LGBTQA Group Books discussion

A few things:
1.You might want to take a second to vote in the current poll.
2.We still only have a few nominations for January's book.
3.And I put up the folder for The Swimming-Pool Library. Add to the current topics as you see fit, and let me know if the setup isn't working for you.

Hm. 3-way tie for when to finish the book. But, seeing as the majority of voters (nine of you) are okay with ending on or before the 31st of December, we'll mark that as the official finish date.

Voting is currently open for January's book. It closes on the 21st, at which time the second, smaller poll will be created for a shorter time.

Hey Troy!

Sorry, but I won't be participating in the Swimming Pool Library. I assumed I would be able to find the book at my library, or SOMEWHERE, but wasn't able to locate it.

I did look on Amazon, but never dove in to make the purchase. I'll look forward to January!

Kev

The Mayor of Castro Street is January's winner. Only 9 people voted, and only on 3 books, so there's no need for a second poll.

YEAH!

I actually have this book all ready!

Looking forward to participating!

Kev

I want to say sorry for not posting more about this first book. I was more occupied than I expected. Please keep in mind that part of the beauty of our process is that if you get busy or happen to be a slower reader, the posts will remain on the site and divided up so that you can post whenever you finish a section/book. This allows the discussion to be ongoing so that old members can discover new insights and new members can add their thoughts to books we've already selected.

I will be making posts about the book as I (finally) begin to finish the sections.

Unfortunately, school is starting again. Is there a volunteer who would like to post and separate January's book into sections, following the same format as December? I will not be reading it and so do not have a copy.

Hi Troy! I'm glad you're back on-line and look forward to reading your thoughts about Swimming Pool Library. With the holidays, I got behind in my reading too. Regarding the new selection, I won't be able to volunteer. Our Hawaii library system does not have a copy of Mayor of Castro Street in its collection. I ordered a copy but it won't be here until late January or early February. Good luck with your next semester/quarter at college. Aloha from Rob

Wow, the new polls are up. I hadn't realised. :-)

Whitaker wrote: "Wow, the new polls are up. I hadn't realised. :-)"

Goodreads gives me the option of notifying everyone when the poll goes up. I always take it, so I don't know why you weren't aware. I don't mean to make it sound like I think you did something wrong; something similar happened last time with everyone so that not even all the people who picked books voted...I'd like to avoid that. Any ideas what might be happening? Maybe I could just send a message to the whole group myself?

The Group has spoken. The Brothers Bishop, by Bart Yates, has been chosen for February.

Troy wrote: "Any ideas what might be happening? Maybe I could just send a message to the whole group myself?"

Yes, I think it's people's individual notification settings. I'm sure that some others are like me, where most of the settings are set to "off". Rather than emailing the whole group, perhaps what you could try first is to include a message in the update section or just start a new thread. That's what some other groups do. That way, if you check your list of groups, you'll see that there has been a recent update. Presumably, interested participants will go and check. :-)

I sent out the email Monday night, but Whitaker did suggest I post here. The poll for March is up and will be closed at 12:00 a.m. on Friday (Thursday night). A second poll will likely take place as well.

Round Two of polling for our March-April book is up and will be taking votes in about an hour. I only put the top two choices since it would require everyone who didn't vote for the O'Neill book to vote for the same book if the result were to change.

Reminder: Anyone who wants a say has until midnight Goodreads time (California-based) to vote for At Swim Two Boys or Mysterious Skin as our March-April book club selection.

Vote!

Thanks, Troy for running a tight ship!

I've updated the topic on rules and processes.

It's now midnight in California, and our March-April selection is offically At Swim, Two Boys!

Amazon is selling bargain paperbacks new for $4.99 and the marketplace sellers have the hardcover first edition for $0.89. It's $1.00 at Abebooks. I'm sure your local independent sellers have it, unless they refuse to carry gay-themed literature. This is a more "literary" gay novel, so it should be easier to get a hold of.

This novel won the Lambda Literary Award, as well as the Ferro-Grumley Literary Award, in 2002.

The New York Times Book Review says, "A dangerous, glorious book: the kind that is likely to make absolutely anyone cry and laugh in public places."

A folder with sections has been created for At Swim, Two Boys. Don't forget that you can still post for previous books, like The Brothers Bishop. I know will be doing that.

