The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

FunnyFace and I were thinking it might be cool to do a MoFo book club? Would anyone be interested?

If we have enough people (personally I'm okay with it being a small club) maybe we can get something going. I bet some of you are similar to me in that you would like to read more but find it can be difficult to get going. This might be a good motivator for those people. I love reading and there are so many books out there I want to read but it can be hard to actually do it. Not sure why, that's just how my brain is.

Anyway no rules are set yet. I'm not sure how any of this would work. In fact, if a better mind wants to run it I'm game to handing over the reigns. Yoda? Sean? Just looking to get this going. This thread is to see mainly who would want to join and how we would go about doing this.

The book FunnyFace and I were considering reading ourselves was Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. It's very short which could be a good thing just to get the ball rolling and figure this out. However, if it would dissuade any of you from participating I'm open to something else.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Let's all read The Lord of the Rings.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I'm trying to read more myself and have challenged myself to do a book a month. This will be a good motivator for me to continue with that. So count me in.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Great idea Swan! I used to be a big reader myself. Before joining Movie Forums I was actually a member of a writing forum for about a year (which was an inspiration for my name on here) and there was of course a lot of talk about books and authors and such.

I'm sorry to say this but I may not join right away, near the end of my writing forum days I developed a real bad problem with starting books and never finishing them. It literally happened with like 5 books. I also don't have enough in the budget for books right now. If it's a book I already own then that would be great! Though I don't want to be a butthole and be like "Let's do one that I own!" :p

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I haven't read a book in many years. One day I will read books again but not this day.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Not really on topic, but...Looking forward to reading "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet".

I have a problem with reading. It is a meditative act for me, which results in falling asleep after 10 pages. Plus, I read so fast that I often can't remember what I just read and have to go back.

It sounds like a great idea. When you guys start the remedial book club, let me know. :D

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Let's read Pride and Prejudice so we can all become pretentious middle class Victorians.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I'm def in! I love reading but don't make me read Lord of the Rings, I'd dip out of that choice.

Oh and can it not go at Sexy pace!

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Swan, maybe there doesn't really have to be rules. Create a thread called Book Club for the admin bit - the choices etc, then just have one thread per book so we can talk about the book as we read it or as we finish.

The members can choose a book in turns. I don't think we'll have any problems that need rules :)

I'm up for reading Metamorphosis too. Not read it but I feel like I have, so it's about time I did!

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Good idea, christine. It looks like we'll be a small group of people doing this (which honestly I kind of like) so maybe the people who sign up can nominate and we'll just go down the line? Would that seem fair? If we need any structuring, I suppose we can work that out with the first go-around. I'll talk to FF about maybe making some questions along the way for each book, that might make it a bit more fun if we have some discussion points.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

The Fifty Shades of Grey saga!!!

I'm totally in for that. Wouldn't mind reading them through a third time.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

This is an exclusive club and you're not allowed in, MM...

...unless you are seriously considering joining. In which case, welcome. :D

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Books take too long of a time to read! I hardly fit enough movies into my schedule, how the hell am I going to get through books! :D

You're banned from the book club!

Sounds great Swan, looking forward to it :)

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Sounds great, count me in! I have several ideas for nominations in mind right now.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Also I have already read the Metamorphosis and I liked it.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

What's the ruling on comic books?

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I think they should be allowed. I see no reason not to.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Can't see why comic books shouldn't be allowed .
I think the only thing that would put me off any book is having to spend loads of money buying it. If it's available second hand on eBay or Amazon I wouldn't have a problem .

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

If I wanted to read, I'd watch a movie with subtitles.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

How about everyone nominates two books. One they have already read and one high on their to read list.

Here's who I have marked as participating (with a maybe). Let me know if I forgot you.

FunnyFace
Swan
Sean (maybe)
TheUsualSuspect
christine
Friendly Mushroom

I was waiting to see what everyone else said, and I'm glad they are okay with it. So much great comic stuff out there. I have Preacher volume 1 in my possession that I still need to get to reading.

Again I'm up for just about anything. If christine and the rest want to do that as well, I'm game.

I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't have a set deadline for the entire thing, i.e. "we'll do a book a month," but plan according to the book? Because some books are way longer, it might take extra time. And something like Metamorphosis we could knock out in less than a month. So we can plan the deadline when we set a book, basically. Would that be okay?

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I tried reading a book on cinema. It took me 2 years to read like 2% of it.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I'd be really interested! Would you allow philosophy as an acceptable nomination?

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Thanks Swan. :) Setting the time based on the length of the book sounds perfect.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Just a thought, but I think it'd be better to focus on 1 book. It may be way too overwhelming to try to read multiple books at once imo. It takes some people a very long time to read just one book.

