Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Post any suggestions that you have that you feel would improve the group here!

I think that we should do a movie quiz

Idea: Let's read "The Great Gatsby" by Francis Scott Fitzgerald (as a book-club monthly read) prior to the film premiere this summer.

Then after we watch the film (directed by Baz Luhrmann), we can discuss the differences between book vs. film, what we liked, what we disliked, etc.

Thoughts or opinions?

Additional reads nominations for May will be opening up very soon Elvia.

Feel free to put the book, along with your idea, in there and if the members like the idea then they can vote for it :)

Yeah, I love "The Great Gatsby". I really wanna watch this film. The book is great ;)

I read TGG in highschool, but I wasn't at a point in my life where I could appreciate good reading. I'd love to read it again!

Hey Melissa, I'll be opening up an additional reads nomination thread for June fairly soon. Keep you're eye out for it and nominate The Great Gatsby.

Alternatively, you can put a request in our buddy reads thread and see if anyone wants to join you :)

For The Great Gatsby wanna-be-readers, Joanne has started a request for a buddy read if you're still interested?

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Elvia wrote: "

Idea: Let's read "The Great Gatsby" by Francis Scott Fitzgerald (as a book-club monthly read) prior to the film premiere this summer.

Then after we watch the fi..."

I think that is a brilliant idea :)

Kaitlyn wrote: "Elvia wrote: "

Idea: Let's read "The Great Gatsby" by Francis Scott Fitzgerald (as a book-club monthly read) prior to the film premiere this summer.

Then after w..."

Kaitlin - I believe they just did a buddy read for that in April. Here's a link to the conversation thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

I'm fairly new to Goodreads. Don't know if I can start a topic thread in a group, so I'll suggest a topic instead.

Every six or eight years, I re-watch a specific movie based on a book. I re-watch the movie to see how my perspective on it changes as I age. It's a personal assessment of how my own perspective on life changes.

I only re-watch the movie when I'm in the mood for this kind of personal assessment.

Does anyone else do this same thing - either with a specific book or movie? If yes, which book or movie? What are you learning about the book/movie, yourself, and/or life in general?

I'd be happy to share my info - the movie I watch and what I learn from periodically re-watching it.

Yes, I usually tend to do that. Thought I was alone.

Hi Bekka! You can start a new thread for that discussion if you like. I would start it in the games & debates folder.

We have a games and debates folder? As far as I'm aware we don't lol

Bekka - Feel free to start a thread if you like .... my suggestion would be in the members folder.

Oops sorry...thought this a different thread (group) lol. Knew I shouldn't post that while on my phone.

Thanks. I'll look for the members folder.

I started a thread in the members folder called "Personal Reflection: Periodically re-read or re-watch a book or movie?"

Victor wrote: "Yes, I usually tend to do that. Thought I was alone."
I started a post in the members folder called "Personal Reflection: Periodically re-read or re-watch a book or movie?" Feel free to join the discussion.

Hey Claudia, if you're wanting to read this with other people you're more than welcome to suggest it for our additional read poll (which we do monthly) or suggest a buddy read (in the buddy read section)

The read the book 'Obsidian' from the 'Lux' series one of the best books ever definetly reccommend for everyone who is into supernatural type of books to read it its out of this world! literally :)
No, it's not. It's Twilight version 2. But if you like that sort of book then I guess you just haven't stumbled on the really good ones yet. I also used to think the Mortal Instruments were really good before I found better ones and saw that not all YA need to have mediocre writing and undeveloped characters.
Fore some good paranormal series I suggest you to try:

These I have read and enjoy from the paranormal gender. Give one of them a try. You might be surprised >.O.

Oh, and, about the suggestion part, how about we get a section to nominate books for the next awards for all genders, not just one topic dedicated to this. For examples, I read a lot of YA, but I would like to see some good books from 2013 released from other genders as well, but so far I don't have many friends to recommend to me in that direction. Thank you :).

Buddy Reads section is here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
The request thread is here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Additional read section is here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
There is no thread for current nominations, that will open up later in the month.

Does this group offer feedback and input into the actual GR Choice Awards categories and nomination process? I have some questions on how the categories are chosen and the nominations in each category as well.

From what I understand, GR uses the raw stats and sampling of 5 star reads to make the nominations. I believe this may be a skewed representation for almost all genres.

What do you think about this?

