BellyBelly Bookclub

What i was planning to do for those that wont have much time or are slower readers to do it in 6 week slots. For a few reasons:
1. We dont all have the money to go buy books so might have to wait on the library to get it in
2. Gives everyone a fair chance to read the book
3. The last week gives us a week dedicated to discussing the book

So as todays book was announced today it starts as of today (we will trial the 6 week slot for a few books and see if its working for everyone its all trial and error as im new to this!)
so todays date is the 12th January so

Week 1 (finding the book): 12th January to 19th January (dont stress if you dont have the book by them just aim to have finished it by discussion time

Weeks 2 -5 (reading the book): 20th January to 16th February - aim to have finished reading by now if you havent dont worry but parts of the book maybe given away when others are discussing

Week 6: 17th February to 23rd February - discussion time!

hi girls.
Would love to join the Book Club! Will go look for the book at the library this saturday :)

I have a better idea for how to select books.

We all suggest 3 books, hopefully none of us have read. Write them all on individual peices of paper. Then at start of discussion week we draw a paper out of a hat & thats the book we read for the next slot.

How does that sound? Im happy to volunteer to take all the suggestions and do the paper pulling. Would be an easier way to keep track of what we are reading too.

Im looking forward to reading this sections book!

I will try to get the book this week! Thanks for organising this MrsS :lol:

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I have a better idea for how to select books.

We all suggest 3 books, hopefully none of us have read. Write them all on individual peices of paper. Then at start of discussion week we draw a paper out of a hat & thats the book we read for the next slot.

How does that sound? Im happy to volunteer to take all the suggestions and do the paper pulling. Would be an easier way to keep track of what we are reading too.

Im looking forward to reading this sections book!

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Freya that is a fabulous idea!! and i am taking you up on that! So everybody get your 3 book suggestions in :clap:

Woohoo - looking forward to reading this one. Great suggestion Beatrix :D

are we doing out of the hat thing or love in the time of cholera

I have no clue on books to choose. I'm not a big reader and I find getting a book I can get in to a challenge.

So for me I only have 2 suggestions and they are probably pretty boring to everyone else! They have been in my mind for a while now.

I would like to read Mao's Last Dancer.

I would like to read a classic like Pride and Prejudice - just to see if I can!!

Other than that I often think the Angus & Robertson top 100 might be a good challenge and I am more than happy to go with other people's suggestions.

Can I ask what happens if we end up with a book that we just can't get in to and so can not contribute to the discussion in a valuable way? That is my fear!! :redface:

Ok, off to find this months (I know it is technically longer than a month - but it is easier to say month!!) book!

Very excited! I actually have a reason to read a book so DH *might* leave me alone about it!

to start off with to get things underway we are doing love in the time of cholera then getting the out of the hat sorted before the new book is due.

As for if you cant get into the book i think as part of the discussion you could explain your reasons why you couldnt get into it and what would have made it better for you etc

Ok everyone pm me 3 book suggesions. If I get any double's I will cut one and put my own suggestion in (Im not making 3 suggestions to keep it fair :) )

Does everyone think we should have one "section" where we read something everyone knows about/has read/attempted to read/is a classic, like something Austen or from the Bronte sisters. I know someone just suggested pride and prejudice. Im happy to go with that! So I can just surprise everyone with a HEY this section is Austen month, we're reading P&P sorta thing.

I agree with Nikki; if for some reason you read the book and it just doesnt appeal; you should tell us why! Not everyone is going to like the books chosen and thats good.

Another thing - in deference to those who are not fast readers or dont have loads of reading time maybe we should impose a page limit on the books, so we dont get a 4 volume sized novel that would take months to read ;) if after we've done a yr cycle of bookclub we all agree we can introduce long books into the mix. By then we should all have a fair idea of our time constraints.

Feel free to tell me to butt out if Im taking over and being bossy Nikki; was your idea after all!

keep the suggestions coming hun organising a bookclub is all new to me so any tips/advice etc is very much welcomed!

You guys are doing a great job and organising our little book club :D

I'm off to search for some good novels. I hope i choose some good ones :o

I've PM'd my suggestions :)

Whilst I didn't include any "classics" in my list (cos I've read lots already :)) the positives to this is that they are available free as e-books from Project Gutenberg - I have just reread all of Jane Austen (Persuasion is my fave, closely followed by Pride and Prejudice) for free using eReader on my iPhone.

sent my 3. :) took them from the angus and robertson list. i have read some of them but this time sent it the ones i havent read. lots of great books in the list.
someone mentioned ishmael - i loved that book. it was a great conversation generator at our office book club

I also thought that maybe if one or two books seem to be suggested multiple times, maybe they could be a shortlist IYKWIM?

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took them from the angus and robertson list. i have read some of them but this time sent it the ones i havent read

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Me too! :)

I'm going to say The Millenium Series. It's three books. Follow on from each other so really need to start from the beginning. BRILLIANT books.

Just incase you were unaware there is an Melbourne indepentand book store called Readings (online also). I just got my selections from there. It's a book shop my dad has been going to and i've been meaning to take a drive and go see it for myself. Need kiddie free time where i can browse for as long as i like though... I managed to find some books/authors i haven't heard of but would really like to read.

On my way to try and find Love in the time of Cholera :D