Topic is up for May-June suggestions and includes all the dates and times necessary for posting a suggestion and voting in the 1-2 polls that will follow.

Thanks to those of you who have posted in the At Swim, Two Boys folder. I hope anybody who has been able to read it will post (or continue to post) as they go along.

Okay the new poll is up and it ends at 12:00 a.m. on April 11, 2009. If a second poll is needed, it will start on the 11th and end on April 14 at 12:00 a.m. For those of you who might care, the relative of whom I spoke in the broadcast died this morning. It is consoling to know she got to do things pretty much the way she wanted.

Troy wrote: "Okay the new poll is up and it ends at 12:00 a.m. on April 11, 2009. If a second poll is needed, it will start on the 11th and end on April 14 at 12:00 a.m. For those of you who might care, the r..."

Aww, Troy, all sympathies.

Strangely enough, someone seems to have gone to the trouble of creating additional profiles to affect the polling. How amusing that someone finds our little group worthy of voter fraud. :) Anyway, I deleted the five "members" suspected to be fake (Bob, Bob, Anne, Mark, Greg). They all voted for Someone is Watching and have 0 books, except for one who had Harry Potter books. But all joined Goodreads at the same time and all voted in the poll at the exact same minute of the day. It is possible that this is some sort of retaliation from an ex-member, but you never know. Ralph, I noticed you voted at the exact same time as well. I hope you didn't do this, but if you did, please don't do it again.

Now for the poll. Stone Butch Blues received five votes, and other books recieved the same if combined. Because of this, I decided to have a second round of polling using only the books that received a vote in round one, minus Stone Butch Blues, which we will definitely read. You must vote for something other than what you voted for in round one. Those who voted for Stone Butch Blues are excluded from round two, but new votes will be counted. The winner from the second round will be a second book option for those of you who did not want Stone Butch Blues. In effect, we will have two reads during the upcoming period. If, however, no clear majority is established in the second round, you guys are on your own and may read whatever you like, without the benefits of posting in the group.

Hey Troy,

As it turns out I may be moving in May, so I am going to pass on this selection. I am enjoying "Two Boys at Swim", how did you find this book? Anyway I will post my comments of the other sections soon.

Thanks,
Danny

Our unprecedented second book option is Arthur and George after the tallies from our slightly altered round two. Don't forget, we are also reading Stone Butch Blues A Novel. I hope this solution was mostly satisfactory, considering half of you wanted SBB and half wanted something else. So read one or read both or read none, but remember to post as you go along. I'll work on getting the new folders up before the reading period starts in May. If you want to post before then, send me a list of the chapter divisions you think are appropriate or just make the folder yourself. Just please try to make the topics like we've done in the past.

How is Arthur and George a queer book?

To be honest, I didn't really check everbody's choices this time what with everything I have going on. I'm going to pass to the person who nominated it--Judith. In a minute of searching, I don't see anything indicating that it has an LGBTQA theme or author, so we'll await Judith's response.

In any case, our primary pick most definitely qualifies. This is extra.

Thanks for bringing that up, RR.

Hmm, to be honest I don't know how it is an LGBT book, because I haven't yet read it. I mentioned to a friend that I was interested in reading more gay fiction this year and she sent me this book. It's been on the top of the pile for a while and I thought I'd nominate it. It's possible that it's something more subtle though, like the Master - I will Google around and see if I can figure it out. I sure hope it is in fact gay fiction, for if not I have no idea why she sent it to me! Sorry for the confusion.

Judith wrote: "Hmm, to be honest I don't know how it is an LGBT book, because I haven't yet read it. I mentioned to a friend that I was interested in reading more gay fiction this year and she sent me this book...."

Thanks for giving your input, Judith. I guess the answer will soon be apparent. Of course, let's not forget the title either...

Ha, yes, that was why I didn't question it when she sent the book :-D

Judith (or anyone else who has this book), do you think you could post the sections for Arthur and George in the usual format please? I don't have that one yet.

Sections for Stone Butch are ready to go! This is gonna be a discussion starter, I think.

I sent out an email awhile ago asking if anyone wanted to moderate the group, but since I haven't received any offers, I will have to delete it soon.

Some people are still posting, so I will not delete it, at least not yet. Anyone interested in running things here should let me know. I have no plans to start polls for another book.