Regarding book selection

[PaperbackPal]

Would anyone be interested in having one of the three selections a nonfiction title? I am most interested in reading nonfiction particularily political/social/economics and also memoirs/biographies.

I read some fiction but usually historical fiction or fiction that makes you think about a social problem or to learn about another people's culture, religion etc

Anyone care to make a comment on this.

[DJgib]

Sure, it certainly makes sense to take the options from various genres, so nonfiction could certainly be included. I read a lot of popular science myself. I guess we should dream up a system of how to decide what the three options are for each round. Maybe take it in turns to suggest stuff or have a vote or something.

[PaperbackPal]

Yes I like the idea of a vote, perhaps we who are interested could suggest titles with some background info and then after a preselected period we could all vote on them for that months choice. We should take a vote on how often we would want to rotate books also I think, don't you? One month, 2 months, ?.

[Abbynormal92243]

excellent idea. I love memoirs, myself.

[Bill]

Just to say that, when someone starts a thread, they have the option of including a poll, which would appear to be the best way to stage a vote on which book people want to read.

There's also nothing to prevent more than one book being discussed at a time, eg one fiction and one non-fiction, as it is inevitably difficult to find one book that everyone wants to read.

[yllus]

:D
I've created a poll on when we will do our first "meeting", then you all can suggest books to read, or that you want to read.

Then, if you have the same book as someone else and want to read the same one you will be able to provide different points of view on the same title.

Otherwise, it will give each of us a chance to get a taste for books we don't normally read.

[gidget2]

could some one tell me how to get to the poll? :p :confused:

[gidget2]

I found it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[robert-walker]

i would be interested in this bookgroup thing. what will happen, do we all go out and buy the book that has been decided on, or does the people who have copies pass them around?

[PaperbackPal]

If I can't get it at a library then I am not getting it lol. We do have a huge library though so there is a good chance of getting most books that would be suggested :)

robert, here is the link to the poll :)

http://www.bookgrouponline.com/forum/showthread.html?t=453

[PaperbackPal]

Just to reply to you, we had already discussed off-site that we were going to have 3 selections, one of which seems to have been now agreed upon to be a non-fiction. Book titles will suggested by all at upcoming meeting.

[DJgib]

Maybe for the vote on which choice it would be better to have a rule that you cannot vote for the books you suggested. Otherwise everyone votes for their own books and we have a bunch of books with one vote each.

Certainly in the beginning (while we don't have that many members) I would also suggest choosing books that aren't too obscure so that enough people have a chance to get hold of it.


Can I just mention how much I'm looking forward to this by the way? :)

[PaperbackPal]

I was going to make that suggestion myself and you beat me to it lol.

[Abbynormal92243]

omg this thread cracked me up!
it was like being in BX hehehe

hi, y'all

hey!

did you guys get your new names?

rats.
I forgot where it is.

anything but books, mebbe.

[PaperbackPal]

Sorry Abby, I don't understand. Can you submit some titles and info to the book choices thread please. So far no one has suggested anything but me and I don't think anyone is even reading this forum much :(

[Lady Lazarus]

I have ideas for a book to suggest, but I am a bit confused by the "3 category" thing... does that mean that you can suggest EITHER a non-fiction, a fiction and a .. .something else? will people be reading one book a month... sorry, I'm just a bit confused (doesn't take much! :rolleyes: )... I am from the "other" book group here, but am intrigued as to what's going on in here, especially since you have more people interested in this book group!!

[beachmama]

there are to be more than one selection i think, there is a polling site on an earlier posting.

[MartiP]

My understanding is:
1) The date of first "meeting" is set for Feb 1st - I assume that's fixed, as the poll on it is closed.
2) Everyone is supposed to suggest books at the time of the meeting? And some dear organized soul will list them in a poll on their post, and we vote?

The only poll I see is for the date of first meeting, not the books - so I assume that list is not compiled and ready for a vote yet.

Someone tell me if I have this straight. :confused:

edit: nevermind - found the thread with the books. silly me.

[DJgib]

and of course a warm welcome to MartiP, beachmama and Lady Lazarus!

The deal is: on February 1st we vote for the first selection of books people can choose from to read for the first discussion. (Or in my case, on January 28th, as I'm going on holiday that afternoon:)

Prior to that, everyone is allowed to name two books that they would like to read. These will be entered into the vote. At the vote, you are not allowed to vote for your own suggestions, as this would probably lead to a long list of books with one vote each.

After the vote, in principle we pick the two or three books with the most votes. Members can choose to read any, all or none of these books. We haven't decided yet on a date to start discussions on the books. It will probably depend a little on the lenght of the books chosen.

