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PS Book Club

Circe

Ideal_Rock
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I've actually read The Moonstone, and I remember it being kind of ... well, turgid. And I say this as a Victorianist! For something also about gems and India with a similar feel, but better, I'd actually recommend Kipling's Kim. But if this is the wish of the book club, so be it! Maybe I'll like it more now that I'm a bit older. :rodent:
 

PilsnPinkysMom

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I'll read The Moonstone if everyone else wants to :)

The Red Tent is one of my favorite books, so I will gladly re-read that one :appl:

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter is another I'd like to read, as I really enjoy Sue Monk Kidd (minus The Mermaid Chair)

Aaaand... The French Blue!

But really, I'll give any book a try. I can't promise that I'll enjoy it, but when I pick up a book I feel obligated to finish- what if it turns around at the last moment?! :read: :read:
 

AGBF

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Circe said:
I've actually read The Moonstone, and I remember it being kind of ... well, turgid. And I say this as a Victorianist! For something also about gems and India with a similar feel, but better, I'd actually recommend Kipling's Kim. But if this is the wish of the book club, so be it! Maybe I'll like it more now that I'm a bit older.

Circe,

I am not wed to it! When I read the reviews and saw how long it was, I blinked. I figured that if others could read it, that I could, too. Especially since one reviewer said that although it wasn't fast food, that it was a splendid repast (or some such thing). I do not need to wade through a thousand (or 800) pages of rich prose to better my vocabulary or improve my mind, however! (Especially if the prose is turgid. I do not like turgid.) I am content to remain plebian!

Deb
:read:
 

Tuckins1

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Anyone read Girl with the Pearl Earring? It was very good! (Much better than the movie...) Just another suggestion.
 

Irishgrrrl

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I think I wanna do this!!! I've never been in a book club before (IRL or online) and it sounds like so much fun! And I second (or third, or whatever) the idea of meeting at a certain time in the Library . . . I soooo miss our "debate the debates" threads, so I think that would be a lot of fun! :bigsmile:

The best book I've read in quite a while is The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. I actually read it on the recommendation of another PSer (thank you, Italia!) and I absolutely loved it! I would be MORE than happy to re-read it if it's one of our book club selections! :read:

ETA: OMG, Amazon has finally come out with a Kindle app for Android!!! YAAAAAY!!!!!! http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=165849822 :appl: :appl: :appl:

ETAA: But I think my OS on my phone is too old, so I can't get the Kindle app! WAAAAAH!!! ;( Hmmm . . . maybe I just need to break down and buy a Kindle??? :Up_to_something:
 

dragonfly411

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Jun 25, 2007
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Just bringing this back up

Haven - I think that since you thought of this, and have been organizing thus far, that I'd like to nominate and vote for you to be our organizer. Do we want to pick an end of the month date for the first book? And I think there are several votes to start with The Moonstone so perhaps we can say yes this is for sure the first book?


I guess what we really need is to have everyone chime back in. Would you all like it to be two a month? One a week? Do we want to continue voting for the next book, or would we like to continue nominating books and Haven can add them in order of Nomination? I think it might be wise to at least vote whether a group will end up reading a nominated book.

Sorry if I'm being a pain... just excited about the idea :bigsmile:
 

AGBF

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dragonfly411 said:
Just bringing this back up

Haven - I think that since you thought of this, and have been organizing thus far, that I'd like to nominate and vote for you to be our organizer. Do we want to pick an end of the month date for the first book? And I think there are several votes to start with The Moonstone so perhaps we can say yes this is for sure the first book?


I guess what we really need is to have everyone chime back in. Would you all like it to be two a month? One a week? Do we want to continue voting for the next book, or would we like to continue nominating books and Haven can add them in order of Nomination? I think it might be wise to at least vote whether a group will end up reading a nominated book.

Sorry if I'm being a pain... just excited about the idea :bigsmile:

dragonfly, I don't think you're being a pain. I am content to let Haven make some decisions here, too. As she so wisely said, we can always opt out for a book if we really think we're going to hate one choice! She encouraged everyone to speak up, and everyone did. I agreed that The Moonstone might not be great for the club if it was turgid, but I didn't mention that I had already bought a copy from Amazon which means that I will be reading it even if the club does not. If , on the other hand, we read The Help, as Irishgrrrl just suggested, I just so happen to have broken down and bought an old paperback copy of that since I couldn't get it out of my library! (And, yes, I, also, first heard of it here. In "The Library". Although it is now inescapable in bookstores.) I happen to have found an old book by P.G.Wodehouse called The Gem Collector by looking on-line last night. I do not think it really has a great deal to do with gems, however!

AGBF
:read:
 

elrohwen

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Btw, I'd like to put my vote in for The Moonstone. I read it a while ago and would love to read it again because I don't remember much about it. 19th century Brit Lit is my reading passion! I will throw out that it's not the easiest book to get through and, like Circe, this is coming from someone with a lot of experience reading books from this time period. However, I was probably 15 when I read it, which is why i've been wanting to re-read it - it still gets my vote. Though Kim is also very good and I wouldn't mind re-reading that. I enjoyed Kim much more the first time through.

