The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded a few days ago; here is the winner and two runners up.

The Underground Railroad: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
Nominated for a smart melding of realism and allegory that combines the violence of slavery and the drama of escape in a myth that speaks to contemporary America.

Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
Nominated for the quiet and compassionate saga of a family whose world is shaped by mental illness and the challenges and joys of caring for each other.

The Sport of Kings: A Novel by C. E. Morgan
Nominated for a daring novel that explores race, the burden of history and other themes of American life on a vast and imaginative canvas.

Chris OConnor wrote:Sal_McCoy, you're so correct. Interaction is the key. Perhaps creating all of the chapter threads is a mistake because newcomers might be intimidated by seeing a dozen or more threads awaiting input. Maybe we need to focus more on a key member or two that will interact with their fellow readers. Maybe we need to only select a book when we have a book discussion leader ALSO selected.

Online book discussion is exhausting and challenging, but can be very rewarding as a way to learn and relate to others. Booktalk has the capacity to make that happen but it is only seldom realized.

I agree with your questioning of the model of setting up chapter threads. Often I have found booktalk selections great to read, but have found it difficult to find time and traction to discuss issues that the books raise during the set discussion period, as it can be hard to comment on a book that you have not finished.

Perhaps allowing threads to emerge during the course of the discussion, starting from a single thread and encouraging subtopics to form new threads through moderation would be more accessible, when discussion demonstrates interest.

Making brief quick comments can also be a good way to get others to think about the issues raised and respond.

Here are some possibilities.

1. Volume IV of Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant

I recommend Volume IV only due to the size of this work. In particular, I recommend Volume IV because it has the Horla story in it. I heard this story in four different radio plays, and each play told the story in a different manner.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3090/3090-h/3090-h.htm

2. Famous Modern Ghost Stories

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15143

3. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M. R. James

Part 1 only.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8486

4. Myths and Tales from the White Mountain Apache by Pliny Earle Goddard

This one is a bit short.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53113

5. Legends of the Gods by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

This is regarding ancient Egyptian myth stories.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9411

6. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4018

7. Twenty-Five Ghost Stories

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53419

Excellent! Thanks Murmur.

Chris OConnor wrote:Sal_McCoy, you're so correct. Interaction is the key. Perhaps creating all of the chapter threads is a mistake because newcomers might be intimidated by seeing a dozen or more threads awaiting input. Maybe we need to focus more on a key member or two that will interact with their fellow readers. Maybe we need to only select a book when we have a book discussion leader ALSO selected.

Here are some scattered thoughts:

Perhaps also not start a discussion without an "all ready" signal from those who voted on a book or said they would participate. A lot can happen between indicating interest and the time to start talking--such as not ever getting a hold of the book!

What I think would worth trying is to have "all ready" mean that everyone has finished the book. Then it's all discussion, with the problem of finding time to read having been dealt with.

Another idea would be discuss favorites, or books already read. This would be a "reconsiderations" approach. It was interesting for me to reread and discuss Moby Dick and Don Quixote on this venue.

Consider a semi-genre approach, which would comprise separate forums, such as "Modern Short Fiction" or "Dystopian Novels." An organizing principle might help lessen a feeling of random selection and bring intelligent design in (could not resist).

Speaking of brevity, shorter books just seem to have a better shot of getting discussions to the finish line.

Have some kind of a matrix to mark books and explain why the low points or high points. Then refute or counter opinions given. That should make for a good in-depth discussion.

I have attached a ranking of 26 fiction books discussed on BookTalk.org over the years. By far, the most discussed book was Conrad's, The Heart of Darkness with 681 replies. However, I believe its number one ranking is not valid as that discussion included students, not just BT members.

Interesting discussion, folks!

Any book or short story worth discussing needs to have some literary merit besides being fun to read. Which is why you would discuss Faulkner or Tolstoy before, say, Gillian Flynn or Stephen King. As much as I love Stephen King, I don't think his novels really have "superior or lasting artistic merit". (Although I would argue that some of them come very close.)

We don't know always know if a modern author is still going to be considered one of the greats a few decades from now. I think this idea should be at the forefront of every book discussion. Is this great literature and what makes it so? What themes are present that are still relevant to us or will be relevant to future generations of readers? More importantly, why does this book matter? Why is it a significant to us? Or if the book fails along these lines, why does it?

One of the biggest problems is finding a title that appeals to many. I think that's where many of these discussions fall apart.

It's also, with me, the "eyes are bigger than the stomach" syndrome. Oh, sure, I'll find the time to talk about this or that book. But I'm not a good judge of what I'm going to feel like doing or have the energy for at any given time in the future.

One thing I'll say for books that we might not even consider to be literature: they often speed along due to the "what happens next" factor. But then there might not be that much to comment on. Still, there are plot-driven books that have quite a bit of literary merit (such as John Le Carre's), and it might be a good idea to make a list of them.

DWill wrote:It's also, with me, the "eyes are bigger than the stomach" syndrome. Oh, sure, I'll find the time to talk about this or that book. But I'm not a good judge of what I'm going to feel like doing or have the energy for at any given time in the future.

One thing I'll say for books that we might not even consider to be literature: they often speed along due to the "what happens next" factor. But then there might not be that much to comment on. Still, there are plot-driven books that have quite a bit of literary merit (such as John Le Carre's), and it might be a good idea to make a list of them.

I have that "eyes are bigger" syndrome as well. And frequently I intend to discuss a book on BT, but find it's challenging to think of something useful to say about it.

Not everyone will agree with my comment that a book should have some literary merit or what exactly "literary merit" even means. Murmur has listed a few collections of ghost tales as possible fodder for discussion. Certainly that sort of discussion would explore the presence of gothic elements and other motifs common to that genre moreso than the high falutin' themes I suggest belong more to literary fiction. But enthusiasm must count for something as well. If we got a few people familiar with the ghost tale, we might have a great discussion.