Both of my book clubs use the same method for selecting books.
We try to pick 6 months of books at a time. I ask everyone to nominate 2 books. We usually end up with half the group members nominating 3-4, and half nominating none, which works out fine.
I put together a ballot listing all of the books.
Each member gets 15 points to distribute as she wants, no more than 5 points on a single book. She can give 3 books 5 points each, rank her top books with 5-4-3-2-1 points, or whatever else works for her.
I add up the points. I look for a break in the scores, we can end up with as few as 4 or as many as 8 books.
This is the current ballot for book club M. As you can see, we consider a very wide variety of types of books. Have you read any of these books? Would they lead to good discussions? How would you vote?
- Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
- The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
- In the Woods by Tana French
- I see you everywhere by Julia Glass
- A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
- A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
- Dreams from my father : a story of race and inheritance by Barack Obama
- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
- Halting State by Charles Stross
Ruth
April 15, 2009 at 10:53 am
Wow, that really is a wide variety of book choices!
Of those, the only one I have read is Dreams from My Father. I got it from audible.com and listened to it read by the author, and really enjoyed it! It would be interesting to see where the discussion would go. It might be too political for my taste for a book club chat, personally.
Let us know what your group decides!
Margi Hansen
April 16, 2009 at 8:11 pm
One of my favorite movies is A River Runs Through It. I’ve tried to read the book a number of times. I just can’t get into it. He’s one of my husband’s favorite authors. I’ll be interested to read what your book club thinks of it.
imbookingit
April 21, 2009 at 8:19 am
Thanks! I’ll let you know if we select it. I’ve never seen the movie, but that may be what prompted the person that nominated it.
Jessica (at It's my life...)
April 20, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Thirteenth Tale was a great read, but I’m not sure if it would lead to great discussion.
You’re ambitious to take on Hemingway. In my last book club, classics automatically meant that no one would show that month. Heh. They weren’t so much into being, ah, challenged, shall we say?
imbookingit
April 21, 2009 at 8:20 am
Well, we haven’t selected it yet, someone was just brave enough to suggest it
.
The only classic we’ve taken on so far was a Jane Austen, and that’s a very different kind of book. We’ll see how it goes.