26 votes

Tildes Book Club - Spring schedule (Updated Feb 2, 2:19 UTC)

The results are in, and Dispossessed was the clear favorite with many strong contenders. It looks like quite a few people are interested in participating.

There was a tie for third place so we will start with four books.

Edit
We will discuss Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell in early March,
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke in Mid April,
The Dispossessed by Ursula le Guin in Late May
And Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir at the end of June.

We will discuss Project Hail Mary in early March
Cloud Atlas in mid April
The Dispossessed in late May
and Piranesi at the end of June

At that point I plan to hold a voting thread for fiction and a voting thread for nonfiction and discuss/vote on how frequently to read nonfiction. Please feel free to renominate your favorites that didn't get chosen.

I'm looking forward to this. Thanks for participating.

40 comments

  1. [6]
    boxer_dogs_dance
    Link
    Ping to everyone who expressed interest. Here is the schedule for the next few months. @slothywaffle @DefinitelyNotAFae @0d_billie @Bifrost51 @skybrian @Sodliddesu @kfwyre @azaadi @fraughtGYRE...
    13 votes
    1. [2]
      chocobean
      Link Parent
      Thanks for the ping! Really looking forward to the discussions!

      Thanks for the ping! Really looking forward to the discussions!

      4 votes
    2. [3]
      georgeboff
      Link Parent
      Good morning, I didn't comment on the original thread but I am looking forwards to participating in the book club. I appreciate you putting it together (also commenting to hopefully help others...

      Good morning, I didn't comment on the original thread but I am looking forwards to participating in the book club. I appreciate you putting it together (also commenting to hopefully help others who might not have seen the initial thread see this one)

      2 votes
      1. boxer_dogs_dance
        Link Parent
        Thanks. Welcome! I am trying to think of ways to increase awareness. Once we start reading the first book, there will hopefully be significant discussion.

        Thanks. Welcome!

        I am trying to think of ways to increase awareness. Once we start reading the first book, there will hopefully be significant discussion.

        3 votes
  2. [3]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. boxer_dogs_dance
      Link Parent
      I didn't want to proceed by increasing or decreasing popularity. They are sorted by author in reverse alphabetical order. I doubt I get more precise than the weeks I suggested and it is a...

      I didn't want to proceed by increasing or decreasing popularity.

      They are sorted by author in reverse alphabetical order.

      I doubt I get more precise than the weeks I suggested and it is a tentative plan. My schedule can be unpredictable. I'm expecting people will reply and discuss for as long as they like.

      5 votes
  3. [3]
    0d_billie
    Link
    For clarity, are the ballpark dates you've posted when we should have read the book in question by or when we start on that book?

    For clarity, are the ballpark dates you've posted when we should have read the book in question by or when we start on that book?

    5 votes
    1. boxer_dogs_dance
      Link Parent
      The dates are when I hope to start discussing the books.

      The dates are when I hope to start discussing the books.

      5 votes
  4. [10]
    PnkNBlck71817
    Link
    So excited for this and really happy I have already read our first book because it's a 7 week wait at my library. I'm not sure if you want to keep up with it, but maybe you (or anyone else...

    So excited for this and really happy I have already read our first book because it's a 7 week wait at my library.

    I'm not sure if you want to keep up with it, but maybe you (or anyone else interested) could start a Goodreads account to track books read. I take part in Movie of the Week on ~movies and they track previously watched on letterboxd. It was great for me because I missed the first couple of months of it being a thing and I was easily able to see the previously watched movies. Might be nice for others that join later and are looking for other books to read.

    4 votes
    1. [8]
      boxer_dogs_dance
      Link Parent
      I was just in my library and they have a shelf where they display books in high demand called 'Your Lucky Day'. But that doesn't change holds. I will see how hard it is to start a Goodreads group....

      I was just in my library and they have a shelf where they display books in high demand called 'Your Lucky Day'. But that doesn't change holds.

      I will see how hard it is to start a Goodreads group. I'm already there under this username.

      3 votes
      1. [7]
        chocobean
        Link Parent
        Fwiw I'd want to stick with the Tildes crowd and not get more involved with Jeff Bezos products, if possible please....

        Fwiw I'd want to stick with the Tildes crowd and not get more involved with Jeff Bezos products, if possible please....

        3 votes
        1. boxer_dogs_dance
          Link Parent
          Entirely fair. People can also search for previous book club entries here.

          Entirely fair. People can also search for previous book club entries here.

          3 votes
        2. [5]
          PnkNBlck71817
          Link Parent
          I honestly didn't realize it was a subsidiary of Amazon! I used to keep a list on a spreadsheet, but love the ability to browse popular books to find something new to read. Do you happen to use...

          I honestly didn't realize it was a subsidiary of Amazon! I used to keep a list on a spreadsheet, but love the ability to browse popular books to find something new to read. Do you happen to use anything as an alternative?

          2 votes
          1. [4]
            boxer_dogs_dance
            Link Parent
            Storygraph has many fans. Library Thing is old school

            Storygraph has many fans.

            Library Thing is old school

            3 votes
            1. PnkNBlck71817
              Link Parent
              Taking a look at both of these. Thank you!

              Taking a look at both of these. Thank you!

            2. [2]
              sandaltree
              Link Parent
              Have you thought about using the book club feature in Storygraph? Looks pretty neat; has separate threads for different parts of the book that unlock as you mark your progress. I love discussing...

              Have you thought about using the book club feature in Storygraph? Looks pretty neat; has separate threads for different parts of the book that unlock as you mark your progress. I love discussing the book midway instead of just at the end. Makes it a journey with everyone :). We do this in a Japanese book club I'm in, but I guess it's a bit easier to pace yourself in a non-native language.

