Too similar or not similar enough?
“The Austen bashing was getting out of hand.” (page 51) Is this the problem with having a book club all about one author that nearly everyone loves? Are you unable to criticize the selection without offending someone when people are truly fanatical about an author? Do you have to have something in common with people to have an enjoyable book club? How similar is too similar? How different is too different?
posted by MamaChristy at
11:14 AM
3 Comments:
I would hope that in an environment like a book club - designed for intelligent discourse - that there is no such thing as being "too different." I think that disagreements tend to bring a broader understanding of a work when differences of opinion are discussed in a rational manner. Varried backgrounds and opinions are important to having a better understanding of the real social implications or politial comments - assuming that their are some - of a work.
By
MamaChristy, at 6:52 PM
Maybe it was the wine that was getting out of hand. LOL If you are too similiar then the conversations will be BORING if your too disimiliar then WWIII could breakout; so I think it's kind of like finding a good church - a good church for YOU everyone is there to "discuss the same author" but still different enough that interpretations can be individualized (unless it's a cult... but then it would not be a church).
Ok, I'm going to log off now, cause it seems like I'm discussing everything but the book!
Sorry Gang... I'll tune in tomorrow and give it another go.
By
E, at 7:53 PM
I *like* the church analogy! We're our own little temple of reading. (:
I was thinking of making a post on something similar; let me try to explain:
So, I know some of you. Others, I don't. And because we've never met, I'm learning about your cultural touchstones only through what you write. I think if we were discussing this book in person, we might say different things than we do online, solely because we would be able to see faces react to comments and change course (or whatever) appropriately.
For example, the thing about Prudie maybe not loving her husband. In my old real-time book club, there was a woman who we all knew had married her husband for money and he was a well-known philanderer. It was an open secret in town, so whenever we would discuss themes about marrying for money/cheating on your spouse, people hedged their language. With this group, I just don't know if anyone has a similar experience, so when I start talking about Prudie, I have to be careful what I say in case one of you is in a similar situation and i strike a nerve and hurt someone's feelings. (Does that make sense?) I mean this in a very sensitive way, so I hope it's coming across that way.
So, I think as a group we're all trying to find our similarities so we can determine our boundaries with each other. Does anyone else feel like this?
For example, maybe one of you is a situation like Sylvia's, and I don't know about it. I hate to riff on about it and have someone think i'm being judgmental of their own life, instead of Sylvia's, you know?
Anyway, I've found it interesting that I think I'm more reserved in this "anonymous" format than I am in my regular book club. Y'all?
By
JenniNapa, at 10:37 AM
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