View Full Version : Future BOTM Themes
boswellbaxter
03-11-2011, 04:42 AM
This question was asked some time ago in the Site Suggestions area, but as there are some people who don't notice that area and it's been a while since the question was asked, I'll ask again for suggestions for future Book of the Month themes.
Divia
03-11-2011, 10:07 AM
Young Adult
I know some of us are in the YA HF challenge, so why not? Plus it might help to destroy the idea that YA are just dumb teen books.
How about HF that was adapted into film? (not tv series) Some interesting ones might be True Grit, The Three Muskeeters, Corelli's Mandolin, or The Painted Veil.
Michy
03-11-2011, 02:08 PM
How about HF that was adapted into film? (not tv series) Some interesting ones might be True Grit, The Three Muskeeters, Corelli's Mandolin, or The Painted Veil. You could add Jane Eyre to that list (as well as dozens of others). I just heard on the news this morning that it's been made into a movie -- again. For the 20-something time.
Other theme ideas -- how about the American West? Or Old California? (I have Ramona on my TBR). :)
Madeleine
03-11-2011, 02:52 PM
Actually the new version of JE doesn't look bad, I think there's a trailer on the film thread. I agree it has been a bit over-filmed though. Not sure if I'd call it HF though, as it was contemporary for it's time, but I think we've had this argument before!
Michy
03-11-2011, 03:47 PM
Not sure if I'd call it HF though, as it was contemporary for it's time, but I think we've had this argument before! You're right -- silly me. I've been working on a problem at work for two days, so my brain is like pudding right now. :o
LoveHistory
03-11-2011, 04:12 PM
Would it be so terrible to have a book that was contemporary for its time but is now historical? Why not have a classics theme for one month?
I also like the ideas of the American West and books that have been made into films (for that one we could also all try to rent the movie/movies and compare them).
Ludmilla
03-11-2011, 05:29 PM
For the purpose of tossing out some more ideas:
Fin de siècle literature
Historical Fantasy
Historical Adventure
Historical War Fiction
Epics or Sagas
Older Historicals, e.g., still in print historicals written before 1960, probably a subset of classic historicals, but I'm thinking of authors that aren't as frequently read by the masses. With Sourcebooks reprinting a lot of older stuff, there could be quite a few to choose from.
Misfit
03-11-2011, 05:47 PM
A lot of great suggestions. I know we just had Civil war but there's also revolutionary war as well - and not just US Rev. War.
YA's a great idea but I'll have to pass on that one. Now that I'm finished with mine I can talk a bit more, but after reading and reviewing 40 excerpts for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award of which 90% were YA and first person at that I think I will pass away from old age before I go year YA again ;):o:confused:
I know it would be a toughie for those without e-booker readers but how about poll from a selection of what is free from Project Gutenberg. There are loads of old historicals (some of which, of course, do not bear the test of time but some do) and an exchange of views on those might be interesting. Given what Gutenberg say about Amazon and their free or very low-priced old books, it would be nice to give some support to Gutenberg.
can you read a Gutenberg project book on a kindle? I haven't taken the time to learn much about mine other than how to read on it.
Ludmilla
03-11-2011, 06:41 PM
Yes, you can. Gutenberg now offers books in the Kindle format. Here (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200375630) are some instructions at Amazon for transferring files to your Kindle.
Michy
03-11-2011, 07:10 PM
I like the classics idea -- maybe we could do that a couple of times a year, since there are endless classics. I have several on my TBR......
Showing my ignorance here, but...... what's "fin de siecle literature?"
Madeleine
03-11-2011, 07:16 PM
I think an occasional classic is a good idea too.
Vanessa
03-11-2011, 08:23 PM
How about historical thrillers?
Margaret
03-12-2011, 12:24 AM
Many great ideas here, but I would especially like to second Divia's suggestion of a YA historical. Lots of these are just as good as, if not better than, adult novels.
Showing my ignorance here, but...... what's "fin de siecle literature?"
End of the century, nowadays referring to the 1890s as opposed to the late 1990s
Divia
03-12-2011, 01:49 AM
YA's a great idea but I'll have to pass on that one. Now that I'm finished with mine I can talk a bit more, but after reading and reviewing 40 excerpts for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award of which 90% were YA and first person at that I think I will pass away from old age before I go year YA again ;):o:confused:
Hmm interesting! Everyone thinks they can make a ton of money off of teens since Twilight and I wonder if they even know their audience.
