The Syndicate

Dudes, I was not aware of this when we were book voting, but the author of this book is an alum of the same dance conservatory program as me. Small world, eh?!



(Also I'm a shameful human being and haven't read it, mostly because I'm overwhelmed with reading a bunch of shit about theological controversies and devotional practice in the early 17th century.....because my life is the worst)

I'm totes cool with "Station Eleven"! Not 100% sure I'll have time to be as active as I would have hoped (this semester may very well be hell for me), but I'll try to keep up and contribute!
And I agree with SVS's desire that trollishness would be very unwelcome in this book club. Debate and discussion and differing opinions and points of view? Hooray! Belittling and mocking and otherwise being asshattish? Boooooo!

Any thoughts on how long before the poll goes up? Should we give it another week or so to make sure everyone who wants to offer suggestions has time to do so? Or is that not enough time?

Roxy wrote:I have not read most of the books mentioned here. I read for relaxation and fun. Not serious at all unless it is a garden or herb book. Then I can get quite serious and emotional while discussing corn or thyme.

I do enjoy reading great autobiographies or a really scary book.

I don't/will not read anything political bc at work I am the only dirt loving tree hugger so it is a constant debate at work which I have grown very tired of. You would not believe the discussion we had about that fucking rebel flag. I work with some real assholes.

I doubt I would read anything by Ron Hubbard though I might consider something from Ron Jeremy.

I would suggest Life by Keith Richards.

So I guess what I am saying is I do not think I will fit into this club though I hope everyone really enjoys this.

Rox, don't let any of the suggestions here deter you! Just a bunch of ideas people were throwing around to get things started. The actual book list will come from a vote, so submit whatever you like, Ron Jeremy included !
This is, as I understand it, a book club meant to serve the whims of its members, so just submit whatever books YOU personally want to read, and vote for the ones that float your boat "Relaxation and fun" are a perfect mandate for a book club! You will not be alone, I have no doubt, in having that as your motive

Can we send in one suggestion only? Or can we send a couple?

G-Man wrote:A few controversial/discussion-worthy books you may want to consider include:

-Mein Kampf
-The Communist Manifesto
-Pretty much any religious text
-Anything by L. Ron Hubbard
-Pretty much any book by a political commentator (Coulter, Krugman, etc.)
-On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

This is, obviously, not what I meant.


I'm happy with the idea of sending in anonymous suggestions then voting in a poll!

I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to join/keep up (I say, glancing stomach-droppingly at the stacks and stacks of books I need to read in order to get this chapter written), but I wanted to throw out there the thought that in my experience (and, for better or for worse, I've got a LOT of experience with the whole organized-and-formalized-discussing-of-books thing) the best discussions about books (or anything, for that matter) are ones that have room for real controversy, real disagreement, and real stakes. People sitting about and commenting on how nice and warm and funny and sweet "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" was, or how brilliant Mr. Canonical-Author-of-the-Moment is, makes for very boring book club discussion, despite the fact that the reading experience might have been quite lovely. For that reason, I want to suggest that choosing a book that everyone already wants to read, or already knows/suspects they will like, might not result in the most enthralling book club in the world. My preference would be to use the opportunity to read something that challenges me (aesthetically, emotionally, intellectually, politically, whatever), something I wouldn't pick up on my own, and then be able to talk to a group of smart, interesting, diverse people about why it's challenging, and how we're all approaching and dealing with the challenge. A few other students in my program and I are doing exactly this this summer and reading a whole shitload of hard texts together that are important to our work but that we have (for whatever reasons) avoided reading until now. It's been fantastic, and has really opened up for me some texts that were previously either intimidating or inscrutable or just plain unappealing to me, and my relationship to these texts is much richer than it would have been if I was just plugging through them alone. This is pretty much my ideal of a "book club", and what I personally would love to take part in here, and through which I would hope to be exposed to things I wouldn't choose for myself. (Of course, this doesn't make the question of what to read, and how to choose, any clearer....)


....but that's just my preference, and like I said, I may not be able to really participate much. Also, it's summer, and sometimes summer is the time to kick back with something entertaining and enjoyable (which has every bit as much value as something "challenging") and just talk to people about how much fun it is.

Heiots wrote:Why is Wuthering Heights one of the top romance novels? It should be top revenge novel.

I think you may be confusing "romance" (a genre) with Romanticism (a loosely defined literary movement which had its heyday in the first half of the 19th century). Wuthering Heights is absolutely a Romantic novel. It is by no means a romance novel (unless, of course, emotional abuse and domestic violence really float your boat......)


I'd be totally into a Syndicate book club, if the selections are good. I never get to talk about novels anymore, and it would be a fun change from the nightmare version of "book club" that is my current life.....