Would any of you be interested in starting a book of the month, readalong kind of thing?

We could list a few titles and then vote to see which one is chosen. They do this on the Historical Fiction website and I think it looks like fun. Anyone interested?

I'll try anything once. ;-) Seriously, though, I'm for it.

Genie

Great idea, count me in!

Cheryl

me too :)

I could try... I haven't done well keeping up with my Les Mis readalong though....

I would be willing to try it, as long as its a book that sounds interesting to me. I just cannot force myself to read something that I don't think I will like. Any ideas yet?

I usually can't even keep up with the HF website so I'm out.  I have barely had a chance to read this year, either.  You guys have fun, though!

My current schedule won't allow me to formally participate right now but perhaps in the future I'd be able to join in too. Sounds like fun.

Sounds like fun.  I would like to be included.

I wish I could join/With all my school work I would not be able to keep up.

How should we choose the book? Should we try to choose a book that has multiple copies in the system? Or, everyone could nominate one book and then I could place the titles in a hat, choose three, and those three titles would be the ones we vote on? Or, does someone have a better idea? Please, share if you do! Feel free to join in this discussion even if you don't plan to participate this time. We might end up doing this frequently and you may want to join in later! I think it would be great if the Book of the Month was a regular thing here with people participating as they choose.

We'll have to give everyone time to get the book so it will probably be at least a month before we actually start reading. So, anyone who hasn't joined yet will have plenty of time to do so before we get started. It would be nice to start on July 1st, but I don't know if that will be possible. We'll see. I think we should try to choose a rather short book for the first one, and everyone should be able to read at their own pace, but try to be finished a month from when the book was started

Michelle, how do they choose which titles to vote on at the H/F forum? Do you know?

April, I have to ask...Exactly how long have you been reading Les Mis?! I've seen the book on your sig for ages, but I thought you were just forgetting to change it, lol.

Valli I was thinking along your same lines:  Should probably be a shorter book to begin with and we need to give everyone a month to read it.  As far as my preference, it can either be a book with multiple copies in PBS or I don't mind purchasing it if there aren't enough available for everyone etc.  As far as books, do we want to go with something currently popular or or an unexplored author or book?

I think it's a great idea!  It would be fun to "discuss as we go."  However, can I reserve the right to participate depending on the book you're going to read?  LOL!  I have a huge TBR pile, and I really feel like I need to get through some of what I have before I move on to other things.  Please keep me in the loop!

BTW, this would be a great way to keep up with one's reading!  I know I'd make it a priority if I thought there was going to be some discussion or something on a a certain chapter to get it read! 

If we stick to books with multiple copies in the system, chances are these won't be worth reading. Sigh. The really, really good books are harder to come by on PBS. Of course, if they're 10+ years old, and once popular, they might be easier to find on PBS.

I like Cheryl's idea of picking a short book to start. I'm not sure what everyone's idea of short is, but mine would be under 400 pages.

On HF.org, members suggest books 2-3 months in advance. Sometimes the suggestions have to follow a certain theme; e.g., male authors, authors you haven't read, set outside England, etc. The moderator picks a cutoff date. Then all the suggestions go up for vote.

PBS doesn't have the software for a vote-based system. I suggest letting a different PBSer pick a title from all the suggestions each month. The theme for the 1st month could be books under X number of pages. Since this was your idea, Valli, I think you should pick the title we read from all the suggestions. (That'll learn you not to volunteer!) ;-)

Then you could suggest the theme for the next month, and so on. 'Course I'm definitely open to suggestions! :)

Genie

I would be interested.

I vote for Valli to pick!!!  Genie, you're right about "good" ones being few and far between on PBS.  I haven't been a member for that long but I have noticed that now that you mention it.  I perused my shelves and the shorter, i.e. thinner books are under 400 pages.

I'll pick...I'm cool with that. Actually, I'll randomly choose a title out of a hat or something because otherwise I'd selfishly choose the one that most interests me. I wouldn't be able to help myself. ;-)

Another problem with books that have a lot of copies in the system would be that we've probably all read those by now. I'm happy to buy a book, plus we can always use the library. Remember those? LOL!

So, we're agreeing on any book that is under 400 pages, right? I'll start a new thread for everyone to list the book they want to nominate. This is going to be fun!

I haven't checked in here in a while, and almost missed this!  I would be interested in this too, but it would depend on the book.  I would like to read off my TBR pile too.  I'm off to check out the nominations thread!