So it's been a while since the last Hubski Book club. Nobody really answered with "next round" (although we kinda blended a little with sci fi club's impending selection) so it's been languishing. Last one was Watchmen, which is kinda sci fi anyway.
Scificlub kinda petered out, too, as the only people who had anything to say about the last book under discussion had negative things to say. It's too bad - zebra2 was right, it should have led to some interesting discussion but I think a lot of people got pissed off at the book. In any event, another book wasn't chosen.
I can't remember where, but the book club(s) came up again a couple weeks ago. I suggested that rather than "book club" and "sci fi club" we maybe oughtta break it up into "fiction club" and "non-fiction club" and there were a few assents, but the idea was tucked away in a corner of the world that I can't find anymore so that's probably not a good place to leave it.
As such, let's talk about it here.
I've been reticent to lead these discussions 'cuz it feels like I pick a lot of books anyway... however, these things are fun and I'd love to get things going again. I also read a lot. Or, truth be told, listen to a lot of audiobooks. Reading you can do on a stationary bike. Audiobooks you can do while buying groceries or riding into Hollywood.
So, answers please:
1) Would you rather do fiction and non-fiction? or "book" and "anything sci-fi related?" 'cuz 8bit and I can fuckin' bury y'all in Anime. We'll do it, too.
2) Are you interested in one? Interested in the other? Interested in both?
3) If your answer in (2) is greater than or equal to "maybe" do you have any suggestions? Make your pitch. Persuade us. SELL IT BABY
___________________________________________________________________
Ridonkulous cloud of shout-outs follows
JakobVirgil eightbitsamurai mhr OftenBen plewemt elizabeth blackbootz flagamuffin Meriadoc minimum_wage StJohn DiamondLou86, AnSionnachRua, _refugee_, fuffle, b_b, hugitout, zebra2, AdSeriatim,mk, thenewgreen, SufficientGrace, ecib, cliffelam, hootsbox, lil, rezzeJ, cgod, onehunna, AshShields, BLOB_CASTLE, insomniasexx, kuli, louderwords, Floatbox, maynard, hiss, NikolaiFyodorov, Meriadoc, wasoxygen, BlackBird, jayfixkleenit, crimsonlight, Kaius, spearhard,humanodon
(fuck that's a lot of atmarks)
It's good that you're picking up the book club torch. The scifi club rolled on its own momentum and once that ran out so did the club. I can add a few pointers from things I learned while doing it, since it was initially just an experiment to see if I could make a club more efficient and raise participation. It was spawned by some comment I made ages ago and can't find anymore--to make a club based on short, online/free material, scifi just cuz that was what appealed to me--and people noted interest so it actually happened. So my lesson boils down to this: There is one thing and only one thing that will determine the longevity of your club, and that's accessibility of the material. Accessibility has two main parts to it: how physically accessible the material is (do I order it on Amazon or can I just click a link?) and length of the work. Roadside Picnic is accessible. Moby Dick not so much. So you should note right there that was what killed #scificlub. You might like to think it was people's reaction to the material but the plain fact was that the club's health went from fine to shit as soon as we hit something as long as Blindsight. There was even substantial interest early-on to read Blindsight, but I didn't want to hit it too early because I knew it could be the breaking point if there would be one, so I steered the club towards works that wouldn't demand more than an hour or two of your time. Beyond that, there are other finer points that I knew would determine actual participation in the club: 1. Having a selection of materials that were relevant to your interests. "Sci fi" may be open-ended but compared to "books" or "non-fiction/fiction" it's surgically categorical. How can I expect that the next choice in a club will interest me if it could be anything from Twilight to Darwin's The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs? I knew I couldn't with existing club, so I made the offshoot themed. The theme also helped justify its existence. 2. Prompting actual discussion. A thread labelled "discussion" didn't really compel me to write anything, especially if I had no strong thoughts on the material. The prompts I wrote were intended to make people at least say something that could potentially spur further discussion. I tried to keep them argumentative without sounding like an English course essay prompt. I think people became too focused on answering the prompts though; they were really just placeholders. So that's what I found to be important for the club. Pacing may have also been important: keeping threads not so far apart so that you wouldn't completely forget about it. That probably hurt Blindisght as well, but for the first 7 chapters I'd say the club was as good as you could expect. You're simply not going to get a small group of internet-bound strangers to commit to hours of reading for a book club, so keep it brief. Only the most devout would stick around for a club like that. Material selection can make a difference--I think we saw that with Watchmen--but the central rule still applies. Even Watchmen couldn't garner impressive follow-through, although it was better than most. Participation was mixed throughout the 7 short works we covered. If people can't commit to that then novels are an all-out bust.
