Lush Library discussion

Feel free to leave your comments/suggestions here!

My two suggestions so far are that:

1. We revive the group read, but perhaps bi-monthly or quarterly.

2. We consider becoming a public group

I'm happy with both of those suggestions, I know we suggested opening the group up before and the majority voted no but worth looking at again.
The only thing I would say about the group read is to only do it if people are going to take part, I found it quite disheartening setting up nominations, polls and discussion threads only for no-one to actually read the book. I think the last two I did no-one else read and I know Sophia had the same thing.

Also, since alot of people are abandonning ship (so to speak) with the forum maybe we aren't reaching a big enough audience? I am up for reviving this place :)

Yep I think a bi-monthly group read might work better then more of us could commit to it. I would hate to see the group die, it was going so well earlier last year, and I have missed it.

Although I voted to keep the group private originally, that doesn't seem to be working .... maybe we should test the waters and make it public, just to see how we get on.

It always felt (to me) that there was too much going on. Too many books each month, splintered in too many directions. Maybe a focus on 1 book a month? It'd be easier to manage.

one book every two months would be better for me to join in, especially as most of the books were not the quick reads I normally fit in around the rest of my life!! I need this group back as I have not read anything for months

Of course I want to carry on. I know for me the run up to Christmas is always difficult as I have kids with birthdays in November/December and I've found since my Hubby went back to work I just don't have the time I used to. I think 1 book a month would be better, or two choices spread over a couple of months. I found by the time we knew which book it would be I didn't have time find it buy/loan it and start at the same time. I think the process of choosing should be shorter too... xx

Good news is I'm getting back on track and I've started to read more.

The forum really seems quiet too. Anyone fancy starting a thread again in The Library and trying to get some of the forum readers to join (I did it last time and it worked quite well).

I think at first the group was pretty active because it really helped to get us all reading and then we all seemed to start on our own agendas and lists which meant that there was no time to read the group reads. How about we start a thread where we list all the books we have read in the past year and then we can figure out if we have books in common that we might feel like discussing a bit.

If anyone is active and posting reviews it would be good to have a general review section/thread too - seems such a shame to only post them elsewhere.

I also think that it would be good to stick to group reads of well known books - classics, books from top read lists (like the BBC big read) or award winning. Books that have stood the test of time always seem to get quite good participation.

The Life of Pi thread could also be revived since the film has also been released. I would quite like there to be a bit more film discussion in here anyway (what you've seen recently, favourite film adaptations of books - that sort of thing).

A bit of housekeeping where we clear out old/quiet threads would make the group seem a lot less complicated and daunting.

I've just been so busy getting the house ready for the market, selling it and looking at all the things involved in relocating to Texas (still waiting for dates;/ and the official relocation package). We've also had 3 birthdays then a trip to Scotland for the holidays and a couple of weeks of illness.


xx

I've just sent some personal messages to people who are active on goodreads to see if we can get some more activity that way. I'll send some more tomorrow:)

There are some great ideas here. We just need to implement a few of them and get things started again! I missed the group more than I realised, I think -- it's really nice to see that there are notifications again when I log in.

Are we all more or less agreed that a bi-monthly group read is the way forward on that front?

I think a bi-monthly group read is a good idea. Less pressure to keep up--and it gives people more time to acquire a book through the library if they don't want/can't afford to buy the book selection.

Yes, I've missed this group too and it would be lovely to get going again. You know I always read millions of books so I'm happy to join in with as many group reads as people feel they can cope with. I did like it when people nominated obscure books and things I might have not otherwise read though, so I think it'd be a shame to lose that sense of adventure by sticking to classics and standards.

Sophia wrote: "Yes, I've missed this group too and it would be lovely to get going again. You know I always read millions of books so I'm happy to join in with as many group reads as people feel they can cope wit..."

I know what you mean. It's more zeitgeist reads that I want to avoid. I think the key is that we really try to have people actually read the books and discuss them. I know things happen and it's not always possible for everyone who says they'll join in to actually participate but it is a let down to go through the whole process and not have anyone but the discussion leader actually read the book. I also think we need to do a bit more to encourage discussion. A good idea would be that the discussion reader has very recently read the book or reads it as soon as it is chosen then does a bit of research. If you go in to the book description page and look down the bottom there are discussion threads that look like they will be helpful.