The Classics Club DARE :-)

All right, clubbers. We’re going to play a new game called  The Classics Club DARE.

What is it? Simple! We name a book, and anyone who dares to read and write about that book earns the right to dare fellow clubbers to try a title of their own choosing. You can take as long as you like to read the dare title, but you don’t get the fun of passing on the dare until you read and write about the book you were dared to read, and leave a link to your post about that title in the comments below.

We’re starting the event here — but after this, it will be led by anyone who wants to play.

As you finish a book, tweet your post to @ourclassicsclub and tag it #ccdarebook.  We’ll retweet! Remember to leave a link in this initial post too. Once you’ve finished the book you agreed to read when you took the dare, and written about it, you can select a title you’d like to dare fellow clubbers to read. Make it a good one, but remember — you decide what is a classic. 🙂

If this catches on, future clubbers who want to play can read our suggested title to set off the game, or any of the titles clubbers suggest in the comments stream below (which they can suggest if, and only if, they read a dare title.)

Make sense?

So initially, anyone who wants to play has to read our dare book. (Below.) But if, say, five people take this initial dare, they will each dare clubbers to read a title. After all five of them finish the dare, they’ll come back here and link to five different posts daring clubbers to read a title of their choice.

So the Classics Club Dare List will have become longer, and might include:

• The initial title selected by your moderators (below)
• Song of Solomon
• The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Things Falls Apart
• The Haunting of Hill House

These are only examples. Each of the above representing titles YOU might pick once you take on the dare. Anyone who comes along in say, six months, would have a greater selection to choose from than those who begin the game now because, as the game advances, the list will grow longer and will be shaped to the tastes of those who took on the dare. Clubbers who wish to play can read ANY of the titles suggested by those who took on the dare. (Which will be offered in the comments below. Go the to the post they link, tell them you take that dare 🙂 read, and dare your fellow clubbers.)

Here’s the opening dare:

We dare you to read:

The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata. Click the cover for details!

Pages: 276 (above edition) / Published: 1949

Right now, The Classics Club Dare list is one book long. 🙂 (Above!) If people play and succeed at finishing and writing about their dare book, the selection list for playing will grow longer, and will be listed in the comments below. Anyone who stumbles upon this game later in the life of our club can begin by initially reading any of the dare books listed in the comments stream, OR the initial dare book we’ve suggested to start off the game. At the time of this writing, the only dare book we have is The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata.

You can play once or many times. Whatever you choose.

Anyone want to play? If so:

• Read the above title. Take however long you like.
• When you’re finished, write about the book at your blog, and follow up that same post with the title you dare clubbers to read.
• Leave a link to your post in the comments below, along with the name of the title you’re daring clubbers to read.
• Tweet your post to @ourclassicsclub and tag it #ccdarebook.
• That’s it! 🙂

You are only eligible to list a title below when it is linked as an official dare book at your blog, which you can ONLY do once you have read a dare book and officially written about it at your blog.

If you’re all booked up through January, no worries. Start the game whenever you like. If by the time you are ready to play, there are three titles listed for the game (because a couple people have played and finished already, and have added a dare title to the comments below), you can choose any of them. Read and write about The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata, or a title selection from one of the finishers.

Read that title, and you get to suggest a title for clubbers. You can play as many times as you want. Just read a Classic Club Dare book, write about it, and suggest a title.

Your post after finishing a dare might look something like:

I finished The Classic Club’s Dare Book _____ (title.) Here are my thoughts on the book _________. (Doesn’t have to be official or fancy, though it can be if that’s your preference. Just share what you thought in a couple paragraphs at the very least.)

Now that I’ve finished my dare book, I dare clubbers to read _______ (your title choice.) I think this is a good title to suggest because _______ (any reason you like, including, “It’s my favorite book, and I want to know what others think,” or “I think this is a crazy long book, and I want to know if anyone is crazy enough to read it!”)

Once you finish reading and write a post at your place like the above, please contribute in the comments below by writing something on the order of:

“I have finished reading and writing about ___________ [DARE TITLE with a link to your post about the book.] I have challenged clubbers to read and write about ____________  [a classic title of your choice.]”

In this way, the selection of dare books people have to choose from will grow longer and longer. People can begin the game by choosing any of them. If someone else finishes the game and suggests a dare title, you can read theirs instead of our opening dare title to play.

But first — someone (however many want to play) must read The Sound of the Mountain. 🙂 Any takers? No time limit!