The trial run
Clearly I can't make up my mind. But I think I finally have.
We are going to kick off this trial run of the book club with a reading of The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. I've seen a lot of mixed reviews on this book. I bought it a month or two ago, and I'm very curious about how I'm going to feel reading it. This seems like a great, quick read to set the tone for the expectations here moving forward.
How This Will Work
I'd like to take a moment to explain how I'm hoping this will go. I'm sure things will change as I move forward and as people join the conversation, but this is a starting point.
For each book, I'll set a timeline. This month, the goal is to read 9 chapters a week. This will allow us to finish in 4 weeks.
At the end of each week, or earlier if it works out that way, I'll write up a post about what I read. I won't summarize or paraphrase or anything, I'll just... chat. Because that's what I'm here to do. Any thoughts I had while reading will go in the post.
I will also try to start a discussion or a question in the appropriate forum category. Just to spark conversation.
Do not feel like you can't post in the forum until I've written and posted my thoughts. If you finish reading the week's chapters before me, definitely jump on and share!
Since each month is roughly four weeks and a few days, the remaining days of the month after the final week's discussion will be a free for all. I'm not entirely sure what this time will be for yet. Maybe I'll feel like sharing something random, or maybe I won't post at all. We'll see!
As more people join the book club, I'd like to have polls on my social accounts to decide what books we should read. I don't want to be the only person making these decisions. However, I'm also aware that I'm just starting, so engagement is low. So until we have more members, I will most likely be deciding what book we should read next a month in advance, and try to base it off of something that is new, but not too new that people would not have access yet.
Basically, this means no ARCs and no pre-orders. Which is not to say I won't be pre-ordering books myself... But if a book is released in October and I pre-order it, I will let it be known in advance that we would be reading that book in November.
I hope this makes sense and sounds fair. I want to give everyone a chance to get their hands on the book before we read it. Not everyone pre-orders books, so it wouldn't be fair to everyone if we started reading a book the day it is released.
Please keep in mind that everything here is optional. To participate in the forum, you need to sign up as a "member" of this website. As of May 31, 2021, being a member here does not give you anything more than the ability to participate. I didn't want anyone to have to "sign up" for this site, but this is the way the forum works. This allows you to keep track of the comments you leave and the replies you get in the discussions.
If you are a "member," you are not obligated to do... well, basically anything. No one here is obligated to do anything. You may participate if you'd like to. If you don't own a book that we are going to read, you don't have to go buy it. You don't have to read it if you don't feel like it. Just know that being a member is free, it simply allows you to keep track of your interactions here.
I believe that's all I have for now.
Check out my Instagram, where I post daily. I'm also active on Twitter now, which is fun. Otherwise, I will see any readers back here in a week to discuss chapters 1-9 of The Lost Apothecary.
Until next time!
-Hayden