PAX IRC Bookclub - June/July book selected

zerzhul

So we've decided to attempt to resurrect the PAX IRC book club using a combination of IRC and google hangouts.

We'll be discussing this primarily in our IRC channel, #pax_bookclub (an offshoot of #pax) on SlashNET

If you're not familiar with IRC, head on over here to get connected!

Books we've done:
Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Timequake, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers
Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

The format is pretty informal. Sometimes we discuss via google hangouts, sometimes via the IRC channel. Depends on who is available at what time and on what medium.

Old thread is here.

Current info:
BOOK CHOICE: Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Going with the recent Johnson translation in text form, as a reference point.

Discussion Meeting: Mid to late July

chaosisorder

I'm in! Likely can't do Google hangout for the first one, but can thereafter.

I'm putting in suggestions for:

A Prayer for Owen Meany
Swan Song
The Master and Margarita
We

(At least one isn't a depressing dystopia, so neener.)

zerzhul

Suggestion from @AtomicGaryBusey in IRC http://www.amazon.com/Bobos-In-Paradise-Upper-Class/dp/0684853787/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1358449027&sr=8-3&keywords=David+Brooks

Britality

I'm in, but don't have any book preferences, though I read A Prayer for Owen Meany. It was back in HS, though, so I wouldn't mind a re-read.

AtomicGaryBusey

Oh, right. I suppose I should post here seeing as this is way more persistent than IRC. My vote from chaos' list is Swan Song. Looks a-mazing.

Khadour

I might well be down for some reading action . . .

Raughn

If the timing is right (I try to avoid reading more than one book at a time), I might be on board for this.

zerzhul

BOOK CHOICE: Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

Discussion Meeting: The week of Feb 24th - March 2nd, we can make an exact meeting date a little closer to that week.

Khadour

Out of curiosity, how many of you have read Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age already? Might make a good next choice, if many have not already read it . . .

chaosisorder

So yeah. Totally short book.

*whistles*

illdrinn

I'm in, remind me though cos I get busy and forget ^_^

AtomicGaryBusey

Why are we talking about Neal Stephenson if we're concerned about book length? :P That said, no, @Khadour I haven't. The only Stephenson I've read so far is Snow Crash. I'd be down for reading more of him. Cryptonomicon has been on my bookshelf for a year in the Queue of AGB.

*glares at chaos. With love.*

Khadour

Hey, Diamond Age is only 499 pages, vs. Swan Song at 864. Totally shorter. I promise.

Kiashien

I read like a goddamned beast- a book a week or more- so I'd really like something more than "Yo, on IRC we'll do this thing."

I'll click through your link, but I'll be really annoyed that I have to. Relevant details should be relevant... And obvious.

Edit:

Oh, it's the "Join PAX IRC and hope someone notices" rules again...

Sorry, too complicated (For a software engineer) so I'll pass. I'll work with or start a book club that doesn't use IRC. Sorry or wasting time.

APacMan

Thank you, for resurrecting this, Zerzhul! I'll definitely be on.

Requirements to maximize literary enjoyment:
Leather lounge chair (with matching foot rest)
Fuzzy Winter Blanket
Paint-Pail of Wine

*Edit* A friend's birthday is the 25th (tonight). I won't be able to make it to this one. Great book though! Fervently avoiding wikipedia, I was not expecting where any of the starting stories would go. I'm sorry to miss the gathering tonight, but I heartily look forward to the next book.

Danwdra

zerzhul wrote: »

So we've decided to attempt to resurrect the PAX IRC book club using a combination of IRC and google hangouts.

We'll be discussing this primarily in our IRC channel, #pax_bookclub (an offshoot of #pax) on SlashNET

If you're not familiar with IRC, head on over here to get connected!

Books we've done:
Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Timequake, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

We're not 100% certain on the format yet, we're just sort of getting started. What we did before was one book per month, but we may want to change it to one book every 6 weeks or something like that.

Old thread is here.

Current info:
BOOK CHOICE: Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

Discussion Meeting: The week of Feb 24th - March 2nd, we can make an exact meeting date a little closer to that week.

What is your latest book coming up? I have followed your old thread.

zerzhul

The info you are looking for is in the post you quoted.

