*****Planning for 2014

It's that time again!

Let's think about Club Read 2014. What worked well this year? What changes would you like to see?

Thanks to lilisin for the monthly What Are You Reading? threads, to MJ/detailmuse for the bimonthly Interesting Articles threads, and to AnnieMod for the quarterly (and soon to be year-end) Best Reads threads. Who would like to volunteer for these for 2014?

I've been a little remiss with Questions for the Avid Reader, but I'm prepared to continue that next year if people like it.

Also, this year we provided links to some other groups of interest, including Author Theme Reads, Literary Centennials, Read Mo Yan, and Reading Globally. Did you enjoy this feature? What groups would you like to see links to next year?

This group exists for the readers who make it up. Thank you all for all your participation this year, thanks to Lois/avaland for creating Club Read, and let's all look forward to 2014 as another great reading year!

Thank you Rebecca for administering these threads. Club read 2013 has for most of the year been in the top 5 or 6 most active groups on LT and you and all the other participants should take some pride in this. It is a successful group.

I love the idea of Club read where we can all open up our own threads and blog what we like on them, but because we now know our regular bloggers fairly well it is good to provide links to other groups that we know will be of interest and so this feature should stay.

I have a couple of ideas:

1) We seem to attract a reasonable number of bloggers every year, but I am wondering whether we should try and provide encouragement to the hesitant new blogger. Would a "welcome" thread be useful? I know we have a thread to introduce ourselves, but a welcome thread with a named administrator of that thread might be more positive.

2) An idea that has been used on other groups, and which can be very productive; has been a group read with a nominated leader, This is somewhat different to the groups like Author theme reads and the Read Mo Yan groups. The difference is that the nominated leader would have some knowledge and background to the book chosen and would be able to comment/provide assistance/lead discussions on issues raised. They might also provide a timetable for the read to keep readers on board and up to date. This idea puts a considerable amount of work on the leader and so would not be undertaken lightly. I would suggest we would only read two or three books a year in this fashion. The whole idea would be for a more in depth reading and so I would suggest as topics from which book choices could be made:

Literary prize winning books

Classics

A favourite book from a member of Club read that he/she would like to lead, and encourage others to read.

Books that would dovetail with other LT groups like Author theme reads.

I've been very happy with this group and how it is run so no changes suggested from me! I do like Barry's idea of having some group reads, mainly because there are so many intelligent people in this group that I love learning from. Last year we had a couple of unofficial group reads (I remember participating in The Master and Margarita) which I enjoyed. If those spring up, I'd probably participate but I also like the idea of a knowledgeable group leader with the caveat that I don't feel qualified in any area to volunteer!

I have one small suggestion. The "What are you reading?" and "Interesting articles" threads are always interesting, but I tend to overlook them when a new month starts and I don't have the new thread starred yet. Now that LT has the "Continue this topic..." feature, it would be simpler just to have one thread of each per year and "Continue" it whenever it starts to get full just like we do our personal threads. If you have the original thread starred, the new one is automatically starred as well, and it's less work to maintain.

Thanks for everything you do Rebecca. I particularly enjoy the Questions for the Avid Reader section and I hope you still have enough Qs to keep it going.

I like Steven's idea.

Steven,

I was looking at the "What are you reading now" threads that I created and I don't even see an option for continuing on to a new thread. Is that something that can happen only after a certain number of posts? I tried to make sure that all new threads I created were done the day before to allow for those who live in Asia to not have to wait for a thread and so that the thread would remain towards the top.

I think they have to be at least 100 (or maybe 200?) posts long.

Yep, 200 posts before continuation. Steven's point was not to do a monthly one, but to simply do a generic "What are you reading now? (the first)" thread and once it hits continuation status, to carry it over into "What are you reading now? (the second)" or whatever. So that it wouldn't get lost and the star would carry over.

Kudos to Steven, great idea!

Yes, thanks PM, that's exactly what I meant.

;) It's a good idea. Usually I catch everything so it doesn't matter much to me, but, I know most folks are a lot busier than I am, haha.

Thanks for the interesting ideas so far.

Do you think somebody needs to be responsible for the What Are You Reading and Interesting Articles threads to ensure that they get continued, or should we just leave that up to whoever feels like it once we reach the magic number?

