June WF Book Club Poll

Thanks everyone who has participated so far in the May book club thread. The conversation in there is pretty interesting, as the subject matter is quite the contentious one. The character and theme discussions right now are excellent. I look forward to hearing your continued thoughts and points regarding the novel, and the level of response has prompted me to continue with this project next month.

I have moved over some of the more voted on books or collections from last months poll, and also added a few which have been suggested along the way. Please feel free to vote for two selections. I excitedly awaiting whatever is chosen this time around.

Also, if you have any addition selections you would like to add to my list for polls in the future, please either PM them to me, or post them in the Forum Book Club original thread under the Book Discussion section. Thank you.

 

And again, I’m spoilt by choice (in a positive sense). I think I’ll have to sleep on it (considering what time it is here now, quite literally), but thank you for doing this, it really was a good idea.

 

And then you for taking the time out of your month to respond! I will keep it up as long as there is interest. You all get me reading books I never would to completion through stuff like this!

 

I voted for two that I both had in my library and had read fairly recently. Bit of a chickenshit option but I don't know how much time I'll have to devote to this.

 

Tossed my votes in this time-- on completely surface-level things as I don't actually know much about any of these books lol.

What sort of criteria are we going by for suggested books? Trying to stick to 'classics' of some kind?

 

I'm actually trying to break it up little with a few genres and times. The classics hardly got voted on last time, so I didn't really include them this round, but if you want a few classics in there, please, suggest away. I'll need a range to vote on for the next month after, so any suggestion is good to me. But as for criteria...not much. I don't want to do series as much, but I'll allow a first book of a series. Also no erotica. But otherwise, not too many restrictions.

 

I don't know if this is really the place to post them, but I have a few suggestions for future months, take them or leave them:
The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Maybe a bit long.
Watership Down by Richard Adams
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

 

I've read the former two of those, and they are phenomenal, especially Miller's sole novel. I'll note your suggestions.

 

We need a tiebreaker. I'm rooting for a book I haven't read yet, but I don't mind reading No Country for Old Men again. Just gotta find my copy if it wins.

 

I read two of the ties, but honestly I wouldn't mind reading them again. They were excellent.

 

Well, it appears you broke our tie, but time will tell which is our destination next month!

 

The "King Rat" book, isn't that one of the books by James Clavel? Sho-Gun, Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, etc?

 

Two different books with the same title, but yes.

 

There was only one that had any blurb appeal to me.

They all seem a bit heavy and, dare I say, “try hard”. Does a book club require a certain type of book? Why not review some current, contemporary fiction?

 

And what would be your suggestions for the book club voting choices? I accept suggestions for everything except later books in a standing series, and erotica. Please let me know here or through PM and I can add some of them to the next month's poll!

Also, I don't know how contemporary you really want it to be. Half these books are from the 2000's, and the others are close behind.

 

Well, I’m thinking about books on the current best seller lists......maybe not the ”calibre” of book some would like (there is some evident snobbery here) but why are they best sellers if there’s nothing good about them?
If people come here to find info to help them become published why aren’t we looking at books that are currently achieving that goal?

 

I take suggestions and I put them on a list, there's no snobbery happening here. I want to look critically at books we want to read. If you want a current bestseller, suggest it. The members voting on the polls shall decide. I'll try to get a good spread of genres as well. Didn't have many suggestions for his month, so I had to fill in with a few extras, like Carrie Fisher's biographical novel (which is absolutely hilarious), so I'm happy to hear more.

The purpose of the club is to enjoy (or hate!) books together as a group. We intend to look at some literary aspects of the work, but also focus a lot on the craft of the work. Being able to narrow down craft elements of any work aids in critically analyzing your own work, whether that work is old or new. These are pretty contemporary, though they may not be on the new shelf at the bookstore. Many of these novels are taught in current writing or literature courses at universities. They make their students identify the craft elements of works like these, and it helps the reader be able to identify and attempt these elements in their own writing. I put this club together to try and emanate that in a minor sense, but without the price and obligation.

Please, suggest away! You want to analyze a current work critically, be my guest. If the suggestion interests other members or me, then the votes will come in for it. No pressure here, just a friendly attempt at looking beyond the scope of a general book club, and into that of the craft which we can use.

 

No criticism, but I would point out that a lot of the fiction on the best seller's list is just crime and thriller. Not an extremely wide variety.

 

I'll throw a couple suggestions out for next month-- these are both books I heard about in more Niche places on the internet and added to my 'to-read' Goodreads list-- so hey maybe I actually will end up reading them if they get picked!

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik (Full disclosure: This is the first in the Temeraire series.)

And speaking of first in series-- I think it might be helpful to have that noted on the entries when it comes to voting? It might affect my voting if something is part of a series or not, and also I'd prefer not to have to google to know that.

Anyway yeah @Cilogical if you want to see us read bestsellers-- I'd say suggest 'em! I've got my own (shallow) reasons for picking what I did, but I'd be interested in seeing some bestsellers up on the ballot.

 

Just thinking aloud so ignore me if it's not helpful.
I know that a lot of this forum tends towards sci fi and fantasy, as this month's vote has borne out. That's my personal preference as well, but if fantasy/sci fi dominates for several months in a row, perhaps a month where the vote is restricted to memoir or southern Gothic, for example?

 

My plan has been to cut out genres that became dominant to round out the reading material. This I am tracking because I know not everyone wants to read the same genre everytime. I will take into consideration specific genre months, so thanks for the suggestion.

 

I also am in favor of specific genre months, sounds like a fun way to push me out of my comfort zone!

 

I think two or three months out of the year, spaced apart, for genre specific would be good, otherwise it would get a little heavy-handed. Try to implement some of the more neglected genres and analyze them. Maybe August and December this year, if the book club goes on that long? I say august because I want to have some data on the voting trends in regards to genre through at least three months.

 

This sounds like a decent system to me, no complaints! Might be neat to, the month before the genre-specific, say we're doing X genre next month so people know to bend their suggestions that way.