Lit and MR Book Clubs - the way forward

[Luffy]

I've belonged to a few groups at Goodreads. And, to my knowledge, this is the first one that lays so much emphasis on price. I don't think price is an issue. At least not at GR.

I think that there ought to be a quarterly book. A 1000 paged book to read every 3 months. Also a short story monthly offering.

I think that most participants in the mobileread group tend to favor unpopular books. Books that are very dry or obtuse or simply uninteresting. The group enjoys books like these but the general public simply doesn't.

Some while back I asked for recommendations that are less than 250 pages and the few that I've read weren't to my taste.

I usually agree with JSWolf about books that win.

[4691mls]

If you want more people who are not currently club members to notice the club, maybe when there is a new vote going on you could put a post in the General and/or the Reading Recommendations forum with a link to the club thread.

[Alohamora]

Originally Posted by John F

And maybe start a thread in one of the busier forums.

How about moving the Book Club forum to the same level as Reading Recommendations instead of being a sub-forum of RR?

The way I usually browse for new posts, via Ebook General, I don't ever see the book club sub-forum.

[Bookpossum]

I agree with Alohamora - the Book Clubs have often been overlooked because they are a sub-group. I'm sure there was a good reason for doing it that way, but maybe a section called Book Clubs which should of course include any others not under discussion here. I am pretty sure there is a German one and possibly also an Italian one?

Something the Moderators could raise with the decision-making team perhaps?

Both the Book Clubs do have a "spot" in the Home page, but then it seems that people don't always look at that either.

[Krazykiwi]

I'll just note, I've been here a while (6 years, apparently, says my profile), and I'm moderately active, at least I check in once or twice a week - and I had no idea MR had bookclubs, let alone two of them.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Krazykiwi

I'll just note, I've been here a while (6 years, apparently, says my profile), and I'm moderately active, at least I check in once or twice a week - and I had no idea MR had bookclubs, let alone two of them.

And therein lies at least some of the problem, though I personally think there are others as well. First, I'm glad you found your way to this discussion, but more I'm eager to here what would get you to become an active and regular participant in the reading and discussing in a book club. I suspect we'll end up with some new format of book club which is probably neither of the current ones, but some entirely new club.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

And therein lies at least some of the problem, though I personally think there are others as well. First, I'm glad you found your way to this discussion, but more I'm eager to here what would get you to become and active and regular participant in the reading and discussing in a book club. I suspect we'll end up with some new format of book club which is probably neither of the current ones, but some entirely new club.

Bumping this to agree that we'll probably have a new club, so if people have a wish list, this is the place to make said wishes known!

[hildea]

Some more-or-less disjointed thoughts:

I'm not likely to become a regular member of a book club here, but I could drop in from time to time. (I've participated once, reading an American pioneer classic, and I was inspired to read The Steerswoman because of the book club, even if I did it long after the discussion was finished.)

(I'm also member of a face-to-face book club, and manage/choose to read about half the books there.)

I probably won't vote, because then I'd feel obligated to participate. But if the current books were listed higher up in the forum, I'd be more likely to notice and drop in when a book looked interesting.

In our face-to-face club we try to choose books for two months at a time, so if the first one isn't tempting, people have lots of time to go for the next one.

You could also try some really low-effort stuff once in a while: Pick a short story which is available for free online.

[CRussel]

Thanks for that, hildea. Whatever we come up with moving forward, there will always be a place for those who can only drop in occasionally. That's one of the beauties of an online book club v. a face to face one. (And I'm glad we were able to inspire you to read The Steerswoman. )

I like the idea of an occasional month of shorter works. Whether short stories or somewhat longer works but still below novel length. And having our books chosen earlier is actually a good idea. Lead times at public libraries can be quite daunting.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Alohamora

How about moving the Book Club forum to the same level as Reading Recommendations instead of being a sub-forum of RR?

The way I usually browse for new posts, via Ebook General, I don't ever see the book club sub-forum.

I would agree, getting it out of the sub-forum level would be a good thing.

[Bookpossum]

I think it's critical that we get that. Let's hope our Mods can achieve that with whoever makes these decisions.

[Alohamora]

I would suggest that the current format of nominations and voting be kept basically as is.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Alohamora

I would suggest that the current format of nominations and voting be kept basically as is.

I'm not aware of what the Lit club uses, but I have liked the way we've done the MR club nominations. (Three nominations to make it to the vote, three tickets for each member to nominate with.)

For voting, I honestly think we need a bit more responsibility connected to voting. As it has been, we sometimes have the voting distorted by those who don't ever participate, and that has, in some cases, led to selections to which the participants don't feel connected. Which, in turn, leads to reduced participation. The club can't survive without discussion -- otherwise it's simply a vanity contest to see what book gets the most votes this month.

How we get to where we only have active participants voting, however, I'm actually not sure, but I honestly believe we need some way to limit voting to those who are active members.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Alohamora

I would suggest that the current format of nominations and voting be kept basically as is.

+1 ...

[astrangerhere]

My Wishlist:

Themes with room for interpretation. I googled "book club themes," and came up with great results. I list some examples below and some of the books that might fit them.

"Around the World" - literature from other cultures. Examples: the works of Haruki Murakami (Literary), The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo (thriller), The Three Body Problem (Science Fiction), Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening (Nonfiction).

"Food" - this one is wide open as it is about food and eating.
Examples: The Vegetarian (horror), Eat, Pray Love (nonfiction), The Food of the Gods (classic sci-fi)

Price limit. I would like us to agree on an upper limit for a monthly investment. Are you willing to spend the price of one movie ticket a month? Are you willing to spend the price of a six-pack of craft beer? Or are you a bargain hunter?

Incubation period. As some others have suggested, I would like to see us limit ourselves to things that have been on the shelf for at least one calendar year from the nomination date. This could very well take care of the price problem because you would be more likely to be able to get it from the library.

Visibility. As many others have suggested, I hope to see the book club moved to a front-page position in the forum rather than being a subforum of the recommendations.

I'm not needy at all, right?