Thats true.
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Hi everyone. After seeing the recent discussion, I wanted to propose an idea. Not sure if it was suggested already.
I am probably one of the people who dropped by on a whim and picked some of the books by name (though I really would like to read them). But one of my problems with choosing some of the books is that there were so many to pick from. I think I counted around 15 books, and this is maybe too much. And now, a lot of people probably have to read something they do not want to read.
So here is my idea: Why not take this voting as a preliminary voting to choose a smaller set (maybe 2-5, or the books who surpass a certain percentage) and vote among them again?
This would also help to prevent people who visited only once and never visit again to influence the final decision too much.
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For me at my current stage of learning, it’s more about the reading than about the book itself, so I’m basically ok with any book, contents-wise. I don’t really like horror / splatter books any more (I’ve had my fill with probably 30+ Stephen King books, if you know what I mean). But other than that, all is well.
I’m actually more concerned with the difficulty level, and I found quite a number of the suggested books’ samples really hard to read, so I didn’t choose those. Also, I thought it might be helpful if I already know the story more-or-less.
For the reading options, I’m totally fine with the books being read in parallel or in sequence. I will not join both groups if they run in parallel because one of them is already quite challenging for me, and there is the Beginners’ Club as well, and surprisingly there’s also other mildly relevant things like work, household, and that. 
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I think parallel would be fine for me, I already know the story of 君の名は and キノの旅 didn’t seem too challenging. And 時をかける少女 will already be over by then.
Of course it also depends on the pace of the books…
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Yeah we’ll see how far がんばって gets me 
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Thanks for posting 
I hope you do stick around with us.
Well, the point of having multiple choices was to actually avoid that, allowing people to select all books they would be interested in reading.
Plus, 43/56 people voted for the top two books, so I think it’s not a big problem (at least not a problem that would be solved by having people vote again on the top picks;) )
If the spread was more even, it would be something to consider, though.
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Well, seems like it’s fine-ish with people to have both at the same time then…
Right, it’s not optimal on all fronts, but at least the threads will still be there afterwards…
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I think another thing to consider is thread creation/maintenance. Historically this club has never been as robust as the beginner’s club so provided there’s somebody in both groups willing to make sure the new chapters (etc.) are being put together and that there are people in both groups able and willing to support stragglers and those with questions. It may be a good option. I just remember when I was popping in when I was reading Kiki. That was possible because there were no questions about comprehending the grammar and vocabulary in the other group. So I was able to invest the time to be active in two threads.
Two books concurrently with grammar questions can be challenging if there’s without strong members present (or least one’s committed to doing the research to help out).
And a much high retention rate after the fact. Most books here have only ended with 5-6 members, three or four of whom were actually posting on the threads. 
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Oh, that’s an issue indeed. 
Looking at the votes, it looks like everyone with experience is on the side of Kino; I didn’t expect that.
Well, someone will have to learn, then! (Or not, we’ll see).
Anyway, the votes have mostly dried up. I’ll give the poll 12 more hours just in case.
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And 君の名は is actually the more difficult of the two. The book switches perspectives of the both of the protagonists, which is quite confusing. Plus with the metaphysical themes in the book, it can potentially be quite challenging.
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I wonder if the split might cause even less people to participate rather than help…
How many who only voted for one, would be fine with reading either? So if we only pick the first place, will they come along? Or will they decide to sit it out cause it wasn’t their chosen one?
I didn’t vote for either of the two, yet was planing on picking up the winner, whichever it may be.
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I’d personally be fine with reading either (and will read both if they end up running parallel) - I even have both books already!
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I’m not that interested in Kino so probably won’t read if we just do that one. My preference is to read in parallel and then hopefully there are a few dedicated posters in each and a larger group reading along.
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I think that’s fair, and similarly I would probably skip 君の名は, which is why doing both seems to be the best option indeed, as long as there’s someone to organize things for both books.
Hopefully we’ll have a volunteer.
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I can at least can make the discussion threads for some book if nobody else wants to/has time for it.
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The book club is not for you as an individual, it’s for us as a group. You need to give in of some things (speed, choice of book) in other to gain other stuff (collaboration, accountability, etc).
One thing would be if there were lvl 1 people invading the poll. Most people that voted come to the forums pretty much everyday.
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Well I mean I never said it until now to not be rude, but at this point, the number of people that vote and don’t join is kind of rude. So I really wouldn’t care if they decided to not show up because they do that anyway, lol. (this is a lol to soften my statement, not to be condescending )
Plus like @Naphthalene said, people, make a thread with a book already chosen anyway and people still join. So there is still a chance they’d do that.
Don’t worry about it, I wouldn’t change this thread. To flip rules on everyone’s head like that…I could never do that. I was suggesting to make a different one.
But if there’s no interest in the idea by the people I’m proposing it to, it’s a dead idea tbh.
It’s okay it’s a valid reason to complain, and a relevant issue to this club.
True, It wouldn’t really be that elist if we did it like this. It could be like a right of passage thing, (almost like rushing but with out the menace) Because you’d be able to chose the second book. You’d just have to sit through one book and prove you won’t flake I suppose.
Yeah the idea does look like it’s moot, but I again I’m not talking about changing the voting system here but making a new thread. I don’t know if when we feel ready we could make an ‘advanced book club’ like this. But we’ll see how this book goes and cross that bridge when we get there.
Honestly, if I remember correctly I wasn’t so crazy for it but voted for it so your name wouldn’t win.
Edit: I just double checked and that was indeed the case. Which is annoying because the people who actually participate don’t want to read this book, me you and @seanblue, and it’s always second place, so In my case I often vote for a book I also don’t really want to read as much just so your name won’t win.
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Someone we know is going to kill you for that 
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Yeah, I agree, and I’ve done so. But I’m not trying to accommodate myself, there’s a clear difference in preference of books for those who make it to the end and those who haven’t.
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I’d say let’s wait to see who actually buys the book. I know we’d love to have 25 people doing 1 book each, but that’s not going to happen 
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