Book Discussion Club

Comments about LibriVox? Suggestions to improve things? News?
RuthieG
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Post by RuthieG »

Sorry if I have offended. I see it as off-topic, because it is about books, not recordings. Book discussions in the past have always been in off-topic, because they are not specifically discussions about LibriVox. I see no problem with individual threads falling down the page if there is a sticky at the top with links to all the individual discussions.

Ruth
My LV catalogue page | RuthieG's CataBlog of recordings | Tweet: @RuthGolding
Availle
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Post by Availle »

msfry wrote:
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. :lol:
Michelle, if you read my post again, you will see that I did not use the word "No", I used the terms "not now" and "maybe later". To get this book discussion club started, you don't need a template generator, you don't need a new subforum and you certainly don't need anybody's approval or permission. All you need is to make a new post "Hey guys, I think that's a good idea, let's do it." And if people like this then your idea will fly in the long run and then we can talk about all sorts of add-ons to make this more easy for everybody involved.

Everything you see here has grown and evolved exactly like this, like Anne mentioned above. We have covers because somebody liked making them (thanks to Kathryn), we have m4b's because somebody found them useful (thanks to dlolso, I think), we have Staff Picks because somebody found it a cute idea (thanks to Ruth)... And only when these things were running and others wanted to contribute as well, only then came the dedicated threads and the claiming systems and the upload instructions and the templates...

Had Hugh McGuire 10 years ago waited for approval or a bunch of people to build him a system after his exact specifications and a homepage and a forum, LibriVox would not exist.


The last attempts at starting book discussion clubs on here were not very successful, for whatever reason. It's not a good idea to produce a lot of overhead for something that has already crashed and burnt once or even twice. I am not saying it will do so again, but let's start small and see where this is going this time.
Perhaps an off-site discussion board would serve the purpose just as well, maybe even better. Has that been tried?
That depends on your purpose. If it is what Don suggests - to raise awareness of LV - then it would be better indeed to go outside instead of preaching to the choir you already have. :wink: There are all sorts of discussion groups out there already (google, facebook, yahoo...) and even some specially dedicated to books (goodreads, manybooks?). How to add or set up a new one specially dedicated to LV, I don't know; probably the admins or denizens of those spaces can help you.
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

--
AvailleAudio.com
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Availle wrote: The last attempts at starting book discussion clubs on here were not very successful, for whatever reason. It's not a good idea to produce a lot of overhead for something that has already crashed and burnt once or even twice. I am not saying it will do so again, but let's start small and see where this is going this time.
My suspicion why it failed, as aforementioned, is partly because of how it was presented. Repeating that would almost surely incur another failure. Ruthie's Sticky idea might work, wherever placed. I'll go ahead and propose some text. How we advertise it, I'm not sure, but I'll gladly change my signature to invite people to check out the new feature. Slowly people will find it, some will participate. Visitors could check the Sticky, read the rules, run down a list of links to books being discussed (which I'd be willing to keep up and keep in alphabetical order), throw in a comment, some might initiate a new topic. What's the overhead in that? It will take time and patience, I reckon, but that's ok by me and it seems a workable place to start.
RuthieG
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Post by RuthieG »

Slowly people will find it, some will participate.
That's exactly how it works :D.

You post it. I'll sticky it. :thumbs:

Ruth
My LV catalogue page | RuthieG's CataBlog of recordings | Tweet: @RuthGolding
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Okay, here's my first stab at some text for the Sticky. Comments welcome.
***********************************************************************
Book Discussion Room

If you'd like to discuss an LV project you have listened to or recorded, you can post the title here and link to it's catalog page. Any LV member familiar with the book can comment, or start their own thread for another book.

Here’s how it works.
First, look down the list (bottom of this post) to see if your title is already being discussed. Click on the link to read other comments and post your own.
Second, if your title isn’t listed, you can Initiate A New Title (see below).

