The Book Club Proposal - 2009

Please vote for the nomination system you would like the Book Club to follow in 2009 by September 10th.

You can choose more than one option.

1. Author of the month: 12 authors to be chosen and each month we choose a book written by one particular author. E.g. In January we include only Camus' works in the poll and read one of those in February.

2. Genre of the month: Different genres to be selected and we nominate/vote for books belonging that particular genre each month. E.g., March: Month of Sci-fi so only sci-fi books will be nominated for that month.

3. Country of the month:The present system. 12 countries to be chosen and each month we read a book from that particular country's literature. The works nominated would not be too obscure (only those are available in English on Amazon maybe?)

4. Trend of the month: Each month we read a book from a different period such as Victorian, Romantic etc.

5. Random nominations: The old system. We nominate the books we would like to read randomly.


For those who are interested: Last year's discussion


Book Club Procedures

I voted for author of the month.

I think country is truning out rather well but since we've already country and author so I say let's do genre or random.

(I have kit kats and I'm not afraid to use them )

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Originally Posted by papayahed

(I have kit kats and I'm not afraid to use them )

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I don't know... KitKats can be very dangerous in untrained and unskilled hands...

No joking matter, for sure!

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

I don't know... KitKats can be very dangerous in untrained and unskilled hands...

No joking matter, for sure!

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OK then, I have booze and I know how to use it. Nobody can say I don't know my way around the Hooch!!!

I'm liking the country thing this year, so I wouldn't mind doing it again.

Couldn't really decide; I voted for all five. :D

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Originally Posted by Dori

Couldn't really decide; I voted for all five. :D

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good thinking :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Dori

Couldn't really decide; I voted for all five. :D

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:lol: Now there is someone with convictions.

I'll have to think about it before I vote. I will say this has worked out better than I expected this year. Why does number one say this:

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1. Author of the month: The present system.

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That is not the present system.

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Originally Posted by Dori

Couldn't really decide; I voted for all five. :D

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Well, at least you're sure that your vote will win !! :D

I cannot vote yet, but I hope we country of the month gets more votes.

We have a long time to go yet but, seems like, "Genre of the Month" is emerging as a winner.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

We have a long time to go yet but, seems like, "Genre of the Month" is emerging as a winner.

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I don't do chic romance novels. :p :D

Hey, what is the point of having "Genre of the Month", then?

*grins chickishly*

And no fantasy best-sellers either!

Just an anecdote, I read the back cover of one such book that my brother reads:

Living in peaceful Shady Vale, Shea Ohmsford knew little of the troubles that plagued the rest of the world. Then the giant, forbidding Allanon revaled that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destroy the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara--Shea being the last of the bloodline, upon whom all hope rested. Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea fled, drawing the Skull Bearer after him....

How can it be more cheesy, and how could it not feel like it just copies Lord of the Rings but in a really cheesier way? I think that's also the book that my brother gave me a brief synopsis once where they form a fellowship with two human lords, elves, dwarves, etc... can anyone say lack of creativity?

Are there really some people who take this seriously? "the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destroy the world" haha come on...

this year was country, year before last was author right? I'm with Papayhed... Genre or random

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Originally Posted by Virgil

I don't do chic romance novels. :p :D

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Oh Virgil, pleeaase!!!

According to good old Wiki' s definition of Chick Lit:

"The genre's creation was spurred on, if not exactly created, by Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole diaries"

I loooved Adrian Mole.

:p :D


.... and must confess I also really liked Bridget Jones' Diary which I guess would fall directly under chic romance novels. :blush: :p

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Originally Posted by lugdunum

Oh Virgil, pleeaase!!!

According to good old Wiki' s definition of Chick Lit:

"The genre's creation was spurred on, if not exactly created, by Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole diaries"

I loooved Adrian Mole.

