First Bookclub activity!

[Koalapupu]

So here we go with our first Bookclub activity!

I'll be away for about 4 days, so you'll have ample time to vote for the very first theme: I'll lock the entry once there's some kind of a "winner".

As you can see, the options are very, VERY broad, so that everyone should have an easy time finding something to read within a category once we choose it. Later on we can get more specific.

Short guide to what to do next

1. Vote vote vote!
2. Winner theme will be announced.
3. Everyone rushes to the bookshelves to find a book within the winner theme and reads it
4. After reading the book, come back (please!), start a new thread about your book to introduce it to others. Even if you didn't finish reading it because it was so bad--go ahead and write about it. We like to be warned!

Remember to include the letters BC in front of the subject of your thread so that people will know it is a participant of the book club entry. Like so:

BC: The Cider House Rules

There is no actual deadline, so if you haven't had the time to read the book and others have posted about their entry some time ago already, just remember to mention in your post's first sentence which Book Club activity you are going for.

Sounds easy enough, right? I hope so. If this seems like a too complicated an arrangement, let me know and we'll figure out something more fun and interesting.

[veela]

whoo hoo! 100% of the vote goes to me!! haha...

i think this might be a good start. but maybe within a genre we could TRY to do same authors??? obviously, that won't work with biography because they'll all be biographies of different people... or if it is autobiography it would have to be the same book if it was the same author...

but just an idea. to help narrow it down a bit without saying "let's everyone read this particular book" i don't know...

[matzy]

oh, now i get it. before, when i was only skimming through this thread, i thought we were all going to read the SAME book then (which would be a nice thing to do, actually, but quite difficult logistically). anyhow, i'll go for fantasy, then. hope stephen fry will qualify. hehe.

oh, and lmao at "phonebooks", jenni!

[matzy]

oh.

"you are not allowed to vote in this poll"


why???

[Aims]

Oh no, the poll doesn't like you!


Anyway, I voted fantasy. When through a bit of a biography phase a while back so I'm sick of reality.

[Koala]

Yup, Matzy, that's right!

I think later on, once I have more brainpower to use, we'll also do lots of "normal" book club readings, and then we decide on authors. Maybe I didn't put that clearly enough in the original Welcoming:Please Read thread where I mentioned what we'll be doing over in this section. I'll go fix that up!

If the poll still doesn't like you, I'll remember that you voted for fantasy!

[mana]

I voted for fantasy too. OF COURSE. Anyone who has read my posts here has probably already placed "fantasy (book) freak" on my forehead.

Lol for phonebooks...

[Aims]

mana said:

I voted for fantasy too. OF COURSE. Anyone who has read my posts here has probably already placed "fantasy (book) freak" on my forehead.

Hehehe.. when I saw you were the last person to post on this thread, I thought "ooh yay, she'll have voted for fantasy too"

[mana]

Cool. I don't mind to be remembered from such things. ;D

[Koalapupu]

Woohoo!

Without further ado, I announce the first winner of our bookclub theme fantasy.

As this is our first reading together, I'd love to see as many threads popping up as possible. For this reason, you are also very much welcome to post about a recent fantasy novel you have read: it would be mean not to let you participate just because you might not have the time right now to read a new book.

So get reading! When you start a thread on your book of choice (Stephen Fry's Making History especially does qualify for fantasy, Matzy) just make sure that no-one else has started a topic on the same book already. If such improbability has happened and more than one person has read the same book, then just start posting on the thread that has already been created.

I think I shall re-read one Finnish fantasy novel that I absolutely loved when I was a kid! I'm looking forward to hearing what you guys have read. See you in bookclub entries in a while. And remember--there's no real hurry! We'll know when you contribute to the Bookclub because of those two magical letters in front of your title... ;D

[veela]

okay... so i've really not read much in the realm of "fantasy" so... any suggestions? what would be a good intro for me???

has anyone ever read "the time traveler's wife"?? does that count??? the guy time travels!! anyway, LOVED it...

[Aims]

I'm almost halfway through The Amber Spyglass - does that count???
Hopefully I won't be finished it by the end of the week.. I'm so tired from reading into the night longer than I should be, lately.

[Koalapupu]

Aims, that's quite alright



EDIT: Ok, I'm just going to lock this thread because we don't really need it anymore. Veela, I think you already chose your read but if you want to learn more about Gaiman you can check out the thread that Jason started. Nothing spoilerish there, don't worry!

[♪Carly♪]

*blows raspberries at the thread lock* Ah, I love being a moderator...

I hope everyone is looking forward to my detailed review of my phonebook. I'm at the edge of my seat and I'm only halfway through the As. I really don't consider myself a literature snob. I try to read all kinds of genres, but I really dislike the fantasy genre. My brain isn't wired to enjoy mystical plots of any sort. Not surprisingly, I was a kid who didn't even enjoy playing make-believe games because I always thought, "what the hell's the point?" Uh, I don't know why I'm rambling about this. I guess I just felt like explaining why I won't be reading a fantasy novel.

[Natasha~]

I'll be voting for Fantasy. The Neverending Story is awesome! have I said that before?
xo

[Koalapupu]

Carly, maybe you haven't found the right fantasy book for you? I absolutely hate Eddings's novels which are as generic as they can be--all about swords and sorcerers, bleah. And he kept on churning them up at such a speed it's like Barbara Cartland of the fantasy world. Sorry if there are any Eddings fans here! But luckily he's not the only representative of the genre.

Maybe if you dislike the fantasy genre, you could give "The Dark Lord of Derkholm" a go: it's basically parodying fantasy in a fantasy setting. Sure made me laugh! It's by Diana Wynne Jones.

I think it would be fun if people would actually also read something they don't find terribly interesting. We'd surely get really interesting opinions then popping up instead of everybody absolutely loving the current theme

Nattie, I agree! The Neverending Story is great! I like how the book is written in two colors, although it's probably not much use for green-red color blind people... Still, it's a cool way of separating the fantasy and the reality in the novel.