Sign-ins/Guestbook

Welcome to the club!

For anyone whois new or just doesn't know, my name is Rich and I am the sort of official grounds keeper of this club. I won't be making many solo decisions, so much as I will continually look for input from the group to ensure everybody gets what they want out of it.

For the longest time, I did not like to read and never did. Then I learned that the movie Sphere (at the time, one of my favorite movies) was based on a book. So I go to the library to see if I can get help finding a book by this Crichton fellow. Found it. Loved it. Bought a copy afterwards on Ebay. Still was not keen on reading though.

About 7 years ago one of my friends goaded me into getting into the Harry Potter series. I was incredibly reluctant, especially with the material at hand being the Potter boy, whom the young media had a particular kind of view towards.

I got over my apprehension and started the series anyways, and within a year I was caught up to be able to pre-order the last installment of the series, practically wetting my pants to find out what happened.

And that is how I fell in love with reading.


Great story telling that takes place in the theater of the mind is far more rewarding than any brick and mortar movie theater experience could even hope to capture. It is a story formed by you. What the main character looks like, how they sound, the rich environments, all painted by you as you read. You are there. Not only are you being fed the information, you make it your own and bring it to life in a way that makes it unique compared to a movie- everything looks, feels, smells, just how you want it. In all my time enjoying the arts, I have never found anything quite like reading into the wee hours of the morning, simply unable to pry the riveting tale from my hands or mind.

This is why I want to start a book club. I know there are others out there who love reading as much as I do and have their own takes on everything that comes with it. I feel that a gathering of these like-minded people will enrich the reading experience for us all and turn us on to books we would have never considered before, expanding our own horizons while contributing in positive, meaningful ways to the experiences of others.


Once again, welcome, and make yourselves at home and comfortable. Share anything you would like to about your favorite books, reading places... anything.

Once we have a few introductions and discussion going, we could start to look into what book might suit us for our first group reading. I hope you all enjoy!

Okay, I'll start. One of my favorite books of all time is Lord of the Flies. Granted, there are a couple of movies made from it, and they just do not compare. The book is rich and full of symbolism (one of my favorite things in a book). It has a lot of religious symbolism. The book is an easy read if you're just reading it for pleasure (and a good read at that), but if you break it down and read between the lines, it's absolutely beautiful. It's the classic tale of good vs. evil, and I love it!!!

Oh, and Rich, you are completely right. Story telling is far more rewarding than a movie. I love that you can make the characters look the way you want them to. You can paint the town the way you want it to look. I have been reading since I can remember, I have always loved to read.

I don't remember when I learned to read or what the first book that I read was. What I first remember occurred in 1st grade. My teacher would read us a chapter of a Magic Tree House book every few days. I got frustrated with the slow pace and waiting to see what happened, so I started buying the books and read them myself. Later that year, I started ordering Animorphs from the school store. It was a relatively new series at that point, and I think I started with the 2nd book. I expected a book about animals and was completely surprised at what it was. All of the futuristic concepts, aliens, technology, and war are what I think led to my love of science fiction and my passion towards reading at a young age. I remember looking up terms in the dictionary and asking my parents what certain phrases meant. I still have my Animorphs collection and everything that K.A. Applegate and Michael Grant wrote and are still writing and would like to re-read them at some point because there was just so much depth to those books that I probably missed out on since I read them so young.

I read a lot of different children's and young adults series, fell in love with Orson Scott Card's Ender and Shadow novels in middle school, and now sort of am focusing on Stephen King and Dean Koontz books since I bought a large set last fall and would like to go through that set before exploring other books. I feel like I've missed out on some classics that I should read but haven't had a chance to yet.

I totally agree with everything derB said. I've always been passionate about books, but rarely even watch movies and find myself thoroughly disappointed after most of the ones that I watch --- especially if they're based on my favorite books. I prefer to read at night after I've finished all of my daily tasks so I can just become absorbed in the book without distractions. When I say I'm going to bed or getting off for the night to people on AIM, I usually grab a book and start reading.

Interestingly, my passion for reading is possibly the main reason why I'm here at ORG Planet and still interested in ORGs as well. My love of Animorphs took me to the Morphz online community. In 2002, I met Jeremy there. We became friends and discovered that we were both interested in Survivor, so we started looking for online Survivor games. A few years after playing and hosting some independent community games, we found Altreality and started playing games here then. I think he joined the community first and invited me as his partner for ARS15. I was totally impressed because I had never seen so many serious ORGers as part of a single community, but was an early boot because I couldn't keep up with how active the game and all the players were. It was a huge shift from the games I had played prior. The last 10 years, my online life has consisted largely of visiting book communities and websites (I'm an administrator at Remnants JF, which mostly died a few years ago) and playing/hosting ORGs all potentially because of being interested in reading so young.

