Book Club?

Xiney

Before we go down this avenue further, may I remind you that this is not the thread to have this discussion in, please take it to feedback, pm, or start a new thread in the Sligo board where we can discuss the "new" Sligo forum.

takola

Sligored wrote: »

maybe this is the wrong place to say this but my frustration with the fact that this is more like a chat room than a forum .. i will probably get an infraction for saying this but i am not surprised the last two mods left due to nonsense posting. and i know this because i am very friendly with basquille..
this used to be a great opinions and facts forum but has degenerated badly in my opinion .. for what its worth.
please mods try and get it back to where it was

You're right, This is not the correct place to discuss this.

First of all I would advise against you using mufflers and basquille's leaving to add to your point as neither of them are around to back you up at the moment. Also neither of them have mentioned (that I am aware of) anywhere in the forum why they've stopped modding so what you're saying there doesn't count.

I'm going to make this clear. The Sligo forum is to be used to discuss things related to Sligo. If people in Sligo want to create a book club then they have every right to do so and every right to post it in the Sligo forum. We will ask that all discussion of the book club be kept to this one thread. That is all!

Sligored it's not up to you to tell either myself or Xiney how to run the forum. If you don't like what is going on in here then I'm(we're I'm sure) sorry you feel that way. We will do our best to keep the forum as friendly and well run as possible, We won't let threads run off-topic and we will uphold the charter rules.

I'm issuing you with a warning for back seat modding. Any further off-topic posts will result in bannings.

TequilaMockingBird

Sligored wrote: »

a book club ... wow .. that would be a shocking idea - in the middle of summer. please get out and do something useful or worthwhile. -

That was quite offensive to me.


Anyhoo, Old Lemon (:D) did you pick us a book yet?

elshambo

Sligored wrote: »

a book club ... wow .. that would be a shocking idea - in the middle of summer.

Er summer is the perfect time to start a club like this, should all be in decent mood when arriving, people cant use the weather as an excuse and get into the habit of going.
By the time winter comes they are all in the habit and club is solid, try in winter, 2 one week 3 another etc

1st book: Puckoon by the milligan? his first book, set in Sligo, good fun!
ps. If you saw the film (awful by all accounts) dont hold it against the book.

VERY sligo sence of humour to it, mate from England i loaned it to some years ago jokingly asked me how many times it was read to me as a child (id only bought it 3 weeks before:D )

TequilaMockingBird

elshambo wrote: »

Er summer is the perfect time to start a club like this, should all be in decent mood when arriving, people cant use the weather as an excuse and get into the habit of going.
By the time winter comes they are all in the habit and club is solid, try in winter, 2 one week 3 another etc

1st book: Puckoon by the milligan? his first book, set in Sligo, good fun!ps. If you saw the film (awful by all accounts) dont hold it against the book.

VERY sligo sence of humour to it, mate from England i loaned it to some years ago jokingly asked me how many times it was read to me as a child (id only bought it 3 weeks before:D )

I'd go with that, if its ok with everyone else?

elshambo

sueme wrote: »

I'd go with that, if its ok with everyone else?

One warning it is more monty python than friends

takola

Sounds like a fun read! I need to sort out my library membership if they'll order in books for us. How long do we have to read them?

TequilaMockingBird

Me too Takola, I'll have to come up with an alias if I'm to join again, I'm not the best at returning books, so I think I'll have to buy them.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/026-6442387-2895635?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=puckoon+milligan

TequilaMockingBird

Sorry, another suggestion! Untill we get some idea of numbers, prehaps try to pick a current bestseller? Tesco (*spit*) often have bestsellers for 5.95.

takola

I'll have to get a new alias myself. Actually i can just get my OH to get the books for me!

Haven't seen the bestsellers in Tesco but that may be a good idea Sue!

hupyago

seems like a good idea to use books based in sligo
like local writers such as spike
since there are so many decent bookshops in sligo maybe we could buy the titles of them or arrange something to buy titles in bulk for everyone involved

Hail 2 Da Chimp

sueme wrote: »

Tesco (*spit*)

:d

TequilaMockingBird

hupyago wrote: »

since there are so many decent bookshops in sligo maybe we could buy the titles of them or arrange something to buy titles in bulk for everyone involved

I agree that we should support the local bookstores, but for some the price may be a consideration, and unfortunately, the bookshops - through no fault of their own - are usually a lot more expensive for the same title. Thats a whole different thread though!

