Book Club?

[EMarieHasADHD]

I’m currently reading Rachel Pollack’s “Tarot Wisdom: Spiritual Teachings and Deeper Meanings”. I was just thinking that it would be neat to either have a book club thread or create a book club group so that people who are interested can read the same Tarot book at a time and discuss it.

 

Is that a thing already that I missed? If not, who wants to do that? I think it would be a really fun club. If we do it, may I suggest this book being the first? It’s AMAZING. 

[gregory]

One did start a while ago; it kind of foundered:

A couple more efforts for books other than tarot also sort of fell over.

[snailrizzy]

I would be interested, though I think part of the trouble for me is not having enough time to actually read. I think it might be more feasible for me (and maybe others) to participate if the agreed upon book is available as an audio book, and if said audio book is easy to acquire. That way I can multitask and contribute when I have a spare moment.

[Croat]

While I've always been interested in the concept of a book club for sharing perspectives, time and motivation have always been lacking in my case.  Part of the challenge is the "requirement" aspect.  That is, being part of a group effort that requires me to partake of a specific activity within a specific time frame.  I seem to do plenty of that in my "real" life so extending requirements into my recreational/social life just doesn't hold much appeal.  I doubt others will have that kind of reaction, it's just my own way of looking at why I haven't gotten into book clubs before.

[EMarieHasADHD]

19 hours ago, snailrizzy said:

I would be interested, though I think part of the trouble for me is not having enough time to actually read. I think it might be more feasible for me (and maybe others) to participate if the agreed upon book is available as an audio book, and if said audio book is easy to acquire. That way I can multitask and contribute when I have a spare moment.

I think that’s a fantastic and completely reasonable request/idea! 
I checked and this book I suggested is available as an audiobook on Audible and Everand Tarot Wisdom Audiobook

[EMarieHasADHD]

19 hours ago, Croat said:

While I've always been interested in the concept of a book club for sharing perspectives, time and motivation have always been lacking in my case.  Part of the challenge is the "requirement" aspect.  That is, being part of a group effort that requires me to partake of a specific activity within a specific time frame.  I seem to do plenty of that in my "real" life so extending requirements into my recreational/social life just doesn't hold much appeal.  I doubt others will have that kind of reaction, it's just my own way of looking at why I haven't gotten into book clubs before.

I totally understand that. I have trouble with the “requirement” thing, too. I have ADHD and my attention span is short and motivation is lacking unless it’s something I’m very interested in at the moment in which case I become utterly obsessed with it lol.
 

Maybe we can have a selection of books/audiobooks one can choose to read at a time, make that timeframe longish (say 2 months?) and just share our thoughts on whatever book we chose to read in that timeframe? That way, you are choosing the one you want to read and are not rushed with a short term deadline. That might help? 

[EMarieHasADHD]

20 hours ago, gregory said:

One did start a while ago; it kind of foundered:

A couple more efforts for books other than tarot also sort of fell over.

Thank you for sharing that. I didn’t see it when I looked. Maybe we can try again and start an actual group if enough people are interested. I don’t know how to start a group. Does a mod need to do that? @DanielJUK

[geoxena]

Well, I can honestly say I would not join a book club here, if one is started.  In the past, I've tried a few times to join book clubs, but the reality is I hate being told what to read and especially having a time limit to read it.  I often have several books going at a time and sometimes I put one down and won't go back to it until weeks or months later. 

 

I do love reading threads where people share about books they've enjoyed and why, because then I can see which ones pique my interest, go learn more about them, and choose what I want to read without having a deadline or requirement to report back about them.  But I've never really gravitated toward in-depth or analytical book discussions.  And, when it comes to books about tarot, I am sure that I won't want to read most books that anyone would recommend here, simply because I have a particular stance on tarot and certain preferences about what kind of info I want to ingest.  There are tons of books on the subject, yet very few that appeal to me. 

 

I do wish you luck in starting a book club here, if you decide to go ahead with it.  I would probably peek over your shoulders from time to time, just out of curiosity.

 

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by geoxena

[DanielJUK]

5 hours ago, EMarieHasADHD said:

Thank you for sharing that. I didn’t see it when I looked. Maybe we can try again and start an actual group if enough people are interested. I don’t know how to start a group. Does a mod need to do that? @DanielJUK

 

Someone also suggested a book club about a year ago as well but then interest in it then disappeared.

 

I don't want to stifle great ideas and community projects from the members but being a realist, it's a super tricky thing to pull off and would put a lot of organising on one person. @joy ran a study course with a public domain Lenormand course just a few years ago, working through it in parts. I think there was one person left at the end but the threads are still there for others to follow along.

 

My suggestion would be to keep it really open and simple, no pressures or tight deadlines with it. I would post a new thread for a book in the bookclub section and that thread can be for discussing it. People can review it, discuss it, contribute anything they want but in their own time when they read it. So this is leaving open ended threads which are like deep dives into the books and someone can add whatever they want. The book's name is the title and we can make an index if there are several threads. There could be study / reading prompts in the first post of each book thread. Questions to think about. 

 

Also I would think about the books, only tarot and divination? Any book which is about tarot (including fiction) or any book at all which someone chooses to read. What are the rules or intentions?

 

The two important things to think about here....

 

1/ How to get members to engage with it? I think the answer is to keep it as open and simple as possible as a project. Keeping it casual so members can commit on their own terms.

 

2/ How can you make it so not one person has to do it all? We know in the exchanges that it's a lot for one person to organise. Like maybe other people can post books so it's not just one person. Perhaps there is one new book thread a month or per quarter.

 

Just some ideas to throw about how to do it.

 

From a forum perspective, there is already the book club forum section here.  Clubs give greater tools for running it, but I would need to get permission to start one for this and justify it's existence that it would be used. Also it's possible to have book threads here and we move them into a Club area of the forum at a later date. It's flexible as a solution.