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Following is a tentative view of what our reading schedule for the rest of 2015 and up to June of 2016 looks like:

If anyone can manage to spot an omission, or if they want to read something there on a different date than I have it there, please try to let me know?

Someone complained that they couldn't see the images nicely. I have now taken new screenshots and re-uploaded the images in a larger format, and spread the images over various posts. I hope you can all read them clearly now?

Here's a link to the actual bookshelf: /group/books...

It looks to be the year of many pages. I am reading The Stand right now, But I want to read several of our books as well. The Moonstone,Bleak House. As well as several others.

I'm very glad to hear that, Jennifer! I really hope we'll be able to keep up with such an arduous program, but that's the only way to get all those TBR's read! ;)

Looks good to me, though I don't know how I am going to work in my own list, lol! Anyway, I think I have or can get the majority of these so barring a great catastrophe, I'm in!

What's your own list, Ruth?
Hmm, there is a mistake in the schedule, btw - we had not definitely decided on Mimic Men - but I don't have time to fix it now. It's still far off enough to fix it later.

Too long to mention (plus they are on the shelf in another room -- can you say lazy? I say held captive by the cat, lol!) About 2/3 non-fiction (trying to get educated).

Ruth wrote: "About 2/3 non-fiction (trying to get educated). "

I completely sympathise. I read so much non-fiction this year that I seriously fell behind with my intended fiction reading.

Do report back on your non-fic reading; maybe we should make a non-fic thread in which we can mention what we've been reading on that front.

Not sure how I should write up this list. It won't be pretty like yours, Traveller. Anyway, here goes:

The march of folly by Barbara Tuchman
Civilization of the Middle Ages by Norman Cantor
The broken mirror by Phillips
The slave trade by Hugh Thomas
Women who run with wolves by clarissa Pinkola Estes
Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman
An intimate history of humanity by Theodore Zeldin
Pornography by Andrea Dworkin
A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking

There, that's a start.

Traveller wrote: "Do report back on your non-fic reading; maybe we should make a non-fic thread in which we can mention what we've been reading on that front. "

Oh, I would really like that.

Those all sound interesting, Ruth. My problem is the opposite; all the challenges I ended up doing slanted toward fiction, so I only read a few nonfictions this year.

Ruth wrote: "Not sure how I should write up this list. It won't be pretty like yours, Traveller. Anyway, here goes:

The march of folly by Barbara Tuchman
Civilization of the Middle Ages by Norman Cantor
The br..."

Thanks!
Hmm, oh, I realize you won't know this, but on another group which has members here as well, we discussed doing Dworkin's Pornography: Men Possessing Women as part of a feminist project. Other parts of the project included The Sadeian Woman: And the Ideology of Pornography by Angela Carter, The Second Sex/de Beauvoir on de Sade by Simone de Beauvoir.

Hm, interesting that you want to do The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870. I have that and have read some of it for a project. You might also be interested in ... grr, okay, I can't find it now, but if you want to get the full lowdown on slavery, you need to be aware that it's far wider than just the Atlantic slave trade, and you might be very surprised to see how many whites were also trapped into virtual slavery in America and real slavery elsewhere.

Traveller wrote: Hmm, oh, I realize you won't know this, but on another group which has members here as well, we discussed doing Dworkin's Pornography: Men Possessing Women as part of a feminist project. Other parts of the project included The Sadeian Woman: And the Ideology of Pornography by Angela Carter, The Second Sex/de Beauvoir on de Sade by Simone de Beauvoir.

I would love to get in on the Dworkin discussion (or has it already passed?); I've tried Angela Carter's fiction, hasn't grabbed me enough to get very far; as for The Second Sex, I tried, I really did, to the point of that being my only book on a long trip through boring scenery ... I found staring out the window more enjoyable. Never did get to Chapter 2. Some kind of feminist, huh?

Hm, interesting that you want to do The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870. I have that and have read some of it for a project. You might also be interested in ... grr, okay, I can't find it now, but if you want to get the full lowdown on slavery, you need to be aware that it's far wider than just the Atlantic slave trade, and you might be very surprised to see how many whites were also trapped into virtual slavery in America and real slavery elsewhere.

Yeah, I've been reading tons of stuff on 'modern day' slavery, which is why I chose this book (besides it being super cheap at a fire sale); I felt I needed background to the current day.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Do report back on your non-fic reading; maybe we should make a non-fic thread in which we can mention what we've been reading on that front. "

Oh, I would really like that.

Thosse all sound interesting, Ruth. My problem is the opposite; all the challenges I ended up doing slanted toward fiction, so I only read a few nonfictions this year."

My list is skewed to non-fiction only because they were more balanced but I keep making up excuses to read the non-fiction. Any help to rectify greatly appreciated.

