Time Travel discussion

In an effort to have more participation in our Time Travel Book Club discussions and to stave off time-travel burn-out, we would like to open up a conversation concerning the frequency of our Book Club reads. As much as we all like time travel books, we probably would like to have time to read from other genres as well.

I'm going to throw out some suggestions, but I'd like to hear other suggestions as well before we put it to a vote.

1. We could keep the frequency of our reading as it is at 1 book per month.
2. We could change to frequency of our reading to a longer period of time for each book. For example 1.5 months or 2 months per book.
3. We could base the period of time we have to read each book on the length of the book. For example: 1 month for 1-300 pages, 2 months for 301-500 pages, etc.

Thoughts?

I like option three.

I think 6 weeks might be a good compromise and simple to implement. 2 months sounds too long. option 3 sounds like a good idea but going by number of pages is not so straight forward because the typeset and number of words per page can be vastly different.

I am not sure if this is the right thread to talk about this but my main concern is actually in the divide between ebook only readers and paperback only readers. So for instance, the BOM for May is ebook only so will unfortunately alienate those without ebook readers even though I suspect ebooks have now become the more popular preference (I could be wrong). I cant think of any suggestions for a solution around this though?

My ability to read the Book of the Month in a month is really mostly a function of the other activities going on in my life. So, sometimes, I might have the book read in the first week of the month and sometimes, like this month, the BOM is still sitting, in the last week of the month, untouched on my kitchen table, mocking me.

In general, it isn't the length of the book that is an issue for me, as I read fairly quickly (and obsessively) once I get started. It's just getting a chance to get started.

I do see a downside, though, in moving to 2 months. By doing that, it stretches out the comment period and may reduce the conversation opportunities since by the time the late finishers get around to posting, the early finishers are long gone and on to other things.

I think Tej's suggestion of 6 weeks would indeed be a good compromise.

As far as the e-book vs paperback divide, I do both so am not strongly affected by this issue. I do, however, have a personal hang-up about paying paper book prices for an e-book (don't try to appeal to logic, I'm perfectly willing to admit that it may be irrational, but, still, there it is). So, I won't read something that is available only as an e-book that costs more than my trigger price threshold, which usually hovers somewhere around $5-6.

I like option 3, even though, as Tej points out, it's awkward because of font size and other odd stuff. I think there's a big difference between a 'shorter' book and a 'longer' book. For books that are right about 300 pp some guess could be made about readability, density, etc. by whether it's marketed to YA or is meant to be a fast-paced read. And then the moderator (perhaps with help from the member who nominated the book) could decide if it is a one-month or two-month read.

Six weeks is a good compromise - but starting in the middle of the month sometimes and at the beginning of the month other times confuses me. However, if I'm the only one with that complaint, please ignore this paragraph.

Availability is always an issue. People will read 1. what they're interested in and 2. what they can get their hands on. All that the moderators can do is try to not have just OOP paperbacks, or conversely, just full-price e-books, several months in a row. In other words, try to mix up the choices a bit. Which you've been doing well. :)

Sticking with one month works well for me, I read 3 books a month on average, so one time travel BOM can usually be accomadated.

How about 1.5 months in normal situations with additional time given for extra-long books? We could vote on a time frame for a long book after the book's been chosen.

I'll second that. Or third...

Sounds good.

I'm all for it

I guess I don't care about the length of time given to read a book. For instance I have already read this month's read so I'm reading other things. I just finished Kindred today. In addition to Kindred in the month of June I read the following time-travel books:

Outlander; Timekeeper; and Dragonfly in Amber.

I am getting ready to start The Map of Time later today and have Replay and Voyager in my TBR next stack (they are library books so they need to be read ASAP).

In addition I read books in other genres during the month to take a break from TT although that is my passion right now.

I'm sure others are like me and have read the current book of the month or even don't want to read the book that is picked at this time (or maybe never) so the "one month" time limit is irrelevant. I have gone to the books that have been read to get ideas for books to read in this genre (as well as other topics in the group).

Got the hint guys ;) Actually it was already established that we should have 6 weeks for longer books. I forgot to change the end date. Its extended now.

So keep turning those pages!

Amy is hosting month and I expect she will be starting nominations for next group read soon.

I belong to a face-to-face reading group that has met every six weeks for more than fifteen years. This time frame has worked very well for us, no matter what the length of the book.

I would also like to mention that choosing three books at a time in sequence is a nice touch, too. I belong to several reading groups and cannot afford to pay full price for all the books that I would like to read. Choosing in advance gives us a chance to search used book stores both on and off line. I just ordered The Many-Coloured Land yesterday online for .01. With shipping and handling, it came to $4.00. The problem is that by the time it gets here, I will really be rushing to read it and join in the discussion. Just something else to consider.

Its a good point Dee, actually our timing has been rushed lately. We usually know what our next groupread will be, two weeks in advance which would give enough time to obtain the book. We'll try to get back that sort of clockwork in future. I think its my fault tbh, I was a bit late with the nomination a couple of groupreads ago.