Theme Reads

Some other groups are beginning to do theme reads. Rather than everyone reading the same title, each person reads a book of their own choosing centered on a specific topic.

Examples: http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=30444
http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=29478

I think one of the big advantages to this kind of group read is that it won't always be necessary to buy a book for the group read. It would be likely that something you already have in your TBR pile might fit the chosen theme.

Any thoughts?

ooh, I like that idea! I bet lots of people could make headway on their TBR piles with this kind of read!

What theme would GD do? Cheese? Roombas? Dragons? Pretty boys & girls? Puffins?

Of course if you chose penguins, that could be anything from the noted british publisher ... mind you, you could (and someone in the GD probably would) bend "puffins" to include their kiddie series >;-)

I'd prefer this to the currently specific book group reads. I haven't been all that thrilled with the choices. With a theme, *I* get to pick a book! They shouldn't be TOO general though.

Do you have some GD specific themes in mind?

This sounds like a great idea! Might be hard to find a book on Roombas though lg, unless it's the manual ;-)

But dragons would be easy. Or space travel, time travel (I've got one in my TBR pile), ...?

Could it be cross-over? Like the CJ Cherryh books, they're space travel, other worlds, fantasy type, they could cover quite a few different themes.

We could broaden the Roomba theme to robots in general. (Including riding dinosaur robots!)

Could be fun.

I propose the theme "Green" which should give some interesting variations.

I hadn't really thought of any themes since I didn't know if anyone would be interested, but the possibilities are seemingly endless given the sf/fantasy tilt of the GD.

I need to get some things done around the house now, but should there be another thread for theme discussions? (I am so not the leader type!)

Here are three just off the cuff.

Doors between worlds
Hidden identities
Skittering noises (horror, gothic or suspense)

See if anyone adds any others...

Twins
Good Dragons
Specific Authors (any book by)
Alien Invasion
First Book in a Series
Based on a Fairy Tale
Winged Creatures
Magical Detectives
YA
Aimed at Children
Child Protaganists
The Sidhe

Great idea!!!

*wonders how many days weeks it will take us to agree on a theme"

I have a simple solution if people are agreeable. I'll type up all the themes then use a random number generator.

Alternate history futures
Genetic engineering
Multiple (main) POV's
Then & Now
Clashing cultures

...

Okay okay I KNOW I'm pretentious ;-)

#13 - Ack, but what if it picks a really obscure one? LOL

We'll discuss the various themes first to make sure they aren't too obscure.

unreliable narrators
absurdist novels
magical realism
pirates
Arthurian theme
lit crit

#14 Busifer, all those things sound like my job this week!

Paradies

Edited to add something to this empty post - I got an rampaging elephants message, I guess these posts are the result ;-)

I like the idea of this... and I really like the "green" theme, that could provide some very interesting choices...

Random number sounds good to me. And you all are coming up with much better stuff than what I was thinking about during exercise time!

clam, I think picking a theme is half the fun of a read like this, even if it does take us a year and a half. :P

It also makes us look at the books in our libraries in a new way.

#17 - U-hu, that's what not the way I meant it ;-)
I just thought about some of my books and tried to put them in categories :-)

In a way I think the 'reading the same book' group reads are better - I've discovered some great authors that way, authors I'd never would had tried else. And some of the reads that I couldn't participate in at the time are now on my to read list, meaning I probably will dig some of the lost threads out of the closet some time in the future...

Rutabaga!

;)

26 > Ya I think I would tend to prefer single group reads for the same reasons.

I am willing to give one of these a try, as long as they don't replace the others.

Out of curiosity and a wish to procrastinate, I subject-searched "rutabaga" in WorldCat, just to see what it would come up with. There are actually 81 monographs (with a few duplicates) -- and 5 serials -- out there that qualify.

Only one LT book is tagged as such, however: Judy Gorman's Vegetable Cookbook.

The glorious "Roomba" you will be fascinated to know, actually does have one lone title associated with it in WorldCat: Hacking Roomba -- and it's owned by 4 LTrs.

It sounds good. I'd also request that once a theme is picked that some book suggestions also follow just as a starting point. I'll have to think of some areas.

