The Blogger Book Club
This morning I was talking to a coworker, Bill. Bill and I are both readers and usually talk about what books we're reading. For example, he has been trying to read Fellowship of the Rings for several years now. He keeps getting distracted by other books, but really wants to read it. He lost it for a few years and started over from scratch last year. I'm constantly joking with him about how far (or not) he has made it in to the book. He'll mention a history book he's reading and we'll talk about it for a bit and then I'll ask, "So Bill, has Frodo left the Shire yet or is Bilbo's party still going?" For a while I thought Bilbo's birthday would last longer than he had been alive.

Last week, while I was out recovering, he emailed me at home to let me know that Bilbo disappeared! I also was able to recently update him on the book I have been slowly working through for the last year, John Adams. John finally married Abigail a few weeks ago.

This morning I told him I started Stranger in a Strange Land and he said that was on his "to read" list. (He reads very little fiction and even less sci-fi, so this was a tad suprising.) I guess a friend gave it to him a while back. He said, "I should read it now then, so we can talk about it."

This got me thinking about the book club idea. Th one thing that never appealed to me about book clubs was the scheduled meeting. I have no interest on being told when I need to finish the book so I can discuss it. Plus, I like talking about the books during the reading. But, with blogs people could post about the book as they read it. They could put a warning in the beginning about how far they are into the book, so people won't read any spoilers. For example, "I just finished chapter three and I'm beginning to think the butler really did do it. Seems too cliche to me but the maid did say she saw the butler leaving the pantry with Professor Plum carrying a wrench." By starting out with "I just finished chapter 3", everyone would know not to read it until they were also at that point.

So, if anyone is interested, I was thinking that participants would take turns suggesting books. Once a month, whoever's turn it is would name the book and anyone who wants to participate could join. If the book doesn't sound interesting at all, you could wait until th enext one. The book could be any genre, fiction or non-fiction but should be something thought-provoking. It should also be a book that doesn't require a bunch of prevgious knowledge. (In other words, no advanced physics books or fiction books that require the reading of three previous books in the series to have any clue what they are talking about.) If a fiction book, it should also be one that has an ending. (In other words, no cliffhangers.)

Example of an acceptable book: In Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, Interview with the Vampire is acceptable. It does not require previous knowledge of the series (it was the first book) and it had a proper ending. The Vampire Lestat does not need you to read Interview, but it ends with a cliffhanger and Queen of the Damned builds heavily off of the events of The Vampire Lestat. Neither would be acceptable.

Is anyone interested in this? Since, I am suggesting the "Blogger Book Club" (or BBC), I figure someone else should be the first to choose a title. You wouldn't have to finish the book during the month, just try to. So, if you start it and you don't like it, you can drop it. Just be respectful of other people's opinions. If you don't like the book, it doesn't mean the other people are wrong. Use common sense.