Due to the original thread now exceeding 5 pages it has been decided to re-start the thread to speed up the viewing of recent posts.
This is not a new thread it is a continuation of the original "Book of the Month Club" Thread (See original thread for previous posts).

The Books selected for future reading are
2003
October: Don Quixote, Part 1, by Miguel de Cervantes.
November: The Map that Changed the World, by Simon Winchester.
December: To be announced (MsBatt's choice).
2004
January: The Sign of Four, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
February: The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, by Robin Maxwell.

Has December's book selection been chosen as yet?

MSBATT has (by PM) declined to choose a book for December due to personal circumstances preventing an active part in the discussions.
So we have a gap - anyone care to suggest a book for the month?

At short notice it will have to be a title that is easily accessible to book club participants around the world, and with December being an extremely busy month for many people it would be better to select a relatively short book.

I'd like to propose "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. Any other suggestions to throw into the hat?

I'd be quite happy with "To Kill A Mockingbird." I've got a copy on my shelves but it's a long time since I read it, and so maybe it's time I looked at it again.

Well, I was hoping for David Copperfield, but I guess "To Kill A Mocking Bird". I just suggested it because I don't have the book.

I would agree about a short book for the Christmas season. I will go along with the crowd on To Kill a Mockingbird, although I have re read it fairly recently , and watched the VCD after the death of Greg Peck. I am trying to make any other suggestion, and am thinking back to last Christmas when we read and so enjoyed "A Christmas Carol".
There must be some Classic with a Christmas/ family type of theme that we all would enjoy. Or a Children's book we loved:
"Wind in the Willows"?
"Kim"?
"Black Beauty"?
"The House at Pooh Corner"?
Something nostalgic, I think I would like.
But then, To Kill a Mockingbird certainly falls into that category, doesn't it?
David Copperfield i,s of course , a splendid choice in my view too.

Yes, To Kill A Mockingbird is a wonderful book, but I would kind of like to read something new, what with the Christmas Holidays providing me with rare free time.
I'd say that most members here have analyzed it to death in school, though with good reason, as it is an extraordinary novel. What do you guys think?

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of the books I re-read every few years. If it is agreed upon for December, I'll give it a quick re-read so I can join in the discussions intelligently when possible.

I'll happily go along with whatever is finally selected, and if the chosen book is one which encourages a few new members then that can only be a bonus.

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ren wrote:

I am trying to make any other suggestion, and am thinking back to last Christmas when we read and so enjoyed "A Christmas Carol".
There must be some Classic with a Christmas/ family type of theme that we all would enjoy.

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A possibility would be Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night". Nothing to do with the holiday season as such, but written, I believe, to be enacted before Queen Elizabeth 1 as part of the Royal Palace courtly Christmas festivities in 1601.

Yes, izzi, I'd love to participate in all the months but I just can't get the books. There aren't any libraries either where I can just pop in and read the books !

Chinky, depending on the book that is chosen, there are a lot of websites that actually have them online for you to read. A quick Google search might help you there.

As for the book choice I have both "To Kill a MockingBird" and "Twelfth Night" and would be happy with either choice.

Another suggestion - a spot of mystery and mayhem in the form of an Agatha Christie, "Hercule Poirot's Christmas".

My only concern is that this one might be a little too similar to our January selection, "The Sign of Four".

We have a Christie 'expert' in our midst...would this one fit the bill, Linda?

Thoughts everyone?

I'm still working on books with a tentative 'Christmas theme'.

Beowulf - Anon
Written at a time when Christianity was just about emerging.

Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Just with the general idea that Christmastime is a time to be thinking of those less fortunate than ourselves.

Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
One of the earliest traditional pantomimes ever performed, the book based on the real life adventures of Alexander Selkirk.