I have to be honest. If the theme is rutabaga, I just don't think I'll participate. Just sayin....

Morphy's idea of random generator sounds like a solid idea to me.

Ah, but I added my rutabaga tag to a book I hadn't put it on before, It's an excellent book, right up the GD alley...

>29 kawika:
Definitely agree.

I tried twice before to say that the Arthurian theme appeals greatly to me. And I must agree with Busifer that a group read of the same book might be better for discussion purposes. I also agree that it would make me read something I otherwise wouldn't.

#27 - Oh, I like it.
Wanders off to do some tagging.
*snork*

I can picture me now, walking up to the public librarian and asking if she/he could recommend any good "reads" which include rutabagas and roombas. Do you think I'd get thrown out?

I am finding that group reads have resurrected my adolescent rebel and since I label the book "I must read" in my head, then I suddenly and completely explicably, find all the other toberead books in my book cases. I'll be sitting this one out. But it will be fun to lurk.

How about titles or authors that begin with the phonem "roo". That would cover both rutabaga and roomba and Rudy Giulani to boot. And I do mean boot.

Just jumping in with my two cents -- I love the themed read idea; I think that it would probably end up increasing rather than decreasing my TBR list/pile, but I'm up for it!

I like the idea of a themed read, as others have said, perhaps a couple of times a year, but not to replace the other group reads. Also, so long as we are allowed to pick the book, we can decide whether and why it fits the theme, right?

Some theme ideas:
A holiday (if done in March, then St. Patrick's day, etc., or, just holiday)
Pubs/Inns/Bars
Brews
Wizards
Little People
Truffles (just because the picture of the rutabagas looks like one to me)

MrsLee... chocolate truffles? Or the other kind?

I'd have no trouble with Rutabaga as a theme.

Firstly there's the belgariad in which Silk Explains to out young hero how a rutabaga farmer came to be elected king of Sendria.

Secondly an alternative name is swede which give syou access to all Swedish books either set in or authored by,

and thirdly Swede otherwise known as yellow turnip's are common pig food, which means any story using the "pig boy" plot will probably be allowable.

Loads of works to choose from.

...and that's why you very seldom catches a swedish person with saying 'swede', in any form, with any meaning.
First thing we learn in school, practically ;-)

#41 - :o) Very good, reading_fox. It might also include just about any book taking place around Thanksgiving in the US, as Rutabagas are a staple of the Turkey Day table.

O Blessed Rutabaga

it is told
that when immigrant women
from eastern Europe crossed
the ocean into new lives,
they brought with them cuttings
from backyard trees,
the chestnuts, apples, plums,
where they sewed and gossiped
and nursed their babies beneath
trees that softened
the hardness of the day
and sighed them to sleep
at night

they pierced these cuttings
into stouthearted turnips
to nourish the tender shoots en route,
and settled them at the bottom
of woolen bags that held
other cords of connection--
a mother's black bead rosary,
a father's pocket watch
that smelled of cigar ash,
recipes, turpentine salve,
a piece of lace for future wedding--
all enfolding past
into future

I think,
on this Advent event,
how Mary is like
the braveheart turnip,
Mary carrying
her Heavenly graft
to root and grow in foreign soil
and bring forth the sweet
remembered fruit
of faraway home

O Blessed Rutabaga
nourish all us carpetbaggers
blundering our way
to somewhere!

--Ethel Pochocki

#44 - Very nice!

How about one-hit-wonders?

I like the theme idea too-in particular the Arthurian theme. I've read several takes on Athurian legends & think it would make an interesting discussion to have several books on that theme to compare. Just my thoughts on the subject. 8^)

I have a certain Arthurian fetish myself, both in fiction and nonfiction.

#47 & #48 - Oh yeah! That would be perfect for those of us who've been wanting to read The Once and Future King, too.

I might be talked into some Arthurian fiction.....

Rather than go for a random theme, maybe for the first go round we could force the Arthurian Theme, since it is part of the root of all Fantasy...
;o)

I sense a groundswell in Arthur's favor. Not yet Obama-esque, but still pretty strong.

No problem here with Arty for the theme.

Any nay sayers?

