Book Group

Stewart

Stewart

Administrator
Staff member
Back in 2009 we had a monthly book group on World Literature Forum that covered the following books before being cancelled:
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler, Italo Calvino
The Sorrow Of War, Bảo Ninh
The Tartar Steppe, Dino Buzzati
The Land Of Green Plums, Herta Mueller
The Garlic Ballads, Mo Yan
The White Castle, Orhan Pamuk
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
A Heart So White, Javier Marias
Invitation To A Beheading, Vladimir Nabokov
The Double, Jose Saramago
Jealousy, Alain Robbe-Grillet
The Twin, Gerbrand Bakker
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The Calvino and Nabokov drew the most discussion (pages!); few bothered with the Saramago or Mo Yan; and interest in those remaining was lukwarm. Looking back, it looks like people were much better at nominating titles for the book group than they were at reading them, and so the group fizzled out.

I'm now wondering if there would be merit in reintroducing it to the forum. If so, should it continue as it was, with a book picked a month in advance? Or are there other methods you would like to suggest? Or maybe it's just a bad idea and should be nipped in the bud immediately...

I'd be happy to see thoughts on this here.
 
Liam

Liam

Administrator
I'd be happy to participate as long as the books in question weren't too long (not out of laziness or A.D.D. but because of school). I think even a small group of 6-7 people might add a lot to the discussion if they read the same book at the same time and then "got together" to discuss it. Others might want to jump in later, as well.

Can we shoot for something relatively short for November? NOT The Crimson Petal and the White for heaven's sake, :).

PS. Something recent by Alice Munro, perhaps, just to make sense of her recent Nobel win, or anything from this year's Booker shortlist other than the winner??? (Although I DO want to read it eventually!)

Other people might suggest things in other languages though, so let's wait and see.
 
Elie

Elie

Reader
I loved the book group for the purposes of discovering new books I'd never have read otherwise. Of the list above, I read all but one, which I didn't manage to get hold of in time for the discussion so I ended up sidelining it and it now languishes in my ridiculous TBR pile.

However, I didn't really get involved much in the discussion if I recall because I'm not a great critic and I often don't have much to contribute aside from saying whether I liked it or not and why! So I'm probably not much help from that perspective.

Would still love to see it come back though. In my RL book group, which also meets once a month, our rules state that a book has to be 400 pages or under in order that everyone can read it in a month, and that it has to be in print in paperback so that everyone can reasonably easily get hold of it. Dunno if something like that would help here.

As for what I'd like to read.. well I just got The View From Castle Rock in the post, so that would be an easy Munro for me. I'm intrigued by pretty much all the Booker shortlist so I'd second that although most of them aren't available in paperback, so I'd prefer to wait until they are if poss. (I've got tiny hands and not much storage space!) I'm keen to read The Colonel by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi which looks really intriguing. But to be honest, I'm more interested in other people's suggestions.
 
Stevie B

Stevie B

Current Member
I'd probably sit out the first book as I'm swamped at home and work and will have family visiting soon. Bringing the book group back, though, sounds like a great idea. I do recall that selecting books always seemed to be a daunting task in the past. I suggest Wlf participants take turns leading these discussions. A leader could propose 3 or 4 titles and go with the book that gets the most votes.
 
S

Stiffelio

Reader
I think restarting the monthly book group is a great idea. I wouldn't mind beginning with A View from Castle Rock although let's remember that it's a short story collection and the discussion may veer toward many different directions.
 
pesahson

pesahson

Reader
Elie said:
However, I didn't really get involved much in the discussion if I recall because I'm not a great critic and I often don't have much to contribute aside from saying whether I liked it or not and why! So I'm probably not much help from that perspective.
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That's a lot how I feel.


There were a couple of suggestions for The View from Castle Rock already. It emerged naturally so why not go with it as the first book.
 
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Stewart

Stewart

Administrator
Staff member
Apologies for the delay in getting back to this. Is it too soon to call January 2014 as the month for Munro, or would you prefer Feb-14?
 
G

Galatea92

Reader
What happened to those discussions, Stewart? I just had a search for them and couldn't find them.

Oh, and I quite fancy joining in discussion of the Munro short stories.
 
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