Getting out of the rut...
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Here is a discussion thread to offer suggestions for helping bookgroups out of a reading "rut".
My first suggestion would be to agree to be really adventurous in your reading once in a while. Read something "out of the box."
Try reading a science fiction novel. Science fiction novels are novels of ideas. And while many novels are set in the future, they are really about NOW. While we are all acquainted with dystopian novels like Anthem or Brave New World or even the latest Ishiguro novel; there are other science fiction stories that are book-group friendly (groups not accustomed to reading SF): like The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (a first contact novel) or Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler (also a first contact novel but also talks about perceptions) or Kindred by Octavia Butler or To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (both time-travel novels, the latter is written with great wit); Flashforward by Robert Sawyer which posits the question of free will vs fate in a very readable story; or The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon in which an autistic man is offered a treatment which will make him normal (what is normal, that book asks) or The Secret by Eva Hoffman which is a mother-daughter tale about self-identity.
Or how about reading poetry? For modern authors, I'd recommend Mary Oliver or Billy Collins for easy accessibility. Or read from a classic anthology.
Or have everyone reread a classic that they DIDN'T like when they read it in high school, junior high, or college? Be brave! Come back and talk about your reading experience then and now.
Well, that's a few of my suggestions...
Has your book group been in a reading rut and, if so, how did you get out of it?
My first suggestion would be to agree to be really adventurous in your reading once in a while. Read something "out of the box."
Try reading a science fiction novel. Science fiction novels are novels of ideas. And while many novels are set in the future, they are really about NOW. While we are all acquainted with dystopian novels like Anthem or Brave New World or even the latest Ishiguro novel; there are other science fiction stories that are book-group friendly (groups not accustomed to reading SF): like The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (a first contact novel) or Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler (also a first contact novel but also talks about perceptions) or Kindred by Octavia Butler or To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (both time-travel novels, the latter is written with great wit); Flashforward by Robert Sawyer which posits the question of free will vs fate in a very readable story; or The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon in which an autistic man is offered a treatment which will make him normal (what is normal, that book asks) or The Secret by Eva Hoffman which is a mother-daughter tale about self-identity.
Or how about reading poetry? For modern authors, I'd recommend Mary Oliver or Billy Collins for easy accessibility. Or read from a classic anthology.
Or have everyone reread a classic that they DIDN'T like when they read it in high school, junior high, or college? Be brave! Come back and talk about your reading experience then and now.
Well, that's a few of my suggestions...
Has your book group been in a reading rut and, if so, how did you get out of it?
2mypcjen
Lois, great suggestions!
I've been lucky because Jackie who's been running our book club has made a lot of effort so we don't get bored. She chooses Nobel prize winners like Orhan Pamuk's My Name Is Red one month, then mixes it up with Chekov plays, modern autobiographies like Father Joe and classics like Germinale by Emile Zola.
A few of us have been inspired to start our own book clubs kicking off this January, so we're following her lead, though some of us are focusing on particular genres (like chick lit or sci fi). It's fun to have a book club that inspires us all to read more! :-)
-Jen
I've been lucky because Jackie who's been running our book club has made a lot of effort so we don't get bored. She chooses Nobel prize winners like Orhan Pamuk's My Name Is Red one month, then mixes it up with Chekov plays, modern autobiographies like Father Joe and classics like Germinale by Emile Zola.
A few of us have been inspired to start our own book clubs kicking off this January, so we're following her lead, though some of us are focusing on particular genres (like chick lit or sci fi). It's fun to have a book club that inspires us all to read more! :-)
-Jen
