NYRB Classics discussion

I think it's about time to start thinking about a group read for December.

Do people have any thoughts on why participation has been low the last few months? Any thoughts on fixing that? I know I have been a bit lax in participating due to general busy-ness and since I'm trying to keep up with NYRB's new releases. But let me know if you have thoughts on this.

Regardless, list a book or two you think will be great to read in December :-) .

For me it's a combination of just being busy with lots of stuff, plus not already owning the discussion book or not being able to get it from the library (I have a moratorium on book buying for space reasons right now). Or I'm just not in the mood for the particular book.

You have my sympathies though. Low participation is a perennial problem in discussion groups. You have 514 members here; another group I'm in has 4,000+ and still has the exact same problem you do. It's kind of surprising, admittedly.

I will usually read the poll winner, whether I voted for it or not, as long as it interests me. Unfortunately the winners of the last few polls have had little interest for me.

Regardless of how many group members there are the thing that I find a bit odd is that members vote for a book to read but then don't read it. I'm not sure how, but maybe voters don't realise they're voting for a book 'to read' and not 'one they liked'.

Jonathan wrote: "I will usually read the poll winner, whether I voted for it or not, as long as it interests me. Unfortunately the winners of the last few polls have had little interest for me.

Regardless of how m..."

That would be me. I had to return the Fermor to the library because I couldn't renew it and now I have to wait to finish it. And I was really enjoying it. I'm hoping to get it back soon.

Hello. I've been lurking here for months. I was hoping to join the discussions but I couldn't get my hands on the recent selections. Also, I couldn't find an Introduction thread so I'll introduce myself here. I'm Angus and I'm slowly getting into world of NYRB Classics. I currently have twenty titles. I have to buy them because there's no decent library from where I live. So far, my favorite is The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford. I've also read A Month in the Country, Stoner, and The Summer Book. Coincidentally, these three have already been discussed in the past.

Regarding low participation, this usually happens to book clubs, online or offline. Our online/offline book club has gone through these slumps. People get busy, people come and go. To draw people back, we select either of the two: a popular book or a short book.

That said, I'd like to nominate A Schoolboy's Diary by Robert Walser. I've scanned my copy and the pieces in it can accommodate quick reads in between the upcoming seasonal duties and activities.

I'd like to propose The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis as it looks like a fun read and Butcher's Crossing by John Edward Williams as I enjoyed Stoner so much.

Jonathan wrote: "I'd like to propose The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis as it looks like a fun read and Butcher's Crossing by John Edward Williams as I enjoyed Stoner so much."

Jonathan, my husband is now reading Augustus after having read Stoner and Butcher's Crossing and he says it's fantastic.

Cynthia wrote: "Jonathan, my husband is now reading Augustus after having read Stoner and Butcher's Crossing and he says it's fantastic. "

That's good to hear Cynthia as Augustus sounds great as well.

Angus wrote: "So far, my favorite is The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford."

I recently picked this up at a used book sale. It was in perfect condition. It had been owned by the library of an assisted living center, where apparently no one ever touched it...better for me....

Yeah I know I said I have a moratorium on book buying but it was a dollar! It would have been criminal not to get it.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Yeah I know I said I have a moratorium on book buying but it was a dollar! It would have been criminal not to get it. "

Moratoriums don't exist in used bookstores! Happy to hear that someone will finally touch that copy of The Mountain Lion. I wouldn't mind rereading it. I hope it gets to be discussed here in the future.

I'm mildly frustrated because the book I voted for was not chosen and yet I am the only person discussing the text this month. Where are all the people who voted for this book?

Do not misunderstand me, I enjoyed the book and I am happy I read it, but I think maybe more weight should be put on the votes of the people actually reading and discussing the texts in the future, if possible.

Alexander wrote: "I'm mildly frustrated because the book I voted for was not chosen and yet I am the only person discussing the text this month. Where are all the people who voted for this book?"

I can understand your frustration Alexander. I've noticed in the past that quite often the book is being discussed by people who didn't vote for it. Indeed: 'Where are all the people who voted for this book?'

Hopefully things will improve next month.

I understand the frustration too. I can't think of any way to fix it, really. I don't want to be in charge of weighing votes (but someone else can).

I'm wondering if a reward for participating could be to, at time, curate the voting list. What I mean is, if no one but Alexander participates one month (especially on a book he didn't vote for), then perhaps Alexander gets to choose four books for vote. That way, at least one of his will win, and it keeps the thing somewhat democratic.

So, by my review, here are the books that will feature in this month's poll:

A Schoolboy's Diary
The Old Devils
Butcher's Crossing

And, though it didn't have any official nominating language around it, just folks saying they'd like to read it:

The Mountain Lion

I'll make the poll tomorrow. In the meantime, let me know if I've missed something.

Sorry for the late reply here. As I said before, for me personally I think the issue has been that I fell very, very far behind with Life and Fate, and never quite managed to catch up, so I was always lagging behind discussions, which made it feel a little pointless. I also haven't been passionately interested in many of the choices since then, although I've done my best to read most of them anyway, and I always review them when I do read them. That doesn't always translate into discussion participation, however - I suppose at the very least I should copy-paste my review into the discussion thread. I'll try to do that from now on.

