The Selection for August.

[Glodson, MIA Mod]

The poll is up. It will close on Monday.

It is at the bottom of the Group Home page, here.

The nomination thread is now closed and will be deleted at the end of this month.

Of course, votes will be anonymous, but I encourage every to examine each and every book. And please try to not select your own nominated book.

There will also be a change for next month. As the response has been so good, I think I'll limit it to one nomination per member. September's selection will start August First.

If you have any comments on the books we are selecting, post them here.

[Apollo]

I can't wait 3 days! Ahhhrg the suspense!

[Glodson, MIA Mod]

I know.

But I do want to give everyone time to vote. And think about it.

We've got a good number of very interesting books on the list. The only ones I've eliminated myself from voting for are the ones I've read.

[Bobfong1313]

i voted............i think............i'm not sure if i did it right............

[TheThirdLie, Houdini Mod]

Did you click on a book in the poll? If so, you voted.

[TheThirdLie, Houdini Mod]

We might wait a couple weeks to start the selection process for the September book. If we read something that is part of a series and enough people love it, they may want to continue reading it next month for the group read.... waiting that bit of time will give people the chance to read the book and decide if they want to read/nominate the sequel for September.


Oh and on the next poll, you might type the name of the book as well as have the image... it was a little weird without the name and just the cover. >.>

[Glodson, MIA Mod]

Yes. I think I will do that for the next poll...

But I want to get the thoughts going for September early because I saw that a few members might need extra time to get the books.

But the poll won't be up until the last half of August at least.

And this isn't set in stone. I'm pretty much making it up as I go along.

Edit: There, that's better. Sorry to the first four voters who had to deal with my first poll here. And an important note: we're all working on figuring this stuff out, so if you have an idea or concern, either post it somewhere, or Jamie or myself a message.

We'll do our best to sort things out.

[Brittney]

That was a tough choice. Blugh. I was torn between three books.

[Mary]

I had a very hard time picking just one to vote for. I narrowed it down from at least six(that's with eliminating my own nomination).

I started using pretty random reasons to strike one off. One got axed because it was sure to make me cry and make me angry. Oh well, there's always next time to vote for runners up.

[Keith]

Just a though, but...since almost everyone submitted a book, the are all likely to just vote for the book they submitted...so the winner if probably only gonna have like 3 votes...

[TheThirdLie, Houdini Mod]

Well, there was a sorta/kinda rule about not voting for yourself, so hopefully people didn't do that. From the comments it looks like people really did consider the other options too.

[Jenn]

oh, good. I thought it was already selected and I was already behind. yeah for not being behind!!

[Glodson, MIA Mod]

Jamie wrote: "Well, there was a sorta/kinda rule about not voting for yourself, so hopefully people didn't do that. From the comments it looks like people really did consider the other options too."


It isn't really a rule, but more a hope.

But since we do have more members than books, we should have a winner, if just by two or three votes.

[TheThirdLie, Houdini Mod]

That's why I added the sorta/kinda part in there. >.<

[Justin]

I voted and did not vote for myself.

[Apollo]

I couldn't decide what book to choose so I voted for myself cuz I wanted to be selfish like that. Then I changed my vote. yay me?

[Nora aka Diva, The Diva Mod]

Jamie wrote: "Well, there was a sorta/kinda rule about not voting for yourself, so hopefully people didn't do that. From the comments it looks like people really did consider the other options too."

When was that decided and where was it announced? Why didn't I know about it? Why nominate a book I'd like to read if I can't vote for it?

[TheThirdLie, Houdini Mod]

It's not a real rule like Glodson said, it's just good to vote for other stuff. You are more than welcome to vote for your book though. I think he said something about it in the message he sent out about the poll.

[TheThirdLie, Houdini Mod]

Mentioning Dresden Files had me wondering if I missed that option on the poll somehow so I went and checked. It was not. Harumf.

[Glodson, MIA Mod]

Alexander is right about it being a suggestion, and why.

Also, it goes with my line of thinking. I am recommending books I've read, but I want to read something new.

Of course, I want to make this clear: please vote however you feel is correct. Even if that means voting for your own suggestion.

And, since we nearly have 30 members now, we've got plenty of room for multiple discussions. And if you have the means, and time, I would suggest reading different suggestions on the list as well.

That's part of why I will keep each month's suggestions on our bookshelf. (And if you nominate it again, it is less work for me...)

[Glodson, MIA Mod]

In the interest of full disclosure: I updated the poll so that it will close on the 27th, since I'm not sure if it would originally close at midnight on Sunday(earlier than I intended) or on Monday(as I intended).

And any feedback on the selection process would be welcomed as this is the first one and all.

[TheThirdLie, Houdini Mod]

Recommendations for the next nomination:

-We might consider making a cap on the number of recommendations. It makes choosing easier, plus it gives each person a better chance of their book being picked.

-Maybe we should have a rule where whoever's book won, they can't recommend a book the next month. Again this would be something to allow more people the chance to have their novel chosen for the discussion.


There was something else I had thought of... now I can't remember. >.<

I'm not even sure if I really want those two things either. They would give other's a chance to have their book picked, but at the same time it kind of is too restricting.

[Glodson, MIA Mod]

Well, I do think we need a cap... but that then turns it to first come first serve.

Sadly, there's basically no prefect answer. Like the whole "Winner sits out rule."

I want this to be fair, and fun, for everyone, but I don't want it to be overrun with options that we all choke either...

[TheThirdLie, Houdini Mod]

Yeah, that's why I wasn't sure I actually wanted those two things. It would take away from the fun a bit too much.


Might as well just go with what's going on right now and if there are problems with it, we can change/add rules then. Maybe just allowing people to recommend one book each month would make things easier as well.

[Mary]

I think limiting the recommendations to one per person is a good idea.

Then even if we do end up with a tie because of the large number of selections, we could have a quick and dirty final selection poll. Leave it open for 1 day and let people choose between the high votes received options. It wouldn't add much time to the process and it would make it more inclusive.

[Jingai]

I like the idea of the winner sitting out the next
month as far as recommendations. I think that in
the long run that will promote more people making
recommendations, which will obviously be more inclusive,
as well as provide a much wider range of tastes being
present in the selection process.

[Nora aka Diva, The Diva Mod]

Well if this method doesn't work out as well as hoped for there is always the alternative of peeps sign up to "host" each month. The host then selects three books to suggest and the rest of the peeps vote from that selection. That way it's not always the same persons book getting selected everyone who wants to can have the chance. It also gives a set person to start the post reading discussion as well. I hope that makes sense cuz I am tired beyond belief right now.

[Glodson, MIA Mod]

Right now, I'm still considering.

I mean, I want to make sure that everyone gets a fair shot, but then no matter how I work it, I'm sure it won't be entirely fair.

For now, I think we'll stick with this format. However, as the number of people in the club has grown significantly, there is plenty of room for other discussions and what not. We might have just one book of the month, but that doesn't mean people have to read it, or aren't free to read something else and start a discussion in the Fiction or Non-fiction folders.