MeFi Book Club via Yahoo Groups

December 16, 2001 10:56 PM

About a month ago jpoulos suggested a MetaFilter book club. Everybody seemed to think it was a great idea. Then, nothing happened with it. Not wanting to see the idea dropped, I went ahead and created a Yahoo Group. [more...]
posted by willnot to MetaFilter-related at 10:56 PM (32 comments total)

Unless there’s any objection, I’d like to suggest The Tax Inspector by Peter Carey as the first selection. I also have two alternates that we might want to consider. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant looks like it might foster some interesting discussion. And, for a more challenging read, The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes looks fascinating. Unless somebody has significant reservations about any of those choices, let’s vote on them with a goal of selecting one by Wednesday. Does anybody who is interested think they could be ready to discuss it by Jan 1, 2002 or would Feb 1 be better for everybody?
posted by willnot at 10:56 PM on December 16, 2001

I'm game. Maybe email will be the best way to deal with discussions.
posted by mathowie at 11:31 PM on December 16, 2001

I'm in, but Jan 1 might be tight considering holiday travel. Ironically, vacation time is not condusive to book reading.
posted by dness2 at 11:47 PM on December 16, 2001

willnot: cool that you followed up on this. I was thinking Yahoo group also, but I've gotten so damned busy lately. I'm very much in.
posted by eyeballkid at 12:42 AM on December 17, 2001

Sounds fantastic -- I'm in.
posted by j.edwards at 1:36 AM on December 17, 2001

It's going to take me a while to track down a copy here in Korea (or get it shipped if I have to Amazon it). February 1 might be better for me, at least, but no reason not to fire things up before then, I guess.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:20 AM on December 17, 2001

I'm in. What sort of book selection are we going for? Those that will foster discussion or just great good books, or even a MeFi style, slightly unknown reccomendations? This might be more difficult but potentially more rewarding.
posted by nedrichards at 5:58 AM on December 17, 2001

I'm in.
posted by kv at 6:23 AM on December 17, 2001

Sounds good to me. I'm in favor of somewhere between foster discussion/less-talked-about titles -- following up on the best thing about MeFi, which is that it frequently introduces us to stuff we wouldn't have otherwise picked up on.
posted by BT at 6:42 AM on December 17, 2001

Thanks for picking up the ball, willnot. I really picked a bad month to take on a new project. I'll be glad to participate, though.
posted by jpoulos at 6:56 AM on December 17, 2001

Now that I'm finished with my Master's, I have MUCH more time to do something like this. Thanks for following up, willnot! Have we decided upon The Tax Inspector?

BTW, I tried signing up at the Yahoo Groups page, but Yahoo was being really goofy earlier.
posted by arco at 6:56 AM on December 17, 2001

Sounds good. Count me in.
posted by walrus at 7:05 AM on December 17, 2001

I'm in too.
posted by smich at 7:26 AM on December 17, 2001

me too, where can I vote?
posted by ginz at 7:32 AM on December 17, 2001

just voted :-)
posted by ginz at 7:40 AM on December 17, 2001

The group has created a poll for the book selection. Those who were already members should get an e-mail pointing them to it. For everybody else, go to the polls page to cast your vote
posted by willnot at 7:42 AM on December 17, 2001

This is a great idea. I'm in.
posted by bragadocchio at 8:52 AM on December 17, 2001

So am I. Cheers, willnot. I wasn't able to get any of my real names accepted so I shall modestly be participating as drwittgenstein.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:01 AM on December 17, 2001

I'm in. Boy, Yahoo makes you jump though some hoops, eh?

I'm "Unclefes9" by the way. Hard to believe there are 8 eight other Unclefes' out there. Especially since I am the Original Uncle Fes (OUF, pronounced "oof!").
posted by UncleFes at 9:39 AM on December 17, 2001

Why am I getting garbage the first time I go to a page in Yahoo? If I refresh it comes up correct... It looks like secret code.
posted by dness2 at 10:07 AM on December 17, 2001

I'm in too. Can't wait!
posted by nprigoda at 10:40 AM on December 17, 2001

I will be represented by my doppelganger, kafkascampi.
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:48 AM on December 17, 2001

I've joined for the moment, though I'm not sure when I'll be able to paricipate.... what is the first deadline? jan 1 or feb 1?
posted by rebeccablood at 12:41 PM on December 17, 2001

I've joined for the moment, though I'm not sure when I'll be able to participate....
posted by rebeccablood at 12:44 PM on December 17, 2001

I've joined for the moment, though.

sorry about that.
posted by rebeccablood at 12:46 PM on December 17, 2001

Shall we split the difference? Say, January 27? That would give everyone (hopefully) enough time to get a copy of whatever book we decide (when does the poll close, btw?) and read enough to start discussion. Then, we'd have that week (Jan. 27-Feb.2) to "discuss" the book via email/postings to the group. (Should someone volunteer to lead the discussion, i.e. start the ball rolling with a question, comment, etc.? Or should it just be a free-for-all?)

Then, we'd have a week (until, say, Feb. 9) to vote for February's book, and the discussion for that would commence the last week in February (Feb. 24-March 2).

Wait, I'm getting way ahead of myself. Who's in charge here? Since Willnot started the Yahoo group, would you like to "take over" and set some guidelines? Or would jpoulos, who made the original suggestion, like to lead? Or should there be a committee (NOT a cabal!)?

Anyone? Anyone? I'm a librarian and I love to work with stuff like this...
posted by arco at 1:23 PM on December 17, 2001

We could, perhaps, set up a few polls to decide issues like:

· Frequency of book-readings (1x per month? 3 weeks? 6 weeks?)

· Number of books being read at any one time (this depends on how many of us there are, of course; if there are a lot, this would be a way of splitting up by interest but not fixing any permanent, separate groups (i.e., not everyone would have to read every book, but could still always be reading something));

· Themes for books chosen -- e.g., do we want to alternate between fiction and nonfiction, or read/discuss any classics, or periodically read in a particular genre?

... or any other question we might want to sort out collectively.
posted by mattpfeff at 1:45 PM on December 17, 2001

We could alternate: fiction the beginning of the month, nonfiction at the end. That way, you could read two books a month for discussion, if you want. The "off weeks" (again, sticking to my "one week of discussion" idea above) could be for voting/etc. Also, this would allow us to start off with both "The Tax Inspector" and "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," though the latter looks like a bear, at 800+ pages, I think. These are the current leaders in the poll.

We've shown what happens when one person doesn't grab the idea and run with it (we waited a month+ for more information). Should we designate someone now, or should we poll everyone to get a more general feel for things, as mattpfeff suggests?

I'd love to help with the logistics, etc., however it ends up running.



posted by arco at 2:09 PM on December 17, 2001

no way will my schedule permit me to read a book a week.
posted by rebeccablood at 2:19 PM on December 17, 2001

a book a month is more my speed.
posted by rebeccablood at 2:20 PM on December 17, 2001

Yahoo makes you jump though some hoops, eh?

Yes it does, UncleFes. It'll take a lot of adapting to read you as UncleFes9, say without inquiring how the other 8 are doing. As for Kafkascampi, well the reference overload - Kafka, scamps, langoustines, Czechs, Jews, Italian cooking, British motorway fare, kashrut violations - will probably kill me.
*green with envy: You look at the list and you know some people were just born lucky.*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:57 PM on December 17, 2001

Now you listen here, Mr. Cardoso. I've been accused of a lot of things, but I have never once violated your kashrut.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:45 AM on December 18, 2001