Goodreads Ireland discussion
Improving the group
I don't think a cull is needed but maybe limiting the number of books that can be nominated in a certain month. As Emma said it might help the winning book have a decent number of participants. Colleen I am not suggesting we do anything drastic but the monthly read has be in decline for some time now. I don't think it's just the summer though that may be adding to it. Maybe if members submit a list a potential of categories then mods could assign one even every second month just to focus the attention again. Group reads used to generate great discussion but it's all become a bit neh.
Trelawn, I frankly think it's the books we're nominating. We used to read a wider variety of books. We read Steinbeck, Willie Vaughn, Tremain etc. Some one did figures for me, and 1/3 of all selections lately were science fiction/fantasy. That's a huge amount. I know we have quite a few fans but we really need to expand the types of books we read. Go down different roads. I agree we shouldn't nominate Book 5 of a series like I did with Rain Dogs. That was a mistake. I think we need to think more before we nominate including me. We have a rule in our in person book club that you can't nominate a book unless you've read it. How else do you know if it's any good? If it will generate discussion?
P.S. I am against culling members. Lots of people check in without participating and I am fine with that. Who knows what will spark their interest and get them to join in? This is supposed to be a fun place to discuss our love of books. Let's keep it fun.
It is amazing when you look at the number of members who have never posted , as much as two thirds. A clearout may seem harsh but can help the running of the group.
Send a message to give people warning , open a thread for those who want to stay but havent posted to add just one post, then its fair enough to tidy up a little those who have been members for months or years without ever posting.
A lot of other groups do it, part of the logic being a small but active actually attracts more new active members than a large inactive one.
Susan wrote: "Trelawn, I frankly think it's the books we're nominating. We used to read a wider variety of books. We read Steinbeck, Willie Vaughn, Tremain etc. Some one did figures for me, and 1/3 of all select..."Susan, Wee Free Men is the second Fantasy book this year , we have had one scifi , the Ben Elton book, which was much more an historical fiction book anyway, then Only Ever Yours as an Irish Read.
So four books if we include the Ben Elton out of 14 group choices is a reasonable show of taste I think ( and if you include last year the percentage is a lot lower
We have a reasonable range of books.
Every time questions on what we should be reading or improving the group come up the same comment comes up that scifi / fantasy are ruining the group.
Personally I feel the diversity of this group is what has always made it work.
So we are unhappy to cull non participating non posting members of the group but fully happy to ban a genre that a couple of members have issues with (and yet happily say how much they love Harry Potter, which is as much a fantasy book as any)
Its a slightly slow process Emma, we removed about 600 memebers from our scifi fantasy group, and it is literaly a one by one job. They then also have to be removed from the blocked section to allow rejoining.
In saying that the group thrived afterwards and with a similar membership to here our average BOTM winner is getting 30-50 votes.
Themed months have been great and we even managed to get the authors of the books to take part in Q and As for 4 reads this year.
I think this has been said already but I think the nominator of a book should take responsibility for it to some degree. Also some approaches from other groups on voting that may help -
A system of limiting the number of books nominated , we had 11 this month with the winner getting 7 votes.
As many nominations can be made but cut then to limit with seconding to carry weighting.
Emma wrote: "I know it would be an arduous task. It's not something I'd take on lightly but it would seem it may be necessary. Interesting to note it did help reinvigorate the group along with themed reads etc...."Its amazing how many authors are happy to do a quick input to bookgroups. We got a few fairly big hitters to help us, some we were surprised at even getting a response but they were great.
Just to explain the seconding of a nomination process. You either nominate a book OR second a nomination, you can't do both so that would definitely narrow down lists.
All sounds good to me. I love this group and credit it with getting me back reading after a really bad slump. I just think the monthly read needs a fire lit under it. We have a diverse group of active readers and if each one takes responsibility for consciously choosing a book they think the group would like or would provoke discussion I think we'll be fine. I think we all have become a little complacent expecting someone else to nominate our next great read.
As an interesting statistic we currently have 1184 members and of those , 800 have never posted at all, 205 have posted 5 or less times leaving well less than 200 who have posted higher than that. Not to be cold but is there any point to the 800 members (and oddly some of them do vote on BOTMs ???)
