I’ve never been in a book club. I’ve never been asked to join one, and I’ve never felt motivated to start one. The other problem, of course, is that the National Institute of Book Clubs (NIBC) Comprehensive Survey (2009) shows that 92% of all book club members are female. I, in fact, have never met a man who is in a book club. I obviously do not think that reading or discussing books is only for women. [The Survey also shows that only 26% of book club meeting time is spent discussing the book. A staggering 57% of the time is spent discussing the libations at book club (with the remaining 17% comprised of various discussions—most notably 9% spent complaining about spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends). Also, while the Survey shows that 82% of book club members actually read the book, these statistics are likely unreliably high (and often includes those who claim to have read the book but who have either seen the movie or read the Wikipedia entry).]
Of course, each and every statistic in the preceding paragraph is made up (as is the NIBC).
A very good friend of mine (also one of the poorest spellers I have ever met, but I digress) suggested that, in order to make this blog more interactive (with the unreasonable assumption that the blog is “active” in the first place), we consider a virtual book club. We are going to give this a try. The worst thing that will happen is that I will end up being the only one who reads the book club selection, but I can live with that. Here’s how it will work:
1. Between now and Friday, October 2, I will accept suggestions for books. If we do not receive multiple suggestions, I will suggest a few books. I'm going to throw this book out as a suggestion for the first selection. I suggest this because (1) it's been on my list for a while and (2) since this is a "virtual" book club, a book where one theme is "virtual reality" makes some sick sense.
2. I will post 2-4 suggested books on October 3 and seek feedback (none expected). If anyone who wants to participate has already read a suggested book, the book will be disqualified from consideration (unless the person wants to re-read the book—hey, if I get ANOTHER person to participate, and he/she has already read the book, you think I’m passing on my golden opportunity???).
3. I will post the first book club selection some time after October 3 (depending on feedback) and give everybody 2-4 weeks (depending on book length) to read the book. If anybody finishes early, they may not comment on the book on the site. You may email me comments that I will post after the deadline.
Then, we’ll see if there is any give-and-take, if people like the book and the idea, etc. If there’s the expected zero interest, we’ll kill it.
Also, if you are in a book club and want to read the same book to serve dual purposes, please let me know. In other words, if I can get one more person to read the selection (even if they’re not reading it for OUR book club), it’s worth it to me.
Remember, reading a book is better than a stick in the eye.
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Mark, if you are going to read Neal Stephenson, you should read Anathem (one of my all time favorites) or Cryptonomicon. Snowcrash is one of his earlier, and therefore less skilled, immature books.
ReplyDeleteJosh: I picked up Anathem once but thought it looked oppressive with learning terms and such. Are you telling me that it is manageable and worth it?
ReplyDeleteMark, Anathem can be read on two levels: as a SciFi story set on an alternate world, or as a brilliant metaphor for the history of philosophy (from the Greeks to modern times). But if you read it for the former, which by itself is a good story though plot and character development isn't what you read Stephenson for, you can't help but pick up on most of the points of the latter because the book is so rich. I think the glossary at the beginning of the book scares people off, but I skipped it and didn't miss a beat.
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