Babble Book Club: Upcoming selection ideas?

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sherpa-finn

OK, The Inconvenient Indian, it is.

And I just started Long Walk to Freedom earlier this week.... 70 pages in (its great writing and reading) but 530 pages to go! Sheesh.

(For the record, I do not read multiple books at the same time, unlike the missus. Something to do with limited literary bandwidth. )

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

I can deal with your schedule, Kaitlin. I am happy to join the book club and crack open my copy of The Inconvenient Indian. I look forward to the dicussion.

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Great everyone! I'm glad everyone is excited about the current selection and the idea of a reading schedule from one of our members.

We still need a new fiction selection (or continuous fiction selections really). I'm going to propose 'The Tiger's Wife' by Téa Obreht for the next fiction read after our read of The Inconvenient Indian.

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

So after, 'The Tiger's Wife' is 'Salt: A World History' and then we need a new ficition selection.

Was thinking 'Half-Blood Blues' by Esi Edugyan would be a GREAT read. Checked out availability in some libraries and it is not bad at all I must say.

whaddya think?

Caissa

I have read Half-Blood Blues but could give it a second whirl if that is the choice.

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

what have you NOT read seems to be the question ;)

Caissa

It's only recently that BBC is reading books that I have already read.

Caissa

What about the Book of Negroes?

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Ah well good. Oh the Book of Negroes is also a great suggestion. We can add it to the list!

I'll update the reading schedule to reflect this stuff. The reading schedule is a great idea by the way -- my copy for Salt just came in ... very nicely timed :)

NorthReport
Unionist

So, I guess I was in the wrong thread when I suggested [i]A Short History of Progress[/i] for nonfiction.

Unionist

*bump*

infracaninophile infracaninophile's picture

Was that an April Fools post, Unionist? Because I for one read A Short History of Progress after you mentioned it. Pretty sobering, but an excellent read.Saw some of the lectures on YouTube also.  Wright's concept of "progress traps" was a very useful cognitive tool I thought. 

Unionist

Glad you enjoyed it!

I was kind of thinking it's time to revive our book club.

infracaninophile infracaninophile's picture

Unionist wrote:
I was kind of thinking it's time to revive our book club.

 

Great idea, I second the motion. Any other readaholics around here?

Unionist

Should we PM Caissa, sherpa-finn, laine lowe, Left Turn... Catchfire? Kaitlin?

 

sherpa-finn

I'm here and lurking ... more of a reader than a readaholic, but game to re-activate the group.. 

Caissa

I would love to resusciate this Book Club. How should we proceed?

Unionist

Caissa wrote:

I would love to resusciate this Book Club. How should we proceed?

Manifestly, we should leap into it!

 

Caissa

I was going to suggest we start with the Leap Manifesto. Wink That should bulk up the members in the BBC.

sherpa-finn

I am up for a run at the Leap Manifesto.  It would be good preparation for the upcoming study clubs or whatever the NDP will be convening. 

Caissa

You missed my sarcasm, Sherpa-Finn. There are tons of threads where that will be discussed.  How best to choose a book? Could we have people decide to join the club and we rotate book selection on a monthly basis?

sherpa-finn

So when is Babble going to introduce that long-promised and awaited sarcasm font? We literalists are at a distinct disadvantage.

Caissa

I thought my Wink was sufficient.

Unionist

Perhaps something less subtle.

infracaninophile infracaninophile's picture

i haven't actually read the Leap manifesto, so that's a good idea. I did a search and found it online. It really doesn't count as a book, though; it's far too short. But I appreciated Caissa's humour and his suggestion.

swallow swallow's picture

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_World_and_Me]Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me[/url]?

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

!!!!

Unionist

Kaitlin McNabb wrote:

!!!!

Look who's here!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LaughingLaughingLaughingLaughingLaughingLaughing

Left Turn Left Turn's picture

swallow wrote:

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_World_and_Me]Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me[/url]?

I'm up for reading this!!!

Kaitlin McNabb wrote:

!!!!

!!!!! SmileSmileSmileSmile

 

swallow swallow's picture
Caissa

I am happy to read anything that we can get a committed group of people to read and to discuss.  Commitment is the key for me.

MegB

Thanks so much for the resusitation of the babble book club!

infracaninophile infracaninophile's picture

The Coates book sounds interesting but there are 39 requests ahead of me at the library. That's always a problem with new books. 

 

Caissa

The ebook is $16.

 

ETA: Ms. C. is picking up a hard copy of the book for me today.

Unionist

I've got the ebook.

Caissa

Anybody joing me and Unionist?

Unionist

Hey swallow - it was your suggestion! Are you in?

And sherpa-finn? Left Turn? Infracaninophile?

 

swallow swallow's picture

I'm so in I'm out. Or something like that. Anyway, yes. 

Unionist

infracaninophile wrote:

I requested it from the library. If I get it in time I'm in. Sometimes your number comes up faster than you expect if the people ahead of you don't pick up or if they cancel their holds, or simply read fast and return the book quickly.

Or... I can lend you mine again.

infracaninophile infracaninophile's picture

I requested it from the library. If I get it in time I'm in. Sometimes your number comes up faster than you expect if the people ahead of you don't pick up or if they cancel their holds, or simply read fast and return the book quickly.

 

EDITED to add: went back and checked, library has a large print edition that has not got a bunch of holds on it. It's on the shelving cart somewhere but should be available shortly so I have requested that one (never read a large-print book before but sounds better than reading fine print!)

So count me in. 

 

 

sherpa-finn

For four months, I have doggedly enforced my New Years Resolution to NOT buy any new books until I have worked my way through two shelves of already purchased but yet unread volumes.

But with 47 names ahead of me on the waiting list for 'Between the World and Me' at the Halifax Public Library, the revitalised BBC is now pushing me into a dark, dark place. Give me 48 hours....

Caissa

Can we set a day in the month of May for discussion?

Unionist

Caissa wrote:

Can we set a day in the month of May for discussion?

How about Friday the 13th?

Not safe to leave home that day, so...

Left Turn Left Turn's picture

Unionist wrote:

Caissa wrote:

Can we set a day in the month of May for discussion?

How about Friday the 13th?

Not safe to leave home that day, so...

I'd suggest a later date in May, say Friday the 27th, to give babblers more time to get and read the book.

Unionist

I'm ok with May 27 too.

By the way, what's the reason we always picked Fridays?

 

Left Turn Left Turn's picture

Unionist wrote:

I'm ok with May 27 too.

By the way, what's the reason we always picked Fridays?

I don't know. Though in my suggestion to push the date back I decided to stay with a Friday in May, those being the two other peramaters already suggested.

Caissa

I am returning from conference on May 27 and we have Convocation on the afternoon of May 20. May 13 was perfect for me. The book should only take 2-3 hours to read.

sherpa-finn

"The book should only take 2-3 hours to read".

This is from the guy who reads 200+ books a year, I believe.  My recollection is that I had calculated after an earlier BBC discussion that 1 Caissa hour was equivalent to one week for muggles and mortals. 

 

Caissa

LOL. I have only read 43 boks to date this year and usually read between 120-140 in a given year. Joking aside, it is a thin hard cover (153 pages) written as a letter to his son. I think it is best read in one or two sessions.

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