Book Club?

[RavenOfSummer]

I was wondering, would anyone here be interested in doing a book club through the forum? I'm not sure how it would go in practice, but I think it might be fun to try. My thinking is, perhaps one person could "host" the club each month (or every six weeks? depends how long people think would be good to finish reading a book). Somehow one book would be chosen- maybe via a poll vote. Then everyone who's interested would read that book over say the next 4-6 weeks. Then everyone would discuss in a thread. The host would have prepared some questions to get conversation going.

 

A few things would need to be worked out...first of all how narrow or broad would the club be? I.e. would it be just tarot books, or any esoteric-related books, or just any books at all? Or perhaps a mix throughout the year? Second, how to choose the book? My thought is maybe everyone who wants to participate throws in their ideas, and the person who has agreed to host that month chooses their top 3 or 4 and creates a poll. That's just an idea- I'm sure there are many others and maybe better ways it could be done. Obviously those who want to participate would have to obtain the book somehow, be it purchasing or through their library, so maybe ease of availability of the book could be kept in mind with the choices.

 

I always love being able to discuss a book I read with others- hence the idea! Here's a few books just as ideas that I would love to read and discuss:

 

Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler

Singing the Soul Back Home by Caitlin Matthews (also, pretty much anything by Caitlin Matthews!)

Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarissa Estes

If Women Rose Rooted: The Power of the Celtic Woman by Sharon Blackie

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham

Tarot Wisdom by Rachel Pollack

 

There are so many! But these are just a few ideas. Would love to know what others think and whether people would be interested 🙂

 

 

 

[JustPeachy]

Count me in for Fiction of any sort, as long as acquiring the book is reasonable, I'm all for it!

[RavenOfSummer]

2 hours ago, JustPeachy said:

Count me in for Fiction of any sort, as long as acquiring the book is reasonable, I'm all for it!

Excellent! I am an avid reader of fiction as well 😃 I was thinking tarot/esoteric books might be more popular for a book club here, but I'm all for fiction as well! And if there's interest in both we could always alternate 🙂

[Bluelagune]

I've been looking at "women who run with wolves" for a while.

 

Is it any good? 

[Nordica De Spell]

I have the Women Who Runs With Wolves in my bookshelf. 

 

But I’m a slow reader, and it’s a thick book! Plus, days are busy!

 

So; I’d want to be in the bookclub with it, but only if it’s a 6 months thing or even more like a year! 

 

And maybe preferably that we wouldn’t read the WHOLE thing first and then discuss; but maybe have check-ins with questions and discussions after each chapter dead-line?

 

And it’s a really deep book too, it seems. I don’t like rushing through those!

 

———

 

... so, let me know if you’ll have me, despite this, or not 🙂 

 

Otherwise, good luck to you all in the bookclub, and great idea, @RavenOfSummer! 🌻 🌻

 

[Flaxen]

If Women Rose Rooted is an amazing book. I read it last year and it really resonated. I’d be up for reading it again. 

 

Love the idea of a book club and the focus on tarot/esoteric makes sense for here. 

 

@Bluelagune, Women who Run with Wolves is a really worthwhile read. There is so much analysis of myth and fairytale and how they relate to women. It’s definitely one to take your time over though - those ideas need to be ruminated on for a while. 

[gregory]

I love the IDEA, but I am in an IRL book club, and I also read a lot on my own - I'm not sure I could fit in with others on this. I wouldn't actually want to do anything other than fiction, or at a pinch biography, though. I'd want to use it to sort of relax a bit.

 

I'd rather talk tarot books in study forums for each... Otherwise the discussion is limited to "book club members" if you see what I mean - not saying the club would be exclusive, just that many with potentially interesting input wouldn't see it.

[Rupicapra]

Love the idea, would love Tarot or other "esoteric" related books, cause if I read by myself I tend to give up after so many pages, so a group might be helpful. Am a slow reader tho, especially non-fiction books.

[Halcyon]

Yes,  I would be VERY interested!!! 

[KaiNO]

What a great idea, @RavenOfSummer 👍

 

I'm in! 😀

 

I would prefer tarot/esoteric related books here, but I read a lot of ficition as well.

[ashjey]

I would love to be part of a book club here! I love reading fiction. I think fiction and tarot books would be the best genres, looking at all the replies. I only get my books from the library, so I appreciate keeping book availability in mind. 

