you guys should start with something that everyone on here would enjoy, and is very approachable. then if you actually have enough people to continue on maybe step it up a notch with something like 'brave new world' or 'siddhartha' so that they might actually be eager to try someone like dostoevsky someday.

i personally would strongly recommend something like "high fidelity" to begin with. it is a book about a record store owner who is basically having a midlife crisis... someone that probably 95% of you can relate to. you can read the plot summary on wikipedia (mini spoilers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Fidelity_(novel)

ps ethan there is a happy medium in between childhood fantasy novels and 700 page literature wankry... sounds kinda like you wanna read a dream theatre book, and anyone who isnt on board is just a "harry potter fanboy"

actually, i dont see what's wrong with elitism here. it's a voluntary club, no one is being forced into anything.


if you aren't smart enough, or your aren't interested only because it'll make you think, then fuck off.

I;m tired of this ****ing arguement. Why can't we just start with the idiot, and if we don't like it don't read books like it anymore? Maybe vote on books or something? I don't know. I just wanna read.

Haha, word. Incidentally, I liked Sputnik sweetheart by Murakami, but for some reason haven't been able to finish Norwegian wood. I'd second a motion to discuss anything by him...:)

I hated that book. I understood it all the way through, but it read like the Bible. Herman Hesse has a few better works (I recommend Steppenwolf), Siddhartha gets too much attention.

i think it has less to do with being smart enough, or not wanting to think, and more to do with not wanting to kill a good idea before it even begins.

if you assign these unbelievably complex books to an amateur book club that is mostly comprised of teenagers who think they can understand books way above their heads, your just gonna scare people off and its gonna fall apart.

now i know you think you, and maybe even some other people on here, are of superior intellegence (everyones internet iq is 140+ right?), but truth be told numbers dont lie. given that more than 75% of the population cant even approach those books you think a small group of music fans are going to have members signing up left and right? lets take the active MB posters and try and deduce how many posters on MB are likely to be competant enough to read and understand these masterworks and will be willing to dedicate the time. i will be very very generous with the numbers in favor of your arguement.

100 active MB posters
1/4 of which are interested
1/4 of which have a high enough iq to read\understand the books
1/2 will just quit because they got other **** going on

so even just considering those few variables, and putting the numbers in your favor, your talking about approximately 3 people. you can dispute it all you want, but its just gonna fall apart if you do it that way.

That's scientifically sound.

That hippy asshole is annoyingly sensible, in'e? :|

Anyways, the truth is in the middle, I'd like a mix of both, and there's no reason for people not to join in when they see something more up their alley later on.

I'd like some easy reads and some thought provoking ones. It only makes sense to oscillate between the two.

from what i've seen, intelligence has nothing to do with one's ability to interpret and understand a fucking novel. we're not working on the norton reader here. i see kids every day who are half retarded voice their opinions on books that are considered "masterworks" without batting an eye. if you are scared away from a book club, which should be centered around expressing one's own individual experiences, just because it forces you to communicate your own ideas, then you really don't belong in one.

that's all i'm saying.