Ruth wrote: "Yeah, I've been reading tons of stuff on 'modern day' slavery, which is why I chose this book (besides it being super cheap at a fire sale); I felt I needed background to the current day.
..."

Fire-sale, LOL. Well, I read up a lot about US immigrant history for a project on challenges that immigrants are faced with and how cultural prejudices form, and it is shocking how groups like for example the poor amongst the Irish and Italians were "indentured" into slavery in the 1800's (and possibly before?), although I suppose that's not really news as far as Europe in general is concerned, what with how the feudal system was structured in most places, so I was more referring to historical 'systemic' slavery.

Keep in mind also, that slavery went back to ancient times, as you of course know, (but it's easy to forget where everywhere and how it was practiced).

Hmm, maybe we should make a thread for discussion of the topic in general - there's lots of reading to be discussed in that regard.

Ruth wrote: "My list is skewed to non-fiction only because they were more balanced but I keep making up excuses to read the non-fiction. Any help to rectify greatly appreciated."

No help from me; I'm going in the opposite direction :) I'm trying to decide whether to read everything off my marine biology section next year, or everything off my volcano shelf. I'm leaning toward marine biology.

Re: modern slavery (this is not an exact fit, but I want to mention it), modern Civil Rights also folds into this. Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote an article about reparations for US slavery a while back (which I have not read), making the argument that the current issue is the continued way in which the descendants of slaves have been held behind economically and kept from having an equal footing (in being disbarred from Social Security and other benefits; the exact specifics escape me). I read his Between the World and Me this year and it was very good.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Ruth wrote: "My list is skewed to non-fiction only because they were more balanced but I keep making up excuses to read the non-fiction. Any help to rectify greatly appreciated."

No help from me; ...
Re: ...Ta-Nehisi Coates "

Great article, despite its length, lol. If you don't have time for it, try to catch interviews on, for example, NPR or WNYC.

Ruth wrote: "Great article, despite its length, lol. If you don't have time for it, try to catch interviews on, for example, NPR or WNYC. "

Excellent to know, Ruth. I will make a space for it eventually for sure.

Oh, and speaking of slavery, human trafficking and all that, these articles just appeared in CSMonitor:

Okay, started a thread for the slavery thing here: /topic/show/...

Started a thread for the feminism thing here: /topic/show/...

Started a thread for general non-fiction reading here: /topic/show/...

Trying to get caught up enough with work to put some of these on my schedule. Definitely will try Jackson and Bradbury, but may have to come back later to Calvino. Still want to - very interesting synopses out there.

Allen wrote: "Trying to get caught up enough with work to put some of these on my schedule. Definitely will try Jackson and Bradbury, but may have to come back later to Calvino. Still want to - very interesting ..."
That would be nice. :)
...so did you ever get to read Vandermeer's Finch?

No. I started City of Saints and Madmen, didn't like it well enough to buy the whole thing (although probably will some day anyway) then switched over to the Southern Reach trilogy - read Annihilation and now part way through the next one, but I've had a long enough gap I'll probably start over.

Damn, I want to start Haruki Murakami with "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" because a friend recommended it as a good one to start with. I saw it was mentioned in another thread but seems like it didn't make the list :(

Allen wrote: "No. I started City of Saints and Madmen, didn't like it well enough to buy the whole thing (although probably will some day anyway) then switched over to the Southern Reach trilogy - read Annihilat..."
Hope to see you on the discussion for that then, Allen.!

Yolande wrote: "Damn, I want to start Haruki Murakami with "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" because a friend recommended it as a good one to start with. I saw it was mentioned in another thread but seems like it didn'..."

Oh boy, I really want to finish that book - got about a third of the way in.... are you prepared to wait a month or two? (Or 3?)

Traveller wrote: "Oh boy, I really want to finish that book - got about a third of the way in.... are you prepared to wait a month or two? (Or 3?) "
I can wait, I'm not in a hurry to get to it. I'm going to be quite busy in these first few months of the year so waiting some months will suit me better.

Yolande wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Oh boy, I really want to finish that book - got about a third of the way in.... are you prepared to wait a month or two? (Or 3?) "
I can wait, I'm not in a hurry to get to it. I'm..."

Okay, then if the other members don't mind, we'll make W-U Bird our Murakami read for April, since when I asked, nobody came up with a definite choice, so I had put a Murakami placeholder in for April 28 just for the time being. I do hope everybody is okay then, with us reading Wind-up Bird Chronicle in May.

Hi everyone, it's become obvious that we cannot sustain the pace suggested by the schedule above.

An alternative modus operandi would be that I create threads for the books scheduled, and then whenever you do get around to reading the book, you post your thoughts, and other can reply if they wish.

One of the mainstays of our group in the past has been close discussion, though, and it would be nice if we could continue with that, albeit with fewer books, perhaps.

