Rotten you are, one and all. Book Club gripes and suggestions

I'm ready, willing and able. Just as soon as I see a book on the list I want to read.

KTC said:

I'm ready, willing and able. Just as soon as I see a book on the list I want to read.

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That's lame.
I didn't want to read Bel Canto but I did it anyway.

Perks...there is something too erotic about that signature of yours...
"My Very First".....
I am tempted to click on it EVERY time....

As to the books....i second Kevin's statement

I'm reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell at the moment, after reading some of the comments concerning it on one of the last "book to read" polls.

I haven't seen one I feel compelled to read yet. I just don't tend to like literary fiction...I gravitate more toward romance and stuff off the bestseller list. But pick something, Perks...I'll do my best to read it!

Besides that, I have a hard time reading a book and then discussing it beyond, "I liked it" or "I didn't like it"...usually I forget them within a couple of days of reading it. At least enough of it that it makes it hard to analyze it in depth...either that or I read too fast to pick up on "the deeper meaning" of anything!

Make it erotica

I just re-read the Sparrow. Incredible book.

I just finished one you might want to consider: Love and other Impossible Pursuits by Aylet Waldman.

MFM

CaroGirl said:

I had read both those novels before they were chosen, but I'm willing to read whatever the next one might be. Pick a good one, Perks!

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Well, I can't see I'd read everything.
I read the Poisonwood Bible and would have done so even if I hadnt read it before. I honestly wanted to red Bel Canto but the timing was wrong - I was in Germany and couldn't get hold of a copy.

My suggestions:

A Fine Balance
(or) Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

Suggestion: maybe we should pick something more fun/mainstream/popular/commercial next time. Something in the current best-seller lists?

maestrowork said:

Suggestion: maybe we should pick something more fun/mainstream/popular/commercial next time. Something in the current best-seller lists?

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That's a good idea. I also think that if you vote for a book, you should at least read it... (says she, who voted for Bel Canto and didn't read it! )

Or what if Perks spanks you with the next book if you don't read it?

Which would be better? Something hefty, like Exodus?
Or thin and zingy, like the Education of Little Tree?

kristie911 said:

I haven't seen one I feel compelled to read yet. I just don't tend to like literary fiction...I gravitate more toward romance and stuff off the bestseller list. But pick something, Perks...I'll do my best to read it!

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One thing I've learned as a grad student is that it is good to stretch your boundaries a bit and sometimes read things you wouldn't pick up on your own. It expands your knowledge of the craft and gives you ideas for your own work that you might not have considered before.

dont do Exodus...I read that book a zillion times...
another book by Uris could be cool though..but not the Source .. read it as well...or that last book about Japan...also read
Maybe something like Paradise Lost
or The Little Prince...and see what everyone gets from it...
Or the Iliad or The Idiot by Dostoyevsky...(I need an excuse to read that again)

okay okay ... Mary Higgins Clark or Patricial Cornwall....I give

If you want traffic and quick turnaround, choose a thin, quick read. It doesn't mean it should be poorly written. Old Man and the Sea is very short, so are many bestsellers and classics.

If you pick something long and overtly literary, it's going to take a while, and it's going to deter SOME people from picking it up. We're not in graduate Lit class; this is a book club. People want to have fun reading something good and interesting, and have a ball discussing it.

How about James Frey's "A Million Lying Pieces"?

Teddy, you need an excuse to read the Idiot. Pick it up. Read it. Man, I love that book. It's on my once a year reading list.

Ray...DIE. (Simply for suggesting a Million Little Pieces of Sh*t, I wish for your death. I know. I'm a terrible person.)