lilacstarflower

urgh - now I don't know what to suggest

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moderan

Expand your horizons *ducks*
Mayhap we should start with a classic of some kind...given that we seem to have people from a number of different genres readership-wise. The only difficulty with that is that most of the classics have been done to death, analyzed ad infinitum-but surely such a discerning crowd can come up with new thoughts.

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lilacstarflower

A classic is good for me - I read mainly period-based novels so it would break me in gently...so to speak...

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karax268

Count me in too
A clasic is fine with me. I meant to read one soon so this couldn't be better

moderan

Should be short, too...just so everyone can get through it in a reasonable length of time. Henry James? Robert Louis Stevenson? Voltaire? Each one of those authors has penned certifiably "classic" shorter novels. I'd nominate Candide as a good choice, though the other two are worthy also. (for the record-the Turn of the Screw and the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).

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Dancer Preston

Candide is a good choice. But perhaps a little narrow since Voltaire was satirizing his time period and it doesn't offer much in-depth discussion. Furthermore, we have to be careful when picking works that have been translated, given that there are plenty to translations of this (I have several), which can change the overall effect and affect of the novel. Unless, of course, we want to read it in French, but I'm like any other American, I only know American.

Some short classic novels I nominate:

Ethan Fromme by Edith Wharton
Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Passing by Nella Larsen (this one's been sitting on my shelf unread for a while; it might be a little hard to get)
Flatland by Edwin Abbott

I'm also not opposed to reading longer novels nor more recent novels. I'm just so excited!

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lilacstarflower

I agree - I think our first discussion should be based on a shorter novel, just until we get into the swing of things

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moderan

Hmm. Never heard of Nella Larsen...the others are good suggestions. *chuckles* especially as I already have them
We only have a few folks weighing in though.

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Dancer Preston

She wrote two novels and life became tough and she became a maid I believe.

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"According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way that a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway. Because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible." Anonymous

geminye

I'm all for a short classic. Besides, it might be easy to find it on Project Gutenberg. Its as good a place to start as anywhere. So, maybe we should each choose a list of 3 books? Try to pick short enough lengths that we can begin discussing within a couple of weeks. We'll set a deadline once the book has been chosen.
Once the book is chosen, even those who haven't been in from the beginning may join in, but should only discuss the book at hand.
Once all the lists are in (deadline for that too) i can randomly choose from the list, making it as democratic as possible.

Does this sound reasonable?

Edit: Also, try to pick something you haven't read before and always wanted to, but never found the time.

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Suffer the little children...

moderan

Works for me.

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Mira

Can I join?? I'm up for a short classic! I haven't heard of Nella Larson either. We should try one of hers then! Since there are two of us who have not heard of her. If she's any good of course.

Mira

Sorry Geminye, didn't really read your post. But that sounds like a plan!

Sen Yama

I suggest a Tolstoy/Tolstoi (however we spell it nowadays). He did short stories(well, some novels too [like War and Peace, but I'm not nomination that])

I suggest:
The Raid (a personal favorite) - 28 pages
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (never gotten around to reading) - 59 pages
Father Sergius (friends say it's good) - 47 pages

Or some George Orwell, perhaps 1984.

I think that the advantage with using a Tolstoy for the first one would be that since it's short, we could meet back up in a week or two and talk, perhaps work out some kinks, before we start on something too long and forget about the whole thing.

If we're really discusing the elements, we should probably break an actual book into chapters, otherwise we'll be lost in a sea of text, without a coherent base.

But, of course, these are only my thoughts on the subjuect, but we should probably have this decided by Friday or we'll never get it off the ground.

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geminye

Mira, welcome aboard.

Sen Yama, you're absolutely right. By breaking them down to a lump of chapters at a time, we'll have a chance to really dig into the details.

Okay. We have a few suggestions so far. I'm going to suggest a deadline for suggestions on July 9th? Anyone who would like to participate, please submit a list of 3 books, as Sen Yama has done. On the 10th, i'll pick a book at random. Then, we'll allow a week for everyone to find a copy. Once we are all on the same page and have picked a book, we can break down the reading schedule.

This is basically going to be a very slow thread, probably taking 2 to 3 weeks per book, at least at first. Once we have a loyal group involved, it should go more quickly and allow us to explore more books. I am dedicated to making this work, so even if it is just myself and one other person, the thread will continue.

Please send all comments and suggestions as soon as possible so we can begin.

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Suffer the little children...