How Do We Want to Select Group Reads, Frequency, Etc.?

[Everyman]

I have an abiding unfondness for Jane Eyre. I don't really know why, and I know some people (in my limited experience largely women) really like, but it's a novel that, although I have read it several times, I have never liked and am not particularly interested in reading again.

I have also read both The Way We Live Now and Jude the Obscure, and would be happy to re-read either.

Since people started talking about the books here, I stuck this in here, but will also go put it in the thread Christopher opened for the discussion.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.), Founder]

Adelle wrote: "Great suggestions, Christopher.

I committed to Ethan Frome for Madge.

I would likely read whatever the group chooses...but I'm not a full-blooded group member...I just drop in for an oc..."

Adelle, of course you are a "full-blooded member" of this group. You are here, and that is all there is to it; so, your opinion matters and your vote definitely counts. Cheers! Chris

[Sasha]

I love Jane Eyre and The Way We Live Now, which I just read-happy to participate in a discussion about either.

Haven't read Jude the Obscure and ambivalent about it, as I find Hardy's stories upsetting, but it would be a challenge to read it. I know Chris adores Hardy and that is encouraging.

[Everyman]

Sasha wrote: "Haven't read Jude the Obscure and ambivalent about it, as I find Hardy's stories upsetting..."

Understandable. He had a basic philosophy that fate has it in for most humans, and though we may try to fight against it, in the end fate usually wins. Not cheerful books (for cheerful book there's nothing to beat Jane Austen!), but I find them very interesting studies in human nature and how humans try to survive under the pressure of a generally malevolent universe.

[Sasha]

If we do Jude, it will be good to read it in company. I can only ever read one Hardy poem in one sitting, his writing is so powerful.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.), Founder]

Please Note--I have set up the poll for selecting the next group read and discussion following our completion of Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome". I invite all of you to stop by and cast your vote. The poll opens today, February 21st, and concludes on February 28th. Go vote!

[Lily]

MadgeUK wrote: "Have your tissues ready folks! Or perhaps we should use the real thing:-

http://im2.ebidst.com/upload_big/3/5/..."

You must have read Helen Gurley Brown (who advised their presence in every woman's purse or pocket), Madge! As a teacher, my Mom used to receive these from her students at holiday time; they are still one of my favorite gifts, especially from a friend who haunts estate sales.

[Jaime]

Christopher wrote: "Please Note--I have set up the poll for selecting the next group read and discussion following our completion of Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome". I invite all of you to stop by and cast your vote. ..."

I actually voted for Jude and he's very close with Jane. I think if he wins we should read them both!

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.), Founder]

Jaime wrote: "Christopher wrote: "Please Note--I have set up the poll for selecting the next group read and discussion following our completion of Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome". I invite all of you to stop by a..."

If it stays close like this through the voting, I think we will in all likelihood just take the novel that comes in second as our succeeding group read.

[Jaime]

Christopher wrote: "Jaime wrote: "Christopher wrote: "Please Note--I have set up the poll for selecting the next group read and discussion following our completion of Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome". I invite all of yo..."

That's a good idea :)

[Loretta]

Christopher, I'd be open to reading all three of these straight in a row, so if you think that works, I'm fine with that.

Though, I'll admit, I'm still hoping Jude wins first. :)

[Everyman]

Christopher wrote: "
If it stays close like this through the voting, I think we will in all likelihood just take the novel that comes in second as our succeeding group read. "

Perhaps we should see how active those who voted for the second place novel are in discussing the winner -- we do want books supported by active participants, don't we?

[Lily]

Everyman wrote: "Perhaps we should see how active those who voted for the second place novel are in discussing the winner -- we do want books supported by active participants, don't we?"

What about those who have no interest in the book selected? It seems to me on-line book clubs offer different relationships and obligations and opportunities than face-to-face ones. Sometimes it is nice to have some time for things on one's personal TBR.

[Everyman]

A thought which came to me while realizing that we hadn't read a Dickens yet. How about if you select an author for each read, and give us a choice of a few works from that author to vote on. You could start with Dickens, offering us a choice of three or four to choose from, then perhaps go on to Trollope or Eliot or Gaskell or Austen or the Brontes (offering one from each of the sisters, perhaps?), and so on, not forgetting the Russian or otehr foreign novelists. Or you could do this not every time but every other time, and in between do a more regular set of choices (which would allow including books by authors who only had one or two generally readable books like Thackeray or Flaubert).

