BTT: June 2008 Archives

From Booking Through Thursday:

Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (ot, if you haven't been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?

Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?

Hmh, my first association from the title of this weeks BTT was clubbing in the sense of beating someone with a club. I wonder what that says about me?

So no, I haven't been in book clubs. To me, reading tends to be very solitary activity. I very rarely discuss books with anybody more than "hey, book X is good, check it out". I read, write a review, move on. I used to visit a Finnish online forum focused on books, but in the end that didn't work out.

On that forum, we did have a small book club, where we voted for the book to read. Seemed like a fairly good method, but it's pretty hard to choose a book that pleases everyone. We chose Tristram Shandy, but I think the discussion fizzled soon. Also, reading in the same pace with others sounds like a pain, especially as my reading time varies a lot depending on my other duties (right now I'm busy with all sorts of projects and can't read as much as I want, for example).

I'd say I'm happier without book clubs.

From Booking Through Thursday:

Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?

Science fiction is a constant that holds. As long as new science fiction books come in, I'll keep on reading them. I used to devour all fantasy books I found, then I kind of got bored, or the massive series turned me off. Now I've been returning to fantasy, reading more of the new fantasy novels I've found which are often, actually, quite good.

I've enjoyed more non-fiction than before, and a wider range of subjects too. Whether I like to read challenging or easy, light or dark, funny or serious, is a short-term thing, not something that goes in long-term trends.