Also, if you could give me a couple weeks or so, I may be able to get a hold of that book. Not too sure yet, but I may be able to join like halfway through.

Absolutely! I love philosophy although I haven't read a whole lot, so that would be a great opportunity for me.

Though I would say be conscious of what you nominate. For example, Kant is very difficult and might turn a lot of people away. At the same time, if someone wants to bow out for that particular book, they can.

I assumed that FM (correct me if I'm wrong, FM) meant we would nominate a book we have read and one we would like to read, and do them at separate times. If not, I agree that we should focus on one book at a time. I don't want us to feel overloaded.

Yeah you're correct Swan.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Sure, I wouldn't nominate the 800 pages of a priori synthetic pleasure that is the critique of pure reason :)

There used to be these things called libraries where you could go and check out any book you wanted for free. I think they still exist.

It's hard enough to get people to watch a two-hour movie, so it's hard for me to see this book club lasting beyond a month or two. I hope it does, though. As long as people stick to small books, it might last. The Metamorphosis is a great choice (and a great read) since it's just a novella and shouldn't take more than one or two sittings to finish.

My reading output continues to dwindle. I used to average reading at least two books a month. Then it became one book a month. Now it takes me 2-3 months just to finish one damn book. I blame Movie Forums. Here it is October and I've only completed five books all year: Farewell Summer by: Ray Bradbury; Flappers and Philosophers by: F. Scott Fitzgerald; NOS42 by: Joe Hill; A Farewell to Arms by: Ernest Hemingway; and Exquisite Corpse by: Poppy Z. Brite. The latter is about two homosexual serial killers who cross paths, develop a relationship and proceed to engage in romantic acts like wallowing in blood and semen and viscera while f*cking dismembered corpses and nibbling on intestines like it's spaghetti and they're Lady and the Trap. Lovely stuff. I think MovieGal must have written it. :p

You can consider me an unofficial part-time member. If somebody happens to select a book I'm already planning to read or an author I love or want to explore, I'll jump in and participate. Otherwise I'll just sit on the sidelines and continue to pluck dusty books off my own bookshelf. I'm always reading something. It's just that I rarely find an opportunity anymore to read more than a few pages at a time. At my current pace, I'll never come close to reading all the books I want to read in my lifetime, so I'm reluctant to commit to something like this if it's going to steer me even farther from my own enormous list of books to read. I think it could be helpful for others, though. Anything that will get people to read more is a great thing.

Damn. I should have started this. I've thought before that we needed a Book Club here. I'm surprised it's taken this long -- and that there isn't a Book Countdown list yet.

I'd give you a serious lesson in speed reading!

Happy to see people are interested! Absolutely agree with being conscious about a nomination. Life keeps us all busy and participation should be fun and as easy as possible. I also like the idea of planning for a book a month and making adjustments as necessary for a longer text. If there is a shorter reading for one month the downtime will be a nice breather to catch up on other things.

Question for anyone that wants to participate- If you don't already own the text, would you plan on purchasing or trying a library first?

Some ideas I have for nominations are specific poems that could be found online, short stories and even children's literature. I'm up for reading most things- graphic novels, non-fiction, horror, sci-fi...etc.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I plan on using the library.

Let me just add that the book (I got the second volume lately) is really interesting. It's just that if I have to choose between watching films and reading about films, I always choose to watch. Now I feel bad, because the book is like the most interesting thing that would ever appeal to me in literature and I'm still not reading it.

To me it depends of the book, I have a little book collection so if the book is my an author that interest me I probably will buy it.

I'd just like something really relaxed and simple as everyone reads at different rates and has differing amounts of time they can devote to reading. Let's just go for reading Metamorphosis and when the majority of people who have signed up have read it and discussed it then we can go onto the next one .
it's not like we can't come back to a book thread if we think of other things to add.

I'd read some philosophy PG, but not if it was too dense or heavyweight as I just don't have the concentration these days for that.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

So you're basically saying we won't have a deadline? And just read until everyone is done, then move on?

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I'm going to set up the main thread so we can get going, just because I think some of us want to get working.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

That sounds good. Will everyone announce their noms at the beginning (Like for the ill-fated Watch List, all films were announced at beginning and watched in order) or wait till its their turn (Read person A's noms, then B announces his/her and read them, C, so on).

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I thought it might be good to nominate ahead of time, so people can work on obtaining the books if they want. But if that's not a good idea, let me know.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Yeah I think no deadline, but if everyone else disagrees I'm fine with whatever the majority wants. We've only got like 6 people who are def in, so if people can say that they are definately reading that nomination we can can wait for people to finish. Or another scenario, they could be honest and say if they're struggling and not going to finish then we can move on.

