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cbayer

(146,218 posts)
Tue Aug 26, 2014, 12:02 PM Aug 2014

Is anyone interested in a book club?

This has been briefly discussed in the religion group. I think it might work here and I am willing to help lead it.

My biggest drawback is that I must be able to download the book, as I have no access to a bookstore, let alone one with books in a language I can read.

So, if you are interested, list 4 or 5 books that you would suggest we consider. I would say it's wide open - fiction or non-fiction, current or classic.

14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Is anyone interested in a book club? (Original Post) cbayer Aug 2014 OP
I'm definitely interested. Htom Sirveaux Aug 2014 #1
I have no opinion about this. What do you think? cbayer Aug 2014 #3
I suppose I can think of a few. Fortinbras Armstrong Aug 2014 #5
I like the idea of exploring different religious traditions cbayer Aug 2014 #6
I'm interested as well. Fortinbras Armstrong Aug 2014 #2
Could you come up with a brief list of those you cbayer Aug 2014 #4
The Godless Constitution would be well worth reading if people haven't read it. el_bryanto Aug 2014 #7
Another dcience fiction classic is okasha Aug 2014 #8
While I did read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" kentauros Aug 2014 #9
I didn't know there was s radio play. okasha Aug 2014 #11
I hadn't heard of the book when I heard the radio play kentauros Aug 2014 #12
Thanks! okasha Aug 2014 #13
You won't be sorry! kentauros Aug 2014 #14
Just don't invite Oprah kentauros Aug 2014 #10

Htom Sirveaux

(1,242 posts)
1. I'm definitely interested.
Tue Aug 26, 2014, 06:25 PM
Aug 2014

I do have a question though: do you think the books should be religion/spirituality-related?

Fortinbras Armstrong

(4,473 posts)
5. I suppose I can think of a few.
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 07:28 AM
Aug 2014

C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity is a favorite of mine, as is Thomas Merton, especially Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, which taught me much about Christian mysticism; and Zen and the Birds of Appetite, which introduced me to Zen.

A short story we might start with is "Those Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's online at http://harelbarzilai.org/words/omelas.txt and has a significant moral question at its center.

Give me a bit of time, and I can come up with others.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
6. I like the idea of exploring different religious traditions
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 07:32 AM
Aug 2014

and also like the idea of discussing moral dilemmas.

Let's get some more input and then consider starting with something short like the Le Guin piece.

That would give us an idea of how interested people might be.

My two favorite reads are The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (fiction) and It's Easier Than you Think by Sylvia Boorstein (Buddhism).

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
4. Could you come up with a brief list of those you
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 07:14 AM
Aug 2014

would like?

I think if we all do this, we could see if there are some we have in common.

el_bryanto

(11,804 posts)
7. The Godless Constitution would be well worth reading if people haven't read it.
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 07:33 AM
Aug 2014

And I'd also like to read Mark Noll’s America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. I tend to be mostly interested in History myself.

Bryant

okasha

(11,573 posts)
8. Another dcience fiction classic is
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 12:44 PM
Aug 2014

Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz. There's also Elixabeth Cunningham's Mary Magdalen tetralogy, and any number of good books out there by Spong, Tabor et alia. A bio of St Francis might be a good place to start, since it would touch at least indirectly on current figures and issues.

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
9. While I did read "A Canticle for Leibowitz"
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 02:26 PM
Aug 2014

I thought the radio play was better. Same for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

okasha

(11,573 posts)
11. I didn't know there was s radio play.
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 06:43 PM
Aug 2014

The first section includes my favorite line in all science fiction:"Bless me, Father. I ate a lizard."

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
12. I hadn't heard of the book when I heard the radio play
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 07:36 PM
Aug 2014

on a local public radio station. And I didn't get a copy of the book until many years later. I liked it, but I do tend to like audio and visual versions better than most people that love the books more

Oh, and look what I found!

A Canticle for Liebowitz (on the Internet Archive)

It's the same series I had heard; I recognized it from the first ring of the bells at the beginning

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