November Book Selection Group Discussion

[Simon (Highwayman)]

Not long now and we will be thinking about the November Book Selection.
Please keep this on-topic

Those people who have already selected a book have enjoyed having the opportunity so I would quite like to carry on having member selections.

How do you think the 'three at the start of the month' thing went?

I thought it was good to start with but then made the site a bit static for the month. I had no excuse to go over to Amazon and remind them we are here and the membership has not gone up very much in October. The number of active members has gone down.

The two week delay in the discussions was a good idea but did it get a bit lost in all the other group chat? Any ideas how we can make the group reads a bit more prominent?

Or do you really even want the group books?

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon - Spider Robinson - Discussion and Reviews 4 posts · 28 views
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon - Spider Robinson - How are you getting on? 24 posts · 31 views

The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins - Discussion and Reviews 12 posts · 38 views
The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins - How are you getting on? 52 posts · 51 views (??)

The Righteous - Michael Wallace - How are you getting on? 42 posts · 44 views
The Righteous - Michael Wallace - Discussion and Reviews 14 posts · 37 views

Any thoughts about the group books welcome........

[Simon (Highwayman)]

Did you like all the books in a section for the month or did you prefer it when each book had a section of its own?

[[deleted user]]

I liked having three books to choose from - it so happened that I liked all of the choices this month, another time I may only want to read one or two - it's nice to have the choice.

May be we could encourage new ones to join if we spaced the release out through the month - although I can see that causing other problems if some start to feel pressured because they haven't finished the first one. I'm not sure if there is just the right formula....

Wonder if we could get any feedback from any of those who don't post any more...?

:0)

[Lynne (Tigger's Mum)]

I liked the three books, I'd already read the Classic, but if I hadn't it would have made me read it, and the other two choices were good. Like Karen says with three books theres a good choice. You don't have feedback to see how many people have read any or all of the months books. I'm not suggesting that to make more work for you as you put a lot into the group as it is, but I wondered how many do use it as a reading group. I like it, as its a spur to enlarge my reading choices.

[Simon (Highwayman)]

Of course it is true that we only know what the people who post think. I am quite sure there are a number of people who come on here but don't wish to post. By the way, if you are one of that category you are still very welcome in the community!!

The 'views' statistic is the unique number of viewers of the post and as you can see out of 560 members less than 10% are still active. Looking at other groups it is not a bad percentage actually but is a good measure of how well we are doing.


I liked having three books to choose from and actually I have only read Callahans so far.

[Patti (baconater)]

Purely for interests sake, would a yes/no poll be worthwhile?
I'm thinking something like

Did you read 'xxxxxx'

Yes or no?

I'd love to know how many read each book but totally understand people feeling reticent about discussing or reviewing them.
A simple poll would remove all that pressure yet be a way to show being engaged. If you see what mean.

[[deleted user]]

I like the idea of the poll Patti but if it's like the last ones we had, people didn't see them so hardly anyone voted...

:0)

[Patti (baconater)]

Hmmmm. Yes there is that but Simon or I could do a mass message to the group to tell everyone....

Typing while I'm thinking.

[Lynne (Tigger's Mum)]

Dangerous that, Patti ;0)

[Kath]

This time, because of other commitments, I have only read one of the October books. I still think having a choice of three is good. You will always get an active and inactive component of any group Simon - I think we are doing well.

[Geoff (G. Robbins) (merda constat variat altitudo)]

Ignite wrote: "This time, because of other commitments, I have only read one of the October books. I still think having a choice of three is good. You will always get an active and inactive component of any gro..."

Well Ignite, you've read one more than me this month. I just haven't had the opportunity to read this month like I have in previous ones, I'm not sure why. Having said that, I might have a couple next month. I think its pretty much swings and roundabouts really, but I think as Christmas approaches we read less because we are busy organising things.

[Lorraine]

I'm also guilty of reading the one book. Just not enough time in the month. As I do intend to read the Callahan's one at some point soon, I have refused to visit the thread, otherwise it would be 1 up :)

[Philip (sarah)]

I had read The Moonstone before but still read the discussions with interest and they have prompted me to read it again,this time with the groups views to guide me.I read the other two but admit to probably discussing them more in the 'How are you getting on'threads than the review threads.I look forward to the group choice and even though I don't contribute much I really enjoy reading what others write. I also liked the variety in genre of the group reads.
Just a thought;what about asking less active members to make a book choice as a means of getting to know them better and helping them feel included?

[Susan]

Here we go; this is how it has been for me.

First month I read the book and loved it.

Second book, White Fang, I didn’t read because I didn’t fancy it.

Then I read The Throwback and enjoyed it.

This month I haven’t read any of the three. In retrospect I feel I ought to have re-read The Moonstone, but I didn’t feel enthusiastic about the other two. I don’t know why as I didn’t even try a sample. I think that for me personally one book a month would be better. But that’s probably because I’m a slow reader, and belong to a real life book club.

