florence is a little too long with too many Italian names and places that just fly over my head. Besides I am listening to it as an audio book, so not exactly easy to recollect who is who.

[Henry]

Aths,

Monster of Florence has been recommended to me by others. It is supposed to be quite good. I read Devil in the White City and enjoyed that book as well. I have just finished The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Of the two, I enjoyed Olive Kitteridge more.

Up next is The Lovely Bones which I want to finish before the movie comes out.

[Athira]

Henry, Monster of Florence is quite good actually, just that I've been at it for a week now, and I'd like to be done with it. It started out pretty well, and is still very interesting, but too many names is getting me fuzzy. I would still recommend that book, though, but it would be better to read it than listen. Also, better to read it when there are very few distractions.

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

The Lovely Bones is a powerful novel. I didn't know it was being made into a movie. When is it supposed to come out?

On a side note: How do you get the book titles to link to its entry on goodreads? Do you use the html and just link the book entry website over?

[Athira]

Adri, do you see the "add book/author" link above the comment text box? You can just click it, and it will open up a search box, where you can choose "Book" or "Author", and type the name of the book you want. When it comes up in the results, just click the "Add" button to its right, a book name and number within a "[" and ":]" will appear.

Hope this was clear. Let me know.

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

I didn't see that button! Thanks for pointing it out. It makes a lot of sense now! :D

[Athira]

:-) No problem. Even I had trouble initially, when I joined Goodreads.

[Athira]

I finally finished Anne Frank. Liked it and cried buckets. Let me now go to bed and get over this little girl's tragedy.

[Henry]

Adrianna,

I saw a trailer for Lovely Bones when I saw The Time Travelers Wife. I believe it is to be released in December. Here is the trailer.

http://www.lovelybones.com/

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Wow...it looks good. I read the book so long ago that I will have to revisit it before December. I like comparing the book to the movie versions. :)

[Paula]

It does look good. It's been a number of years since I've read the book also but I don't think I'll read it again. : )

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Mystery writer Robert B. Parker died this past Monday at age 77. Here's an article for more information: Master crime novelist Robert B. Parker dies

[Renee]

Thank you I had not heard. He is one of my go to mystery authors.

[Paula]

So sad. I really liked his books too, but I still have a lot of them to read so that's a good thing!

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Yeah, I was saddened by the news too. :(

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

I was reading a review on Lunch, http://www.lunch.com/cafelibri/review..., and the person recommended this series to those of us who enjoyed "The Hunger Games." The review is from the last book in the series, though. This read is called "Sapphique" by Catherine Fisher. I believe it's a sequel to "Incarceron." Sounded interesting!

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Curious about members' opinions regarding how I want to track side reads. I don't want to count them as being read in the group because they are not official book(s) of the month reads. I'm still leaning in this vein...which would mean I wouldn't add the book to our shelves on Goodreads & Shelfari or to the website under the previous reads page: https://sites.google.com/site/cafelib.... This would allow a book to be added to a member's future reading list and to the voting list at a later date. The folders and discussion threads for them at Goodreads and Shelfari would save all the discussions, which is the most valuable information from the side reads. The only aspect we lose is one less book count to our total group reads.

Let me know what you think of this choice.

[Catherine]

Adrianna wrote: "Curious about members' opinions regarding how I want to track side reads. I don't want to count them as being read in the group because they are not official book(s) of the month reads. I'm still l..."

The disadvantage of not adding them to the group read shelf is that from the that shelf I can click on "view" and get the reading status of those members reading the book now, a list of the group discussions, and "what members thought."

Perhaps they could be added as "read" but also tagged as side reads? I'm fine with not adding them though if that is what the group/moderator decides is best. I defer to your judgment Adrianna.

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

That feature is only available here on the Goodreads' shelf, correct? I've never noticed it myself, but if members find that helpful, it's definitely a reason for including side reads. Out of curiosity, how many people use that feature?

If I end up adding them here, I will go ahead and add them to Shelfari and to the general website. Unfortunately, Shelfari's bookshelf does not let me tag them as secondary reads, but it's neat that we have that option here.

[Catherine]

Adrianna wrote: "That feature is only available here on the Goodreads' shelf, correct? I've never noticed it myself, but if members find that helpful, it's definitely a reason for including side reads. Out of curio..."
Adrianna, I had one other thought but it would only work if you can add an additional exclusive shelf. I know we can do that for our own books but don't think it can be done for a group. Do you know? Or as a moderator you can try?

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

I can add an additional tag, but the books are all shelfed on the same book shelf, both here and on Goodreads. It sounds like people find tracking secondary reads as useful, though, so I'll see about creating a subpage on the website. Then, I'll add the books to the shelfs on here and Shelfari. It won't exclude them form being chosen for a monthly read, and that way members can still make comparisons and stuff.

I'll post an announcement when I'm done. I have some job applications to fill out first this week. :)

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

I finally added the Side Reads page to our website. Everyone can view it here:

https://sites.google.com/site/cafelib...

Let me know when you decide to conduct Side Reads with members in the group, so I can add the titles to the website. I'll also be listing them on the bookshelves at Shelfari & Goodreads.

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

I sent this message out to members of Lunch Cafe Libri Reading Community. I thought the members here would be interested in the Awards Show since both myself and Aerin were nominated for the Golden Thumb. Hope some of you can tune in!

*****

Hi Cafe Libri members!

