Books By Theme (BBT): Main Thread

I thought it would be interesting to create threads where we can suggest books according to specific themes. Ideally, this would be accompanied by reviews and ratings so that anyone interested in reading works within the theme can pick and choose those books most likely to be of interest to them. What gave me the idea is that in the past couple of weeks alone, I've picked up a few recommendations for a variety of books which happen to be about Vermeer, whether directly or indirectly. I'm thinking of I Was Vermeer (non-fiction), Chasing Vermeer (YA), Girl with a Pearl Earring (fiction), just to name those. But the idea of Books By Theme goes farther than 'obvious' selections. To continue with the example of the a Vermeer theme, I'm sure there are many other books in which Vermeer and his work are prominently featured or even just mentioned in passing. There are countless personalities from all spheres of life who could be great subjects for themes, obviously. Animals can make great themes: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Elephants, are all featured in a great variety of books, be they the main subject or just mentioned in passing. There's a specific kind of crime fiction called 'Noir' which might make a good theme, and there are probably lots of books that are somehow directly or indirectly related to that style of crime fiction and movie.

Have ideas for themes based on books you've read, are currently reading or are in you tbr or wishlist? This is the place to suggest them! The more specific the theme the better. 'Food' is too broad, but 'Chocolate' or 'Lobster' is better. 'Romance', also too broad and a whole genre besides, but 'Gay Marriage' or 'First Love' would definitely work. We're just getting started, so there there will be more threads about more themes as we go. Everyone is encouraged to post their book recommendations to the appropriate BBT threads. A simple copy/paste of whatever you post on your own thread or other group threads is all you need to to to help make BBT a useful reference for everyone.

All threads for BBT will be included in the 75ers group wiki for easy retrieval.

Make recommendations on these BBT threads!
BBT: Book to Film - http://www.librarything.com/topic/110150
BBT: Hamlet - http://www.librarything.com/topic/107866
BBT: Frida Kahlo - http://www.librarything.com/topic/107838
BBT: William Morris - http://www.librarything.com/topic/107850
BBT: Richard I (the Lionheart): http://www.librarything.com/topic/107981
BBT: Vermeer - http://www.librarything.com/topic/107763

Want to start your own BBT thread? That's great! Just run the idea by us in this thread first so we can make sure your topic fits within the scope of BBT. When you create the thread, be sure to use the following as your subject line:
Books By Theme (BBT): name of theme

I've started a BBT: 'Vermeer' thread where you are most welcome to make suggestions for books somehow related to that artist.

I've mentioned on my thread but will post it here as well. The Reading Globally group is having themed reads this year, Currently the theme is 'Journeys' and we are welcoming anyone to join in, there are several 75ers already participating. There are lots of great recommendations on the thread already.
Each theme will run for 3 months and other themes through the year will be War and Regions in Conflict,The Sea and Migration.

This is a great idea Ilana, sometimes the themes on the TIOLI challenges are really interesting, the month flies by and the theme gets sidelined too fast.

TIOLI is actually on my list to try this year... after February
I am definitely in for the Fantasy February reads..and that is enough for that month. I dare not think beyond that right now.

Thank you though and I will keep this in mind :)

I really need to consider trying TIOLI...I'm just not motivated enough.

maybe we can encourage each other.. that has been my problem too..
but then, I am so much a mood reader.. I am not sure how that would work for me :P Still..

Me too with the mood reading, and I already restrict my reading a bit with the Random Number generator. (Haven't used it yet this year, since I'm reading book I got for Christmas and haven't been to the library.) That, in addition to TIOLI, I'd probably never read certain books that I want to.

Oh wait, we're supposed to be encouraging eachother, not discouraging. Ummm, errr, GO KATH! ...?

:P

Back to the original post. I think this is a very interesting idea, but to be really useful, I think it would be better to concentrate on things that you can't get at by searching tags or CK. For instance, I was thinking of doing Richard II of England, but that would be easy to do with CK data. However, Richard being rescued by his troubadour wouldn't. So here's a thread for that.

