Reading the Chunksters discussion

As you might have noticed, we have witnessed a spree of very good literary nominations and buddy reads. I know how frustrating it can be when the book you would like to read is not chosen. To avoid this feeling of frustration, I have pitched an idea of a literary readathon.

I mentioned it earlier, but it was discussed cursorily in one of the nomination threads. To see whether it is worth considering this project viable, I have decided to set up a thread to see how enthusiastic people are about it.

In a nutshell, committed members choose one chunky literary fiction book that they would like to read with other committed members. If there are five members, then we are reading five books, and if there are three, then we are reading three books they have chosen.

There are no polls because the book you wanted to read will be read by the group of the committed readers. It is not a life-long obligation, and others may join later if they want, but hopefully no one will leave the project. By choosing the books the committed members want to read, the list is complied, the order is prioritized, and the schedule is posted. A person who nominated the book is in charge of the schedule and at least of some rudimentary discussion.

The only requirement for your selection is a relatively chunky book with established literary qualities that has not been overdiscussed on goodreads. It is not necessarily an underrated chunkster; it might simply be a recently published book that is literary appealing.

If you think the idea is feasible, please commit yourself by posting and selecting the book you want to read.

Again, if there is a significant interest, the end of February is the time we should shoot for.

This is a cool idea and I would like to participate!

And I have to edit the post because I posted it without proofreading :-)

I think this is great and would like to participate!

Good! Three and counting ...

Moi aussi! I'm in (with a sigh of defeat). I don't know if I would be good at leading a discussion though.

Don't worry Sarah you can't be worse than me :)

OK, so this is when it is apparent that my job, husband, and kids get in the way! (Oh wait, I didn't just say that...ha ha...)

I can't commit to the project, but if a book of interest pops up and time allows, then I might be able to jump in.

Bienvenue, Ma chère amie!

Sarah wrote: "Moi aussi! I'm in (with a sigh of defeat). I don't know if I would be good at leading a discussion though."

We can be average together :-)

Question: If I do not select a book, would I be welcome to join one of the discussions without being committed to all of them?

If not I totally understand -- just wondering! :)

John wrote: "Question: If I do not select a book, would I be welcome to join one of the discussions without being committed to all of them?

If not I totally understand -- just wondering! :)"

Oh, I guess I assumed I could pop in a join an already selected book without choosing my own. But I guess I should get clarification on that too. Sorry!

John and Linda, everyone is welcome any time. We just need some people who will start the project, but you can join and read the books that will be read or list yours.

It's kind of a revolving door of awesome books :)

Hmmm... I am mostly in...this sounds so awesome and just what I've been looking for. Unfortunately, I have some major life changes occurring in the next few months so a full commitment is going to be tough, but I can try my hardest!

Also, I'm going to limit my participation for awhile to books I can get on kindle, as I'm not sure I can handle hauling around heavy books for a bit. As most books can be found in an ebook format, that shouldn't be a deal breaker.

I'll post my reading choice once this poll is over! :-)

It is wise to wait. There are many good books in the current poll.

P.S. The idea behind this readathon is a possibility of sprouting buddy reads. Instead of several concurrent reads, we may have a more organized project.

I can't really commit, but might participate depending on the chosen book.

Actually, what this sounds like is a literary chunkster book club. If you sign up then you get to select a book. I would suggest if you have a lot of people that you only chose 2-3 books in advance. There are lots of ways to run a bookclub, but my face to face one, whoever "hosts" gets to chose the book based on our small set of rules. This sounds like it would get around a lot of the frustration I'm hearing that people are having regarding the nomination process.

I like that idea.

JoLene wrote: "I can't really commit, but might participate depending on the chosen book.

Actually, what this sounds like is a literary chunkster book club. If you sign up then you get to select a book. I wo..."

JoLene, I would like you to participate, at least for a couple of reads. I know you nominated The Salterton Trilogy, but to be fair, right now it is not winning much support.

Having said that, I looove Robertson Davis; at least I really enjoyed his The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders.
There is so much insightful Jungian psychoanalysis with the exciting and compelling plot that I still rank these books as my favorite ones nearly ten years after I read them.

I believe Davis was unjustly forgotten by the world reading community, but if you chose this book, it would be awesome.

Besides, I even own the trilogy :-)

Somehow I managed to misspell the word "readathon" in every post I made and added a non-existent L.
EXCLUSE MLE PEASE

I have been trying to post a funny story about the autorcorrect using the smartphone, but it seems like all my previous two attempts were thwarted by some mysterious force that does not allow me to share it here, and only a half of the previous post is visible.

It is also quite possible that I will see all my attempted messages tomorrow in this post. I apologize in advance if I inadvertently spammed the thread.

Total excitement: Neal Stephenson and Mark Danielewski both have chunksters coming out in May. They both look awesome!

Paula wrote: "Total excitement: Neal Stephenson and Mark Danielewski both have chunksters coming out in May. They both look awesome!"

Ooh. Goodies.

I know!!! I'm totally psyched!!

Ohh that is exciting! Must look them up.

Danielewski's says it is volume 1. Yay :-)

I loved House of Leaves and am looking forward to the buddy read discussion as I will be a permanent lurker.

As for Neal Stephenson, I am more reserved than you are, ladies. I read the two books of his Baroque cycle, and I enjoyed them but I still find his style slightly dry and reserved. I have not read the third book in the cycle, and my husband has been encouraging me to read Anathem, but I am a bit apprehensive.

I am actually looking forward to a new book by Dan Simmons. Yes, I know that he is a mainstream writer, and I cannot forgive him for his uber right-wing ideas in the Flashback, but I really enjoyed his other chunky novels, especially Drood and The Terror

Zulfiya wrote: "I loved House of Leaves and am looking forward to the buddy read discussion as I will be a permanent lurker.