So. I didn't think the scifi club died. -- Blindsight was something I personally couldn't justify working through, but we had plenty more on the table, right? Feel free to start up another round of scifi independent of the new hubski book club. I'm waiting for it.
I'd like to piggy-back off of this and agree that zebra2's point about "accessibility" in reference to "length of work" is vital. I'm in a meatspace book club right now and they want us to read Don Quixote over the course of three months and while I can do it and while I will enjoy it I'd like to shoot everyone who agreed to this idiotic idea. Our general rule in meatspace has been to have a maximum page limit. I strongly advocate for this. I also strongly advocate against people suggesting books merely to fulfill personal desires or agendas. I think it's important to choose books that can promote good discussion, not just are "classics" or because one person really wanted to read it.
I'm down. Fiction, definitely, regardless of the genre. I think plenty of discussion from articles and "IRL" shit happens already on Hubski, and I like the discussions I have followed in previous book club posts. I joined Hubski when ya'll were doing 2666, and it honestly seemed like a bad idea, The Savage Detectives by Bolano would have been a better choice. If everyone wants to do something short so we could polish off the book really quick, feel accomplished and have plenty to discuss, maybe Crying of Lot 49? How about Dubliners (kinda played out, I know, but still very worth reading if you haven't already) and we have like a week to finish each story and discuss? Also, White Noise by Don DeLillo, I read Underworld by him not too long ago, I love post-modern tomes, and good lord his cross-section of Americana was staggering. Lathe of Heaven? Tenth of December sounds good, as suggested below. I've been meaning to read some Saunders.
Someone suggested Michael Chabon, I live off Telegraph in Oakland, so I'm into that. zebra2 is on point, and I think doing either a short story collection or just a couple shorter novels back-to-back would be great. Or maybe every round of the bookclub can just have a theme?
Been looking at my copy of "Telegraph Avenue" for a couple months now. Time is in short supply, maybe some external deadlines would help me tear into it. There's no excuse, really- between "The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay" and "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," Michael Chabon can do no wrong. Come to think of it, either one of those would be good runners-up as well. The "Patrick Melrose" trilogy might be neat, as it carries an appeal to people at every generational juncture. As long as those people are British Aristocrat junkies, I guess. Anyhow, I'd read 'em again. What about short stories? I've put these gigs off in the past because I just don't have time to dig through the material. "Tenth of December" is supposed to be great, and from what I hear, George Saunders' pathway to authorship is a good story unto itself. Anyhow, all of those options enjoy the status of ownership by me. Which means I wouldn't have to dish out money I don't have on books I might or might not enjoy. Another reason I wasn't so hot with past book club forays.
I would gladly read Tenth of December+ again and have recommended it to kleinbl00 in the past. I scrap my other suggestions for now and endorse this one. It's perfect in that it's way more feasible for the time constrained and provides rich enough topics to have great discussions.
Short story format also fits the episodic nature of the discussions. Easy to compartmentalize topics.
There are two books I would suggest: 1. A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving -one of my favorite reads and i'd gladly read it again. I know that others, including mk have suggested it in the past. 2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susannah Clarke -one of the more entertaining reads I've had. It's not sci-fi but has some fantasy and it's set in the real world which elizabeth would appreciate. -Could be a good fit and I'd gladly read it again.
