Book Discussion Club

msfry · Post by **msfry** » November 2nd, 2015, 3:54 pm

Has anyone started a Librivox Book Discussion Club in their local area, where members listen to a book then meet up somewhere once a month to discuss it, or discuss it online? Sometimes I'd like to discuss a book I've listened to, but I simply don't know anybody else who's listened to it.

SweetPea · Post by **SweetPea** » November 2nd, 2015, 4:34 pm

We used to have a Librivox Book Club, if you look around in Off-Topic you'll find a whole bunch of threads

It looks like it was stopped last April due to lack of interest, though.
Here's the suggestions thread: viewtopic.php?p=875725#p875725

I think a book was chosen every month, a thread was started for it and whoever wanted to could join in the discussion about it.

smike · Post by **smike** » November 3rd, 2015, 12:49 am

Sounds interesting.

msfry · Post by **msfry** » November 3rd, 2015, 7:39 am

Thanks, Rachel. I'm poking thru the discussion threads you mentioned. There are a lot of them and I'm slowly pondering why the idea didn't catch on. Maybe a different approach would work.

msfry · Post by **msfry** » November 4th, 2015, 9:08 am

Here's an idea to bat around:

It seems the "book-of-the-month" club format didn't work because of time limits, different schedules, varying degrees of interest, etc. What about something more ongoing that any LV member can participate in at their leisure over time. Something sort of like this (*asterisks indicate brainstorming suggestions):

If you'd like to discuss an LV book you have listened to, post the title in the *Book Discussion Group forum and link to it's catalog page. You are now the group leader for this title (or can name someone else who's joined). Anyone who reads a book can look thru this forum for its title to comment, or start their own thread for another book.

A few rules:

All LV versions of the same title will fall under the same discussion thread. *They will be sorted in alphabetical order.
Titles should fall into a category, chosen from the *list below.
All participants are assumed to have engaged themselves in reading or listening to the book. No drive-by's please.
Discuss the book, rate the book on a scale of 1-10, love it or hate it, but say nothing negative about the readers.
Comments not topical to the book may be deleted.
All opinions are welcome.
Be nice to other participants.

*Project Template Generator: It would be helpful for the initiator of each project to follow the same format. To that end, there could be a "Book Discussion Group" project template generator that prompts for information, and would post these rules in every thread's first post, along with a suggested discussion format such as:

Book Title (no mention of version):
Genre (from list below)

Then provide text such as:
Link to version you listened to:
On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest rating and 1 being the lowest), how do you rate this book?
Why?
Overview (what did you learn, how did it make you feel, why is it important to you, etc?):
Specifics:

Could this work? Would you participate? What do ya'll think?

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
CATEGORIES:
Fiction
Animals
Action & Adventure
Children
Crime
Historical Fiction
Fairy Tales, Folklore, Mythology
Fantasy
Society and Culture
Mystery & Detective
Romance
Sci-Fi
Sports
Military
Westerns
Other

Nonfiction

Animals
Art
Biography
Business
Crime
Education
Government Reports
History
Letters, Journals, etc.
Politics & Political Science
Psychology
Nature
Religion
Self-Help
Travel
Other

AdeledePignerolles · November 4th, 2015, 5:37 pm

I think it sounds fun! It might be good to have a time limit, though, (probably a certain number of months) so that threads wouldn't drag on forever.

I'd be interested if it gets started.

Post by **annise** » November 4th, 2015, 7:33 pm

wearing absolutely no official hats
I thing it could be interesting - I often would like to talk about things I have listened to and if Michele is prepared to do a bit of looking after it could work
The following is based on what I think has been suggested.
1. Michele will post a "Main thread" giving the general concept , the template for suggestions and other things
2. interested members would come along , use the template to identify the book to discuss and any other things and post a new thread
3, other members would add their bits to the discussion

Is that fair enough Michele ? other things are things I missed or other things that come up

my comments
It would be nice if Michele would add links to the books as the threads were set up - it would be easier then to find if the book was being discussed - I guess if it took off alphabetical would be good

re Adelede's comment - I'm not sure there would need to be a time limit - someone's discussion would still be valid any time?

hat back on - it would need to be clearly stated that it was to discuss content only - not readers being good bad or indifferent , not being recorded in the middle of a grand prix , not which version people liked best .....etc

Anne

msfry · Post by **msfry** » November 5th, 2015, 11:03 am

Anne, let's see what more discussion ensues, especially the technical aspects:

First we'd need a dedicated forum, suggested title, "Book Discussions".
Second we'd need a "Book Discussions" Template Generator.

