Book Club: Fiction - vote and sign up here!

[zealsmom]

I read through the suggestions and did some research (eliminating sci-fi as per some requests) These books seem to have the elements people have been looking for.

Chocolat by Joanne Harris
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/books...0018X#synopsis

A Prayer For Owen Meany
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/books...61792#synopsis

The Nature of Water and Air
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/books...3203232#FromBN

This poll will end in one week!
Vote now or forever hold your peace (or at least until next time)!

[daylily]

I voted for "A Prayer for Owen Meany". I saw the movie "Chocolat" and I hated it. (I know, I'm probably the only one.) I didn't even watch the whole thing. As a Catholic I was really offended by its portrayal of the Catholic Church. There is NO WAY, even in the 1950's, that a priest would reprimand someone for praying for their dog! And, unless, you've specifically given Chocolate up for lent, you can eat all the candy you want during lent. And I've never met a priest who objected to dancing and partying. The priest who married dh & me was dancing and drinking at my wedding. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Maybe the book is better.

[miasmom]

Good choices! This will be a lot of fun!

[battymomma]

i have already read Owen and loved it.
Chocolat's review did nothing for me.
other choice sounds great!!

[3girls1boy]

I couldn't vote for some reason.

I have read all but "Chocolat" so I guess I would vote for that. I just finished, "The Nature of..." and read "Owen Meany" quite some time ago.

How are we going to work the discussion?

[zealsmom]

I voted for "Nature of..." because I liked what I have read about the positive BFing relationship in the story.

Just a word about Chocolat. I read it last year and would love to read it again if that's what people want. I am not Catholic nor do I subscribe to organized religion, so in that respect I was not defensive about the subject matter. But, I must say, that what i got from the book was more about the relationships (between husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, friends, people unknown to others, institutions and the people they are supposed to be serving) and a message about life. It really was a beautiful book that sparked wonderful discussion between dh and myself (I would read a chapter and then tell him about it and share passages - He was raised catholic so his insights were valuable)

I started to watch the movie and was disgusted by it; I walked out after only 20 minutes. Perhaps I didn't give it a chance but it had a lot to live up to in my opinion and they changed so much about it even from the git go.

re: discussion format -
Any ideas anyone? Should we read the whole book then discuss or discuss chapters at a time? I have never belonged to a book club so I don't know what everyones preconceived notions are.

I feel lucky to have a community where this is happening/taking shape. seems precious to me.

[zealsmom]

a tie!

shall we split into 2 groups or do you want to open up another vote?
We could add Ishmael by Daniel Quinn to the list to give us more choices.

Anybody?

[miasmom]

There is only 14 of us, it would be nice to stay together to get as many opinions and viewpoints as possible.
Should someone break the tie? We could choose someone to make the deciding vote?

[rsps]

since a couple people seem to really not want to do Chocolat, why don't we do the Nature of Air and Water?

[miasmom]

Works for me. Any major objections?

[Seawen]

Nature of water and air sounds good to me. It was next on my reading list! I can't wait to dig in.

[battymomma]

ok...need to get time to get to the store to get it, then i'll start, too!

[daylily]

After I leave these boards, I'll log onto our library's catalog and look for The Nature of Water and Air.

[Seawen]

Have any of you done a book group online like this? I haven't. How does it work once we've all read the book?

[dotcommama]

Is it too late to join in?

I would love to join you in reading The Nature of Water and Air - is it too late?

LMK

[miasmom]

We need an official start date. Jan. 20th should give us all time to procure a book. How does that sound? Thats about 2 weeks.????

[battymomma]

sounds good to me!
no, i have never done this before, so i have no idea how we do this...

[zealsmom]

My copy is on its merry way, but may not make it by the 20th. Crossing my fingers - mail usually takes 2-3 weeks but the mail has been nuts since 9-11 and I haven't been able to find a copy locally.

How does everyone feel about reading a few chapters/sections at a time and then starting a new thread for discussion? Or taking the book in thirds?

Can I take the liberty of opening a new thread to get us going sometime around the 20th? (although I will then need some catch-up time before posting depending on when I receive my copy)

[Katrina]

I couldn't vote on the poll, but I would like to read The Nature of Air and Water.

[miasmom]

My library does not have the book so I need to find one too.
How many are ready? Should we wait till the end of the month so everyone can start at the same time?