The Official Cult Book Club (thread)
Hey all.
I'm posting here to let you guys know that I have a poll open for the next book we discussed.
I'm not going to lie - the last discussion was a HUGE disappointment. I'm not sure that many people read/finished the book. I really really really want this one to be better.
We now have 73 (last time I checked) members. And it would be sweet if we could at least get half of them to vote. The poll only has 8 votes and it's been open for almost a week. I think it only has a day or two left.
Really - I want to see this book club be successful. So if you're a member - go vote. If you're not a member - feel free to join.
I mean honestly, I'm going to forget the group exists again in about five minutes. The threads should really just be here. I always paid attention when they were here.
The group section is like a giant black hole, as far as I'm concerned.
Yeah...
I don't even know what to say. lol.
I wish I could figure out a way to get the participation that I know it deserves. It's never been as good as I hoped.
We can just keep this thread updated. I can change the title to just be The Official Cult Book Club.
The Book Club has selected the next book.
It will be Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock. So if you want to read it - or have read it - and want to discuss it. Go over to the book club in Groups.
We still need somebody to lead the discussion... it would be sweet if somebody volunteered
I've signed up to it and posted on the Catch 22 thread / section / whatevers.
I'd no idea where it'd gone!
I started a thread in the Book Club group for Knockemstiff. I still would love for somebody to step up and lead the discussion.
Everybody please go in there and discuss!
Wow, Tom's right. I thought the Book Club had gone on hiatus.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
Wow, Tom's right. I thought the Book Club had gone on hiatus.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
So what do I have to do to get this thing going?
Come on guys I'm reaching for anything here. Give me suggestions.
How do you choose books? Do people submit books, which are then voted upon? Whoever submitted that book title then leads the discussions for it?
Looking at current threads, I wasn't sure if people were reading the same novel, or where you'd see what the current one was etc.
"What cha readin' fer??"
The Book Club is a Group - in the cult's Group section.
We have people recommend books and then we vote on them. The person who recommended the book usually leads the discussion.
At least that's how it used to be.
Hey Pete,
I was bored tonight and so I whipped up an official banner for the Book Club Group. It's a little boring, but it's something. A placeholder for now until someone comes up with something better.
You can toss it in your sig though if you like, and maybe promote the new Group and start a poll for February suggestions.
Just a suggestion. 
Wanna have the pants scared off you in 90 seconds?
Watch 'Laundry Day', my new horror short:
Thanks Pete - I didn't see a current book for Jan or Feb, that's why I asked.
"What cha readin' fer??"
I was bored tonight and so I whipped up an official banner for the Book Club Group. It's a little boring, but it's something. A placeholder for now until someone comes up with something better.
You can toss it in your sig though if you like, and maybe promote the new Group and start a poll for February suggestions.
Just a suggestion. ;)
Thanks Dennis - get me that banner and I'll use it
There's a poll for the March book... Everybody should go and vote. Please
New Book Club poll for March 09
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/group/official-cult-book-club
Vote and read!
There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.
Haruki Murakami
So we picked a book... Opened a thread... And now we're waiting on participation. Come on guys! Post your thoughts for Watchmen.
I know a lot of you have already read it because I see a lot of people around here recommending it. I'm awaiting your thoughts.
Oh - here's the link:
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/group/official-cult-book-club/march-09-watchme...
New poll open in the book club. Go vote!
^already voted.
Franny and Zooey
"My hopes lay shattered like a mirror on the floor
I see myself and I look really scattered
But I lived my broken dreams"
- Daniel Johnston
I loved Franny and Zooey! 
"Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested."
"Jemand musste Josef K. verleumdet haben, denn ohne dass er etwas Böses getan hätte, wurde er eines Morgens verhaftet"
This is the last day to vote in the book club poll. It's super close with two books having ten votes and one book having eleven.
The poll ends at 5 (my time) so get your vote in if you haven't voted yet.
So it seems we have a tie...
I really don't know what to do because this hasn't happened that I remember.
I can reopen the poll and urge more people to vote or I can take some suggestion. What do you guys think?
The poll will open for like 5 more days...
But I can call it now if you guys wish. Franny and Zooey is winning. (And I voted for The Lost so that's not why I'm asking.)
I didn't vote for Franny and Zooey either but my copy is in the post now! 
"What cha readin' fer??"
I didn't vote because I am so incredibly biased. Franny and Zooey is probably my favorite book of all time. I have read it so many times, and I am going to read it again.
I am really looking forward to the discussion!
So everyone knows - Franny and Zooey is April's book and Mirka is going to be the discussion leader.
Get to reading!
Oh and here's the link:
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/group/official-cult-book-club/franny-and-zooey...
I'm gonna be posting a poll soon for May's book.
I'd still love to see some more discussion about April's book Franny and Zooey.
Thanks!