Just my two cents again, but I have never read The Once and Future King. This would achieve my goal of reading something new.
Do you guys think I can handle two theme-reads at once? I'm kinda in the Girlybooks theme read too.

Nah, I'd go for Arty though he usually isn't my scene.

Arthurian theme sounds great, I've been wanting to dip into The Crystal Cave books again, this would be a good time to do that. Sounds good to me :)

Arthurian theme sounds great to me too. My problem would be which book. My niece was in a play based on The Sword in the Stone which made me want to try The Once and Future King again since I didn't finish it the first time. I also want to reread The Crystal Cave because I never read the whole series and I have the following sitting on my shelves that I've been meaning to read:
The Skystone by Jack Whyte
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Guinevere, Queen of the Summer Country by Rosaline Miles
The Greenstone Grail by Amanda Hemingway

Help?

Oh, and I've been meaning to reread The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Kavriel Kay because I haven't in a while.

I strongly suspect I'll read The Grey King, fourth book in the Dark is Rising series. It's also in my 888 Challenge.

Fionavar is about ARTHUR?
Dagnabbit. Now I don't know what to read.
:o/

Check out the Arthurian tag page for ideas.

I'll probably read The Iron Grail by Robert Holdstock.

Oh, and don't forget, your book doesn't have to be fiction.

Holy crap, that's a lot of Arthur!

Here are the top 50 books tagged Arthur on LT:

# The mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (329)
# The once and future king by T. H. White (300)
# The crystal cave by Mary Stewart (158)
# Le morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (172)
# Arthurian romances by Chretien De Troyes (104)
# The wicked day by Mary Stewart (106)
# The hollow hills by Mary Stewart (128)
# The last enchantment by Mary Stewart (118)
# The book of Merlyn : the unpublished conclusion to The once… by T. H. White (105)
# Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead (84)
# The Arthurian encyclopedia by Norris J. Lacy (30)
# The acts of King Arthur and his noble knights : from the… by John Steinbeck (66)
# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous (100)
# The quest of the Holy Grail. Translated with an introd. by… by Anonymous (51)
# Sword at sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff (40)
# Arthur by Stephen R. Lawhead (64)
# Merlin by Stephen R. Lawhead (65)
# Parzival by Wolfram Von Eschenbach (53)
# Le morte d'Arthur, volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory (53)
# The coming of the King : the first book of Merlin by Nikolai Tolstoy (37)
# Firelord by Parke Godwin (34)
# King Arthur by Norma L. Goodrich (32)
# The King Arthur companion : the legendary world of Camelot… by Phyllis Ann Karr (23)
# The skystone by Jack Whyte (50)
# The singing sword by Jack Whyte (45)
# Hawk of May by Gillian Bradshaw (35)
# The forever king by Molly Cochran (39)
# The Arthurian legends : an illustrated anthology by Richard Barber (31)
# The illustrated encyclopaedia of Arthurian legends by Ronan Coghlan (35)
# Le morte d'Arthur / Vol. 2 by Sir Thomas Malory (42)
# The complete romances of Chrétien de Troyes by Chretien De Troyes (26)
# The winter king : a novel of Arthur by Bernard Cornwell (52)
# Excalibur by Sanders Anne Laubenthal (20)
# Merlin by Norma L. Goodrich (24)
# Beloved exile by Parke Godwin (25)
# The fort at River's Bend by Jack Whyte (34)
# Arthur's Britain : history and archaeology, AD 367-634 by Leslie Alcock (30)
# The eagles' brood by Jack Whyte (37)
# Idylls of the king by Alfred Tennyson (47)
# Child of the northern spring by Persia Woolley (22)
# Over sea, under stone by Susan Cooper (71)
# Silver on the tree by Susan Cooper (66)
# The sword in the stone by T. H. White (46)
# The idylls of the queen by Phyllis Ann Karr (18)
# The Saxon shore by Jack Whyte (33)
# Green Knight by Vera Chapman (14)
# King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table : retold out… by Roger Lancelyn Green (39)
# Yvain, the Knight of the Lion by Chretien De Troyes (29)
# Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg (34)
# Guenevere : queen of the summer country : a novel by Rosalind Miles (35)

Should we have a thread for people to announce their choice of books? And should we give a short explanation too?