ETA: link

> 6, 7

TIOLI is really simple to try. Just start by listing one book. If you end up not wanting to read that book for any reason, you can just "leave it" by erasing it from the wiki. That should be easy enough.

I am so much a mood reader

TIOLI was created to encourage unplanned reading. Out of 16 to 18 challenges each month, surely you can find one book out of your TBR which would fit one of those challenges and finish that book before the end of the month. Try a kid's book. They're short! That should work. :)

> 1

Love your idea, Ilana. Since Club Read also does themed reads, I'd suggest checking their group from time to time to see that we don't duplicate what they are doing at a certain point in time. There's no reason we can't all jump across groups when the theme about which we which like to read hits.

Another thought is that, since Club Read does very broad themes, I very much like your idea of doing narrow themes. If we, as a group, are reading much about a topic which is narrow, cnversation can get very interesting indeed (thinking about the recent discussion about the book Under the Banner of Heaven and the Mormon religion).

A suggestion for a themed read: at some point - Frida Kahlo - both nonfiction and fiction. You like art. She was an artist. Many novels have been written based on her strange life and art. I'd be up for another read about her.

I did my first TIOLI challenge. I decided to only do one at first so as not to overwhelm myself too much. I am glad I did it that way. I finished the one book I was reading for the TIOLI challenge and added another one that fit into another category.

I've set up a section on the wiki for Books By Theme. My logic is that the Groups Reads section will track individual or small sets of books read together while the BBT section will track meta-collections of books that aren't necessarily read together as a book.

As themes are developed, these will be a cool resource for finding groups of books on specific subjects - especially as people comment on the books themselves. So I think it's really important for folks to rate and give impressions or reviews of the books as they're read. Obviously not a requirement, but would make the themes a much more useful thing.

I would absolutely be up for a BBT: Frida Kahlo! Fascinating woman, fascinating story, fascinating art. Let me know, please, when and if this starts up.

I do sporadic theme reading. I have very little (as in "almost no") self-discipline when it comes to reading, however. The phrase, "Oh look! A shiny!" could have been written specifically about me. But thanks for setting up the wiki section. Maybe that will help...

> 13

I would absolutely be up for a BBT: Frida Kahlo!

Someone other than myself would have to start it. I have enough to do with working the TIOLI challenges! :)

Hmmm, I might be up for one of these not during the school year. But, suggestions I can do anytime ;)

Don't have anything for Vermeer, though, besides huge art history books. A place you can browse for general category ideas and books is the 11 in 11 challenge page. Everyone picks categories and reads from them, many people plan ahead, so they already have several books listed. Others go as they read. Last year had a category list thread, but I haven't been able to find this year's, if it exists.

>12 drneutron:: I like your idea, Jim. That would make the BBT threads valuable resources for people who want to do in-depth reading on a topic. The reviews and comments on the books would make it easier to choose the ones that fit particular needs.

I'll be following this idea with interest.

I like your idea too, Ilana, and will follow this thread to see what I'll be able to participate in.

Madeline.. :P I usually don't count anything under 150 pages for a read..
but I have made exceptions in the past a time or two for books that others are reading. Maybe I will do it ... I will look for the threads this weekend and investigate. I know that i won't have time before then.

I think BBT is a great idea. Hopefully, we'll have a whole range of ideas.

#3 & 4: Kerry, 'Journeys' sounds like an interesting theme but for the purposes of BBT I'd say themes created here would be more specific. That said, I'll keep an eye on that thread, thanks for pointing it out. After some reflection and thanks to Jim's feedback, I've decided it's better not to link BBT to time constraints at all, to encourage everyone to tread BBT as a stand alone reference source.

Just throwing this out: I'm teaching a course subtitled "Classic and Contemporary." We are reading paired books, a "classic" and a spin-off, update, inspired by, revisioning--whatever you want to call it. They just started Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which will be followed by Valerie Martin's Mary Reilly. Also upcoming: Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours, Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Kim and The Impressionist.