:p :D


.... and must confess I also really liked Bridget Jones' Diary which I guess would fall directly under chic romance novels. :blush: :p

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:lol: Don't take me too seriously Lug. But I still won't do a chick lit novel. ;) You girls will have a ball. :) Actually maybe i should do it and laugh my way through and get you girls all fired up angry. *evil laugh* :D

there is always Lad Lit Virg ;)

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Originally Posted by Niamh

there is always Lad Lit Virg ;)

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Lad lit? I've never heard of such a thing. Is that those dirty magazines? :p

Its what the likes of Nick Hornby, and a few others are being catagorised under these days. Nick Lairds Utterly Monkey is also being classed as Lad lit. :)
basicly books predominanty written for men. (as chick lit is mainly written for women.)

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Originally Posted by Niamh

Its what the likes of Nick Hornby

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Darn! I also like Nick Hornby... I'm confused now :alien: :alien: Am I that desperate ?:crash:

I think Nick Hornby's books are great reads. High Fidlity was enjoyable. an old friend of mine (male) told me i wouldnt "get it" because it was a woman. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Niamh

Nick Lairds Utterly Monkey is also being classed as Lad lit. :)

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Utterly Monkey? Now you really must be talking about those dirty books. :D :lol:

Monkey meaning crazy, ugly, messed up Virgil! :rolleyes:
Great book though. Very funny.

:lol: :lol: Now now, Virgil!! Let's not get carried away here :brow: :lol:

So, I'm going through the previous years' "Proposals" threads and I find this post which I thought would be very useful to shed some light on the "by genre" option and help doubtful voters.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

Wikipedia offers an extensive list of literary genres:

List of literary genres
-Autobiography
- Biography
- Children's literature
- Constrained writing
- Diaries and Journals
- Essay
-Fiction

--Adventure novel
--Airport novels
--Bildungsroman
--Chick lit
--Crime fiction, Detective fiction
--Erotic
--Fable
--Fairy tale
--Family Saga
--Frame story
--Gothic
---Southern Gothic
--Historical fiction
--Historiographical metafiction
--Hysterical realism
--Hypertext fiction
--Inspirational fiction
--Invasion literature
--Legal thriller
--Mystery
---Cozy
---Hard-boiled
--Nouveau roman
--Psychological novel
--Psychological thriller
--Roman à clef
--Romance
---Historical romance
----Bodice rippers
----Regency romance
---Inspirational romance
---Paranormal romance
---Time travel romance
--Saga
--Satire
--Speculative fiction
---Alternate/Alternative history
---Fantasy (for more details see Fantasy subgenres)
----Epic fantasy
----Science fantasy
----Urban fantasy
---Horror
---Science fiction (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics)
----Cyberpunk
----Hard science fiction
----Space opera
--Sensation novel
--Slave narrative
--Spy fiction/Political thriller
--Thriller
--Western

-Memoir
-Non-fiction
-Oral Narrative (Oral History)
-Outdoor literature
-Poetry
-Travel literature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_genre (please click on the link for more information on these genres).

If this option is chosen, we can nominate and vote for the most popular 12 genres.

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Man there are a lot of genres to choose from.
Cyberpunk??? Space Opera??? Can anyone share the benefit of their sci-fi wisdom on these?

Bodice rippers! :eek: :lol: :lol:

It is going to be interesting, to say the least! :D

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

It is going to be interesting, to say the least! :D

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Yep!:D

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

It is going to be interesting, to say the least! :D

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It hasn't won yet. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. :) Stranger things have happened in these polls in the past. :alien: ;)

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

Wikipedia offers an extensive list of literary genres:

List of literary genres
-Autobiography
- Biography
- Children's literature
- Constrained writing
- Diaries and Journals
- Essay
-Fiction

