Spring 2021 Book List

I've tallied the results and we have six winners!  

Everyone who voted cast a ballot for The Geography of Bliss by Eris Weiner.  Have we ever had a unanimous vote?  Thank you, Rita, for that nomination.  It seems that we are all hungry for laughter and armchair travel during this tenth month of mostly staying home.

As always, the Long List (including titles that didn't make the cut) has been added to the List of Literatae Long Lists link in the upper right of the Literatae.blogspot.com page.

The results are below.  If you want to volunteer for a role, please visit the grid that will allow you to edit.

Date	Book	Reviewer	House	Dessert
February 9	A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
March 9	The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
April 13	The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
May 11	Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
June 8	The Vapors by David Hill
July 13	The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

December 2020

 

December 8, 2020

Dispatches from Pluto by Richard Grant

Review by Kathy

Spring 2021 Nominees

 The slide show of Spring 2021 Nominees is now available.  See all the titles, book jackets, publisher summaries, comments from nominators, and Fayetteville Public Library, Independent Bookseller (The Raven in Lawrence, Kansas) and Amazon availability.  They are divided into a Fiction and a Biography, Memoir, & Nonfiction section.  In an attempt to present them objectively, I arranged them by author.

The comment window is now open.  Send your comments on specific books to me by email by November 21, and I will add those to the slide show.  We may also have a Zoom session for comments during the comment window.  Ballots will be available on November 25.

You may need to click the present button in the upper right corner to view the presentation.  Then use the enter key or click your mouse to step through the slides.  If you want to return to an earlier slide, use the left arrow key to go back.  The escape key will get you out of the presentation at any time.

About the addition of Independent Bookseller:  I'm currently exasperated with Amazon (over their failure to vet cheap Chinese knock-offs), so I've provided an alternative to automatically buying our books from them.  I thought I might feature a different independent bookseller each season.  I know most of us are retired and on fixed budgets, and many of us -- like me -- are dedicated public library patrons.  But, it's just another option.  The Raven is a lovely bookstore, and I have ordered other books from them since the beginning of Covid.

A Rough Running List of Nominations

 Here's a rough, running nominations list.  Nominations due by November 10.

November 2020

 

November 10, 2020

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

Review by D'Ann

Timeline for Spring 2021 Book Selection

I've heard back from quite a few of you and feel ok about moving forward with our book selection process. Thank you for all your positive comments! Doing this lets me keep some of my librarian skills in practice:)

Below is the timeline I've come up with, based on what we did last time. At the suggestion of more than one person, I've added a potential Zoom session on Tuesday the 17th.

The timeline shows title submissions from October 26 to November 10, but there's no reason we can't start submitting early. Remember, I need the title and author at a minimum, and add anything else you'd like to. I'll keep a running list of submissions linked to the blog -- just the raw information people send. I'll pull images, summaries, and availability in local libraries and online prices for the slide show. My job isn't difficult, but I need titles by the deadline.

Submit titles - 16 days >>> Oct 26 - Nov 10
Creation of slide show - 3 days >>> Nov 11-13
Comment window open - 7 days >>> Nov 14-21 -- perhaps a Zoom session on Tuesday the 17th?
Comments added to slide show / Creation of ballot & cheat sheet - 3 days >>> Nov 22-24
Voting window open - 9 days >>> Nov 25-Dec 5
Tally of votes & announcement - 2 days >>> Dec 7

October 2020

 October 13, 2020, at 7:30pm

We need to discuss our next round of book selections.  

Gene, Everywhere by Talya Tate Boerner

Talya will lead the discussion

September 2020

 Tuesday, September 8

Meet via Zoom

Chances Are... by Richard Russo

Review: Crystal

August 2020

Tuesday, August 11 - 7:30 PM

Meet at designated porches and Zoom as a group

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Reviewer : Trudy

And the Winners Are...

Thanks to everyone who voted for our slate of upcoming books.

Check out the grid with titles by month and the opportunity to sign up for responsibilities.

Everything You Need to Vote

Women of Literatae,

Thank you so much for getting your title recommendations in!  We wound up with 15 titles to choose from, which is actually a pretty good number: enough to actually get to choose, but not so many as to be overwhelming.

