New Monthly Book Club

Sounds good

Sounds good Early.
I have never done Book Clubs on line before -
Do we just comment throughout the month as we go along on a dedicated thread?
And does that thread close on the day the new book starts?

Look forward to developments!

Hi. Yes, this sounds like a great idea, but I too have never done it before so would like some pointers. Looking forward to it.

I haven't run an online book discussion before so I am in unchartered waters.

I'm planning to start a new thread for The Vanishing Half on 1 November so that people have a month to discuss it. If people see the thread, haven't read the book but feel inspired to do so then there's still time to join in.

There's no way of closing a thread here so it could just run on beyond that but to get a good discussion going it would be great if several of us were ready with something to say as soon as we kick off on the first of the month.

I don't want to be too prescriptive and in charge as such. We'll find our way and see what happens.

What I do quite like is when group members ask one another questions to prompt the discussion.

There are several themes going on in this book: racism; the bond of twinship and what happens when that is broken; love; discrimination; tolerance; acceptance and forgiveness are just a few.

Desiree and Stella are the central characters, the twins at the heart of the story but Jude and Reese, Blake, Loretta and Kennedy are key too.

If anyone is really keen they might also like to read Dorothy West's Virago classic The Wedding. It also concerns a (wealthy in this case) light-skinned black family. There are a lot of parallels in the two stories. I bet Brit Bennett has read it.

The Vanishing Half is available on Kindle for £4.99. I have just downloaded a sample. Look forward to joining in on November 1st.

Does anybody know what happened to the discussion last week about he book choice being ‘The Machine Stops’ ? I read it in anticipation, but nothing has transpired yet?

Sorry, Casdon. I didn't notice that.

Just about to order the book. Going to work hard to finish the one I’m reading so I can crack on.

The Machine Stops conversation is up and running over on another thread. Thanks Casdon for joining in. It's a quick listen or read. Plenty of time for others to tag on through October. All welcome.

The Vanishing Half? That's great, LadyGaGa and thanks for your suggestions for 2022.

I read ‘The Vanishing Half’ last year Early so I’m ready to join in on 1 November! Thank you for starting this on-line book club. It should be fun!
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Great, Urmstongran. A thought provoking book. Do pm me some suggestions about what we might read next year if this gets off the ground.

Great, Urmstongran. A thought provoking book. Do pm me some suggestions about what we might read next year if this gets off the ground.

Thank you Early, I have ordered the Vanishing Half and will read it before 1st November.

This is a good idea and will bring me to GN more frequently. I have stopped posting on most threads, partly due to ill health and partly due to the changed tone of the site (less traffic, less interesting posts, slow movement on some threads).

I look forward to participating in the monthly book club.
I suggest we ask for suggestions for a good name for the club!
I don’t have any name-related suggestions yet, but will come back if I think of anything clever/funny.

Thanks again ?

Have ordered The Vanishing Half - look forward to reading and discussing it

Great Norsat and Lizzie72.

This is starting to gather interest and shaping up nicely.

I'm of your mind too Norsat, that it would be good to broaden what we discuss. It's clear from other books threads that there are plenty of avid readers here so fingers crossed for a good discussion. As for a name ... yes, get back to me if something good comes to mind.

Meantime, do please pm me your three suggestions to add to the list of what we might read in 2022.

Book on its way!

I’ve recently read The Vanishing Half. There’s a lot to discuss in it.

Hi Early I’ve only just seen this thread, and not actually read it properly yet (do you see a theme here? )
This is a brilliant idea, thank you very much for doing this

I'll join in. Didn't GNHQ used to organise this?

I think they might have done, JackyB. Before my time and it may have been books GN wanted to promote on behalf of publishing houses who advertised on the site. This is us organising ourselves and choosing books we would like to read. I've just chosen a couple that were discussed on a TV book chat show to get us going.

Great ixion and SueDonim. Yes lots to discuss. If you can be thinking of some points to make and questions to pose while the book is still fresh in your mind and jot them down ready for 1 November that would be really helpful.

You're welcome, FannyCornforth. This has the makings of something really good.

Hello. I’m just giving this thread a friendly push onto the Active List to give it a little bit more publicity ?

Will the discussion thread open on the first of the month and stay open for the duration of the month, so we can contribute over a period of time?

Thanks for the push FannyC.

That's the plan ixion. A book of month starting on 1 November for The Vanishing Half and 1 December for Should We Fall Behind.

And don't forget, everyone is welcome to send me a pm with up to three book suggestions that might make for a good discussion in 2022. See my opening post.

Has anyone finished The Vanishing Half? I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped. I found that I was wanting more depth in the characters- it just seemed to flip in between characters without really exploring them. I was left wanting more. For some reason I couldn’t picture the twins, and although the story spanned many years it had no sense of time. What were they wearing? What did they look like? Where were the cultural references? I did enjoy reading it, but just didn’t feel that connection. It’s such a good plot, but I wanted to know much more about Reese and Adele. Each time I came to read the book I had forgotten what happened and had to flick back a few pages. Almost a great book but for me it didn’t quiet make it.