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  • #16
    Re: HT Book Circle

    Originally posted by scrivener View Post
    We'll come to some kind of agreement, and if whatever we pick doesn't rock your world, then you can either sit this one out and wait for the next one, read it anyway so you can be in on the discussion (that's what I'll be doing), or start another group and facilitate it. These are all quite cool by me.

    .
    YOU SO SMART!


    You are right, one man's romance novel is another's horror novel. And it always makes for good discussion either way. Who knows? I have read romance when I was really bored...I mean REALLY bored and like maybe one of them or two.
    Since when is psycho a bad thing??
    Sharing withother survivors...
    www.supportandsurvive.org

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    • #17
      Re: HT Book Circle

      toss in my vote for "classics I was supposed to read in high school and/or in college, but didn't care for/get the jist/couldn't appreciate at the time".

      This idea is inspired by my experiences when I read "The Good Earth" a few months back.

      pax

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      • #18
        Re: HT Book Circle

        Excellent. I did want to note that I realize part of the point of a reading group is to occasionally step outside your comfort zone. Certainly the common point of discussion and such is paramount, but picking titles by consensus means that you're not always -- or even often -- going to get a book you'd have chosen on your own. That's generally a good thing.

        So, if a heavy piece or a fluffy piece or even a mushy romance novel is the pick, I'm still in. I think basic length is a more objective standard we'll want to keep in mind when choosing a book.

        If it's a book I dislike intensely, what the heck. Could be fun in a masochistic way. As any reviewer knows, it's often the stuff you either love or hate that's the easiest to discuss. It's that middling territory that can be a challenge.

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        • #19
          Re: HT Book Circle

          Originally posted by Pua'i Mana'o View Post
          toss in my vote for "classics I was supposed to read in high school and/or in college, but didn't care for/get the jist/couldn't appreciate at the time".
          Originally posted by pzarquon View Post
          I did want to note that I realize part of the point of a reading group is to occasionally step outside your comfort zone.
          Actually, these are very good points. When I was in school many years ago, I was given a list of 32 books that I should have read (i.e. Don Quixote, War and Peace, etc.) and some of the books I thought I wouldn’t like surprised me, and I ended up liking them in spite of myself. Others were a chore to get through. Still, there is a bit of trepidation about stepping outside your comfort zone and trying something you normally wouldn’t even consider. After all, reading a book requires a certain amount of commitment.

          [and off topic ... Tutusue, it sounds like your two months off were well spent.]

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          • #20
            Re: HT Book Circle

            Originally posted by tutusue View Post
            For those concerned about the purchase price of books...there's half.com and the library!
            Good call on the library. I'll try that.

            I'm pretty much up for trying anything... except for romance novels. I'd rather poke myself in the eye repeatedly with a hot needle than read another romance.

            OK, that's a bit o an exaggeration, but I'll prolly take a pass if it is a romance and try the next one. My wife and I used to do this thing where she had to read one of my books, and I had to read one of hers. She got the idea from some magazine saying it makes couples closer or something.

            Uh.... not us, apparently. It didn't go well.

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            • #21
              Re: HT Book Circle

              I'm interested, time permitting. I am also pretty much up for reading any genre or trying to.

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              • #22
                Re: HT Book Circle

                For your consideration:

                Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street is short (128 pages in paperback), accessible, literary, popular, and a quick read. It is presented as a collection of vignettes, many of which are just a page or two long. There is something here for everyone, I think.

                here is the page (with customer reviews) at Amazon.com.

                Two quick drawbacks: (a) It's not written in a traditional narrative, so while there is a deep sense of story, there's not really a STORY the way you might be used to seeing it, and (b) it's so popular that you may have read it already.

                Another, similar, local alternative would be Lois-Ann Yamanaka's Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers, which is written in a very similar style but is set in Hawaii.

                Either of these would be good starting books for discussion because you can still participate even if you get through only part of the reading.

                Keep the suggestions coming!
                But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
                GrouchyTeacher.com

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                • #23
                  Re: HT Book Circle

                  Dorothy Parker comes off the top of my head for quick and heady reading.

                  pax

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                  • #24
                    Re: HT Book Circle

                    Originally posted by scrivener View Post
                    For your consideration:

                    Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street is short (128 pages in paperback), accessible, literary, popular, and a quick read. It is presented as a collection of vignettes, many of which are just a page or two long. There is something here for everyone, I think.
                    seeing it, and (b) it's so popular that you may have read it already.

                    I'm in the (b) camp myself...

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                    • #25
                      Re: HT Book Circle

                      Paul Theroux's "Hotel Honolulu" has a big advantage for me: it's on our shelves and I haven't read it.

                      Amazon info
                      http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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                      • #26
                        Re: HT Book Circle

                        Originally posted by Honoruru View Post
                        When I was in school many years ago, I was given a list of 32 books that I should have read (i.e. Don Quixote, War and Peace, etc.) and some of the books I thought I wouldn’t like surprised me, and I ended up liking them in spite of myself.
                        "War and Peace" and "Gone With the Wind" surprised me as an adult reader -- they're hard to put down!
                        Burl Burlingame
                        "Art is never finished, only abandoned." -- Leonardo Da Vinci
                        honoluluagonizer.com

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                        • #27
                          Re: HT Book Circle

                          I vote for something that has stood the test of time. Some suggestions, at least one has already been mentioned:

                          To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
                          Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
                          1984 by George Orwell
                          Paradise Lost by John Milton
                          Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon

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                          • #28
                            Re: HT Book Circle

                            I take it then when a book is selected one will be given some time to read it right. Will it be a couple of weeks or a month to do?

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                            • #29
                              Re: HT Book Circle

                              We'll set a schedule based on the length and difficulty of the book. For example, "read chapters 1 through 5 by this Monday; read through chapter 10 by next..."
                              But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
                              GrouchyTeacher.com

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                              • #30
                                Re: HT Book Circle

                                Originally posted by Linkmeister View Post
                                Paul Theroux's "Hotel Honolulu" has a big advantage for me: it's on our shelves and I haven't read it.

                                Amazon info
                                I don't know which book increased the trajectory of my vomit, that one or Shark Dialogues.

                                pax

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