Suggestions for future book discussions

[William]

A new poll will be issued in about a week to choose our January book title. If you have a book that you would like to see included on a future poll, post it on this thread. While I can't promise to put it on the next poll it will eventually be included depending on the number of responses.

[Wilhelmina]

In the interest of diversity, I would like to suggest two of the recommendations from last time:

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
and
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami

[Wilhelmina]

With so much interest in the last poll, we might want to include The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in the upcoming poll or the one after.

[Qiana]

I agree that it would probably be good to mix things up with some non-African American writers of color. I think I suggested Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven last time, so if there is space, I'd love for it to be considered.

[Wilhelmina]

I would like to see The Lone Ranger And Tonto... included also. Sherman Alexie's viewpoint is not to be missed.

[Catamorandi]

I am also in favor of THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN.

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse)]

Hi all!

Would you be open to considering Canadian writers of colour as potential topics of discussion in this group?

If so, I'd love to add:

Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance or Such A Long Journey
Lawrence Hill, Someone Knows My Name (known as The Book of Negroes in Canada)

Food for thought ...

[Wilhelmina]

Absolutely, E. M.! I have the Lawrence Hill book but I haven't read it yet. I'd love to discuss it here.

[Wilhelmina]

Thanks foe the suggestions, Carrie! I'm sure that William will include them as he figures out future polls.

[William]

So many deserving books, so little time. I'm familiar with the Hill book but not Mistry's. Alexie has been in 2 polls and everyone says he's great so he'll be back if he doesn't win. I appreciate and keep a seperate doc with all book suggestions but of course with only one discussion a month its impossible to include all. I once bounced around the idea of shortening the discussion time from one month (4 weeks) to 3 weeks. Any thoughts on that? What about concurrent staggered discussions as has happened de facto with A Mercy and Oscar Wao?

[Wilhelmina]

I would rather we keep it at 4 weeks and allow the discussions to go on as long as anyone has comments to make. The discussions stay here permanently, so in theory, if someone read A Mercy in April and wanted to make a comment, they could. If someone wanted to post a response to the comment, that would work also. If not, that's OK too. But since we all have lots of other books to read as well as those we read here, 4 weeks seems good to me.

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse)]

As a newbie here, I can't seem to find the discussions on previous books. It looks like they are probably buried in the earlier threads in the General folder.

Maybe an idea could be to create another folder, labelled Discussion Archives or something, where the past discussions could all be filed in one place and the topics kept alive where there is interest to do so. That way, the top 5 posts would show from the main page, and wouldn't get buried among other non-Discussion threads or detract from the main book under discussion in any given month.

I do like the 4-wk period because it gives those of us who can't seem to get to the book right at the start of the month enough time to jump in later on.

[Rona]

I'd be interested in reading Jhumpa's book, although I have to admit I didn't really like 'Interpreter of Maladies' despite it winning the Pulitzer!

[Wilhelmina]

Following E.M.'s excellent suggestion, I have pulled our book discussions into a separate folder for easier access. I hope that's OK with everyone.

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse)]

Thank you! Looks great!

[Qiana]

For our next poll, could we consider adding Carleen Brice's book, Orange Mint and Honey? The book just won a first novelist's award from the American Library Association.

[William]

I'll try to accomodate. Her book was already in my file of books for future polls. The list of books people want included keeps growing. Since I try to give books that have a strong showing (such as the 3 way tie in this months poll) a second chance it may be a couple polls before you see it.

[Wilhelmina]

Bill, since Carleen is a member of LFPC, maybe we could move her book up a bit? As far as I know, we've never had a member of our group win such a prestigious award before. Congratulations, Carleen! Your award is well deserved!

[jo]

something that intrigues me: blonde roots by bernardine evaristo. here's a review:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...

[William]

Interesting...had not heard of this book. Another addition to the file.

[Wilhelmina]

Steven Barnes has, I believe, a series with a similar theme. The first two books are Lion's Blood and Zulu Heart A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America, and I think that there is a third in the series.