MobileRead Administration: New years reading categories

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

But most of us were probably children when we fell in love with reading - the books we read then are often still treasured.

Don't you have any books you remember with fondness from your days as a nipper?

Most of the books I read as a child as too short for a book club read. What I remember reading That would work are Star Ttrek and Hardy Boys books.

I cannot honestly see us reading books such as Curious George, Dr. Seuss, or other such books.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I vote BOb!

Ditto! BOb for Pres.! Oh and I also vote for his list.

Originally Posted by Andanzas

I am a little bit surprised that no one here seems to care about children's books.

Kids books are great, but I'm getting more than I care in the last few years, as my kids are going through grade school. I don't think I would care for reading another children book for my personal leisure.... unless it happens to be one of the books my children has to read....hmm..

=X=

[Tattncat]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Nice idea... and how about a play one month?

BOb

Could we add Epistolaries as a catagory?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

What perhaps we could do is come up with a template for the discussion thread that could fit with every book like:

What did you think of the main character?, What was your favorite part of the book?, What part didn't you like? etc. People could use it sort of like a form letter when the post their inital thoughts of the book.

Here are some generic bookclub discussion questions...

http://www.litlovers.com/questions_f.htm

1. Overall—how did you experience the book while reading it? Were you immediately drawn into the story—or did it take a while? Did the book intrigue, amuse, disturb, alienate, or irritate, you?

2. Do you find the characters convincing? Are they believable? Compelling? Are they fully developed as complex, emotional human beings?

3. Which characters do you admire or dislike? What are their primary characteristics?

4. What motivates a given character’s actions? Do you think those actions are justified or ethical?

5. Do any characters grow or change during the course of the novel? If so, in what way?

6. Who in this book would you most like to meet? What would you ask—or say?

7. If you could insert yourself as character in the book, what role would you play?

8. Is the plot well-developed? Is it believable? Do you feel manipulated along the way, or do events unfold naturally?

9. Is the story plot or character driven? In other words, does the plot unfold quickly or focus more on characters' inner lives?

10. Consider the ending. Did you expect it or were you surprised? Was it forced? Was it neatly wrapped up—too neatly? Or was it unresolved, ending on an ambiguous note?

11. If you could rewrite the ending, would you? In other words, was the ending satisfying?

12. Can you pick out a passage that strikes you as particularly profound or interesting—or perhaps something that sums up the central dilemma of the book?

13. Does the book remind you of someone—a friend, family member, co-worker, boss—or something—an event, problem—in your own life?

14. If you were to talk to the author, what would you want to know? (Many authors enjoy talking with book clubs. Contact the publisher to see if you can set up a phone chat.)

15. Have you read the author’s other books? Can you discern a similarity—in theme, writing style, structure—between them? Or are they completely different?

http://www.book-club-queen.com/book-club-questions.html

1. Which character do you like the most and why? The least and why?

2. What passage from the book stood out to you?

3. Are there situations and/or characters you can identify with, if so how?

4. Did you learn something you didn’t know before?

5. Do you feel as if your views on a subject have changed by reading this text?

6. Have you had a life changing revelation from reading this text?

7. What major emotion did the story evoke in you as a reader?

8. At what point in the book did you decide if you liked it or not? What helped make this decision?

9. Name your favorite thing overall about the book. Your least favorite?

10. If you could change something about the book what would it be and why?

11. Describe what you liked or disliked about the writer’s style?

Also some books, like this months, have reading group guides that may be helpful...
http://www.litlovers.com/litguide.html
http://readinggroupguides.com/findaguide/title.asp



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[pilotbob]

Ok, I made a little mistake when we did this. I was wanting to not have a need for people to do nominations in December during the holidays, so I mad December "Second Chance" month. But, those noms will be in November.

So, I am going to switch November, December and January so that January will be second chance month, November SF month and December will be Classic month. (Yes, I know we already did January for this year. No worries).

I just wanted to be sure to let everyone know about this change so you can prepare for it... the change is almost a year away so that should be enough time.


