I'll take the lead if anyone likes, or would BLOB_CASTLE or flagamuffin prefer? If you have anything really lined up, go for it. If I go, I'll probably take a vote between The Satanic Verses or something by Cormac McCarthy, most likely Blood Meridian. Since I'm sure we all want something shorter, I'm leaning towards Blood Meridian, and especially for a good change in structure in readability after 2666. Not that The Satanic Verses isn't story-based or has an awkward structure, but it certainly has a unique gait to it all, which might feel tiresome on the tails on Bolano, even though it's bubbly, quick, and staccato as opposed to slow, even-paced and meandering like 2666. I additionally haven't read Blood Meridan yet, so that's an added bonus for me, and I get a really nice trance-like feeling reading McCarthy. I'd even suggest having a cooling period before we start where maybe everyone that's going to be in can read some of his short stories or The Road to be initiated/excited for our reading, or simply don't read so we have rocketing through this and having people get burnt out. He's very easy to read, even if the style does change appropriately story to story. I read The Road in less than a week, for example.
The way that the voting worked before was a simple tally of who voiced a desire to read what from the selection of suggested books. I don't mind if we change that, but I think that it should stay fairly consistent in the way it operates and that those participating should be in agreement with it. It is after all, a group activity. The nominal leader is there only to keep the thing on track :) As far as a "cooling period", this post was initially scheduled for October 12, so there's still plenty of time. The fact that the post included info on book club stuff was for my own ease and to give people more time to respond. I think a cooling period is a good idea, but whoever takes it next should remember: out of sight, out of mind!
Absolutely! I still agree on the voting. Both of those were taken from the previous suggestions (Satanic Verses was mine, but I remember it getting a lot of attention), and both were highly voted. I'm just throwing in my two cents worth on the matter before official results come back.
Ah ok, I see. Yes, Satanic Verses did get a lot of votes. Have you seen BLOB_CASTLE lately by any chance? If not, then I guess it's just between you and flagamuffin.
Go for it Meriadoc. I don't particularly want to read McCarthy but I'm in for whatever we end up voting on. We can also entertain new suggestions, but given how few people stuck with this I think we should introduce the caveat that if you suggest a book you be willing to stick around.
I apologize for my lack of activity. I'm drowning in a sea of homework. Once the storm subsides I'll be more active.
Thanks for being so awesome with leading the book club though. I award you 15 Internets, spend them wisely.