Hi Good people,
For the life of me I couldn’t find the earler Reading Circle postings/comments, except for the latest by Ron Wie. The last thing I want to do in a discussion of books, is to be listed under ‘Fart Facts’…..interesting tho’ it may be.
ELibrary costs and is tedious. Nothing like putting up your feet, relax in an armchair or better yet be in bed with, a good book. The libraries in S’pore are good sources and free.
RonW if you are looking for a good classic book that pertains to our forefathers culture, hardships in China….then " The Good Earth " by Pearl S. Buck is a very good start. Very well and interestingly written. Its about a farming family and gives an insight of life and attitudes in China. It is no wonder why our ancestors left the Orient shores and sailed the 7 seas to look for a better life. So here we are alien, to our own kin in China.
If its possible watch the {black & white} movie. Over the years I have read the book twice and the movie 3 times….I don’t seem to tire of them. They are classics.
It sure beats reading a foreign Russian setting like " War & Peace " with its very long winded names that you cannot identify with after a while.
Hope this is informative and encouraging. Anyone, with further input or books to recommend???? Do share………………..Happy reading…………Jie
Can’t edit the #@$%$# thing!?
One more thought to #2
(g) A book circle can block or group rent-buy through international book clubs and share current books and share ideas about literature. This is not only a price advantage but more important have access to the latest and the best.
Note : In this modern age, we may choose to address literature in all its multi-media forms and not restrict narrowly to only its pulp version.
Hi,
The idea of a book circle is good. Some suggestions to put this on forward gear
(a) On the forum, create a sub-thread for each book. You cannot very well seriously review Leon Trotsky’s works (W&P) with Rowling’s Potter’s series. Each thread should be a dedicated fan/critic thread.
(b) The idea of a circle is social and sharing. Otherwise, you might as well tuck yourself in bed with a good book. So organize frequent meetings.
(c) One of the activities may be readings by members or book review. This has been very successful and appreciated in poetry circles.
(d) There’s a lot of beauty to take fine literature further down the path. On the other hand, if all we want to do is to give it a superficial mention then we might as well watch a drama on the box.
(e) Initially, if book circle’s activities is not sufficient to hold a group, perphaps we can run Indoor Activities as one session. We can include sub-activities like board games, eductainment review (eg movie review with private showing), edutainment talks, self-help /interest groups (eg Annonymous Anything where people can share common problems) or chess.
(f) One big difference between forum and interest group meetings is shared action. In a forum only ideas are shared. For one member to lend a helping hand, a subsequent meeting must be called and the action agenda set up. With meetings, people cut to the chase and get directly into acting on solutions. If all we have effectively is forum, then all we have effectively is talk.
Jie,
just scroll down from the top of Activities indoors and you will find my Reading Circle post.