Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hello all! I've created a new poll to find out how the group feels regarding GR Author group reads. There has been a slow response for nominations, so I'm wondering if we should spread them out more instead of doing them every month.

Please let us know what you think. I also welcome any and all feedback here as well!

Thanks!

What is a GR Author group read and how does it work? If you don't mind me asking.

We've been doing two monthly group reads: one for general fantasy, and one for fantasy books that were written by members of Goodreads (GR Authors). Ideally, we'd like for the GR Author to participate in the discussion, but that is not necessary.

We have a nomination period for people to submit whichever books they would like to read for that month, and then I create a poll which the group votes on, with separate polls for GR Authors and General Fantasy nominations. The book that wins each poll is our monthly group read. We normally do this about two months in advance to give people a month to get the winning book if they choose to and then a month to read it before discussing it.

From there, the discussion leader will take over and begin the threads to talk about the book.

Does that answer your question? :)

yes, thank you very much!

Amanda wrote: "yes, thank you very much!"

Anytime. :)

Oooo.. that would be cool. =)

http://www.cardshark.com/content/view...

What would be cool?

I have a question about this poll. If we vote to have it less often than once a month, will we go to just one reading selection per month on the off months of a GR author? Or will we select two general fantasy?

Just curious....

Good question, Chris! I hadn't really thought about it, but I had planned on leaving the general fantasy reads as is, and just doing the GR Author read according to the results of the poll.

Do you think that people would want to do 2 general fantasy reads for the months that we do not do a GR Author read?

Anyone else have an opinion on this?

That's hard to say - it might require another poll. Heh....

Personally, I think it would be fine to have two. Especially since the last couple of months have come down to the wire on a winner. Everyone would have a choice of participating with one or both books. They wouldn't necessarily have to read/buy more, unless they just wanted to. But they'd also have a greater chance of having a reading option they liked.

Might could even have a classic book and a new book each month. But then we'd have to figure out which of those two to skip when the GR book comes up.

I like the idea Chris came up with, I wouldn't mind having two general fantasy. And it would be nice to have reading options.

I like the idea of having a classic read too. Thanks for the feedback. :)

Anyone else have an opinion or want to chime in?

Chris wrote: "But then we'd have to figure out which of those two to skip when the GR book comes up. "

Alternate them. For the first one, put up a poll, asking everyone which they would like to read with the GR book for the month: Classic or New. After than, just alternate them. If the poll shows that everyone wants a GR and a New book the first time, then the second time a GR book comes along, it gets read with a classic.

We'll also have to determine what we define as "classic".

Tolkien, Burroughs, or Howard are obvious classics. But what about stuff like The Eye of the World? The series is still contemporary, but the first book has certainly earned classic status. 1990 was when it came out.

Maybe a simple cutoff at a certain year. Of course that will vary with each person.

Feel free to do it any way you like. I can't guarantee I'd always participate because I'm trying not to buy anymore new books right now, in order to conquer my enormous "to read" pile. I don't really think I'll be discussing any GoodReads authors in the near future, with the exception of The Crown Conspiracy, but I may check out more eventually and I certainly enjoy exploring the independent scene of fantasy authors. I wouldn't normally come across these books otherwise.

OK, sorry for the delay in posting the result of this poll. I thought I had set it to end on the 15th.

It seems that most people would prefer to have the GR author reading every 3 months.

Would you like to do a regular general fantasy poll AND a GR author reading for those months, or skip the general reading on the months that we do the author reads?

Please provide your feedback... :)

I'd suggest skipping the general fantasy on months we have a GR author. My suggestion is entirely selfish because I now officially belong to too many book groups and I'm getting confused.

Sandi wrote: "I'd suggest skipping the general fantasy on months we have a GR author. My suggestion is entirely selfish because I now officially belong to too many book groups and I'm getting confused."

Haha! I have a lot of groups too, so I feel your pain!