Just to throw my opinion out there, i would prefer to pick a general variety of books, rather than sticking with a theme. I might skip one book here and there, but I'd be more likely to come back to the next book if it were on a totally different topic.
 

April20

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I'm in for whatever book gets decided on. Just let me know when I have to be finished!
 

Tuckins1

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I agree that there should be someone to be the "leader"... Haven, I vote for you if you're up for it.
I don't think that I would be able to do a book a week once school starts again... Perhaps one a month. If that's too long for some, I will just pop in when I can to discuss. I also would be ok with reading anything... If it's really something that I don't like I will just skip that one and catch back up on the next.
 

AGBF

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Tuckins1 said:
I don't think that I would be able to do a book a week once school starts again....

I don't know of any book club that meets once a week! Does anyone?

AGBF
:read:
 

Irishgrrrl

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April20 said:
I'm in for whatever book gets decided on. Just let me know when I have to be finished!

Ditto! I'm usually not overly picky when it comes to reading material. And if it's something I really just CAN'T stand (which is highly unlikely, knowing me), I can always just sit this one out! =)
 

taovandel

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Mar 22, 2008
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I'll probably be in also....depending on when it officially starts and how long we have.
 

elrohwen

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Keep in mind that the Moonstone is 340 pages of flowery prose. It's definitely going to take more than a week or two! Maybe we could meet every week and assign chapters or segments to be completed in that time, rather than meeting once a month and having the entire book finished by then. That's how the book club I was part of used to work.
 

AGBF

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I thought I would mention that I found a lovely little book (supposedly in the young adult fiction category) called The Glow Stone on my book shelf last night (here is a link to it on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Glow-Stone-Ellen- ... 356&sr=1-1

and I can't put it down.) I have no idea when I bought it, except that it must have been within the past five years since it is not too old. It may have been when I was teaching Middle School English. Or not. It is extremely readable, though!

AGBF
:read:
 

phoenixgirl

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I'd like to join too! I'll read anything.
 

Haven

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Feb 15, 2007
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Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I've been MIA, but I have great news: DH's father FINALLY GOT HIS KIDNEY TRANSPLANT! We were in the hospital from 1 AM Friday until late last night, when we came home and got some much needed sleep. (How does anyone sleep in hospital waiting rooms?)

Anyway, after a quick breakfast we're back to the hospital, so I'll check in later to really respond.

As for the time, I know that I cannot read a book a week for this book club. I'd love to, but that just ain't happening. :cheeky: Once a month might be nice because then everyone has more of a chance of fitting it in if they have a busy week in there somewhere.

I'll be back! Happy Sunday!

ETA: EEEEEEEEH! I'm so relieved that he finally got the transplant. We've had so many phone calls for others that didn't match in the end. Sorry, I can't really think about anything else, this is so exciting. I'm awed by modern medicine at the moment.

Anyway, I popped back in to say that I will read whatever the majority wants to read. (That's a scary statement, but I say it only because I know and respect all of you here. I would never say THAT in real life. And by that, I mean either of the previous statements, actually.)

I'm so happy that so many people want to participate, I really am. I think this is going to be a great book club, maybe one of the best. And I've been in many!
 

Blackpaw

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Haven that's so fantastic, im so happy for your DHs father. My SO is going to need a transplant very soon (we're hoping to find him a live donor) so if you're comfortable with it perhaps down the track i can ask you about his and your and your DHs experience?

As for the book club i think once a month is ideal - maybe we could make it a middle of the month thing? Or the second Tuesday of every month (just an example)? Mid-Sept would give us a bit of time to determine the first book, actually get it, and start reading...and then hopefully for the next book we'll be able to decide on one early-ish...
 

Blackpaw

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Oh and continued recovery {{{{DUST}}}} for your DH's dad =)
 

Tuckins1

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Haven said:
Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I've been MIA, but I have great news: DH's father FINALLY GOT HIS KIDNEY TRANSPLANT! We were in the hospital from 1 AM Friday until late last night, when we came home and got some much needed sleep. (How does anyone sleep in hospital waiting rooms?)

Anyway, after a quick breakfast we're back to the hospital, so I'll check in later to really respond.

As for the time, I know that I cannot read a book a week for this book club. I'd love to, but that just ain't happening. :cheeky: Once a month might be nice because then everyone has more of a chance of fitting it in if they have a busy week in there somewhere.

I'll be back! Happy Sunday!

ETA: EEEEEEEEH! I'm so relieved that he finally got the transplant. We've had so many phone calls for others that didn't match in the end. Sorry, I can't really think about anything else, this is so exciting. I'm awed by modern medicine at the moment.

Anyway, I popped back in to say that I will read whatever the majority wants to read. (That's a scary statement, but I say it only because I know and respect all of you here. I would never say THAT in real life. And by that, I mean either of the previous statements, actually.)

I'm so happy that so many people want to participate, I really am. I think this is going to be a great book club, maybe one of the best. And I've been in many!

Haven, I'm so glad your FIL got his transplant! What a blessing!! Here's some speedy recovery *DUST*.
 

risingsun

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Dec 19, 2006
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HH~I do hope that your FIL continues to improve!

