here's one for your group, 2the9s...

snipped rio's self-portrait

Observatory Mansions looks interesting Sausage Man! I added it above.

But damn it's long!

here's one for your group, 2the9s...

Saddam said:

Lay down your funky weapon! That is a line from a Prince song. Do you know who he is?

May I suggest:

Snow In August - Pete Hamill

In 1940s Brooklyn, friendship between an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy and an elderly Jewish rabbi.

sag10 said:

Snow in August

It's LONG!

2the9s said:

What time is that in Australia?

Are you discriminating against us Aussies?

bkw said:

on the bottom side of the world...3 or 4 o'clock would be 7 or 8 am in Melbourne

Now, this is something Lleena and I will read...

You know, this club seems a little dull in comparison to the beer club.

bkw said:

dull is the underestimate of the year

Who wants to join?

ian said:

Yeah, that's what I had in mind, a rotating thing where someone different chooses a different book each month or whatever. I'd like to get some feedback here because this is the first time, but I think I'll choose and do so by tomorrow.

Is that Type A enough for you, tackam?

And please note!: We will only be reading ONE of the books above! (for now anyway) So don't think you will have to read them all. And again, THEY ARE SHORT!

Who wants to join?

I've heard back from a number of people who are interested, about 10 so far.

The idea is to choose one book, read it, and discuss it. It would probably be best to choose a book that nobody has read before, so everyone comes fresh to it and we'll all be on equal footing.

Ian has suggested that there may be a way we can set up a mailing list or something. I kind of like the idea of a separate forum, something that could be moderated. (I don't know if that is possible.) But anyway, before we address the structure of our discussion, we need members!

Here is a list of books that we can choose from. There could be others. We will pick one of these to read:

Adrift on the Nile, Naguib Mahfouz

Read about it here Adrift on the Nile

Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M. Coetzee

Read about it here Waiting for the Barbarians

Transparent Things, Vladimir Nabokov (Shaddup teller)

Read about it here Transparent Things

Don Quixote, Kathy Acker

Read about it here Don Quixote

The Street of Crocodiles, Bruno Schulz

Read about it here Street of Crocodiles

(These links are to Amazon, where you can read about and also purchase these books. You might want to clink the link that says "Buy Used." I've had nothing but good experiences with used books from Amazon. Just be sure to read the description of the book's condition. They also may take longer to arrive.)

Lleena also mentioned Valis by Philip K. Dick.

Read about it here Valis

Maybe something by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club? Other suggestions are welcome, although I'd like to choose rather quickly.

There's no reason why these books have to be fiction, that's just what I know best. They could be books on politics, current events, history, film, biography, social criticism. We could read books, for instance, on race, or gender since there is much discussion on these boards about those issues. So, we might read essays by Cornel West or Frantz Fanon for example.

This also might be something we could do when the Alex Hahn book comes out.

If you want in, please let me know so we can begin to determine what forum would work best.

***

Other Recommendations:

From Natsume When I Was Five I Killed Myself

From teller Anthem

From Ben The Blind Watchmaker (That's a long one! )

From KingSausage Observatory Mansions Another long one!



You might add "I am Legend" by Richard MATHESON...









INSATIABLE edit
[This message was edited Thu Mar 13 15:03:13 PST 2003 by 2the9s]

Maybe I should orgnote everybody individually to let them know which book has been chosen.

There's a lot of you, so don't be surprised if you receive an Orgnote from one of my "deputies," wkb or Catsume!