So, yeah, that's my story. I could probably keep rambling all day about how reading has been a significant part of my life and influenced so many non-reading life experiences.

I have always enjoyed reading.. it's just such a great thing to do. Although I keep trying to get myself back into it because I've kind of fallen out of it. But I'm hoping this club will help get me back into reading and discovering new and amazing books!

Rich it's funny that you mention Harry Potter as one of the series you fell in love with.. my grandma gave me the first few books for xmas one year and I read the title saying Harry Potter.. and I'm like who the heck would read this.. and I left it on my shelves for a long time and one day I'm like maybe I should read some of one and see what's the big deal.. and then I fell in love with it.. and went crazy over them all as well.. one of the books I pre ordered and was even there to get it at midnight when it was released lol!

But when I was younger I read things like goosebumps and are you afraid of the dark, many because that's what I used to watch on tv and then I started reading some of my moms books.. she had these books by V.C Andrews and I fell in love with those.. bought all the ones she was missing. But yeah I've read some real murder mysteries because my grandpa was really into those and just other types of books. I really miss reading.. stupid internet interferes with everything now a days! lol

Glad to hear from you all!

I haven't read Lord of the Flies, but I am right in the same boat with you Stacie. I love symbolism that alludes to greater things. If it is not too personal, are you a religious person?

Wow, Animorphs!I almost completely forgot about that series. I haven't read any of them. When I was in elementary, those were getting pretty popular, that, Goosebumps, and to a lesser extent The Boxcar Children. In retrospect, I am not sure why I didn't get into Animorph's, now in touch with my "moosey self" and all, but I did like Goosebumps. I can't believe Stein is still writing the series.

(BTW Kenya, I love to brag about the fact that I correctly guessed what the final Horcrux was, and why. )

I feel like I fit well into all of your tastes in reading, and really look forward to setting up our first book. How do you guys think we should go about picking our first book? Should we start with genres and then move to specific titles? Or maybe we all recommend a book for one another? I am not too sure. I want to make sure everybody feels included and not like a third wheel.

Yes, derB! Animorphs was such a huge book series in my life. It's just amazing how much that book series shaped my life, and I wonder if I'd even have kept reading or become interested in most of my current hobbies without it. This thread gives me a huge desire to re-read those books.

I think I may have read some Goosebumps and/or Are You Afraid of the Dark because I have inklings of memories about those in my head, and a few books or episodes of the show maybe. I started Harry Potter in 4th grade. I wasn't impressed by the first book the first time that I read it, especially before Harry got to the school, but still got the 2nd book and became more interested in the series after that.

At one point years ago, I read and enjoyed some of the original Hardy Boys books. Then I bought some of the newly printed ones, wasn't impressed at all, and stopped reading them.

I'm completely, 100% open to what others suggest as far as books go. It's nice knowing I'm not alone as far as some of my favorite genres, but I'm not sure how to go about suggesting a book. I'm making the assumption that people won't want 1000+ page books from the middle of a series though, which rules out some of my favorites, which would be the absurd kind of thing I'd suggest if I was prompted. I'm honestly up for anything anyone else suggests but don't really know how I'd go about suggesting something for anyone else.

I tend to agree, I think that choosing a book out of the middle of a series might lead to some disagreeable reading, but I am sure there are books out there that would stand alone, apart from their respective series, so I am not prepared to flat rule them out.

I also agree about the length. 1000+ pages can be good, satiating reading, don't get me wrong. But slogging through that much reading when you aren't enjoying it can be brutal (#1 reason I hated English class). In fact, if a book were that long, and I didn't like it, I would just not read it, to be honest, and I would like to avoid that for this group.


Perhaps we could each select three books, each from a different genre, and post a summary with each choice? I have a feeling our first book is going to have been read by at least one of us, so at least we have somebody vouching for the book. I just don't see any way around it at this point. It will be nice, too, to have somebody who knows the twists and turns and can kind of take the reins with discussions and such. Later on, when we all get acclimated to each others reading styles, we could venture off and choose a book none of us have read. But for now, I would like to play it safe and choose one that at least has somebody's merit.