Hope everything's clear, if not, I'll be on hand to answer more questions :)

[PaperbackPal]

I got really confused for a sec because I didn't see the last posts because of the page no 2 that they are on LOL I didn't realize that we had gone onto another page. Now I understand and can find your posts! :)

[hatter]

Hi,

I found a link to this site on the bookcrossing forum. I'm still finding my way around and trying to work out how to use this forum. I'd love to join the book group but I'm not sure about 'meetings'. Does that mean we all have to be online at the same time? Is it alright if I dip in and out when I am able to read the books and 'attend meetings' or is there a strict reading/attendance policy?

[DJgib]

The BookCrossing book group is all about having a good time, and discussing books together. We use the term 'meeting', to coördinate stuff like voting for the books and discussing them. If we didn't set a date, we'd have to keep the poll open for ages to make sure everybody had a chance. Now you know beforehand.
This means we don't all have to be online all the time. I for one am going to vote for the first selection on january 28th, it's the closest date I can be online. Anyway, with different timezones and schedules, it must be impossible for everyone to be here at the same time anyway.

So the bottom line is: if you want to vote, do it sometime around February 1st. As I said in a previous post, we have still to set a date to start discussions. Possibly we'll just play it by ear, we're aiming to be a very easy-going bookgroup!

Yikes, I seem to have become the big explainer here. You will all be sure to tell me if I start to sound bossy or inadvertently make up new rules, won't you :o

[Abbynormal92243]

I have ideas for a book to suggest, but I am a bit confused by the "3 category" thing... does that mean that you can suggest EITHER a non-fiction, a fiction and a .. .something else? will people be reading one book a month... sorry, I'm just a bit confused (doesn't take much! :rolleyes: )... I am from the "other" book group here, but am intrigued as to what's going on in here, especially since you have more people interested in this book group!!


ok
I get the 3 category thing. We alternate, right? so we're not reading the same genre all the time....

I AM confused about ---ok
Is this a different book club meeting thing than the one where the group's reading the Plot Against America?

[Bill]

Yes it is separate from that. This is a book club formed by Bookcrossing members. A book group discussing The Plot Against America is due to start discussions on the 24th, I believe.

[PaperbackPal]

Thank you for all the explaining you have done. You don't sound bossy in the slightest :)

About the book choice on the vote, it was my impression that we all suggest titles and then we each vote for 1 title, not 1 vote in each catagory but just 1 vote period. Then of all the titles voted on, we pick the top 3 titles having the highest votes in the 2 catagories of fiction and non-fiction, 1 title being non-fiction, and the other 2 fiction.
example
you vote for 1 book in the following list:
fiction -0 vote
fiction -4 votes *
fiction -2 votes
fiction -1 vote
fiction -3 votes
fiction -1 vote
fiction -0 votes
fiction -1 vote
fiction -2 votes
fiction -6 votes*
fiction -0 vote
non fiction -1 vote
non fiction -0 votes
non fiction -3 votes*
non fiction -2 votes
non fiction -1 vote
non fiction -2 votes
non fiction -2 votes

The ones with asterics are the winning titles because more people voted for them. People then choose to read one or more or none of the winning titles.

How does this sound? I think choosing only 1 title for each person's vote is sensible because most people will only read 1 book in the alotted time period. What do you think?

[hatter]

Thanks for all the explanations DJgib & PaperbackPal. It takes me a while to catch on to these things, but I get there!

The one vote sounds good to me, and it makes sense to set a date. I also like the idea of having at least one non-fiction book as an option. I have one question left though; what is the time frame we are planning on for reading once we've chosen our book selection/s?

[DJgib]

Good show, we're thinking along the same lines. I agree with the one vote thing. I wasn't specifically thinking one non-fiction and two fiction, but that's a good idea. I would include a premise that the two fiction shouldn't be from the same genre, like sci-fi or crime, to give people more choice. I can't really see that happening at the moment, but handy to have the rule just in case.

[MartiP]

Great! I want to read and discuss a book, but have no desire to organize anything. LOL! I'm glad that there are people out there who are willing to take that on. :)
I've gone over to the other thread and browsed the titles nominated so far. Looks like a broad selection - that's good. I'll keep checking in. Hapy reading! :D

[PaperbackPal]

Please post your book suggestions in the other thread. Time frame for reading the chosen titles, depends on what they are, maybe a month or two if they are the type that seem to require a lot of thinking and pausing LOL We can decide that when we pick the titles :)