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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-16-05 08:37 PM
Original message
Poll question: Do you want Book Club to continue?
Edited on Fri Dec-16-05 08:38 PM by CrispyQGirl
Dec ‘04 – What's the Matter with Kansas? – 115 responses
Jan ‘05 – Don't Think of an Elephant – 44 responses
Feb – Running On Empty – 53 responses
March – Imperial Hubris – 16 responses
April – Confessions of an Economic Hit Man – 58 responses
May – Affluenza – 5 responses
June – Unequal Protection – 10 responses
July – The Long Emergency – 20 responses
Aug – People's History of the United States – 25 responses
Sept – Freakonomics – 8 responses
Oct – Radicals in Robes – 1 response
Nov – The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell – 7 responses
Dec – Iraq Confidential – 0 responses


I hate to sound like a broken record, but as you can see, there is less & less participation in the Book Club. I’m very organized, but even so, keeping track of when to start threads, the nomination process & the voting process takes time. I am also disappointed in many of the discussions. No offense to anyone, but comments like “This was a good book, everyone should read it” are not what I entered into Book Club for. I’m sorry to say, that at this level of participation it’s not worth my time to continue administering the Book Club.

I threw out a couple of suggestions to make Book Club better & as a last ditch effort, I’m throwing them out again.


  • Include the expectation that if you nominate a title & that title is chosen, you will drive the discussion of that book through the end of the book. This means that you must commit to reading the book prior to the start of the discussion, or at the very least, have read a good part of it & be committed to reading the entire book & discussing through the active period of the title.


  • Instead of 12 titles a year, let’s have 8. That would give six weeks for each current title & therefore more time to obtain, read & discuss the book.




I’m not doing this just for me, folks. If you want a Book Club, then you need to turn out for it & participate in it! I’ll commit to all required threads through February 1, but if participation doesn’t pick up, either someone else can take over, or we can let Book Club go dormant for a time.

As always, I’m interested in your feedback!

CQG
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PDJane Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-16-05 09:18 PM
Response to Original message
1. Sorry, didn't know there
was a book club! If it is continued, I'd love to join...........
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-16-05 09:40 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. No need to join, just participate!!!
The thread subjects start with BOOK CLUB:



Here's December's thread on "Iraq Confidential:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=209x2937


Here's the February nomination thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=209x2938


And the January title is: "A Man Without a Country” by Kurt Vonnegut & here is the Amazon link to read about it or purchase it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158322713X/qid=1133396005/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-5792740-7358366?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

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pstans Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-20-05 01:20 PM
Response to Original message
3. The participation has been disapointing
I see 2 things that would really help the book club out.

1. Needs a discussion leader to lead discussion over each chapter, etc. Ask questions, start up conversations of the book.

2. Need some help from DU advertising the book club. DU is a huge place and not many people know about it. The book club could have a link on the main page and front page articles of the discussion threads.
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-21-05 08:27 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. I agree completely that we need discussion leaders,
which is why I have suggested that if you nominate a book, then you are also stepping up to driving the discussion on that book if it is chosen as the current title. I don't think that is unreasonable, do you? I have an issue with people who nominate a title that wins & then don't participate in the discussion, or do so at a minimum level, at best.

As for better 'advertisement' on DU, I hadn't thought of that. But come to think of it, almost everytime I post something on GD about the Book Club I get a personal message thanking me for making them aware that Book Club exists. So obviously, that is a very good idea that I should explore, too.

Thanks, pstans, for the input. I will post updates in this thread & as always, I am open to suggestions!

:hi:
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Richardo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-20-05 01:26 PM
Response to Original message
4. Maybe back it down to one per quarter...
I like the discussions, but can't read one book per month (or the book may not have as much interest for me.)

I appreciate all your efforts, CQG. Thanks for taking it this far, no matter WHAT happens. :pals:
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-21-05 08:32 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. I knew I could count on you for feedback, my friend!
I will probably do a poll soon to determine what people think is a good number of books per year & the time to read & discuss the current title. I agree, with all the other reading I like to do, one book a month is alot. And again, like you, some titles simply do not interest me. And another issue, is that sometimes, even with the best planning, it is not possible for me to acquire the book through the library in time & I do not want to purchase the book.

