BOOK CLUB - PLANNING /SCHEDULE

[mara]

Let's plan for May. Post here or send me a message. Choices:

Empire of the Sun (Ballard)

The Case of Comrade Tulayev (Serge)

Radetzky March (Joseph Roth)

The Quest for Christa T.

[Catamorandi]

I vote for The Quest for Christa T.

[Smarti]

Great choices: I really think all of these novels would make for an excellent read and a fruitful discussion. Since their is so much discussion surrounding China at the moment and also since I'm going to East Asia (Seoul) next year I am going to cast my voice for

"Empire of the Sun"

[Chloe]

I am with Smarti. "Empire of the Sun" would be fun and topical.

[mara]

We definitely need to consider the discussability of our choices and E of S would be a good one esp. because China is so much in the news

[Yelena]

I too will vote for Empire of the Sun

[Kim]

I'm gonna vote for Empire of the Sun. At least I've heard of that one! =)

[Russ]

I'd like either the Ballard or the Roth. I'll keep the momentum going with Empire of the Sun.

[Catamorandi]

Empire of the Sun is good for me. I was between E of S and The Quest of Christa T.

[Suzanne Shumaker]

I vote for The Case of Comrade Tulayev (Serge).

[mara]

Quest of Christa appeals to me too. I'm definitely up for a short read. Though I think Both Comrade and Empire are very "discussible"

[Pang]

I'm fine with the Empire of the Sun, though I won't be disappointed to go with the Case of Comrade Tulayev. I actually saw the motive recently. It was great, but I think there were essences that the movie couldn't capture.

[Amy]

Instead of having everyone posting comments here and having someone to read through all of it before deciding on a book - perhaps we can look into Survey Monkey?

It's easy to set up, and we can just post a link to the survey page and people vote on the book of their choice. We can close the survey after a week or two, and the votes would already be counted for us. :) I'd be happy to set it up.

[Kecia]

I'm voting for Comrade Tulayev.

[KHoopMan]

I haven't been participating in the group reads, but I think I'll start now- Empire of the Sun is my vote!

[Jen]

My vote is for Empire of the Sun...

[Marlene]

I haven't been able to participate 'cause I my library here in Jacksonville, Florida doesn't have April's book. But my vote goes for:

Empire of the Sun

At least I can join in on May's book! :O)

[Ana]

My vote also goes for Empire of the Sun....I've been wanting to read it. yay! :-)

[Katherine]

my vote goes for the quest for christa t

[mara]

Everyone who still wants to vote please post by the 1st - Looks like it's probably Empire but if enough people prefer something else they need to vote up. We can officially announce the May read on April first (and get started on talking about Julie - or at least the first few hundred pages, heh)

[mara]

Ok - Let's read Empire of the Sun. No cheating and renting the movie!

[Kim]

wow I forgot it was a movie! I remember seeing that years ago...all I remember is that it went on and on forever! Hopefully the book zooms by! =)

[Abeer]

are you starting Empire of the Sun in May ??

[Kecia]

Abeer and Helen - We will begin discussing Empire of the Sun on May 1st...so start reading! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Camilla]

I´m voting for E of the S.

[Deanne]

I've read the book, could have read it in one sitting but had to go to work. What blew me away was knowing that a lot of what happens in the book is based on Ballard's childhood.

[mara]

We'll talk about Empire of the Sun for May

[Smarti]

unfortunately, I still haven't started reading this. I miscalculated myself by choosing Halldor Laxness' "independent people" first, which proves to be an interesting but rather slow read. I guess I'll have to jump into the discussion sometime in may.

[mara]

I haven't started reading E of S either, Smarti. I'm actually wondering if we want to start talking about having the discussions officially start on the 15th or the second week of the month. What seems to happen - to myself included - is that we need a few weeks just to read the book - then people trickle in as they get the book read. I'd rather have a shorter period of discussion with more activity and participation - What do you all think?

[Leila]

I'm new to this group (and to good reads generally) but I'm excited to see you do monthly discussions. I'll pick up Empire of the Sun soon and hopefuly contribute. I just looked through the list. I'm at 2% read (and half of those were so long ago I just about refused to check them!). Yikes. I was happy to see The Trick is to Keep Breathing on the list. That one knocked my socks off.

[Mari]

I would like to read Empire of the Sun too!

[Pang]

I vote for starting the discussion on May 15. Like others, I'm just starting the book. It will take me a bit to finish because I also have to study for my finals :-|

Should we start voting for the next book as well, or is it too early to talk about June?

[Katharine]

No I don't think its too early, everyone needs time to get the book once all the votes are in. When will the nominees be announced?

[Suzanne Shumaker]

What are the new selections for voting? It seems to be about that time.

[mara]

I went ahead and put up Empire, but I'm going to go ahead and start putting them up on the 15th (starting June) unless anyone objects. I'm looking forward to the disussion but won't be ready until mid May for Enpire myself

Ok by way of thr trusty Random Number Generator votes for JUNE 15th are....
#48 - Choke - by Chuck Palahniuk
#262 - Worstward Ho - by Samuel Beckett
#876 - Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
#945 - Camilla - Fanny Burney

Ok - let's vote! How about we try to choose by next Sunday. Just say what you want here

[Kecia]

I'll vote for Great Expectations. We haven't read any 19th century works yet.

[Tara]

My vote is for choke.

[Beth A.]

I would like to read Great Expectations.

[Suzanne Shumaker]

I vote for Choke.

[Chloe]

I vote for Choke as well. I could use some Palahniuk right about now, and it's always better to read a book before the movie comes out.

[Charity]

Choke

[Smarti]

Great Expectations!

[Katharine]

This is so strange, I started Great Expectations last night so that definately gets my vote!

[Stacy]

Whoa!! I am still trying to figure out how Goodreads works and imagine my excitement that we have a bookclub in this community!!! Can someone tell me how we have discussions, are they just posted on this forum? I am excited, I have been searching for a bookclub to join!

I vote for Great Expectations.

Yay!! I am so excited!!

Stacy

[mara]

Looks like Great Expectations and Choke are in the lead! Great choices. My own vote is for Choke - so that makes it an even tie, 5 to 5, so far.

Let’s make this easy and go ahead and decide what we will read through summer. Post a vote for one book per month here by the end of Sunday/early Monday. I will post the books we will read for June through August in the events section on Monday.

July –
Rosshalde – Herman Hesse
The Siege of Krishnapur – James Gordon Farrell
Hebdomeros – Giorgio de Chirico
Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis

August -
Bleak House – Charles Dickens
Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
Cocaine Nights – J.G. Ballard
Homo Faber – Max Frisch

[Charity]

July- Glamorama

August- Bleak House

[Natalie]

I haven't been able to be in on any of the discussions because my computer and Goodreads just weren't getting along. I had pretty much given up but someone advised me to try firefox instead of internet explorer and it worked!! I am so excited to be back8O)

Anyway, for the June book, since I have read Expectations sooo many times, and I am trying to go outside my comfort zone with this list, I vote Choke. Although I actually have Worstward Ho in my tbr pile and it would be a quick read, Choke is probably a great book for discussion purposes.

[Natalie]

July - Rosshalde

August - Homo Faber

[Kecia]

July - Glamorama

August - Invisible Cities

[Chloe]

July- Siege of Krishnapur

August- Cocaine Nights