TINCC Book Club!
posted January 16, 2011 1:05 PM   RSS

Your benevolent dic-taters (me, baxter_ilion, booknerd, Ijon Tichy) have decided that what we need in Chicago is a book club. A good one.
So, Sunday March 5 at 3pm we will be meeting up to discuss The Instructions by Adam Levin.

We have not chosen a venue yet. We want to find a bar that has food and won't be busy on a Sunday afternoon. We are open to ideas.

So, who wants to read a giant book with us? If you don't want to read a giant book, this is not the book club for you.
posted by bibliogrrl to Proposed (35 comments total)

What neighborhood did you have in mind for the not too loud, not too crowded barlike place with food on Sunday?
posted by crush-onastick at 6:43 PM on January 16, 2011


Northside-ish. I know not everyone will have cars, so proximity to the CTA (bus OR train) would be awesome.
posted by bibliogrrl at 7:09 PM on January 16, 2011


The Third Coast Cafe is in Streeterville, pretty close to the Clark/Division red line stop. It tends to be very crowded Sunday at brunch, but pretty empty later in the day. I think it's wine & beer only, but I always found it comfortable. quiet, a good place for conversation.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:09 AM on January 17, 2011


Yes! I'm almost done with Infinite Jest and I'm going to need something to fill the void.
posted by kitarra at 10:11 PM on January 17, 2011


Kitarra - I'll be reading that AFTER the Instructions. :D
posted by bibliogrrl at 7:15 AM on January 18, 2011


definitely keeping this in mind.
posted by ejaned8 at 7:17 AM on January 18, 2011


Is the idea that you would have already read The Instructions, or that you would begin reading it around this time? I need to get through IJreadv3, then Franzen's book, and then drop everything I'm doing on 4/15 when The Pale King comes out, so I guess I'm out no matter what. :(
posted by SpiffyRob at 10:44 AM on January 18, 2011


I have been wanting to read this book and also 3rd Coast is maybe my favorite place in the whole wide city, so.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:55 PM on January 18, 2011


SpiffyRob, my original plan was to have IJ done when Pale King came out, but that isn't going to happen. I'll start IJ after Instructions (which I should start now already dammit).
posted by bibliogrrl at 8:24 PM on January 18, 2011


Wait so are we supposed to have read The Instructions before showing up to this?
posted by shakespeherian at 6:57 AM on January 19, 2011


It's my understanding that's how book clubs work. You read it, then hang around talking about what you got out of it. If I can grab a copy at the CPL, I'll give it a whirl.
posted by crush-onastick at 7:24 AM on January 19, 2011


Yes, read The Instructions sometime before the meeting, then talk about it. My usual book club MO consists of furiously turning pages to finish reading in the five minutes leading up to the meeting. YMMV.

Alternatively, don't read The Instructions, but come to the meeting if you'd like to attend future meetings and want input on what book we read. Your opinion will be weighted less than that of people who've actually read the book, though.

...Actually, if everyone wants to read The Pale King anyway, that could be Book Club Book #2.
posted by booknerd at 8:03 AM on January 19, 2011


I guess I've belonged to reading clubs wherein the goal is to get together during the course of reading the book.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:11 AM on January 19, 2011


Doesn't that have a high probability of zomg spoilers?
posted by booknerd at 11:58 AM on January 19, 2011


Nah, we always did it like high school reading-- we had weekly goals for reading and would come back all on pg. whatever.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:01 PM on January 19, 2011


INFINITE JEEEESSSSSST
posted by tzikeh at 8:50 PM on January 19, 2011


tzikeh - a bunch of us are gonna read that together. Originally the plan was to start the day after VD, but I am going to vote to move it to the day after I finish The Instructions.
posted by bibliogrrl at 9:49 AM on January 20, 2011


Woo Infinite Jest! I think Mr. Kit is going to reread it now that I finished, so we can definitely get in on that one too.
posted by kitarra at 1:44 PM on January 22, 2011


Hey, this sounds super cool. I've never been to any of the many, many Chicago meetups, but I'm totally up for this. I'll try to come up with a suggestion for where we could have the meetup.
posted by Hello, Revelers! I am Captain Lavender! at 4:59 AM on January 25, 2011


Dear Chicago: Move closer!

(I'd try for another Ann Arbor meetup, but after failing to show after proposing the last one, I fear being accosted by those more socially commited)
posted by waxlight at 6:30 AM on February 12, 2011


I think I would like to read the giant book. Is this thinger still on?
posted by Glinn at 1:44 PM on February 15, 2011


It IS!
posted by bibliogrrl at 9:22 AM on February 16, 2011


If there aren't any objections to 3rd Coast Cafe, what say we make this shit legit?
posted by kitarra at 8:06 PM on February 16, 2011


because the other organizers haven't chimed in.
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:00 AM on February 17, 2011


Oh yeah, let's do this. Sorry, I've been busy being unemployed and reading a lot of books. 3pm at 3rd Coast is fine, and maybe I will make a field trip to the nearby International Museum of Surgical Science beforehand, because that sounds awesome.

And if any of you are thinking, "I might like to go to this, but a giant book is kind of intimidating in it's giant-ness," please note that the book has large type and enormous margins, and thick paper. It turned out to be way less daunting and time-consuming to read than I would have guessed for how annoyingly heavy it is. If you want to learn about all the cool weight-lifting purposes I put it to or how I may have developed tendinitis in my elbow in the week I spent holding it, you'll have to come to the meeting.
posted by booknerd at 10:51 AM on February 17, 2011


I have just received my book and it is clear I did not grasp beforehand the true giant-ness of the giant.

I would like to thank booknerd for (slightly) softening the effect. I shall unwrap it after work.
posted by Glinn at 6:38 AM on February 21, 2011


In this unnecessarily self-referential comment I express my approval of 3rd Coast Cafe as a site for the first of, presumably, many book club meetings.
posted by IjonTichy at 1:57 PM on February 21, 2011


Rats! So much notice and now I can't make it. Maybe round two.
posted by Glinn at 12:17 PM on March 4, 2011


OMG this is tomorrow (?)! Mr. kitarra & I are totally game to be at the 3rd Coast Cafe at 3pm, assuming this a go!
posted by kitarra at 5:41 PM on March 5, 2011


Did you guys read The Instructions?! We read it, but it seemed like no one else did, so I wasn't sure if this was still worth doing. We can definitely make it though if you guys read the book and want to talk about it.
posted by booknerd at 6:36 PM on March 5, 2011


We did! And we would love to talk about it! See you there?
posted by kitarra at 6:26 AM on March 6, 2011



Or rather: See you there!
posted by kitarra at 8:22 AM on March 6, 2011


For one or two excellent reasons and one or two lamer ones, I was very late in starting the book, and I'll not likely finish before 3:00.

I'll be there all the same. I'd really like to talk about what I have read and get some critical context for what remains.

(Things I promise you will not hear from me: "Huh?" "Would you mind summarizing that part?" "Whoah, spoiler alert!")
posted by Iridic at 8:31 AM on March 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


Okay, we'll be there at 3pm. If I have time, I might bring presents for people who have finished the book, because I like to encourage good behavior.
posted by booknerd at 8:46 AM on March 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'll make an IRL for the next meeting, but can the people who came please email me their book selections (and/or email addresses) so we can pick a book for next time before I make the new thread?
posted by booknerd at 7:17 AM on March 7, 2011



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