My Suggestion:

Since it's a busy time for many, maybe we could read three "long short stories"--some classic Christmas stories available online:

"The Cricket on the Hearth" by Dickens (http://www.literature.org/authors/dickens-charles/cricket/)
"The Chimes" by Dickens (http://www.literature.org/authors/dickens-charles/chimes/)
"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry (http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html)

Or, how about a "children's classic" -- "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis?

I'll go with "To Kill a Mockingbird" if selected. I haven't read it since high school, and I recall liking it. I've been a little out of it the past two months, but will try to get back in. I'll be off work the month of December as I am quitting work in expectation of a January baby, and I'm taking it easy. Got some preperations to busy me, but I hope to join in for this one!

Robinson Crusoe Christmas theme?

Les Mis has a Christian theme, but not, per say, a Christmas theme. Also a bit lengthy for a busy month. I would like to read it some time, though...it's one I've been planning on.

Such wonderful news, Skylarb, you must be so excited, bet you can't wait!!

As mentioned, "A Christmas Carol" was our book of the month for last Christmas, and those of us who had Dickens' "Christmas Books" also read "The Chimes" and "The Cricket on the Hearth" at the same time.

"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry is a very short story to cover in a month, I've just read it in just a few minutes. As you said though, a few other stories could be read along with it.

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Robinson Crusoe Christmas theme?

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"Oh, no it isn't" I hear you cry. "Oh, yes it is!!"

I actually wrote 'tentative' Christmas theme, hey, December is Panto season...well over here in the UK at least.

Oooh good! Our first BOMC baby! I expect it will have a 'bookish'name chosen??

Hmm.... if "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", I'd be over the moon ! It's one of my favourite books other than J.K Rowling's masterpiece and I love C.S Lewis's style of writing.

While I'm not a very active member of the BOMC, I do sometimes read along without posting any thoughts. I prefer to glean information from your observations and see if I learn anything. Here are a few books that I keep hoping will be chosen:
Slaughterhouse Five
A Brave New World
Count of Monte Cristo

Also some suggestions for "newer" books that I think members would enjoy are:
"A Short History of A Small Place" - T.R. Pearson (a hilarous take on life in the American south written in a Faulkner style that will leave you laughing and crying)
"Paradise Alley" - Kevin Baker (a historical fiction novel relating the draft riots in NYC during the American Civil War. This book will grip you and hold you long after you have put it down.)

DH,
Even if they aren't chosen as "official selections", i notate any books that are suggested and do my best to try and pick them up and read them at my leisure. Your ideas are great, and are books that I either have not read or would have overlooked unless someone had thought to pass along.

I would like to see "A Brave New World" as a selection also. That is a book I constantly hear referenced, and yet I've never actually read it. I have enjoyed others of the "genre" such as 1984 and Fareinheight 451, etc.

So far the suggestions that have received some degree of support are “To Kill A Mockingbird,” “Twelfth Night,” “David Copperfield,” “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Brave New World.”

I was one of those who supported izzi’s original suggestion of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” but I take Misty’s point that many people have probably already studied it in detail at school or college (it had only just been published when I took my Eng Lit O-levels!).

Several members have said they’d like a fairly short book for December, and I can’t help feeling that “David Copperfield” is a bit on the long side. I also think we should try and cover as wide a range of literature as we can, and after all we have already read two of Dickens’s works.

“Brave New World”, a vision of the future, might be seen as coming into the same category as “The Time Machine” to some extent, though as skylarb says it’s a work which is constantly referred to and might prompt a more general discussion on this kind of predictive fiction.

I think “Twelfth Night” and “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” both have a good claim. We haven’t yet read any of Shakespeare, nor indeed any play at all. And Lewis’s work would be a new departure too: I haven’t read it, but it is said to be one of those children’s books that can be read with pleasure by adults.

Any more views?

Being a non-participatory BOMC member, I don't think my vote should carry much weight, however I give a thumbs up to "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe".

I would also go for "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" as it is really one of the greatest books for me. The style of writing was really good for me.