johnnypar70 wrote:
Hello, I just joined the B&N History Book Club. Can someone please tell me how the club is run? When are the books selected, how they are selected to how we comment on our reading.
Thank You,
John
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Hi, John. Books are chosen either by acclaim or by fiat; it really depends on how many people are interested in a topic. In most circumstances, we'll have 5-10 different people interested in 5-10 different books, so by then it becomes a matter of pleasing a minority at the expense of others because there's no alternative. In those cases, I or an admin picks a book, usually one current and moderately well known that more people might be liable to be interested in. With this month, luckily, lots of people had expressed interest in Ben Franklin, so that was chosen more by acclaim. Although I guess people were busy this month! Which brings me to your last question: in the past we had much more interventionist, strict reader/moderators who set hard syllabi and then established a pretty narrow focus. I don't like to do that because I have strong opinions, and I hate to ram an interpretation down someone's throat. I much prefer that you read the book o' the month and fire up a discussion about what peeves or intrigues you and let me react to that, letting you set the topic so YOU'RE having fun. However, in cases where we've gone too long without anything, I'll fire up a discussion topic. Which I guess I need to do here soon for Franklin.
Oh, and of course, welcome!
Message Edited by L_Monty on 06-19-2009 11:21 AM