#5-8 Kath and Stephen: while on the surface there are similarities between TIOLI and BBT, they are actually quite different. First, about TIOLI: I think you both have the idea that TIOLI requires additional commitments. I use TIOLI as another place to list books that I already have the intention of reading. And if I change my mind, I just remove my book from the wiki and no one's bothered. I just like being able to post links to my reviews in places other than just on my own thread, and if I happen to read a book along with others in the process, then that's cool too!

I've clarified some things since yesterday when I started this thread and decided that BBT should be a reference source first and foremost. So basically, when you post your review of the latest book you've read, you can also have a look and see if that book fits into one of the existing BBT themes or, if it doesn't and you'd like to suggest a theme based on the book you just read (and you think there are lots of other books that could fit into that theme) this thread will be the place to suggest a new theme. Hope I'm being clear here. Not sure I'm making sense, though it's all perfectly simple in my head, I promise you!

#9 aulsmith, I agree with you that BBT isn't about listing books you can easily find by tags, and for this reason, the more specific the theme the better. But on the other hand, while you can find lots of books by searching Abraham Lincoln in tags, you won't necessarily find books where he is just mentioned as a character or a passing influence in a story about a different topic altogether. Also, to make BBT as useful as possible (and much better than tags), including reviews or links to reviews or at least short descriptions and some kind of rating will really be helpful to people looking for books on the subject.

Finally, thanks for going ahead and creating the BBT thread for Richard II's rescue by his troubadour, but I would suggest that for future BBT threads, we all write out 'Books By Theme (BBT): name of theme' in the subject line so that all BBT threads are clearly identified and easier to spot as such.

Thank you for sharing how you use TIOLI

#10 & 13: I like the Frida Kahlo idea Madeline. I'll start the thread, no trouble. I also wanted to start a William Morris thread because I saw that he's mentioned a few times in a couple of books, one I read a couple of weeks ago, Sanderson: The Essence of English Decoration and also in The Children's Book which I'm currently reading, though the novel itself is by no means ABOUT William Morris, so you wouldn't necessarily find this book listed under a WM tag. But when you think of what a great influence he was not just as an artist and designer, but also with his writings and as prominent socialist, there must be plenty of books where he's somehow mentioned. I just didn't want to start a bunch of threads on artists right from the beginning and give the impression that BBT is all about artists, or god forbid, just for themes that interest yours truly.

#12 Jim: I couldn't have said it better, and in fact tried to incorporate your suggestions in the re-edited first message on this thread. I'll keep editing until I'm satisfied that it's clear enough. Not quite there yet... ;-)

#13: Gail, I'll start up the Kahlo thread as soon as I've finished here. Will also add it to the wiki so you can find it easily. Also, I've changed the focus of BBT so that the main idea is to have a resource to help people find books on specific themes and not ask people to read those books at the same time (unless they want to of course!)

#15 Katie, your suggestions are always welcome! I'll look up the 11 in 11 (which I also participate in), but I'd like to encourage everyone to go ahead and start BBT threads as I don't want to end up being submerged with an exponentially growing BBT workload! The only thing I ask is to maybe write about it here fist so that we can agree that it fits the scope of BBT and then follow the protocol for the thread's subject line as I've indicated in the top post.

Thanks Donna, Pat and Linda for your interest!

#21 Deborah, it's an interesting idea, but my first thought is that we'd have to find a name for it that ensures there is no confusion because there are already "what we are reading" threads for both Classics and Contemporary selections and we don't want people adding books willy-nilly that simply fit into either category. Also, I'm wondering if it might be too broad? What do you think if we made it more specific? For instance a 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' BBT thread could include Mary Reilly and any other book that is somehow related or influenced to the original book. I might be totally wrong. Anyone else have thoughts about this?

#24 No troubles. :-)

#29> Ilana I think you mean that the BBT topic line is Books by Theme, currently it reads Books by Thread.
This is another good way for us to find people in the group with similar interests as well as finding recommended books.

