Retro Reads discussion

I was wondering if we want to do the Book Pool again next year.

Speaking for myself - yes I do! This is very easy for a Mod to run.

For new people this is what we did
* Book Pool runs from the 1st of January-30th of November.
* Each participant chooses up to 5 books. There is no obligation to read any of the books.
* Everyone records their read in the designated thread & I tally things up.
This year's thread. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

So is everyone happy? Any suggestions? Do we want to extend the time period (it would have to be for the whole group, not just the pool) to 1900-1999?

Everyone fire away!

I would love to do the Book Pool again, and I am fine with extending the dates if others would like to - let’s face it, 1999 is 20+ years ago already! ;)

Susan in NC wrote: "I would love to do the Book Pool again, and I am fine with extending the dates if others would like to - let’s face it, 1999 is 20+ years ago already! ;)"

That is what I was thinking. For our younger members 1999 is retro!

I dunno about 1990-1999, but I’d love to do the book pool again!

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "I would love to do the Book Pool again, and I am fine with extending the dates if others would like to - let’s face it, 1999 is 20+ years ago already! ;)"

That is what I was th..."

Good point!;)

The nice thing is, if people want to extend the dates, they can, but if they don’t want to do so, they can just nominate their five books within the old timeframe!

Yes, please, let's do this again. I've enjoyed the books I've read and it's great to see what others have enjoyed.
I have no objection to extending the date range--I'll be sticking to the current, tighter, range. There are so many good books from that era that are now being reprinted--I feel I've barely dipped my toe in those waters!

You had me at "no obligation"! After drowning myself in challenges, I appreciate the long slow swim in the book pool. 😅

CindySR wrote: "You had me at "no obligation"! After drowning myself in challenges, I appreciate the long slow swim in the book pool. 😅"

Hahahahaha! Thank you Cindy!

I’m all for it too, for all the points mentioned. Still hope to get to a few more this year.

I would like to join in again too. I love the different mix of books with new to me authors and then some familiar ones that remind me to reread. The extended time period would be great too.

I'd also like to join in again. I am probably going to start Flowers For Mrs. Harris, today, too.

Even though I’ve been terribly inactive, I’d like to do the Book Pool again.

I didn't participate last year and as I recall didn't really understand it. I list 5 books I plan to read and then I either read them or don't, but if I do I get points? I'm a bit foggy on what actually happens! but I want to do it this year.

I am surprised about expanding the years for the whole group: now it's the entire 20th century? I guess that's OK: with books it's "the more the merrier".

Barb in Maryland wrote: "Yes, please, let's do this again. I've enjoyed the books I've read and it's great to see what others have enjoyed.
I have no objection to extending the date range--I'll be sticking to the current, ..."

Oh, my, me, too - I read my five and a few others, but so many added to my TBR list to savor in the future! Got caught up in other challenges, but I look forward to hopefully balancing my personal and group challenges better next year - fitting in more pool books will be a priority! They are a great balance to my Detective and nonfiction reads.

CindySR wrote: "You had me at "no obligation"! After drowning myself in challenges, I appreciate the long slow swim in the book pool. 😅"

Well said, Cindy! ;)

Tania wrote: "I'd also like to join in again. I am probably going to start Flowers For Mrs. Harris, today, too."

Oooooh, thanks for the reminder!

Jackie wrote: "I didn't participate last year and as I recall didn't really understand it. I list 5 books I plan to read and then I either read them or don't, but if I do I get points? I'm a bit foggy on what act..."

As I understand it, if we want to stick to previous time limit, we can with our own five and other books we choose to read, right Carol?

Jackie, you don’t need to restrict yourself to your five books. You contribute five books to the pool, but once the pool is filled you get a point for ANY book from the pool that you read.

I'd like to do it again! It's been a nice way to ease myself out of "lurker" status and be more active in the group and I've had such a good time choosing and reading the books (even if I've only read two of my own selections thus far).

Abigail wrote: "Jackie, you don’t need to restrict yourself to your five books. You contribute five books to the pool, but once the pool is filled you get a point for ANY book from the pool that you read."

Yes, Jackie what Abigail said.

Choosing your own time zone may be an effective compromise.

The other possibility would be to change to 1900-1980. We are currently 1920-1980, but with the Christmas reads we are already 1900-1980.

Abigail wrote: "Jackie, you don’t need to restrict yourself to your five books. You contribute five books to the pool, but once the pool is filled you get a point for ANY book from the pool that you read."

OK, that is more clear, thank you. I want to do it for sure.

I like the Book Pool idea but would prefer 1900 to 1980, just to keep the retro aspect. I will submit my five choices this year as well, and try to read more books from the pool. Thanks for setting it up!

I have no objection to expanding the time frame to accommodate those who consider the 1980s and 1990s retro, but like Elinor I will limit myself to earlier times in my own selections. As it is, I already tend to draw my choices from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

I'm getting the feeling that most of us would prefer 1900-1980. This is not a big change given we use 1900-1920 for the Christmas reads. I'm not strongly in favour of adding 1981-1999.

Does anyone strongly want 1981-1999 included?

I don't feel strongly either way, but I prefer, and will choose, older books.

CindySR wrote: "I don't feel strongly either way, but I prefer, and will choose, older books."

I'm with you, Cindy.

I prefer the older books, myself, and I find I am liking the between the wars period a lot.
Plus, there is already a group for reading the 20th Century.

I would have liked to extend to 1985 so that the earlier Penelope Lively and Mary Wesley books could have been included.

But do understand if they are not considered retro.

More interested in the earlier part of 20th century but I totally understand wanting to have Penelope Lively. Maybe have to 1980 but allowing a few exceptions.

CindySR wrote: "I don't feel strongly either way, but I prefer, and will choose, older books."

Agree, don’t feel strongly either way, I personally went down the Furrowed Middle brow rabbit hole for all my choices, then saw other entries and realized how much is out there, but I missed! I can’t wait to do this again, I promise myself I will look beyond the 1930-1950 period! ;j

The GR listopia has some pretty good lists per decade:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Lynnie wrote: "I would have liked to extend to 1985 so that the earlier Penelope Lively and Mary Wesley books could have been included.

But do understand if they are not considered retro."

I'm still pondering!

I might try to get hold of Tadiana again to see what she thinks. (she is still on Goodreads but very busy now)

& Tadiana contacted me last night. She is indeed very busy!

Tadiana is in favour of making this group 1900-1980 & I think that is the consensus here.

So that is what we will do. :)

& a couple of members had ideas about doing things differently. The discussion was in the Idle Chatter thread. I'll link to it here.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I hope everyone is happy about this as I don't want to change again. It will get too confusing.

Thanks, Carol!

thanks, Carol, we really appreciate all you guys do.