--Adventure novel
--Airport novels
--Bildungsroman
--Chick lit
--Crime fiction, Detective fiction
--Erotic
--Fable
--Fairy tale
--Family Saga
--Frame story
--Gothic
---Southern Gothic
--Historical fiction
--Historiographical metafiction
--Hysterical realism
--Hypertext fiction
--Inspirational fiction
--Invasion literature
--Legal thriller
--Mystery
---Cozy
---Hard-boiled
--Nouveau roman
--Psychological novel
--Psychological thriller
--Roman à clef
--Romance
---Historical romance
----Bodice rippers
----Regency romance
---Inspirational romance
---Paranormal romance
---Time travel romance
--Saga
--Satire
--Speculative fiction
---Alternate/Alternative history
---Fantasy (for more details see Fantasy subgenres)
----Epic fantasy
----Science fantasy
----Urban fantasy
---Horror
---Science fiction (for more details see Science fiction genres and related topics)
----Cyberpunk
----Hard science fiction
----Space opera
--Sensation novel
--Slave narrative
--Spy fiction/Political thriller
--Thriller
--Western

-Memoir
-Non-fiction
-Oral Narrative (Oral History)
-Outdoor literature
-Poetry
-Travel literature

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geez, I don't know what half of those are. :rolleyes:

Don't worry, even if we are reading a romance, or a fantasy novel, there are always options.

The stupidity with genre based on marketing group is as follows, one could say Italo Calvino, the phenomenal Italian post-modernist wrote many books which would fall under the fantasy heading, yet it is distinctively clear the stereotypical fantasy crowd probably have never heard of him.

Likewise, the great French novelist Duras's The Lover could be called a romance, though I doubt many romance novel readers have read it.

These categories are rather artificial, as they create a boundary where people can by their favorite kind of product. But like all products, there is always the higher line, the finer product, the steak instead of the Big Mac. It is when the book transcends its generic expectations that it quivers out of what we call genre literature, and into the literary, or aesthetic.

I nominate Cyrano de Bergerac's The Other World: The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon and the Sun as Science-Fiction reading :D

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Originally Posted by JBI

The stupidity with genre based on marketing group is as follows, one could say Italo Calvino, the phenomenal Italian post-modernist wrote many books which would fall under the fantasy heading, yet it is distinctively clear the stereotypical fantasy crowd probably have never heard of him.

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You'd be surprised. I know many "genre" fans who participate in Fantasy communities who like Calvino.

Personally, I think if we do genre that when it comes time for fantasy and Sci-fi why not pick "classics" or high quality works that are more traditionally genre rather than cop-out works that happen to have fantastical elements; in other words, works that might appeal to both genre readers and a more literate audience.

Kelly Link's short story collections, China Mieville's works, Jeffery Ford's works, especially his short story collections, I think might all be good choices to name a few for fantasy.

Dune by Frank Herbert, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin, Neuromancer by William Gibson, even The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells are all good choices.

This way you can all see what is actually going on in those genres beyond the really really really commercial stuff and you might be pleasantly surprised at the literary values some of these readers have.

I've been in live book clubs at my local Barnes & Noble franchise, and I joined genre discussion groups. As a class, I have a distinct distaste for who-done it mysteries, but our mystery group was led by a retired professor, and being introduced to Simenon and Highsmith was interesting, especially Simenon. If he can be considered a French minimalist, he has a leg up on American minimalists in terms of how his sparse prose pushes boundary, pushes form.

If genre wins I will keep an open mind, though romance may make me ill.:sick: :p

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Originally Posted by JBI

Don't worry, even if we are reading a romance, or a fantasy novel, there are always options.

The stupidity with genre based on marketing group is as follows, one could say Italo Calvino, the phenomenal Italian post-modernist wrote many books which would fall under the fantasy heading, yet it is distinctively clear the stereotypical fantasy crowd probably have never heard of him.

Likewise, the great French novelist Duras's The Lover could be called a romance, though I doubt many romance novel readers have read it.

These categories are rather artificial, as they create a boundary where people can by their favorite kind of product. But like all products, there is always the higher line, the finer product, the steak instead of the Big Mac. It is when the book transcends its generic expectations that it quivers out of what we call genre literature, and into the literary, or aesthetic.