I'm not bothered, I'll give any book a shot.

Wheres Mz Lemon with her suggestions? Come on Missus, get it moving!

lemon_of_old

Oh the pressure!

Firstly, I agree with reading Sligo authors, I suggest that we arrange it in such a manner that every second or every third book is from a Sligo author or has a link to Sligo (if possible). I am completely ignorant of Sligo authors so I'll be relying on the rest of you to come up with suggestions!

Second, great news about the library ordering in bulk. What we can do instead of everybody trying to renew their subscription under aliases (:p) is for a couple of us to take out the books for everyone, I think you're allowed to take 2 or 3 books at a time? Just gotta make sure everyone returns them!

A good idea would be to make a list of the books we're going to read in the order that we're going to read them, possibly always having 5 or 6 books on this list. This will give people plenty of advance time to source the book if it's not available in the library or tesco (I laughed at the spitting btw!). There really isn't a great selection at Tesco though. I'm sure the local bookshops would arrange a discount of some sort if we are ordering in bulk.

Thanks for the book suggestions so far. I'm going to add mine to the list, it's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. The same author wrote "The Kite-Runner" which I just recently finished and it was a great read, I highly recommend it. This is meant to be as good if not better.

So how's about everybody suggest a book and we'll make a list to keep us going for the coming months?

brianthebard

lemon_of_old wrote: »

Oh the pressure!

Firstly, I agree with reading Sligo authors, I suggest that we arrange it in such a manner that every second or every third book is from a Sligo author or has a link to Sligo (if possible). I am completely ignorant of Sligo authors so I'll be relying on the rest of you to come up with suggestions!

I imagine we would run out of books to read quite quickly, but worth doing for the first two or three weeks. After that the connections will mostly be "he/she was friends with Yeats!".

Second, great news about the library ordering in bulk. What we can do instead of everybody trying to renew their subscription under aliases (:p) is for a couple of us to take out the books for everyone, I think you're allowed to take 2 or 3 books at a time? Just gotta make sure everyone returns them!

you can take ten books out at a time.

So how's about everybody suggest a book and we'll make a list to keep us going for the coming months?

I have no suggestions at the minute, sorry.

sobriquet

Great idea, but I think I'll rule myself out: I went on a book buying binge a few months ago to get myself back into the habit so I've a stack waiting to be read.

Just some suggestions for Sligo-related authors: Dermot Healy (novelist, playwright and poet who lives in north Sligo). More tenuous: DBC Pierre, who won the booker a couple of years back. Ozzie, but lives in Leitrim AFAIK.

gustavo

I'm in anyway , sounds like a great idea

This is another book by a Sligo author set in Sligo

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eight-ball-Boogie-Declan-Burke/dp/1903305071

TequilaMockingBird

gustavo wrote: »

I'm in anyway , sounds like a great idea

This is another book by a Sligo author set in Sligo

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eight-ball-Boogie-Declan-Burke/dp/1903305071

Yeah, I heard about that book on this forum before, I meant to try and find it.

I've read both the Khaled Hosseini books, and both are really great (in my opinion!), "I didn't want them to end" type of books.

As for another Sligo-ish book, Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks is daft but a good laugh, and he visits Sligo in it!

I've found alot of good books through the Richard and Judy Bookclub (don't snigger you at the back), it might be a good starting point?

lemon_of_old

I just popped into town on my lunch break and paid a flying visit to Liber bookshop. The girl there said she thinks we would get a 10% discount if we're buying the books for a book club but would have to check with the boss. Still, better than nothing.

Keep the suggestions coming! Would ye agree that if someone in the group has read the book already we shouldn't use it unless that person is dying to read it again?

Xiney

How about after the first meeting we save money by having meetings in peoples homes, bring your own wine sort of thing? I really like the idea of the Sligo book club supporting Sligo bookshops if possible.

