I've heard some people complain that we read and discuss too many books dealing with religion and God, but it cannot be denied that our most active discussions have been on those topics.

Greek myths, anyone?

You might be on to something there, Eden. American Indian myths?

Ooh, those would be interesting, too!

Greek or any other kind of myths would be perfect for me. I love reading about those olden times, that could have or could have not put this world around. We learned a great deal about those myths it would be interesting to read it and discuss it with each other and not get graded on it! I love it!

To be honest I don't feel like we're any closer to finding a better way to pick our books. I've heard people suggest about 6 different topics and each new post seems to suggest a brand new topic. One person makes a suggestion and another person says, "Oh, that sounds good. Also, how about...." and then the next person says something similar. I'm confused! Sorry. Not sure where to go from here.

Does anyone want to add any comments to my statement of confusion? Am I unnecessarily confused? Is there actually a common thread emerging here that I'm not recognizing? Maybe "old" books would be the common thread.

My dream is to find a way to pick books that get at least a dozen people participating each time. This should be easy based on the number of members we have but it just rarely happens. There has to be a way to make this happen. I'm listening if anyone has comments.

I also see religious myths outside of the Judeo-Christian religions as a theme, i.e. Greek myths and Native American stories/myths. Maybe a book on why society as a whole needs myths/religion to understand the world around them, but from a perspective that doesn't only cover Judeo-Christian/Muslim theologies? I'd be interested in reading about ancient Sumeria or the like, as they had some pretty nifty ideas about Gods and their relationship with them and also how powerful language can be, as seen in the story of Enki, who creates parts of civilization just by speaking, similar to how God creates by speaking in the Christian bible. If we could find a book that looked at these things from a collective unconscious/linguistic point of view I think we'd open up some new discussions about religion that aren't the same old "I believe this vs. you believe that" type of theme.

Is anyone else seeing this trend, or agree that it could be a good way to go?

As for the topics in discussion:

I'm game for any Pre-Roman history.
I'm game for Greek mythology.
I'm not feeling books concerned specifically with religion - but they do generate discussion; a discussion that everyone loves to contribute to but take nothing away from.
I'm game for hysteria.
I'm not feeling Indian mythology right now although I do have a large book about Cherokee myths I haven't read. I also have a large book on Norse mythology.

To help narrow things down a bit and to really lock myself down I'm saying I'd like to discuss any Pre-Roman history... but I'm open to other suggestions lol.

Pre-Roman? What culture? Egyptian?

Anything Pre-Roman. I'm working on a time-line.