 

[RavenOfSummer]

I'm so excited there's interest in this idea!! ❤️

So it seems like there's a couple of things to think about. One is that there seems to be interest in fiction books on the one hand, and tarot/esoteric on the other, and there's not necessarily overlap although some people are interested in both. So, maybe we could alternate so that one session is tarot/esoteric, the next is fiction, etc. That way there could be something for everyone. Thoughts?

 

Then there's the reading period issue. I think ideally we want to strike a balance so that people feel they have enough time to finish a book without it putting pressure on the rest of their life, while also not having it be SO long that some people may finish the book early and forget what they've read by the time the final discussion comes around. One thought I had is- maybe the next TWO books on each side (if we do the fiction and tarot/esoteric options) could always be scheduled out ahead of time. That way, people who need more time to finish a book could start on the later titles in advance and be able to join at least every other session. What do people think?

 

We would still probably need to set a time period so that there was some regularity. So, ON AVERAGE, how long would people like to have to read a book? Maybe 2 months? Let's imagine for a moment that we do every two months. The schedule could look something like:

 

July - August: Read Esoteric book 1. Discussion at the end of August.

 

September - October: Read Fiction book 1. Discussion at the end of October.

 

November - December: Read Esoteric book 2. Discussion at the end of December.

 

January - February: Read Fiction book 2. Discussion at the end of February.

 

Et cetera. Something like that, and those first 4 books could be scheduled out now so that people who need more time to read could already start working on the Nov/Dec or Jan/Feb books and join those discussions.

 

Finally, @Nordica De Spell brings up a great point that it could be good to have discussion throughout and not just at the end of the book. Maybe the host for each book could break their book into chapter sections, with a suggested schedule of finishing a section of the book say every two weeks. Then there could be a couple of discussion questions just around that section every two weeks. Would people like that? Or does that seem too complicated?

 

ETA Alternatively, if there is enough interest in both fiction and tarot/esoteric that doesn't necessarily overlap, maybe there could be two parallel clubs- a Fiction Club and an Esoteric Club. And each club could do a book in their respective genre say every 2 months.

 

Thanks everyone for your feedback so far!!!

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by RavenOfSummer

[Rupicapra]

I love the suggestion of alternating and getting a headstart for slow readers. two months seems doable? We can see how it goes with the timing, especially with the headstart that would give me 4 month for esoteric book 2 if I don't read fiction book 1, that is plenty I think. 

I love the idea of the sections as well, I think that would be a reason to keep me going and a good reminder.

I've never been a member of a book club, I'm quite excited!

[Bluelagune]

On 6/17/2019 at 5:34 AM, Nordica De Spell said:

I have the Women Who Runs With Wolves in my bookshelf. 

 

But I’m a slow reader, and it’s a thick book! Plus, days are busy!

 

So; I’d want to be in the bookclub with it, but only if it’s a 6 months thing or even more like a year! 

 

And maybe preferably that we wouldn’t read the WHOLE thing first and then discuss; but maybe have check-ins with questions and discussions after each chapter dead-line?

 

And it’s a really deep book too, it seems. I don’t like rushing through those!

 

———

 

... so, let me know if you’ll have me, despite this, or not 🙂 

 

Otherwise, good luck to you all in the bookclub, and great idea, @RavenOfSummer! 🌻 🌻

 

Yeh I got books that I started years ago and still haven't finished. Some day! And some books can be read within hours but those are rare. 

[Bluelagune]

On 6/17/2019 at 7:16 AM, Flaxen said:

If Women Rose Rooted is an amazing book. I read it last year and it really resonated. I’d be up for reading it again. 

 

Love the idea of a book club and the focus on tarot/esoteric makes sense for here. 

 

@Bluelagune, Women who Run with Wolves is a really worthwhile read. There is so much analysis of myth and fairytale and how they relate to women. It’s definitely one to take your time over though - those ideas need to be ruminated on for a while. 

Thank you. Then I'll get it.

[Nordica De Spell]

14 hours ago, Bluelagune said:

Yeh I got books that I started years ago and still haven't finished. Some day! And some books can be read within hours but those are rare. 

I know, right!!

 

Gosh, I keep bringing them home to. My whole bookshelves are stacked full of ”someday’s!” 😂

[Bluelagune]

4 hours ago, Nordica De Spell said:

I know, right!!

