I think it's important that when people show up as participants, they enjoy the process immediately. I want them to feel they can make the club their own. One of the things that I think encourages people to feel 'at home' is their ability to have a say in what's going on therefore I am going to try a pilot program out for the selection of books for this group. I am opening up the selection process to the entire group. However, there will be a criteria to be followed in the selection of our books.
1. Because fiction provides everything one needs in order to have an intelligent discussion (as opposed to needing a foundation for the understanding of the book's concepts), as the name of the book club implies, I have chosen to confine the group to (mostly) novel reading. The novel must fall under the category of literary fiction. If it is commercial fiction let it be so *only* because it is widely read (like The Help or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
2. The title should be available both as a bound and digital copy through Barnes & Noble.
3. While not every novel will be socially relevant, historicism is an important and exciting way to be introduced to a story and its characters. Of course there are also books which teach you little about a real place or time in a land's history but whose author is so brilliant that you become enmeshed in the time and place that is pure invention (such as The Handmaid's Tale).
4. Please consider writers who have won literary awards or who are known to handle the written word with grace and particularly good effect. In one of the articles I've written for this blog, I mention a small group of sites that I feel are extremely useful in researching books. I have found them in my travels as a bookseller and as a writer. Please consider utilizing these sites. If you discover any others and would like to share them with us, please send me an email.
5. Length should not (generally) exceed 400 pages (see the revision on this below). This seems a reasonable length. Dragon Tattoo and Bridge of Sighs were too long for most people to complete.
Note: As of May 5th, 2011, we decided that the group would begin paying closer attention to the books we choose. We will more easily be able to explore themes, plot twists, narrative techniques, characters and literary devices only through the kinds of novels where writers have been elected or have been granted major literary awards. Other changes: Every other meeting we'll be choosing two months' worth of reading, the page length of the books elected may be beyond 400 pages but only when wedged between average length books. Election is now by vote. Each person will bring one book selection they want to see read in the group, they'll allow the group to peruse the book, cover, etc. (or a printed summary from home or from customer service). Please try to come a few minutes early to group so you can find the book in the store or have customer service print a summary out for the group. At the beginning or end of the meeting, we will choose the two most popular books. This process will be revisited in a few months to see how we like it.
Read on!