Thanks so much for your support! I appreaciate it!
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Jim__ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-22-05 11:35 AM
Response to Original message
7. I haven't participated that much in the book club.
Edited on Thu Dec-22-05 11:37 AM by Jim__
The first book I read for the book club was Freakonomics. I planned on participating from that point forward; but didn't especially want to read the last few books selected; and time considerations prevented me from reading them. I do intend to read the January book and participate in the discussion.

I think the idea of a discussion leader is a good one. General discussions need direction or they tend to fade off into separate tangents. I do hope that having a discussion leader wouldn't prevent someone from throwing out a line of thought that hadn't been raised by the leader.
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-25-05 12:55 PM
Response to Original message
8. kick
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xxqqqzme Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-03-06 12:59 AM
Response to Original message
9. Wow - this is the first I've heard
Edited on Tue Jan-03-06 01:01 AM by xxqqqzme
of the book club....just finished '1776' as blivet's sorry ass spy thing was breaking (that was real insight 2 have those overlap); read Carter's 'Endangered Values' before that. Gonna read 'Man w/o a Country' next and see it is a selection! I'll be back for the discussion.

A book per quarter seems about right.
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-04-06 12:28 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Welcome to the non-fiction book forum!
Yes, it seems that many on DU do not know about the book club. I'm thinking of ways to fix that. Perhaps we get the site admins to help out by putting a link on the main page? I do try to post over in GD on occasion & invite others to this forum. I'll try to do that more often.

BTW, Carter's book is the February book club selection, so I'll expect to see you in both Jan & Feb discussions!! ;)

:hi:

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xxqqqzme Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-04-06 07:09 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. Jimmy Cater broke my
heart. His sincerity leaps off the page and I could just feel his anguish while reading it.
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ramapo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-17-06 03:30 PM
Response to Reply #13
21. He is one of my heros
His book is next in line for me. Damn if he hasn't had an amazing life. It is quite an accomplishment when a person can honestly say that being President was not their greatest achievement.

I mark his 1980 loss as the line of demarcation for America. The country entered Reagan's quasi-fantasyland
and hasn't managed to find its way out yet. At some point there will be an extremely firm and painful smack in the head. We are overdue.

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CornField Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-03-06 09:12 AM
Response to Original message
10. I've simply been too busy since last fall to participate
Business has been good... children have been bad. ;) I apologize and will make more of an effort in the coming months (which are typically much slower for me).

I feel rather bad offering a suggestion given my absence, but I can tell you what's worked in another book club I host. We don't set a firm time limit by book, but rather by chapter. Each chapter is given a 1 week focus, with a separate thread for each. When the book is chosen, I take volunteers to be discussion leaders for 1-4 chapters (depending on how big the book is) and then the chapters are assigned to leaders. Those leaders are responsible for starting the chapter thread and kicking off the discussion.

This has worked especially well with the "drier" non-fiction reads save two problems: 1) some folks read very quickly and will accidentally post spoilers (not such a big deal with non-fiction) and 2) some folks are either limited or limit themselves to library copies which must be re-checked or returned periodically.

In any event, I hope the book club doesn't come to an end. Even when I was not actively participating, I still enjoyed reading the threads.
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-04-06 12:33 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. I understand we all have busy times & there are also titles
that we just aren't interested in.

We have implemented a new requirement that if you nominate a title you also agree to drive the discussion of the book if that title is chosen. I see that so far, there are zero noms for March with our new requirement. :eyes: However, that is better than the past, where I believe, on occasion, some would visit the forum, make a nomination & then never come back to the forum again.

We'll just have to see how it goes. I will probably revisit all these issues again near the end of March, depending on participation level.

:hi:

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Skinner ADMIN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-05-06 10:13 AM
Response to Original message
14. I have been wondering if we should combine the two book forums.
Edited on Thu Jan-05-06 10:22 AM by Skinner
My concern wasn't specifically with the book club, but I think combining the two book forums would probably help the book club. If anyone has any opinions on combining the two forums, I'd like to hear them.

As for the book club, one simple thing that could be done is to post an announcement thread out in GD whenever a new book is chosen.

I also think that it can be confusing for people that at any given time, the club is dealing with more than one book. While we're discussing the January book, we're already picking the February book, so I think sometimes people don't know which book to read. I know -- it makes us sound like idiots, but I do think it can be confusing. I think, perhaps, we should consider handling one book at a time. Pick a book, read it, discuss it .. only after we're done discussing that book shoud we start the cycle again ... Pick a new book, read it, discuss it. If the club is reading fewer books this year, then it might make sense to change our approach now.

And for the record, I think fewer books is a good idea. I would like to participate in the Book Club, but I've got so many other books that I want to read too. I would be more likely to participate if we were reading fewer books for the club, so I can balance my reading time between books I choose and books the club chooses.

(On a related topic, we have a number of ideas for raising the profile of the smaller forums, but we won't be able to do them for a while because Elad's programming time is limited and he's working on another large project.)
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spindrifter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-05-06 06:07 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. In addition to what Skinner suggests, I think it might
be helpful to make the Book Club announcements periodically, say once a week and make them noticeable. For a lot of reasons there are people who dip in for a while to deal with some hot issue and when the intensity flickers, they are off to deal with something else. that is why it might be good to have intermittent announcements that might catch people's attention.
As a worker bee, I think it is good to have several weeks to obtain, read, comment on books. I have a lot of trouble with a a "bricks and mortar: book club I am in keeping to a monthly schedule and end up not reading the whole book a lot of the time.
Maybe people want to treat some of the books like they do the Amazon book reviews--I've noticed some DU'ing over there. It might generate some interest and tease out some topics--I didn't mean "tease" as in make fun of, necessarily.
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-05-06 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #14
17. Personally, I would like to keep fiction/non-fiction separate.
However, I do like the idea of fewer book club titles per year & was hoping that more people would have voted for that when we recently polled. ;-) I think 4-6 titles a year would be a good choice. Again, ;-) as this is not just my club, but a club for everyone!

There does seem to be alot going on what with discussion of the current title, polling of the next title & nominations of the next title. Sheesh! I can see where it is confusing. And like you, many of us have several other books we want to read, not just book club titles.

I do post on GD at the first of the month with a link to the new discussion & I try to keep it kicked for a few days, but you know how active GD is.

BTW, I alerted the non-fiction forum that you have posted here & hopefully we will get more feedback & maybe some good suggestions.
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daleanime Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-05-06 05:49 PM
Response to Original message
15. Hi there...
New here, learning ropes,
participating Book Club,
helps keep up high hopes.
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OrwellwasRight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-16-06 04:21 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. Are all your posts in haiku?
It's way too advanced for me to even consider posting in poetry, but I like it!
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ramapo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-17-06 11:50 AM
Response to Original message
19. One book at a time
I read through Skinner's suggestions and I think that selecting and focusing on one book at a time is a good idea. One book a month is obviously too much for the club to handle and the almost constant process of nominating and voting for new titles distracts from discussing the book at hand. I'm not sure if we should have a set time frame in weeks or months for a single title. I read a lot and I've found it next to impossible to keep up, especially since we read books outside the club.

Another idea to increase activity is for us all to post and discuss the books we read outside the current club title. With the sometimes wide range of nominations, it is obvious that there is a wide range of interests in books, all well worth discussing.

Finally we should all try to drive discussions of the selected book.
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-17-06 02:18 PM
Response to Reply #19
20. I agree that once a month is too often.
In spite of 10 votes for a once a month book club, currently only 6 people have participated in the January discussion. And that is more than some recent titles! Also, since all non-fiction threads also show up on the latest page when first created, I think we frequently get people who nominate & vote for titles, but don't participate in the club. Also, I agree, we should all drive the discussion, but I think that added requirement keeps people who are not really interested in participating from nominating a book -- which imo, is fair.

I think I may just take it on myself to change the frequency without polling everyone everytime, as the two times I have polled, the once-a-month option wins hands down & yet the participation does not increase.

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