December & January FICTION Book Suggestions

[Jeremy1952]

I'd like to read Memories of My Melancholy Whores, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Here goes BookTalk expanding my horizons again: I've never looked at the amazon best seller list before today. One of the reader/reviewers mentions a very positive review in "The New Yorker" by John Updike, which I didn't bother reading 'cause I've already decided the book is fascinating.The themes are sex and love, youth and age: both of tremendous interest to me. Also I'm somewhat of a Hispanofile, and I like the idea of reading material from another culture.("Already decided" based on customer reviews) If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything. Daniel Dennett, 1984

[Mr. P]

I am not interested in any of the picks. I read fiction to relax from the non-fiction. I read for pleasure...I do not want more of my time taken up by a 'required' reading. So I will probably not participate in fiction discussions unless it is something I like...which would, most likely, NOT be what you are looking for...or that would hold the interest of many people.Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

[Chris OConnor]

ok

[tarav]

Mad said, "I hope that the people who are saying they will only participate if the chosen book is extremely compelling will take the time to help pick the book. They can at least look at the suggestions, and speak their mind about what's been put on the table so far". If I am one of "the people", I would like to point out that I had posted in the fiction book suggestion thread prior to your post about taking the time to help pick the book. I actually posted endorsing one of your suggestions. You may not have read my post there. I guess I should've made that post in this thread. I was confused about where we should be talking about suggestions. I thought this thread was to gauge participation and the other thread was for book suggestion discussion. Now that Chris has changed the subject line, it is clear. I will copy and paste my post here!

[tarav]

Here is my post from 11/7/05.I have read a book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I enjoyed that book. I read it many years ago, when I primarily read fiction. Mad is right in saying that it might be a good book to start with. Many people read his books and would not be scared off by the title.

[Chris OConnor]

Sorry for the confusion folks! Just so we're all on the same page...This thread is for discussing which FICTION book we should read in December and January. Yes, we'll be reading and discussing the book for a full two months. We'll do our second fiction book during February and March of 2006. After March of 2006 we can make a decision about whether or not we want to take a full quarter for future fiction books. One month is rather short, but three months might be too long. I'm not opposed to doing a new fiction book every two months.After reviewing this thread I am under the impression that we really don't need to create and take an official poll. We're only selecting a single book, and Memories of My Melancholy Whores seems to be endorsed by most of us. Shall we just go ahead and pick this one as our first fiction selection?

[tarav]

I understand your wanting to get the book going, Chris. However, a quick scan of the thread, "A Proposal for Discussion", reveals that three people who endorsed the idea of reading fiction have not made a post in this thread. I may have missed some names, but here is the list I have of people supporting fiction books: pc, marti, monsterdick, wrkelly, mad, god, jeremy. The people who previously endorsed fiction and have responded in this thread are: mad, monsterdick, jeremy, god. Tara and mr.pessimistic have also posted in this thread. I think that it would be nice to hear from pc, marti, and wrkelly, since it seems that they'd be likely to participate in the reading and discussion. Again, I understand if you can't wait, Chris, but I just thought I'd point this out.

[Chris OConnor]

Good point. We need to contact those people and see if they will get involved here.

[tarav]

Your wish is my command! All three have been contacted.

[GOD defiles Reason]

LoL. Thanks, Tara. I sometimes think Chris drinks too much coffee, ay.