Further to the discussion "Who reads books anymore?" posted by Raptorfalcon, a few of us have decided to try and start a book club here. Basically it will involve reading a book (duh) and then discussing it with anyone else who is interested. So far it looks like we have three members, myself, Tracyjtz, and Marideath. Marideath is going to choose the first "book", which we will download from the website she advises. If we manage to get through it successfully :-), another member will choose the next one and so on. Anyone else game? We will sort of be making it up as we go along.

Do these all have to be downloadable books then?

My all-time favorite SFF author is James H. Schmitz, so I naturally chose one of his books (all of them recently replublished by Baen Books after many years out of print) as my selection for our first try at this. The book is comprised of four novellas all written in the “same universe”. Details for the free download of this e-book are given below.

http://www.baen.com

Click on (in the order listed):
Free Library
The Authors
James H. Schmitz

Select your preferred format and click the Download button on:
Agent of Vega

Oops. Sorry, caedes...I typed my message in my regular document files and then pasted it in before I read your post. I think it was decided to make this a trial run using freebie downloads primarily for the following reason. If nobody likes it after the trial period, there's no $$ loss involved (thankful grin here) and we'll just chalk it up to another idea gone wrong. Of course, there's also the possibility that the other interested parties were just catering to my inability to read anything other than e-books. :D

Hey mind if I join? ha but we all might go blind staring at a computer screen... haha

There are two reasons i wanted to use books in this format; firstly, it means everyone can easily obtain a copy, so no one is excluded; secondly, so that Mary can participate, which again means no one is excluded. I am going to see if I can obtain a copy of the same book from the library as well. As I said, the next book will be chosen by a different person, so if the ebook thing is unpopular first time around we can look at other options.

Now, I am off to get my copy...

I have just finished the first short story. Very much my cup of tea, thankyou, Mary. I won't go onto the next one yet, will see if I can wait until someone else has read it...

yay! I helped propogate something that involves reading. Anyway I'll read it.

Just reading the first story. Looks good.

I hope you enjoy the story...Schmitz had soooo much talent, and he was lost to us at such an early age...sigh. These are not, by the way, his "best" stories; I just thought it might be a good starting point since each story takes little time to read. :)

Yes I agree. I think I will go on and start the next one, if anyone wants to begin a discussion just go ahead...

Ok i have to join the club.... my book cases groan with the weight of sci-fi and fantasy and of course the odd splash of horror :) On a personal note my favourite author would have to be Philip Jose Farmer..... ok im going to grab that e-book series.. and get back in here for some discussion asap :D

Just had time to DL it today. I'm gonna begin reading it. I've been in need of something good to read for some time now. I'm excited!

hey can i join? i read A LOT....but im not sure on the concept of this....so we download book and then read them? so its like one huge "word" file? anyway you have my alligents i am one of you

Philip Jose Farmer? - I read 'To your scattered bodies go'. Man, was that weird!

lol.... CaptainHero.. i hope you read the other 4 books in the series.. the River world saga is amazing :D

At the time I got hold of the book, it was out of print in this country (has since been reissued). I went to some trouble to get it as a friend of mine recommended it.

However, upon reading it, I was disappointed. There were some great concepts in there, but I felt the structure was a little loose. It almost seemed as though the author was using all kinds of wild gambits to cover up his inability to hold a decent plot together.

Anyway, I struggled through it, but have never read any others.

ahh well...i read it when i was very young...must have been one of the first non-childrens book i read...... to use your analogy it might be loose to start with.. but he is attempting to try and encompass the whole of humanity from 10000 bc to 1983ad into it.. but it tightens up somewhat as you progress.. especially the last 2 books which have rerally focuses in on just a small group.... mayeb my opinion is too heavily tinted by childhood fondness?? but i re-read it many times.. its all personal viewpoints :D

I found it tough going, which is unusual for me. Maybe I should add some of the others to the very long list of 'books that I must read'. I know what you mean by childhood fondness - I have occasionally revisited books or films and been disappointed. Have you read any Stephen Donaldson?

i have read lots... there was the mirror set 'mordants need' .. i think off the top of my head.. and the chronicals of thomas covenant... i was also thinking of the Battle Circle series.. but its been over 13 years since i read that and futher retrospection devulged that that wasnt Donaldson.. but Piers Anthony who wrote it... but its also a good series... first published in 1968 i think.

Not read that. The Covenant ones were good - haven't read them for years. Donaldson's Gap series is good - sci-fi.

You read China Mieville?

Well this discussion seems to be going nicely. Too bad we are talking about the wrong book!!!

JK of course, you can talk about any book/author you want... but has anyone finished story no. 2 yet?

Hehehe...*I* have! :D

Sorry Sam, i read only dutch and french books.

Ok Joost, I thought that might be the case.

Have you met Grandma's pony yet, Sam?

Indeed I have... A rhinocerine pony, if I remember correctly. I got a bit confused in the middle as I was under the impression that the destroyers were part of the Halpa attack force, that threw me off a bit...

The books that i reed, are mostly about the second world war.

Anybody else read any more?

o! me! ha but I'm having a lot of trouble downloading the books and things so... ack. But yes, Read "Da Vinci Code"!!!!!!

I’m a big fan of the classics! My favorites are anything by Hemingway, The old man and the see, my favorite the movable feast; it’s how he describes things. The taste of food their textures, the fell of a woman’s skin under your hand, The way he describes the feel of a warm summer wind on your skin. The rain on your face, the pain in the fisherman’s hand as they where cut by the line. That’s a writer. He just doesn’t just write about what he feels or imagines, he makes you want to taste that pear, He makes you what to feel the sun in Tahiti. That’s a writer.