On line book club

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:43 am

Last summer or so we started a book club that quickly fizzeled. I wondered if anyone had ever thought of an on-line book club where people could jointly read a book and share their impressions on line - maybe a subset of the LO.

Ken - you are the expert here - have you heard of this - does it work.

With this group I would suggest maybe 3 areas: Politics, the enviroment, urban planning. Any one interested?

Stephen Eisel · Post by **Stephen Eisel** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:22 pm

Lynn, how about reading different religious books? (Paganism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and etc) I read about 10 Chapters of the Qu'ran two years ago and found it very enlightening.

sharon kinsella · Post by **sharon kinsella** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:48 pm

I belong to a website called Shelfari - It's for people who are readers and their are groups available at the site for every interest under the sun.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:00 pm

I might be into this, Lynn. I've had my fill of politics for a while, though. I've never been in a book club. Do you usually discuss during reading at certain points (maybe that's just the teacher in me) or only after everyone's read the whole book?

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:51 pm

Okay, have some ideas.

Based on your suggestion Stephen, I was thinking about some religious books that weren't too religious and wouldn't alienate people of different religious persuasions.

How about "Freedom in Exile" by the Dali Lama This is his autobiography. It is about Tibet and his life and theories. http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Exile-Lam ... 40-6038025

Then people can read it not as a religious book - but as a biography of a world leader. People can read it to understand what is going on between Tibet and China.

Just tossing out ideas. Lots more ideas of books as well.

Brad, it would be great to hear from Ken as he is most likely the expert on this - but I think we could do whatever we wanted. We could discuss it on line after a chapter or two - we could wait until the book is read. What do you think is best?

Stephen Eisel · Post by **Stephen Eisel** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 6:00 pm

Excellent choice Lynn!

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:26 pm

Another book I was thinking of (I can't remember the title) was about 3 women - a Christian, a Jew, and a Muslim - that started a book club or something. I've heard about it on NPR, shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

I was only asking about the discussion format, because in a forum such as this we would need to set "deadlines" so people can post over a couple days without anyone being too far ahead or behind. Certainly we can set it up as we see fit. I would be all for periodic discussion (or else I would be cramming the night before, like in college).

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:29 pm

The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner

Anyone know it?

Kenneth Warren · Post by **Kenneth Warren** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:33 pm

Lynn:

Each group approaches book discussion and methods differently. Some assign a leader for each book; some want questions posed by chapter; some want a free ranging discussion.

This website might allow you to consider types and ways of handling an on-line book-club:

http://www.book-clubs-resource.com/

Kenneth Warren

Bryan Schwegler · Post by **Bryan Schwegler** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:54 am

I've been part of a book club at my church, Trinity Cathedral, for over 2 years or so now. Basically here's how we've done it:

There's a new book each month, we meet to discuss the book when everyone's done.
At the end of the discussion people throw out suggestions for next time, the group decides which to go with.
The books are announced/picked two months ahead since people read at different paces. So for example at the July discussion, we'd pick the September book. This gave people time to find/buy the book and read it.
The person who recommended the book that was picked would "lead" the discussion about it. But generally they're pretty free-form.
In hectic months (like December) and mid-summer (July/Aug) we might substitute a movie and discussion instead since people may not have a ton of time to read. This summer we saw Becoming Jane at the Cedar Lee.

Those are the basic mechanics of how the book club is run. I'm not sure if you could adapt them online.

I've really enjoyed some of the books we've read that I normally wouldn't have gone and read on my own and I've liked being able to share books that I've really enjoyed.

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:34 am

If there are no objections the let's read The Faith Club. It looks easy as there is already book club guides and blogs by the author.

http://www.thefaithclub.com/index.html

Bryan indicated that they pick the book 2 months ahead. This would put us in January - which may be okay given the holidays. Everyone could ask for this book for Christmas!

But if you want to get started sooner we can. Brad, since this is your choice and your are a teacher would you like to lead this discussion?

Thanks Ken for the resource.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:39 am

I'd be more than happy to lead the first discussion, though the offer was unnecessary.

I think Bryan's book club did a book monthly, but chose each book two months ahead for people that wanted/needed a head start, had trouble finding the book, etc. At least that's how I understood it. If we did one book every two months, I would be worried about the club losing steam.

So here's what I propose: We will read The Faith Club first. We'll set a deadline date of December 15th. That gives us a little over a month (to get the word out, find the book, etc.). Next we'll read Lynn's suggestion, "Freedom in Exile" by the Dalai Lama (with Lynn leading, of course). We can set that deadline for the end of January, to allow extra time through the busy holidays. Afterwards, we can run a book from February 1st - 28th, March 1st - 30th, etc. As we discuss The Faith Club in mid-December, we can decide on a book for February.

Now, a couple questions:

Should we request our own forum?

Should I plan a mid-book discussion in a few weeks?

Do we need any other ground rules?

Is there any reason to ask people to let us know whether or not they plan to participate?

Most importantly, do we need a name? Or are we just a rag-tag bunch of literates?

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:31 pm

I like your ideas about the first two books. Now, a couple questions:

Should we request our own forum? I think this might be a good idea. I don't know the effort involved. DL?

Should I plan a mid-book discussion in a few weeks? I'm not sure if we should wait until the first of the year with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming around. What do others think?
Do we need any other ground rules?

Is there any reason to ask people to let us know whether or not they plan to participate? I don't think so - I have had a few people indicate that they plan to participate. I hope lots do.

Most importantly, do we need a name? Or are we just a rag-tag bunch of literates? Maybe this should be our poll questions

Any ideas?

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:45 am

OK, so The Faith Club will be "due" the first week of January, and we'll read Freedom in Exile for the first week of February.

We'll see what DL says about a forum, or perhaps we can just meet in the Groups forum or something.

As we go along in the book, I may post some "questions for thought" to help facilitate discussion later, but we'll wait until after the holidays.

As far as our name goes, I could go for something like Club Awesome, but maybe we should include something to do with books...

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:18 pm

Just wanted to remind everyone to get the Faith Club. by Ranya Idliby (Author), Suzanne Oliver (Author), Priscilla Warner (Author)

Thanks