Clarification/Reminder/Announcement...?

Hey there!
Seems I wasn't super clear and forgot to update (I know, I forgot to update- shocking!), but for those of you that didn't hear through the grapevine, we're meeting this upcoming Sunday, 5/5, at Karyn's house at 7pm.

We'll be discussing Gatsby and hopefully getting a date on the calendar for seeing the movie after it opens.

Hope to see y'all there!

Happy Reading!

Movies

Two quick movie announcements-

FIRST of all, please join other nesters to watch Dead by Sunset at Stephanie Balavac's house next Sunday, Apr 28th, from 7-10 pm. Snacks at 6:30- movie starts at 7 sharp. :) Please let Karyn or Stephanie know if you'll be able to make it!

Secondly, The Great Gatsby comes out in theatres on May 10th. What days work best for y'all? Post or lemme know so we can pick a time that works for the most people.

Happy Reading!

Book Club By-Laws

Book Club By-Laws

a.k.a. Words to Read By

In case you weren't around when these were established, or you've forgotten them, or you think OTHERS have forgotten them, here are the newly updated and expanded-upon rules and regulations for book selection and reading. Let me know if I've missed any.


1. Nothing over 1,000 pages. Consider length in general- if it's on the longer side but it's still an engulfing read, 700 pages might not be terrible, especially since we're establishing the books well in advance. If it's a dry biography, or even a fabulous book by a Russian author that has like 250 pages on Russian farming (I'm lookin' at you, Anna Karenina), 400 pages might be way too long. Use your judgement- but DEFINITELY don't EVER exceed 1k. Do I love Stephen King's Under the Dome? Heck yes. Will I choose it even though it's 1,096 pages and that's sort of barely over? Heck no. Sorry, Stephen.

2. No books that can be bought in a grocery store checkout line. Quality, people. No Twilight, no romance novels, and for heaven's sake, NO FIFTY SHADES OF ANYTHING. We want to become collectively smarter through this.

3. No books that require prior knowledge. Got a great book that's in the middle of the series? No thanks. Recommend the series all you want, but please don't pick it for club. Great book on something subject specific (medicine, science, history, etc) that you need to have a degree to understand? Sorry, it's not the right fit for group. This doesn't mean the book's not great, it means that it's not accessible for most people.

4. No Christian books. Sorry. I love Jesus, and so do many (most/all) of the people currently attending, but this will alienate visitors. This HAS to be a safe place to invite all kinds of people. Books about missionaries or with religious themes are fine, but please stay away from "Christian fiction".

5. Consider discussion. You may have loved a book, but if there's not much to talk about, leave it. Recommend all you want, but please don't choose it for club. For example- Stacy and I both LOVED The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and would highly recommend it, but neither of us has chosen it because it wouldn't elicit much discussion. But seriously, read it! It's lovely.

6. Don't choose a book that you feel so strongly about that you will be blind/deaf to the opinions of others. Here's a quote from my 4th favorite book of all time: "Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book, and then there are books which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal." Evangelical zeal= great! You'll spark some great discussion with people that have different views/opinions. "YOUR" books= danger! Some of us are extremely passionate about books and have a few that we can't hear other opinions about. DON'T choose those books. We want to be friends at the end of this. I'm a mostly rational person, but there are some books that I feel so strongly about that I have to resist the urge to punch people when they disagree. That's insane, I know that, and so I haven't chosen those books. End of story. On that note, some advice for readers...

7. Feel free to disagree/ skip a book... but challenge yourself. We want to grow from this, and reading the exact same type of book over and over isn't the answer to that. However... I sort of strongly dislike nonfiction, but I've grown to appreciate it because I took a few chances. I'm a better, more well-rounded reader because of it. Don't dismiss something because it's "not your thing". On the other hand, I chose to skip a specific book for personal reasons, but that didn't reflect on the book itself or the person choosing it. I just wasn't emotionally strong enough at the moment to deal. I also wanted to choose a book on the US's first serial killer using the Chicago World's Fair as a hunting ground, and I know that ruffled some feathers. That's okay- not every book is for every person. Respect the choices of others.

8. Bring your own questions/points to discuss. This is a new rule- but PLEASE bring things you'd like to discuss. The discussion questions we find online are generally surface-y and meant for book clubs that are more about the wine selection than the book selection. I've got nothing against wine at book club (seriously), but we would like to be more than that. Questions from everyone will hopefully start important, intellectual discussions. Think about quotes you love, symbolism/metaphors, author's purpose, all that jazz. It's like English class, but you don't have a really hairy old man telling you what Bradbury means and you aren't doodling in your notebook- you're involved because you WANT to be, and so does everyone else. That's kind of great, right?

And now, with that, don't forget to have your 2-3 choices for next month (May's) meeting. We'll get a variety, so choose whatever you want, and please respect what we end up coming up with. If your books aren't chosen, they'll go back in for consideration next year, and it may be just so we can ensure a variety. Thanks!

Happy reading!

Future business

Hey all!
First of all, this is a quick reminder that our next meeting is TOMORROW to discuss Dead by Sunset- info is in the last post, but don't forget to be there!

Secondly, we are trying to revamp book club a bit in order to streamline to some extent. We've been discussing how to do this for some time, and here's the plan. Starting with May's book club pick, we will be pre-choosing the books for the rest of the year so everyone can get the books ahead of time, read when they can, and even pick up books when they happen to notice them cheaply priced, like at garage sales. This way, we will also ensure some variety in choices and keep the pressure off of the next host. PLEASE make a list of 2-3 books of any kind that you would like to discuss and bring it to next month's meeting so we can have some time to sort through and get the year figured out. If you can't make it to next month's meeting, please give your list to either me (Kirsten), Karyn Vorhees, Stacy Leatherman, or Mary Richardson sometime in the next month.

Lastly, we already have our choice for the April/May read- we will be reading (or rereading) The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald! It's been a while since we had a classic, and with the movie coming out, we thought it would be appropriate. The book club is tentatively set for May 5th (Sunday) at my house, but I'll confirm details in the next few days, when my husband is home from camping and I can make sure we don't have plans :).  We're also planning our first ever MOVIE NIGHT to partake in the glory that is Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, but again, details will follow. We hope you can join, and that you're as excited about the changes as we are!

If that was too text-heavy, here are the highlights:
1. Book club tomorrow (Sun, Apr 7)
2. Next pick is The Great Gatsby- meeting TBD
3. Please make a list of 2-3 book choices so we can plan the rest of the year and bring to May's meeting.
4. MOVIE NIGHT! (tbd)

Happy Reading!