Greetings everyone!
And so we have (theoretically) finished 2666. As such, the rotation ends and a new leader takes the role for the next book, and I've taken the lead this time. First things first, I think it's vital to give props to humanodon for his work on 2666. It set a high bar that I'm going to have a hard time hitting.
Secondly, I, like many others, really wanted to keep up with it as we went along but I, like many other people, unfortunately have a ton of things to do and tackling Bolano's work (or Rand's) was a eyes-to-stomach-ratio imbalance. This time around, I think it's universally agreed that we need something shorter. Humanodon hit the nail on the head in the previous post saying
- So far, we have finished two books in this incarnation of hubski book club. Both of the books (*The Fountainhead* by Ayn Rand and 2666 by Roberto Bolaño) were very long, very dense books and we saw a precipitous drop-off as the reading stretched into months (this one took more than 2 months). Please remember when voting for a book that people have lives outside of hubski too! Try to base your choice not only on interest, but what you can realistically achieve. In short, do not let your eyes get bigger than your literary mouth. Please!
I believe it was thenewgreen that also suggested that if you suggested a book, really try your best to stick around for the whole time. I won't require it though, because obviously life sometime has other plans, but I do like it as a soft-rule.
So to the heart of it: We have to decide on a new book, and open up for more suggestions. The list so far includes:
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Boss by Mike Royko
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson
Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
any books by Cormac McCarthy
Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek
Morvern Callar by Alan Warner
Lanark: A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
Zadie Smith - White Teeth
Doris Lessing - The Golden Notebook
Newly from the last post:
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
From the voting last time, Cormac McCarthy is the clear winner, followed by The Satanic Verses. I'm extremely interested in reading more of his work as well, so we should pick from his body of work. I'm leaning heavily towards Blood Meridian as that is widely considered his greatest work, but as always, voting is open. If there is no heavy dissent, we'll pick from his body of work, unless something else is voted far above it. Make your opinions known this this thread, make your alternate suggestions, give assent or dissent on McCarthy, and assent or dissent on Blood Meridian. I will tally it all up between the multiple threads and make a decision by Friday at midnight. From there, a new post will be made with a schedule and information on our choice.
As always, the list of people interested in at the bottom of this page. You can message them individually or copy this whole list here when making a post regarding book club. Use the tag #hubskibookclub and you can copy and paste the whole list here:
@StJohn@, @DiamondLou86@, @AnSionnachRua@, @_refugee_@, @minimum_wage@, @flagamuffin@, @fuffle@, @b_b@, @hugitout@, @JakobVirgil@, @zebra2@, @AdSeriatim@, @mk@, @thenewgreen@, @SufficientGrace@, @ecib@, @kleinbl00@, @cliffelam@, @hootsbox@, @lil@, @rezzeJ@, @cgod@, @blackbootz@, @onehunna@, @AshShields@, @BLOB_CASTLE@, @insomniasexx@, @kuli@, @cowboyhaze@, @louderwords@, @Floatbox@, @maynard@, @hiss@, @NikolaiFyodorov@, @Meriadoc@, @wasoxygen@, @BlackBird@, @jayfixkleenit@, @crimsonlight@StJohn, DiamondLou86, AnSionnachRua, _refugee_, minimum_wage, flagamuffin, fuffle, b_b, hugitout, JakobVirgil, zebra2, AdSeriatim, mk, thenewgreen, SufficientGrace, ecib, kleinbl00, cliffelam, hootsbox, lil, rezzeJ, cgod, blackbootz, onehunna, AshShields, BLOB_CASTLE, insomniasexx, kuli, cowboyhaze, louderwords, Floatbox, maynard, hiss, NikolaiFyodorov, Meriadoc, wasoxygen, BlackBird, jayfixkleenit, crimsonlight
Is the book club still open to newcomers? Is there any "master thread" somewhere with rules regarding to its proper functioning that aforementioned newcomers should read?
Thanks for the reply. I hope we'll have some great discussion. This is not going to be an easy read...
Apart from Zadie Smith and Doris Lessing, I'd be up for Cormac McCarthy. I've read The Road, No Country for Old Men, and The Sunset Limited. I loved The Road, liked No Country for Old Men too, found The Sunset Limited so-so. I tried reading The Orchard Keeper and gave up. Of his books, I'm most keen on Blood Meridian.
I'd love a discussion about Catch-22, but if we're going McCarthy then I choose The Road.
I had suggested the river of doubt by Candace Millard. I will definitely be around should people choose it. However, my vote is for the Satanic Verses or something by Cormac McCarthy as I've never read any of his or Rushdie's work. Edit: doh! Just saw the bold area. He'll yes, Blood Meridian would be great!