50 books to read before you die discussion

Hi all apologies for the long absence.

I see we have lots of new members, welcome all.

So I need an opinion here please. I've been battling for a while to set up monthly nominations and polls on time. We also have the same books nominated repeatedly and few participants.


I've been trying to think of a way to solve this.

My suggestion would be to look at our two lists and to choose 6 books from each for the rest of the year,reading one book from each for each month of the year. But we would chose these books slightly differently, with each active member suggesting 4 books per list. After a certain amount of time I will add them up and we will have our 12 books.

This solves several problems.
1) no more time consuming monthly nominations and polls
2 Encourage active participation
3) Knowing books in advance.

I look forwards to hearing your thoughts or other suggestions. Hopefully we can all come up with a satisfactory solution.

You could make a poll of the (remaining) books, or just some of them, and people could vote for them. (Or let people to write-in books.) Then after some time you just pick the one with most votes as the monthly read and delete it from the poll. The people who voted for it will get their votes back and can vote something else and others can change their vote or let it remain the same. I'm not sure how it would actually work out but I am thinking about doing something similar in my own group.

Tytti wrote: "You could make a poll of the (remaining) books, or just some of them, and people could vote for them. (Or let people to write-in books.) Then after some time you just pick the one with most votes a..."

It's a good idea but, it will still mean time monthly to set up the poll plus we have loads of people who vote but don't join in the group read..

What's your group Tytti?

The books we are to read as a group are already on our list. Do we really need to nominate and vote? If we read one a month we cover the entire list in four years. The group started about five years ago. Have there been group discussions on all the books yet? I joined about three years ago. I've participated in most of the monthly reads and so now I've read almost all of the books on the bookmark list, as I know you have too.

We could read any books that there hasn't been a group discussion on so far, and then start again at the beginning of the list and revive the old threads for the benefit of those who joined after those discussions happened.

I've also discovered some great books on our list of 100 Books They Didn't Tell Us About I'd guess that a lot of our new members don't even know about it.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....

Also, lately you had been accepting nominations and votes for books not on either of our lists. We also had at least one buddy read. I like having more than one book to choose from to read and discuss each month. I enjoy the group interaction - the livelier the better. I've read most of the books from our lists and I'm not a re-reader, but I'll join in if it hasn't completely blurred in my memory. We have hundreds of members, and lots of new members. If only a few join in, it works.

However you decide, as moderator, to select the books suits me just fine. Thank you for coming back, Lisa.

Lisa wrote: "it will still mean time monthly to set up the poll"

It wouldn't really, you could have an open ended poll (or to the end of the year or something) and just pick the first one as the monthly read once a month and delete it then. You wouldn't have to touch the rest of them. (I think it would work like that, at least if you choose the book poll. I tested it a bit.) But I understand the voting issue because sometimes even if I plan and want to read some book, I still won't read it during that month (or year).

I just started my group, basically because there were none for the Finnish readers in Finnish where also Finnish books could be read and discussed. We just had our first poll for June after a couple of months of me picking books that suit the theme I had chosen for that month. But it's still a small group. It's here but... https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

I am guessing there is no listopia for those "100 Books They Didn't Tell Us About"? It might be interesting to see how people would vote.

Buck wrote: "The books we are to read as a group are already on our list. Do we really need to nominate and vote? If we read one a month we cover the entire list in four years. The group started about five year..."

I've been puzzling at this for a while, we definitely have had rereads and the same books come up again and again.

A way of fixing that is, to simply cross the book off the list. After all, the threads do stay up. I really like our list of 100 books, there's so much there that I'd still like to read.

Another option would be nominations and polls every 2nd month, with the top 2 choices being read from each list. I'm really struggling with time...

Is there anyone out there who would want to help moderate?

Tytti wrote: "Lisa wrote: "it will still mean time monthly to set up the poll"

It wouldn't really, you could have an open ended poll (or to the end of the year or something) and just pick the first one as the m..."

Really? That's interesting. Then I could just put up all the books we haven't read and leave the poll open? That sounds like it's worth a try. Thanks.

A finish group sounds interesting.

No there isn't a listopia...

Lisa wrote: "we definitely have had rereads and the same books come up again and again.

A way of fixing that is, to simply cross the book off the list."

This is why I suggested my solution. The most popular books would be chosen first and then they couldn't be nominated/voted anymore.

Lisa wrote: "Then I could just put up all the books we haven't read and leave the poll open?"

Yep, though I haven't actually tried it because I don't have a set of books to put in the poll nor not enough voters. And you would have to use this one:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/new?id... I think that enables you to delete one book and its votes but leave the rest, and their votes, untouched.

And yeah, Finns read slightly different books than many English groups here. For example I chose the upcoming Euro 2016 as our theme and the eligible books would have to be able to tie to that somehow. So we chose a Danish book that has only two editions here, Danish and Finnish, but it sounds interesting (family history, Stasi etc.) and has a bit of football in it. The cover pretty much sealed the deal

I'm not convinced about being able to remove books. Think I will try a test poll and see.

