Is this too formal a start for us? I hope not. I’m just
excited about joining a reading community and wanted to do my part to get our
group jumpstarted in 2015!
Here’s the gist of what I heard everyone say when we
explored the M.O. for this group.
- We love books, but we spend most of our time online and have lost the discipline and pleasure of reading.
- We want to read books that make us think.
- We want to read books that are worthy of discussion.
- We want to meet with a diverse group of people who can help us tease more meaning out of a book.
- We want more for ourselves than just our work, and we see books as a way to learn something that takes us beyond just existing.
- While the social part of getting together is great, we felt the book discussion should remain our primary focus.
- We thought we might take turns facilitating.
- We thought everyone might make a commitment to give 90 percent effort to reading the book that's selected each month--even if they despise it.
Things that were unresolved.
- Whether to meet in a public spot or in private homes
- What day of the week
- What time of the day
- How to select the books
Below, our blog has some polls that can help us resolve those matters.
If everyone can complete those by New Year's Day, we'll be pretty well set to start.
Two bits
1) I don’t care either way where we meet, but it tends to be
less complicated in public space. I’ve talked to Traders Point Creamery and
Indy Reads Book Store on Mass Avenue. Both are possible public spaces, but I
think there are countless other options we could explore.
2) National Public Radio is starting a Morning Book Club. One
of my favorite contemporary authors, Ann Patchett, says that Deep Down Dark is
truly the book of the year to read. In this link, Patchett talks about what makes a book great
for a book group AND the value of a book group. Considering our humble
beginnings, take a listen to her NPR interview.
One thought to make book selection easier at the start: we could follow the NPR Morning Book
Club reads for a while and see if we like reading along. I’m
sure we’ll get well-vetted books that way. The other idea is that you can
simply nominate books for our reading list by commenting on this post. (Include book title, author, one line description.) After we’ve
collected everyone’s responses, we can put up another survey and let people pick their favorites
That’s it friends! Invite away and let’s see if we can come
up with a group of 8 to 12 readers. What a great way to start 2015!
Cheers,
Crystal
I nominate Deep Down Dark, by Hector Tobar. The writing (especially in the last half) is supposed to be lovely. http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Down-Dark-Stories-Chilean/dp/0374280606 You absolutely must hear Ann Patchett's remarks about this one in the NPR link above. on Liftoff for the Above & Beyond Book Club
ReplyDeleteI listened to this and agree that it sounds like a very interesting book to read. I also wouldn't mind going along with NPR's book club suggestions for a while, as I tend to like a lot of things they suggest. They also had a Book club guide and that might be a useful tool initially with this first book, and then we could assess if we'd like to continue its use or some form of it.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal note, I have always enjoyed the writings of Sue Monk Kidd and have been wanting to read her most recent book, 'The Invention of Wings'. Because of my interest in health and medicine, I would also nominate 'Being Mortal: Medicine and What Happens in the End' by Atul Gawande. This book is about a physician who questions the current medical practices of exalting longevity over quality and what makes life worth living.
Thanks for setting this up Crystal!
Two public location possibilities: Marian College campus alumni center--according to Jen. S (one of our members) there's some beautiful space near a coffee shop inside that would be perfect. Also, if the group meets on Thursdays, the IMA restaurant has some great space.
ReplyDeleteHi all, so looking forward to this. Thanks for the invite, Crystal. I voted on best day, time but I can be flexible as long as we decide on a day/time well in advance. I am open to following along with the NPR book club for awhile.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone. Oh my...I'm having issues posting these comments. Now for the third time... love the idea of reading Deep Down Dark and following along with NPR in their book club discussions. I can't wait to convene - when shall we start?
ReplyDelete