I have some questions regarding the category selection process for the Gr Choice Awards (for example Non-Fiction Science and History genre categories are completely missing) and the nominee selection process.

From what I understand, GR uses the raw stats of book ratings and choses the nominations from this.
Is this correct? How does this group perceive this approach.

I personally think that the Choice Awards should have more genres, have multiple Award divisions such as Reader Awards, Author Awards, and Reviewer Awards divisions. Also debut authors in each main genre VS one Debut Author award.

I would be interested in this groups feedback via this thread on this issue: factual and opinion based.

My interest in this topic was prompted by the lack of voting choices and a question from an establish Romance fiction writer regarding the limited selection list and genres. The initial response of others with similar concerns prompted me to search for and then open a thread on the GR Feedback forum regarding Romance.

Once realizing the issue was bigger than Romance, I opened a General thread there as well (still using this my Romance id...)

My general suggestion posted thread is:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Well I read over the rules today and for the first round there is a write in for each category and they will add those to the second round. So the first round is based on statistical things they can get from Goodreads but they do add people's write in choices to help the data.

Sarah wrote: "Well I read over the rules today and for the first round there is a write in for each category and they will add those to the second round. So the first round is based on statistical things they ca..."

I sadly did a write in for my Romance Favorite. I frankly expect nothing to come out of this as this is probably as effective as a write in vote at the voting booth. Which is NOT effective. Unless a group gets together and actively campaigns for a book, it is likely a wasted vote.

As an avid Romance reader with interests in several romance sub genres, I frankly feel I have been disenfranchised in the Choice Awards nomination voting process and may have even erroneously been counted as I will grant high ratings to "bargain books" and "new debut Books" in Romance but would NEVER dream to rate them on par with some better quality books that I would actively chose to vote on for the 2013 Choice awards in the limited Romance genre being offered..

Any suggestions for books books based around book stores ? I've read The Shadow of the Wind and thinking of starting The Bookstore or The Haunted Bookshop or which a friend recommended but needed a few more choices any recommendation is welcome reply back or i'd prefer a message cause i might not be able to find the thread / post again.

Mary - You are probably aware of this but just in case; this group is only for the reading of books that have won the Goodreads Choice Awards, we are not associated in any way with the running of Goodreads or the selection process of the awards.

Personally, yes I believe that the categories are limited a bit but most awards are like that. If each genre was split into categories to all possible outcomes then the organisation and voting process would probably last all year.
I'm pretty sure that the powers that be are trying to be as fair as possible. However I don't see why if enough people people question them as to why something isn't a category then perhaps they will consider adding it in future years. Start campaigning for 2014! :)

Hassam - I would recommend 84, Charing Cross Road

Hassam wrote: "Any suggestions for books books based around book stores ? I've read The Shadow of the Wind and thinking of starting The Bookstore or The Haunted Bookshop ..."

You can look at listopia. They have a thread for books about bookstores here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Lynn wrote: "Mary - You are probably aware of this but just in case; this group is only for the reading of books that have won the Goodreads Choice Awards, we are not associated in any way with the running of G..."

No problem. Forgive my faux pas.

I will check back with this group after the process of choosing the final 2013 winners is done. Which should be soon from what I understand that will be in 14 days and in time for Thanksgiving.

Thank you for your tolerance.

"Forever", by Pete Hammil. The television series, this fall, is based upon this book.

Kathy - This thread is for suggestions for group improvement, not book suggestions. If you'd like to nominate a book for the group to read, you can do so in our additional read nominations thread. The November nominations thread is now available here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... Please be aware that this is a themed month, so be sure to read the first post for guidelines.

I'm sorry. You'd think I could read ;).

lol No worries!

Ty :)

I have a suggestion for the coming year. I know that the group votes for an "additional read" based on nominated books each month.

I would like to suggest that we also do an Alt Pick each month to read one of the other nominated books for that category.

For example, this month we are reading the Top Pick for Graphic Novels & Comics, Beautiful Creatures: The Manga. Our Alt Pick for the month could be any of the other finalists from that category last year as chosen by either the group moderators, or as voted on by group members.

I think there are some pretty savvy readers in this group with whom I enjoy book discussions. However, I don't think that the best book of the category is always chosen (I KNOW this is very subjective).

So, there you have my crazy little suggestion. :)

I think it's a very neat idea Valerie. I agree with you that the winner is not always my pick. However most people in this group do read alternate choices by organizing a buddy read (plus alternates do count towards our yearly challenge). :) I'm worried that formerly adding another read will make us read to many books as a group. However, we'll think about it with the other mods. Keep sending us ideas. We love them!

