Literary The MR Literary Club • Welcome, Information & General Discussion

[sun surfer]

My first thought on a possible topic idea for next month is a sort of counter to this month; from 'under the sun' to something with the moon. I think 'Blood Moon' is out as a distinct topic seeing this month's book selection , but some other possibilities are:

-Blue Moon
-Over the Moon
-Promise Me the Moon
-Many Moons Ago
-The Moon is a Loyal Companion
-Aim for the Moon
-A Honeyed Moon
-The Dark Side of the Moon
-Do Not Swear by the Moon
-Moonlight and Roses
-Not All Moonlight and Roses
-The True Joy of a Moonlit Night
-By Moonlight
-Moonlighting

Or perhaps there's another. Do any of these sound interesting or inspire any other topic ideas?

[sun surfer]

What about 'Moonlighting'? It was the last one I thought of in connection to 'moon' but I like that it has a few possible interpretations despite being only one word, and though the interpretations can be varied it would be a focused topic. Also, it seems to zag in a different direction from other recent topics.

Though it could be anything to do with nighttime, the night sky, the moon, moonlight, etc., it could also be related to the alternate definition of moonlighting- a second or separate job or occupation aside from any main employment, where one 'moonlights'.

I'll give it a day or so before finalising the topic for next month. I'm fine with this or any other topic, whether moon related or not!

[sun surfer]

All right, Moonlighting it is for July!

Although, if anyone has any ideas, tweaks or other preferences for July's topic, let us know and we can incorporate or use that instead.

[sun surfer]

Now is the time to choose August's topic!

All ideas are appreciated; just post! We're very flexible with our monthly topic; it can be a topic, theme, category or whatever else. This can also be collaborative so any little kernel of an idea is great.

The floor is now open!

[sun surfer]

Just to move these towards the front again for possible inspiration, here are posted ideas we haven't used since they were suggested (or possibly haven't used anything too similar to since they were suggested, although with some we might've):


-Birthdays, Parties and Celebrations. This could be a pretty open topic but could focus on books with prominent celebrations of some sort, or perhaps a significant birth or birthday. Then there's a few meanings of the word 'party' that could be inspiration. And of course a book with any of those main words in the title, or even just a celebratory title, could work.

-Dawn of a New Day. This one could not only include any new/contemporary books, but also books relating to 'dawns'/sunrises/etc., or books about a character or characters having a big change of life or emerging from tribulations, or maybe books about a societal change happening, or books with 'new', 'dawn', or 'day' in the title, or maybe simply books about hope or optimism since that's a major component of the expression.

-Fresh Blood. This could include any new/contemporary books but could also have something to do characters going into a new situation where they might be considered fresh blood, or maybe books with blood, violence, murder, etc.

-Mad as a March Hare. It could have something to do with pronounced mental illness, it could be about 'mad' taken as anger, it could be about hares or rabbits, it could be something to do with the actual character of the March Hare, it could be something to do with the month of March, it could be something to do with the original source of the phrase being that hares act more erratic and excitedly in their mating season and so about characters who act erratic and excitedly, etc. Lots of diverging possibilities with this one.

-Fantasy & Science Fiction. There is a healthy amount of literary fantasy and science fiction so it could be interesting to have a month devoted specifically to that and see what happens.

-Brand New Authors. This could be a month for nominating authors who've never been nominated before in any of the book clubs in this forum. While many of our monthly slates often have many nominations of brand new authors, it's rare to have a month entirely made up of them and it could be interesting to see what we find.

-Humour. This is a straight-up category so it basically is what is says.

-Mysteriousness. This topic is not necessarily a mystery, but just something with an aura of mysteriousness about it or in it.

-Bridesmaids. This would be any selection that was on a nomination/shortlist for an award but never won any major award.

-Man Booker Nominees and Winners. This could include the international prize as well.

-Mystery. This could be literary mystery, not necessarily something from the mystery genre but something that somehow relates to a mystery, and could even be a non-fiction with a mystery.

-Romance. This could be a good literary drama book with a great romance in it.

-Melancholia. This could be a book either focusing on or with a heavy atmosphere of melancholy or ennui.

-Contemporary Cross Continental. It could also be called Intercontinental. This could be a contemporary book, from the last say 20, 30 or 40 years, that takes place on at least two continents and/or far-away islands/places.

-World Exploration. This could be a book focusing on some type of physical exploration, perhaps like an adventure or journey.


And here's a spoiler of all our previously used monthly topics, themes and categories, any of which we could use again or do a new spin on:

Spoiler:

1501-1800
1801-1900
1901-1920
1921-1940
1941-1960
1961-1980
1981-2000
Award Winners
BCE-1500
Biographies & Memoirs
Canada & the U.S.
Central Asia, East Europe & Russia
Ch Ch Changes
Contemporary
Free Falling
Fun! Fun! Fun!
Highly Challenging
International Feel
Ireland & the U.K.
Japan
Journey around the World
Journey, or Journeys, A
Korean Peninsula, Mongolia & China
Latin America
Moonlighting
New Beginnings & Uncharted Waters
Non-Fiction
North & Central Europe
North Africa & the Middle East
Obscure
Open
Plays
Poetry
Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain & France
Queer as Folk
Region
Retrospective
Short
Short Stories
Something New Under the Sun
South Asia
South Pacific
Southeast Asia
Southeast Europe
Sub Saharan Africa
Time Period
Touch of the Poetic, A
Unusual Viewpoint, An
With Heart
Youth Fiction

[sun surfer]

No other ideas or preferences for August? I kind of like the idea of 'Bridesmaids' or 'Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride', books that have been nominated/shortlisted for awards but that have never won a major award. It would be a pretty wide field to nominate from but still have a topical consistency, and a change of pace from the topics we've had recently.

I'll give it another day or two before finalising next month's topic; if anyone has any opinions or suggestions for August let us know before then.

[sun surfer]

Now is the time to choose September's topic!

All ideas are appreciated; just post! We're very flexible with our monthly topic; it can be a topic, theme, category or whatever else. This can also be collaborative so any little kernel of an idea is great.

The last few months have been all my ideas, and while I'm certainly fine with that so long as all of you are, it'd be loverly to have anyone else chime in if they've any ideas.

The floor is now open!

[AnotherCat]

I've thought of the possibility of Stranded. Stranded in some life activity or relationship, on an island (would like to read Robinson Crusoe yet again ), someplace, some job, transported, etc.

Or taking some hints from another song, Jimmy Cliff's (so Reggae flavored) 1969 ballad Many Rivers to Cross of which there have been many covers. The following video of a UB40 cover is not great image wise but is copyright safe plus the lyrics are to be found a little way down in the comments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cKX...&start_radio=1 - Linda Ronstadt does a good version with lyrics clearly sung if looked for in same place. Apart from hints in the lyrics there could also be ideas arising from the religious or anthem tones of the song, also many associate it with mourning.

But I am not fussy, can go with anything.

[sun surfer]

Great ideas, AnotherCat!

One of my absolute favourite motifs is the idea of stranding, especially desert islands (they're only one very specific type of stranding that may have no bearing on a Stranded topic, but they almost always get my romantically idealised imagination going). At the risk of oversharing, I'll even admit that I'd never owned a television as an adult until I had to buy one to watch this 'Survivor' I heard about when it first began (the U.S. version and the much shorter-lived U.K. version). My interest in that series only lasted a few years, but one of my all-time favourite telly series is Lost (I didn't watch any other television after Survivor... until I had to start again after hearing about Lost), one of my favourite things to watch the few times I got to see it when I was young was reruns of Gilligan's Island (seriously, lol), one of my favourite films as a teen was The Blue Lagoon (and the Blue Lagoon knock-off film Paradise, which is technically set in an oasis but basically acts as a desert-island film), one of my all-time favourite books is Robinson Crusoe that you mentioned, another is And Then There Were None, and well I could go on and on, heh.

I also love the idea of 'Many Rivers to Cross'. There are a lot of ways to play with that as a topic when searching for nominations. Great song choice. I know the Jimmy Cliff version, and I like the Joe Cocker version too if you've ever heard it. I love reggae, so Cliff and even UB40 are right up my alley, lol. I know Linda Ronstadt but not her version of that song; I'll have a listen to it.

I'd be more than happy with whichever topic if anyone else has a preference of one or the other for September.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

...reruns of Gilligan's Island...

Often watched those too although they tended to be at an inconvenient time here (late afternoon) . It seems to me that there is very little fun, light hearted, or good comedy programs on TV in recent years - my wife and I have been hunting old material out and watching that in recent years; maybe time to hunt Gilligan's Island out too .

[Bookworm_Girl]

I'm open to the Stranded idea.

We've also been watching lots of old tv shows and movies lately. I used to love Gilligan's Island reruns as a kid too. I haven't watched an episode of that in ages.

[sun surfer]

Ah great, then it sounds like Stranded it is for September!

I also just happened to realise that September will be our 100th book club month and selection! Woohoo; that's certainly a milestone.

I'm also glad you both like Gilligan's Island; that was one of the ones I was more hesitant to mention! I also haven't seen it in ages, and honestly haven't ever seen that many episodes. But it's funny how something you like can stick with you so well even after only seeing it a few times. Growing up I was always ready to go on a magical three-hour tour!

AnotherCat, speaking of older comedies, what do you think of I Love Lucy? That is one of my all-time faves. It's amazing how well the comedy holds up throughout all these decades. That one I knew of as a kid but never really saw until an adult. Someone I knew had VHS tapes of the show, got me to watch some and I was hooked. I think my single favourite comedy performance of all time is probably Lucy in the Vitameatavegamin episode.

There's two other desert-island faves of mine I forgot to mention in the other post. One is Lord of the Flies, which despite being something of a cautionary or even a bit of a horror story in a way, really stoked my imagination, and I probably didn't learn anything at all from it because I thought if only it were a better group on the island it could've been so fun... like a children's Gilligan's Island, lol. The other is The Piano, one of my favourite films, which you might be slightly familiar with the setting of, AnotherCat. Not really stranded or desert island in the technical sense per se, but for the protagonist it's close enough and acts more or less as such, with the beach and with the island being so rural at the time and her not wanting to be stuck there.

[AnotherCat]

Yes remember I Love Lucy and have the set among our oldies to work through. A friend had Gilligan's Island so have now borrowed that to try, probably next, but we have a couple of series of Bonanza to finish first .

I did see The Piano a few years after its release (on TV or DVD). If I recall correctly I liked it but thought it fitted into the dark fetishy films coming from NZ then and which was becoming a tiresome overworked characteristic. Being overexposed to them and thinking such did not match NZ reality well took the edge of it for me (Once Were Warriors was another well known dark NZ movie, released a year or so after The Piano).

The production filming (much modified in post production for the actual film though) for the ship scenes in Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong was shot around the island out in front of our home. I liked the movie until what I thought was a very tediously drawn out end. King Kong the book has sat on my reading list for a long time.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Ah great, then it sounds like Stranded it is for September!

I also just happened to realise that September will be our 100th book club month and selection! Woohoo; that's certainly a milestone.

Wow! Maybe for October we should do something related to anniversaries, milestones, celebrations, or something along those lines.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Wow! Maybe for October we should do something related to anniversaries, milestones, celebrations, or something along those lines.

I got away from the thread for a bit but I think that's an excellent idea!