Literary Rotating Nominations

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by issybird

Can I make a suggestion that if no one volunteers for December that we have an open month rather than a second chance month? My reasons are that it would give an opening for books that are hard to classify and that we wouldn't have to revisit a theme.

Sounds like a good idea to me too, especially at this busy time of year!

[Billi]

Originally Posted by issybird

Can I make a suggestion that if no one volunteers for December that we have an open month rather than a second chance month? My reasons are that it would give an opening for books that are hard to classify and that we wouldn't have to revisit a theme.

I think, I still "have the duty" to suggest a book list.

I could do it for this month but if an "open month" is generally wished for for December then I would take the next turn, that should be February.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Billi

I think, I still "have the duty" to suggest a book list.

I could do it for this month but if an "open month" is generally wished for for December then I would take the next turn, that should be February.

I've been looking forward to your month, Billi! I'm glad you'll take December.

I suggested an open month only as a fallback if no one volunteered, instead of a second chance month. Having someone put up a slate is much to be preferred.

[Bookpossum]

Yes Billi, please do a list for us!

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Billi

I think, I still "have the duty" to suggest a book list.

I could do it for this month but if an "open month" is generally wished for for December then I would take the next turn, that should be February.

That'd be wonderful, thanks Billi! The discussion has only been about how we'll handle when we have a month where we finally don't get a volunteer, which I think I may speak for all of us when I say, the farther away the better! December is yours and I'll ask for your nominations at the beginning of the month.

issybird, I've been pretty busy this week without a lot of free time and I don't want to give a rush response. I should be able to give a more thoughtful reply maybe Saturday but probably Sunday.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

issybird, I've been pretty busy this week without a lot of free time and I don't want to give a rush response. I should be able to give a more thoughtful reply maybe Saturday but probably Sunday.

Looking forward to it, no rush. I got off a hasty suggestion while at work myself and will be happy to expound on it, as I do think an open month would be preferable to second chance. I'd like to think we could get some consensus on the fallback plan - even as we all hope it's not necessary! And if we get to the point where all the likely victims have volunteered, I suppose we could do the reset w/o delay.

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by Billi

I think, I still "have the duty" to suggest a book list.

I could do it for this month but if an "open month" is generally wished for for December then I would take the next turn, that should be February.

Yes, Billi........I would love to see my 'neighbour's' choice, but perhaps an open month would be realistic as well.

[sun surfer]

With various posts and discussion going on, so it doesn't get overlooked and to be clear so there's no confusion:

December is Billi's and I'll ask for Billi's nominations at the beginning of the month.

Any other conversation is about what's going to happen some month farther away when no one volunteers.

Originally Posted by issybird

Can I make a suggestion that if no one volunteers for December that we have an open month rather than a second chance month? My reasons are that it would give an opening for books that are hard to classify and that we wouldn't have to revisit a theme.

Thanks for the suggestion issy. When I first considered the eventual situation, I decided between a few options, including this, an open month.

I went with a retrospective month because I like the idea and feel it will be a fitting conclusion to a rotating “cycle”. What I really like about it is that each member will be represented by one nomination in the vote if they have volunteered; it will be a nice reflection that equally includes all of us for one month before we start the cycle over. It will be a celebration of us once every few years, and I like that.

I see it not as revisiting a theme but as celebrating together in one place something that each of us has chosen in our rotating month. But, we do happily revisit themes each year in certain repeated categories and have had re-nominations. In fact, one recent winner had been nominated earlier in the year as well and it won against first-time nominees, so I don’t see people as being against the idea of a book winning that’s been considered before.

A retrospective is simple, easy and gives a nice definite plan that gracefully closes out a rotating cycle. We do have the option of having Open as a regular category; it didn’t get voted in this year but it might next year.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I went with a retrospective month because I like the idea and feel it will be a fitting conclusion to a rotating “cycle”. What I really like about it is that each member will be represented by one nomination in the vote if they have volunteered; it will be a nice reflection that equally includes all of us for one month before we start the cycle over. It will be a celebration of us once every few years, and I like that.

I see it not as revisiting a theme but as celebrating together in one place something that each of us has chosen in our rotating month. But, we do happily revisit themes each year in certain repeated categories and have had re-nominations. In fact, one recent winner had been nominated earlier in the year as well and it won against first-time nominees, so I don’t see people as being against the idea of a book winning that’s been considered before.

A retrospective is simple, easy and gives a nice definite plan that gracefully closes out a rotating cycle. We do have the option of having Open as a regular category; it didn’t get voted in this year but it might next year.

One of my favorite things about the club is the lists of books. I try to get to many; in fact, right now I'm reading a book I gleaned from Bookpossum's nominations. A second-chance month obviously obviates this!

I don't object to revisiting any particular theme in theory, but in fact, I feel that some themes more than others would result in somewhat repetitive discussions. I'd rather see a new slate where each book was suggested for its own merits - including ones that might have been nominated before.

I see a flip side to the notion that everyone is represented by a book. By the time we finish a cycle, some may have dropped out, while other new members who perhaps don't feel as if they're entitled to a month yet are excluded. I'd rather see an open slate that represents current participants.

I also like the idea of an open month rather than a retread because it gives scope for more serendipity. Recent discoveries, best-loved books, anything at all. We are pretty restricted most of the time, which I think is good from the standpoint of expanded horizons, but sometimes it's fun to read for, well, fun. I think it's apples and oranges to argue that an open month lost to other contenders; generally we like the structure. We haven't considered an open month vs. a retread, however. In the choice of two salmagundis, I'd go for the new dish rather than the leftovers.