Kenya.. I have read everyone of the VC Andrews books, and I own them all as well. I kept them so my daughter could read them. Love them. However, I have not read the most recent two series of hers that have come out (or her ghost writer, or whatever).

Rich, I do believe in God and I consider myself religious, but I do not go to church.

derB wrote:

Glad to hear from you all!

I haven't read Lord of the Flies, but I am right in the same boat with you Stacie. I love symbolism that alludes to greater things. If it is not too personal, are you a religious person?

Wow, Animorphs!I almost completely forgot about that series. I haven't read any of them. When I was in elementary, those were getting pretty popular, that, Goosebumps, and to a lesser extent The Boxcar Children. In retrospect, I am not sure why I didn't get into Animorph's, now in touch with my "moosey self" and all, but I did like Goosebumps. I can't believe Stein is still writing the series.

(BTW Kenya, I love to brag about the fact that I correctly guessed what the final Horcrux was, and why. )

I feel like I fit well into all of your tastes in reading, and really look forward to setting up our first book. How do you guys think we should go about picking our first book? Should we start with genres and then move to specific titles? Or maybe we all recommend a book for one another? I am not too sure. I want to make sure everybody feels included and not like a third wheel.

I guessed it correctly too Rich so ha!!!


Brant - I feel the same way.. I don't really know how to go about picking a book for others to read lol

Stacie - That's awesome.. a lot of people I have tried to talk to about those books tend to not be interested so normally I don't even mention them. I don't like the newer ones done by the ghost writer either.. because they tend to just be the same story with a different twist but not even close to as good as the original books and I still have them all too.. I said to my mom these are mine now and haven't given them back to her LOL

Rich - We could always do something like look up other book lists or book club lists or just popular books online to try to find one none of us read to give it a try.. That's always a possible good way to find one none of us have already read.

I like the list idea, Kenya. I will loon into some lists later on today and see what I can find.

I think I'm the only crazy person who would love to find some application that loads a completely random book on Amazon, preferably one with no description or review, and see what we think of that if we can actually find it. Surprises are fun.

In all seriousness, there a lot of useful tools built into Amazon as far as best-selling books in different categories, being able to categorize search results by reviews, and user-generated lists for different categories. GoodReads.com may be an excellent way to list what books you've read and search for books in the category that you most often read as well. I don't think I've ever used it so can't speak too specifically about it, but I'm assuming it works well from the amount of search results that lead to it.

Update: I now have an account with GoodReads.com. I added 139 books, the ones that I could recall reading off the top of my head, mostly children's series with lots of books in the series.

Anyway it seems like a cool website and if anyone else would be interested, we could "friend" one another to see what other people have read. I thought the Recommendations page would work like Netflix with automatic suggestions that were pretty accurate for me at least based on what I've watched, but it seems like it's not automatic unfortunately.

Anyway, I sort of love Goodreads.com now just because it'll help me remember and keep track of books that I've read. I'll probably go through some boxes in my closet in a week or so of other books that I've read and can't remember, and add them as well.

That would be neat Brant if there was a way to make a random book LOL but I guess there is always making a list.. and then numbering them and then using random.org to pick one LOL!

Goodreads sounds interesting.. I'll be sure to check it out

I'll sign up for good reads tonight after everyone goes to bed in my house, and I have MY ALONE time! =)

Here is maybe 1/5 of the books I own and have read without much organization yet. I'm stopping now because I need to study for finals, and this is way too easy of a way to procrastinate. I accidentally rated all books a 5, and the "to-read" list contains books I own but haven't read yet.

http://www.goodreads.com/brantsteele

http://www.goodreads.com/angelofwater mine

After my mother's day shenanigans and work, I will set mine up and link you guys up. Might take a while.

I think this is mine?


https://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?i=LTM2MDE3MDI4MzE6MzYw

okay, we should create a group.. just for us. A private group on Goodreads. I can't yet, because they haven't sent me an email verifying my confirmation, but someone could. Or, I can tonight. It can be the ORG Planet bookclub!

Almost positive this is the first book I ever read:

Just got started, so much more to do!

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5409973-therebemoose

There's a compare feature, and we can use it to see which books we have in common. Lots of cool stuff there.

I'm going through boxes of books right now. This will be so incredibly useful in the future because it'll help me remember what books I have and don't have so I don't have to keep going through boxes searching and trying to remember.

Ooooh, you re reading Foundation? Have you read it before? I love that series! It kinda tapered off towards the end, IMO, but it was still great.

The best books ever on Goodreads..... is Twilight?!?