Lost book club mention may have been here : https://hubski.com/pub?id=147641
In order to separate the mission from the payload, my answers: 1) I think I'd rather do fiction and non-fiction. "sci-fi related" ended up kind of open-ended. 2) I've been doing both clubs, and will likely continue to do so. 3) I'd really rather read something new, but I've also just finished two really, really good books, both of which are likely to be provocative and enjoyable to a vast swath of people here. Not only that, but they both kinda blend the lines. My "non-fiction" suggestion would be Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark. This is a book on Life, The Universe and Everything that starts with mainstream cosmology and ventures forth into pretty crazy multiverse/philosophy territory. It reads kind of how Feynman would read if he were to write his first book two weeks ago, rather than his last book twenty years ago. Considering how much string theory and quantum suicide gets bandied about around here, it might be an interesting read. And it's pretty quick. My "fiction" suggestion would be The Martian, which is basically "Castaway" or "Apollo 13" if Tom Hanks were Louis CK and instead of an island, it was an aborted Mars mission. There's a shit ton of geeky math stuff in here that passes my sniff test but also makes me willfully suspend disbelief enough that I didn't breathe in very hard. The disadvantage of both books is I've read them, but I recommend them both wholeheartedly.
1) Fiction and non-fiction. I'm seriously in this time. It's summer and I have a two hour commute to and from work. I have the time. 2) Interested in both, but more fiction because facts are boring. 3) 1Q84? People love that book, and everything by Murakami. I want to find out why. 4) I will throw anime at you. Forever.
Don't listen to b_b; 1Q84 is rubbish. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is the superior Murakami.
Don't know what it is about 1Q84, but no one is luke warm about it. People either love it or hate it. I think it's a masterpiece. I've read 5 Murakamis (Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood, Hard Boiled Wonderland, What I Talk About), but I've not read Wind-Up Bird, so I have no frame of reference to compare in that debate, however. Edit: 8bit, if you want a good Murakami introduction, I would recommend reading Kafka on the Shore. It's amazing and accessible to the uninitiated. I think Murakami's style is what is sometimes known as magical realism, or something similar. 1Q84 is jumping off the deep end when you don't know how to swim. Probably not a good place to start.
Well eightbitsamurai just so all appropriate armchair readers get in on this train, I recommend A Wild Sheep Chase for your first Murakami. So there. And b_b, you should read it too. What did you think about "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running?" I really enjoyed it. I bought a copy for my brother, who is both a runner and a writer.
I will read all murakamis eventually. I'm in love with him. What I Talk About is interesting to me, but it isn't mind blowing. I'm not a runner, so I can't relate on that level. As a fan of his, I like that I can see that some if his characters are reflections of himself. It may be self evident that all writers have an autobiographical component to everything the create, but I still find it fun as a fan to hear this or that character's voice when I read his words about himself. Also, there are plenty of nuggets of wisdom sprinkled throughout, and that alone makes it a worthwhile read. I wouldn't, however, recommend it to anyone who isn't already a fan.
K, so I finally read A Wild Sheep Chase this week. Although I really loved the story, I got the feeling that there was some mythology that I was missing out on, as if I would have gotten more out of it had I been up to speed on some things that I'm not up to speed on. Is an evil sheep a thing in some Eastern myths? Either way, I couldn't put it down. I read his most recent one the previous week, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Wouldn't recommend it, I don't think. But that's the thing; I don't really know. It left me with a feeling like I couldn't tell if I liked it or hated it. I kept turning the pages in anticipation, but then it just kinds of ends with whimper.
Shintoism - that is a big part of any underlying "mythology" you may sense, it also factors into why no characters except the cat (spoiler!) have names. I don't think that there's anything specific about evil sheep in Shinto, however. I like Wild Sheep Chase because I think it's a bit of a mind-bender. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I personally would really like to read Norwegian Wood as I've heard very good things about it.
NW is nothing like his other writings. It lacks the supernatural component that is present in most of his other novels. It's not entirely devoid of metaphysics, but it's first and foremost a love story. You can read it in a weekend if you have some free time, but I doubt it will blow your mind. If you want a love story that also will punch you in the stomach, then read 1Q84. At 1000 pages, it's a bigger commitment than any of his other novels, but the payoff is tenfold. A+.
Nothing against the book, but A Clockwork Orange was one of a very few instances where I have read the novel and seen the movie where the movie comes out way ahead. This isn't to denigrate Burgess, as the book is a very good read, but more a testament to what a fucking freak genius Kubrick is.
I actually specifically want to revisit the slang/slangworld in the book, so you see I have a rather specific reason to reread Clockwork specifically other than, you know, just story. I am reviewing a poetry book for Kenning where the author experiments with words/portmanteaus and it reminded me enough of Clockwork that I wanted to revisit it. I agree however, the movie is fantastic. I saw it long before I read the book and it does remain one of my favorites. Now I am thinking I should rewatch...
