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Tildes Book Club meta discussion - should we read nonfiction as well as fiction and with what frequency?
On the original book nomination thread, a couple of people nominated nonfiction. If we read nonfiction, I want to have a separate voting thread for that category so that everyone can submit books. However, should we? This thread is a chance to vote no for nonfiction and if voting yes to suggest a frequency such as 1 in 3 books, 1 in four books, 1 in six books etc.
If voting yes, please suggest a rate to read nonfiction books in proportion to fiction ones.
Edit , I am counting these as alternative options. Either we read some nonfiction or we don't, so please vote in a way that reflects your honest opinion.
One in five books should be nonfiction
No we should not read nonfiction
One in four books should be nonfiction
Non-fiction always has an "eat your vegetables" feel to me. I always feel that I should do it more than I actually do, yet I never want to. If this group can encourage me to delve into it more, great. I think a one-to-three ratio is what I can enjoy.
If you want to vote, you should click to upvote one off the ratio comments. I appreciate your comment but I'm only going to count the ratios or the no votes.
I did. I voted and commented, but I can withdraw my comment if that's not helpful. I think this group is great and I'm glad to participate.
No, please feel free to comment! : )
Just wanting to be clear for you and for anyone reading.
If we find 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 to be fine but feel 1 in 3 is too many, should we vote for both options?
No please choose one
Depends on the non-fiction but yes, I'd love to jump in with one every now and then!
I think that nonfiction would result in more personal discussions, since we are more likely to relate what we read to personal experiences. Tildes discussions from previous (fictional) book club books seem to center on the artistic merits, meanings, symbolisms. I enjoy that kind of discussion too, but I think nonfiction would drive the kinds of discussions that lead to richer interpersonal connections.
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@slothywaffle @DefinitelyNotAFae @0d_billie @Bifrost51 @skybrian @Sodliddesu @kfwyre @azaadi @fraughtGYRE @Nsutdwa @PnkNBlck71817 @chocobean @lackofaname @RheingoldRiver @OnlyGhosts @csos95 @Wes @CannibalisticApple @cfabbro, @georgeboff @Everdoor @PnkNBlck71817 @Palimpsest @CrazyProfessor02 @maevens @cdb @OceanBreezy @joshs @public @carsonc @Schnupfenheld @Captain_calico @hexagonsun @CharlieBeans @pu1pfriction @Lonan @DialecticCake @kej @LazarWolf @eyechoirs @Thales @syllo @Idalium @chundissimo @RudismGonna use this as the chat. I mostly prefer fiction and explicitly SF/Fantasy but I'm struggling to keep up even with the current books. Nonfiction is usually a slower read/less audiobook friendly. Maybe once I've moved I'll be able to keep up though.
feel free to vote no, but also jump in where you can and don't feel guilty if you can't.
Moving is intense and in my experience demands all available time.
If a lot of people need more time, we could switch to a two month interval, but also
If we are planning four months out, you could focus on book three or four and take your time.
I'm not overly stressed. I can come back and post later. But I voted for my top two options. (IDK whether that's ok, I'm used to selecting multiple but top choices.)
I know you're not counting comments was just trying to have a separate convo thread if others also wanted it
Absolutely! Please always feel welcome but never feel pressured. This is meant to be fun and voluntary.
I can commiserate on the huge time/energy sink that is moving. It's part of why I've been mia from the discussions. Good luck with your move!
I will have two moves, an interim promotion, a permanent promotion, and becoming a caregiver for a newly paraplegic partner who was also hospitalized for 2 months.... In just over a year by the time the move is finished. So yeah. I need a break
Ah gotcha, I was initially picturing a physical move. That is a lot, I hope you're able to eke out a little space for yourself soon.
No no, I meant two physical moves as well as everything. We close on our house on the 30th!
Ohhh, wow, congrats! That's a lot, but very exciting. though, I have to say, everyone also congratulated me when I bought a house (recently), and remarked how exciting it was. But mostly I felt panic and overwhelm. So, if you do feel excited, amazing. And if you don't (yet), you certainly aren't alone!
Even now that my nerves are (slightly) calming, I'm nowhere near feeling settled, which I hear is quite normal!
Just thought I'd share in case you've also been experiencing the roller coaster of emotions.
Oh I'm definitely in the "oh god why would someone loan me this much money how can I spend this much money" stage.
But also "must make wheelchair accessible ASAP"
If non-fiction are nominated and voted up sufficiently, then maybe they could be included. I don't think there should be a forced "one in X" quota, nor a blanket ban. There are fiction books nominated that I would not want to read, so an interesting non-fiction, eh, who knows.
Interesting perspective. My thought when I saw nonfiction nominated among all the fiction was that it wasn't fair competition because its a different category than most of the nominations. I love nonfiction as well as fiction and there is a wide range available, although many are too long for a book club.
So I rarely read nonfiction and I'm not participating in Tildes' book club but I'm agreeing with Lonan here. For a book club isn't the focus on the writing rather than the subject of the book? So if it's an interesting book, it's an interesting book.
(Off topic: Nonfiction also as a topic provides an interesting topic of discussion in what's true, what's bias and what's just a good tall tale. Obviously contemporary subjects are biased as heck and even historians are known to pick and choose what they believe in. Sometimes a story without much proof is just too good to not include.)
