Saturday, March 17, 2012

Ground Rules (and First Book)

Greetings again!

Several decisions have been made since my last post, not the least of which is the first book we'll read. It's the "April book" I suppose, assuming that there will only be one book per month.  Before I reveal it (no drum rolls, please) there are a few suggestions (I don't like to think of them as rules) I would like to make.

First, it would seem to be a good idea for everyone to start the book at the same time.  The book is being announced a couple of weeks ahead of time to give people a plenty of time to get their hands on a copy.  See if you can wait until April 1st to actually start it, though, or you'll probably finish it long before I do!  I'm a relatively slow reader.  No, I'm a SLOW reader.  Not only do I sometimes go for days without picking up my current read, my pages-per-hour rate is pretty slow.  But my comprehension is high!  (Reminds me of the Blind Date Caveat: [s]he's really, really NICE - meaning [s]he's not much to look at...)

Second, the first book is not necessarily indicative of future books.  It was chosen as the first because it's my favorite author and my favorite genre, and seemed a fitting choice for the inaugural book for a book club instigated by me.  The long-term intent is to cover a wide range of books, including a non-fiction book from time to time; once a year maybe? 

Third, future books will be picked by me for now (this is certainly subject to change), but I would like to pick them from a list compiled from suggestions made by others. 

Fourth; a matter of timing.  By the end of the first week of the month, feel free to write in about the first quarter of the book.  By the 15th of the month, the first half of the book.  No spoilers, please!  This is one of the things that make an online book club very different from one that meets in someone's living room once a month.

Fifth, the intention is to pick - at least, most of the time - relatively short books, maybe 200-400 pages.  This eliminates lots of really good books, I know.  But I don't want to get bogged down in a book that might take ME more than a month to read.  War and Peace took me 8 months!  If you live a busy life (and who doesn't?) you will probably appreciate this.

Sixth; except for the classics, we'll try to avoid books that are "too old" or "too new."  Ideally they will be books that can be easily located at used book stores and libraries.  (The first one is somewhat of an exception, being rather new.)

Genres?  In order - loosely - of importance to me: Suspense, Classics, Mystery, Supernatural/Horror, Contemporary, Science Fiction, Youth, Philosophy, Biography, Self-help, Historic, Travel.

So.  The first selection is a suspense novel.  And my favorite author (though there are many close second favorites), Dean Koontz, is the author.  I have read 59 of his novels; yes, I've counted and can even tell you what order I read them in.  The book selection is a pretty new one of his, 77 Shadow Street.  If you have read Koontz before, you probably know you're in for a treat.  If you haven't, you might be surprised how much fun he can be, especially in the dialogue.  Is it Horror, the genre you find him in at the bookstore?  I don't really think so, and neither does he.  He says he writes Suspense, with a little "horror" mixed in sometimes for spice.  It's not highbrow reading, but you might be surprised at how intelligent the writing is.

As stated in the original posting here, please don't be shy about recommending books that may be of more interest to you.  Also, suggestions as to how to run the club are very welcome.

That's all for now!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Greetings, Booklovers!

There must be thousands of internet book clubs to choose from, so why involve yourself with this one?

The best answer to that question is probably to show you the list of books that "Foreverman" (that's me!) has read over the past year or so.  That will give you a good idea of whether the books discussed in this club in the future might be at least somewhat to your tastes - as eclectic as the list may seem.

First, the books I read in 2011:

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood [Begun in 2010]
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
Playing For Pizza, by John Grisham
Breathless, by Dean Koontz
The Apostle, by Brad Thor
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
Agnes Grey, by Anne Bronte
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Dark Tower IV, (Wizard and Glass), by Stephen King
Your Heart Belongs to Me, by Dean Koontz
Buddhism Without Beliefs, by Stephen Batchelor
Superheroes and Philosophy, ed. by Tom Morris and Matt Morris [Begun in 2010]
Saving Fish From Drowning, by AmyTan
33 A.D., by David McAfee
The Key to Midnight, by Dean Koontz
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Living Dead in Dallas, by Charlaine Harris
What the Night Knows, by Dean Koontz
Rush and Philosophy, ed. by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
The Meaning of Truth, by William James
Frankenstein III: Dead and Alive, by Dean Koontz
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
Clichés of Politics, ed. by Mark Spangler
Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy
Knots and Crosses, by Ian Rankin
Frankenstein IV: Lost Souls, by Dean Koontz
Exit Music, by Ian Rankin
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
the host, by Stephenie Meyer
Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative, Vol. I, by Herbert Spencer
Pawn of Prophecy, by David Eddings

Second, books I read in early 2012:

Witch Hunt, by Ian Rankin
Shadowfires, by Dean Koontz
The Revolution, by Ron Paul
Cabal, by Clive Barker
The Water-Method Man, by John Irving
The Comedians, by Graham Greene
Brighton Rock, by Graham Greene
The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene

You may notice a tendency to rather "dark" reading.  Guilty as charged.  Please don't interpret this as a reflection of my character; I'm usually pleasant company.  For many years I read mostly Science Fiction, but tastes change. Conflict in a novel beween the Protagonist and the Antagonist is often heightened by being presented as a conflict between Good and Evil, which is a stronger flavor; thus, a more interesting flavor to my mind.  (I like strongly flavored foods, as well!)

Lovers of Danielle Steele's novels might grimace at the above list.  This club is definitely not for them.

You might be wondering, why three Greene novels in a row?  Once or twice a year, I like to take an author I have never read - but feel that I should have - and read three in a row.  (When I did that with John Steinbeck, I didn't stop until I had read seven!) 

I'm currently in the midst of Stephen King's Wolves of the Calla, the fifth book of his Dark Tower series.  I'm not recommending that as the first book for club members to read simultaneously, largely because I feel it would be a mistake to read it without having read the first four books in the series beforehand - which I highly recommend doing!

The first book we read together?  I'm really not sure yet.  I will post it by April 1st.  (Or will I?)

Please feel free to suggest a book you are about to read.  I'm very open-minded.  If it's a book that is part of a series, stick with the first one in the series.  But expect us to move on to something completely different for the subsequent book.