My book group has been going since about 1994 (that was when I joined and it was not new then).

Our protocol is: we each nominate 3 books about every 7-8 months, everyone votes and we choose one book from each person. Then, 2 months before we run out of books, we choose again for about 3-4 more books. This covers the year and allows us to choose books later in the year based on new interests or new book releases.

The person who nominated the book runs that month's book group meeting and we all make sure that everyone gets to speak and we try to minimize interrupting each other. Since Covid started, we have been meeting on Zoom. It is actually easier to minimize interrupting that way.

We do our fun chatting at the beginning or end of our meeting. Before Covid, we used to do a December potluck. Since Covid, we just take December off. Several of us are very high risk, and one person moved out of state, so we are continuing with Zoom so that everyone can participate.

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE my book group!!! And we all know/like each other pretty darn well by now (not all of us have been in the group 29 years, but several of us have....)

One of the best things is that I read books which I would never have read on my own, and even if I don't always like them, it is still interesting to have a big variety. And we all agree that if you really dislike a book, you don't need to read it.

One thing that helps us with a variety of books/topics is that our book group includes both men and women.

>have bailed on 2 or 3 meetings so far but read the books. The main reason I bailed the meetings was because I didn't enjoy them

I was in a book club for a while and something commonly remarked on was how some of the best meetings were when everyone hated the book. So don't let a dislike of the book get in the way of going.

Who’s memoir was it? I’m always looking for new books for my book club!

Exactly! “When will this madness end?”

On first read I found the part regarding the killings almost unending. Upon re-reading the novel I found that this aspect of it perfectly mirrors and fits with what Bolano was trying to communicate. The murders are unrelenting. It gave me a whole new appreciation of it.

I just joined Storygraph and it's so much better than Goodreads

Goodreads can be helpful, but often the algorithm is just pushing the biggest authors. I'm an author and I am not a fan of Goodreads at all.

I'm part of a book club and we definitely read the books. We socialize for a half hour and then we have a moderator who we pay to come and we go through the books. It's casual, and we just chat, but the moderator has done research on the author and knows the ins and outs of the book and we talk for about an hour or more about the themes and various aspects. We meet in person.

I used to be in some over the years and usually they're pretty casual. The way I've always done them, everyone gets to nominate a book and then they lead the meeting just to get the conversation flowing and people speak as they feel moved to. It wouldn't be weird at all to bring notes with you. So there is a little structure, but I've never been in one that was like a formal college class or anything.

Do you visit another city/county regularly at all? I have a library card for my county and where my parents live. My local one is more well funded but my parents' local is underused, so I end up getting more books from there than my local. My parents so far don't mind the more frequent visits lol!

I usually check books out from the library online or the office copy. If I'm buying a book, it's usually from the used books section and in really good condition and I'm not gonna turn down a beautiful classic hardcover for $1.

I started renting (I like renting lol) this year. I never really reread books, and I have so many, I just can't justify it. I try to be fairly eco conscious too so once I looked at it from the angle of just creating more trash, I just can't anymore without feeling bad. If you love buying books more power to you!

Now that I'm sitting and thinking about it though I also think it's because I shared a bunch of my absolute favorite childhood books with a friend's daughter only to have her lie to me, help my sister get into an abusive relationship and a whole bunch of nastiness. Who knows what happened to my books. Makes me sad.

I don't know if I'd call a bible thought-provoking and frustrating; it's just nonsense.

That said you have a lot of accusations of sloppiness and no counter evidence, not to mention whatever the hell this is:

> I take my life in my hands by mentioning racism, I know.

As new and used bookstores began to disappear, and the pandemic impacted onsite shopping, something odd happened: I lost the compulsion to buy books. I could still buy online, and purchased nonfiction that way, but purchasing fiction books lost its appeal regardless of channel. I too have a gigantic backlog of unread books, and am now slowing reading through that pile. So maybe out of sight, out of mind applies.

It’s hard to say, they’re all different. I used to go to two.

The first one was mainly social and I stopped going because a lot of people hadn’t read the books! Argh, I came here to discuss the book! Here, your notes may be weird.

The second one everyone read the book and we went around a circle and discussed. Lots of people brought notes. You’d fit right in!

I’d suggest bringing your notes and making a call at the time about whether you feel comfortable bringing them out or not.

Cool. Thanks.

I was in two. One closed during he pandemic and as far as I know they haven’t started again and I keep looking to see if they have. Absolutely not would it be weird. We loved people really getting into it. Our meetings were at Panera in the back

Both, but I love browsing my local second hand bookshop and thriftshop, so I often tend upp picking up a book or two when I'm in there (usually they're only like €1 though) and I also often buy new releases of English language books. I love the library but I like to read books in English if they're originally written in English and I live in a smaller city and don't live in an English speaking country, so the library doesn't have too many English language options, especially not with recent releases.

I like to borrow books and then buy if I love it. I don’t like having a book on my shelf unless I’ll re read it or it had sentimental value.

The great thing about Christie for me was that I really wanted her to completely bamboozle me, make me feel like an absolute fool for not seeing it all along. She was very fair in laying out the clues, and devious in deflecting me from seeing what was really going on. In the battle of wits, she mostly won, darn her!

I haven't read essays or discussed with someone else but I guess that part core idea is just desensitizing through repetition embedding you un the same feeling those authorities and population feel. The line that broke me was... after pages and pages describing several ways all those corpses were found one character ask another one 'you don't see nothing in common' 'no' 'they were all workers'

Five Little Pigs is my all time favorite. It does not scream out at you the way And Then There Were None and Orient Express and others do, but it its own quiet way, it is its own masterpiece.

To me, it was Passenger to Frankfurt that was perfectly awful. A late novel, for sure, but it should never have been published.

Yeah a passage through academia will make you appreciate that part, but I guess that tongue in cheek would be lost from the outside

Did you look at Libby too, or just in person?