#64 - Absolutely. You want to volunteer to take that on, flee? I'm feeling a bit frazzled tonight.

I'm off to make dinner, so I'll do it right after. If someone has time now though, have at it!

61 - Fionavar is not about Arthur, and he might not show up until the 2nd book, I can't remember. Kay pulls from several legends and myths to write Fionavar, but Arthur's part is a beautiful and moving one.

I'll chip in on the Arty vote, although I'm not doing Once and Future again - it always gives me a month-long or so depressive episode.

Do you think the Steven R. Lawhead King Raven trilogy would count? Or should there be a separate Robin Hood theme that I reserve my vote for? Cause I'm totally in favor of a Robin Hood theme.

Other options -

Mark Twain
Dystopias
Scientific discoveries (past, present, future, or fictional)
Unicorns
Epics
Travesties, Mockeries, and Tongue in Cheek (aka - Connecticut Yankee (... which could also count for Arty!), Dealing With Dragons - anything purposefully mocking its genre)

I'm in for Arthur, using something from The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte.

Expansion on a couple of other people's ideas:
- Stereotype fantasy trilogy (i.e. book 1 = intro characters, problem, problem solved, book 2 = oh, noes, bigger problem, cliffhanger end, book 3 = recovery, regather forces, triumphant victory)
- Comic fantasy/satirical fantasy (Alice in Wonderland, Piers Anthony, Robert Aspirin, etc.)
- Pig-boy stories
- Alternate histories
- Supernatural murder-mysteries
- Fantasy/SF crossovers (space dragons, science-tech mash-ups, and so on)

I'm perfectly happy with an Arthurian theme, I haven't read one in a while.

clamairy - If truffles are ever chosen, I would say either kind apply! One could even read something on pig herders, since pigs are used to find truffles, or sometimes that name is applied to the one who finishes the last truffles in the box. :)

I really really don't like arthurian books, but I'd be willing to go for it anyway because I would enjoy talking about it.

And no, the Fionavar trilogy isn't plain Arthur but it draws heavily on those myths; rather like The dark is rising which don't feature Arthur at all (if I remember correctly) but couldn't exist without Arthur and the celtic myths.

Arthurian - as time says "meh"

If I can think of a vaguely relevant book in my catalog I may join in, just fro the fun of talking about it, but it's not my favourite area of fiction. Mind you hitchhikers might count it's all about Arthur after all.

#55 - if you can read two books concurrently not a problem. Else you'll have to be creative with your choice of book!

*Laughs*

#71 & #72 - Have you tried the Mary Stewart books? Yes, I know, we can't please everyone, but there has to be something out there.

Oh, I know, you could read Deepak Chopra's Merlin book, because it is so dreadful you can laugh though the whole thing. ;o)

#74 - Your touchstone must be odd?

Anyway, I think I might have liked it better when I was younger but now I'm a bit put off by the reuse of those characters and myths. Mind you, my main complaint against Last light of the Sun is all those fairies and unexplained supernatural /celtic & northern/ stuff, which is why I don't read a lot of fantasy. (If I had happened upon LoTR today I would frown over the army of the dead, which to me is a 'deux ex machina' /it IS a connection to history, to Aragorn's heritage so it COULD be acceptable, I think.../, but my mind was much more unreflecting when I was a kid and some things grows their nice customary spots in my brain.)

#75 - Odd. Here's a direct link to the book. I don't trust the touchstones.

http://www.librarything.com/work/216307

Odd, the author link on the book page doesn't work either.

I do have A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, one of my all time favorite funny books. Or The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle, a very traditional telling for YA, but beautifully illustrated.

75 - The Camulod Chronicles (starting with The Skystone places the whole thing in a Romano-Celtic historical setting and (almost) completely erases all ideas of mysticism from the story (one character has some mystic elements, but it's ambiguous as to whether he's nuts or not). Anyway, I'm already discussing the topic and should wait until we're supposed to. :)

#17 - By the way, many thanks to Jim53 for throwing the Arthurian theme into the ring.
:o)