I BOUGHT IT!!!! :-)

I am such a ridiculous procrastinator. I simply cannot function without deadlines.

We are supposed to buy/read the book in January and discuss it in February, right? Well, given that today is officially the absolute last day in January, I went to the nearest Barnes and Noble (actually, I think it was a Borders), and I bought the book. Yay!!!

Goal #1: Buy Book. Mission accomplished. Goal #2: Read Book. Okay, now, here's where that little "deadline" thing comes in. Ladies, help! I can't remember if we've already selected a date to cyberdiscuss the book. Have we? If we have, what is it? If we haven't, how about the weekend of either Feb. 10th or 17th?

This is why I started this!

Have you read Kim's response to our "getting to know you" questions? Did you see that Kristie posted her responses to the same questions in a comment on that post?

You people are a freakin' riot and this - the getting to know you, the funny comments, the feeling that this is like a school project but without all the crappy group work or boring homework - is the reason that I started the Ravenous Readers. Thanks again to all of you for joining!

Has anyone started reading yet? I did, but I've been reading late at night and can't remember what I read - I'm flying to Chicago this weekend for a business trip - any suggestions for a Texas gal how to pack warm with out packing a HUGE suitcase? I'm taking the book to read on the flights. I'm one of those people who has to get to the airport EARLY early and then sit and wait for a few hours.....

Editing a comment

How do you edit a comment? I just realized I had some spelling mistakes in mine... ouch!

Stolie's comments - an answer

Stolie posted some questions in the comments section that I think I need to bring to everyone's attention.

Stolie said...

1) Has anyone already volunteered to be the moderator? (Perhaps, ideally, the moderator should be someone who voted for the book right?)

Jenni volunteered to do it if I don't want to, but I'm very happy to moderate, especially the first time around. While I didn't vote for the book, I'm very much looking forward to reading it. On a side note, I just finished The Kite Runner and I'm rather glad that it didn't get chosen. It has some graphic and disturbing parts (I honestly almost put it down and stopped reading it at one point), some really riveting parts, and some totally predictable parts. I wouldn't tell you not to read it, but I don't know that I would gushingly recommend it either.

2) What is the drop dead date by which we should have the entire book read and/or be ready for discussion? I'm a procrastinator; for me, no deadline for task = task won't happen.

Good question. My original idea was that we would read one month, discuss the next. In this scenario, the "drop dead" date would be the last day of February and we would begin discussing in the beginning of March. Anyone have anything to say about that? I'm totally open, but I chose this time frame so that if people are in traditional books clubs, have ultra busy work schedules/lives, or otherwise have little time to devote to the online book club can still participate in this while getting everything else done.

3) This blog / book club is for all of us, right? So, why isn't everyone commenting? ;-) My motives are selfish ... I think I am the only one who doesn't know everyone else, so it would be nice to see comments / discussions on the blog so that we can all get to know each other a bit more before we have to comment on the book. So, to start a tiny bit of discussion, how about a question? Has everyone already bought the book? If not, when are you going to get it? :)

I would LOVE it if everyone would comment! Even if we aren't talking about a book yet! Stolie, you are not alone in not knowing everyone. Even I don't know everyone personally! Kristie is a friend/relative of Jenni and until Jenni said that she would be a good addition, I didn't know a thing about her. Everyone is now listed in the "Contributors" area and I would encourage each of you to visit everyone's profiles. If they have additional blogs (Stolie, Elaine and I all do) take a gander and get to know them that way.

Also, I have bought the book. I had a gift card to Borders (thanks to my Discover Card cash-back bonus award) and we - me and my baby boy - needed to get out for a while. Another reason to have a long lead time on reading books and choosing them early was that if you want to order books online (my husband swears by buy.com for books) then you can choose the slow-boat shipping that's cheap or free and save a little that way. Oh, and has anyone noticed that the book comes with two different covers? On is red and the other blue. I chose red so that it would be easier to find in my disaster of an apartment...

In summary, comment! Tell us about yourself. Here, I'll even get you started:

I joined the Ravenous Readers because...
If I had to choose three books to take with me if I was stranded on an island they would be...
One thing few people know about me is...

I'll comment with answers if you do! :)

Welcome, Kristie

Please join me in welcoming our final contributor. We have a great group and I know we are gonna have a good time with this.

Kristie's a twentysomething senior account exec for a public affairs firm in Washington, D.C. She is an ardent lover of animals (especially her puppy), movies, and photography. By her own admission, she's addicted to her electric blanket and her hubby. She also has a 90-minute commute *each way*, so she is, in self defense if nothing else, a voracious reader. She's sharp, funny and really kind. A good person.

Many thanks to Jenni for submitting the bio!

Fine. I'll stop.