The group read idea always sounds intriguing, but it can be like herding cats to get everyone to read a book at the same time! Maybe once Club Read 2014 starts, someone can start an Ideas for Group Reads thread and let people post suggestions. Or do you have other ideas about how this could work?

One idea I had for something that could either be a thread here in Club Read or a separate group that we could link to is to have a thematic read commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. This idea was proposed for a Reading Globally theme read, but didn't get enough votes there, and I know some other groups, like the Virago group, is already doing this, but it seems like it would be a good fit for Club Read. Does anyone have any thoughts about this and whether it would work better inside Club Read or as a related group?

Keep the ideas coming!

I think it can just be continued by anyone. I bet there's enough of us who don't mind doing it who will jump in when noticed. :)

A thread for suggestions/nominations sounds fine. If it gets much attention the oft-used method of "seconds" can be used for collecting those for a vote after X amt of time. When is the group going to start?

When is the group going to start?

I wanted to get ideas first and find people to volunteer for various tasks and get thoughts on groups we should link to (see first post). Then I have to have time to set it up. Realistically, probably not this weekend but next weekend, so around the middle of December. Does that work for everyone?

RE: What are you reading thread

I see now. I do agree that a generic non-monthly thread is a good idea since, as you mention, it does require some commitment to remember to set it up.

RE: WWI read

I'm wondering what the difference would be between having a new group created for this versus having it in house. We couldn't get enough agreement for it this year so would it be worth it creating a new group for it? Plus, I'm starting to see a bit of a backfire with all these mini-groups being created in that we're really splitting up the conversation all over LT and it's getting hard to follow. Granted, that shows how many wonderful ideas we have, but I know I like to follow certain ideas and it's getting to be a lot of groups to handle especially considering that a lot of the same people are in each group.

>1 rebeccanyc: Really, you don't have to keep giving me credit, you have done as much as I did by continuing it after I no longer had the time. Thank you for doing so!!!

Rebecca, if you take on Questions again, I might be able to help you later in 2014 when things settle down (oh, I hope things will settle down).

SUGGESTION: When Club Read was started I kept it private for a couple of months while I "seeded" the group by inviting certain thoughtful, adventurous or inquisitive readers I knew who brought to the group a wide range of cosmopolitan perspectives. My thought, to put it as simply as possible, was that if I constructed a base of the kind of people I had in mind when creating Club Read, it would attract the same. I'm please to see that it has more or less worked!

So, my suggestion is that some of us who are interested, go to our profile pages and explore some of the "recent" "members with our books" or, pick a really unusual and interesting book in your collection and see explore some of the people who have it...and find some fresh blood that way. Does their profile intrigue you? Perhaps you might invite them to participate in CR (though you might have to explain how it works). I don't mean gleaning from the 75 group, or another big group (there's enough cross over, isn't there?), but looking for real newbies or the uninitiated. There's a certain amount of attrition, and waxing & waning of member activity that happens so I don't think it would have much impact on the size of the group, but it might add a few other interesting and perhaps very different voices.

I don't think this is so much a formal suggestion for the group but an informal one to the more outgoing members who might be inclined to do something like this.

I think that's a great idea, Lois, and I have tried to interest the member with whom I share the most books and who always seems to already have the most esoteric books I add to LT -- but alas she hasn't yet joined. I was thinking that the beginning of a new year would be a good time to try to interest her again. She writes great reviews and would be a great addition to Club Read and Reading Globally.

Would anyone like to volunteer to post the Quarterly and Year End best reads threads for 2014?

And would anyone like to volunteer to start the What Are You Reading and Interesting Articles threads in January and keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get too long and then start the continuation threads? (See posts 4-12.)

Other than Reading Globally, Author Theme Reads, and Literary Centennials, are there any other groups you'd like a direct link to on the Group page?

I can start the reading/articles threads and change them over when they've grown long enough if you like.

Thanks, Monkey! That's great!

:)

Still looking for a volunteer for the quarterly and year-end best books threads . . . .

I'd do it except I couldn't guarantee I'd remember... haha

You've already volunteered for something, Monkey. Let the others have a chance!

