And Then There Were ?… The future of the book club here

[sun surfer]

A time of reckoning has come. The lit club will celebrate ten years (!) of existence in May 2021, and that may also be our last month. There is the question of participation; while we have several who still post their thoughts or contribute here and there, we currently only have two who regularly nominate, vote, read and discuss selections each month. While some may think an even higher number is necessary, I feel that at least three regulars who nominate, vote and discuss each month seem to be the minimum needed to be viable, and this year we have now dropped below that for the first time.

As is obvious, we are also the only book club left here. The two iterations of a more general book club have come and gone.

While I run the lit club, I also participated in the general book club for many years, and I think I can safely say that most if not all who participate in the lit club also have participated in the general book clubs as well and so have an interest in both. As well, the lit club has broadened in scope over the years and we currently consider it ‘literary’ mostly in name only and almost wholly dependant on whatever anyone wants to nominate and vote for in a given month. While the selections may almost always still be able to be classified as literary, the same could also be said for selections from the New Leaf club and the older MR Book Club. I know some might be hesitant or critical of a ‘literary’ label but in the end it really is hardly any different.

The lit club will not go on with only two regulars. We need at least one more regular (and preferably several more) to continue, or we will close up. And if we do close up, that is fine! Don’t cry for us Argentina. We’ve had a full great decade. To everything there is a season (turn, turn, turn).

However, there is also the possibility of some sort of transformation of the lit club or, with no other clubs around, the possibility to close up this version of the lit club at the even ten year mark and start something new, whether ‘lit’, ‘general’, a combination, or whatever. Or, we could simply close up and leave this subforum as a sleeping relic for future generations to discover.


With all that in mind, I’d like to open up a discussion on the future of the book club here (if any).

Are you interested in participating in a book club here?

What sort would you be interested in?

What other thoughts do you have on the subject?

[John F]

I would be interested in a book club, regular or lit, like the original book club.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by John F

I would be interested in a book club, regular or lit, like the original book club.

What was it about the original book club that you particularly liked?

[John F]

Everyone was welcome at all stages. The categories. Everything was done by polls.

We could go back to pre new leaf, either literary or not, and I would participate.

[JSWolf]

I too would like a book club where it's more general purpose like the original book club.

[gmw]

My main reason for not participating in a few of the recent Literary book club choices has been lack of time. My work has been pretty intense and looks set to remain that way until the end of the year at least. So I'm not a good bet for support regardless of what you choose at the moment.

That said, I did enjoy the New Leaf Book Club and if/when I have time I would like to participate in a book club of some sort.

I like the loose themes approach of both the Literary and the New Leaf book clubs, the genre based selections are OK occasionally, but I'd prefer not to see that month in month out.

The tighter rules of the New Leaf club kept everyone on the same track and it worked well while we had a good collection of regulars, but I think it did discourage drop-ins. The Literary club is welcoming of drop-ins, but you don't seem to be getting many anyway. I've been wondering if that's part of a slow down in MR participation overall? (Not that I've been keeping stats, but it seems to me MR has been getting quieter for some time now.)

[Uncle Robin]

I confess to being a window shopper of the Club(s). I enjoy reading the nominations and the reasons given for them, but my own recreational reading is either light mystery novels or (in the last year or so) Regency romance - hardly the stuff of literary clubs. I do read a lot of nonfiction, popsci which is preferably slightly more sci than pop, and am trying to read more books on Urdu poetry and poets, but again not the stuff of MR clubs. So I'm happy to observe the proceedings but don't feel like I have anything meaningful or relevant to contribute. I would not like to be the sort of commenter who posts simply because of a love of the sound of my own "voice" and an unshakeable conviction in my infallible omniscience on every topic.

[gmw]

Uncle Robin, you obviously haven't been window shopping on the Literary club very much, where the conversations have been very civilised and generally welcoming. (Such that comments of "infallible omniscience" etc. read like unfair accusations, although I don't imagine you intended them as such.) Over on the New Leaf things sometimes got more energetic, but still we wanted contributions to the conversation. For me anyway, the main point of a book club is to share and try to understand the diverse range of reactions people have to a book. I often came to appreciate books more, even ones I did not like that much initially, through the insights offered by others. This can only happen through active participation. The trick is to make sure that some verbose people (guilty conscience here? ) don't talk so much that others feel like they can't get a word in.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by gmw

Uncle Robin, you obviously haven't been window shopping on the Literary club very much, where the conversations have been very civilised and generally welcoming. (Such that comments of "infallible omniscience" etc. read like unfair accusations, although I don't imagine you intended them as such.)

