Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Book Club


Anyone interested in starting a book club?

Pros:

-You get to read something you may not ordinarily read.

Cons:

-If you're forced to read something you wouldn't ordinarily read, you'll probably hate it.

-The (relatively) large time commitment of reading an entire book.

-The internet is way more interesting.

-Book clubs always collapse after 2 weeks due to lack of participation.

We could mitigate the cons by choosing shorter books (under 200 pages), and having the book chooser lead the discussion by posting his or her responses, which could be short or long; stream-of-consciousness or tightly structured. Whatever you're feeling. That way we'd still have a specific blog post to discuss over the course of a week or so, even if everyone hates the book and is just waiting until we can discuss Islam again.

In order to spur discussion, my pick would be something related to politics or history, However, I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, and I could be persuaded to read literature, like Justin Bieber, First Step 2 Forever, by Justin Bieber.

Sign up in the comments.

5 comments:

james said...

I'm out.

Big Myk said...

Yeah, but those ladies look like they're having so much fun.

James R said...

The Pros of the Cons:
-The (relatively) large time commitment of reading an entire book. -- Encourages Commitment (especially helpful for men); cures ADT (especially helpful for those that lose interest as soon as they finish the invitation)

-The internet is way more interesting. --'Interesting' is way over sold. Boredom, as Dunbar claimed, extends your life.

- Book clubs collapse after 2 weeks due to lack of participation -- 2 weeks!!! That's an eternity (especially if your bored)

The trick is to pick a book you've already read.

Ted said...

I think I will just recommend a book: Tom Rob Smith's The 44th Child. It's a detective/mystery story that takes place at the end of Stalin's reign. The story itself is good, but what really gets to you is the crushing hopelessness of Stalinist Russia. I felt as if I was reading a sci/fi or dystopian novel in the vein of Orwell or Huxley. I guess I just don't really know that much about Soviet Russia.

James R said...

That sounds good. I like detective/mystery. For "crushing hopelessness" I don't think you can beat "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. It combines Dickens's vivid sympathy for the poor with Solzhenitsyn's controlled outrage