This is a post to see whose intersted in participating in the MENA summer book club. So far Jackie, Amanda, and I are the ones that gave it a go for the summer. It would be nice to have more than three people so if youre interested in particitpating this summer please post here.

Also:
We have a list of books to chose from.

What books are you interested in reading?

Can anyone join in? I love to read; but usually have no one to discuss anything with.

Oh yes the more the merrier! We focus on books related to the Middle East North Africa.

A book is a book is a book...........in my opinion.

I am always reading books on the middle east so I would be up for the book club. It sounds like a nice idea!

Awesome! If that works for you then you're welcome to join. I'll have to get Ms. Amera to send out the invites once we get a list rolling.




Awesome that makes five!

Yea the book club is back!!!!!!

Let's get reading again!

Wooohoo!!!!!

How about starting with something light like ..by Diana Abu Jaber. I am up for anything! Let's throw out some titles and get a book picked

Good idea to start light! This gets the brain into reading again.

Wow, Can I join in? I think the last "decent" book I read was the Kite Runner. Count me in!

I read the kite runner and just watched the movie the other night. I also read the next book "A thousand splendid suns" which I liked even better.

Awesome sure!

woohoo! i love reading! please count me in.

You pick the books and I would love to join!!!!![size="3"][/size][color="#800080"][/color]

OOPS...you can see from my last post that I am new to this!!!

Yes I would also like to do this! I just saw the kite runner also!It was a very good movie!

Sorry olivia I used mohameds id!!! lol !!

Do we read the same book? How does this work? I am interested

Please count me in ! i need a good summer read for the beach

Wow the response is awesome! So last year a site was set up in Yahoo groups for the book club. It went well for awhile and then attendance dropped when I had to go back to school and life got busy for others. I think having a good run at it during the summers would be nice for a restart and then we can see from there. After the summer I'm going into my senior year at college so I won't be able to stay active then.

1st idea I have is utilizing the review section for existing members
and any new members to add their feedback on any of the books they've
read.

2nd idea is after reading the reviews on here and elsewhere is
utilizing the polling feature.

A. Poll the members on which books to cover this summer. Majority
will win with the most popular voted book being what we start with
and then follow in descending order based on poll.

B. Poll the members on what they think the length of time it will
take for them to get through each book. Then we take the average
length of time and make a schedule.

3rd idea utilize the calender feature and schedule what books we're
going to read over the summer and how long we're going to spend on
each book and each chapter(s).

4th idea schedule one day each week that all the members visit the
group to post their thoughts on the chapter we're covering that week.

5th idea is at the end of the period of weeks we have a final review discussion for the book. It may also be the
same day as the weekly check in chat day.


What do you think of this organization for the book club?

Ok I've contacted everyone that have said they are interested right now. I'll keep bumping this thread for a week to see if there is any other new members interested as we're going to keep organizing the book club for a week before we start our first book.

And mohamed is using yours cuz I sent the link to yours and he requested in. Its all good though men and women are welcome for book discussion if they're willing to participate. I'll send the link to this profile so you may join as well.

Great Ideas Olivia! i just did not realize it was a separate group ~ thought this thread was the book club. It may be useful to post reminders on here tho

I thought about that cuz VJ is user friendly and easier to read than Yahoo group threads in moi opinion. However, I didn't want the random public on VJ to come in and post their random thoughts derailing the group who are participating members of the book club. This way it stays on book topic as a sanctuary of study.

I have the ever so slight problem of tending to read the really good books within a day or two if I have the time (and sometimes I just don't sleep if it is a work night to finish a book). I suppose I could re-read the chapter so I could be ready for discusion. I am not sure how others read. I know some like to take it a little at a time and others are like me and just read through quickly.

Is it possible to pick a book we all agree on and set a time to review the book? Another idea is rather than chapters, we say at a certain point people can discuss the first half of the book and at another point discuss the last half. Just trying to throw out ideas, honestly I will work with anything. You really have some great ideas yourself, Olivia, on how to do this and more experience on what worked best last summer.

I'm the same way. I devour books at a phenomenal rate. Picking a book that the majority agree on is the idea and the review dates will be weekly to keep participation up. I like the idea about discussing the first half of the book and the second half of the book. However it depends on how quickly the women poll that they can read a book and we'll take the average of that to set the time lines.

Thanks for the suggestions!

yeahhhhhhhhhhhh i would like to join you guys but plz tell me how can i start ?
thank you so much

I am interested also!

Ok I've contacted you both!

I read tons of books, I love reading about all kinds of things. Some of my all time favorites are:

1. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
4. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
5. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
6. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
7. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
8. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
9. THE STAND by Stephen King
10. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
11. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
12. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
13. IT by Stephen King

Anybody read any of these, I would love to be in the book club, as you can see I read all the time.

Those are all great books. I've read many of those on your list. This book club is related to the Middle East North Africa if that's alright we'd love to have you? I'll have to get back to you though after I'm doing working today.

Ok I'm back and I just sent you the link.

I'm ready. What's the first book?

Mohamed and I are ready also!

Olivia,

I am interested in this....just tell me how and what to do!

Tasha

Ok! First thing we need to do is have the members go to the Database section under Middle Eastern Fiction in the group and read the reviews. Then go to the polls section and out of the two polls pick their top five they want to read this summer.

Polls will close next Saturday and from there we will have the selection of books we're going to cover this summer!

Olivia




Alright! I sent you the link to join!

Olivia

Mohamed and I voted !alot of these books look really good! I was telling my daughter about them she said she will read them after we do! Shes 19! I cant wait to start reading !It will give Mohamed something to do also!!!lol

That's great. I've read several on the list already and I'd read them again. I'm open to suggestion that any one has to adding books to the list as well.

I would love to join too, this be great to keep me busy from all the craziness and waiting!!!

Nita

Awesome I sent you the link to join! Read the reviews and out of the two polls pick your top five that you want to cover this summer! Polls close on Saturday.

If it is not too late I would love to Join. Are you considering Turkey a part of the middle east????

According to this site link it is part of MENA, but according to this site link it doesn't make the list. I guess it depends on which sites you look at. All are welcome to join the summer book club as long as they are willing to focus on books somehow related to the Middle East North Africa. I'll send you the link to join.

9 ppl have voted so there are two who haven't. Remember you can change your selection up to Saturday. So far Fatwa is the front runner.

Who is the author?

I'll resend ya the link to check out the database. Sorry I didn't realize we need to update to your email.

I vote for Tahar Djaout LAST SUMMER OF REASON

anything by Assja Djebar

Whoops! "I'm happier to know you" took the lead!

Did you want to join the MENA summer book club too?

My bad. There is 16 of us with two more joining putting us at 18. With only nine ppl who have voted that leaves 9 more who need to vote still! Polls close Saturday!

i am going to join and vote before saturday. maybe ill be the swing vote!

Awesome!

Whoot! Even my Husband joined! Now there are 17 of us!