I recently read Butcher's Crossing so I would certainly follow along in that discussion. I've already probably forgotten a fair number of details...

I also have The Mountain Lion handy so I'd read along if that were the book chosen. As far as the other books mentioned, I don't own them and won't have a chance to get to the library in the next couple weeks.

Honestly, a lot, if not all of the people commenting here, did not even vote for the Fermor book, so it is not them about whom I am complaining.

Hard Rain Falling would be AWESOME because I just moved to the Pacific Northwest.

I am always up for anything, I just would love to have some back and forth to discuss these. I'll make some picks in the future. Has KAPUTT ever been a selection?

Oh, and honestly, I just want to start reading it now!

Sorry about my delay getting the poll up. I have excuses I won't bore you with. I'm putting it up now.

Here it is!

Alexander, for a list of past selections, go here.

Thank you! I knew a list existed somewhere. Can't wait to vote.

In case I was unclear, the poll is up and open. The link is above in "message 21" (sorry I didn't make it clear what "Here it is!" was directing you to).

Hi, I just joined this group, and I'm a little confused. What led me to the group was that I just subscribed to the "NYRB Classics Book Club," via a link to Journey by Moonlight, which was described on the NYRB site at "the NYRB Classics Book Club selection for October 2014." I assumed from that notation that this group would be reading the "NYRB Classics Book Club selection" each month, but this thread and others I've scanned seem to indicate that there is no relationship between the two and that the group read here is chosen by member poll from among all books in the NYRB Classics line.

Can someone clarify this for me? If this is not the correct thread, is there a place where the group discusses the "NYRB Classics Book Club selection" as designated on the NYRB site? It looks like that is Tristana for December.

EDIT: OK, after a little bit more nosing around, I came across this thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/.... It indicates that, at least as of 2011, the subscription book was automatically included in the group read poll. Is there a reason why that has changed?

Hi Debora, it's true that there is no relationship between the GoodReads monthly read and the NYRB Classics book club, where you pay to get a new release each month. Here our picks are new and old. That said, we do have discussion threads open for each and every book, including the newest releases, so I'd personally love it if you'd tell us what you think of the ones you get in the mail! I am loving Tristana, so I'd love to see your thoughts.

Hi Debora, it's true that there is no relationship between the GoodReads monthly read and the NYRB Classics book club, where you pay to get a new release each month. Here our picks are new and old. That said, we do have discussion threads open for each and every book, including the newest releases, so I'd personally love it if you'd tell us what you think of the ones you get in the mail! I am loving Tristana, so I'd love to see your thoughts.

Oops for the double post. And I just saw your follow up. There was no reason for the change. Now we nominate a few books and vote on them. If the new release gets included it's because someone nominated it. I'd love to see more of this, but there is little in the way of rules here.

Trevor, since very few, if any, of the NYRB Classics are available at my library, I'll have to buy what I'm going to read, so I'll probably make it a point to nominate the subscription book each month.

Thanks for the explanation.

Hi Trevor, I have not seen a botm read for awhile now. Are we on hiatus from monthly reads?
Thanks,
Gary

Hi Gary, by default we are. Felt like the steam was running out! Happy to start it up again if people are interested!

Trevor wrote: "Hi Gary, by default we are. Felt like the steam was running out! Happy to start it up again if people are interested!"

Trevor, I for one would be interested in resurrecting the BOTM. If there is enough interest, maybe we could have a poll for May.

I'm still up for a NYRB monthly read. It'll be interesting to see what people nominate. It's just a shame that there's no better way to choose the book than by the poll. I wonder if there is anything to be said for having someone make the final choice after the nominations have been made and the pros and cons have been voiced?

I like something like that, Jonathan. I think it'd be a good way to reward those who read and should guarantee at least one reader :-). Should get a list produced and then let Gary pick since he is getting this started again?

Jonathan wrote: "I'm still up for a NYRB monthly read. It'll be interesting to see what people nominate. It's just a shame that there's no better way to choose the book than by the poll. I wonder if there is anythi..."

Hi Jonathan, I liked the poll. We could use the poll as the initial step, to have the titles out there. Then we could make our comments to focus in on which title we would or would not want. I know there are instances of members having just read a title etc.
there would have to be time limit to each phase.
I'm just thinking out loud, but I'm sure we could come up with a method that would not be complex.
It would provide some interaction from the start.

Trevor wrote: "should guarantee at least one reader :-).."


(Haha!) - Please disregard the (haha). I've read the posts going back to last fall. I did not mean to be flip.
I was pretty much inactive last summer and fall, for a number of reasons. I did not realize what took place then. Now I understand Trevor's comment. I get the frustration of being a group of one.
It sounds like this is a normal track for groups but I hope the BOTM comes back to life.

There's something to be said for mixing it up a bit. I think that deciding the BOTM read by poll every time is not a good idea. I think it's worth trying just having the nominations as before but with a designated person to decide the final book. That way the nominations are by people who are actually likely to read the books. How do others feel about it? Is it worth giving it a go?

Jonathan wrote: "There's something to be said for mixing it up a bit. I think that deciding the BOTM read by poll every time is not a good idea. I think it's worth trying just having the nominations as before but w..."

That sounds good to me.

Okay -- here's the post I put together for nominations!

If you see the need for adjustments or rules or whatever, let me know in that thread.