Thanks for the help.

That cover is awesome.

Think I'm going to run a nominations/poll for both lists but for two months instead of one, then see if it is possible to edit polls as I go along. Thank you.

Well I have that "change/remove" thing next to the book in Edit Poll so if it doesn't work then there is a bug.

---------
Edit Poll
Question
XXXXX

Answers
1
change | remove
11291921
Kuin surmaisi satakielen, by Harper Lee
ISBN 9789512076659
2
change | remove
2405850
Kultahattu, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
ISBN 9789516430730
3
change | remove
10430602
Jenkki kuningas Arthurin hovissa, by Mark Twain
ISBN 9512323559
4
change | remove
9435147
Tuulen viemää, by Margaret Mitchell
ISBN 9789511231257

add answer | remove answer
Order answers randomly
------

I know you can do that while setting up a poll, not sure if I can once it's up. But I've called for nominations for the next 2 months and will see if it's possible when the poll is up.
Thanks again.

Lisa wrote: "I know you can do that while setting up a poll, not sure if I can once it's up.."

That is taken from a poll that is currently up.

Do we really need nominations from the lists? The lists are in fact nominated books. The moderator could simply select a few from the list to make a poll. This would certainly be easier than sorting through the vagaries, irregularities, and weirdnesses of the nominations. The ones that don't win the poll go back in the pool.

This of course wouldn't apply to the open nominations.

I've had problems in groups where I have just chosen the books.

I'm trying to do what Tytti suggested and have a continuous poll of the remaining books. This is a dummy run to see if it works.

Here a listing* of the 50 books we've read as a group. FYI
We've read some more than once.

Date 50 Books - Group Reads No. of Comments
Jul-11 2 1984 by George Orwell 40
Aug-11 46 Catch 22 by Joseph Heller 13
Aug-11 9 The Lord of the Flies by William Golding 5
Oct-11 28 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 20
Dec-11 42 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 10
Jan-12 36 The Color Purple by Alice Walker 5
Feb-12 16 The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank 9
Mar-12 41 Gulliver´s Travels by Jonathan Swift 5
Apr-12 20 Ulysses by James Joyce 9
May-12 27 His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman 13
Jul-12 22 Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks 4
Jul-12 39 The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells 3
Aug-12 44 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe 7
Sep-12 43 Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 2
Oct-12 3 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 44
Dec-12 37 Life of Pi by Yann Martel 18
Jan-13 1 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien 21
Mar-13 18 The Bible 23
Mar-13 25 Moby Dick by Herman Melville 4
Apr-13 26 The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 4
May-13 6 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 8
Jun-13 12 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 25
Jul-13 38 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 6
Oct-13 48 Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden 9
Dec-13 2 1984 by George Orwell 30
Jan-14 33 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 6
Jan-14 34 The Way We Live Now by Antony Trollope 5
Feb-14 5 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 57
Mar-14 21 The Quiet American by Graham Greene 19
Apr-14 45 One flew over the Cuckoo´s Nest by Ken Kesey 23
May-14 7 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 60
Jun-14 50 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 26
Jul-14 14 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 5
Jul-14 27 His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
- The Golden Compass 9
Aug-14 2 1984 by George Orwell 15
Aug-14 27 His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
- The Subtle Knife 16
Sep-14 9 The Lord of the Flies by William Golding 23
Sep-15 27 His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
- The Amber Spyglass 14
Nov-14 1 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hobbit (prequel) 10
Nov-14 31 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
by Mark Haddon 2
Nov-14 1 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
-The Fellowship of the Ring 34
Dec-14 1 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
- The Two Towers 2
Dec-14 15 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 6
Jan-15 1 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
- The Return of the King 1
Jan-15 13 The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger 21
Jan-15 36 The Color Purple by Alice Walker 4
Feb-15 46 Catch 22 by Joseph Heller 5
Feb-15 28 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 24
Feb-15 29 Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 12
Mar-15 41 Gulliver´s Travels by Jonathan Swift 3
Apr-15 4 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 33
May-15 22 Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks 16
May-15 35 The Outsider a.k.a The Stranger by Albert Camus 3
Jun-15 6 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 22
Jun-15 12 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 9
Jul-15 47 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 22
Aug-15 43 Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 10


The following books haven't been the subject of group reads:
8 A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
10 Hamlet by William Shakespeare
11 A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
17 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
19 The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
23 Money by Martin Amis
30 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
32 On the Road by Jack Kerouac
40 Men without Women by Ernest Hemingway
49 The Divine Comedy by Alighieri Dante

*no guarantee of accuracy

Good to know.
I've called for the June July nominations with an overwhelming response. If the poll idea works I will use this. Thanks for the help.