As far as the group itself is concerned, I just love it, and wandering off topic is not a problem, but I do see that it could put some ‘serious’ types off.
I find it hard to understand why people actually join the group until they want to participate, because they can see pretty well everything without joining. So maybe all the ‘quiet’ ones are enjoying beingpart of the group as much as we are. Surely they don’t feel intimidated, or do they?

Hope this makes sense.

[Lorraine]

How are things compared to what they were before the new system was implemented Simon?

[Jay-me (Janet)]

I have only started to read one of the October book selections so far, & for various reasons have not been able to get interested enough to read it through to the end - I've broken off and left it & gone for light reading by choice because there has been a lot of other things these last few weeks for me to think about. Then other books popped up that looked more interesting than going back to that one.

I like the varied choice of three books - at a different time I could very well have read all three in the first week of the month.

[Darren]

A choice is a good thing otherwise people feel excluded for a whole month.

(Dull comment, but I'm not allowed to go off topic)

[Kath]

Darren wrote: "A choice is a good thing otherwise people feel excluded for a whole month.

(Dull comment, but I'm not allowed to go off topic)"

Like that's ever stopped you before!
On Topic. I agree. I like to be challenged. (Politely!)

[Katy]

I think a poll might be a good idea but, maybe, instead of 'have you read it?' we could have a 'how far have you got?' poll. With answers such as haven't started, part way through, half way through, almost finished and finished?

That way, you'll know who's joining in (:

[Kath]

Although I only managed one this time (I made sure it was the Indie author as they need our support more than, say, Wilkie Collins) I have no doubt I shall read the others later. A recommendation is always valued.

Edit - thinking aloud here. Do you think it would be helpful to have the person who chose the book actively leading the discussions. I seem to remember Geoff being noticably involved in the Tom Sharpe discussions?

[Lorraine]

Geoff is amazing at leading discussions, sadly it's not everybody's skill... I started reading my suggestion when most of the group had finished lol... me no good at leading discussions :(

[Simon (Highwayman)]

Do you think it would be helpful to have the person who chose the book actively leading the discussions. I seem to remember Geoff being noticably involved in the Tom Sharpe discussions?


I do think that would be good, but I wouldn't want someone to feel that they had to. Some people would probably decline the offer of selecting a book if they had to lead a discussion.

[Jud]

I have read 2 of the months books this time i havent read callahan's yet just because of the price of it if i'm honest but I do intend on reading it at some point.

I like having the choice, but can understand why others maybe wouldn't. Least if there is a choice there is bound to be at least one book you are interested in and I liked having them all go up at the start of the month and then I could read whichever one I wanted whenever rather than as they went up

[Philip (sarah)]

I have had a great experience recently working my way through 'our authors'books.I wonder if we chose at least one of their books each month and asked them to help lead the discussion it would lead to more debate.

[Lorraine]

Too right Sarah, our authors are just fab. We're a really lucky bunch of readers :)

[Simon (Highwayman)]

Hi Sarah, I have agonised over that idea into the small hours of the morning. Of course 'In the Blood' was one of 'our' authors and so was The Righteous.

I have never tried to influence the book selection (except for an author selecting their own book) so from time time time 'our' authors will be up there....

I'm not sure what beast would be unleashed if we did it in a more formal way.......

[Freddiesmum]

Jud (judder) wrote: "I have read 2 of the months books this time i havent read callahan's yet just because of the price of it if i'm honest but I do intend on reading it at some point.

Me too. I am waiting to see others reviews before I buy it. I do have another by this author in my TBR file tho, I may read that first!

[Angela]

Sorry everyone but I only just started reading The Moonstone. We had a lot of problems last month and I got no reading time. I really want to read this before moving on so I may well miss the November reads and join in again in December.

I like the idea of having three to choose from but it might get a bit much if I tried to read all three!

[Ian]

Being new to the group, I'm trying to find my way around. Will there be a new section for December? If so, is it up yet? I can't see anything, and I was wondering what the books are likely to be.

[Patti (baconater)]

Yes, we'll be putting a new section up for our three December book selections, Ian. As to what they'll be...you'll just have to wait! ;)

[Ian]

I look forward to it.

[Jud]

How exciting!! I forgot we'd be getting new books to read! Oh and i have picked the next 3 to be read, I better get cracking or i'll be way behind

[Kate]

I like having a choice of books to read. As a newbie last month I found two of them interested me but I ended up reading the one that had the most compelling introduction from the person who had recommended the book (thank you Ignite). it was quite different from my usual reading material but thats why I joined the book club and I did enjoy it.
One thing I would say is that I would prefer to know the choices in advance even if only a week before. This is simply for practical reasons, such as budgetting, as well as my anal need to plan ahead :S