A few rules:

  • Only books catalogued on LV are allowed.
  • All LV versions of the same title will fall under the same discussion thread (whether solo, group, dramatic reading, foreign language, versions 1, 2, 3, etc). English titles take precedence (for readability).
  • Discuss the book, the author, style, plot, characters, historical significance, subject matter, how it affected you, what you learned, etc.
  • Rant or rave, rate the book on a scale of 1-10, give it 5 stars.
  • All opinions about the book are welcome, politically correct or not.
  • Say nothing negative about our readers.
  • Be nice to other participants, i.e. no flaming, no cursing, etc., even when you disagree, or don't like their writing style.
  • Comments that violate these rules may be deleted.
To: Initiate A New Title:
Initiator, copy the blue text below, Hit NEW TOPIC, and paste it into your First Post. Fill in the blanks, then discuss away. Please do not post a title without leaving a comment and hopefully, showing further interest in the discussion.

Book Title (copy and paste from the catalog, version deleted): ___________________________ . Paste this in the Subject Line, then erase this line.
Link to version you listened to, or an English equivalent if available:_______________________
Other versions: (Optionally, Initiator may wish to post links to the other versions, or erase this line):
________________________________
________________________________

Participants:
  • Please read the rules in the sticky before joining this discussion.
  • SPOILER ALERT!!! Comments might unravel the plot, reveal the ending, dispel the mood, flabberghast those who disagree, etc. Venture further at your own risk.
  • To add a comment, hit POSTREPLY (bottom of page), or QUOTE (if you are quoting someone else’s comment, try to retain only the bits you want to comment on.)
  • You may wish to mention the version(s) you listened to, and provide a link to it if not listed above.
  • To receive email notice of other comments on this title, hit SUBSCRIBE in the upper left corner of the page, or UNSUBSCRIBE if you want to quit receiving notices.


Initiator’s comment: _________________________________


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Books Being Discussed (in alphabetical order):
Title/Link: ______________
Title/Link: ______________
Title/Link: ______________
Last edited by msfry on November 10th, 2015, 10:43 am, edited 4 times in total.
Availle
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Post by Availle »

Looks good! :thumbs:

Two comments:

- you may want to add "language" to
All LV versions of the same title will fall under the same discussion thread (whether solo, group, dramatic reading, versions 1, 2, 3, etc).
- you may want to add a spoiler warning to your "initiate new topic" post somewhere, just to make sure that people won't be disappointed about whodunit...
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

--
AvailleAudio.com
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Availle wrote:Looks good! :thumbs:

Two comments:

- you may want to add "language" to
All LV versions of the same title will fall under the same discussion thread (whether solo, group, dramatic reading, versions 1, 2, 3, etc).
- you may want to add a spoiler warning to your "initiate new topic" post somewhere, just to make sure that people won't be disappointed about whodunit...
Trying to wrap my mind around the language issue. If someone wants to initiate discussion using a foreign language title of a book that's catalogued also in English, I think the dominant title should be the one in English, so the vast majority of members can recognize it in the list.
And I don't understand your spoiler warning comment. Please try again.

I'm just now realizing what a great way this could be for soloists to share deep insights on projects they have spent so many hours interpreting and authors they have come to know so intimately. I am really looking forward to this catching on, and us learning a lot.

I think we should call the initiator "THE INITIATOR". I'll probably be the first "Initiator" to give a sample post, so I've got to pick something out.
Let's give this a few more days for comment before sticking it.
Availle
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Post by Availle »

msfry wrote:And I don't understand your spoiler warning comment.
"As we are discussing this book, we assume that you have read it completely. If you did not, there may be spoilers ahead - be warned!"
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

--
AvailleAudio.com
smike
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Post by smike »

This is looking good. Now all you need to do, is to pick a book I know... ;)
Claudia

So much to do, so little time...
msfry
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Post by msfry »

smike wrote:This is looking good. Now all you need to do, is to pick a book I know... ;)
Or one you want to get to know! :D
smike
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Post by smike »

Or that, yes. :) We're spoiled for choice, which is a great thing.
Claudia

So much to do, so little time...
msfry
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Post by msfry »

I haven't forgotten this project. A crush of birthdays and Thanksgiving have gotten in the way, and now Christmas decorations are coming out of the attic. It might be best to wait until January to let the idea ferment, and I am still pondering the first book I'd like to discuss.
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