May Poll is up!
Get to voting!
It looks like Pygmy is going to be our selection (big surprise lol).
If anybody would like to be the discussion leader on this one - let me know.
Nobody wants to lead the discussion on this one?
I just can't understand how Pygmy kills the poll - everybody votes for it - and then nobody discusses it.
I'm about 60 pages from the end (and its getting harder to keep going). But when I finish, I'll share some thoughts.
It's just that the book got 30 votes. And only 5 comments. And one of the comments is mine - I didn't vote for it.
We should have at least 30 comments since all these people voted and wanted to read and discuss this particular book.
Ha, I just came in this part of the forum to find somewhere to talk about how Franny and Zooey is probably my favorite book ever, and found out it was last month's book club read That's awesome. What a fantastic book. I love everything Salinger has ever written and I've found a way to write every free response essay I've ever had through high school about Catcher but, something about F&Z just subtly takes the cake.
Are the scissors broken in your house, son?
That's awesome. What a fantastic book. I love everything Salinger has ever written and I've found a way to write every free response essay I've ever had through high school about Catcher but, something about F&Z just subtly takes the cake.
You should definitely go and discuss it then! You will have to join the Book Club to do that. I'm sure you can figure it out. Welcome to the Cult. And here's the link to the thread:
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/group/official-cult-book-club/april-2009book-c...
Still have no monitor, so I can only briefly post whenever I can. 
"My hopes lay shattered like a mirror on the floor
I see myself and I look really scattered
But I lived my broken dreams"
- Daniel Johnston
June poll up and ready for voting.
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/poll/june-09-book-club-poll
It'll be up for 2 weeks.
We will be discussing The Road by Cormac McCarthy for the month of June.
JKabol is going to be the discussion leader.
Everybody get to reading!
so it's official..
let's make this official. shine your boots and load your pistols. pull out your best credentials, for this one-
(big snoop dogg, a bastardized quote haha)
.
filled with spoilers, so for the few of us still out there living in a cave who've not yet bled with this book, cut some teeth with it this week-
i'm looking forward to this. my first time leading a discussion. i feel comfortable, though. i loved the book and so did my woman. (we've poured through countless discussions over it.) i always keep a pantry full of dry foods, stocked. the dread about a completely collapsed economy coupled with the culpable swift blows of the harsh life this novel depicts is strong reason behind that fact, i'm sure. any novel, especially one as far out there are this one, with the post apocalyptic storyline of a dying world of ash and gloom shadowing the embedded love a father has for a son, that promotes in you a readjustment of personal values, even in the smallest of degree, deserves introspection.
on one end, i am surprised that we've not yet discussed officially this novel
on the other, i am glad we are getting to this before the motion picture
not my favorite story type, but it was so brutally well written..
i'd like to delve into how much is too much to deal with. should he have let her take the son's life with hers? was he selfish, letting his love overpower the struggle the son has to endure for years of pain in a world in which even cows are as extinct as the grass dying out? or was it valiance, true and pure?
there is much to be discussed, pros and, of course, nate dogg chiming in with his proverbial censure now and again, and phil hitting straight on..
some of us have discussed this novel over the years in the forums, but this will be the first time the discussion has a single home. i'll work on a syllabus over the next week to work from and hopefully i can for myself nail down what it is about this novel that so internally captivated me physically and psychologically-
kabol
..
__________________________________
play hard, like it's work to be done.
June's book is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Discuss here:
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/group/official-cult-book-club/june-09-discussi...
can we make suggestions on future nominations?
I would love to see Less Than Zero by B.E.E up as a possible pick!
Also, just picked up Gravity's Rainbow, but I'm sure that's too long a read for this book club...at least for now.
bring the heat kabol...you have at least one person ready for this discussion.
Or will it all end in a big bankiss orgy?
I'd love to get some BEE in there.
We DO vote on it though. I will put some BEE in the next poll though!
If you put Ellis on the poll, I'll surely vote for it. I've only read American Psycho and Less Than Zero, but I'll gladly re-read either one. My next book to pick up is Glamorama- I hope to have that one next week.
I figure with the holiday and all I would wait a little bit to post a poll.
I'm going to try and get one up today sometime or maybe tonight.
Hope everybody had a good holiday!
Here's the July Book Club poll. Open and awaiting your votes.
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/poll/july-09-book-club-poll
July's book (yes I know we're getting a late start) will be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Does anybody want to step up and be the discussion leader?
Come on guys - nobody wants to step up and be the discussion leader?
So we will most likely let the discussion for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo bleed into August and just hold off picking a new book until September.
Things are really hectic for me right now and we got a late start on this one too.
It would help to post a thread in here every month with a link to the relevant page in the group...
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/group/official-cult-book-club
...otherwise, it's very easy to forget the group forums even exist, since most people are used to the book club threads being in this book club forum.