If anything I'm guilty of over participation this year!! I'm quite literally bored to tears at the moment as I'm very restricted in movement. Emma, I'd be wary about inviting the author in. Personally I'm really enjoying the book but going by recent participation levels ...well! I really enjoyed You and felt there was a lot to discuss in that one but noone really engaged. That is the reason I joined this group - to discover irish authors and to discover what other readers are enjoying. I am enjoying the Q reads but would would find it very confining to be limited to irish authors or to have certain genres "banned". Some of the polls are very disappointing, in particular our xmas read.
Poor Emma - all this to deal with and it's not even lunchtime! I think that you and Sara do an excellent job as mods. Thank you :-)
Absolutely, the mods are great and this doesn't reflect on them at all. Just trying to think of ways to up the ante on participation in monthly reads and reading some great books again.
Mod
So you pretty much have to have read the book you nominate?
Mod
Yes
Susan wrote: "P.S. I am against culling members. Lots of people check in without participating and I am fine with that. Who knows what will spark their interest and get them to join in? This is supposed to be a ..."I agree! I don't think it hurts the group one bit if every single person doesn't participate. Some people might just read the threads and look at the bookshelf. I don't see why it's a problem. You're right, it would take the fun away to make strict rules. I haven't seen this issue bother other groups.
Margo wrote: "If anything I'm guilty of over participation this year!! I'm quite literally bored to tears at the moment as I'm very restricted in movement. Emma, I'd be wary about inviting the author in. Perso..."
I'd miss you if you didn't participate, Margo!
Lol I won't be nominating anymore then because I nominate books I haven't read yet and think the group will like it and we can discover it together
Cphe wrote: "I guess I should have asked the Mods long before this,Is participation in book nominations/reads a requirement for the group? Is it stated somewhere?"
It's not a goodreads rule but it's looking like it will be here. I think it'll change the atmosphere. The only rule I've ever seen in goodreads is for people to be respectful in discussions.
I think seconding nominations might be a good idea.
In keeping with Susan's idea to change up genres, people could agree on themes of the month.
I think the whole tone of the group changes if everyone is forced to participate.
Like Colleen said, I vote only for books I think I'll actually read. I don't read every book that's nominated. If it doesn't look interesting in any way, I don't read it. I don't think it should be forced on people. I don't know why it's a problem to have members who don't participate. Some people like to read the threads. Why is this a problem?
I don't think anyone for one minute thinks this is a reflection on our Mods,they do a great job. Nor is this an opportunity to blame anyone. We just seem to have lost our way a little. Personally, I love the diversity of books read here. I have enjoyed the buddy reads where I have delved further into authors I already loved and thanks to the challenges I have discovered new favourites E.M. Forster and Beryl Bainbridge spring to mind. This group has also got me to read outside my normal comfort zone. I never would have read The Martian without GRI but I absolutely love it. I don't think we should be restricting ourselves or banishing certain genres. Instead we should be thinking carefully about the books we put forward. "Will it provoke discussion?", "Will it challenge the group?" "Is it topical?". My point in starting this discussion was simply to get people to think about what the nominate and vote for and ask themselves is this a good group read or simply something you want to tick off your TBR pile?
Its Mad Emma. I'd say its pretty much a standard on goodreads for inactive members
Trelawn wrote: "I don't think anyone for one minute thinks this is a reflection on our Mods,they do a great job. Nor is this an opportunity to blame anyone. We just seem to have lost our way a little. Personally, ..."The monthly theme is just one suggestion. You're right though, it might be too restricting.
Colleen wrote: "Lol I won't be nominating anymore then because I nominate books I haven't read yet and think the group will like it and we can discover it together"Actually, I've heard some people say you should only nominate books you have not read lol! I think both are ok. If I nominate a book that I loved, 10 people might say..meh..lol!
I don't think anyone is suggesting you HAVE to participate in the monthly read or your kicked out. I just think some people agree if you nominate a book that wins you should be active in that months discussion by leading conversation on it. And if you vote for a book that wins, you should also generally read it and discuss.Also I generally nominate books I haven't read that sound interesting. I don't think I could take it if I nominated a book I loved and it got slated
I think it's ok to nominate a book you've read or indeed one you haven't. I think it's more a case of being conscious of what and why you're nominating. Nominating a book that is part three of a series you love is a little pointless if nobody else has read it. Also know your audience. While, as a group, we have diverse tastes, it is highly unlikely that we will choose to read a book on climate change or the economy for our monthly read. We have also ruled out brand new releases on grounds of cost but beyond that anything goes. I think Seraphina's continental challenge has been a huge success so take your cue from her and go forth and nominate.
