Weekend Update: Planning for 2012 Book Club
So in case any of you were wondering, I'm still pondering the book club question for 2012. I've made a few decisions about it, should I continue with one, that I thought I'd share with you:
1) I will not track participation. If I decide to do any sort of giveaway for a 2012 book club, it's going to be slightly more arbitrary than it is now.
2) While I love Calico's Dares, it's going to go on hiatus for at least a year, so that I can read lots of new stuff to dare you all to read at a later date. Like, maybe in 2013. :)
That being said, I know having one book club versus the current two will be a great relief, so it's just a matter of deciding, should I do the one, how I'll organize it. For Year One, we did themes, and I'm leaning towards that idea for 2012, because themes allow more flexibility from month to month, and most likely, we won't end up with classic SF two months in a row. That was rough, y'all. :)
But there was also the really interesting idea, suggested by starmetal_oak, in which a month would have a sponsor who would select the theme and the four books for the poll, along with perhaps a guest post introducing said sponsor and letting the sponsor explain their theme. If you're interested in reading the comments in full regarding this idea, just click here.
And come to think of it, there's no reason I couldn't do both, is there?
But I'm all about planning, so while I'm bugging 2011 book clubbers about nominating for December's poll, I want all of YOU to brainstorm.
I need YOU to comment with the following:
Pretend I came to you and said you got to sponsor a month for the book club. What's your theme? And what books would you suggest for said theme? I'm not saying you have to give me four, because likely, if you come up with a theme, I'd like to think I could come up with one or two titles myself that would fit it, but for the sake of this brainstorming exercise, I need your theme with at least one or two book titles. More if you've got them.
And that's that! The theme can be author-centric, publisher-centric, genre-centric, idea-centric, sequel-centric, whatever. I'm open to anything and everything, so lay it on me!
For those of you who need a jumpstart to your imagination by seeing what themes I used for Year One of the book club (which was about 16 months of themes), click behind the cut. If there's any particular theme here that you really liked and want to see again, please say so in comments.
09/2009: Fantasy that takes place in an urban setting ( Original Selections)
10/2009: Classic Horror ( Original Selections)
11/2009: YA Written By Authors of Color ( Original Selections)
12/2009: Classic Fantasy ( Original Selections)
01/2010: YA Futuristic Fiction ( Original Selections)
02/2010: Black Women Writing Spec Fic ( Original Selections)
03/2010: SF Hugo Winners That I Already Own ( Original Selections)
04/2010: Stand-Alone, Non-Traditional Fantasy by Women Writers ( Original Selections)
05/2010: Philip K. Dick Award Female Nominees (you probably haven't heard of) ( Original Selections)
06/2010: No Sparkling Vampires! ( Original Selections
07/2010: Cats in Fantasy ( Original Selections)
08/2010: 2010 Hugo Nominees ( Original Selections)
09/2010: Theme-Centric Short Story Anthologies ( Original Selections)
10/2010: Zombies! ( Original Selections)
11/2010: Fantasies (not urban) released in 2010 (which may or may not include hardcovers) ( Original Selections)
12/2010: Stand-Alones from Big Name Fantasy Authors ( Original Selections)
Edit: I'm just adding this for my own record-keeping, in that I may do a theme called "Books My Husband Wants Me to Read" and "Genre in the Mainstream" :)
1) I will not track participation. If I decide to do any sort of giveaway for a 2012 book club, it's going to be slightly more arbitrary than it is now.
2) While I love Calico's Dares, it's going to go on hiatus for at least a year, so that I can read lots of new stuff to dare you all to read at a later date. Like, maybe in 2013. :)
That being said, I know having one book club versus the current two will be a great relief, so it's just a matter of deciding, should I do the one, how I'll organize it. For Year One, we did themes, and I'm leaning towards that idea for 2012, because themes allow more flexibility from month to month, and most likely, we won't end up with classic SF two months in a row. That was rough, y'all. :)
But there was also the really interesting idea, suggested by starmetal_oak, in which a month would have a sponsor who would select the theme and the four books for the poll, along with perhaps a guest post introducing said sponsor and letting the sponsor explain their theme. If you're interested in reading the comments in full regarding this idea, just click here.
And come to think of it, there's no reason I couldn't do both, is there?
But I'm all about planning, so while I'm bugging 2011 book clubbers about nominating for December's poll, I want all of YOU to brainstorm.
I need YOU to comment with the following:
Pretend I came to you and said you got to sponsor a month for the book club. What's your theme? And what books would you suggest for said theme? I'm not saying you have to give me four, because likely, if you come up with a theme, I'd like to think I could come up with one or two titles myself that would fit it, but for the sake of this brainstorming exercise, I need your theme with at least one or two book titles. More if you've got them.
And that's that! The theme can be author-centric, publisher-centric, genre-centric, idea-centric, sequel-centric, whatever. I'm open to anything and everything, so lay it on me!
For those of you who need a jumpstart to your imagination by seeing what themes I used for Year One of the book club (which was about 16 months of themes), click behind the cut. If there's any particular theme here that you really liked and want to see again, please say so in comments.
09/2009: Fantasy that takes place in an urban setting ( Original Selections)
10/2009: Classic Horror ( Original Selections)
11/2009: YA Written By Authors of Color ( Original Selections)
12/2009: Classic Fantasy ( Original Selections)
01/2010: YA Futuristic Fiction ( Original Selections)
02/2010: Black Women Writing Spec Fic ( Original Selections)
03/2010: SF Hugo Winners That I Already Own ( Original Selections)
04/2010: Stand-Alone, Non-Traditional Fantasy by Women Writers ( Original Selections)
05/2010: Philip K. Dick Award Female Nominees (you probably haven't heard of) ( Original Selections)
06/2010: No Sparkling Vampires! ( Original Selections
07/2010: Cats in Fantasy ( Original Selections)
08/2010: 2010 Hugo Nominees ( Original Selections)
09/2010: Theme-Centric Short Story Anthologies ( Original Selections)
10/2010: Zombies! ( Original Selections)
11/2010: Fantasies (not urban) released in 2010 (which may or may not include hardcovers) ( Original Selections)
12/2010: Stand-Alones from Big Name Fantasy Authors ( Original Selections)
Edit: I'm just adding this for my own record-keeping, in that I may do a theme called "Books My Husband Wants Me to Read" and "Genre in the Mainstream" :)