I certainly get that you needed a backup plan if no one volunteered for a month, which I'm glad hasn't happened yet. But now that the issue's been raised, I don't see why we can't go for consensus rather than fiat. So far, people seem to like the notion of an open month. Now, if you want a month off, I can't argue that. But if that's not your motivation, why can't we have a poll?

[sun surfer]

Quite a bit of food for thought, issy! I'll take this in chunks.

Originally Posted by issybird

One of my favorite things about the club is the lists of books. I try to get to many; in fact, right now I'm reading a book I gleaned from Bookpossum's nominations. A second-chance month obviously obviates this!

I don't object to revisiting any particular theme in theory, but in fact, I feel that some themes more than others would result in somewhat repetitive discussions. I'd rather see a new slate where each book was suggested for its own merits - including ones that might have been nominated before.

I agree with all of this, to a point. The point being that this is one month every few years, not any sort of regular occurrence. While I like new slates of books, we do get plenty of them, and I like the idea of having one month every few years to reflect, so to speak, and celebrate everyone equally for one month.

I see a flip side to the notion that everyone is represented by a book. By the time we finish a cycle, some may have dropped out, while other new members who perhaps don't feel as if they're entitled to a month yet are excluded. I'd rather see an open slate that represents current participants.

Nevertheless, it still represents our group and I dare say looking at the list of volunteers so far (which, by the way for anyone interested, I've added to the first post in this thread to have it collected somewhere), it's very representative.

I also like the idea of an open month rather than a retread because it gives scope for more serendipity. Recent discoveries, best-loved books, anything at all. We are pretty restricted most of the time, which I think is good from the standpoint of expanded horizons, but sometimes it's fun to read for, well, fun.

You have a good argument for Open for our next categories vote, if you feel so strongly about the category. I like Open, but I’m fine without it now since I consider the rotating months as an expanded version of it. Each volunteer gets to choose whatever they like for their month and so every other month is pretty serendipitous, and I love that.

I think it's apples and oranges to argue that an open month lost to other contenders; generally we like the structure. We haven't considered an open month vs. a retread, however. In the choice of two salmagundis, I'd go for the new dish rather than the leftovers.

It's just stating facts. We might have already had an open month on the slate somewhere this year, but we didn't because it didn't get enough votes. We may get one somewhere on the slate for next year. That doesn't change the fact that I really like the idea of a retrospective category to handle a rotating cycle reset.

I certainly get that you needed a backup plan if no one volunteered for a month, which I'm glad hasn't happened yet. But now that the issue's been raised, I don't see why we can't go for consensus rather than fiat. So far, people seem to like the notion of an open month. Now, if you want a month off, I can't argue that. But if that's not your motivation, why can't we have a poll?

People seem to like the notion of a retrospective month as well judging by posts after I first announced it. I imagine quite a few might be just as happy with any reasonable course of action. I really don’t think it’s such a big deal to most. However, I did spend the time coming up with the plan, I like it and am invested in trying it out. Some things do go to a vote and suggestions are always welcome and have often been taken, but I’ve always reserved the right to guide the club as I think best, as in fact you’ve counselled me to do in the past.

issy, I understand that you don't like the idea of a retrospective month and that’s a pity. However, I've already announced that it is to be the plan and hope you will give the (eventual) month a fair shake. I appreciate your opinions and wish you liked the plan better, but so it is. I offer that this is only one month every few years at most, there are others who like the plan, and I'd like to try it and see how it goes. I hope you can respect that.

[Bookpossum]

I'm going to sit on the fence (which cats like doing, as it gives a good view all round) and say I'm happy with either suggestion, and can see the merits of both. I often have good intentions of reading books other than the one that won but somehow I rarely find the time to do so. Therefore I like sun surfer's suggestion.

But issybird's suggestion of Open, which of course would not preclude one or more books which had been nominated previously, appeals to me too.

I do suggest that the next time we select our topics (next June?), we don't have any preset items in the six months which aren't dedicated to one member's choices. From memory, Poetry was a set topic and there was another one as well I think, but can't remember what it was. That might give us that bit more flexibility so that Poetry might lose out to Open, for example. And if a member was passionate about poetry, there is nothing to say that the individual couldn't put up books of poetry for his or her month.

[fantasyfan]

I rather like the idea of an open month too.

[sun surfer]

It's time for December's selections. Billi, what choices do you have for us to close out the year with?

[Billi]

I liked the idea that most of you proposed books that followed a mutual topic - and so I did the same.
My relation is the "Buecherverbrennung" - the Nazi book burning on the 10th of May 1933.
(wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings)
All following authors shared the faith that their books have been burned and were forbidden afterwards.

Minor considerations have been that in December, many people lack money and time, so I tried to find relatively short books that were available here on MobileRead or on Project Gutenberg or archive.org. The greatest problem has been the lack of translations - my original list looked quite different!

Heinrich Heine
The Prose Writings of Heinrich Heine
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37478

Franz Kafka
The Trial
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=Kafka
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7849

Stefan Zweig
The Burning Secret
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45755

Arthur Schnitzler
The Road To The Open
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45895

Henri Barbusse
Under Fire: The Story of a Squad
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4380

Maxim Gorki
Mother
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3783

Jon Dos Passos
Three Soldiers
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6362

Jack London
Island Tales
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ht=Jack+London

[HomeInMyShoes]

I see two that are interesting me quite a bit without even thinking that much.