[MadgeUK]

Good idea Everyman. A choice between Dickens and Zola would be appropriate, as they wrote in the same era about similar subjects in different countries.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.), Founder]

Great ideas, Everyman! Here are my initial thoughts--

Next two reads are identified:

"Jude the Obscure" by Thomas Hardy
"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte

From this point forward what if we did something like the following:

Construct a poll and offer four Dickens novels, for example--

"Bleak House"
"Our Mutual Friend"
"Dombey and Son"
"David Copperfield" or "Nicholas Nickelby" or "Great Expectations"

Follow this up with a 'trip abroad' to France--

with a Zola, Flaubert, Dumas, Hugo

Then back to England for a Trollope (and plenty to choose from there!), and I'd want to take advantage of some of our resident Trollope experts (looking at you, Everyman, my friend, to help choose the selections)

Then maybe a 'trip abroad' to Russia or the United States; anyway, you see the gist of where I am headed.

The advantage to this is that we can ensure that we are not selecting books that have been recently done in either the Western Canon or Victorian groups (e.g., Les Mis, Vanity Fair, or Little Dorrit, come to mind).

Members of the group would also be welcome to suggest countries to 'visit' and/or authors to read. Also, it might be fun to tie in recent film adaptations, when possible, with the novels we are reading.

Let us all put on our thinking caps on this and see if we can't come up with a process that keeps us all reading some really good stuff! Thanks for all of your ideas and suggestions! Cheers!

[Everyman]

I'm willing to give it a try.

I'm certainly in for Jude, but probably will not re-read Jane Eyre, a novel I have disliked each time I read it (so why do I re-read it? Good question), though I may remember enough to toss in a comment here and there.

[MadgeUK]

Ooh I love the idea of travelling whilst reading! Great suggestions Chris! I will try my best to read anything the club votes for because that is how I regard a 'club'. Win some lose some.

[Rosemary]

I like the way you're choosing, definitely.

I read Jude very recently and have no desire to re-read it (I really loved it for the first half and really hated it for the second), but I'm fresh enough that I could join in on the discussion (in between spasms of working on my Masters . . . ).

I'm always happy to re-read Jane Eyre- it's not my favorite, certainly, but it's a nice diversion.

[Sasha]

Great ideas, Chris. What a feast!

[Everyman]

MadgeUK wrote: "OI will try my best to read anything the club votes for..."

Austen, Austen, we want Austen!!!

[Sasha]

I don't think I've read Persuasion.

[MadgeUK]

What about Northanger Abbey which is Austen's send-up of the Gothic literature of her day - that is the only one of her which I like. And Mansfield Park is passable.

[MadgeUK]

Everyman wrote:Austen, Austen, we want Austen!!!

LOL. What about Northanger Abbey, which is Austen's send-up of the Gothic literature of her day - that is the only one of hers which I like. And Mansfield Park is passable since it attempts to tackle a couple of social issues.

Uncle Silas is a good one Bill and the Private Memoirs... is a great gothic mystery. The religious symbolism in it might also appeal to several folks here.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I'd vote for Northanger Abbey.

[Everyman]

MadgeUK wrote: "What about Northanger Abbey, ..."

Far from her best work. And unless one has already read The Mysteries of Udolpho, or at the very least the Castle of Otranto, one misses most of the in jokes.

[Loretta]

Everyman wrote: "MadgeUK wrote: "What about Northanger Abbey, ..."

Far from her best work. And unless one has already read The Mysteries of Udolpho, or at the very least the Castle of Otranto, one misses most of..."

I read Northanger Abbey not having read either of those, and I don't think I missed much. Of course, I'd taken a class on Gothic dramas in college, so even if I didn't get the specific moments that were being satirized (if Austen did indeed satirize specific moments), I knew enough of the trappings of the genre to "get" it.

[MadgeUK]

I was not suggesting that it was her best work, it is just the one that I liked the best. And yes, it is better to have a knowledge of the gothic before reading it, as her readers would have done at the time. Ditto Bronte's Wuthering Heights. We can't always read 'best' works and it is sometimes a good idea to read the bad ones so as to appreciate the good ones.

[Everyman]

MadgeUK wrote: "We can't always read 'best' works and it is sometimes a good idea to read the bad ones so as to appreciate the good ones. "

Well, if you're saying that the reason you want to read Northanger Abbey is so that you can learn to better appreciate Emma and Pride and Prejudice, that's another matter. :)

[MadgeUK]

I've read all of Jane Austen Everyman and still do not like her fine brush.

[Everyman]

MadgeUK wrote: "I've read all of Jane Austen Everyman and still do not like her fine brush."

Yes, we know.

But still, it's not too late for you to learn to appreciate her!

[MadgeUK]

I'm likely to be dead before that happens:). Just as you are likely to be dead before you appreciate DHL.

[Rosemary]

Sasha wrote: "I don't think I've read Persuasion."

Oh, read it, even if the group doesn't! Another one of my all-time favorites! Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice are my two favorite Austen novels. Persuasion is comparatively overlooked, which makes me love it the more. It's one of Harold Bloom's favorites, though!

[Sasha]

Thanks Rosemary, it's on my Kindle, I will try to squeeze it in after Jude, Moby Dick and Middlemarch!