SA Book & Challenge Lovers discussion

If anyone has any suggestions for the group, please make them here :)

Hey Lu, like what?
I think we should all get together sometime hehe,
No... more seriously... I'll think about it and let you know, but let me know also what you have in mind?

Well anything anyone can think of to add to the group and make it better :)
I also think we need to meet, maybe little book clubs in each area :)

Yes, sounds like fun! The book clubs!
Also, I dont know if this is relevant, but I would like to know what are some of the other interests of the other people...

Mmmm like a "what are your other interest" thread?

Yes! I mean, I like different things, and maybe some other people like them to, I've just got this crazy idea, I love animals, and I know the SPCA is in need of money, maybe there are other people who love animals to, and we could all just get our ideas flowing to think of some things to maybe help them??? I know this is a book sight, but that shouldnt limit us right?

Here we go :)
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

I noticed Lu that there are members of the group who find it difficulT to find books, and as you mentioned in one of your post, there are some of us who can help in that department and point people in the right direction. Do you think it would be a good idea to have a "Looking for a book" Thread where people can post what books they are looking for and then can be directed accordingly?

Here we go :)

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Hi Lu,
I noticed on the other book club group I belong to that they have a section called the Chit chat board and basically you can talk about anything on there, that way the Group doesnt get bogged down with unnessary chat. Do you think it would be a good idea?

Sounds good :)
Will make a section :)

Forgot about this:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

Anything and Everything folder :)

How about an 'Epic read' that lasts for a couple of months? Reading challenges tend to encourage us to read short books so we can finish faster, so you start to miss out on those great epic novels (unless you read really fast or have lots of time). It seems like no one is doing this month's group read, but it looks like a really great book, just not one that most of us could finish in a month.

So what about a 3-month group read featuring something really big - 600 pages and longer?

Hey Lauren

The other groups I belong to usually do a group read over 2 months (its royal history type books) because there is no way you could finish a book like that in one month, unless you spead read and then miss out on some of the facts

I agree with you, I think we sould do an Epic read

I like the Epic Read idea :)

3 months sound good for it. Maybe 500+ ?

500+ is fine with me :)

Really big is 900+. That's an EPIC read!

On a more serious note this sounds like a great idea.

Lu, I know what can qualify as an epic read!!!!!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Pottery epic? Nope.

Rather take a look at Cryptonomicon - 1100 pages in paperback.

;)

I want to read Neal Stephenson's Baroque trilogy - probably comes close to 3000 pages in total.

I haven't read anything by him yet. I just hope when I tackle Cryptonomicon it doesn't disappoint.

Um I'll need more than 3 months to read that many pages :)

I read Snow Crash at varsity, it was awesome, so punky and fun. I've got The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, but I haven't read it. I'm getting the Baroque trilogy through Bookmooch, but I don't know if I'll get to it anytime soon. Don't know if I can tackle Cryptonomicon yet...

Niecole wrote: "Um I'll need more than 3 months to read that many pages :)"

Well, if you add up the number of pages you read over 3 months it should come to 1100 easily. You might not be able to read much else in that time though.

But usually it's the book that matters, not the number of pages. I took 3 months to read a 190-page novel, but I can rip through 400 pages in 2 days if it's a good story.

Yes thats true when you put it that way Lauren.
And I agree with the last comment, sometimes if a book is really really good I can read it pretty fast, no matter how long it is...

I must agree with Niecole about Harry Potter :P

So what do you guys wanna do?
We nominate something with polls ect
Or we just have a thread where everyone says what Epic book they are reading etc?

We can even say how many Epics we read that year and discuss them?

Like a mini challenge, but we choose our own books and read on our own time?

Or group read?

Group read would be nice but I think people will tend to avoid it if it's not a genre they like or a book they not interested in. Imagine making Lauren read the rest of the twilight series :P

For me personally, group read won't work. I'm picky about what I read and generally restricted to books I already own or can easily get my hands on.

I try and read 99% of the group reads (gotta set an example :P) but a 600+ page book I get a bit discouraged. Would rather read one I want to read.

Naz wrote: "Group read would be nice but I think people will tend to avoid it if it's not a genre they like or a book they not interested in. Imagine making Lauren read the rest of the twilight series :P"

Haha, yeah, I'm definitely not going down that road of torture. However, I could use this handy blog if need be :)

I'd also like a group read, but it is a fairly big commitment if you aren't already planning to read it and thus we might not get too many participants. So a 3-month challenge could work. We could have a thread where everyone lists their choice, progress, thoughts, etc.

I think we should read what we like. For instance if I had to read a 1000 page book about sci fi I wont be able to do that, I sruggle with normal sized books there :)

See, then Lu and I can read Harry Potter hehe

Ok so we read our own choices. So whats the plan?
Beginning of the month i make a thread and we all list what we are planning to read?

Do we put a 3 month thing on it? See how we do. Some might read 2 etc

October's a good month to start - then we have the last 3 months of the year. You can call it The Epic Read Oct-Dec 2010, or something, with a brief explanation.

K and then everyone lists the book(s) they are going to read for these 3 months?

Are we doing 500+?

Yes, 500+ please, bacause I'll have to skip October (exams). I participated in a similar challenge before and it was great fun.

Yea I'm also writing in October and November :( But then I'm done with my degree! yay finally :)

This is me being really impatient, but could we start a nomination thread for books as soon as the theme has been decided? It can still run until the tenth as usual, it will just have an extra ten or eleven days, and there wouldn't be any extra admin or anything.

