Comments | calico_reaction: Book Club: Need Themes and Suggestions!

calico_reaction

Book Club: Need Themes and Suggestions!

Aug 27, 2009 10:55

Okay, there's enough people INTERESTED in a monthly book challenge that I'd like to try and get something rolling for the month of September. But that means I need YOUR help ASAP, because I'd like to get the poll up before the end of the month so you all can vote and have the title of the book for September ( Read more... )

blog: book club

Comments 17

shadefell August 27 2009, 15:18:21 UTC

It'd be awesome if they were slightly older books, easily obtainable from a library. Awesome for me, anyway.

Some themes I'd like to see are:

-Zombies/Post-Apocalyptic (bonus if the apocalypse involves dirty commies/atom bombs OR realistic plague/pandemic)
-Urban Fantasy that is technically urban fantasy: it involves a city, not just some woman makin' time with supernatural entities
-SciFi/Fantasy by people who are not white and/or not male
-Classic/pulp SciFi
-Historical Fiction that is actually researched and isn't schmoopy romance centric. Or fanfic of existing books (coughJaneAustenRewritescough).
-Horror short stories/Ghost stories (Sheridan Le Fanu, Sarah Monette, M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Stephen King)

calico_reaction August 27 2009, 15:43:48 UTC

Interesting topics! As you think of books that might fit those categories, definitely let me know. :)

peanut13171 August 27 2009, 15:36:52 UTC

Haha. I was going to say "please no urban fantasy or zombies". I am so over vamps and werewolves.

I agree with shadefell that it would be very nice if it was a book we can get from the library.

I'd prefer something that isn't depressing and had some humor. Other than that I'm open for anything.

I do love YA.

calico_reaction August 27 2009, 15:45:55 UTC

Think about books you would LIKE to read but haven't, and maybe go from there in terms of creating a theme? :)

As far as libraries go, everyone's library is different, so whether your library will have the choice or not is definitely beyond me. :) That's why your suggestions are so important: you know what your library has and how often they stock new releases. That sort of thing. :)

shadefell August 28 2009, 16:30:15 UTC

More and more libraries offer interlibary loan, where one library can order books from a larger/better stocked library.

I live in Chicago and grew up in the south suburbs, so this is really normal for me (I'm 30). My best friend grew up in PA and didn't have this option, but I think now it's pretty standard, at least for folks in the US. I think I've talked to people in the UK and they've had the option as well, but I could be remembering wrong.

chicklitter August 27 2009, 18:41:26 UTC

I'm all about the YA. :-) (Speaking of, I have SPEAK, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. When I do, I'll definitely let you know my thoughts, though.)

I think doing a new authors theme could be fun. Or a first releases sort of thing. Obviously, you'd probably want to avoid anyone who was lucky enough to have a hardback debut for cost reasons, but getting people to explore new authors that they might not have otherwise is always good, IMO.

Some other stuff, just off the top of my head: Books Turned Into Movies, holidays, Really Bad Cover Art (speaking of, go check out the Smart Bitches' blog today--they snarked on some fantasy covers and it's freaking hilarious), Stories Set in {Insert Region here, i.e. South U.S., Russia, etc.}, Urban Fantasy that Doesn't Feature a Werewolf or Vampire as a Main Character...and you know I'm gonna toss romance out there just for kicks.

jonaskaite August 27 2009, 23:30:03 UTC

I would LOVE to do a YA theme. There's enough really GOOD speculative YA coming out that it could probably be done more than once, with different subthemes. I'd offer Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (current-setting cyberpunk) and Francesca Lia Block's brand new The Waters and the Wild (urban fantasy) to start with... I'd love to have a hard sci-fi suggestion in there too but I'm not dredging one up at the moment ( ... )

earthguardian August 27 2009, 20:00:20 UTC

I would like to see more urban fantasy by non-white authors (preferably black) who don't use slang for their minority characters. There's one author I tried to read, L.A. Banks, and it's nothing but crappy, stereotypical language throughout the entire SERIES for all of her non-white characters. It's disgusting.

I would also like to read some fantasy/sci-fi with lesbian heroines. THAT would be interesting.

calico_reaction August 27 2009, 21:28:23 UTC

If you come upon any specific titles, definitely let me know. :)

earthguardian August 27 2009, 22:21:13 UTC

I'll do some research and get back to you!

earthguardian August 28 2009, 01:44:36 UTC

I found a livejournal community in regards to fantasy with lesbian/bisexual main characters. Here's the link so you can check it out:

http://community.livejournal.com/urbanfantasyfan/321924.html

cywrain August 27 2009, 23:29:01 UTC

Hee. I add my ascent to the Zombie/apocalyptic fiction idea. I also like the idea of reading books that are readily found and the library. It helps save my wallet.

As for specific titles, hmm. Let me browse about my scant TBR list of 800 titles.

There's Mark Del Franco's urban fantasy series, Connor Grey. Ann Thompson's fantasy Story Teller just caught me eye. There's Allison van Diepen's YA Raven. Oh, and Sherwood Smith's Crown and Court Duet duology. And I always wanted to read Dinesen's Out of Africa. And there's always Pratchett. Pratchett would be fun to read in a club setting. :)