Kevin Baker: Dreamland (P.S.) - Groups

Overview: Groups

Brilliant Babes (And Dudes) Who Read Selectively 639 books / 165 members / 7779 posts So, what makes you a selective reader? If you like Dan Brown, Danielle Steele, Nicholas Sparks, or similar works, you MAY not be into this club. We are a group of intelligent persons who love both thought-provoking literature and quality brain candy. Actually, I mainly started it for myself and my friends, but anybody can apply if you think you're down with the Brilliant Babes--just send someone a note explaining why YOU think you are a brilliant babe (or dude) who reads selectively. This is a super-casual group. Anybody can suggest a book to read, anybody can add books to the reading list. We welcome any and all intelligent book discussion (not to mention whining about books we hated or gushing about books we loved). And don't worry if you have a really embarrassing book on your shelves...we all have skeletons in the closet.

To ask for an invite please DO NOT use the admin message box, leave a note on the profile pages of either rob or Suze...we will get back to you as soon as we can...thanks for your patience...and if you insist on asking for an invite via the group admin message box you will be ignored...so don't. Also, please remember that, although we TRY to get to everyone's requests in a timely manner, we do have other responsibilities that sometimes delay us from looking at your shelves. Your patience will be rewarded

A note about being snobs: As hard as it is to believe, with all of the nice people here on Shelfari, we get an e-mail once every week or two saying that we are snobs. That really just depends on your definition of a snob. Yes, this is a private group. Yes, we jokingly call ourselves brilliant. Yes, we have rather defined reading tastes that cut out a lot of mass-market fiction. Does that truly make us snobs? We hand-picked many members of our initial group around what we like to read or think we'd like to read. I don't think this makes us so much snobs as "people who want to discuss the kind of stuff that they like to read and don't care to discuss stuff that they don't like to read." (shrugs) We're pretty accepting. So, before sending us mean e-mails, see above for the joining process. And just remember: If you don't make it in, you probably haven't read the same books that we've all read and we'd have nothing to talk about!

A special note from the admin: We want everyone to have a great time here. All we expect is that everyone plays nice! Good-humored sarcasm is in; putting down or harassing our members is not, and we won't hesitate to remove a repeat offender from the group.

Note on the threads: please feel free to go back and resurrect any of the earlier threads that you find interesting...

Our One and Only Love List...

Love in the Time of Cholera...Gabriel Garcia Marquez (J.M.)
Pride and Prejudice...Jane Austen (littlemom)
Jane Eyre...Charlotte Bronte (AthenasDaughter)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...Betty Smith (Dana)
A Room With a View...E.M. Forster (Kiki)
To Kill a Mockingbird...Harper Lee (unfinished woman)
The Virgin Suicides,,,Jeffrey Eugenides (ballroom pink)
Dragonfly in Amber...Diana Gabaldon (Aimeesue)
Watership Down...Richard Adams (rob)
Persuasion...Jane Austen (AvidReader)
The Once and Future King...T.H.White (Alicia)
The Sound and the Fury...William Faulkner (katie)
Gone with the Wind...Margaret Mitchell (dickensfan)
The Forsythe Saga...John Galsworthy (cubachick)
Catcher in the Rye...J.D. Salinger (gbett)
Fall On Your Knees...Ann Marie MacDonald (HemingwayHeroine)
Return of the Native...Thomas Hardy (Aaro)
Fight Club...Chuck Palahniuk (Tania B.)
The Great Indian Novel...Shashi Tharoor (ophelia)

Reading The Three Musketeers: The Serial Schedule

Part/Chapters/Start Date/Discussion Date
one/author's preface, 1, 2, 3, 4/17th May/25th
two/5, 6, 7, 8/26th/1st June
three/9, 10, 11, 12/2nd/8th
four/13, 14, 15, 16/9th/15th
five/17, 18, 19, 20/16th/22nd
six/21, 22, 23, 24/23rd/29th
seven/25, 26, 27, 28/30th/6th July
eight/29, 30, 31, 32/7th/13th
nine/33, 34, 35, 36/14th/20th
ten/37, 38, 39, 40/21st/27th
eleven/41, 42, 42, 44/28th/3rd August
twelve/45, 46, 47, 48/4th/10th
thirteen/49, 50, 51, 52, 53/11th/17th
fourteen/54, 55, 56, 57, 58/18th/24th
fifteen/59, 60, 61, 62, 63/25th/31st
sixteen/64, 65, 66, 67, epilogue/1st September/7th

http://www.strandbooks.com/
http://www.daedalusbooks.com/
http://www.hippocrenebooks.com/
http://loyolaclassics.loyolapress.com/

New York State of Mind 169 books / 73 members / 134 posts A group for books set in New York (city or state), written by New Yorkers, or books that capture the essence of this geographic and cultural area. Fiction, Non-fiction or short stories. The possibilities are endless...

