The Official Southperry Book of the Month Club

Lol Swerve. Thanks for finding an online copy of the book! Seeing as how it has already garnered a number of votes, I'm glad an online copy has been posted for those wishing to participate. And Kurtle, if Alice in Wonderland does win we'll keep Slaughterhouse V on the radar for April or May, perhaps, as I'd love for you to lead the discussion (and I've already read the book as well so I can help further the conversation!).

Oh and Sarah, there are these wonderful socialist places throughout the world called libraries in which people pay trivial amounts of local currency for a card that allows them to borrow books for an extended period of time. I recommend using the wonderful site Google Maps to find one near you.

Lol Swerve. Thanks for finding an online copy of the book! Seeing as how it has already garnered a number of votes, I'm glad an online copy has been posted for those wishing to participate. And Kurtle, if Alice in Wonderland does win we'll keep Slaughterhouse V on the radar for April or May, perhaps, as I'd love for you to lead the discussion (and I've already read the book as well so I can help further the conversation!).

Oh and Sarah, there are these wonderful socialist places throughout the world called libraries in which people pay trivial amounts of local currency for a card that allows them to borrow books for an extended period of time. I recommend using the wonderful site Google Maps to find one near you.

Libraries are filled with germs; no thanks. Have you seen the people who loiter around them? Especially in the winter.

Besides owning > borrowing.

Libraries are filled with germs; no thanks. Have you seen the people who loiter around them? Especially in the winter.

Besides owning > borrowing.

I completely agree with both parts of your response being a Medical Microbiology & Immunology and English double major, but they're still not enough to ban a book from the list. If you're not willing to expend the effort required in obtaining some form of the chosen book SOMETIME DURING THE MONTH don't worry about participating that month.

 Spoiler

I'm not trying to sound exclusive towards people, and if it was anything other than a reading group I wouldn't make such comments, but come on. Seriously. It's not hard to get a classic within a month, and if you're capable of posting on a forum dozens of times a day you're capable of getting a copy of a chosen book. One person's lack of efforts will not affect the literature picked each month.

I completely agree with both parts of your response being a Medical Microbiology & Immunology and English double major, but they're still not enough to ban a book from the list. If you're not willing to expend the effort required in obtaining some form of the chosen book SOMETIME DURING THE MONTH don't worry about participating that month.

 Spoiler

I'm not trying to sound exclusive towards people, and if it was anything other than a reading group I wouldn't make such comments, but come on. Seriously. It's not hard to get a classic within a month, and if you're capable of posting on a forum dozens of times a day you're capable of getting a copy of a chosen book. One person's lack of efforts will not affect the literature picked each month.

I don't see how it's unreasonable to just try and find books that are available online? Not everyone has the money to go out and buy/search for books and not everyone wants to go to the library. The internet is a vast resource filled with thousand of great books that most of us have probably never thought twice about, and it's clearly open to all of us. There's room for much more participation this way.

And how about instead of reading popular literature we just find e-books and pick the most interesting sounding one? Most of us have read Alice in Wonderland, or at least seen one of the reiterations in movie form. What are we gaining from that except a deeper understanding of something we're already pretty familiar with? I mean, I'm okay with reading that this month but I don't want to end up reading the same tired old stories every month. The best literary experiences of my life have come from just pulling a book from a shelf and digging in, and I'm sure this is a pretty common consensus (for those who have grown up reading, at least. I know kids today haven't really been forced to...)

I'm far more interested in reading obscure, adventurous, could-go-either-way finds than time-old safe ones.

The way you phrased your opinion earlier, Sarah, by saying "I thought we'd have to buy the books" made it sound like you thought the only books that should be considered would be those found in free, unabridged forms online. I think the format of your search for a monthly book is an interesting one (and you'll see I'm open to it below), but I just want to make it clear that, unless we decide to go the e-book route indefinitely, no books should be denied nomination simply because they're timeless classics or because some people are too lazy to go to the library. Again, if you're too lazy to find a way to acquire the book, don't participate. Another way of saying this is by asking how can we be sure you'll put in the effort of actually reading and discussing the novel if you're not willing to even go out and get a copy?

Regardless, I'm definitely open to that revision of choosing books if others are as well, and Sarah raises the good point that free e-books found and posted in this thread are guaranteed accessible by everyone here considering this is an online monthly book club. What do you guys think?

Definitely in for Alice in Wonderland. Are we reading Through the Looking Glass as well?

Anyway.. I'm gonna nominate a book right now. >:o

 :d

Book Title: The Green Mile
Author: Stephen King
Book Jacket blurb (this is the actual blurb): Welcome to Cold Mountain Penitentiary, home to the Depression-worn men of E Block. Convicted killers all, each awaits his turn to walk the Green Mile, keeping a date with "Old Sparky", Cold Mountain's electric chair. Prison guard Paul Edgecombe has seen his share of oddities in his years working the Mile. But he's never seen anyone like John Coffey, a man with the body of a giant and the mind of a child, condemned for a crime terrifying in its violence and shocking in its depravity. In this place of ultimate retribution, Edgecombe is about to discover the terrible, wondrous truth about Coffey, a truth that will challenge his most cherished beliefs... and yours.

Why I chose this book: I love this book and I think you guys should too! D:
Will you pledge to be a discussion leader for this book if the novel is chosen? Yes.

May I suggest that anyone who can get access to a library get a library card? It'll help tons.

Sorry this was a tad late guys, but I was in Milwaukee these past 24 hours, so it's been a bit hectic!

Anywho, by overwhelming popular demand and easy online availability thanks to Swerve, the first book of the Southperry's Book of the Month club will be Alice in Wonderland!

Now I'm still looking for someone to lead the discussion, so if anyone is interested please post here/PM me and we can work out the details. Just to refresh, the position is super easy: all I'll ask is for you to read the book within the first 1-2 weeks of the month (so between now and ~March 20th) and post a new thread in The Speakeasy with 2-3 critical questions that act as conversation starters for those who also choose to read the book this month.

Thanks again for all of the other nominations as well! Keep them coming, as I'm amending the rule that nominations are "thrown out" every month - instead, all nominations will be compiled and chosen from for the nomination list each month.

Again, thanks a ton for your awesome participation so far Southperry, and enjoy Lewis Carroll's famous Alice in Wonderland!

NOTE: To help with site linking the complete online version of the book found by Swerve is linked in the above title. Enjoy!

Can the next one be Animal Farm, or maybe Watership Down?

I want to reread either of those, but not without a cause.
I hate reading without cause.

I'll lead the discussion. I'm going to write my questions so that anyone who hasn't read the book will still be able to participate like any other Speakeasy thread. But it will stem from themes within the book.

I'll lead the discussion. I'm going to write my questions so that anyone who hasn't read the book will still be able to participate like any other Speakeasy thread. But it will stem from themes within the book.

Great thanks a ton! We'll look forward to your thread within the next 1-1.5 weeks.

Enjoy, everyone!

Are we going to continue with this or is it pretty much over?

- accidental double post -

[color="#000080"] I'm trying to finish Alice yet. I've started college again, and I can't seem to finish Norgewian Wood by Haruki Murakami either.

I'm sorry if I haven't contributed as I promised in the beginning. [/color]