[Bookpossum]

I agree sun surfer - I think the rotating months have worked very well and will give some thought to what might be good categories for the other six months, if we decide we want some changes.

In the meantime, I have been rather concerned about the way in which people who aren't regular members of the Club are suddenly popping in to vote, and then disappearing again. I have made a study of what happened in May as it was particularly noticeable, but there have been other cases (including the June run-off). Please note that I am not making a judgement about the books in question.

1. Nomination.
Caleb nominated ”The Thirty-Nine Steps” by John Buchan, and indicated he was not sure whether it qualified as literature. This was not considered a problem and it was supported in due course by sun surfer, BelleZora and Synamon. That is, three regulars and one part-timer put it on the list. So far, so good.

2. Voting.
It was voted for by BelleZora, Caleb, Angst, ClareK, crich70, Gronk and yekim54. That is, two regulars and five “casuals”. Of these, two (Angst and crich70) seem to be regulars in MR with numerous posts. Again, no judgement is being made here about people who prefer to “lurk” rather than get actively involved. I simply found it rather surprising that they would want to get involved in the Club if they don’t participate in MR more generally.

3. The Run-Off.
In the run-off, the only regular to vote for it was Caleb. Fair enough, it was his nomination. The other voters were ClareK, crich70, Synamon, xstitchfan, yekim54. In other words, non-regulars were five of the six voters, and one of them was a last-minute arrival who hadn't even participated in the earlier voting, i.e. xstitchfan.

4. The Discussion of Under Western Eyes.
Not a single contribution to the discussion came from the non-regular members of the Club. While from time to time regular members are not able to participate in the reading and discussion of the chosen book, this result seems to indicate that people think it reasonable to dip into the Club, vote for a book that takes their fancy, and when it doesn’t win, they have no further involvement. In other words, they are not joining the Literary Book Club so much as dabbling around the edges.

5. Recommendation.
Given this experience, I would like to propose a slight change to the rules of the Literary Book Club to apply from our new year commencing on 1 July 2014.

Of course anyone who wishes to join the Club is very welcome to do so BUT I believe it is reasonable to ask that in the first instance, someone wanting to join us starts by reading and participating in the discussion of a book that has been selected. After that initial involvement, the new member would be welcome to participate fully in nominating, supporting, voting and then discussing.

In other words, joining the Literary Book Club should involve commitment to participate in all aspects of the Club, including reading and discussing the chosen book, whether it was the member’s choice or not.

I have no objection at all to people who may watch from the sidelines, as it were, to get a feel for the Club and the sorts of books it reads: indeed I would hope that people would do this to ensure that they share the literary interests of other Club members. I was certainly interested in the Club for a while before I joined, and I did so when I saw the members had selected Middlemarch to read, a book I had been planning on reading for some time. To join at that point, rather than earlier in the process, seemed to me to be the appropriate and dare I say courteous way of joining this very interesting and enjoyable group.

So the question is whether others think this is a reasonable rule change or not.