You should rewatch, for nothing other than the sake of watching a fantastic movie. As for the slang, it's really interesting to read that book and find that you're reading it with no problem after about 20-30 pages. We're more adaptable than we realize sometimes.
I'm more interested in fiction and preferably not sci-fi though if it's a good book, it's a good book regardless of genre. Like you, these days the only time I have to "read" is with audio books. If I could just go back in time and convey to twenty-something year old me just how much free time he really has... Anyways, I'm up for anything especially if it's available on Audible.
1) I read mostly fiction but up for anything interesting
2) both
3) Seems like "Watchmen" was the most successful discussion; maybe that was due to the excellence of that work, not sure; but I think we should try to learn from our successes as well as the missteps. I'm on book 6 of "Saga of the Swamp Thing", which I believe kb suggested to me in that discussion. It's not quite on a par with "Watchmen", and a fair bit longer, but I think it'd be worth discussing.
I have - the first 3 I think. Not sure but I believe it was someone on hubski that suggested that one, a couple years back? There was a fan video shared too - may have been this one, I can't find the original hubski post
Hubski search turned up nada, but I googled "hubski y the last man" and found mentions here :
All, I suppose. I haven't started 6 yet, but book 5 was the best one so far. For the book club I think we'd probably want to do them one-by-one, but even so it's probably too large a work. Book 1 isn't a great choice on its own, because about half of it is Alan Moore tying up plot threads from the prior runs of "Swamp Thing". It's a great read though, highly recommended for those who liked "Watchmen" and/or "Sandman".
1) I read both and will pretty much read anything I have time for. 2) Sure. 3) I made a suggestion elsewhere, but I think that the time constraint kind of makes this hard. From what I saw over the course of the last iteration of #hubskibookclub, people sign up but then can't/won't join because of scheduling or they haven't had time to read to the agreed upon point. I also saw that if a book was chosen that people didn't care for, they didn't bother (fair). The thing is, a few times those votes were pretty damn close. However, even though there were lots of people interested in The Good Soldier Svejk for example, no other faction of the book club emerged so that those people could participate in #hubskibookclub too. Overall, I see a lot of expressed interest, but little actual participation. Ok. But it does kind of make the thing . . . die. Over and over again. But fuck it, I'll join in again.
1) Ive never been involved in these but I would be more inclined to become involved if they were separated. Either works, book and anything sci-fi might be better since that would preserve the two clubs in one form. 2) I'd be more interested in non sci-fi. 3) I'd very much like to read Our Mathematical Universe, but if not I'd recommend Flags of our Fathers. I've had it sitting around for a while and I've heard it's a great read. I'm biased towards military books though.
1) Fiction and Non-fiction. I can't say I'll be a regular participant in either, but that seems like the better split to me. looks at collection We'll see who'll do the burying. 2) Mostly interested in fiction, but will participate in Non Fiction, if the picks interest me. 3) My fiction suggestion would be Planetes (manga). Set in the future where space travel is common, it follows a space debries cleaning crew. Fairly realistic portrayal of space travel, deals with stuff realistically and doesn't have a "protagonists play a major role in the world" plot. Major events pass the characters by, but they aren't always affected by it directly and they often don't play any role at all in them.
I should've made it more clear that I didn't drop out of the club, I just couldn't figure out how to read Blindsight. That rarely happens to me. I'll read most anything that I haven't read. I'm currently in the midst of challenging myself to read 30 books this summer, so I won't be able to commit to anything I've previously finished. I'd love to read the Tegmark book.
1) Fiction/Non-fiction 2) I'd be more interested in fiction, but would read both if I can find the time 3) Something Happened by Joseph Heller only because I bought it a few weeks ago and haven't started it yet. I would really like to pick up something that someone else suggests though
I'm honestly not very interested in sci-fi. I did read the first book of the sci-fi club but that was only because I knew the author was one of my mom's favorites. I think I would be interested in a non-fiction book club (fiction too if it's the kind of fiction that's set in the real world) but don't count on me until september. I don't even know where I could get an english book here unless i'm willing to pay exorbitant shipping prices. Basically i'm out of the book club until september unless we read something available on PDF.