Let's start the Book Club! What are we reading first and specifics

Books Book Club
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Since I proposed the idea on Discord, let me just get the ball rolling :slight_smile:

The idea is, that we pick a novel and read it together. We would set a specific amount of how much we read each week (for example X pages or X chapters) and then create a discussion thread, where we can discuss our thoughts every week. Most importantly there should be no pressure. If you didn’t have the time to read or if you want to read ahead, that is totally fine. The point should be to have a place here, where we can discuss the specific portion of the book we are currently reading.

First things first, we have to decide where we want to start. Since there is a massive back catalogue of Doctor Who literature, we should maybe first decide on a range. For anyone who doesn’t know what’s out there I’m going to give you a short list of the most popular ranges.

New Series Adventures - Starting with “The Clockwise Man” in 2005, this range was published alongside the new series, featuring the then current Doctor and their companions.

Eighth Doctor Adventures - Published from 1997 to 2005 these novels serve as a continuation of the eighths Doctors story.

Past Doctor Adventures - Published in conjunction with the Eighth Doctor Adventures, this range fwatures new stories of the first seven Doctors.

Virgin New Adventures - Published from 1991 to 1999 this range was meant as the official continuation after the original show was cancelled. It features the seventh Doctor and explores some more mature themes than the TV show did.

Virgin Missing Adventures - Following the success of the New Adventures range, Virgin published the Missing Adventures from 1994 to 1997, featuring new stories for the first six Doctors.

Before we decide on a specific range or novel, we should also discuss if we want to read through a whole range, starting with the first release, or jump around picking the best from each of the ranges.

I’d say let’s discuss how we want to do this first. Maybe later we can narrow down what to read with a poll.

Looking forward to your suggestions :slight_smile:

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ooh i’d love to participate

i’d be interested in something about Seven or Eight but i don’t really know what’s out there tbh

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Really excited for this.

I like to read everything in order, starting from the beginning, so my vote goes for starting with Virgin New Adventures but I’d also be happy to start with New Series Adventures if not everyone wants to do Classic stuff.

We could do both at the same time, if it’s not too confusing, or alternate the series each book?

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Much as I love the idea of a Book Club, I think I’ll probably have to sit it out. I read all the New Adventures years ago and they’re all in a box in the garage. I have such a backlog of books and I’m a terribly slow reader that adding in re-reads will just mean I never get anything new read!

If you happen to choose a book that’s new to me or one I do fancy re-reading, I may join in and, of course, I might pop in with my memories of any books which stand out to me.

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personally, alternating between both sounds perfect

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No worries! You don’t have to do everything :blush: and I’m sure you’ll pop in with your memories of the books!

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I also like the idea of alternating after each book. That way those of us who haven’t read anything who related yet can dip their toes into every range :slight_smile: It’s also a pretty daunting task to go through a range of around 60-70 books :sweat_smile:

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Sounds like we have a plan. Just need to know how often to talk about them - it would be easier to discuss them once finished, then no matter how fast or slow someone is at reading they can join in the discussion once finished?

What do you think? I know you said per chapter etc but that might be more difficult to keep track of. Also, people who have read the book a while ago can jump right in and discuss without having to worry about posting spoilers.

I will put some notices on the website to show the current book(s) we are reading and links to threads on the forum. I’ll create a forum post about it with links to the book. Shall we start this weekend?

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what about pace? from what i’ve seen they’re about 250 pages on average, how long should we spend on each?

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Here’s a poll! Everyone vote.

I don’t tend to have loads of time to read but this will help me set aside more for it. A month is a long time and means we won’t do that many books, plus people might drop off if they go ahead, but it also gives everyone enough time to read…

How long should we allocate to read each book? (~250 pages)

  • A week
  • A fortnight
  • A month
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Maybe, if you set the length of time as a month per book, you could have a couple of options so that fast readers can read more than one thing and slower could focus on one. Those of us who have already read them can then try and help keep any discussion going.

You might want to think about spoiler rules too such as not posting anything until the month is up (which sort of contradicts what I’ve suggested above so I might just shut up now :face_with_raised_eyebrow: :zipper_mouth_face:)

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Might I suggest creating a new thread in the “Books” category for each individual book. That way, people can more easily pick and choose (especially if availability is an issue) what they want to read or jump in and out of. Also, that way, if someone is late to party they don’t feel like they have to scroll through tons of posts about a book they’re not reading.

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This, I think, is a good idea. Just need to decide what books people are going to start with (which is better decided by those completely invested in this project).

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Yep, that’s the plan - then anyone who has read the book previously can jump in and comment, and anyone who hasn’t read it yet can steer clear.

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I’m probably going to need a month per book as I’m not a fast reader :sweat_smile:
But I would actually love to discuss while reading so I’m still liking the idea of weekly threads. The Clockwise Man for example, has 19 chapters, so we could discuss 5 chapters per week and People who have already read the books could join the discussion at the end of the month.

But I’m totally willing to compromise if all of you want to head in another direction :blush:

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Oh and I love the idea of multiple books at once. I think it would be cool if we read through the NSAs and the VNAs concurrently. They are very different ranges so there would always be something for everyone :slight_smile:

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if we read multiple books at the same time, we could read each series with a two week offset
that way we finish a book every two weeks but with a month for every book

(not sure if that makes sense)

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Multiple books at a time, a month per book, jump into the thread when you’ve finished - that could all work.

If we try and mandate spoiler tags then you could join in before you finish and not be spoiled, but that’s a bit more difficult.

Start Timewyrn Genesis this weekend, and then The Clockwise Man 2 weeks later?

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mind if we start with The Clockwise Man?
i’d like to finish the classic show before starting Timewyrn, i’ve only got a couple seasons left

other than that sounds perfect

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I’m fine with that, if everyone else is?

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