Well, I think this month is the first time I've nominated a book I haven't personally read. I did however research it in terms of reveiws and award nominations and genuinly though it would inspire a good discussion. I don't like the idea of having to read a book before you put it forward. Sometimes it's fun to discover it along with others!In another i am a member of, members update a few time as they read. It makes for great spoiler thread discussion . Everybody states at the top of a comment the relevant chapter and from that you can choose to read or no. My memory is not the best so by the time I get to the end I have often forgotten some of the thoughts I had while reading.
Well I think the continental challenge works because you have very loose guidelines each time in which to choose a book so your suggestion about themes could be interesting trelawn. Even if we did it every second month.
Seraphina wrote: "I don't think anyone is suggesting you HAVE to participate in the monthly read or your kicked out. I just think some people agree if you nominate a book that wins you should be active in that month..."Yes I agree with that for sure! If you nominate a book you really should participate. It's not a bad idea, as some have suggested, to lead the discussion.
What I was referring to was kicking people out who don't get into discussions. I meant the people to like to just read the threads.
Margo wrote: "Well, I think this month is the first time I've nominated a book I haven't personally read. I did however research it in terms of reveiws and award nominations and genuinly though it would inspire ..."If it's a longer book, I've seen books broken down for discussions. You'll see one thread for chapters 1-4 (or whatever) it probably depends on chapter lengths. Then it's broken down throughout the book. It works nicely.
How about if people tentatively suggests some themes for book of the month? if we compile a list we can refer into the mods to maybe pick one at random even every second month as Seraphina suggested
Well my first love is historical fiction so I would a few themes based on period e.g Medieval, Pre-history, Victorian, 19th century etc.Or would you think it needs to more spacific?
Edit: sorry meant less specific!
It's a good idea to give themes a try. How to go about it might not be so easy. Hmmmm
I think less specific themes can work best as it leads to more fun in interpretation.Some examples of what we did elsewhere where masterworks ,
New writers (first published this decade),
Women writers,
.
I like the historic period them , it can give a bit of scope
I'd stay out of that one, they rarely work well on audio lol. But it's a good theme :-)
Mod
Ok Thomas so the author is the nomination as opposed to the book? Interesting idea
Mod
Yes. I also like the translated book idea. I have voted and nominated in my Mystery group BOTMs
See my review of book 1 of the author that i nominated.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My wife and I just finished book 8 in the series. I have posted GR reviews on all 8 books. The tv series is available on Netflix.
People will leave their comfort zones with new genres or authors. It's a great idea.
Translation is a good one. Historical fiction is also good. Maybe some other broad parameters like: a book under two hundred pages, a book by an award winning author, a book set in another time, a book with a child protagonist/narrator.
I have a few questions in mind for next month anyway :-)
Sounds good Emma.Now Paul, are you sure you enough about Sir Terry to lead this discussion ;-p
Never heard of the guy, right Paul?Excellent,Emma!
Mod
I have never heard of Sir Terry.
Goodreads Ireland
Books mentioned in this topic
The World's Wife (other topics)Sidereal (other topics)
A Taste for Hemlock (other topics)
The Color of Magic (other topics)
The Wee Free Men (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Rachael Boast (other topics)Michele Vassal (other topics)
Terry Pratchett (other topics)
Jo Walton (other topics)
Sebastian Barry (other topics)
More...
Emma I hope we keep the Irish QR. I have read so many Irish novels and found so many Irish authors that I never would without this group.
I never nominate a novel I have read but I do nominate one that I plan on reading in the coming month if I think enough members might be want to read it. I don't vote on books that I don't think I would want to read but I follow the discussion and sometimes I change my mind and read it.Time and Time Again and You and I'm so glad I did.
I think maybe culling would be a lot of work. I mean how would you do it by years and how many comments or lack of but that doesn't seem to be the problem .I think its that non active voters are impacting the book chosen. I don't know about how other people joined but I didn't jump in ,I tested the waters first.I voted on books nominated ,then after awhile I nominated ,then after awhile I commented.
I noticed that a lot of active members didn't vote this month and in general have been quiet. It might be summer .
Having a theme might be good or seconding a nomination but I don't think we should do both at the same time ,or lead the discussion. I belong to group that has a theme each month and the person that nominates the book leads that discussion .Every month there is low nominations and low votes . I don't know but before we do anything drastic maybe we should wait a couple more months.