The book club rules
Jun. 17th, 2006 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tobookclubHere are the book club rules, tips about how to get more out of the books you read, and advice on how to write your reviews and hold fulfilling book discussions. This post is required reading for joining this community! We need to be on the same page, after all.
The book club rules:
Having trouble obtaining a certain book? Don't give up. There are always more things you can try, such as:
Our book discussions will be more coherent and detailed if you read the book from cover-to-cover instead of skipping or skimming in a hurry. If you ended up skimming a book and/or setting it aside, that's okay, just tell us that's what happened.
For us to have the most interesting discussions, it's important that you take notes as you're reading the book. Your notes will remind you which things were interesting enough that you'll want to discuss them on the community. If you're a busy person and you're reading the book with several-day-long breaks between each reading session, the notes will help you have a sense of continuity while reading the book.
Tips for making effective notes:
When a book makes you angry: Feel free to be angry about stuff in our selected book and write angry reviews. Sometimes I do that too. I may even choose books for discussion that anger me, and then we can all rant about it together. However, it's most useful if you can keep a level head about a book you didn't like. Then we can try to figure out exactly what it is that seems bad about a book, and how those problems are a lesson on what not to do in one's writing. Determine for yourself what parts in a book appears to be plagiarized/offensive/wrong, and which parts are original/wise/helpful. The catch: you can feel free to write angry reviews, but only if you've read it. However, as mentioned in the book club rules, members aren't allowed to make libelous statements about the book's author... you can get in trouble for that!
The book club rules:
- ALWAYS cite the page number when you're quoting or paraphrasing a specific part of the book! That helps keep us all on the same page, so to speak. It's also how you avoid plagiarism.
- No plagiarism! Read about how to avoid plagiarism. Be aware that plagiarism is not acceptable anywhere on Livejournal.
- Libelous statements about a book's author are NOT acceptable. You can point out specific things the author has done wrong if you can quote from their blog entries or books. That's much more informative than just calling names... it's also less likely to get you sued.
- Don't insult other book club members, nor should you otherwise intentionally make yourself a pain.
- If we're reading a story, don't spoil the ending or plot twists. Hide it behind an lj-cut that says what page you're on.
- Use good formal spelling and grammar. This is not a chat room. If you have personal challenges with spelling and grammar, format your posts in a word processor that points out spelling and grammatical errors.
Having trouble obtaining a certain book? Don't give up. There are always more things you can try, such as:
- the public or school library system
- an interlibrary loan
- borrow from a friend and/or another member of the book club
- share with a friend and read it aloud together
- ask for it as a present if you've got a birthday or holiday coming up
- buy from small local [used?] book store
- buy from large book store or used store franchise
- buy online from ebay.com, amazon.com, or abe.com, or download as an eBook.
Our book discussions will be more coherent and detailed if you read the book from cover-to-cover instead of skipping or skimming in a hurry. If you ended up skimming a book and/or setting it aside, that's okay, just tell us that's what happened.
For us to have the most interesting discussions, it's important that you take notes as you're reading the book. Your notes will remind you which things were interesting enough that you'll want to discuss them on the community. If you're a busy person and you're reading the book with several-day-long breaks between each reading session, the notes will help you have a sense of continuity while reading the book.
Tips for making effective notes:
- Use several sticky notes and/or bookmarks to mark interesting pages.
- Underline, highlight, and write in the book's margins... but only if it's your own book! Marked library books may be removed from circulation, and then you won't get to check them out again.
- When writing notes on a separate piece of paper, make sure you mention page numbers. That way, you'll know which part of the book you were referring to.
When a book makes you angry: Feel free to be angry about stuff in our selected book and write angry reviews. Sometimes I do that too. I may even choose books for discussion that anger me, and then we can all rant about it together. However, it's most useful if you can keep a level head about a book you didn't like. Then we can try to figure out exactly what it is that seems bad about a book, and how those problems are a lesson on what not to do in one's writing. Determine for yourself what parts in a book appears to be plagiarized/offensive/wrong, and which parts are original/wise/helpful. The catch: you can feel free to write angry reviews, but only if you've read it. However, as mentioned in the book club rules, members aren't allowed to make libelous statements about the book's author... you can get in trouble for that!
