MetaChat - This is the real MeCha book club thread

Oh, sure. Now you tell me.

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 00:19

This is what Eideteker wrote in his thread:

MeCha book club? Who's interested? Suggested reading/format/bylaws? I'm used to reading a book a month and then "meeting" to talk about it. I say "meeting" in quotes because we could do it on IRC and/or in a thread here.

Thoughts?

I'm sorry.

posted by dame 28 November | 00:20

You're still invited, dame, even though I know you uninvited yourself.

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 00:24

Thanks. But this isn't about me. It's about the book club.

posted by dame 28 November | 00:26

I'm interested!
I would second John Barth's Floating Opera or End of the Road but I already read em.

posted by Edible Energy 28 November | 00:45

Eideteker, do have a real email addy? spam@likeicare.net doesn't ring all that true and I'd prefer to not comment in-thread.

If not, cool.

posted by Frisbee Girl 28 November | 00:46

This may have gotten buried in the other thread, so here again:

Since people are making suggestions: The Floating Opera or The End of the Road by John Barth interest anyone?

(I've heard that The End of the Road is the better of the two.) On preview, darn it edible energy!

posted by amro 28 November | 00:48

Crap. Now I'm in the wrong thread. I'll check in later and see what shakes out.

posted by warbaby 28 November | 01:01

here were mine:
Cloud Atlas (very meaty, tons to discuss, and great)
a Dickens or something like that? (serialish and easy to get us started?)
some obscure book from a non-english author, like one of the Library of Latin America titles?

posted by amberglow 28 November | 01:02

and I'd like to place a vote against conducting chats on IRC, cause it'd be horrible.

posted by Edible Energy 28 November | 01:03

I found Floating Opera to be one of those shaggy dog stories that writers produce to keep themselves busy. Pynchon's Mason & Dixon was another. Enjoyable to read, but not really much there but superficial self-indulgence.

I think it is perfectly acceptable to re-read books for discussion. Good books are made to be re-read. I've read the Sherlock Holmes stories so many times I've got a lot of them memorized.

Oh, and the Flashman stories. Of which there is a new one just out.

posted by warbaby 28 November | 01:06

I don't have a problem with anybody doing IRC. It's just that shouldn't rule out doing a thread and vice versa and likewise.

posted by warbaby 28 November | 01:07

i'd actually like to read some pynchon, other than gravity's rainbow -- which ir eally enjoyed. i started mason dixon, but left it in a hotel somewhere.

posted by sam 28 November | 01:16

Frisbee: No, that's the real deal. I get all e-mail directed to that address that's not spam.

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 01:26

Mason & Dixon is almost 800 pages though. I've got nothing against long books but I can't guarantee that if you give me a long book and a deadline for finishing it that I'll make it, and I'm probably not the only one.

posted by amro 28 November | 01:28

Eideteker, thanks. Gmail gave me an undeliverable address response, but I'll resend.

posted by Frisbee Girl 28 November | 01:42

I'd like to read the Man in the High Castle, or possibly Sartre's "Being and Nothingness" over the winter break; though I'm not about to drag anyone down with me. I'm not too much into reading such and such hot new writer. I've often thought about reading Gravity's Rainbow, but never got around to it. There are a lot of books I never got around to reading. Watership Down has bunnies in it, I'm told. You people like bunnies, right?

At any rate, the first selection(s) should be fairly approachable. If initial participation is not high, then it will never catch on. In the club I started in high school, the first book we read was "Anthem" by Ayn Rand because it was short and easy to discuss. I'd love to go for something simple. Something freely available through Project Guttenberg might be nice, too. Flatland might be too simple, but I've seen a number of Sinclair Lewis novels available online.

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 02:16

I'm, in and I'd prefer a thread.

I've read Watership Down, and though it was a worthwhile read, once was enough. I'm otherwise open to suggestions, otherwise.

posted by puddinghead 28 November | 03:06

I just read Never Let Me Go. This would be a fantastic book for a book club I think.

posted by grouse 28 November | 03:54

I'm in, if I can get the book (which I probably can't). Barth sounds good to me; I haven't read either of the books by him mentioned.

I think Eideteker's ideas for organizing it are great.