As far as what the nominations are, I'd rather they were revealed one by one as we finish the previous book. I don't like the thought of a list stretching into he future. Again tho, I'll go with whatever others like more. :)

Not too much far ahead then :)

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I think there should be a deadline, but make it insanely long so no one will have to worry about not finishing in time.

That's fine with me. :)

I'm not worried. If it fails, it fails. Fortunately we seem to have a small group of people enthusiastic about participating, which is kind of what I wanted. I hope, and think there's a good chance, it'll be a positive experience for us. If not... no harm done.

Similar to my movies, I prefer to buy my books. I may go to the library if I'm still broke in a couple weeks.

Exactly how I feel about my movie of the month idea. Though I think it's gone pretty decent so far only 3 days in. Good luck with this Swan! It'll be cool if we can support each others' ideas. :)

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I like to buy books in hardback if I can. The price of paperback reprinted books is ridiculous. The paper they're printed on looks like recycled toilet paper! I have almost every Stephen King book in hardback first edition. I've spent a lot. :yup:

Yeah I try to buy hardbacks but most of the time I find paperbacks that are a lot cheaper. I've got quite a few RA Salvatore books in hardback. Really liked his Hunter's Blade trilogy!

I have a lot of respect for Stephen King, but after reading some of his books I can't say I'm a huge fan. The first Dark Tower book I thought was boring as crap.

I thought he was off his game with The Dark Tower series. He tried to venture into fantasy, and that's not his genre.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Yeah since I didn't like the first one I didn't even bother with the rest of the series. I'm still meaning to get The Shining though, heard the movie did some things differently but it's still a legendary book.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I'd like to have a discussion on Darwin's origin of species, but it's alittle long no? haha

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

did the Walking Dead Comic is allowed as a book? :p It's the only thing I can read without getting completely bored

I'd be game for it personally but I imagine some people wouldn't. Again it's a possibility. If there are people who don't want to read it, they can skip that particular book.

I encourage people to speak up about this stuff. I hate making definitive answers because I want everyone to be happy.

It's allowed.

Which Stephen King books have you read?

First Dark Tower, Cycle of the Werewolf, and only some of The Stand. That was all I read before I kinda just gave up on reading his stuff. It was probably a mistake trying to read such a long book like The Stand though.

Pride and Prejudice is Georgian or Regency era and is pretty straight-forward/not all that pretentious. Middlemarch might be a better example of what you're thinking of. :p

I've yet to read any of the Dark Tower series. Never read Cycle of the Werewolf, either. That's not one I hear discussed very much, so I'm assuming it's one of his lesser works. It might have been written in the midst of King's cocaine addiction. The Stand is his best book, though, in my opinion. Before you give up on him, check out more of his early stuff: The Shining, Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, etc. I think it's hard to go wrong with early King. I'm not as familiar with his later stuff, but the few I've read, like Cell and Lisey's Story, didn't really do it for me.

And since you mentioned being a member of a writing forum, you should pick up King's On Writing. That's the best book on the craft available. Helpful, enjoyable, easy to read, illuminating and completely unpretentious.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

I'm honestly a bigger fan of King's non-fiction than his fiction. Danse Macabre and On Writing are amazing.

Yeah I tried forever to get a hold of On Writing but I could never find it in stores. I was gonna just get it online but that was around the time that I stopped really reading a lot so I kinda lost interest in getting it.

Yeah I'm definitely gonna give him another chance and get The Shining and On Writing next for sure.

Oh and Cycle of the Werewolf is a decent read, I liked it better than the first Dark Tower. They actually made it into a movie called Silver Bullet.

ive not read any Dark Tower either. Just don't fancy it. The Stand is his best book I agree, I love that book. I like all his early books but will still read his late stuff. Capt - did you read Mr Mercedes , his crime book?

I only read a few books in my time. I'm pretty sure I didn't read Metamorphosis, even though i had to for school. Did Polanski make a film? I liked Psychological Types by Jung, rather the first 5 pages, which is all my poor mind could do.

I'm not sure I should post this here, but

Anyway my favorite book is Moby Dick by Hermann Melville.. a close second The Red and The Black by Stendahl.

But I'm currently reading The Lord of the rings at an unbelieveble pace for me, 100 pages per 4 hrs. I've read 700 in the last week. It completely drew me into JRR world. Highlights so far are when Galadriel uses her ring and I'll quote

‘And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely!
In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I
shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning
and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow
upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Light-
ning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall
love me and despair!’
She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore
there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all
else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond
measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and
worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded,
and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voicewas soft and sad.
‘I pass the test,’ she said. ‘I will diminish, and go into the
West, and remain Galadriel.’



What a paragraph!

