Not your Mom and Pop Book Club

[alanbenjaminscher]

Hang out at the Sebastopol Public Library and not just for the air conditioning? Ever tempted to leave a note in one of the books in the Holds section? Do you sidle up to the catalog computer and see what the last search was? Excited there's a new Thomas Pynchon coming out? Think he's totally over-rated and want to tell us why? OK, let's talk!

The general idea is read a book, love it or hate it, then get together and see where the conversation takes us. You interested? Of course you are. All the cool kids are doing it. Email us. We're getting together soon.

[email protected]

[Barry]

Hang out at the Sebastopol Public Library and not just for the air conditioning? Ever tempted to leave a note in one of the books in the Holds section? Do you sidle up to the catalog computer and see what the last search was? Excited there's a new Thomas Pynchon coming out? Think he's totally over-rated and want to tell us why? OK, let's talk!

The general idea is read a book, love it or hate it, then get together and see where the conversation takes us. You interested? Of course you are. All the cool kids are doing it. Email us. We're getting together soon.

[email protected] idea and great post Alan!

I would also most welcome a book discussion (or anything else literary) on this site for the wider community. It could start as a thread or three in the General Community category.

If there seems to be interest I'd be happy to create and Poetry and Prose Category here to feature all things literary, including our member's original works, literary discussions, poetry jams where someone starts a poem online and then someone else replies publicly to write the next bit, and anything else we come up with...

I've floated the idea past Larry Robinson (Sebastopol's Poet Laureate and former Mayor) at our picnic and he was interested, but after the election.

So don't be shy! Contact Alan or jump in online!

[allspirit]

Hi, <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

I have been thinking about a book club for some time. I’m wondering what kind of books you have in mind? And what the intention is….<o:p></o:p>

Is it to discuss books…or “dissect” them…I have heard of book clubs who spend their time being critical (i.e.: rip apart) of the work, the author, etc., as opposed to discussing it on all levels…. <o:p></o:p>

please don’t take offense…and it is not my intention to “preach”…it’s just that I have found at times people on Wacco who are critical of others in the name of political/environmental/spiritual “correctness”. Discussion and sharing of ideas, making plans for social change are wonderful and necessary …putting others down is not my choice of how to have an impact on this crazy world…(whoops…did I just do what I am saying I don’t like…don’t mean to put others down…just don’t want to be part of that kind of process) :Embarrass:<o:p></o:p>

Okay…I got that off my chest…so I’d like to hear more about the book club <o:p></o:p>

Blessings,<o:p></o:p>

Marcia<o:p></o:p>

[spacekitty]

The book club is happening!

We are meeting Monday 21 August, 7:30 pm, at Coffee Catz in Sebastopol.

The format is not firmly decided yet. We went with the old standby of reading one book ahead of time and discussing it. We hope that the conversation will branch out in an interesting way from there. At the first meeting, we can get a consensus on what kinds of books we will read, how we'll choose them, and so forth. We can also talk about what people want to get out of the club.

For this meeting, we are reading Slowness by Milan Kundera. It is about 170 pages long. [Description from Booklist: Kundera explores the predicament we've gotten ourselves into in our haste to live, to get things done, to move from one place to the next, to devour without experiencing... The narrator (the writer himself, "Milanku" ) and his wife decide to vacation at a chateau, and en route he immediately begins meditating on slowness versus speed when they find themselves impeding the progress of the driver behind them. Before the end...Kundera has converted his philosophical ruminations into a delightful fictional piece in which the action takes place at the chateau. The writer sets up parallel stories of seduction; one set in the eighteenth century, the other contemporary.]

Email [email protected] to let us know you are interested or drop on by.

Thanks!

[spacekitty]

Hi Marcia!

I am helping Alan set up this book club. I just posted the details of the first meeting and thought I'd reply best I can to your questions. We haven't decided what kind of books to read, exactly. Probably mostly fiction, maybe a little light non-fiction.

I hope people come to the discussions from many directions. In the last book club I was in, we started with "Did you like it or not?" and went from there. I usually focus equally on the story and on the style, asking the questions "Why did the author write this? Did it convince me? What is the context for the story? How does it compare to previous works/other authors?"

I hear you about only ripping on books; I think most books have something to teach us, even if we don't agree with the viewpoint, or if the lesson is how not to write a novel.

Please come by if you are interested.