yeah good idea i love reading but only true stories and autobiographies.

Great idea. I'm very interested! I think we should all start with the Harry Potter series because I'm sure many many people have read them!

I would recommend: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.http://www.spiritcatchesyou.com/ It is non-fiction, and NOT RELIGIOUS though the name implies it is. (I really, REALLY like Gilead, but since there are Christian themes, I think it might turn a lot of folks off.)

It is a good idea; however, the age difference on AB is vast...so some books may be a bit to difficult for the younger members...I am in though.

Its nice, however I don't think it will work. This has more to do with the AB community than the AB system, i can't see it working. What you could do is open up another site or ask Joel to make a community site, even if its just a basic PHPNuke template.

I'd definitely be interested! Great idea. But with so many varied political and religious representations, I'd think we'd have to a list of books outlined from the get-go, so we can select and show a broad range of both fiction and non-fiction, so people wouldn't jump to conclusions about agendas or ulterior motives. Maybe we could start off with something light, like Teri Garr's or Alan Alda's biographical books? They're funny and well-written. I could also suggest a book I finished a little while ago, Marley and Me. It's been on the NYTimes best seller list and is also pretty funny and light. I suggest light to start off with because I think it would get the broadest range of 'Baggers interested. We could start getting deeper after we have people hooked on the idea of reading and discussing books in this kind of forum. By then, maybe, people would realize it's really just for the fun of reading and sharing ideas about it afterwards, not about pushing anyone's views on anyone else. There's already enough of that sort of misunderstanding here as it is. So something light might be a nice way to get things going.

Great. I suggest 'Crossing the Rubicon' by Michael C, Ruppert. (www.fromthewilderness.com) From what I have seen thus far, this is one book that in addition to raising awareness, will garner the most discussion in AB history of book discussion. Ever. But, one would have to actually read it first.

I think it would be a good idea. count me in.

I think it would be a great idea. I would join. :)

I would definitely be interested, I think it's a really good idea. But what would be the logistics of the discussions and things - how would we do it? Maybe, to decide the first book to be read, we should all submit a list of say 3 books, then we each choose 1 book from each persons list and the one with the most gets read. Would that work?

PLANNING CUBE. (No ratings necessary, just input.) This is what I am proposing at this point. Let's have some back and forth in the comment section to try and narrow it down, or figure out if some of these proposals are rejected by the group. I am thinking that all book clubs need themes. Otherwise, members stop attending, the problem being different types of people like different types of books. I think it would make more sense that like-minded readers form separate clubs and that they can use this model or form a separate model. I think that I would like to start an AB book club called "The Knock Your Socks Off Book Club." I would like for this club to be focused on receiving, reading, and reviewing books that have had a profound effect on the life of the books sponsor. Logistically, the way I see this working is that: 1) Last month's sponsor opens a "question," asking what books are being proposed for the next month. 2) Perhaps keep nominations open for five days or so. At the end of the five days, the book with the highest rating is the book that is to be read by the group. (Last months's sponsor counts up the talley and makes the announcement.) 3) As soon as the book is designated, the person/ people who have proposed next months book become(s) the sponsor. They open a new question for discussion of the book as we go along. I guess that we shouldn't have to wait a month if we come up with something we'd like to comment on. That's it. It takes a lot of typing to describe, but it's really not all that complicated. We could keep a list of interested parties' e-mail addresses so that we could let everyone know if something important has been posted on AB. And, of course, all AB'ers could enjoy/ engage in the conversations about the books. Is this sounding cumbersome, doable? Changes proposed? I am in an off-line book club. It was clunky in getting up at first, until the kinks worked out. But the benefits out-weigh the detriments. I wouldn't want to miss out on the opportunity, because after a while things just flow smoothly!

Good idea, but how do we know where to go to find the current selection? Age shouldn't be a problem if books are picked well. There are plenty of books that span large age groups. Harry Potter was suggested, and is a great example. Previous books in that series have interested the 5-40 age group in my house! There is also an Artemis Fowl series that is intended for kids, but kept my interest. Beyond that, we could always stick to the best sellers list and hope for broadest appeal.

It is certainly great idea! I am going to join the club if there is one. Actually, you could create different category for different genre.

Count me in!

I love the idea. Maybe it could be a series of book clubs dealing with different kinds of books. Say, fiction, classics, non-fiction, and so on. Just an idea.

Good idea! I'm in =)

It is a great idea. Just for information sake, I am more into non-fiction books.

Sure, I'm in. ~Rhea

This is a great idea! I think the answerbag format would be good for discussing books, especially if it had it's own category and most discussions tend to start off as questions in my expereince of book clubs anyway. count me in!