We’ve been running the Avid Reader Book Club on AbeBooks for some time now, and last week I ran a survey to find out more about the members, their taste in books, and what they’d like to get out of the book club. The results show that our members are very diverse in everything from age to favorite genre to whether they participate in the club to discuss books or just get suggestions.
Up until now, I’ve always picked the books each month. Choosing a book for thousands of readers to read with you is harder than it sounds: I can’t even count how many books I’ve picked up to read with the intention of them being club picks, but then decided they weren’t cut out for the part. Starting today, I’ll choose threee books each month, and members can vote for the next pick. I select three books with different genres, publication dates and settings, so it will be interesting to see the results as the historical fiction lovers battle it out with the classics/mysteries fan base and the bestseller group.
The most fun part of any poll? Seeing the results come in. It becomes addictive, watching the results first inch up one way, and then another: most of the time, it’s impossible to guess the end results from the first few votes.
This month’s picks are Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskerviles, Alan Brennert’s Moloka’i, and Marina Lewycka’s A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. If you’re addicted to polls too, watch the voting results here. Or, sign up for the Book Club to read with us.