This is a little reminder about the Lunch Awards which airs live tomorrow, Wednesday, March 2. The Awards Ceremony will be around 30 minutes long. You can find out more information from the following sites:

J.R.'s message to the community (at the bottom of the Lunch home page): http://www.lunch.com/

Lunch Awards Information page: http://www.lunch.com/lunchawards

The show will be hosted by TechZulu: http://techzulu.com/. They have a news article page about the Golden Thumb Awards here: http://techzulu.com/step-aside-oscar-all-hail-the-golden-thumb/

The Ceremony airs at 8pm EST / 5pm PST , so tune in if you can! If you are unable to watch it live, never fear! The wonderful people at Lunch.com will post the video on their site for later viewing.

Look forward to finding out who won in each category, especially the reading related ones. Thanks so much for supporting Cafe Libri Reading Community and its dedicated group of reviewers and readers!

Always,

Adrianna

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Here's a group on Goodreads featuring a Q&A with Emma Donoghue, author of "Room:" http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/4...

I've asked a couple of questions and responded in a few threads myself. I'm still a bit disappointed by the way the discussions are going. However, there are some interesting details that Donoghue elaborates on.

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Do we all want to try out the beta version of Yahoo group chat? I just noticed the feature to the left of the homepage (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cafelibri) and thought it might be fun to schedule a live chat time to talk about the monthly read or other books. Anyone interested? I'll post this announcement at the other versions of the reading group too. :)

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Adrianna wrote: "Do we all want to try out the beta version of Yahoo group chat? I just noticed the feature to the left of the homepage (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cafelibri) and thought it might be fun to sched..."

YAHOO LIVE CHAT:

Many thanks to all the members who posted their available days and times for a Cafe Libri live chat session. I've selected a date, and I hope as many members as possible can attend! The live chat is set for....

DATE: Saturday, December 10, 2011

TIME: 5pm-7pm (Pacific Standard Time)

LOCATION: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cafelib...

Members can chat about any topics, but we will focus on November's book of the month, "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson and December's books "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly and "A Christmas Blizzard" by Garrison Killer.

I'll add the chat data to our list of events on our Yahoo group calendar and at Goodreads Cafe Libri (http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/2...).

Happy reading!

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

This is a reminder that tomorrow, Saturday, December 10, Cafe Libri Yahoo Reading Group is hosting its first ever Live Book Chat! Please join us between 5pm-7pm (Pacific Standard Time) for a lively book discussion.

Books to be discussed include:

November 2011: "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America" by Erik Larson (447 pages)

December 2011: "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly (368 pages)

Holiday Read 2011: "A Christmas Blizzard" by Garrison Keillor (180 pages)

We also welcome general book discussions and general chit chat as we get to know each other outside the messages that we post to the group's site.

The live chat location is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cafelib...

Please remember you must be a member of Yahoo Cafe Libri in order to participate in the group chat.

Hope to see you there!

Adrianna & Shelli
*Owners of Cafe Libri Yahoo Reading Group*

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Hi everyone!

Shelli and I wanted to thank all the members who participated in the first ever group live chat! It was quite a success with anywhere from 7-12 members being part of the chat conversation at a time!

I double-checked the chat page, and there is a little bit of history saved, from about 7:20pm-8:00pm (PST). You can view the end of the conversation here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cafelib...

Based on the consensus of those in attendance, we will host another live chat in 3 months or so. These live chat sessions will coincide with my quarter school schedule, and I will place a call for members' available days+times in the near future in order to maximize the number in attendance.

Many thanks again, and as always, happy reading!

~Serena/Adri & Shelli~

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

A fellow colleague, Jose David Saldivar, shared this article on Facebook that I thought group members would enjoy. It's published by "The Chronicle of Higher Education:" http://chronicle.com/article/What-Are...

Feel free to add some thoughts about what's discussed or just read it to see how Germano interprets the situation.

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Cross-post from Nannie in Yahoo Cafe Libri:

http://bookshelfporn.com/

Which one of the photos on this site is your favorite? I love the book igloo
and the falling down bookshelves made of what else? ... Books:)
And this tidbit, in case you don't want to scroll through all the photos:

"Lignin, the stuff that prevents all trees from adopting the weeping habit, is a
polymer made up of units that are closely related to vanillin. When made into
paper and stored for years, it breaks down and smells good. Which is how divine
providence has arranged for secondhand bookstores to smell like good quality
vanilla absolute, subliminally stoking a hunger for knowledge in all of us."
-
Why secondhand bookstores smell good

Perfumes: The Guide (via YMFY)

NANNIE

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

I just wanted to share a book review I wrote recently with the group. Nothing fancy as I do not have a lot of time to write reviews these days. Still, I wanted to share it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Shelli, Co-owner of Cafe Libri]

Hi Everyone,
So glad we are back up and running. I hope all of you enjoy the selection this month. I wanted to ask if anyone would be interested in having their reviews posted on our Cafe Libri facebook page. I think this would be a great feature for the Cafe Libri Facebook page. Please let me know what you all think and if you are interested in having your review featured on the page! If you have not done so yet, please like the Cafe Libri facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/cafelibri/

[Catherine]

Adrianna wrote: "Cross-post from Nannie in Yahoo Cafe Libri:

http://bookshelfporn.com/

Which one of the photos on this site is your favorite? I love the book igloo
and the falling down bookshelves made of what el..."
An overwhelming number of great pictures! An inspiration to stick my head inside the closest book and save the pictures for my dreams.

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

Anyone interested in reading a book from this list? https://www.theguardian.com/books/201... I was thinking of starting with "Lord Jim" by Joseph Conrad and making my way down the list over the summer. Comment if you want in!

[Adrianna, Owner of Cafe Libri]

We could also read Dorothy Must Die. It's a free read from Barnes and Nobel this month :)