O, For Pete's Sake discussion
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Also, we don't have to start with Don Quixote. I was just working through the beginning of the book, but DQ might be a little daunting for starters.
Why don't you pick? I'm super excited about every option on the table. :)
Hello ladies,I came across your discussion in the Rabbit Room and would love to join the group. I love reading classic lit and I don't have many Christian friends to discuss it with. I've found Bauer's "The Well Educated Mind" to be a great starting point as well as "Invitation to the Classics" by Louise Cowan and Os Guinness.
I've been thumbing through Bauer's list and I have to agree with Becca that "Don Quixote" might not be the best place to begin. I've tried to read it three or four times and haven't even made it halfway through. My suggestion would be to start with something like Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress". It's short, only about 300 pgs. depending on the edition, and it's fairly easy reading from what I remember of it. Also, you get a 2 for 1 by being able to discuss both the literary quality and the Christian allegory.
Whatever the group decides will be fine. I'm excited and ready to get started!
Hi ladies! I too came across the discussion in the Rabbit Room, and would love to join the group! I'll read whatever, though! :-) I'd love to have a forum to discuss great literature!
Mod
Is anyone willing to lead us through the first book? If so, what if we let that person pick the first book?
I'm going to be leading a Discipleship Essentials group starting in January, so I'd prefer follow for a few months, if possible. Is anyone here comfortable taking the helm?
I'm in the middle of some pretty hefty class work right now...so I'm thinking I'll be following along for a while, too...
I'm willing to lead, but to be honest, I don't know quite how. I haven't been in a book club since undergrad in 2003, and I'm in medical school at the moment so the "discussion of classic literature" part of my brain has undergone some atrophy while I focus on learning science-y things. However, I'm all for changing that, and would be glad to lead IF y'all will help me do so. P.S. If anyone is more qualified than me, and willing to lead the first book, go for it! :-)
Jeannette wrote: "I'm willing to lead, but to be honest, I don't know quite how. I haven't been in a book club since undergrad in 2003, and I'm in medical school at the moment so the "discussion of classic literatu..."I say go for it, Jeannette. I've never been in a book club so the whole "corporate discussion" would be new to me as well, but I'm more than willing to help.
I guess that the best thing to do would be to pick a book, and then give a deadline for reading it. Members could then start discussions here throughout the book and maybe at the end you could throw out some stock questions (Overall impression, author's point, influence of the times, etc). That way there isn't a huge obligation and members could choose to sit out if they find themselves overwhelmed.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth.
And the book will be...?I'm kinda excited :)
I'm excited too! Here are some ideas that I'd enjoy reading and discussing: 1. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde
2. The Divine Comedy, Dante
3. Paradise Lost, Milton
4. Heart of Darkness, Conrad
5. Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck
6. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (forgive my lack of accent marks)
Anyone have any preferences? A book other than these that they'd really like to start with? Feel strongly that any on my list should be eliminated? (ie - I'm not sure how long Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, or One Hundred Years of Solitude are, but the others are fairly short.)
Also, I think I'm going to pick up a copy of The Well-Educated Mind, and attempt to use it to hone my discussion / literary thinking skills as we go.
Mod
Haven't read any of those, so I'm game for any of them. I am leaning towards Picture of Dorian Gray though. So excited!Just a hint for everyone...if your local library does not have a copy of the book chosen, be sure to ask if they can get it on an inter-library loan. I've gotten lots of books this way.
Picture of Dorian Gray sounds good me, too...and I found a free Kindle edition on Amazon...
Yay, Picture of Dorian Gray! (That was my preference as well.) I think I've added it to our upcoming books, and created a discussion forum for it (maybe). I'm not super tech savvy and new to goodreads, so it may take me a bit to be super smooth. In the meantime, what do we think is a good deadline for having read the book? My edition is 231 pages of story plus intro and endnotes. Does a month sound doable? Perhaps with the holidays, shoot for being done at the end of January? I'm not sure how much reading time we all have, so please do chime in!
End of January works for me. I've got some train-travel time coming up...perfect :)
Mod
End of January sounds great for me too, as I will probably be reading other books along with this one.
So excited to see the group get up and running! end of january sounds fine to me. it is a little longer time frame, but i can always add in extra reading on other topics.
PS, i'm also thrilled that the first selection is a book i haven't read yet, but want to read! YAHOO!
I found the group at the RR and appreciate the chance to join in. End of January is fine with me!Now to get to the on-line catalog at the library :)
Hi, I'm another Rabbit Room reader who found your group. I'm excited about this!
Hey there...I keep hoping to get in on the discussion here, but things are pretty crazy in my world right now. Sadly, I'm going to have to sit this one out...Just didn't want to disappear without any explanation...
Dear Becca, when you get a chance, could you please enter Susan Wise Bauer's books into the books we might read in the future, so that we have a pool to start from?
thx.
Mod
I like Wise Bauer's approach, but I wonder if it would be better to cycle through genres instead of going straight through. In other words, read one fiction, one history, one autobiography, one drama and one poetry from the same time period. Then, move on.
On the other hand, i'm happy to just do fiction, as that is my strongest genre.