Oh, I read the Literary Club regularly, and my comment was not about any of the participants of that club. My history in web forums is such that I am very conscious of the ease with which I can become that person. Hence my restraint.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks for the thought, sunsurfer. However I don’t wish to get involved in a formal club.

What could be of interest to me and perhaps to others would be an occasional “buddy read” of a specific book nominated by an individual inviting others to join him or her in reading and discussing it.

[hildea]

I've read a book club book here once or twice and joined the discussion, and every now and then I've looked at the nomination threads and current discussions, to see if there's a book I'm interested in or one I have read.

I've never voted because I didn't want to commit to read a book that really didn't tempt me. It is reasonable to require that anyone voting should also at least try to read the selected book, but that means that I'm not going to vote.

We had a face-to-face book club at my job, and when we found ourselves saying "I haven't gotten around to reading this month's book" too often, we switched to short stories (ie. a single short story each time) -- that helped a lot. Are anyone else here interested in trying that? When the commitment in time is much less, it's easier to get more people to read, and to get them to read genres they normally avoid.

[fantasyfan]

The Literary Book Club was the very first online book club I was ever in and I enjoyed it very much. Some of the most interesting and informative discussions I have ever had were in this club. I wish to continue being a part of it.

[issybird]

I greatly enjoyed participating in the various clubs. It called for closer reading and more critical reading than my typical read and I got a lot from that level of engagement and the subsequent discussion. I miss it. Especially after this Covid year, when I read a lot more junk than is my typical wont.

However, I think the weight of the selection process ended up crushing all the clubs. Or to put it another way, the action was too weighted at the front end. And a book club where people don’t participate in the discussion is an exercise in futility, it seems to me.

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

What could be of interest to me and perhaps to others would be an occasional “buddy read” of a specific book nominated by an individual inviting others to join him or her in reading and discussing it.

Yes. This would interest me, also, and would get away from all the time and effort expended in coming up with a selection.

Originally Posted by hildea

I've never voted because I didn't want to commit to read a book that really didn't tempt me. It is reasonable to require that anyone voting should also at least try to read the selected book, but that means that I'm not going to vote.

The selection process at the NLBC tended to result in “compromise” picks, and I’m not damning that. With disparate tastes it’s as much as you could hope for, I think. One good thing about disparate tastes is that it’s a horizon-broadener and I enjoyed that aspect of it, even if a book might not have been exactly to my taste. I read enough that one relative dud a month wasn’t a disaster and goodness knows I pick enough duds on my own.

We had a face-to-face book club at my job, and when we found ourselves saying "I haven't gotten around to reading this month's book" too often, we switched to short stories (ie. a single short story each time) -- that helped a lot. Are anyone else here interested in trying that? When the commitment in time is much less, it's easier to get more people to read, and to get them to read genres they normally avoid.

I’ve sometimes thought that a bimonthly discussion might be the answer; it wouldn’t take over your reading every month and the timing wouldn’t be as tricky. That doesn’t get around the selection process though and I don’t think that format is sustainable at MR any more.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

I’ve sometimes thought that a bimonthly discussion might be the answer; it wouldn’t take over your reading every month and the timing wouldn’t be as tricky. That doesn’t get around the selection process though and I don’t think that format is sustainable at MR any more.

One month for the selection and the next for reading. So during the selection month is also the discussion. So how does that sound?

We could redo the selection and maybe do one book per-person and one nod per-person.

[Catlady]

When I participated in New Leaf, forcing myself to read a book I didn't really want to read felt too much like homework, and I grew increasingly resentful of the time and effort involved, especially when the choices were not classics. (With classics, I could feel virtuous about finishing a book, even if it was boring and awful. Otherwise, I felt I was wasting time when I could have been reading something I enjoyed.)

I am disinclined to repeat the experience, though I could see myself joining in a discussion on a random basis if intrigued by a particular title.