  5. [2]
    cfabbro
    Link
    @boxer_dogs_dance, it might be worth pinging everyone who replied in your previous book club topics, just so they don't miss this. I did the same with my book club event too.

    @boxer_dogs_dance, it might be worth pinging everyone who replied in your previous book club topics, just so they don't miss this. I did the same with my book club event too.

    3 votes
  6. [2]
    palimpsest
    Link
    Oooh, looks good! I'm gonna try and keep up. I have read barely any books in the past few years and this selection looks really interesting.

    Oooh, looks good! I'm gonna try and keep up. I have read barely any books in the past few years and this selection looks really interesting.

    3 votes
  7. [3]
    slothywaffle
    Link
    Apparently Project Hail Mary is a popular one. I'm looking at a 14 week wait on Libby!

    Apparently Project Hail Mary is a popular one. I'm looking at a 14 week wait on Libby!

    2 votes
    1. boxer_dogs_dance
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Hmm. Can you check availability of the other books? It might be worth it to change the order if this is happening to everyone. Edit see my other post

      Hmm.

      Can you check availability of the other books? It might be worth it to change the order if this is happening to everyone.

      Edit see my other post

      2 votes
  8. [7]
    boxer_dogs_dance
    Link
    @cfabbro, Can you please add edited to the title of this post... All of the library users were going to be excluded from Project Hail Mary

    @cfabbro,

    Can you please add edited to the title of this post... All of the library users were going to be excluded from Project Hail Mary

    2 votes
    1. [6]
      cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Sure. Added. Edit: I only now just saw that you made another topic to poll everyone on changing the schedule, and share their book lending availability times. Good idea! That will definitely help...

      Sure. Added.

      Edit: I only now just saw that you made another topic to poll everyone on changing the schedule, and share their book lending availability times. Good idea! That will definitely help figure out more optimal scheduling, but my points below are still worth keeping in mind, so I'll leave them up.

      But, TBH, in future I would recommend against fiddling with the schedule like this after it's already been established. Not only because doing so requires contacting everyone to let them know it's suddenly been changed, which you can only do for people who actually commented, but not for anyone who already saw the post, and potentially already borrowed the book, but didn't comment. But also because availability is always going to vary from library to library, even borrowing ebooks via Libby (or Hoopla) since, despite ebooks being entirely digital, libraries still only have limited copies of them to lend out due to the lending contracts they have with the publishers.

      E.g. Neither Project Hail Mary nor Cloud Atlas are currently available in ebook form for me from my local library via Hoopla, they both have wait periods on them. However, a physical copy of Project Hail Mary is currently available to borrow, but Cloud Atlas is not. So to participate, if I wanted to go the library route, I would have to request a physical copy of Cloud Atlas be brought in from another nearby library where it is available, so that I can borrow it. However, I've never done that before so I have no idea how long it would take. I would have to ask my librarian.

      So you're likely going to always have at least a few people who can't get a particular book at a particular time from their particular local library. That's just the nature of libraries, since they all have limited copies available to lend. And so if someone really wants to participate, and the book isn't available from their local library at the time the book was scheduled, they may have to just buy it, or pirate it, instead of borrowing it.

      4 votes
      1. [4]
        boxer_dogs_dance
        Link Parent
        Thanks. I'm learning as I go. Next time I will check availability before setting the schedule. Cloud Atlas unlike Project Hail Mary is available used for 1 35 plus shipping through Amazon and I...

        Thanks. I'm learning as I go. Next time I will check availability before setting the schedule.

        Cloud Atlas unlike Project Hail Mary is available used for 1 35 plus shipping through Amazon and I haven't checked eBay or other used book suppliers.

        Obviously it will be different outside the US, but Cloud Atlas is an older book.

        2 votes
        1. [2]
          cfabbro
          Link Parent
          I bought the Cloud Atlas ebook, BTW. Don't know if I will find the time/energy to read it all in time for the discussion, but I'll try! p.s. Regardless of if I do manage to get through the book in...

          I bought the Cloud Atlas ebook, BTW. Don't know if I will find the time/energy to read it all in time for the discussion, but I'll try!

          p.s. Regardless of if I do manage to get through the book in time, thanks again for doing this. :)

          2 votes
        2. cfabbro
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          No worries, you're doing a great job! And no worries about me getting my hands on a copy either, I will in all likelihood just buy the ebook from Amazon.ca where the kindle version is only $6.

          No worries, you're doing a great job! And no worries about me getting my hands on a copy either, I will in all likelihood just buy the ebook from Amazon.ca where the kindle version is only $6.

          1 vote
      2. DefinitelyNotAFae
        Link Parent
        FYI, interlibrary loans are usually really quick. Your mileage may vary with a less popular book or a brand new release.

        FYI, interlibrary loans are usually really quick. Your mileage may vary with a less popular book or a brand new release.

        2 votes
  9. [2]
    CrazyProfessor02
    Link
    I know I did not post on the original post, but I am looking forward to the book club.

    I know I did not post on the original post, but I am looking forward to the book club.

    2 votes
    1. boxer_dogs_dance
      Link Parent
      Great! Looking forward to your contributions. : )

      Great! Looking forward to your contributions. : )

      2 votes
  10. [3]
    maevens
    Link
    I know that the titles are unique enough that it's hard to pick up the wrong book, but would you be able to put the authors for each of the books listed just to avoid any mix ups?

    I know that the titles are unique enough that it's hard to pick up the wrong book, but would you be able to put the authors for each of the books listed just to avoid any mix ups?

    1 vote