Ultimately we are a group about reading the winners and in order to do that we have to read a fair amount of books, this year we averaged about 5 to 6 books a month. This is quite a lot and introducing more would be too much.

However I like the idea of an alt pick read and I'm thinking we could do something with buddy reads but make it a little more organised. At the beginning of the month I'd happily set up a poll for anyone who wants to join in a buddy read to choose from that months category finalists?

It would help towards the yearly challenge which is a bonus.

Thoughts?

Lynn wrote: "Ultimately we are a group about reading the winners and in order to do that we have to read a fair amount of books, this year we averaged about 5 to 6 books a month. This is quite a lot and introdu..."

That's just what I was thinking. We should discuss in the mod thread to see if we can come up with a plan. Also, I think the winning books this year might affect something like that - if they are long series or not. I love the idea though.

Valerie - We came up with a way to incorporate your alt pic idea into our reads for next year in the buddy read section. Keep your eye out for updates! We are planning to start in January with the new winners and finalists.

Hurrah!

You gals are doing a great job with the group. I look forward to the coming year.

Thanks!

I'm so excited about this added reading option! I had wondered about doing something like this before, so I'm glad you brought it up Valerie!

Looking towards 2017, we made some changes at the beginning of this year to the group - additional reads concentrated the choice awards categories and we also introduced a discussion thread for new releases.

What did you think of those changes? Were they successful introductions the the group and did they work for you?

Is there something else you'd like to see happen in the group for 2017? Let us know your ideas and thoughts.

Please note we welcome all suggestions but it's not a guarentee that we will use them ..... but just throw them out there and we'll discuss.

I was much more exposed to thinking about new book releases and did read more. (which is good in terms of staying on top of what's going on culturally, but really bad in terms of my closet filled with books that I still have to read ...)
So, I found the section on New Releases quite refreshing.
Unfortunately, I also started working again last March and my time here as well as my time reserved for reading has become quite limited.

I also really like the idea of doing an alternative poll over the nominees that didn't win. However, it seems like this also brings in many people who vote, but then don't end up participating in the group read? So, I don't know .. maybe instead of polls with one winner, a sort of meeting ground where any book of a category that finds enough people interesting in a group read gets its own thread. More like a buddy read, but with a schedule spread out over the year?

I don't know. I always like pools, so that's fun too ...
edit: hah. I do like pools, but polls is what I was going for.


Thanks to you and Savanes and Kristie for all the work you put into this group!

Thanks for the feedback Janina. I do take your point about the additional read polls and thanks for the alternative suggestion, we (the mods) will discuss the idea.

Anyone else?

I just voted in the Final Round of the Choice Awards. My copy of "A Promised Land" by Barack Obama just shipped out yesterday ..... So I should have it tomorrow or Thursday - not in enough time to determine if want to vote for it or not. I don't understand how this book was included in the Good Choice Awards entrys. I don't believe many members have this book in hand or have read it. I don't even understand how it's an entry because it's just been released. Just sayin' ...

Totally agree with you Grace (there are others like that too in the awards) but please note: this group is only for the reading of books that have won the Goodreads Choice Awards, we are not associated in any way with the running of Goodreads or the selection process of the awards.

I just looked up the rules and eligibility because the book was just published today and we are starting the final round of voting. It just made the cut off. If it was published tomorrow (November 18th), it would have been eligible for the 2021 awards and not this year's.

I think they should adjust their dates so the book has to have been published by the start of voting, but as Lynn stated, we don't have anything to do with the running of the awards, so my opinion doesn't have any sway. I do think that it is too late though.

Kristie wrote: "I just looked up the rules and eligibility because the book was just published today and we are starting the final round of voting. It just made the cut off. If it was published tomorrow (November ..."
Yes of course we don't have anything to do with the running of awards but you see the lack of logic and the missed opportunity to rate what might be a great book. So I don't know who at GoodReads might consider our opinions but if it is truly to be about the best books then the books included should actually have been read by the members. Thanks so much for your comment and affirmation.

Grace wrote: "I just voted in the Final Round of the Choice Awards. My copy of "A Promised Land" by Barack Obama just shipped out yesterday ..... So I should have it tomorrow or Thursday - not in enough time to ..."
I think I'm in the wrong discussion thread then. Thank you.