Our Shared Shelf discussion

Hello there, is anyone in the Melbourne area and keen to meet up?

Yeah definitely! But I am quite young and still in school so I'm not sure how flexible I'll be..?

No worries Raquel. I was thinking Sundays might be best but we can wait until the school holidays if you like. I'm thinking of starting a group on Meetup.com. Might be the easiest way to organise regular catch ups?

Obviously I'm kind of late to this, but I would be interested in starting a Melbourne-based meet up as well. Meetup.com is a great platform, although it would be good to find some more people who actually belong to the group first, if possible!

Ooooh! Me too!

Hi everyone, I've been following Our Shared Shelf's book list for a while and keen to meet up with others in Melbourne reading along as well, and perhaps even start a book club around this. Are you already doing this? If not, can we meet?

With the beginning of 2017 underway now would be a great time to organise a meet up if something hasn't already been planned. What do we think? Should we aim for a meet up this January and get to know each other?

Sounds good to me :) I won't have time to read this month's book but we could get the ball rolling for future books!

Hi, has a Melbourne meet up started? Keen to join or if not, would be great to get one going!

Where is everyone located? There is a community room at the St. Kilda library. I could organize if we get a group. Flexible on location!

I'm in the Caulfield area, so the city or south/eastern suburbs works for well for me, although it would be preferable to be near a train line if at all possible? In which case inner northern suburbs could work too .... pretty flexible, as long as there's transport!

Hi ! Just joined and keen for a meet up as well! I'm in Brighton so St Kilda works!

Given that we just had International Women's Day, now seems like a good time to actually get some momentum going on this - how would sometime during the Easter long weekend suit everyone? My vote for a location would probably be in the city, as I feel like that might be more convenient for people in different suburbs, but that depends on who would actually be interested, of course :)

Hi Sophia :) Great to hear you're interested. The Easter Weekend was just a suggestion - we can always choose a time that suits the people who respond!

Also, I haven't even started reading the current book yet, so don't worry. I actually figured it doesn't really matter if we haven't finished the book, especially for the first meeting - it would just be good to meet and see what people would like to do with the meetups in future.

Is everyone here either on Meetup.com or happy to join? Or would people be interested in setting up a separate Goodreads group for this (i.e., Our Shared Shelf Melbourne Meetup)? Maybe that would help us all get organised with this - just a thought :)

Hi all! I have only just joined this group (haven't done any reading yet) but would love to be involved. I think somewhere in the heart of the city is a good spot to meet up, as it's well connected via public transport. I live on the Mornington Peninsula -- St Kilda is tricky to get to via PT!
I'm pretty flexible for time, I study in Burwood and my work is self-directed. Happy to work around what suits you guys. Having said that, Easter will be a crazy time as I'm aiming to submit a draft of my literature review to my supervisors on the 7th, but if that has gone well I should be fine to meet up!

Hi Carly! Welcome to the group :)

It does look like Easter wasn't a very good suggestion - I suppose lots of people will have family stuff then, too. What about the weekend after (22 or 23 April), maybe?

Hi there! Exciting to see we're making progress with the meet up! Weekend after Easter works for me :)

Hi everybody!!
I just joined this group and was looking for where to post, so hopefully this is an appropriate space!
I live in Melbourne, I'm 37 years old. I'd been scared of words like feminism all my life since I thought they carried a lot of preconceptions about how things should or shouldn't be. However I am very inspired by how new meanings are being created around those strong words and I'm very excited to join this group and start reading! Emma is such an inspiring lady, and this is such an awesome initiative! :)
I'm aware that I've joined quite late in the month and won't have the time to read the March's book, so I'm keen on knowing what's the April's title and join the conversation!!
Love,
Yadi

Hi Yadi, welcome :) Great to hear you're excited to get stuck into things ...

Would you be interested in coming to a meetup? Currently we are thinking maybe the weekend after Easter, somewhere in the city. There would be no obligation to have read March/April's book - although I'll certainly do my best, it is a busy time for me (and everyone, I'm sure), so I think it's best to keep it low pressure!

I've only just joined the group, however, I might tag along some time soon!

I'm on Meetup.com if you all decide to set up there.

Hi Lila, that's good to hear :)

I do think making either a separate group on Goodreads or a group on Meetup.com might make things a bit easier to organise, but obviously we don't want to leave anyone out - I guess we'll see what happens!

Sounds great Lois! I'm in :)

Quick question: the current book is for March and April?

Yadi

Yep, that's what it says on the group page! Just as well because I haven't even gotten around to starting it yet :/

Got the book!! Starting tonight!!
Looking forward to meeting you ladies the weekend after Easter.
Yadi

Yay! I have not started yet, but hopefully I will be able to in the next couple of days ...

I was thinking we should nut out some of the details for our meet up so people can advise whether they can make it and we can book a table. How do people feel about the afternoon of Saturday 22 April?

Also, somewhere in the city would be good, so it is accessible via public transport to people in different areas - maybe Mr Tulk (the cafe inside the State Library) or Journal Cafe (at the City Library/CAE on Flinders Lane)?

@Lois Saturday 22nd is good! I'm in Caulfield, so the city is good for me :)

Hi All, is a meetup this Saturday arvo (22/4) still in the works? I'm keen to join!

Hi! Yes, sorry - I was going to suggest 2pm at Journal Cafe (in the same building as the CAE/City Library on Flinders Lane).

It looks like it will be a small group, as so far just the three of us have confirmed (plus maybe a friend of mine who isn't in the Goodreads group but is interested in the book club).

On the plus side, that means we shouldn't have any trouble getting a table! If anyone else is keen, let us know so that we can try to snag a big enough table :)

What do you think? Does that sound like a plan?

2pm at The Journal Cafe is perfect. See you then!

I'll come along! Haven't read pass the first few pages yet though :S
Yadi

Don't worry - me neither! I will try and get there a little early to grab a table and comment here to let you all know which one.

Lois and I are on the first table on the right hand side when you enter the cafe :)

Hey ladies - it was great to meet a couple of you yesterday :) I don't know about you, but I had a blast, and it looks like we'll have some really interesting discussion next time around!

For those of you who couldn't make it, we have decided to try to keep up with regular meetings every other month (at the end of each book cycle).

To make it a bit easier to organise and keep track of everything (as well as to avoid cluttering up this space), I've set up a separate group here on Goodreads specifically for the Melbourne meetup. Please join it here if you're interested in coming along - you'll find details of the next meeting there very soon. You could even join if you just want a forum to chat about the books from a local perspective :)

Hope to see some of you there!

It was great to meet you ladies!! Looking forward to the next meeting!! 🤗😊

And me,too!
(I know I'm a little too late for it...

Hi Jess!

We've actually been doing a regular (bi-monthly) meetup in Melbourne for the last year or so. I set up a separate Goodreads group for it to keep things a bit more organised. You can find the group here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Our next meetup is scheduled for 14 July - you can find the event details here: https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/...

Hope to see you there :)

Haha, no worries. See you in July then :)

Alexandra wrote: "I’m also in Melbourne! Let me know if this does go ahead. I’m in Preston."

Hi Alexandra,

The meetup is scheduled for 5pm on 14 July at The Moat in the CBD (under the State Library/Wheeler Centre). Details are here: https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/...

It will definitely be going ahead so let us know if you'd like to join us :)

Oh wow...I really would, but that's the day I'm unavailable. Plus, I'm not sure if my parents would let me!

Sorry to hear that Nusaybah :( if you would like to try to make the next one, let us know what the problem is and we will see if we can do anything about it. In the meantime, you’re always welcome to join the Goodreads group - happy reading :)