cringe factor

[boxofdelights]

So the book group that is hosted by the library meets in August to choose books for the year. Everyone who attends that meeting gets to propose a book; then everyone writes down their top six choices, and we read the ones that get the most votes. I did not attend last August, so I didn't witness the selection, but we are going to read a book that was written by a member of the book club. He is also going to facilitate the discussion, since it is the custom for the person who proposes the book to be the facilitator, although one can ask the librarian who runs the book group to facilitate in one's stead.

I think this is a terrible idea.

Also I have no idea how to talk about a book in front of its author, even if I don't care about the author, which is not the case here, even if I like the book, which hmmm. I have developed a little skill at beta-reading, but that is different: there, you are criticizing only what the author wants criticized, in order to improve the work before she publishes it. Here, I don't know what he wants from the discussion but I don't think he's going to get it.

Comments

[isis]

Wow. Ugh.

[boxofdelights]

Definitely.

[oursin]

He proposed his own book?????!!!!!
Words fail.
(And no, I don't think this is the same thing as somebody on one my academic listservs proposing a smaller discussion group on [topic], which I had a chapter on going through press, and as they were largely lit types, thought a historian's perspective might be useful. I circulated the pdf of the proofs, and certainly didn't oblige them to buy the book it was in.)

[boxofdelights]

I understand sincerely believing that your own book is wonderful, but if you're not a child, you have to know that you are not a fair judge of your own work, right? Right??

[bibliofile]

I suspect a new author of a self-published book. I hope he is able to hear the feedback.

(Subtext: facepalm)

[malkingrey]

I'd call that unseemly, at best -- either he's trawling for compliments in a setting where people are going to feel obliged to give them, or he has a remarkable lack of social awareness.

Offhand, this would seem to be the ideal occasion to deploy the last-minute onset of an unspecified ailment . . . stomach upset would be good, since it sounds like the prospect of sitting through that particular book club meeting does make you feel queasy.

[brigantine]

I believe Malkingrey's suggestion sounds like a sensible avoidance strategy. I mean, ick.

[silveradept]

This is shady. And will likely be awkward if the book itself is not that good.

[jesse_the_k]

In fact, it's evident that a stomach upset has already settled in.