I would be interested in a once a month type of book club. I've just finished The Passage, which is quite a read. I recommend all 784 pages of it. I was planning to read the new Tara French book, Faithful Place or Cormac McCarthy's, The Road . The Help was excellent. I guess that I have all kinds of suggestions :read: Just let me know what we are reading and how we are going to discuss the book. I think we should have a name, too ;-)
 

PilsnPinkysMom

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Haven, when your world settles and slows down a bit, I'd love if you'd be the book club leader!

But for now... I'm sending tons of positive, healing vibes to your family! I hope your FIL has a quick recovery process and has many happy, healthy years ahead of him.
 

Haven

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Thanks for all of your wonderful, warm wishes, everyone! I probably shouldn't have shared that in this thread because I don't want to derail us, but I was just so excited and popped in to PS just so I could post in this particular thread. He's doing so well, it's like he's a different person.

ANYWAY, I'd love to be the facilitator, so as soon as we hear from some more people about what they'd like to read, we can set a date for our first discussion. It looks like The Moonstone is still an option, but we've had another recommendation and some other preferences, as well, so what does everyone think?

Is everyone okay with reading a book a month?
 

AGBF

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Congratulations, Haven! I am so glad that finally a successful match for your father-in-law was found! I hope that his recovery will be quick and uneventful and that he will soon be back in excellent health leading a normal life! Please keep us updated on him. He has become a part of the Pricescope Book Club's history! Is he a reader?

Hugs to you and your hubby,
Deb/AGBF
:read:
 

elrohwen

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My opinion is that we should meet every couple weeks for a particular section of a book. In my book club experience, if you only meet once a month most people have forgotten half the book by the time the meeting is scheduled. If we meet more frequently, we could break a longer book into shorter sections and cover it that way. Doing it this way, we could also spread a longer book out into 2 months if necessary while meeting to cover sections of it. A short book might not require a whole month, while longer and more involved books might be hard for some to finish in a month with other commitments and could take 6 weeks.

Just a thought.

eta: My vote is still strongly for The Moonstone. I don't think it's likely that any other 19th century Brit Lit will be voted into the reading list, so I'll take what I can get!

eta2: I'm so glad you hear your FIL is doing so well!
 

AGBF

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Haven said:
I probably shouldn't have shared that in this thread

Of course you should have! It makes this thread all the more special!

And yes, a book a month sounds just about right unless it is exceptionally long and needs to be broken down, which someone suggested might be the case with The Moonstone. I suggest that if we read a real whopper, that we still "meet" once a month, but discuss half (or whatever fraction we have deemed appropriate) of the book we are reading that month.

Please, do, be our facilitator/leader. I think that everyone seems ready to cooperate about what to read. Maybe a quick poll or just an executive decision on your part would get us atarted on our first book!

Hugs,
Deb/AGBF
:read:
 

Haven

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Well, then, let's read The Moonstone.

As for our meeting date, is there a particular day that works best for everyone? I think it would be great if we could at least try to kick off the discussion by convening together in the thread. Shall we set it for a weeknight? What works for everyone? I feel like PS is much more active during the week rather than the weekend, right?

I'm happy with breaking up our reading of The Moonstone, as well. Is a month out too far for the first half? I devote many hours of each day to reading, so I'm a terrible gauge of how long it should take to read a particular amount of pages.

ETA: Thank you, Deb, for making me feel better about sharing my excitement over my FIL's new kidney in this thread. ::)
 

AGBF

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Elrohwen said:
My opinion is that we should meet every couple weeks for a particular section of a book. In my book club experience, if you only meet once a month most people have forgotten half the book by the time the meeting is scheduled. If we meet more frequently, we could break a longer book into shorter sections and cover it that way. Doing it this way, we could also spread a longer book out into 2 months if necessary while meeting to cover sections of it. A short book might not require a whole month, while longer and more involved books might be hard for some to finish in a month and could take 6 weeks.

I may be wrong, but I think that people who work often want a month for a book. Since I am not among those people, perhaps I should let them speak for themselves. I just remember the days when reading a book for pleasure was not an easy proposition! I was concerned with giving those people too short a deadline.

I had also envisioned us being able to discuss the book all the time, not being constrained to wait for our monthly meeting. I had thought that as soon as any of us started it that we would be free to start commenting on it in a thread. If we did it that way, no one would lose interest.

I am amenable to doing it your way, however, Elrohwen. I just wanted to explain my reasoning. I am not tied to my ideas!

Deb/AGBF
:read:
 

Haven

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I also thought we would start a thread once we chose the book and the first big discussion date, and then the discussion could begin right there.

Elro--I think less than a month would be tough for many people, but I'd like to hear from everyone else to see what they think. I know in my own real-life book club we meet once a month, and sometimes we give ourselves six weeks, based on the length of the book. That being said, I can adapt to whatever works for everyone.
 

Blackpaw

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I think a month is ample, with 6 weeks for longer titles. Id fear that if people start to discuss early on, then there will be spoilers for others who arent there yet? not sure...in any case ill stop by the library tomorrow to get the Moonstone =)
 
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