BT Book Club #4 Book Poll

I vote for Annabel - because I bought it yesterday! It looks like a FASCINATING story and can't wait to get into it ...

ETA: So is Cutting For Stone #3? I've missed most of the current discussion as I avoid all things dog-related ... :-(

Bugger, I just bought two books at the airport and neither of them are on this list.  I don't know anything about any of the books so I will have to look them up before I vote.

Yes, The Cutting Stone is #3.  Fantastic read so far. 

I agree with this.  I've not been an active participant yet because none of the books have done a thing for me, or caught my attention long enough to even look for them at the library.  I'd be all for a silly book like Confederacy of Dunces, or Abe Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, or some other such amusement.  If I want real life pain and suffering from my reading, I'll get the newspaper.

I may very well be in the minority here though, so I'm content to read what I want, and check in to see what the current book is and what the choices for the next one are.

Ummmm.......not sure what you mean by "one direction". You could not get two more DIFFERENT books than Room and The Art of Racing in the Rain.

There is a poll up. It is there for you to make suggestions.........so go on and put up something that turns your crank! That way we all benefit from a wealth of different choices.

Peace out.

Yeah, where's the WOW books!

I'm still working on finishing the last book since it took forever to find it.  Funny enough, first book store I walked into once back in the states and bam, right there on the table in front.

I'll offer up a change in a hugely different direction.  How about something by Somerset Maugham? 

In the last thread I asked for 'someone' to create a poll, that someone could have been you.

Suggest something different and if it is not chosen then you can creat the next poll and list only books you want.

Honestly the books I put in my poll were books suggested by Amazon, not me, I had no idea where to start. I didn't like Racing in the Rain and would have never read it and I'm the one that put it on the list! LOL Just read a couple of pages of Cutting for Stone and have no idea if I am going to like it yet but so far it seems nothing like the previous two.

The current poll is for book #4. Feel free to start a poll for book #5.

I think  perhaps that is because generally speaking, a book club usually discusses books that provoke thought, strong emotion, or controversy.

It is sort of like trying to compare Schindlers List with say Lethal Weapon. Both are great movies, entertaining for sure. I loved both movies. But you just have more to talk about with a movie like Schindlers List.

Again, this is just my humble opinion.

And as Keri said, please feel free to make suggestions !

Again, please, feel free to create a poll for book #5 at any time. If I remember correctly I made my poll for books #2 & 3 open, we just went with the 2 that got the most votes. I don't read science fiction or mystery books but would love to be pushed out of my box with some good suggestions.

You're not the only one.

Like Chad, I don't have a dog in this ... um ... park? so it's no big matter to me, but the likelihood of a book appearing on the polls that I'd like to read seems to be continually diminishing.* Don't get me wrong; I appreciate the initiative of those who have started the book club, kept it going, and put up suggestions.

I'm happy to start a poll for book #5 (seems a bit ahead of time, though, no?), although I'd rather make it a multiple-choice, add-your-own-options poll (I'd make the instructions very clear, but if people don't read them and do go ahead and vote, not much I can do about that).

Books can also be intellectually, socially, politically, or religiously provocative rather than primarily trying to be emotionally provocative (I won't go as far as to say the books read and suggested so far have actually been emotionally provocative--pretty much just emotional, in my opinion).

*Comedy in a Minor Key does actually register on my interest scale. It's dark and has historical relevance but isn't a sob story.

Well this poll has some people unhappy about the books selected.

It seems like a lot of people keep waiting for a book in their area of comfort or one that they would like to read to participate in the book club.  Anyone can correct me if I’m mistaken but the idea of a book club is to read books that otherwise you wouldn’t read.  I personally would have never read “Room”, but I’m glad I did. The thread in regards to starting this poll for the selection process was out there and I took initiative to create it because no one had done so, anyone could have done it.

I haven’t personally read any of these books, except the last one.  I tried to select books that were critically acclaimed so it would appeal to everyone, if not from the standpoint of personal taste, at least for the appreciation of good writing.  Unless someone has previously read these books, it is unfair to classify them as only emotionally provocative based on the interpretation of a brief synopsis.

Whoever wants can take the initiative to create a new poll for book #4 with more options and cancel this one, I honestly don’t mind at all.  Those that want to choose sci-fi/fantasy, mystery etc. feel free to offer your input, I don’t know why type of discussion can be had with those genres but there is only one way to find out.

I think that offering prize winning books isn't a bad way to go.  What I was most surprised about was that it was a closed poll.  Helen offered one book that she would like to read, but I didn't recall seeing anyone else put forth an idea prior to the creation of the poll. 

I understand the point of a book club being to read books you normally wouldn't read, however, for me reading is fun, and reading a book that I wouldn't enjoy isn't going to be fun.  Can I make the claim that I wouldn't enjoy a book based on the blurb from Wikipedia, yep.  I personally enjoy books to be an escape from the normalcy of Real Life, and in my years of reading have found that I enjoy particular genres much more than others.  I can enjoy post-apocolyptic hermaphro-love much more because it's so foreign to me.  While I can appreciate the ability of an author to be a master of his or her craft and write a book that will be a good read, it doesn't make it a story I'm interested in, I really just want a good story that makes me forget about life for a while. 

For the record, I don't think your choices are "bad", in fact, I think that they are all very well received and should be very enjoyable to those that read along.  It's the nature of art that people will like different aesthitics.

I was actually surprised that it was a closed poll!

I thought the idea was to make an OPEN poll so that we could all add suggestions and then see which books got more votes.

This makes more sense to me, anyway.

Book are like anything else in life, different things will appeal to different sorts of people.

I agree with others that have said that one of the benefits of a book club is to push you out of your comfort zone. However I also realize that reading is SUPPOSED to be a fun, enjoyable activity. No point in slogging through a book that you despise either.

How about we start fresh with Yanti's poll for book #5 and make that actually for book # 4?

How does that sound to everybody?

Thanks Keri, but it is fine by me.  I was only trying to move things along but it backfired.

To those that already voted , if you still wish to read your selection, feel free to add it for consideration and further voting to Poll #5 that will become #4.

I don't think it backfired at all. I was sincere when I thanked you (and others) for moving things along and appreciated the suggestions (especially since I hadn't made any or participated), and I agree with everything Chad said.

I think it's wise to add your ideas to #5 and make it #4 since it's an open poll. Garcia Marquez will probably win the day anyway

I also think that this poll SHOULD be the book 4 choice.  That gives people tons of time to do a little more background checking on the books already mentioned in Yanti's poll, as well as come up with one of their own if they want.  Heck, it gives people time to read a couple of the books on the Yanti-poll if they so choose.

Cue put in effort on the choices here, and that shouldn't be ignored. 

May I just say that I certainly never intended to be dismissive of Cuetoy's poll??

That was never my intention, and if it came across that way I apologize.

What I meant was that perhaps the old poll could be revamped and combined with the new open poll, and then ALL the choices would be there...........

Peace out.