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JBI, those are great suggestions. I love Calvino's work and Duras' The Lover was an outstanding novel.

Athough the "by genre" option is currently leading the poll, I think that "by country " would also a good one, because:

1/ there are countries which weren't chosen last year and would probably offer great possibilities (check out last year's poll: http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=29256);

2/ there are other countries which weren't on the poll like African countries (in general) or Argentina)

3/ Even among the selected countries I'm sure we could come up with other nominations.

In short, that even if it has been this year's option, another round won't do us no harm... (uhmm... sounds like I'm ordering pints here... reminds me that it's Friday ... time to go out ! :banana: )

Have a nice weekend everyone!!

I voted Genre and Trend, to be honest I'm not entirely convinced by Country, Its certainly good for broadening ones horizons but frankly I don't need my horizons that broad at this point.
I can see the attraction of by country for someone who has perhaps read many of the classics and contemporary greats, but personally I'm still just dipping into these areas and am quite content to stick with them.

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Cyberpunk??? Space Opera??? Can anyone share the benefit of their sci-fi wisdom on these?

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Lugdunum: That's easy! at least that is to say I have a vague idea what these genre are and have read a few books I could categorise as one or the other. E.g. the Sprawl Trilogy (inc Neuromancer) by Wiliam Gibson is an example of Cyberpunk, and the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds is an example of a Space Opera. Additionally all Sci-fi can be classified as "Hard" or "Soft" Sci-fi, i.e. it either focuses on the science part of Sci-fi (hard) or it focuses on the fiction part of the Sci-fi (soft) though you will hear other, better, definitions I'm sure.
If I had to define cyberpunk I would say it is pretty much what you might expect from the name, punk=underworld, crime etc. + cyber=high tech, futuristic, possibly cybernetic or computer based etc.. you might say that blade runner is an example of cyberpunk, just in a movie.
If I had to define space Opera I would probably cry, but once again you can get a good idea from the name, Space + Opera, you might say that Starwars is a space opera, to use another movie example.

And then people wonder why science fiction is not taken seriously :lol:

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Originally Posted by DapperDrake

Thats easy! at least that is to say I have a vague idea what these genre are and have read a few books I could categorise as one or the other. E.g. the Sprawl Trilogy (inc Neuromancer) by Wiliam Gibson is an example of Cyberpunk, and the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds is an example of a Space Opera. Additionally all Sci-fi can be classified as "Hard" or "Soft" Sci-fi, i.e. it either focuses on the science part of Sci-fi (hard) or it focuses on the fiction part of the Sci-fi (soft) though you will hear other, better, definitions I'm sure.
If I had to define cyberpunk I would say it is pretty much what you might expect from the name, punk=underworld, crime etc. + cyber=high tech, futuristic, possibly cybernetic or computer based etc.. you might say that blade runner is an example of cyberpunk, just in a movie.
If I had to define space Opera I would probably cry, but once again you can get a good idea from the name, Space + Opera, you might say that Starwars is a space opera, to use another movie example.

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Space Opera is sort of like a Soap Opera in Space. You might also think of it as an attempt at Epic in Space. Generally this type isn't very high quality. The focus is on how the scientific or speculative elements affect the interpersonal relationships. The Scientific speculation may be practically nonexistent, except for the most superficial appearance.

Cyberpunk generally features artificial intelligence (particular computers), speculates about information technology (often vast compter networks that connect all human beings) and features low life characters such as mercenaries and assassins for hire who can hack into corporations and what not.

The seminal work as Dapperdrake pointed out is Neuromancer by William Gibson. It is no coincidence that this came out during the Reagan 80s in America and the rise of the internet and the personal computer.

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Originally Posted by Etienne

And then people wonder why science fiction is not taken seriously :lol:

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Neuromancer managed to make the Top 100 Books Written after 1923 List by Times. It might be a good choice for Science Fiction actually.