HOw did you feel the books were?
Misfit
03-12-2011, 02:18 AM
Hmm interesting! Everyone thinks they can make a ton of money off of teens since Twilight and I wonder if they even know their audience.
HOw did you feel the books were?
I thing there was a winner or two, but for the most part very mediocre - bad. No vampires either, at least in my batch. Go to the Vine forums and read the ABNA 2011 thread, especially the last of the posts. It seems everyone got tons of YA.
Michy
03-12-2011, 02:31 AM
End of the century, nowadays referring to the 1890s as opposed to the late 1990s So would that be the works of Edith Wharton, for example? I really like her writing.
So would that be the works of Edith Wharton, for example? I really like her writing.
From a class syllabis, some examples:
J K Huysmans, Against the Grain [A Rebours] (1884, Penguin edn., trans R. Baldick)
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886, various edns.)
H. Rider Haggard, She (1887, Oxford World’s Classics)
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), in The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, ed. M. Holland (Collins - NB. currently widely remaindered)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper (1892, Virago - also in Norton Anthology of American Literature and other collections)
H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895, various edns.)
Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897, various edns.)
Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (1898, various edns. and collections)
Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899, Virago/Penguin, Norton American AnthologyI don't consider any of these HF since the author were writing about their own time, but I suppose there is a way to make an interesting discussion about any of these books, and compare them with books about the same time period but written as HF.
Margaret
03-12-2011, 09:50 PM
YA's a great idea but I'll have to pass on that one. Now that I'm finished with mine I can talk a bit more, but after reading and reviewing 40 excerpts for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award of which 90% were YA and first person at that I think I will pass away from old age before I go year YA again
Oh, Ash - you should really read one of the super-excellent YA novels as a corrective to this experience before giving up on the genre. Kind of like getting back on the horse after it throws you, so you can show it who's master. I can highly recommend Catherine Jinks's Pagan's Crusade or Rebecca Barnhouse's The Book of the Maidservant, and others here will undoubtedly be able to suggest others. In fact, maybe this is a good reason to do a YA BOM - with the proviso that people should nominate novels they know to be of supremely high quality!
Oh, Ash - you should really read one of the super-excellent YA novels as a corrective to this experience before giving up on the genre. Kind of like getting back on the horse after it throws you, so you can show it who's master. I can highly recommend Catherine Jinks's Pagan's Crusade or Rebecca Barnhouse's The Book of the Maidservant, and others here will undoubtedly be able to suggest others. In fact, maybe this is a good reason to do a YA BOM - with the proviso that people should nominate novels they know to be of supremely high quality!
Huh? Not only was that not me who posted, but that is not my opinion at all! I have read and enjoyed many YA books. Please check the poster name when you post quotes. Thanks :)
Margaret
03-13-2011, 07:47 AM
Huh? Not only was that not me who posted, but that is not my opinion at all!
Oops - so sorry, Ash. It was Misfit. I thought I had checked, but I was obviously a bit addled when I made that post.
Misfit
03-13-2011, 12:34 PM
Oops - so sorry, Ash. It was Misfit. I thought I had checked, but I was obviously a bit addled when I made that post.
Glad to know I am not the only addled person around here ;)
I know there's lots of good YA out there, but I will need a breather after what I just went through.
Oops - so sorry, Ash. It was Misfit. I thought I had checked, but I was obviously a bit addled when I made that post.
De nada ('not a problem' in Spanish) :)
LoveHistory
03-13-2011, 07:38 PM
I thing there was a winner or two, but for the most part very mediocre - bad. No vampires either, at least in my batch. Go to the Vine forums and read the ABNA 2011 thread, especially the last of the posts. It seems everyone got tons of YA.
A lot of people (especially the younger set) at NaNo were talking about submitting to ABNA. I wonder how many did it with no editing.
Divia
03-13-2011, 08:47 PM
Wow. My YA must be a gem then. :p ;)
Just kidding my could suck as well. Who knows! Its not first person though...
Misfit
03-13-2011, 09:27 PM
A lot of people (especially the younger set) at NaNo were talking about submitting to ABNA. I wonder how many did it with no editing.
Sorry, but not allowed to talk specifics. There were some rather unusual ones though...
Wow. My YA must be a gem then.
Just kidding my could suck as well. Who knows! Its not first person though...