50 Book Challenge! 2902 books / 2865 members / 16256 posts When asked about the new Amazon Kindle product, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple computer had this to say:

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

Welcome to the the 50 Book Challenge, where we fly in the face of Steve Jobs.

Basically .... the challenge is to read 50 books in one year. OR ... establish a goal for yourself more or less, it's up to you, just because we say 50 books doesn't mean that has to be your goal too.

Start a thread, WITH YOUR NAME IN THE SUBJECT OF YOUR ORIGINAL POST, and log your books. It is a very good idea to bookmark (when in your post, add it to your internet browser's favorites) your post for easy location for future updates. Things move quickly around here.

If you haven't been keeping track of the books you've read, start when you join.

Thanks for being here and have fun. If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to contact me.

The books we loved in 2007:

1. Harry Potter the final - 15 votes
2. The Kite Runner - 12 votes
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns - 11 votes
4. Twilight - 5 votes
4. The Thirteenth Tale - 5 votes

With 4 votes each:
Water For Elephants, The Road, The Red Tent, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Middlesex, Eat, Pray, Love

With 3 votes each:
Eclipse, My Sister's Keeper, Suite Francaise, Shadow of the Wind, The Lovely Bones, Jane Eyre, His Dark Materials (plus 3 honorable mentions), The Glass Castle, Girl With the Pearl Earring, Darkly Dreaming Dexter

With 2 votes each:
19 Minutes, Black Swan Green, Dogs of Babel, Heart-Shaped Box, In the Woods, Into the Wild, Kafka on the Shore, On Chesil Beach, The Book Thief, The Memory Keepers Daughter, The Stolen Child, No Country for Old Men, Marley and Me, New Moon

Readers In Thongs 223 books / 259 members / 4406 posts *Note* Want the basics so you know how to jump into the current challenge? For an overview of the current RIT challenge, the RIT FAQ site is: http://ritsfaqs.wordpress.com

RIT is the Home Of: *The Weight Loss Reading Challenge
*The Amazing Page Race Reading Challenge
*The Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
*TBR Makeover Challenge

So, just how big is your TBR pile? Or do you have more than one TBR pile? Or even better, do you have a place where you stash those books away from the eyes of those who may not totally understand your reading obsession.

Readers In Thongs have huge TBR piles. They either own them outright or bring them home from the library. Some books slip further and further down those TBR piles until they are almost forgotten. Or at least they were until Readers In Thongs began reading challenges based strictly upon each person's own personal treasure of To-Be-Read books. Every challenge here is based on books you already own or can borrow. There is no need to ever buy a book for this reading group if you don't want to. The Challenges are built around themes such as weight loss or number of pages read. You can participate as much or as little as you want. The point is to read what you want when you want, share those good reads you find with others in the group, and have fun.

Visit us at: http://readersinthongs.blogspot.com for our reviews and other group news.

Readers In Thongs lost a combined weight of 158 pounds, 5 ounces as of December 31, 2007 in the Weight Loss Reading Challenge

Readers In Thongs read a combined total of 190,845 pages (bonus pages included) during The Amazing Page Race Book Challenge.

(Our group settings are arranged so that only members can see our discussions and our shelves. You don't need a special invitation to join the group; just click on "join" and you'll be able to participate in all our activities.)

Historical Fiction 555 books / 567 members / 804 posts I was shocked there was no "historical fiction" group so I'm going to try this.
Your books can be from any era and style as long as they are historical fiction! I am always on the lookout for new books so please add/suggest as many as you like! As you can see from my shelf and the group's shelf we have a loose interpretation of what is "historical fiction" and a varied taste in books.
Authors are welcome to post, but please do not use this group to advertise for your book unless it caters to our interests!
Another small request from me......Please keep all discussions civil and try to respect other people's views and opinions while posting on this group.
If you decide to join...welcome!

Shelfari: The Site for Books & Readers

Dreamland (P.S.)

by Kevin Baker

Overview: Groups