Literary The MobileRead Literary Book Club Begins

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by issybird

I think the only wrinkle I'd like to add is that once a person has been book-picker, s/he is out of the running unless/until everyone has had a crack at it.

Hm, I had been thinking being selected would make them non-eligible for a year or two afterwards. I think forever seems a bit harsh (I think that would translate into forever with new members taken into consideration).

[issybird]

Originally Posted by beppe

Of course. But you should trust the laws of probability a bit more. I was chosen one out of 6. That is 16%. To be chosen a second time it would be 1 in 36 (2,6%).

Those are the odds that you'd be chosen twice in a row. And given that you've already got the first one under your belt, the odds that you'd be chosen next time would remain at 1/6, or 16%.

And in two years, we'll have six member lotteries. Given that you've won the first one, if the pool remained at six you'd have a 60% chance of being selected again by the time the two years were up.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by beppe

I maintain the opinion that this is not necessary. Just consider it in the process of choice by the winner. The winner should be able to use whatever procedure he sees fit, according to the goals. I choose A Passage of India because I think it is worth, because I want to read it, because I want to discuss it, and because I had doubts about other possibilities, that could have been more challenging. Saramago's work is probably more appealing to some, but his language might be repulsive to others, that is why I sent out a feeler. Why should a winner be limited in the means he feels necessary in order to make a choice that is interesting for the other members? Why make it harder for him? Why put limits further than the 3 days as has been set already?

In any case you are the boss, and you choose whatever you like. It is not a big deal. Thank you for the nice way you are running this.

I'm not sure, but I think you may be mis-understanding me a bit. I have put forth that as the winner, you may go about it however you like, including discussing it with members first if you so wish.

However, I also offered an alternative of a vote as well. The choices for the vote would be decided by the winner, then confirmed by members. But after that, the vote would be the same as any other month and the winner of the vote would be our selection.

This is only if the winner wants it though, and only if we decide to continue offering that option to the winner.

The reason I advised against discussing options in the thread are the reasons I stated in the vote thread. Basically, there is not so much time, and to discuss options will only give you the opinions of those who speak up, not the entire membership. As well, it confuses the thread - some will be confirming while others are giving opinions on what they think of your options.

All that aside, I want to be clear that those are only my opinions. The winner may discuss their options to their hearts content if they want, so long as they get ten confirmations on a work before time's up. And yes, if you wanted to hold off on having people start confirming until you have discussed your options, you can ask the others to wait on confirming as long as there are enough confirmations in time, which I now think I understand is what you wanted. Basically, you have three days to get enough confirmations and how you go about it is up to you, although I do ask the winner to keep it all in the vote thread (no polls or anything unless it's the vote poll I make for it should the winner want that).

I hope I didn't put you off doing it the way you wanted. As the show-runner, this is my first month overseeing this and I saw confusion and debate in the thread so I wanted to try and nip it in the bud before it possibly spiralled. I hope you can think of it as me wanting to help the process go smoothly for us all.

[beppe]

^ sun surfer. Thanks for taking the time and the concentration to answer so clearly. You find me in total accord.

The thought of building experience on the procedure was on my mind also.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by issybird

you'd have a 60% chance of being selected again by the time the two years were up.

I do hope that this would not scare you too much

[issybird]

Originally Posted by beppe

I do hope that this would not scare you too much

Nope! But it means you have a better than even chance of getting it again in two years, ceteris paribus, which means that someone else would be left out in the cold.

Should I figure the odds on your getting to do it two more times?

[beppe]

Originally Posted by issybird

Nope! But it means you have a better than even chance of getting it again in two years, ceteris paribus, which means that someone else would be left out in the cold.

Should I figure the odds on your getting to do it two more times?

I like the idea of someone else left out in the cold, while I am sitting near the fire, drinking flip. Thank you.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Elfwreck has started a list of books read in the other club. Here is a link to the post. It might be helpful as a future reference to know what they discussed and when. The two year rule sounds reasonable to me.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=144343

[caleb72]

Rules, rules, rules.

I'm happy just to see what comes up each month. If I'm interested and can fit it in I have a group to discuss it with. If not - well there's always the next month.

I'm glad A Passage to India came up. I've loaded it into my Kindle and I'm ready to go.

[sun surfer]

Wow, there are so few nominations so far for October.

When I started this club, I would've been happy with just a few other members and was pleasantly surprised at its popularity. I chose the format we're using based on the amount of people interested then. Last month and this month though have had fewer participants compared to previous months.

I suppose it could be the recent categories, or the time of year. I would expect some categories to have fewer participants than others, but the decrease in participation recently seems larger than I would expect.

I wonder if any of you have any thoughts on the matter of this recent lower participation?

I decided to ask in this thread instead of the current nominations thread so as not to distract focus from the October nominations in that thread since they are still open.

[Nyssa]

Personally, I feel that this is not the book club for me so I've slipped onto "watch" mode instead of participating. I'm still curious as to what books are being nominated/discussed but the previous selections did not appeal enough to me.

Yes this really blows. Just when a monthly category I really wanted came up as well. I had hoped that last month's low participation might have been because it was August, but it would seem not. I hope some others will at least offer their thoughts. My opinion is that the real audience for a Literary Book Club is much smaller than what the initial enthusiastic participation would have indicated. Especially since the popular genres here of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Mystery would not number many that fit the literary definition, with more recent titles even less so.

This is sort of a separate topic from the nomination participation question, but I have noticed that even among those interested in literary books too many will only participate in the reading and discussion only if his or her book wins the vote.

Oh well it was a nice idea.

[TGS]

My view is that the past two months' poor show is in large part explicable by the categories for those months - I don't often read poetry and almost never read plays. I tend to read modern literary fiction and I don't have as much time to read as I would like, so there needs to be a strong pull to get me away from what I have on my TBR. Having said all that I do hope the Literary Book Club will carry on - even if I don't always manage to read the chosen book I do find value in reading the comments of people who have.

[issybird]

I'm not willing to give up yet. Early days and perhaps the process needs to be jiggered somewhat in light of interest and participation.

I had one thought, which is that this club might garner more interest if the timing in regard to nominating, voting and reading weren't virtually identical to that of the main club. It might be too much of a commitment for some. Perhaps we could reschedule a bit in future months? There's nothing magic about when a vote or discussion takes place.

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

This is sort of a separate topic from the nomination participation question, but I have noticed that even among those interested in literary books too many will only participate in the reading and discussion only if his or her book wins the vote.

As for as participation goes, I can only speak for myself. In any given month, here or at t'other place, I would probably happily read about half the nominated books. But life's short, too many books, etc etc. I like to expand my horizons, but I'm not going to explode them. My comfort level's higher here, however, and I'm willing to give most books a shot. I've noted at the other club, however, that even for books with a lot of votes, only a handful of people participate in the discussion. Oh, well--it doesn't mean that the others aren't enjoying it from the sidelines.

[paola]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm not willing to give up yet.

neither do I! I feel somewhat guilty not reading "Unbroken", but as I explained already I really could not bring myself to do it - and I am sorry I only "resurfaced" today as I was first away on holiday (at last), then had loads at work to catch up with. So it did not seem right to come up with three suggested play on the last day of the nominations, but couldn't help putting in one more title

This is my first book club, so I do not really have any suggestions based on personal experience, but I am not too surprised about low numbers, especially in the summer. And really looking forward to read the October selection!