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I think it is fair to say that some of us have struggled to name 10 favourite living writers. Not because we aren't reading their books, but because sometimes it just doesn't feel like the books add up. And, let's face it, many of the writers that we've named are in the autumn of their years...

Hi Folks! Welcome to our first annual Shadow Nobel Prize! It should be fun! If you are unsure what this is but it strikes you as somewhat interesting, please refer to this link. I’ll be updating that first post as the particular form and shape of the reading group changes and develops. But...

It is hard to believe, but here we are, on the second day of a new year, already deep into our goal setting and our goal breaking. I personally love New Years, but I like setting goals for myself and making a sense of what I hope to accomplish in the coming 12 months. I’m starting this thread a...

In January we will be learning about the deliberations that took place in the awarding of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded to Miguel Angel Asturias. Every year this tends to create a short thread (click here to see the appropriate thread from last year). Included in this we should...

I thought I would create a thread on this up and coming international literary star given that she has achieved so much success and because her name has popped up in a few places around here as a potential future winner of the Nobel. For my part, based on this book anyways, I think she has a...

So this thread is coming about because of a recent conversation that a few of us got into in the Recently Begun Books thread, and it was suggested that we should take it to another space. So here it is! The continuation of that conversation and the opening up of all sorts of others. So, if...

We’ve already started the reflection for our 2016 reading, so I figured it would be good to start thinking about what we’ll be reading in 2017. At least, I’ve already started imagining how I’ll be spending my reading hours in the coming year. Some of these names are leftovers from last year...

Hey Folks, I thought it would be interesting to set up a collection of the online and offline resources that we enjoy reading when we set aside our books and go looking for something to read about the books we read. I think it would be great to see what all of you read or reference, in what...

Hi Everybody, I thought it would be fun to play a bit with the whole "what's the best work by that Nobel Prize Winning writer?" and promote, instead, the question of what constitutes the second best book by that Nobel Prize Winning writer. How it works is quite simple - going through the list...

For fun, let's pretend that you are working in a book store, a general clerk or customer service kind of folk. You wander around the store, putting out new stock, arranging books on the shelves, putting books back into their proper places after silly customers have forgotten the alphabet and put...

Hi Folks, So I'm going through a phase in life where I'm realizing that I, quite simply, do not have the time to read all of the books I own. I'll never have the time to read all of the books I own. And that is alarming - because I want to read all of them, but, as I might be moving soon, I...

I'm reading a book right now that I'm not really enjoying. I look at it, I even pick it up, I read a couple pages and I enjoy it for those few pages just enough to admire the author's intelligence, and yet I don't really *like* it at all. It's craft, as far as I can tell, is not all that fine...

Hello everybody! This past month Canada and The United States celebrated Black History Month. As a historian I get excited seeing so much fuss made about history in general, even if the vast majority of it is not particularly complex history. As a reader, though, I've thought for many years...

The year end lists are rolling out. I'm not yet ready to start anything like a "best books of 2014" thread, but I am already thinking of next year (likely because the next book I start will take me until the beginning of January to finish). So, perhaps you'd all be willing to indulge in a game...

I've really appreciated getting into this book-loving community, as it has connected me with some truly wonderful reading experiences. I've discovered plenty of great writers who have written great books, and my collection has grown substantially both in quantity and quality. But I can't help...

I was reading The Millions today and came across this website for the 2013 World Cup of Literature. (http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=11232) It is being run by the Three Percent foundation, whose mandate is to increase the profile of world literature in...

I'm only just now doing my first ever second reading of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is the first time I have read a book for the second time, and I must admit that I'm quite taken with what new insights I am making along the way. The first time I read it was over ten years ago, in...

I have no idea where I came across Laxness' name, but I suspect it was this forum. After having finished this novel this morning, I'm grateful for it. The Fish Can Sing is the story of a building, community, and place in Iceland that is a part of the growing city of Reykjavik. This place is...

Hello friends! There has been a buzz for years in Canada about Joseph Boyden's work as a writer. His second novel, Through Black Spruce, won the Giller Prize, which is perhaps the most prestigious award in the country for fiction. It certainly is its most public. I was surprised when this...

So I'm sitting here, avoiding working on this thesis for a few more minutes, and reflecting a bit on Alice Munro. I'm reading work by her and, as I have suggested in the past, I am absolutely stunned. Currently I'm reading through "Runaway" again, her collection from 2004. Though "currently"...