And then, a bit later, when Frodo puts the ring on to escape from Boromir

There was no answer. Frodo did not even hear his cries.
He was already far away, leaping blindly up the path to the
hill-top. Terror and grief shook him, seeing in his thought
the mad fierce face of Boromir, and his burning eyes.
Soon he came out alone on the summit of Amon Hen, and
halted, gasping for breath. He saw as through a mist a wide
flat circle, paved with mighty flags, and surrounded with a
crumbling battlement; and in the middle, set upon four
carven pillars, was a high seat, reached by a stair of many
steps. Up he went and sat upon the ancient chair, feeling likea lost child that had clambered upon the throne of mountain-
kings.
At first he could see little. He seemed to be in a world of
mist in which there were only shadows: the Ring was upon
him. Then here and there the mist gave way and he saw
many visions: small and clear as if they were under his eyes
upon a table, and yet remote. There was no sound, only
bright living images. The world seemed to have shrunk and
fallen silent. He was sitting upon the Seat of Seeing, on Amon
Hen, the Hill of the Eye of the Men of Nu
́
menor. Eastward
he looked into wide uncharted lands, nameless plains, and
forests unexplored. Northward he looked, and the Great
River lay like a ribbon beneath him, and the Misty Mountains
stood small and hard as broken teeth. Westward he looked
and saw the broad pastures of Rohan; and Orthanc, the
pinnacle of Isengard, like a black spike. Southward he
looked, and below his very feet the Great River curled like a
toppling wave and plunged over the falls of Rauros into a
foaming pit; a glimmering rainbow played upon the fume.
And Ethir Anduin he saw, the mighty delta of the River, and
myriads of sea-birds whirling like a white dust in the sun,
and beneath them a green and silver sea, rippling in endless
lines.
But everywhere he looked he saw the signs of war. The
Misty Mountains were crawling like anthills: orcs were issuing
out of a thousand holes. Under the boughs of Mirkwood
there was deadly strife of Elves and Men and fell beasts. The
land of the Beornings was aflame; a cloud was over Moria;
smoke rose on the borders of Lo
́
rien.
Horsemen were galloping on the grass of Rohan; wolves
poured from Isengard. From the havens of Harad ships of
war put out to sea; and out of the East Men were moving
endlessly: swordsmen, spearmen, bowmen upon horses,
chariots of chieftains and laden wains. All the power of theDark Lord was in motion. Then turning south again he beheld
Minas Tirith. Far away it seemed, and beautiful: white-walled,
many-towered, proud and fair upon its mountain-seat; itsbattlements glittered with steel, and its turrets were bright with
many banners. Hope leaped in his heart. But against Minas
Tirith was set another fortress, greater and more strong.
Thither, eastward, unwilling his eye was drawn. It passed
the ruined bridges of Osgiliath, the grinning gates of Minas
Morgul, and the haunted Mountains, and it looked upon
Gorgoroth, the valley of terror in the Land of Mordor. Dark-
ness lay there under the Sun. Fire glowed amid the smoke.
Mount Doom was burning, and a great reek rising. Then
at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon
battlement, black, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron,
gate of steel, tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-du
ˆ
r, Fortress
of Sauron. All hope left him.
And suddenly he felt the Eye. There was an eye in the
Dark Tower that did not sleep. He knew that it had become
aware of his gaze. A fierce eager will was there. It leaped
towards him; almost like a finger he felt it, searching for him.
Very soon it would nail him down, know just exactly where
he was. Amon Lhaw it touched. It glanced upon Tol Brandir
– he threw himself from the seat, crouching, covering his
head with his grey hood.
He heard himself crying out:
Never, never!
Or was it:
Verily
I come, I come to you
? He could not tell. Then as a flash from
some other point of power there came to his mind another
thought:
Take it off ! Take it off ! Fool, take it off ! Take off the
Ring!
The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly
balanced between their piercing points, he writhed, tor-
mented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again, Frodo,
neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one
remaining instant in which to do so. He took the Ring off his
finger. He was kneeling in clear sunlight before the high seat.
A black shadow seemed to pass like an arm above him; it
missed Amon Hen and groped out west, and faded. Then all
the sky was clean and blue and birds sang in every tree.

I read Moby-Dick a couple of years ago and I thought it was great at the beginning; really well written and evocative. Then it seemed to turn into more of a scientific study and it's like Melville forgets the drama he's created to some extent before returning to it much later. What surprised me a lot was that the air of the supernatural that comes over in the Gregory Peck film wasn't present in the book – things like Ahab "beckoning" to the crew etc etc, and I think by adding those things the film actually improved the story and made it really epic. It's a bit like if you had Hamlet without the ghost or Macbeth without the witches.

Re: The MoFo Book Club - Idea thread
 

Anand Giridharadas

‏Winners take all : the elite charade of changing the world
http://lib1.org/covers/2259000/d64b3...21102e11-d.jpg