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CaB Book Club

Started by Smeraldina Rima, October 07, 2017, 08:21:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
With the new board I thought it would be a good time to attempt a small book club. As I wrote in the thread about English authors, by using "classics" it might be easier to get a few people with different tastes to commit to the same book at the same time, but we could also recommend and vote for the novels to read. With certain books there will also be more people who can contribute from having read the books in the past.

To start with, based on the strongest recommendations in the other thread we will read either Middlemarch, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner or Hangover Square.

Please vote if you have a preference from those and let us know if you are interested in general. I think we should allow about a week per hundred pages, so a month for 400 page novels, or a fortnight for 200 page novels. As long as two people read the novel at the same time I would consider this a success.

I would like to read or reread all of these books and maybe we can carry them over if there is enough interest. My initial vote would go to Middlemarch based on not having yet read it and Astronaut Omens selling it as a life changing book.

Barry Admin

I'm up for it, no preference, just whatever I find 2nd-hand and classics are ten a penny.

I have been wanting to say I'm really pleased at the uptake in this forum, it's very pleasing to see over 200 posts already, and I hope it keeps that momentum going. Great work everybody, thanks.

Jerzy Bondov

I'd be up for any of those bar Tenant which I reread quite recently (hence being able to recall the names of characters in that other thread)

Good. That's at least four then if we exclude Tenant, but even then you would be able to talk about it. Genevieve already showed an interest in the other thread, mentioning The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Middlemarch.

Barry, could you move the Poems thread in Picture Box over to this board?

Barry Admin

Yes have just moved those in for you, good shout.

selectivememory

I'm in for Middlemarch, as I've been meaning to read it for a while, and the review in the other thread made me want to get on with it.

I will probably participate at some point when the options are less boring. I love ya Smeraldina but I'm not reading Middlemarch.

DukeDeMondo


manticore

I'd be happy to give Middlemarch a go as it's free for kindle.

Genevieve

I'm happy to read Middlemarch, I'll pop into the enormous second hand bookshop in town tomorrow.

I've got Middlemarch, so willing to do that one.

shiftwork2

I'd love to do this but at 971 pages that's a bigger commitment than I currently have to any living person.  I'll drop back in when it comes round to Patrick Hamilton.

I'd be really happy to read or re-read anything for a CaB bookclub. Thanks a lot Barry for opening this forum! I've been lurking on CaB since Brass-Eye-Special time (nearly 20 years?)without feeling I had much to add.
If we do Middlemarch, it's in 8 parts of around 100 pages each, which is monstrously long, but each of the parts is definitely managable in a week.

Barry Admin

No worries Omens, glad to hear this is gonna get you chipping in a bit more. It'd be good to get some new folks on here so maybe this new forum will flush some out.

Petey Pate

Here's a link to a free copy of Middlemarch by George Elliot on Gutenberg Press.  It's not a book I'm familiar with, so I'd be happy to participate in the CaB book club.

Small Man Big Horse

I'll definitely be up for this in the future but I read Middlemarch during my university years and found parts a slog. Some of it is a fascinating insight in to how the world was back then, but jesus, it does go on a bit and then some, and is in places a bloody miserable book.

Large Noise

I happen to be reading Middlemarch at the moment, so I vote for that.

Prez

I picked up a copy at my station's pop-up library, so I'm up for this.

I'll start a new thread for Middlemarch and we'll try to pick something shorter and modern next time.

We could also try a short story reading group where you have a different freely available (or circulated) short story that you would plan to talk about at the end of each fortnight; something where you'd only need half an hour or an hour of reading and could cover more people's reading interests.

Thanks for moving the poetry threads, Barry.

Barry Admin

My pleasure.

"Home of the all-read" would be better, wouldn't it? Been bugging me for days.

Would it?

Prez

You could always scrap it and go for my stellar 'Barry's Book Barn' contribution instead.

I think 'Alt-Read' is fine. People might miss the reference if you change it to 'All-Read'.

Talulah, really!

Quote from: Barry Admin on October 09, 2017, 01:15:07 AM
My pleasure.

"Home of the all-read" would be better, wouldn't it? Been bugging me for days.

Would it?

How about 'Shelf Abuse - the home of Novel Pleasures' ?


The suggested reading period for Middlemarch is now drawing to a close. I remember that a few people were keen to read something shorter and more modern for the next book, with Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square from the last list having been popular. If anyone wants to nominate any other titles before we vote from five, then please do that now. If not, I'll pick some more to choose from or we could just go ahead with Hangover Square. Try to think of books of around 200-300 pages to be read in two or three weeks and you can interpret modern however you like. We could read something long and/or old again after that.

Unfortunately by choosing something modern it is likely to mean we have to buy a copy of the book, but second hand books can help to keep the cost down.

Howj Begg

I'm in for Hangover Square. I'd just like to add these books for future reads:

Goncharov - Oblomov
Hogg - Justified Sinner
Good Soldier Svejk

DukeDeMondo

I'd like to read Hangover Square, was planning to anyway based on the chat around these parts. So that's something I'd be up for.

Janie Jones

Hangover Square please. Mainly because I've just ordered it from the library having been alerted to this thread, and there was a 70p reservation charge.

Neville Chamberlain

Hmmm, I might join in with this if I can get a copy down my local second-hand bookshop...

selectivememory

I'm reading something else at the moment, but if you're still reading this by the time I finish, I might try and join in as well.