New Leaf Welcome to the New Leaf Book Club

[Bookpossum]

I agree, both in terms of the interesting nominations, and the ever lengthening TBR list! The broader the theme, the further we can take it, but even with a more specific one like War, there are so many ways to approach it.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I mentioned this in the nomination thread, but I thought I'd bring it over here where we could possibly chat about it. I'm really, really liking how the move to topics has worked out. Virtually every month there are multiple books I end up buying or getting from the library based on the nominations. Or simply the poking around I (and others) do to find interesting books to fit the topic.

Thanks for the post! The switch to topics has brought diversification to my reading selections because it forces me to search using different and unique criteria. It helps to find books that I would not have discovered before. Although, I mostly still select books to read that are within my favorite genres.

My TBR is growing from the nominations, but I had that problem before with the clubs! I wondered if people are reading the books they discover or just adding to the pile. Here are my personal stats for the year-to-date.

I have read 2 books that I nominated: The Fifteen Lives of Harry August and The Summer Book.

I have read 1 book that someone else nominated: Salt: A World History.

I have read 1 book inspired by the monthly book: On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

I have read 3 books that I discovered while searching for a nomination: The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien, A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin and Turtles All The Way Down by John Green.

[Bookpossum]

Do you get the feeling you are never going to run out of books to read? I certainly do!

[issybird]

^^Which is why I wish I could lose my hoarder mentality. I'll always be able to think of something and there will always be books around.

Bookworm_Girl's post has me thinking. It's certainly true that I've noted books to add to the TBR, but how has the NLBC affected my reading this half year outside of the selections themselves? That is, as she asks, what have I actually read, as opposed to just adding even more books to a list? I'll have to check.

[issybird]

I note a combination of slowness and prescience! The slowness alludes to two books I read this year that result from the old MR Club; a nomination, England, Their England and the second Mr. Moto book, the first having been a selection. The prescience is in regard to a book I read in February by Tove Jansson, clearly anticipating The Summer Book, a nominee last month which I read and loved three years ago.

The slowness is typical of me. I'll generally get to things, but it takes me a while. So many books, etc. I don't really claim second sight.

[CRussel]

When we started the new club, I added extra information to my 2018 Reading Challenge list here on MR to track not only the books I read that were selections, but the ones that were inspired by either the nomination process or the selection process. So far, in addition to the actual selections, I've got 5 books that were inspired by the discovery process, and two additional books that were nominated by another user. And still actively in my TBR are several others that fit that description.

The one thing I haven't done that I should is to add a custom column to Calibre. I fear that if I don't, I'll lose track over the space of the year(s).

What's interesting about this, for me, is that the actual club selections have not always been books I've enjoyed or wanted to read. But that's been the least important part of active participation.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Do you get the feeling you are never going to run out of books to read? I certainly do!

I don't think I'll ever be able to read in my lifetime all of the books that I already own! And, of course, I just keep discovering new ones to add to the list or borrow from the library....

I need to set a book challenge that incorporates books that I already have to reduce the TBR pile.

[CRussel]

I'm stockpiling for the day when I can't afford to buy any new books. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it! Plus, I refuse to die until I've read them ALL. (Now, if that worked, I'd certainly be good for well up into triple digits. )

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Plus, I refuse to die until I've read them ALL.

I'm with Borges:

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.

An eternity to read; paradise indeed!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm with Borges:

An eternity to read; paradise indeed!

Well, as an atheist, I'm going to have to just live long enough to read all the books I want to read. When I stop wanting to read? Definitely time to go.

By the way, one of the books that was not nominated this month, but which was inspired by a discussion around the current nominations was Between Silk and Cyanide, which comes at the whole WWII cipher question from the other direction, looking at how the British did ciphers. Bought and added to my TBR, and will certainly be read even though it's not even nominated.

[gmw]

For me, the start of the NLBC happens to coincide with giving up smoking (again), so I can actually afford to buy things I want to read - and they give me a distraction away from wanting a cigarette.

To try and follow on from Bookworm_Girl's example...

So far I've only nominated books I have already read.

I have read 2 books someone else nominated: The Price of Salt, and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

I have read 2 book inspired by the monthly book: Black No More by George S. Schuyler, and The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

I have read 1 book found* while searching for a nomination: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.


* This was one of those rediscovery/bump-up-the-list things for me. I'd been wanting to read some from John Green for a while, then found this while searching for ideas for The Book Came First theme and decided it was time.

[Bookpossum]

It’s getting to the stage where we shall need to have about three months between each topic, in order to get the extras read as well as the book that wins. I am certainly very interested in several books nominated for this round.

Like Bookworm-Girl, I have piles of paper as well as ebooks waiting to be read already, and I have been trying to work through some of them in between the Club books. Fortunately, my doctor tells me that I’m so healthy that I’m going to live forever. Let’s just hope the eyesight keeps working!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by gmw

For me, the start of the NLBC happens to coincide with giving up smoking (again), so I can actually afford to buy things I want to read - and they give me a distraction away from wanting a cigarette.

Good for you and good luck! I hope the worst pangs are over, but I know it takes constant vigilance.

[gmw]

ebooks are wonderful things but they do mean that it is far too obvious that there are more books written than I will ever be able to read - because now everything is so accessible. I could have it all! But even if I limited myself to public domain, I'd soon have more than I could read. And I still love to re-read favourites, I'm not giving that up.

So it seems to me that thinking about how many books I will never read is much the same as thinking about death. It's something everyone will do, now and then, but it's an activity that should be deliberately limited lest it lead to depression.

Originally Posted by issybird

Good for you and good luck! I hope the worst pangs are over, but I know it takes constant vigilance.

Thanks. I was amused to see the use of present tense in my previous post ("giving up smoking") despite the passage of 6 months, but as far as I can tell giving up smoking is one of those things that never goes away. 11.5 years ago I put off having my next cigarette for 20 days short of 5 years - but starting again was like never having left it.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by gmw

Thanks. I was amused to see the use of present tense in my previous post ("giving up smoking") despite the passage of 6 months, but as far as I can tell giving up smoking is one of those things that never goes away. 11.5 years ago I put off having my next cigarette for 20 days short of 5 years - but starting again was like never having left it.

This is true for every addiction I know of, and tobacco is one of the strongest addictions there is. Truly, you only quit one day at a time. And some days? One hour at a time. So good on you for not smoking today, and I'll lift a glass to you tonight.

Meanwhile, for eBooks, I don't ever think of all the books I won't read, but of all the books I CAN read. And the older I get, the more I enjoy going back to old favourites.