Classics

[close] Welcome to the Roundtable Our passions include literary fiction, the classics, and serious non-fiction. In 2023 we are going in a more spontaneous direction, with no particular planned projects. The whim and whimsy of the group will hopefully take us in new directions. The year long TBR reading challenge is ongoing, and the 4 month long task based Book Challenge will be back in September. We also invite you to our list [of books, of course] making frenzy, or to add a discussion thread for your favorite author. The fine print: We're a smallish group, but active, and we'd like to have actively participating members. If you've been a member for more than four months without participating, we will assume that you are not interested in the group and you will be subject to deletion (one post after acceptance into the group is not considered active). This may take the form of participation in one of the structured features described above or something more free-form. While we've all got our guilty pleasures -- vampires in love, celebrity gossip, books from our childhoods -- these books don't fit with the group's vision and purpose. It's strictly "quality" writing for an adult audience; for us this means literary fiction, the classics, serious non-fiction, literary science fiction, serious historical fiction, and classic mysteries. We like to see a diversity of opinions about what we read and a strong passion for books is a plus. However, we ask that our group members keep it about the books; be respectful of others and refrain from the ad hominem. Finally, you'll see that we're a private group and you'll need to "apply" to join us. This means that we'd like a word from you about why you'd like to join and what you're hoping to get from a group. It also helps if we can see your shelves and your profile. If your profile is set to private, you will not be approved for membership in the group.

[close] Our group reads vintage British mysteries from the Golden Age and beyond. In 2023 we will have a Scenes of Classic Crime challenge, reading books in a range of traditional settings. Previous challenges have included the Detection Club, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L Sayers and PD James. We also read and discuss books by many other authors from the era, including a few from other countries.

[close] Welcome. All Book Genres included. Small Authors can announce books; readers can give opinions on different books. Autonomous Things: -Activities -Monthly Book Reads & Book Discussion -Organization of Library/Books

[close] Here's a place to discuss out-of-print, forgotten, obscure, and beloved juvenile literature which you would like to see republished or digitized. There are so many forgotten works of quality that are extremely hard to come by on the secondhand market, and which are not yet available as e-books. A Renaissance is Required! Girls Gone By Publishers is one such small-scale operation trying to resurrect rare titles for today's market. As far as I know, they only do hardcopy (paperback), and stick mostly to 'girl's school stories', with the odd 'girl's adventure' thrown in. It's but a drop in the bucket... but a welcome one. And their success should encourage others! But what of the Boy's School and Adventure stories? And digitized versions for ebooks? What of authors such as Nicholas Stuart Gray? Meta Mayne Reid? Steven Mogridge? Or even more recent authors, like Penelope Lively and Lucy M. Boston, who may be better known, but whose excellent books are already sliding into obscurity? There are so many excellent, imaginative, timeless classics that have fallen by the wayside. It's tragic. This is a group to try to share these titles with other readers, in the hopes that publishers will take note and will reprint them for another generation All books discussed here should have been written and originally published well prior to the year 2000 (and preferrably well before that - pre-1980s especially!). Anything published in the USA in 1922, or 1962 in the UK, or earlier may already have lapsed copyrights and be available on Project Gutenberg. If it isn't but should be, feel free to discuss that title here!