Here's what I've put together for you.  Votes are due by online ballot by midnight on July 12.  Fill in the Volunteer Grid as you see fit.  If you have any problems with any of the links, please let me know so I can adjust settings.

The Slideshow:  See all the titles, book jackets, publisher summaries, comments from nominators, and Fayetteville Public Library and Amazon availability.  They are divided into a Fiction and a Biography, Memoir, & Nonfiction section.  In an attempt to present them objectively, I arranged them by author.
You may need to click the present button in the upper right corner to view the presentation.  Then use the enter key or click your mouse to step through the slides.  If you want to return to an earlier slide, use the left arrow key to go back.  The escape key will get you out of the presentation at any time.

Scratch Paper Ballot:  If you're like me, you need to decide on paper before voting on an electronic ballot.  Print this ballot for a list of titles in the same order as the slideshow.  To fill out the online ballot, you will need to rank your six choices 1-6, with 1 being your top pick and 6 your bottom pick.

Online Ballot:  Once you have decided on your six choices and ranked them 1-6, use this online ballot to vote.  Remember that you will not rank titles other than the six you have selected.  I've included ranking of the titles so that in the event of a tie, we will not have to have a run-off.

Volunteer Grid:  Sign up for house, reviewer, and dessert.  Of course, all of this is subject to the course of Covid19.

July 2020

Tuesday, July 14  -- 7:30pm.

Due to social distancing guidelines, this year's July party will go online.  We will attempt to have our annual summer party in the fall.

The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee

Review:  LeAynne

House: Barbara

Preliminary Title List

Preliminary Title List

See the rough form of the list here.

Nomination Time

Women of Literatae, it's (past) time to choose our next round of books.  In order to have another title in the pipeline by the time we "meet" in July, we need to get started.  This semester (is there a proper term for 6 months?), we will conduct our book selection entirely online.  At our June meeting earlier this week, I volunteered to facilitate the process.

Step 1 - now through June 30:
Send me your titles: by email to sakroberson@gmail.com.  Titles and authors, reviews if you've got 'em, your own personal comments.  If you're technologically gifted and want to submit a Flipgrid or some such, go for it.  A selfie of yourself with the book. As much or as little as you want.  But just title & author is fine.  I can pull reviews.

It was mentioned at this week's meeting that we should probably carefully consider our submissions this semester and avoid books that may be difficult to obtain.  With so many things shut down or operating at limited capacity, we need to take Quarantine Life into consideration.  Also, it was mentioned that we might also consider that now may not be the time to dig into super-serious titles.  These are stressful times.

Step 2 - I'll get this done by July 3: 
I'll put together a document (and/or slide show) with all titles submitted.  I'll create a paper ballot that you can  mark to sort out your thoughts.  Then I'll make a Google form that you will be able to vote on.

Step 3 - by July 12 :  
Ponder your options & vote using the Google form.

Step 4 - I'll send out results by July 14, but I'll put the grid up on July 3, if  you want to volunteer before seeing the titles.  I'll tally the votes and send out the results, along with a grid that everybody can edit to create a schedule of hosts, dessert, and reviews (keeping in mind that we aren't at all sure when we'll be meeting in person again).

My part of this is easy, as long as you send titles by June 30.  Please do.

June 2020

Tuesday, June 9

Combination Backyard 6-Foot & Zoom gathering.

The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel

Review:  Sarah

House: Nancy

Dessert: Mim

May 2020

Tuesday, May 12

Another Zoom meeting.

Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Review:  Paula

House: Tonia

Dessert: Tonia

April 2020

Tuesday, April 14

Our first ever virtual book club.  We Zoomed due to Covid19.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Review:  Nancy

House: Lynette

Dessert: Pam

March 2020

Tuesday, March 10

Eleanor Opiphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Historical note: This meeting happened three days before the world shut down for Covid. We carpooled and crammed into Judy's living room, as the meeting was well attended. I remember sitting on the couch with three other people.  Thankfully, no one contracted Covid.  -- Sarah

Review:  Judy

House: Judy

Dessert: Judy

February 2020

Tuesday, February 11

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Review:  Rita

House: Talya

Dessert: Paula

January 2020

Tuesday, January 14

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

review:  Connie

House:  Connie (or Rita)

Dessert:  Crystal