Book Club/Discussions

hardygirl847 · February 07, 2010, 05:22:07 PM

Anyone interested in doing a book club with discussions? I realize that we can talk about any book on here but this would be different. Each month we would choose a book to read and then post our thoughts etc. I know other sites do this so I wondered if there was an interest on here.

SDLagent · February 08, 2010, 02:34:27 PM

Count me in!

hardygirl847 · February 08, 2010, 03:39:10 PM

Thanks!

I was thinking of starting this in March. Hopefully we will have some more takers at that time. Should we start with a Casefile or something else?

MacGyver · February 08, 2010, 04:26:07 PM

Sounds good. I'm down.

Could we maybe try doing a book from the different Hardy Boys series as well? (I'm meaning primarily the Original series, the Casefiles and UnderCover Brothers- not so much the Clues Brothers, necessarily.

)

hardygirl847 · February 08, 2010, 11:24:37 PM

Yeah I think switching them around would be a good idea. Not every month has to be the same. Maybe in a week or so we can get some suggestions down and vote? I'd like to make this collaborative.

SDLagent · February 09, 2010, 02:44:22 AM

I may be jumping the gun a bit, here, but I think it would make sense if we read The Tower Treasure first.

tomswift2002 · February 09, 2010, 05:06:09 PM

Over at another forum they have a similar thing, but one thing that I don't like about that forum is that they will only discuss books from the Grosset & Dunlap (up to #58, they won't even consider the 2005 additions of 59-66) series because about half of the members only want to talk about those books, while the other half want to (or have said that they don't care which book or books is/are discuseed) talk about, not only the G&D books, but the Casefiles, Undercover Brothers, SuperMysteries'88, Super Mysteries'07, etc.

So if you do start a discussion I would recommend not just sticking to one series, but allow the monthly book to change between the G&D, Digests, Casefiles, SuperMysteries'88, etc.

hardygirl847 · February 09, 2010, 05:39:52 PM

Quote from: SDLagent on February 09, 2010, 02:44:22 AM
I may be jumping the gun a bit, here, but I think it would make sense if we read The Tower Treasure first.

I actually have this one and haven't read it yet so that's a good start perhaps.

Quote from: tomswift2002 on February 09, 2010, 05:06:09 PM
Over at another forum they have a similar thing, but one thing that I don't like about that forum is that they will only discuss books from the Grosset & Dunlap (up to #58, they won't even consider the 2005 additions of 59-66) series because about half of the members only want to talk about those books, while the other half want to (or have said that they don't care which book or books is/are discuseed) talk about, not only the G&D books, but the Casefiles, Undercover Brothers, SuperMysteries'88, Super Mysteries'07, etc.

So if you do start a discussion I would recommend not just sticking to one series, but allow the monthly book to change between the G&D, Digests, Casefiles, SuperMysteries'88, etc.

Yeah I find that hard too because I don't have access to those particular versions and/or I am not sure I know the difference (revisions etc). I eally enjoy the other series too and would like to discuss some of those as well.

We a have a little time to figure it out. Specific book suggestions? So far we just have The Tower Treasure.

tomswift2002 · February 09, 2010, 05:59:25 PM

How about Dead On Target or Time Bomb.

Or considering that a lot of people on this forum don't know about Frank and Joe playing musical instruments, how about the 1970 version of The Flickering Torch Mystery which is the version currently out by G&D.

MacGyver · February 09, 2010, 06:36:19 PM

Have to wonder if the revision of The Flickering Torch Mystery wasn't inspired by the Hardy Boys cartoon series though.

QuoteI actually have this one and haven't read it yet so that's a good start perhaps.

Seriously?

That's the first book in the series! Okay, we definitely need to do The Tower Treasure first. But here's a question- original text or revised version?

(j/k- I don't even have the original text, so we better stick to revised on that one for now.)

If we do the SuperMysteries, how about Passport to Danger? (Mainly because that's the next one in the series that I will eventually get around to reading.

)

SDLagent · February 09, 2010, 08:29:34 PM

I think it should be optional - you can read the original version or the revised version. At least for The Tower Treasure, because both versions are so similar.

tomswift2002 · February 10, 2010, 05:02:21 PM

Quote from: SDLagent on February 09, 2010, 08:29:34 PM
I think it should be optional - you can read the original version or the revised version. At least for The Tower Treasure, because both versions are so similar.

That's a good policy, since right now the originals and revised texts of The Tower Treasure through to The Shore Road Mystery are readily available from Applewood Books (Original) and Grosset & Dunlap (Revised).

And while The Secret Of The Caves through to A Figure In Hiding have gone back into the Out-of-Print listings, as far as the original texts are concerned, not every library is going to have a copy of the Applewood Reprints, much less copies Grosset & Dunlap copies from decades ago. The same would have to apply to The Secret Warning through The Mystery At Devil's Paw, even though those never got reprints by Applewood.

SDLagent · February 11, 2010, 12:20:33 AM

My library has an Applewood edition of the original text of The Tower Treasure, but they have it listed as the same book as the revised Grosset & Dunlap, so it's hit and miss which edition I'll get. Chances are, though, since they have more copies of the revised text, that's the one I'll get. I tried to talk to the librarian about it, but he seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. It's pretty annoying.

hardygirl847 · February 11, 2010, 06:08:27 PM

That's funny that the librarian didn't know anything about it! But I think sticking to our "whatever copy you find" policy is what we have to do. Unless the two copies are drastically different.

So far it looks like The Tower Treasure is going to be our first book...You have about 17 days to get your copy....

SDLagent · February 12, 2010, 12:19:17 AM

Yeah, it is sort of funny, but it was pretty annoying at the time, considering I'd borrowed their Applewood edition before. He said someone must have made a mistake or something when they listed it as being published by Applewood.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this "book club", and am going to try to track down a revised text of this book within the next 17 days. If I don't find one, I can always read my revised copy.