New Leaf Welcome to the New Leaf Book Club

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by gmw

<SNIP>

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

<SNIP>

This makes me happy! None of my nominations have won yet, but I am glad that some folks at least were interested enough to pick up The Price of Salt.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

This makes me happy! None of my nominations have won yet, but I am glad that some folks at least were interested enough to pick up The Price of Salt.

Definitely. I read it and quite enjoyed it. And it is a book I would never have discovered without that nomination. That was a particularly good month for me, with Passing, The Price of Salt, and my own rediscovery of Joseph Hansen.

[issybird]

I do think we have to consider discovery at least a secondary goal of our nominations. This is a fruitful month for me (or not, considering my ever-lengthening TBR) in terms of books I want to read.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

This makes me happy! None of my nominations have won yet, but I am glad that some folks at least were interested enough to pick up The Price of Salt.

I figure this is what the club is about, as much as the discussion. Patricia Highsmith is probably not someone I'd have read without you bringing up this book. I enjoyed The Price of Salt, she draws wonderful characters and their interactions feel very real. And I liked Highsmith's voice enough that I do intend to get Strangers on a Train (another of your nominations).

One of the things I've tried with some of my nominations is to highlight books that it would be easy to overlook based on what a person might assume based on genre or author reputation. Ted Chiang is not your average Sci-Fi writer. Stephen King writes wonderful characterisations and you don't always have to sit through horror to see them. And so on for Canning, DeMille and even J.M. Barrie. Whether my nominations win the vote or not (so far not ), I still enjoy being able to say something about books I like to an audience that might even find it useful or interesting.

[Catlady]

I've read only one new-to-me, nominated-not-chosen book: The Light Between Oceans. I'd already read the Highsmith books and a few others that were nominated.

Frankly, I feel like quite the misfit here in terms of taste, as most of the nominations make me wince, and apparently my choices are equally unappealing to the group. Oh well. Vive la différence.

I have discovered a handful of interesting titles when looking for books to nominate--it's been extremely disappointing to be foiled by geographic restrictions--and keep adding to my library wish list.

[Bookpossum]

Well, even if you wince, you do add quite a lot to the discussions we have, and I think that's the most important part of all with a Book Club.

[CRussel]

Agreed. I think we all bring different perspectives and views to the club. I admit, this month I made a conscious decision not to nominate one of my favourite books that would have fit the category simply because I knew it was unlikely to be well received. (The book is March Upcountry, by John Ringo, and is pure MilSF.) So, instead, I looked around for something I might want to read, and that I thought others might as well. I'd always wanted to read more about the Halifax Explosion of WWI, a seminal event in Canadian history, so I went to see if I could find anything that looked interesting, and found a book that I hope will fit the bill. And while we will often disagree about the merits of one or another book, I think the discussion around a book is the second most important part of the club for me, and you bring a lot to those discussions. (Discovery being the most personally important.)

[Bookpossum]

Just for a moment I thought you were talking about The March Upcountry by Xenophon - he of xenophobia fame.

And to my shame, I must admit that I had never heard of the Halifax Explosion until you nominated this book, so the discovery started at the nomination stage for me.

[CRussel]

No, not quite that March Upcountry.

Though if you want a rip-roaring book to try out MilSF, I _would_ recommend Ringo & Weber's book. It's actually rather humourous, in a totally blood-thirsty way. Quite good fun, for those who enjoy such.

As for the Halifax Explosion? To my shame, I hadn't either until I moved here.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Frankly, I feel like quite the misfit here in terms of taste, as most of the nominations make me wince, and apparently my choices are equally unappealing to the group. Oh well. Vive la différence.

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Well, even if you wince, you do add quite a lot to the discussions we have, and I think that's the most important part of all with a Book Club.

I can only echo Bookpossum about your contribution to the club.

Something for everyone to think about: No one should feel marginalized. One reason for "each member gets to choose a theme" for the next slate is to try to counteract that, but of course you've got no control over how members take a theme when they nominate. It seems to me that we're set with the notion of another slate of themes, but after that? Some way to let members set a slate where they're guaranteed something they like?

My own feeling as with some of the responses above is that the point of the club is the fun of the discussion, as I can pick books I end up not liking for myself the rest of the time, as happens all too frequently. The point of the process is to try to come up with a book that's good enough for the membership as a whole. By and large, it succeeds for me, but I acknowledge that it might not be true for everyone.

FWIW, I remember when I started participating in the old MR Club in January 2011 and I thought I'd never nominate a winner. Eventually, I did! I expect the same for everyone in the NLBC in the long run.

[Catlady]

I think I came across as all "nobody loves me," but that was not my intention. I am simply bemused to find that most of you seem to like different books than I like (how can you all be so wrongheaded ?).

I am getting ready to listen to Dandelion Wine, though I've decided to sneak in another couple of books before I start it.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I am also somewhat data-obsessive (though I use excel, not google) and I love the stats as well. Darzin has a really cool map chart, but I wanted to see the balance a bit better, so for anyone curious, attached is a pie graph of where the readings have come from. We are incredibly US-UK centric. I set myself a goal of reading at least 50% non-US authors this year, so this stat is particularly interesting to me.

Probably one reason for being US-UK centric is more people read English than other languages. While I don't know if English is the modern international language world wide or not it is the language that a good many literate groups know. Certainly in my own case I can't read a book written in Japanese, Russian or Korean. I haven't been trained in reading the languages.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I think I came across as all "nobody loves me," but that was not my intention. I am simply bemused to find that most of you seem to like different books than I like (how can you all be so wrongheaded ?).

I am getting ready to listen to Dandelion Wine, though I've decided to sneak in another couple of books before I start it.

You are right - we are indeed wrongheaded.

I like issybird’s suggestion of one or two members at a time having a go at setting the slate for a month. Something for us to consider in the future.

Meantime, I hope you enjoy Dandelion Wine, Catlady.

[issybird]

I got a PM this morning alerting me to something I had just realized for myself in setting up the book thread, that the August selection, The Great Halifax Explosion, was in fact an invalid nomination since it had been published within the year (the PMer had no objection to the choice; it was just an FYI).

I think our rule of thumb has to be that if a book hasn't been challenged by the time the poll goes live, it's an official choice. I can only think of three limitations offhand: older than a year, not fully nominated within six months, not a selection of any club in the past five calendar years. People should feel free to object to a nomination on the basis of any of these (or something I missed); if they'd rather not, they can always PM me and I'll be the heavy.

The reason for this particular rule is to help make books available and cheap enough; in this particular case, I hope people can avail themselves of the free UK edition or don't face a long waiting list at the library.

[CRussel]

Obviously, my apologies, since I clearly didn't even look. That being said, it is still free at both AmazonUK and KoboUK, so I hope folks can easily avail themselves of one of those options.