It's just that if I have a book in mind for the chosen theme I hate waiting to nominate it.

I have a question/suggestion regarding our books discussions thread.
I notice that it isn't used much, even though there are a number of topics open - and was wondering if it's possible to create sub folders on GR?
Then separating the book discussions by genre?

That way members who (only) read specific genre's would be able to find book discussions relating to their preferences a little easier.

Maybe tagging certain threads to remain at the top?
Or would this be a major undertaking that doesn't warrant the time spent setting it up?

No, unfortunately you can't create subfolders. We'd have to make several new folders, and I think we have too many already.

Now that you've mentioned this though, I remember that I created a list of buddy reads and totally forgot to keep updating it...

But it didn't include monthly reads, most of which see almost no action. I'm not sure what the solution to organising it would be, and if there is one that's worth the effort it would take (unless there's someone who enjoys that sort of thing?)

It might just be better to browse past discussions or use the search function for a specific book. And the buddy reads thread is still there if you want to organise a discussion.

Hmm. That's a pity. :(

The "view activity" links always tell me there aren't any group discussions - even when I KNOW there are. (e.g The Iron King)
The search function isn't too bad - but activity seems to have been mostly from 2010 - 2012, starting to peter out during 2013.

Not that I'm laying blame or making excuses, if someone is keen enough for a discussion they could find or create a thread.

Should we try to revive some of the older discussions for books that may be read for the Group Favorites challenge?

What do you mean Jax? Make threads for the GRP Favorite challenge books? Or as someone finishes one of the books they open a thread under it and those who have read it or will read it, discuss it?

I thought she just meant posting in old threads where those books were discussed. Although I'm not sure how many of them had their own threads...

I don't know if it's worth creating a whole bunch of threads for those books; most of them will only have one or two posts. Maybe do what we did for Deserted Island and try and organise some Buddy Reads? I see you've already suggested one Jax.

Yes, just posting in the threads already there.
There are already threads for 2 Classic nominations,
6 Authors, and 5 series.
Most of them also have 2 or more members wanting to read them.
And most of them haven't seen any activity since 2012.

For any new threads, Perhaps we should try a sort of a nomination type thing to see if there is any interest in discussing a book before creating threads for them? (aside from the group reads that is.)
So first post which book it is you'd like to discuss (in the 'what are you reading' thread?), see if there's anyone else interested before creating a new thread that then doesn't see any use?

Monique wrote: "Hey all!

I see there is not much activity going on this side and a chat on Twitter has resulted in a lot of us wanting to be more active this side as Twitter is flooded with a lot of negativity of late.

Can we perhaps streamline the forum a bit and bin all the topics and challenges no one is active in as it looks a hell of a cluttered right now?

Maybe a lot of the stuff can be reassigned to general chat?

I think this would encourage users to participate more as it is really very overwhelming right now. :)

Thoughts and suggestions? ..."

I think it would require quite a bit of time and effort, which for the few who may or may not take advantage, doesn't seem worth our moderators time (at least IMO).

I know I can only speak for myself, but the current set up works for me.
The folders are clearly labelled, and for the most part, only active threads show up on the home page. It also makes it easier for me to find threads that aren't on the home page quicker than if everything is lumped into a general folder.

I'm not sure if other members are like me, quite often I don't "actively" participate, but I do try the challenge tasks on my own and enjoy doing past challenges on my own.
I know that recently we've had a few new participants on the TDRC challenge, which was inactive for a while - new members joining or old members returning may want to access those threads, even though they're no longer "active".

Hi Monique,

There are still a few people active here and a influx of more would be really nice! At the moment all the challenges have activity in them, they are just not chat threads as each person edits their thread and works on their challenge. So they might look inactive, but they are not. There might be one or two threads that I can move down to inactive (will go through and check).

Are you thinking of perhaps a 'folder/section' just for chat? or something like that?

What we really need is more people to try and read the monthly books!

I don't have a problem with the challenge threads, since many people still participate in them whenever they can. I know I personally occasionally add updates when I finish something relevant.

I think, based on Twitter conversations, what people are looking for is a "General Chat" area where they can have discussions about pretty much anything in a rather more protected space than on Twitter.

We already have a "Anything and Everything" section, but perhaps that can just be replaced with a General section higher up in the thread list to make it easier for people to find.

Maybe all the challenges can be condensed under one section? And I like a general chat section. It just seems a bit much right now, which is why I am not super active as I can't actually find posts easily. but that's just me. :) I will comment on the book of the month stuff in March as I have Illuminae and Royal Wedding.

I guess I miss a bookish community and want to encourage more chatter.

I'm more than happy to rename the anything and everything folder to general chat and move it higher up! :) Will do that now :nod:

The problem with the challenges is a lot of them have components that have several threads and if they were all under one it would be a bit of a problem finding anything. I also want it to be clear at which challenges you are looking at, if they were all under one folder you wouldn't know where to go first. They also repeat each year, so it nice to have them in their own folders. But will keep a lookout on ones I can condense a bit :)

I'm so happy you want to come chat more books Monique! My copy of Illuminae has been delayed, but hopefully it will arrive soon :D

PS: I'm clearing up some of the topics and folders. Hopefully it looks a bit less confusing when I'm done :)