So far the votes are two thirds in favor of reading nonfiction and one third against. If we stick with first past the post voting without considering category, the people who want nonfiction won't get to read any in this context. The voting will continue for the next couple of days and we will see how this turns out.
But recall, I voted for more than one because those were my two preferences. Can't say if that's accurate for others. If that's not what you want, I'd maybe edit the OP to clarify. I can just vote once instead.
(So it's possible the read non-fiction votes are not all unique individuals, and I voted for no and 1 in 5 as either sounded ok. )
It's up to you if you change it. But if you really think both options are ok, am I supposed to parse that as other than two valid votes? I mean the purpose of a voting thread is to choose. I am happy with you having two votes if you are truly happy having voted for 1 in 5 and with having your vote counted for that option.
But I should have clarified in the OP and will do so now. It never fails to surprise me when something I understand is not clear when explained to someone else.
It's more that assuming the collective total of the "read some" is necessarily meaningful when contrasted with the "read none" may be incorrect! Or I'm the weirdo doing two votes, idk!
If we go ahead and try to nominate nonfiction books and people aren't enthusiastic, that will become obvious as it did with Cloud Atlas.
I don't know how I am supposed to know if people are grudgingly going along unless they tell me like you have.
I would say you should change your vote to choose one.
I can do that. It's not a grudgingly going along though, I'm in this because I'm interested. I'm more consensus build oriented and I didn't vote for anything I couldn't live with if it came down to it. :)
Thanks for the thoughtful response. I am mulling it over but doing something separately for nonfiction seems like it might work.
In that case feel free to leave your vote... It really is up to you, however I am going to count all the votes present. So whatever you want to do.
At the end of the day if the experiment isn't a hit it can be discontinued.
Maybe have a length limit for the club? Or take it into account somehow. Even for fiction nobody wants a slog :-)
Definitely need a length limit. It has to be reasonable to read in 5-6 weeks.
I would not treat all nonfiction equally here. If it's a book that "everyone" has heard of, it's safe to assume it's over-padded garbage. Should have been a long essay, but 300 pages were the minimum to consider saleable. This mostly means popular books on psychology or economics.
However, histories have a much higher batting average over books that try to be about the current real world. It can be an in-depth look at a specific event or a long view of the development of a scientific field; both can produce compelling narratives. I have a whole shelf of 'em I read shortly after I graduated college.
Nothing will be read without being nominated and voted to the top. Endurance by Lansing is a quality nonfiction book I read recently. I trust this crowd to suggest quality reads
I’m chiming in as a non-participant. I read mostly non-fiction and would enjoy reading with others. Maybe it could be something that happens less frequently but concurrently with that months fiction read.
Thanks for this idea. Given the feedback this plan makes sense to me.
One in three books should be nonfiction.
I vote no. I think the discussions will be more interesting with fiction. No real world baggage. Non fiction discussions can quickly devolve into one-upping and heated fact-checking.
And me personally, I mostly read nonfiction so this being for fiction is a good break.
One in six books should be nonfiction
(Do not vote on this comment, please.)
Apologies for hijacking the thread, feel free to label it as off topic, but as someone who'd like to participate in the book club, I'd like the current members and its organizer @box_dogs_dance, to consider diversifying the current selection of books. Adding nonfiction books to the rotation is certainly one way of doing that, but currently, all of the fiction selections for the book club is either of a fantasy, or sci-fi genre. (I may be wrong but even the nominated books were all from the same genres.) There's nothing wrong with them of course, and if the club is strictly about these genres, more power to those who participate, but if there's no such limitation, I wish the club would include some classics and other books from variety of genres and perhaps from authors who're not widely known and/or from countries that are generally underrepresented in the literature world.
I don't think the club is strictly about those genres, but it seems those are the genres that the commenters who suggested books mostly read. I would be all for some new genres, but I'm one of those people that usually read SciFi or Fantasy and have no idea what to suggest otherwise. Please join us in the next round of suggesting books and add in some different genres for us to read (cause I desperately need it but have no idea where to start).
I am considering suggesting themed reads, for example where all authors are a minority or an immigrant, or all nonfiction etc. But to start I want to build enthusiastic participation. People are voting for what they enjoy.
Piranesi actually turned out to be a very thoughtful interesting book that was also popular.
It's all good. Given the last nomination thread, which I have participated, I think it's clear the club's majority interest differ from mine and more power to them. I'm not close minded about fantasy and sci-fi, maybe a book that piques my interest will be nominated in the future and I'd be more than happy to participate.
If there's enough interest in the suggest themed reads, I'd love to participate in that too. I'll keep an eye out. Thanks!
Personally I read a wide variety, but especially in a book club that requires people to write rather than talk, I think we need enthusiasm for the chosen books
I specifically nominated diverse SFF authors because it's who and what I read and who I wanted to share with others. But all it takes is nominating the books to change the options for what we read.
If I had chosen seven books rather than four, there was an nk jemison book that received seven votes.
I have considered themes like minority authors but wanted to get it going first and of course ask the community.
Dispossessed at least concerns radical economics