Anything Goes discussion

Please post your thoughts on revising our monthly books section
Many thanks - Chris

I always try to vote and plan to participate but often I simply cannot get a copy of the book in time.

That's often my problem Alice. I try to get my books from the library so that often involves a wait if the book is already out.

Joan wrote: "That's often my problem Alice. I try to get my books from the library so that often involves a wait if the book is already out."

Yes, I am on the list for 3 books right now and on one I am number 88, another 170 in the queue. It may take 3 months before the book reaches me. I only buy a book if I know for sure I will want to read it again.

I also meant to say that I do like the idea of a monthly book - it's often introduced me to genres I wouldn't have thought of. Don't know what the solution is though Chris. Have other groups overcome this problem somehow?

I too enjoy being introduced to new genres and books I wouldn't normally have picked for myself; the BotM is excellent for that. I didn't realise the library queues were so long for popular books. We could plan our books further ahead, but it doesn't sound like that is going to be sufficiently effective.

Maybe we need to have some books with longer time-frames, quarterly for instance, along with some "buddy reads" in smaller groups. We could also look at a series or specific authors for monthly discussions.

We don't have to change anything if that's what everyone wants, but it seems to me that we need to improve things to get a bit more participation.

Is this just for the paper book or is there a similar waiting time for the ebook version? eBooks are becoming a popular alternative for Library loans and some services are available over the internet. I wondered if this was a possible alternative but I wouldn't know what the waiting times were. And I suppose some people prefer the real book to reading on a screen anyway.

We are all fond of the Themed Reads and the Book of the Month, but it seems some of us are struggling to get the books on time because library queues are long and slow moving, or work and family pressures mean we need a bit longer than a month to finish a book and join the thread. Therefore I was wondering if we should deliberately aim for a slower turnaround but have more book choices.

EG
Select 3 to 4 books (plus a classic if anyone is interested), from a poll in the usual way and have them as featured reads for 3 months. Please post your thoughts; we could move to this arrangement for October - December if you think it would work

Chris

A good idea Chris. It would give me a chance to read more than one book in the selections as well as keeping up with my real life book group at my library.

I like it. Good idea

I'm going to go with this quarterly pick of books from October through to the end of December, to see how it goes. I'll drop the monthly theme too for now, but if anyone misses it, we can add it back later. A new thread will be posted for nominations, followed by a poll early September and we'll have 4 book threads open over the 3 months.

Please nominate as many books as you fancy, including those in a series, because we can always start up a series discussion/thread for anyone who chooses to start from the beginning.