That's good to hear. First person generally doesn't work well for me ;)
There were a few out of my 40 that were really promising knock your socks off type of books and I look forward to following them. I think by the time the next round of eliminations are over I can speak more about them. I think.
LoveHistory
03-14-2011, 12:17 AM
Not asking for info, Misfit. Just wondering aloud as it were.
Misfit
03-14-2011, 12:58 AM
Not asking for info, Misfit. Just wondering aloud as it were.
No worries. It is a rather interesting experience. Some parts more rewarding than others :o
boswellbaxter
03-21-2011, 05:45 AM
OK, here's a tentative schedule for the rest of the year. (We'll use the other ideas for 2012.)
June: YA
July: Older historical fiction (pre-1960)
August: open
September: Historical fantasy
October: Classics
November: open
December: Historical fiction that was made into a film
Historical fiction that was made into a film
There has to be a better way to phrase that - Historic Fiction adapted to film?
Madeleine
03-21-2011, 02:37 PM
Sounds like a good plan!
boswellbaxter
03-21-2011, 04:42 PM
Historical fiction that was made into a film
There has to be a better way to phrase that - Historic Fiction adapted to film?
So sorry, Ash, for not phrasing it better. I was writing in haste at 2 in the morning after dealing with work deadlines and family problems all weekend.
Divia
03-21-2011, 07:46 PM
I'm looking forward to it. Sounds like fun. Have to really knock my head against something to think abotu books made into movies though. Hmmmm.
The classics idea could be cool, if we do something different and not the same old Jane Austen thing. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
So sorry, Ash, for not phrasing it better. I was writing in haste at 2 in the morning after dealing with work deadlines and family problems all weekend.
Oh, no - I was the one who phrased it that way! Not criticizing, just asking you to fix my mess :) My apologies for not being clear.
boswellbaxter
03-22-2011, 01:00 AM
Oh, no - I was the one who phrased it that way! Not criticizing, just asking you to fix my mess :) My apologies for not being clear.
No problem! I figured December might be a good month for that theme since people might have some more time over the holidays to watch the movies as well as read the books.
Misfit
03-22-2011, 01:22 AM
I'm looking forward to it. Sounds like fun. Have to really knock my head against something to think abotu books made into movies though. Hmmmm.
The classics idea could be cool, if we do something different and not the same old Jane Austen thing. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Dumas?
I'm looking forward to the classics and hope we can to something besides Austen. There's a whole lot more out there to be explored.
*although I must confess I've only read one Austen book :o
Divia
03-22-2011, 10:07 AM
No Dumas is too typical as well. Lets read something different.
Virginia (Penguin Classics) by Ellen Glasgow or something like it.
Madeleine
03-22-2011, 10:15 AM
Another bookgroup that I'm in does an occasional themed read based around the time of year eg in October we have a Halloween theme, but we all read a different book.
LoveHistory
03-22-2011, 04:46 PM
Divia, in all the time I've been a member of HFO we've never picked a Jane Austen novel for BOTM. Though admittedly it's not for lack of trying on my part. ;)
Brenna
03-22-2011, 05:36 PM
Another bookgroup that I'm in does an occasional themed read based around the time of year eg in October we have a Halloween theme, but we all read a different book.
That would be fun! We could do something in October focused on the Salem Witch Trials or the Templars and then in November something about the American Thanksgiving, etc. As an American, obviously I am more familiar with our holidays, but I would actually enjoy learning more about other histories and holidays through a book theme!
Margaret
03-22-2011, 05:39 PM
A seasonal theme would be fun to do occasionally - but maybe not every year. As I get older, the years seem to roll around faster and faster, and I'm not sure I would want to read a novel about witches every October. (However, I can suggest some good ones if we do this in the next year or two!)
Madeleine
03-22-2011, 08:29 PM
Doesn't have to be about witches! Can be anything with a spooky theme - vamps, ghosts or just plain creepy or Gothic.
Divia
03-23-2011, 12:19 AM
Divia, in all the time I've been a member of HFO we've never picked a Jane Austen novel for BOTM. Though admittedly it's not for lack of trying on my part. ;)
Well when people mention Classic novels the typical ones pop into people's minds. Austen, Dickens, etc. etc.
Doesn't have to be about witches! Can be anything with a spooky theme - vamps, ghosts or just plain creepy or Gothic.
True. Some creepy gothic stories would be super.
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