Lol, like I said, I'm no good at remembering for occasional future periods like that. :P

>13 rebeccanyc: WWI: I like this as a thematic read for 2014. I think it's too important an anniversary to ignore. I know not everyone likes to read history, but there are so many novels, diaries, poems and such like, that there should be some facet of reading for everyone. I like the idea of it within Club Read. The Virago thread is well organized as always, but perhaps represents only one view of the war, whereas I think the original idea of having this as a theme read in Reading Globally was to have voices from more of the nations involved.

>17 avaland: A great idea. I will try a couple of people. I know that I lurked in Club Read for a year before screwing up my courage and jumping in; I was greatly intimidated my the level of many of the reviews. Maybe others feel the same way and just need some encouragement. I must add I'm still in awe of many of the reviews!

>23 rebeccanyc: Rebecca, do you mean the threads where you ask for a recap of best books read? I think I can manage that, as long as I don't have to be too creative.

#28 Thanks, Colleen. All you have to do is start a thread called something like ***Best Reads of January - March a few days before the end of each quarter (and a year-end one in December. Here is an example. No creativity required, but not prohibited either!

#27 I agree that it would be good to have the WW1 theme read right here in Club Read. Would you, Sassy, like to lead it (hint hint) or are there others who would like to do so?

I may be able to start Club Read 2014 tomorrow; if not, I can probably do it Friday.

Thanks Rebecca for taking this on again.

I was wondering if it were possible to post links to pormenient threads like we do interesting groups. Splintering theme reads and topics into other groups seems to kill any steam they had, and I would like to think that Club Read is big enough to not only support are individual threads, but can also host some the bigger theme type threads. Perhaps this is too much of a pain.

Kevin, I'm not sure I understand what you mean by permanent threads. Do you mean if, for example, we have a World War I thread? Or if we have some kind of group read? We're such a varied group of readers -- by design -- and people often have their own plans of books they want to read, so I'm not sure how group reads would work, but the way to find out is to try (see Barry's #2). Hopefully, these would emerge organically from the group over the course of the year. But if we have the WWI read or other group reads, I can definitely add them to the Group page.

Club Read 2014 is open! Come on over, but don't neglect Club Read 2013 for the rest of the year!

Adding my sincere appreciation to Rebecca for managing the group and to everyone for offering ideas. I have a couple TBRs tagged "WWI" and agree that the anniversary is a perfect prompt to read more.

Thanks Rebecca. So you know, I want to volunteer for the WAYRN threads, but I know that (a) I can't maintain it through the year, and would need help and (b) there is a good chance I will be out away from internet access just before and during the New Year, so I couldn't give the thread a timely start.

As a suggestion, I would like us to have a thread where we can highlight nicer reviews and posts, but one that avoids all the negative possible aspects of such a thread. Any suggestions on how to do that?

>34 dchaikin: Those threads are already taken care of, no worries.

What negative aspects? Pointing out good reviews sounds like a nice idea.

#35 you would b surprised. The mostly defunct le Salon group did this successfully by keeping it fun, but that group had great playful side to it.

Thanks, everyone. If you have an idea for a thread like that, Dan, why don't you start it with a few examples once 2014 rolls around. Or in advance, since you say you'll be without internet access around that time. And Monkey is taking care of the What Are You Reading and Interesting Articles threads, setting them up and making sure they get continued when they get too long. But thanks for volunteering.

I will set up a World War I thread and just let everyone take it in whatever direction they'd like.

R - I will come up with something, might not appear on Jan 1 though.

Thanks for setting up the 2014 group. Since I'll be leaving for vacation this weekend and won't be back till after the new year, this is mighty convenient for me.

I had been planning on reading one book each month that would fit into the WWI theme. We'll see how that goes, but I was going to try to follow the Virago group's format. They are doing a book every other month.

Following up on post 34-38, here is a test thread: Club Read recommends

Glad you are getting a vacation, lilisin!

Colleen, I did start a thread for recommended WWI reading. Probably on Friday or over the weekend I'll have a chance to go through my library and see what I have. I've only used the tag WWI for nonfiction, so I'm just going to have to go through the fiction book by book.

Thanks, Dan!

I have a gazillion WWI related books - might as well join everyone and make some progress in reading them in 2014.