Rolla Public Library's Online Book Club discussion

I'm excited to discuss The Vacationers. Not my usual fare, but book club discussions are a great way to expand horizons!

I only moved here a couple of weeks ago, but I've already participated in the summer reading program and in the discussion of Fahrenheit 451 (which I enjoyed very much, even though there were only three of us counting staff).

I don't see a lot of activity here... is there anything I should know about etiquette, protocol, anything else?

RPL has to be one the most program-rich libraries I've ever known, which is great for me as I learn my place in this new town and as a homemaker with a retired husband.

I know during fall is when more people start coming to the physical book club (though i can't attend anymore because of my work schedule) and as for on here I don't think there is an protocol? But I don't really know what you mean by that? (:

Well, this is the only conversation in the club, so I don't know if the moderator thinks it's ok to start chatting like this.

And there's no new threads for awhile, so I don't know if the moderator is even around....

Maybe I should volunteer to help.

was not so crazy about The Vactioners. Liked Book Club Still Alice much more

Hi Sue! I agree. I never did finish The Vacationers. I wanted to try to learn what people like that would be like, I mean, to broaden my understanding of the world... but I just couldn't bear to.

Well the Sept. meeting was fun. We had cupcakes in honor of one of the books. Pretty good turnout, too. If you missed it, you should've been there.

We also had a kind of 'business meeting' with librarians Rebecca and Elizabeth. We noticed that the scheduled upcoming reads are all horror/ thriller types and several of us backed away from those pretty emphatically. So, next month there will be some discussion here (I believe, iirc, of Pretty Baby), and then at the meeting some discussion of Pretty Baby and / or Corrupted.

But the bulk of the meeting on Oct. 29 will be individual booktalks of Classics. That is to say, if I'm not confused, that we each read or reread a book that fits that genre tag, and then share with the group what we loved about it, why we recommend it, or why we were disappointed by it (or whatever we want to share, those are just the usual kinds of topics covered in booktalks that I've experienced.)

The coolest thing that we get to share is the reason we chose it, the Why of why we think it is considered a classic. We can just choose something that is canon and already considered to be one, like Huckleberry Finn or Anna Karenina or something, or we can choose an outlier or something more modern and sort of 'justify' our choice.

(It's informal and friendly; no wrong answers. :)

I'm pondering choices. I think I'm likely to do something less well-known by Mark Twain. Or if I manage to find time, I might try to do Middlemarch. Or Benito Cereno (a short by the author of Moby Dick) as recommended by another reader last night.

Hi Cheryl!
You got it just right...and I finally have the official password to be on here to add to the discussion. :)

I am thinking I will be reading Rebecca (ahem) by Daphne du Maurier. I will be re-reading as I read that waaayyy back in high school - a lifetime ago.

Thanks for getting the discussion started.

I'll be adding a bit soon on Pretty Baby.

Happy reading,
-Rebecca

Btw, books for each month's discussion are almost always available at each previous month's meeting. That is to say, the books for August 2019 will be avl. the afternoon of July 20th.

If you don't want to mess with renewals (since they can't be renewed online), get one of the more experienced librarians to check you out, and ask that the books be made to be due the date of the next meeting (for example in this case it would mean making them due August 24).

But do make sure you return them by then, because we need to be in good standing with the source of the kits and return all the copies of each BotM promptly!

The due date should now automatically be the date of the bookclub meeting, but double check as you're checking out if you don't want to call or go in.