 

Gosh, I keep bringing them home to. My whole bookshelves are stacked full of ”someday’s!” 😂

? Haha the bookcover buy, I have a few of those. 😂 I have one book that I'm stuck in the middle of and every time I try to pick it up, it won't read. 

 

Anyways, good idea to book club.

[Saturn Celeste]

I won’t be i it but if you do want to do this, let me know and I’ll make a child board for you!  I think it’s a great idea!

[RavenOfSummer]

On 6/19/2019 at 6:46 AM, Saturn Celeste said:

I won’t be i it but if you do want to do this, let me know and I’ll make a child board for you!  I think it’s a great idea!

Thanks so much, @Saturn Celeste! 🤗

[RavenOfSummer]

Well I think we have enough interest that we can try to get this book club up and running! And @Saturn Celeste has kindly offered to create a child board for us! For now why don't we try the alternating tarot/esoteric and fiction on a bimonthly basis. That will hopefully accommodate everyone who is interested. So for our first four sessions we can try:

 

July - August: Read Esoteric book 1. Discussion at the end of August.

 

September - October: Read Fiction book 1. Discussion at the end of October.

 

November - December: Read Esoteric book 2. Discussion at the end of December.

 

January - February: Read Fiction book 2. Discussion at the end of February.

 

 

We can adjust as needed if it looks like this kind of schedule isn't working for people.

 

I can host the first session for July-August, and @Flaxen is able to host the Nov-Dec esoteric session. Would anyone be able to host for Sept-Oct fiction or Jan-Feb fiction?

 

I envision the host duties as 1) collating people's book suggestions for that session, 2) picking say 4 or 5 and maybe running a poll for the final choice (not sure how many choices are allow in a poll, 3) setting a suggesting reading schedule for the book (something like Chapter 1-5 in the first two weeks, Chapters 6-10 in the second two weeks, etc depending on the book), and 4) coming up with a few discussion questions for each section and then for the final discussion.

 

The collating and polling suggestions would be done ahead of time, so the books can be chosen early for those who want to join later sessions and are slower readers. That way they can get started on the upcoming books.

 

Tagging potential hosts who expressed interest in the fiction side: @JustPeachy, @gregory, @ashjey. (Others feel free to jump in as well!)

 

I'm about to go out of town for the next week, so won't be on here as much, but will still be checking in!

[Guest]

This sounds like a great idea! I'd love to be in a book club. The library ended up doing away with ours for lack of interest and only have kid book clubs left

[ashjey]

I wouldn’t mind hosting if no one else wants to do it. 🙂

[RavenOfSummer]

On 6/24/2019 at 10:15 AM, Anesiadora said:

This sounds like a great idea! I'd love to be in a book club. The library ended up doing away with ours for lack of interest and only have kid book clubs left

Excellent!

 

On 6/24/2019 at 3:35 PM, ashjey said:

I wouldn’t mind hosting if no one else wants to do it. 🙂

Oh that's great! Thank you, ashjey!

[RavenOfSummer]

So I'm sorry I have really dropped the ball in terms of getting this started for July- things have just been very hectic lately and I haven't been able to spend much time here! And I'm concerned about starting a club session that will run into September if I'm hosting, because the first 3 weeks of September are going to be extremely busy for me. Maybe at this point we start with a September-October fiction session hosted by @ashjey? Alternatively maybe we could come up with something very short that could be read in what remains of July through the end of August. And @Flaxen has offered to host a future session as well, yay! I still think this will all come together, just taking a little more time to get off the ground due to me not having been able to give it much time these past couple of weeks.

[KaiNO]

A suggestion, in the absence of other alternatives.

Here are links to Public Domain Tarot Books.

What if we try to read "Book T by MacGregor Mathers and Harriet Felkin (1888)" this first period; July-August ?

Book T provides a good introductory foundation in the Golden Dawn system of tarot interpretation. The book consists of only 52 pages and the number of pages may suit well in this season as many probably are busy with other things as well.

Benebell Wen recommends starting with "Pictorial Key to the Tarot" and "Oracle of the Tarot" (these books are also in the Public Domain, check link). But knowledgeable as we are 😏, we can use these books as support literature if necessary.

What do you think? Then those who want to participate can quickly get the book/books (and for free).

 

 

Anyway, I'm going for this great idea 😉  But it would be nice if some of you also participated.