Thanks Kerry, I caught in in the first message and then missed it in #23. Will fix it now. That's what posting on too little sleep looks like! :-)

Another theme I really want to pursue at some time is the topic of aging (in fiction, particularly - although nonfiction would be okay as well). I couldn't get any votes when I tried to push the aging theme onto the Club Read group. Ha!

What I find interesting now that I'm approaching my "golden years" is how novelists picture older characters. It always surprises me, but not usually in a good way. Some quotes about older people blow me away by their "agism".

If anyone wants to run with this as a BBT topic, please do!

#30 I like your suggestion Madeline. I don't feel like I'm the right person to start up that theme, but you definitely could, there's really nothing to it and it's not like there's much to do once it's up. My main suggestion would be to consider naming the BBT "Golden Years" or something similar because "Aging" could be misunderstood and we don't want people suggesting books about coming of age, for example.

This is a great idea Ilana. I can see using it as a reference guide. I am currently doing the 11 in 11 Challenge and an off-shoot of that called Reading Through Time Challenge where we pick a historical theme or time period and everone choses a book to read that fits, it's up to the individual whether to participate that particular month or not - much like the TIOLI. This month's theme is Crusades.

I'll wait until someone wants to "tend" a thread with that theme. It's not going to be me, though. I like that someone moderates or takes ownership of such a thread.

27> Oh, yes, that's what I meant--not a general (and way too broad) classics and contemporary 'theme,' but the idea of taking one well-known work of literature as a theme. There are tons of Hamlet-related books, including The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and The Lover, the Lunatic, and the Poet. I have a whole box of them (from a seminar I planned on Hamlet that didn't happen). Lots of spinoffs on Frankenstein as well (The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein Unbound, etc.).

#32 Crusades is an interesting theme. I wonder, should we do BBT themes that are covered elsewhere? I would think not, but then again, if we did, would be easier to find them all since they're all together on the wiki if they're BBT threads.By all means suggest any other themes you like.

#33 Fair enough Madeline. I know that you've got more than enough on your plate already.

#34 Excellent idea Deborah, love it. I know that Mister Pip is based on Great Expectations. Don't know if there are others? Haven't read either yet but they're on my shelves. Can I encourage you to start up those threads? As Madeline says, it would be nice to have someone moderating the threads and I think the moderator should know at least a little bit about the theme, ideally. But then, the threads can just be launched and then let to live on their own too.

I've just now created a BBT: William Morris thread.

OK, I'm game to start a BBT: Hamlet thread. I'll try to check in now and then.

23: Well, not only did I jump too soon, but I got the name of the king wrong. It's Richard I (not Richard II, don't know where my head was yesterday). So, I'll start over properly.

Is Richard I's rescue too narrow? Would Richard in the Crusades be better? Or are people finding the more inclusive "all books on Richard I" better? If we want to be really inclusive we could do all books on Henry II and his family (Richard I, King John, Eleanor of Aquitaine, etc.). That would be a long list. I'll read the opinions here and then start a new thread (if someone doesn't beat me to it.)

#37 Deborah, that's great, I saw that you added the thread to the wiki already and have added it to the first message on this thread as well. That should be a popular one.

#38 Lol. Well I was certainly glad to see your enthusiasm in jumping in on this project! I've already removed that thread from the wiki and on this page, so you can start over whenever you're ready. I agree that 'Richard and the Crusades' would be less restricting. But perhaps you might want to start with "Richard I" or "Richard the Lionheart" which might be quite broad, but the variety of works that would get recommended could also prove interesting. If you then find that it's too broad, you could start an offshoot of the 'Richard I" BBT thread to have one that is more specific. I would definitely encourage others to weigh in on this since my understanding of that period in history is still quite limited.

>38 aulsmith: and 39 Ah, now I know what you are talking about. Richard the Lionhearted was in the movie, very briefly and at the very end, on the movie Kingdom of Heaven. Other than that, I don't know much about him.

After reading my last book, I was thinking about reading further in the area of prison life. Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman was so interesting to me.

