Beyond Reality discussion

I seems to me that the classic books tend to loose in the polls. Was wondering if there should be and if there is interest in starting a classic book of the month?

Possibly...how would you define "classic" in this case?

I presume you mean something like Dune?

I used to do a classics month here, once or twice a year, back in the Yahoo group. This was instead of the usual Books of the Month, so not an additional discussion: on those months, the only books eligible for nomination were classics. I think we defined a classic as something like "any book that was originally published more than x years ago and is still in print" - maybe 25 years ago? I don't remember exactly. Anyway, I'm not opposed to doing something like this again, as long as it's part of the regular Book of the Month cycle, not an additional discussion to manage. If that sounds good to everyone, we can set it up for the next month we're taking nominations for, which would be October.

I'm interested. Maybe pick a decade? Pre-1900 could count as one, then every decade after that?

I remember that Stefan. Guess we will need a poll to pick the decade.

Stefan wrote: "I used to do a classics month here, once or twice a year, back in the Yahoo group. This was instead of the usual Books of the Month, so not an additional discussion: on those months, the only books..."

I'd definitely be up for that.

I would be game as long as it is part of the usual monthly book selection. Perhaps put it around 1985 or earlier though I may be dating myself saying 80s seem too recent for classics. :)

I wasn't thinking anything too specific, just 25+ years and in print or available free online.

Sound great. Remember there's always the science fiction master works http://www.shelfari.com/series/Scienc...

I would be interested as long as it was part of the cycle and not an additional read. Between the reads I choose to participate in and the other books I want to read, I have trouble keeping up.

I am somewhat interested. Depends on the classic and my reading queue for that particular month.

Jon wrote: "I am somewhat interested. Depends on the classic and my reading queue for that particular month."

Ditto. Classics (in general) and I do not have a very good track record, but sci-fi is one of my favorite genres and I am not really familiar with many of the early works, so I'm willing to give them a try - if my schedule permits.

I'm interested as well. And pretty much agree with what everyone else has said so far.

I am also interested.

Interested in general too.

Definitely interested.

So... This kind of got scooted to the wayside a bit, and the October nominations are already complete, with the first polls about to go up. So it's obvious that October will not be the first Classic theme read month. How about November? I note a lot of positive interest in this, but does anyone have a strong feeling against it? I'd just like to get a full picture of the thoughts of as many members as possible.

And if no one has strong objections to having a classic read every few months, is November a good time to start for everyone? It would be good to have this pinned down before the November nomination process starts (approximately August 12-14.) :)

Edit to add: I note a couple of mentions of 25 years ago or older and still in print or available online for free. 25 years would be 1987, (I don't know about you all, but I feel old now...) which is a rather arbritrary-seeming date and likely to cause a number of fussy situations, i.e. "I'm sorry, but that book is from 1988, which is only 24 years..." I'd like to make the cut-off based on date, not number of years of age. I'm thinking pre-1985, which is 27 years, of course, but is a simpler touchstone for our word-addled minds. ;)

Hello? The crickets' chirping is lovely, but lamentably they don't tend to be big readers, so I'd still like to hear from more of the human membership. ;)

Sorry, I've been quiet here. Lots of stuff going on.

November would be a great month to start, I think. Let's maybe plan on twice a year for now? We can always adjust later.

And how about just making it pre-1980?

I hope to be more active again here soon, once I'm done dealing with some RL distractions...

I agree with Stefan

I vote for pre 1980 too. 85 makes me feel very old. Well to be honest, 80 makes me feel old too. :)

RL distractions are a pain. Had a few myself this month. I'm still trying to get through the Windup Girl. I've made it to chapter 26 but have been stalled there for a few weeks now. :(

pre-1980 sounds good to me, and twice a year sounds about right!

Can I make a suggestion.
David Pringle produced a really usefull source of great Science Fiction recommendations. He used the cut off date of 1984 allowing him to start his selection with Orwell's 1984 and finish with the modern(ish) classic Neuromancer by William Gibson puplished in 1984.

Now I'm not suggesting we restrict ourselves to the books contained in Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels : An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984 but it would be nice to be able to include all the stories here by using 1984 as our rather arbitrary cut off year.

What do you all think, it would at least give us some sort of reason for our cut off date. And other than 2001 I can't think of a more famous Sci-Fi year.

Good suggestion, Richard.
And twice a year sounds good, too.
And are we talking classic SF or fantasy as well?

Kathi wrote: "Good suggestion, Richard.
And twice a year sounds good, too.
And are we talking classic SF or fantasy as well?"

I was operating under the assumption that we would be doing both sf and fantasy, but now that you explicitly ask, I'm not exactly sure what Tom originally intended when he posted this thread, nor what everyone else thinks about it. As for me, I have been talking about both. :)

If we're talking twice a year, maybe once SF and one Fantasy?

Shel wrote: "If we're talking twice a year, maybe once SF and one Fantasy?"

I like that idea.

My preference would be to allow both genres each time, and let the votes decide whether a fantasy or SF novel wins - similar to what we've done with the series discussions, actually. But I'm fine either way. 1984 as a cut-off date makes sense.

That's a good idea, Stefan - mixing it up with both genres. I think the 1984 cut-off is good, too.

I agree with Stefan. Both genres, both times (twice annually). Fantasy is my first love, but I do try to branch out into science fiction to broaden my horizons.

I like this idea too!

Alright, then. Here's what I'm thinking. I'll be doing the group set-up stuff in August, so when it comes time for November books of the month nominations, (around the 12th-14th) I will be calling for sf and fantasy noms from years up to 1984. If we do this again in 6 months, that would mean the next set of classic read noms would be taken in February 2013 for the books of the month of May 2013.

So interested parties have around 2.5 weeks to brainstorm and rifle through their shelves and library catalogs for nomination ideas. :) The only real rules would be:

1. 1984 cut-off date
2. still in print or openly/readily available for free online (A book that can not be accessed by members in certain geographic regions would not work for our purposes, due to wide cultural spread of the membership.)
3. I suppose since we're going for "classics," the books should have some lasting appeal, merit, or strength. (either literary impact, inspiration of later authors, award-winners, recognized as important to their genre, somehow considered part of the cultural landscape, etc.) If the book is obscure, make an argument for why you think it's a classic and should be read now other than "it's old."

Candiss wrote: "... why you think it's a classic and should be read now other than "it's old." "

C'mon, aren't all "old" things classic? ;-)

We are, right, Kathi?!!!
;-)

Kathi wrote: "Candiss wrote: "... why you think it's a classic and should be read now other than "it's old." "

C'mon, aren't all "old" things classic? ;-)"

Jim wrote: "We are, right, Kathi?!!!
;-)"


If you all want to have a Classic Member of the Month thing, we'll have to make another thread. But are you prepared to travel around from member's home to member's home so each can have an evening asking you questions? With our member count, it would have to be a once-every-few-years kinda thing. :D ;)

My son couch surfed around for a while, but I don't think The Boss would care for me doing it.
;-)

Jim wrote: "We are, right, Kathi?!!!
;-)"

But of course! (Sorry to have taken this thread off track...)

Tom wrote: "I wasn't thinking anything too specific, just 25+ years and in print or available free online."

Or available used which is usually cheaper than in print.