As for Neal Stephenson, I am more reserved than you are, ladies. I read the two books ..."

Stephenson is very cerebral in his approach and it can come across as dry. I like it, but not everyone does. He's so damn smart. I loved Anathem, but it's no easy read.

I really like the early Dan Simmons stuff. I liked The Terror a lot except for that silly mystic bear stuff. That very strong, compelling story didn't need it. It just seemed to come out of left field.

Drood, I wanted to like it but I thought it was bloated and verbose and should have been about 300 pages max. Which is a funny thing to hear from someone who loves long books :-). I haven't liked anything of his since The Terror.

I've wanted to read The Terror.

I still haven't managed to read Stephenson. I've got three in queue for this year.

Sarah wrote: "I've wanted to read The Terror.

I still haven't managed to read Stephenson. I've got three in queue for this year."

A totally fun Stephenson is Snow Crash :-)

That's one of my 3. think it will be the first too. I saw one thing where it was on a list of books sci-fi readers MUST read.

As fast as being in charge of some rudimentary discussion, how much do you guys think would be necessary? It seems like we're all plenty willing to speak up and don't need a lot of guidance.

Sarah don't stress over leading a discussion. You'd be great. I don't think there is going to be much leading necessary. Just make a schedule, keep the conversation on track, throw in a few extra tidbits about the book,etc. I don't see it as being anything hectic :)

Coming up with discussion questions is where I would choke! I can handle making a schedule and getting the ball rolling :) Thanks Amanda.

Zulfiya wrote: "As you might have noticed, we have witnessed a spree of very good literary nominations and buddy reads. I know how frustrating it can be when the book you would like to read is not chosen. To avoid..."

Zulfiya, I'll take part. I nominated a piece by Balzac in another thread, but since there's so much buzz over the current nominations, it might be best to choose from those? I'll wait until after the winner of the current poll is announced to pick accordingly, and most importantly, what I would be able to commit to leading in discussion-Don't think I'll be around for all the reads, but I'll do my best. Thanks.

Paula wrote: "Danielewski's says it is volume 1. Yay :-)"

Yes, volume one, of twenty-seven...Did your jaw not drop? LOL!

Sure, Ami, I saw your post earlier in another thread but was too busy to answer:-)

It is totally kosher If you want to withdraw your selection or choose another one.

I hope that you will eventually choose a book for us to read together. It is like a F2F book club, but only virtual. The one who chooses the books, helps a bit with the discussion. I am sure you have some books that you would like to read with us a part of this project.

I hope it will be a very informal but also very committed group of readers.

Amanda wrote: "Sarah don't stress over leading a discussion. You'd be great. I don't think there is going to be much leading necessary. Just make a schedule, keep the conversation on track, throw in a few extra t..."

Ditto! Words of wisdom.

Sarah, I actually want to read SToA first:-)

That would be pretty cool :) I'm between that and Buenosayers.

Zulfiya wrote: "Sure, Ami, I saw your post earlier in another thread but was too busy to answer:-)

It is totally kosher If you want to withdraw your selection or choose another one.

I hope that you will eventua..."

Yeah, remove the nomination for "the harlott..."

Regarding the new Danielewski coming out in May, Ami wrote: Yes, volume one, of twenty-seven...Did your jaw not drop? LOL!

Ami, I'm ecstatic over it. He has such original ideas. They don't always work for me, but he's never dull. If anyone can write 27 volumes, he can (well, so can Vollmann - another original). :-)

Zulfiya wrote: I believe Davies was unjustly forgotten by the world reading community, but if you chose this book, it would be awesome.

I completely agree. I stumbled across him when I was senior in high school and read The Rebel Angels, because I liked the title. I have also read The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders. My first pick for my F2F bookclub was Murther and Walking Spirits.

I picked The Salterton Trilogy because I haven't read it yet and I've had it sitting on the shelf for ages :-D

I am definitely interested in some of the other ones that people have suggested, but not all. I will see what I can fit into my schedule. I am looking for a new job and so RL might get in the way of my reading life ;-( Also, I don't think I'm as speedy of a reader as many of you.

Paula do you have a link to a good source of info about the new Danielewski series? how long is the series going to take him? Are each of them going to be full-length?

John wrote: "Paula do you have a link to a good source of info about the new Danielewski series? how long is the series going to take him? Are each of them going to be full-length?"

Speaking of which, is 27 volumes that Ami mentioned a joke? Or is that for real? I thought it was a joke, but John's comment made me start wondering again.

Linda wrote: "is 27 volumes that Ami mentioned a joke? Or is that for real?"

I did a little Googling, and it looks like it's for real. That could keep us busy for a while!

Actually, it might be worth starting a whole group dedicated to it. If it turns out to be good, that is ;)

From what I could find, it sounds like the first 5 volumes are close to ready for publication.

Linda wrote: "John wrote: "Paula do you have a link to a good source of info about the new Danielewski series? how long is the series going to take him? Are each of them going to be full-length?"

Speaking of wh..."

I saw a forum discussion and it sounds as if they received galleys very recently and are just beginning to discuss.

I have no desire to read The Quincunx so if that one wins, I'm willing to lead the first readathon book.

Thank you, Sarah. SToA, right?

I was thinking Seven Types of Ambiguity. If people would prefer Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle by Vladimir Nabokov is a possibility. And an intriguing one. I want to do both so I will read either :)

Personally, I would like to read SToA because I think it would appeal to more people, but the choice is yours.

I thought I would offer up a couple of choices in case there are too few people for Seven Types of Ambiguity. I would really like to do that one, it looked very interesting.