Mobile Read 2010 Book List

January
Wild Card (no nominations, a vote of all the non-winning nominations from the last 11 months)

February
Romance

March
Nonfiction

April
Humor

May
Classic

June
Thriller/Suspense

July
Fantasy (trees/magic)

August
Free For All (any genre)

September
Mystery/Crime

October
Horror

November
Science Fiction (rivets/science)

December
Classic

BOb

[JSWolf]

Can we vote out romance for February?

And on a serious note, given all the hassle we've had with classic as a category, it wuld be a good idea to get rid of it and replace it with something that won't cause any problems. Classic is very subjective. So what some think is a classic, others won't. This would fix May & December.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Can we vote out romance for February?

And on a serious note, given all the hassle we've had with classic as a category, it wuld be a good idea to get rid of it and replace it with something that won't cause any problems. Classic is very subjective. So what some think is a classic, others won't. This would fix May & December.

Jon, seriously, you are working my last nerve. We are not going to vote it out because you don't happen to like it. That's not cool. Nominations have JUST started and the only problems raised are that two of the books aren't ebooks and your complaining. I didn't want to read Scifi, but I watched the nominations and poll in case something struck my fancy. I suggest you do the same. I think all, or at least most of the nominators are trying to keep an open mind so that the selections will be interesting to both men and women.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Can we vote out romance for February?

Romance was added to the genre list due to popular demand... so I think if we had a vote romance would stay in.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And on a serious note, given all the hassle we've had with classic as a category, it wuld be a good idea to get rid of it and replace it with something that won't cause any problems. Classic is very subjective. So what some think is a classic, others won't. This would fix May & December.

May & December aren't broken.

Also, if there is such a problem I would just put a simple definition on "Classic"...

A book that is in the public domain (or older than 50 years or pre-1900, whatever) and still in print.

Yes, I know, that rules out Harry Potter, Discworld and other modern books that may well one day be classics.

BOB

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Can we vote out romance for February?

And on a serious note, given all the hassle we've had with classic as a category, it wuld be a good idea to get rid of it and replace it with something that won't cause any problems. Classic is very subjective. So what some think is a classic, others won't. This would fix May & December.

If the classic category has been a problem, rather than getting rid of it, why not attach some parameters to better define it? One obvious parameter could be date written, since classics by definition are works that have withstood the test of time. You could easily stipulate that no nominations for books written after a certain date will be accepted.

[JSWolf]

Because what some thinks makes a classic doesn't. Just because a book is old is nt reason it's a classic. For example, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a classic. But it's not that old overall. A classic has to do with the content of the book and not the age of the book. So if we go by age, then we are allowing books to be nominated that are not classics. The only way to do it i to go by content. And that's just too subjective to do so.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Because what some thinks makes a classic doesn't. Just because a book is old is nt reason it's a classic. For example, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a classic. But it's not that old overall. A classic has to do with the content of the book and not the age of the book. So if we go by age, then we are allowing books to be nominated that are not classics. The only way to do it i to go by content. And that's just too subjective to do so.

I disagree. You missed my simple definition. A book older than a certain age that is still in print.

HHG may someday be a classic... but it is still to new to be considered one.

Sure there is some gray area but I think we can easily define what is a classic for the purposes of our book club.

BOb

[Elfwreck]

I tend to think a classic is "public domain & still in print," but might prefer that to be understood as "would be public domain if copyright laws had stayed where they were when this was first published."

But I suspect it's not a problem--with the requirement for three nominations, and a vote after that, I don't expect HHG to get selected for the "classics" month, even if some people believe it qualifies. If it does, we can shrug and say, "mobileread readers think this is a classic."

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I disagree. You missed my simple definition. A book older than a certain age that is still in print.

HHG may someday be a classic... but it is still to new to be considered one.

Sure there is some gray area but I think we can easily define what is a classic for the purposes of our book club.

BOb

HHG is a classic now. That's why Classic is a bad category. We disagree. And the description of classic as an old book is wrong as we can see from HHG.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

HHG is a classic now. That's why Classic is a bad category. We disagree. And the description of classic as an old book is wrong as we can see from HHG.

You say "HHG" is a classic now. I say that depends on your definition of Classic and that it doesn't fit my definition (above). I think we are talking in circles here.

BOb

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

HHG is a classic now. That's why Classic is a bad category. We disagree. And the description of classic as an old book is wrong as we can see from HHG.

Might be one someday, not yet though IMO.