I happen to have just started Baudolino by Umberto Eco, so I'll throw that into the pot as well.

posted by taz 28 November | 04:05

Oops! I should warn that the link I gave to Baudolino does give a brief-brief outline of the story, for those who, like me, hate that kind of thing. Even I didn't read it past the point where it described what I've already read! Here's the first couple of lines, for anyone who doesn't want to get more detail than absolutely necessary:

Eco returns to the Middle Ages with Baudolino - a wondrous, provocative, beguiling tale of history, myth, and invention. It is April, 1204, and Constantinople, the splendid capital of the Byzantine Empire, is being sacked and burned by the knights of the fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion, one Baudolino saves a Byzantine historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors, and proceeds to tell his own fantastical story.

posted by taz 28 November | 09:03

So are we just too opinionated to do this? :)

It seems like everyone wants to do their book.

posted by selfnoise 28 November | 09:14

Maybe a deadline for book nominations and then a deadline for voting on them, est'd by Eideteker, and done informally in this thread?

posted by amro 28 November | 09:29

taz: I like Eco! But he's a little bit dense for a first selection, I think. I know MeChatters are a bright bunch, but they're also busy people.

selfnoise: It's turning into the MeCha book report club. Everyone would like to do the book they're reading or just read and discuss it. No one has responded to my comments re: book selection methods or even the number of books to read. I may have to go unilateral here and just declare the way we're gonna do things.

On preview: Bless you, amro. I'm going to move for a deadline on nominations tonight, I think, and then voting tomorrow. I'd like to get this thing off the ground December 1st!

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 09:32

Personally, I favor this method:

1. Pick a book.
2. Everyone who doesn't want to read it because it isn't doctrinally sound can pound sand.

But voting is okay too. :)

posted by selfnoise 28 November | 09:40

Sorry! I wasn't really trying to press that one... I'm just used to putting links for things like that, and maybe I misunderstood things a bit.

At any rate, I definitely agree that unilateral is the way to go.

posted by taz 28 November | 09:41

Late to the show, but I'd be interested, maybe a little spotty, but mostly. Any way y'all want to pick books is dandy with me, and discussion in thread please.

posted by tr33hggr 28 November | 09:59

Keep me in the loop. I'm interested, but can't commit.

posted by matildaben 28 November | 10:00

What's that? We've moved again?

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 10:01

Also, and someone else may want to pursue this, but amberglow also suggested a book swap, which may provide something the book club cannot. The book swap is a great idea for those who want someone else to read the book they just read. Feel free to start yet another thread if you'd like to do a book swap.

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 10:10

I'll comment in this thread because I don't want to suggest a title. I think it would be great fun to have a book chat on Me chat-- even though I would probably miss out on the whole thing because I don't check in every day.

I've got some 10 titles sitting by the bed (just finished The Inheritance and next up is Jesus Land,) but I could read something oldish.

So count me in...but don't count on me.

posted by Secret Life of Gravy 28 November | 10:36

What SLoG and matildaben and tr33hggr said.

posted by mygothlaundry 28 November | 10:41

Maybe we could ask El Dodgerino to set aside a static page for linking essays longer than make sense in a thread? I could see some of us writing 2000 words and it would be nice to have a place to collect them.

posted by warbaby 28 November | 10:46

Sheesh. I sorta screwed up the nominations. I'll be quiet now.

posted by warbaby 28 November | 10:52

Watch out, warbaby. One more slip-up and I'll have to put you on Notice.

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 11:33

Ditto mygothlaundry which is already an echo of others. Right now I'm too busy for much else, but coincidentally Cloud Atlas is already on the way to me via the inter-library loan system; which is to say, I may follow in the shadows and join in-thread book discussions when possible. It's like I'm saying, I'll try to not Otis the book club discussions.

posted by safetyfork 28 November | 13:15

"At any rate, I definitely agree that unilateral is the way to go."

You can't VOTE on unilaterality! And I am unanimous in that!

posted by Eideteker 28 November | 14:50

I'm campaigning for A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. Just look at these great reviews.

In a country where teenage pregnancy is on the rise, and HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases rampant ... we don't need to be purposely focussing our children on such carnal desires ...

posted by muddgirl 28 November | 15:22

28 November 2005