I am remembering the fact that I am a Reader. I have always loved to read, I have always voraciously read. I have devoured books since I was six, or younger. I have eaten whole libraries.

What I never have been, is a Discusser. I rarely talk about books with people. Part of this is that I don't often come across people who also like to read. Sure, people say they like to read. But more often than not, they don't. They "don't have time." Or they like reading, conceptually, but they don't like the practice of it. Or they "like to get out." Or they "have better things to do."

Whatever.

Even when I did find people who read, they more often read books I didn't read. Like science fiction. (Okay, I occasionally read science fiction, just not that often, and not that hard-core.) Or really pop fiction. Or romance. Or (gasp) Oprah Book Club books.

I don't read those. I don't pretend that I am particularly well-rounded in terms of reading. I am purely consumerist about reading; I read because I know what I like and I read that and usually nothing but.

Occasionally I read a book upon a friend's recommendation. But only if I think that friend has taste. I am snobby that way.

Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that I rarely have anyone to discuss books with.

Nor do I feel the point. The full extent of my "discussion" is usually what I put on my web page. Maybe I've adapted to the situation of not having anyone to discuss books with, maybe I've become complacent. After all, I don't get particularly in-depth in my little blurbs, nor do they often invite comments from others so as to promote a full exchange of ideas. (I've gotten responses from exactly two people about books. Dan and Jen.)

Lately I have been wondering if I should try to change this situation. The options I see are these: book groups and email lists. Each, I've decided, will be personified by a person who shares my reading tastes and who participates in that particular option. So. In my former grand tradition of analyzing my friends in excrutiating detail on my web pages until they email me and tell me to stop or anonymize them, here I go.

Book groups, as characterized by Justin. Book groups, according to Justin, can be occasionally annoying to organize. Book groups, according to Justin, can be okay when one has sway over the reading choices. Book groups, according to Justin, can devolve when all the people in the groups say "ooh, I liked this part" and "ooh, I hated this part" and doesn't extend into any deeper discussion. But book groups, according to Justin, provide fun social interaction, and occasionally yummy niblets.

My friend Emily thinks book groups are for Real Adults, which she isn't yet. That's her excuse for not wanting to join one. That and reading too much already in law school.

Book groups fit Justin's personality more than they may fit mine. Justin is extroverted, in a semi-salon-esque way. Justin is not a geek in the way that we from MIT are geeks. Justin was once a member of a Princeton eating club for God's sake. I, however, am a fake extrovert. I am friendly because I am a Southerner. I am not internally friendly. I just exhibit the outward signs of extroversion because I grew up thinking that was politeness, not friendliness. You should see friendly Southern people.

I might be too picky for a book group. There are millions of people I can imagine never wanting to discuss a book with, and god forbid I enter the same room as one of them. And if we disagree wildly, egad. Let me out of there. At this point, I can't even watch movies with my roommates and some of my friends, because of difference in viewing tastes and viewing philosophies.

So. Onto book lists, as characterized by Dan. Okay, they're usually author fan lists, rather than book fan lists, and actually there's bulletin board discussion groups too. But I'll limit Dan to being the author list guy, because I've done the bulletin board thing briefly myself.

Author lists, according to Dan, allow for more in depth discussion. Author lists, according to Dan, can have the same problem that any email list has - the annoying member who just won't leave, the recurring discussion of "is this subject on the topic of the list can we really discuss this?" and trolls. Author lists, according to Dan, have fluidity, in that it can remain dead nothing's going on, and revive again when something new comes up.

Author lists fit Dan's personality slightly more than they may fit mine, although I'm probably more a list person than a group person. I like the fluidity, I like the self- selection of people who are really into a particular author. I identify with faniness. But I like talking in person, too. I'm not sure Dan needs that as much (and goddammit if he does he should call me once in awhile.)

This is what I want. I want a hybrid. A list of people (or even a bulletin board of people) which meets every once in awhile. Like once every few weeks (which actually seems to be more often than most book groups meet). Like soc.culture.asian.american.boston (aka SCAABOS) used to be. We'd rail electronically, we'd nosh at restaurants and discuss various issues brought up over the net (John Hwang, the perpetual wm/af debate). I want people who know each other personally but are not discussing stuff together just because they know each other personally, but because they share the same interests in books.

I want to meet more people with similar book tastes. I want to meet people who get similar joys from similar fictions, who get irked by the same things as well. Is this so much to ask?

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