Let's play it by ear and see how it goes. :)

I have started White Noise, and to my surprise, I think I like it. It had me on page 2 with Hitler Studies.

Thanks, Traveller. Let me know if I can be of assistance.

I am going to have to get myself a copy of White Noise pretty soon, I think.

I can join in White Noise whenever. At least to start. I will give fair warning this time that if I don't like it I may not finish it. But I want to read it.

Cool! Yes, I think we must be more upfront about our ups and downs. :)

Traveller wrote: "Hi everyone, it's become obvious that we cannot sustain the pace suggested by the schedule above.

An alternative modus operandi would be that I create threads for the books scheduled, and then whe..."

Good thinking, Traveller! I enjoy "real-time"-ish book discussions, but it's hard to time my reading with the group because of the other books screaming from the top of my to-read pile.

Also, I think the nature of this group lends itself to less time-efficient reading. I'm in some groups where it's no great commitment to rip through a 150 page book in a weekend, but the books I'm likely to read here will likely take more time and brainpower than that.

Phil wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Also, I think the nature of this group lends itself to less time-efficient reading. I'm in some groups where it's no great commitment to rip through a 150 page book in a weekend, but the books I'm likely to read here will likely take more time and brainpower than that. ..."

...and they are exactly the kind of book, though, that would lend themselves to discussions, so I would really be glad if we can work out a sort of "timeless" formula for our discussions. Perhaps we can use spoiler tags in addition to cutting parts of the book into separate threads to help us achieve that.

Suggestions from you guys are very welcome.

Maybe not cutting the books into parts...but creating a thread for each book, people mark their spoilers, after a certain period of time, the marking of spoilers could be lifted. That way it is easier to comment on a book, and people can always come back and add to it, as they read it. I find the breaking up the books into bits awkward. But that is me.

I think it is a good idea to implement spoiler tags for the whole thread (without lifting them at any point, since people may be reading and commenting on them at vastly different times). I think breaking up a book works only if the book itself has really natural breaks, such as sections. Otherwise, it seems to me that breaks tend to end the momentum of discussions, and will do more so in these threads, since a moderator may or may not be handy to direct traffic to a new thread.

Or 2 threads per book: Spoiler Free and Spoilers.

Michele wrote: "Or 2 threads per book: Spoiler Free and Spoilers."

That's a good idea too! I think that could work.

Michele wrote: "Or 2 threads per book: Spoiler Free and Spoilers."

There are already many groups like that, and if we did that, we'd just be a copy cat of those. Our core group is more based on the "close reading" modus operandi, where a book is discussed in detail.

The whole reasoning of the "breaking up in chapters" is to facilitate such close reading, and this formula worked brilliantly for us over at Mievillains. I was hoping to extend such a formula to a group (this one) that would go beyond speculative fiction to include literary and other discussion-worthy fiction, but I think my own lack is at fault there. I suppose I -did- put a lot more trouble into the Mievillians discussions, and I apologize for that.

I'm going to work on my time management to see if I can't keep at GR at a more sustained pace in future.
I was thinking that maybe we can do 'some' books on the shorter formula of just 1 or 2 threads per book; but I really would hate to never have any of our close-reading discussions like we used to have, again.

Would it be possible to do a mix? Right now my issue is that I just can't sustain the pace with the books we want to do at the rate we've been doing them and also be able to read other things I really do want to read. Could we choose one book a month for a close read? (I know lots of other groups do that too, but I think that our strength in this group is having people who will really do the close reading. Not many groups have that.)

I am all for multiple threads. I was just trying to compromise with Spoiler and Spoiler Free. I much prefer multiple threads.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Would it be possible to do a mix? Right now my issue is that I just can't sustain the pace with the books we want to do at the rate we've been doing them and also be able to read other things I rea..."

Yes, and once again I apologize for my absence in organizing things properly. Can we keep White Noise as our semi-causal April read, and then I'll put a poll up shortly ( in the next day or two) comprised of books already on our list, as a choice for a close-reading discussion in May?

I would say that sounds like a good compromise, what say you?

Also, how about we do one 'serious' book every 6 weeks and one more 'casual' book every 4 weeks?

The serious book would be close reading and the casual book would be 2 threads.

White Noise can be a hybrid for now. :P

That sounds great to me (both your above posts).

Cool! I hope other members agree...

To me too! all of the above :)

I will be happy with whatever you decide, Trav.

Glad to hear. :) Been missing y'all, you know. :)))

That sounds good. 6 weeks (depending on length of book) for a good "serious' close read with lots of threads. 4 weeks (perhaps even less) for a quick 'casual' read with only one or two threads.

You could also ask for volunteers to lead the discussions - in particular for the casual reads. A lot of other groups do that. If you nominate a book you need to be prepared to lead the discussion.