Also I'd really like to read that funny book set in Sligo with the dark humour - love dark humour. However, I think we should start out with a serious book just because I'm at a loss as to how we would discuss a comedy?

Xiney

lemon_of_old wrote: »

I just popped into town on my lunch break and paid a flying visit to Liber bookshop. The girl there said she thinks we would get a 10% discount if we're buying the books for a book club but would have to check with the boss. Still, better than nothing.

Keep the suggestions coming! Would ye agree that if someone in the group has read the book already we shouldn't use it unless that person is dying to read it again?

I think if only one person has read it, it should be fine - chances are they didn't discuss it in depth at the time. If they really don't want to read it again, chances are it wasn't any good?

I think we may have trouble finding books that nobody has read, particularly if we do any classics (apart from samuel richardson's pamela - I only know one person who's gotten through that mysogynistic piece of crap)

TequilaMockingBird

I certainly don't mind re-reading anything, if I think its rubbish I can skim through to get the gist of it again.

I know someone in another bookshop in town (Hi Sis!), I'll see if they can raise the 10% Liber are offering! We could have a bidding war!

lemon_of_old

Ok, here's a bit of a list. There's lots on there so pick and choose and modify what you want:

Puckoon - Spike Milligan
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Eight Ball Boogie - Declan Burke
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Animal People - Indra Sinha
Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
The Ghost Road - Pat Barker
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

That's ten - think it'll do us for a while!

As I said, feel free to mess with the order and add or take whatever you want.

TequilaMockingBird

Thats great Lemon, well done and thanks.

I've read 3 of them, but I'm looking forward to the rest!

Now can you tell us where and when please? No pressure or anything!




If I could just get you to turn the pages as I'm reading we'd be sorted...

TequilaMockingBird

By my reckoning, we have 10 interested. Not every night is going to suit everyone, but even if half could make it, it wouldn't be bad.

I'm sure we could get a few more as time goes on.

lemon_of_old

My pleasure Sueme, it so happens turning pages for fellow boardsies is one of my favourite pastimes. (you wish!)

How about we go with what has previously been suggested on this thread - upstairs in the Glasshouse, Thursday 26th June, starting at around 7.45 - 8.00pm, and every two weeks after that?

Whoever's in favour raise your hand!

Next thing is the availability of the first book, I'm just after thinking that maybe Puckoon might not be the best first choice as it might not be widely available in the book shops? Should we stick with a more popular one for our first read, just so we can get it as soon as possible. This will leave us with some more time to get Puckoon ordered in if necessary (and more time to get the reading done!)

How's this?

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Puckoon - Spike Milligan
The Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Eight Ball Boogie - Declan Burke
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Animal People - Indra Sinha
Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
The Ghost Road - Pat Barker
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

Also I don't want people to feel forced into re-reading books if they really really don't want to, so this list is open for people to change. Speak now or forever hold your tongues! :pac:

lemon_of_old

sueme wrote: »

By my reckoning, we have 10 interested. Not every night is going to suit everyone, but even if half could make it, it wouldn't be bad.

I'm sure we could get a few more as time goes on.

Yeah I was thinking the same. How's about a roll call so we know roughly how many to expect?

Dya reckon the Glasshouse might give us some treats if we talk nice to them??!

TequilaMockingBird

lemon_of_old wrote: »

Yeah I was thinking the same. How's about a roll call so we know roughly how many to expect?

Dya reckon the Glasshouse might give us some treats if we talk nice to them??!

Well I'm obviously in (despite no page turners..)

I don't have to go far for the first book, its on my bookshelf!

I'd say we'd be lucky to get a drink we're paying for in the Glasshouse(service not great imo), never mind freebies, but maybe someone more optimistic could ask?

lemon_of_old

sueme wrote: »

Well I'm obviously in (despite no page turners..)

I don't have to go far for the first book, its on my bookshelf!

I'd say we'd be lucky to get a drink we're paying for in the Glasshouse(service not great imo), never mind freebies, but maybe someone more optimistic could ask?

Is that a hint?

TequilaMockingBird

lemon_of_old wrote: »

Is that a hint?

Kudos to you if you manage it!