Khadour

Which also begs the fact that we are, in fact, a little closer to that week (since it's next week and all). When do we want to discuss?

zerzhul

Ok, first tentative date to discuss is 2013-02-25, 2230 EST/1930PST

For anyone following the thread and not the IRC channel, conflicts? I'll also update as people chime in via IRC as well. We will likely use a google hangout, but that's still up in the air.

Danwdra

Danwdra wrote: »

zerzhul wrote: »

So we've decided to attempt to resurrect the PAX IRC book club using a combination of IRC and google hangouts.

We'll be discussing this primarily in our IRC channel, #pax_bookclub (an offshoot of #pax) on SlashNET

If you're not familiar with IRC, head on over here to get connected!

Books we've done:
Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Timequake, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

We're not 100% certain on the format yet, led we're just sort of getting started. What we did before was one book per month, but we may want to change it to one book every 6 weeks or something like that.

Old thread is here.

Current info:
BOOK CHOICE: Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

Discussion Meeting: The week of Feb 24th - March 2nd, we can make an exact meeting date a little closer to that week.

What is your latest book coming up? I have followed your old thread.

Ok I will check it

Earley

I'm interested. I like the list of books you've already read. I also read a short history of nearly everything last year and it was great. Do I PM you my G+ page? It should be in my sig I spose.

zerzhul

book club google hangout a success

folks attended: gilles, britality, chaosisorder, atomicgarybusey, zerzhul, khadour

Next book! The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Discussion week of March 31 - April 6, will set exact time the week prior.

AtomicGaryBusey

We had a great discussion about Swan Song last night. I hope we have an even larger turnout for our next meeting!

Raughn

Blerg, I'd love to keep up with this, but I'm just now at 25% through Swan Song. :? Oh well, I'm enjoying it, and can't imagine I'd have even heard of it otherwise, so thanks for that.

zerzhul

Well Swan Song is probably the longest book we'll do, so it should be easier to keep up as we keep going

APacMan

Started The Diamond Age last night. If you enjoy the Deus Ex series, you're going to get hooked quickly on this. Like I did ^_^

Britality

I'm finally going to start this tomorrow. Nothing like procrastinating. Fortunately I read fast

Earley

To start up the suggestions for next month's Post-Diamond-Age books to read, I suggest:

Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salmon Rushdie
Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

Geth

Britality has been kidnapped by AtomicGaryBusey and is being held for ransom! Solve the riddle to set em' free, or I'll hand em' over to Clamps!

Not a day goes by without a post from me
I am a CANINE, but have no fur
There's many COMICS for you to see
I am synthetic, but also a CUR
Which forumer am I?

Britality

Do we have an official date/time for Diamond Age discussion?

zerzhul

We do not as of yet, but soooooon.

APacMan

Finished Diamond Age ^_^

zerzhul

Whoops, forgot to post, our discussion will be Sunday April 7th at 2000 EDT.

Earley

Crap, I was too busy yesterday to join the discussion! I'm sad.

I'll be skipping this month. Dhalgren is one of the worst books ever written in English, by a wide margin. I used my copy as a footstool until recently, when I convinced Ay1ene to take it from me. It's a huge Black Eye for William Gibson that he wrote the intro in my edition, I try to pretend he didn't. I can only imagine that it was picked because none of you have actually tried getting through it -- it's terrible.

zerzhul

Looks like our trolling was effective

We are actually reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote for April

Discussion will be the week of May 5-11

Earley

Best joke ever. I'm trolled!

AtomicGaryBusey

It's looking like the book discussion meeting will be on Sunday, May 12 during the East coast's evening hours. I'll get an exact time locked down today. If you have an issue with Sunday, let me know via reply, PM or IRC.

AtomicGaryBusey

UPDATE: The May 12 book discussion did not happen due to last-minute conflicts. I am proposing a new tentative meetup time of Sunday May 19th @ 6PM Eastern / 3 PM Pacific. If anyone has a conflict let me know ASAP.

AtomicGaryBusey

UPDATE: It's looking like this weekend isn't too hot for turnout either, so I got a GDocs spreadsheet going so we can hopefully make this process a bit smoother.

Please list your book discussion availability here so we can lock down a discussion date/time: http://bit.ly/PAXBookclubSchedule

AtomicGaryBusey

Hey everyone! We finally had our In Cold Blood meeting. The new book is: Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. I'm going with the recent Johnson translation in text form, as a reference point. I'm sure @zerzhul can update OP in the near future.

neuroslice

I'm in!