I hereby solemnly swear to stop trying to force "The Kite Runner" down your throats. Even though one of you hasn't voted for the Apr/May book selection, the votes are overwhelmingly in favor of "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson so I'm taking the poll down and conceding the race for the next book selection. So if you are headed to Half-Price Books for "The Jane Austen Book Club," look for "The Devil in the White City" as well.

Happy reading!

We have a winner!

Alrighty, then. I checked the poll and with six votes in, it appears that we have successfully chosen our first reading selection for the Ravenous Readers. Drumroll please....

"The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler

Thanks to Jenni for the selection. It looks great and I can't wait to read it. Would anyone like to be the moderator/discussion leader for this book? No pressure on anyone to volunteer - I'm happy to do it but didn't want to dictate.

I've posted a new poll to select the next book so that we can all be looking for the club reading selections. I was pretty excited about all three books, so I hope that none of you mind that I just put the two non-winning books in the poll. Vote when you have a chance and leave a comment if you would like to be the leader for this selection.

Welcome, Kim

Please welcome Kim! She is the last of the original eight that I invited to be a contributor and I'm thrilled to report that she will be joining us. Kim is a professional marketing guru in the banking industry. As a marketer, she's not only one smart girl, she's creative as well.

Kim voted in the poll already, so that means someone hasn't voted yet. Tuesday I'll post a run-off poll - per Stolie's suggestion - if no one else votes...

Go vote!

There's a poll now just below the "Contributors" section on the sidebar. A couple books have been suggested and I thought it would be better for us to chose the next book as a group rather than me dictating it to you all... So, go vote! And don't forget to read about Stolie.

Welcome, Stolie

I'm so excited to introduce Stolie to the ranks of our contributors here at Ravenous Readers.

This plucky and gutsy gal moved to New York City just a few months ago from the similarly metropolitan Chicago. She's single and has the most interesting perspective on life as such in the Big Apple. Of all of you, she is the only one that I have never met face-to-face, but that just makes me all that much happier that she has agreed to join our little club. I'm sure that you will find her has funny and interesting as I do.

Welcome, RustyJoy and Jenni

I'm quite pleased to announce that two more contributors have joined our elite ranks. I didn't invite that many people so it is too elite!

RustyJoy is a 20-something gal living in Cincinnati. She's recently engaged and in restaurant management. I have known no one in the world - other than family - longer than I have known this girl. She's brilliant and I look forward to seeing her insights.

Jenni is our nomad. Her husband's job requires that they move frequently (as often as every few months!) so she will be one of our most worldly and well-traveled contributors. She is one of the most talented writers I have ever had the pleasure to meet and has excellent taste in reading materials.

Welcome to you both!

So here's the deal:

1) We will read one book every other month. We'll read in February and discuss in March, read in April and discuss in May, etc.. This should hopefully allow all of us with busy schedules and many books on our reading lists time to read not only the club selection, but other books as well.

2) Book selections will be made ahead of time. I would like this to be done with some type of anonymous poll or something (anyone got any ideas about where/how to do this for free online?) but that will have to wait for a bit as I haven't researched how to do this yet - other suggestions about book selection process are welcome. The Feb/Mar book and Apr/May book will be decided upon shortly and when we start discussing in March, we'll determine the Jun/Jul book. This should allow us the opportunity to find the books and read at our leisure.

3) Alternate contributors will be selected to lead each book discussion. So that one person isn't always stuck leading the conversation and so that we get a fresh perspective on the books, each book will have a designated leader. This person will start the discussion of the book - give a brief synopsis, make some comments, pose some questions - and invite the other people to join in the discussion.

Sound good? Anybody have questions? Comments? Concerns? Please comment or email me.

Welcome, ET.

Please join me in welcoming ET - the first person to accept my invitation to be a contributor here on Ravenous Readers. She is a professional in the fundraising industry and joins us from Dallas, Texas. I'm pleased that she will be joining us as I know that ET will provide us with an interesting insight and perspective on our reading selections.

I hope that she is just the first of several smart women (though men would be welcome, I just haven't invited any) to join our online book club. Like I said, I hope we will all find this to be enjoyable and intellectually stimulating.

I know there are a bunch of unanswered questions about this...

Someone asked me to outline responsibilities of being a contributor. I'm thinking about it and will post something here with that information in the next day or so. I welcome suggestions in the meantime... BTW, I plan for this to be FUN and not arduous.

Birth of a book club

Welcome to the Ravenous Readers online book club!

I don't know that this is really a new idea - an online book club - but I hadn't heard of it before and thought it sounded like fun. This is still a fledgling idea and I haven't invited other contributors yet, but I think this is going to be a great way to get the interesting conversation about books that I crave, but haven't had in a while at the book club that I was a part of in my home town.

Anybody wanna play? You can be anywhere in the world. You just have to 1) read and write in English, 2) have access to a bookstore or well-stocked public library and 3) be opinionated about the books you read. Email me if this sounds like you.