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One of the ways in which I was utilising the book club was to experience books I would not necessarily know about or experience if left to my own devices. It's not the only reason, but one of them. So previously I've been in favour of themes like "Classics", "Banned Books", "Award Winners" etc... as they encouraged me to move out of the genres I read most often.
When I look at the books I read over the course of a year, they are predominantly Science Fiction with all its sub-genres: cyberpunk, space opera, post-apocalyptic, dystopian etc... The book club offerings create an interesting punctuation mark in the reading. Suddenly you'll come across authors like Naguib Mahfouz, whom I'd never heard of before I started participating in the book clubs here.
But regardless of the value I've received, I'm starting to change my mind about how I perceive the value of the main book club. We now have the literary club which is pushing the boundaries of my reading experience almost every month. Maybe it would be fun for the main book club to focus on satisfying other reading experiences - where genres like science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, historical, romance etc.. are genres that are celebrated boldly and even possibly to the detriment of more literary or classical offerings. There's nothing inherently wrong with that kind of decision, and it doesn't prevent a classic being nominated for a theme in which it would fit. And we still have the literary club that focuses a bit more on these works for those that would like to dive in.
I'm very much a "go with the flow" kind of guy when it comes to this site, so I'll just keep on keeping on regardless of what is decided. So my rambling thoughts are just that...for what they're worth.
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