Questions?

[Marie (UK)]

How do your books of the month work?
I have Netherland as an e book from the library. This will be my first time joining in the discussion How do you get to the discussion and do you read a specific amount at a time? Are there questions to answer.

[Marc]

Hi, Marie! Glad to hear you'll be joining us. On June 1st, a new discussion folder for Netherland will go up and discussion will begin. Some people discuss as they're reading along and others join in once they finish the book. Netherland falls on the shorter side in terms of page count compared to some of the longer books we've read (which usually means particpants finish earlier in the month). The discussion will last the whole month (and beyond if there's enough interest). Each discussion leader decides whether to provide questions or just general topics based on what they think will be best for that book. Does that answer your question(s)? You can peak at some of the past discussions to get a feel for how they're set up.

[Casceil]

Hi, Marie! I will be leading the Netherland discussion. I'm still deciding how or whether to break it up. This book doesn't break into pieces very easily. We have some people who like to read the entire book before they start discussing it, and we have other people who like to discuss while they are reading. (Personally, I'm in the second group.) If we can get people to use "spoiler" tags, then I usually like to have several threads--maybe one for the first part of the book, one for the middle, and one for the whole thing. But discussions tend to evolve depending on who is participating and what they feel like discussing. I usually suggest topics for discussion. When I try to write questions I worry about sounding like an English teacher giving a homework assignment. Sometimes other readers bring topics to the discussion I haven't thought of, and that is always fun. In other words, we're going to play it by ear.

[Marie (UK)]

Casceil wrote: "Hi, Marie! I will be leading the Netherland discussion. I'm still deciding how or whether to break it up. This book doesn't break into pieces very easily. We have some people who like to read the e..."

Marc wrote: "Hi, Marie! Glad to hear you'll be joining us. On June 1st, a new discussion folder for Netherland will go up and discussion will begin. Some people discuss as they're reading along and others join ..."

thank you both i will try and be ready to start on the 1st. I am not good at stopping part way in a book but do like to chat as i go along, looking forward to it

[Seán]

Hello all, noob to the group and I'm just wondering if there is a place where I can see all the books that have already been read, so I don't nominate one of them in future nomination polls.

Thanks in advance

[Whitney]

Hi, Seán, welcome. Assuming you're on a computer not a phone or iPad, , just click on "Bookshelf" in the upper right of the screen under the group name. That will bring up the complete list of books that we've read, and have a link to the discussions.

Also, in the "Welcome" folder, there's a topic called "Already Discussed Books" which has a list, but that isn't always completely current. Which reminds me I need to update it.

Happy browsing and nominating.

[Seán]

Thanks Whitney, I usually use my iPhone app but the desktop version sounds better so I'll check it out

[Whitney]

I think from the phone the "Already discussed books" folder is your best bet.

[Mark]

The general concept of building subfolder trees for individual book discussions is a good one. On the general web interface, the subfolders appear in a logical order.

However, please include book title (or at least initials) in the sub-folder name. Goodreads gives only the Group and immediate folder name in their email updates, things like: "21st Century Literature topic: "Whole Book (Chapters 8 - Epilogue)" ". There is no information in the title about what book is being discussed.

I have enjoyed the discussions and the book selections from this group.

Mark

[Tiffany]

Mark wrote: "The general concept of building subfolder trees for individual book discussions is a good one. On the general web interface, the subfolders appear in a logical order.

However, please include book ..."

I've often had that thought, too! But I'm a lurker and didn't want to say anything :)

[Whitney]

Mark and Tiffany, could you give us a little more information? Are you talking about receiving the discussions as an email digest? I don't think any of the moderators have ever gotten the discussions that way, so unclear on what actually goes out.

[David]

Whitney wrote: "Mark and Tiffany, could you give us a little more information? Are you talking about receiving the discussions as an email digest? I don't think any of the moderators have ever gotten the discussio..."

I think I can help here. I have noticed the same thing they are talking about when I come to my Goodreads page and check my new notifications. One I got recently reads:

Whitney, Nadine, and Lia commented on the topic: Whole Book (Chapters 8 - Epilogue)

But the notification does not tell me what book is being discussed because the sub-folder name does not include the book title. If the sub-folder name were always to include the book title (or some abbreviated form of the title) then it would be helpful.

[Bretnie]

I think it's the same as the notifications you get when you log in - if the thread itself doesn't have the name of the book in it, you can't tell what book it is.

Like right now, if someone adds to the "The Shock of the Fall" discussion, I'll get a notification, but it only says "General Discussion" in the notification. So if you're following several groups, it's easy to get confused or ignore ones you intended to follow.

[Whitney]

Got it, thanks all! Traditionally, we write subheadings as something like "Book Name - General Discussion", but we seem to have gotten lax lately.

I'll keep an eye out and fix the ones that aren't in that format.

[Hugh]

Thanks Whitney. I have been confused by some recent notifications too...

[Mark]

Whitney,

Thanks for your quick response!

[Lesley]

How does Question of the Week work? If I have a question do I just post a new topic & comment for submission?

[Lily]

Am I supposed to be setting up the discussion for The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See? If so, think I need some help. I don't think I have moderator rights here.