I would indeed be willing to set up the project from there, work out the kinks, and do "a bit of looking after it". All this is right up my alley.

I don't envision a time limit. Someone could come along in 2025, listen to a fantastic book that they just have to talk about, or don't understand, check the Book Discussion forum to see if it's ever been discussed there (arranged either in Alphabetical Order, or with a Search feature), peruse those comments, add more comments, or head over to the Template Generator and open a new discussion thread.

Technical question #1: Is there a way for the Template Generator to reject a proposed title that is already listed? Or would it just label it (Version 2) and then have to be culled by hand?

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » November 5th, 2015, 11:48 am

Am I understanding you correctly? There wouldn't (couldn't) be an actual Template Generator as there is for new projects - this would be entirely forum-based and nothing to do with the back-end database. The best way to go about it would be for people to copy a template from the Wiki, like the proof-listening template: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/ProofListening_Template.

Ruth

msfry · Post by **msfry** » November 5th, 2015, 9:20 pm

RuthieG wrote:Am I understanding you correctly? There wouldn't (couldn't) be an actual Template Generator as there is for new projects - this would be entirely forum-based and nothing to do with the back-end database. The best way to go about it would be for people to copy a template from the Wiki, like the proof-listening template: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/ProofListening_Template.

Ruth

Just the kind of advice I'm looking for, as I am not sure what the "back-end" people might be able to accomplish. I can work with the Wiki, and will present a template here for further input. How would I get a new forum set up, presumably under the Help, Discussion, & Suggestions banner?

Post by **Availle** » November 5th, 2015, 11:31 pm

No new forum for now; you'll have to do with a number of threads. If this is more successful than the other attempt(s) on book clubs we had before, we may think again later.
After all, this does not fall under our prime directive "make all PD books available as audiobooks"...

msfry · Post by **msfry** » November 6th, 2015, 10:29 am

Availle wrote:No new forum for now; you'll have to do with a number of threads. If this is more successful than the other attempt(s) on book clubs we had before, we may think again later.
After all, this does not fall under our prime directive "make all PD books available as audiobooks"...

Is this the final word, then, Availle? If so, I won't pursue it further as I don't think it will work for members to go poking thru this forum stumbling across titles to discuss. It wouldn't be a good test. But I think it falls as much into the prime directive as "making covers", the Off Topic forum, and other things we offer that make playing in the LV Sandbox more interesting. Steve Jobs would approve this message.

Perhaps an off-site discussion board would serve the purpose just as well, maybe even better. Has that been tried?

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » November 6th, 2015, 12:53 pm

I don't see why the "index" post shouldn't be a sticky post in Off-topic, if it seems to be a popular thing. It would include links to all the individual discussion threads, even if they have fallen down to the last page of Off-topic.

Ruth

DACSoft · Post by **DACSoft** » November 6th, 2015, 7:04 pm

I think Michele's ideas/suggestions for restarting the LV Book Discussion are excellent ones.

Setting up a forum to handle it, IMO, a good way forward, and fits well within in the "Help, Discussion, & Suggestions" group of forums. I wouldn't think it very difficult, time-consuming or require a lot of database/server storage to set up. Does it require developer resources, or is it administration configuration?

An LV Book Discussion forum would heighten its visibility and, again IMO, will certainly generate interest in listening to, and therefore making, more audio books, fullfilling the prime directive. I'd think that LV would welcome the opportunity to assist in making it easier to manage.

Sticky posts could work: there'd be more manual management, and the individual threads could get lost in the morass (40 pages and counting) of other Off-topic posts. I'm not sure, though, how discussions of LibriVox audio books could be considered "Off-topic." And do edits to posts send notifications to subscribers, so they are aware of new information?

It's refreshing to see the enthusiam of folks in offering suggestions to make LV even better, more visible, more popular, and more productive.

Don

Post by **annise** » November 6th, 2015, 7:18 pm

It hasn't been knocked back - it just requires some thinking about the best way to start it and maintain .
We at present have no idea how many books would be involved - maybe all our members would like to discuss them , maybe only those who have responded.
Like LibriVox itself, the covers and the M4Bs we need to start small, working with what we have available and within our means, remembering that book production is the prime directive. All the rest is great but we can't remove resources from production for any trimmings
And before anyone jumps on me - I am actively involved in covermaking and M4Bs - I just always remember they just contribute to the experience

And I like the idea of a book discussion

Anne