Home > The Book Page > Archives > 2007 > September > 10 > Entry
Shall we start an online book club?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some readers on this blog have suggested we try to be our own online book club. I’m willing to give it a shot if everyone else is up for it. But if y’all are just going to lurk and not comment, it’s going to sink pretty swiftly.
Here’s how I thought it might work. We’d choose a book now to read. We’d give everybody a month to buy it and read it, just like a real-world club. Then we’d re-convene here on a given day and talk about the book.
Let’s pick our book. Here are the nominees I came up with, trying to stick to the kinds of current best-sellers that are popular in book clubs and that could yield interesting discussion:
“Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert
“The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
“A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini
“Middlesex,” by Jeffrey Eugenides
Vote on what you want our first book to be between now and Tuesday morning. Tuesday we’ll declare a winner and if there seems to be enough enthusiasm, we’ll set our discussion date for Oct. 8.
We good with that?
NB: Author appearance
Journalist Lara Santoro will discuss and sign her first novel, “Mercy,” billed as a “powerful story of what it is to die of AIDS in Africa,” at 7:15 tonight at the Decatur Library, 215 Sycamore St., Decatur. Georgia Center for the Book is the sponsor, Wordsmith Books is the bookseller.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: Book Clubs
Comments
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By Kate
September 10, 2007 9:02 AM | Link to this
Good idea….I’m in! I vote for The Road
By Jeff
September 10, 2007 9:08 AM | Link to this
Well, without actually looking at any of them other than the snapshot profile on BooksAMillion.com (hey BN - get down to Albany already!!), my first place vote goes to “The Road”.
Rest of my list (in order)
(distance between these and the first place vote is roughly NYC - LA) Water for Elephants, A Thousand Splendid Suns, (distance between the previous set and the next set is roughly the Sun and Jupiter) Eat Pray Love, Middlesex
Found a new biography that is going on my “to read” list. Save Me From Myself, by Brian “Head” Welch. (The dude that became a Christian and dropped out of Korn). Read the intro and first chapter of it yesterday in Books a Million while waiting on T.
Another is Denise Jackson’s (local author, btw) It’s All About Him, the story of her life as the high school sweetheart turned wife of one of Country Music’s biggest stars (and arguably THE biggest ever in that genre from this Great State)… his name? If you haven’t figured it out, he goes by ‘Alan’… Alan Jackson.
By Kate
September 10, 2007 9:23 AM | Link to this
Jeff—I’d have almost the same order, ‘cept I would put Eat, Pray, Love last. Not that it’s a bad book, I’m just not a big memoir fan.
By Lily Toad
September 10, 2007 11:03 AM | Link to this
My vote: “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
“A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini
By Lily Toad
September 10, 2007 11:05 AM | Link to this
Will you promote the on-line book club in the print and online AJC? Since this blog doesn’t get a lot of comments posted, it seems like we’ll need more posters to have an effective discussion.
By Anna Burke
September 10, 2007 12:30 PM | Link to this
Wow. Heavy topics. I vote for Middlesex, since I read it this summer and while it’s a “serious” book, it also has a lot of humor. I just finished The Tenderness of Wolves, and it was terrific.
By Anna Burke
September 10, 2007 1:03 PM | Link to this
PS - Mr. Kloer, when soliciting our opinions, why don’t you save us some time and either give us a brief description of each book OR link to the Amazon or publisher’s description? :>)
By Phil Kloer
September 10, 2007 2:26 PM | Link to this
Lily: We promote the blog online and in print already. Lots of people prefer to look in and not leave a comment. And sometimes getting lots of comments doesn’t really illuminate much - see last Friday’s beatdown on the O. J. Simpson book, which, admittedly, I started. If we can get a few smart people who want to talk about a book, that will satisfy me AnnaBurke: Sorry I didnt post more info on the books, and sorry they’re heavy. I tried to choose books that are the sort that book clubs have been doing lately.
By AvidReader
September 10, 2007 2:30 PM | Link to this
I would love to participate in an online book club. My choices are as follows:
By Joyce
September 10, 2007 6:39 PM | Link to this
An online book club would be a great idea.
“The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy and “Middlesex,” by Jeffrey Eugenides were Oprah Book Club selections, so I would think that that have received their PR due.
I would love the club to focus on southern or Georgia authors. You can still cover current topics while doing so.
Some suggestions:
Letter From Point Clear by Dennis McFarland
The Book of Marie by Terry Kay
Work Shirts For Madmen by George Singleton
Savannah Grey by Jim Jordan
It’s great to have a AJC book blog.
By Phil Kloer
September 11, 2007 8:49 AM | Link to this
Well, the votes are in, and we’re not exactly “American Idol,” are we? Among those who expressed a preference, we had two for “Road,” one each for “Water,” “Middlesex” and “Suns.”
I’m going to keep my commitment and plunge ahead. Our first online book club topic is “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. We will discuss it on Monday, Oct. 8. I am now open to suggestions about how we might conduct this in a blogging format. I will also post reminders. Thank you all for contributing.
By Jen
September 14, 2007 7:09 PM | Link to this
I’ll bite on whatever is chosen. I just need to remember to check this dang blog! Funny how it’s my new favorite blog…yet I never remember to read it…
Anyway, for future suggestions I wouldn’t mind reading stuff that’s not new, like:
Gladiator by Philip Wylie
North Dallas Forty by Peter Gent
And for a taste of what a romance SHOULD be like…
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
By Jen
September 14, 2007 7:13 PM | Link to this
Oh, and A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute