Green Group discussion

Hi everyone!

Kirsten and I decided to run just one Book Club. It will be a bit unique since we will all be reading different books. We've decided to structure Book Club readings around themes and topics from which we will all select books of our own choice.

The Book Club is divided into seasons and will rotate the elements (Water, Earth, Air, and Fire) through the months. Each month will feature a different topic chosen at random from a list we will generate together. (We need your input!)

So, for example, even though it is still 2010, we want to start in December. Suppose the featured element is Water and the topic chosen at random is "sustainability." members will look for and suggest books or films that examine sustainability as it relates to water (rather than agriculture, for example, which would match the Earth element). We'll discuss our ideas for a week or so and then read our books or watch our films to continue the discussion.

In January the element would rotate to Earth but suppose the topic rotates to energy consumption...what books or films investigate how our energy consumption affects the earth?

I hope you all like this idea and will participate. It will be a challenge!

Kirsten and i have been discussing the idea of making the book club into a challenge of sorts...depending on the number and combination of books you read, you accumulate points. we'll have seasonal winners and an overall winner. no idea yet if there will be a prize at all (other than pride!).

the point of the club is for participants to self-select books to read based on themes, but with a focal point to strive for. for instance, supposed "Oceans" wins the poll. the element for December is "Air" so the idea would be to find and discuss books that help us understand how the atmosphere and oceans/water interact. so the points for december would work like this:

books about winter= 1 point
books about air/atmosphere= 1point
books about oceans= 1 point
books about winter+air= 5 points
books about winter+ocean= 5points
books about air+ocean= 10 points
any book longer than 300 pages=15 points
and completing a bonus task= 15 points

of course you can pick books from any genre or era; if you like antiquity, you might read things that the Ancients wrote about or you might like science fiction so you might know a book that explores what happens when the oceans die (for example).

this is still an idea in development, so reply here if you have a suggestion for us to consider. after the poll closes on Sunday, we'll post the final rules and on December 1, the challenge will begin!