I've also got another book about a librarian at a prison.

Linda, would you consider starting a 'Prison Life' thread? Do you think there would be interest for that? Are there lots of books that we could suggest?

I started the Richard the Lionheart thread here.

Lots of interesting stuff on prison life out there, both fiction and non-fiction. Just off hand I can think of Count of Monte Christo, Autobiography of Malcolm X, Flowers of Aulit Prison and Prisoner of Zenda.

#42 Not sure if there's enough interest out there for it.

#43 I'll include the thread in the first message here on the main thread. Those are interesting suggestions on prison life books, thanks!

#44 Linda, you can always start the thread and see where it goes since we already have suggestions for it!

I love this! My reading is often theme driven, sometimes unexpectedly so. I read Girl in Hyacinth Blue four years ago and it inspired me to seek out several other books inspired by real or fictional art. I tried Girl with a Pearl Earring but it didn't grab me...perhaps I will give it another try.

In trying to jump start my own reading list (sadly neglected last year), I've put a bunch of books made into films (specifically kid books of varying levels) on my to read list. Would this interest anyone else? It need not be restricted to kid books...I've been meaning to read Atonement for a while as well and I am sure there is other stuff out there I am not thinking of.

One of my cataloguing subcategories is "filmed books" - which I use not for books that have been filmed, but books I bought chiefly because I've seen the film. They are mostly 1930s - 1960s.

If you started this kind of thread, I'd probably be in. I just added Rachel Field's All This, And Heaven Too to my Wishlist after rewatching most of the film the other night.

#46-47 Books made into films as a category is a good idea, but perhaps a bit too wide in scope since many people use tags like 'made into movie' or 'adapted to film' or some such (I use the latter one). I'd be curious to know what other people think.

Something like "books I read because I saw the movie" (not a great title, so feel free to come up with something else) might narrow down the field a little and would be interesting to see what people came up with as book titles there. I can think of a few myself.

Great suggestions, keep them coming!

Sometimes a big deal is made that a film is based on a book, other times not so much. My husband and I watched the costume drama The Duchess last night and it was only while watching the credits that I learned that it was based on a book.

Is BBT: book to film too broad? I don't much care if folks are reading a book because they have seen a film or vice versa.

I'd say run with it and if you feel you need to narrow it down eventually, then that's fine too. Just be sure when you start up your thread that the title reads:

Books By Theme (BBT): Book to Film (i.e. spell out the acronym). I'll add it to the first message on this thread and onto the wiki too if you're not sure how to do it, though you can certainly give it a try.

Thread started...we'll see if anyone is interested:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/110150

I haven't the foggiest idea how to add it to the wiki so if you would be so kind, please...

#51 I've already added a few books suggestions to the new thread. I'm sure I'll have plenty more to add over time.

I haven't the foggiest idea how to add it to the wiki
I was going to do it just now, but looks like someone beat me to it!

I figured it out. *big cheesy grin*

Awesome. That's the beauty of the wiki. It's really not as hard as it might seem at first, and you can always preview your changes, and still, if you make a mistake, there's always someone who can fix it.

I think this needs a revival! Would "art-related crime (theft, forgery, etc)" count as an appropriate theme for a new thread, or does the panel think that's too broad?

I think that's a very cool suggestion and encourage you to go with it!

55> If you do make a thread with that theme, please leave a link here! I'll never be able to find it otherwise!

Yes, and once you've posted the link here, I'll update the top message to include it there as well.

And while we are reviving this thread, I have a suggestion for a theme as well: Quilting - books where quilts or quilting play a role (large or smaller).

I am thinking here of books like The Elm Creek Quilts series by Jennifer Chiaverini (first book The Quilter's Apprentice), the Benni Harper mysteries by Earlene Fowler (first book Fool's Puzzle), and perhaps The Quilts of Lancaster County series by Barbara Cameron (first book A Time to Love), but I haven't read this series yet so I have only the name to go on for now.

Good idea? Bad idea?