The Reading Room

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

As my Tuesday post was not possible this week, I’m here to say a belated thank you very much to the_other_sandy for reccing “Scissors” by LRH Balzer, and also to everyone who read and commented.



You may have noticed there aren’t any more Reading Room fics scheduled. I’ve been finding it hard to do justice to the Reading Room due to the ever-increasing pressure of RL work, paid and unpaid. So, as we were coming to the end of the current list, I decided that I would not prod you for any more recs and then I would bow out. Now I can’t put this sad post off any longer.

When the Reading Room first opened its doors and its shelves I never imagined we’d still be doing this eighteen months later. I was thinking weeks rather than months, but then I was new to Pros fandom and didn’t reckon on the endless enthusiasm here for reccing and reading and chatting. It’s been more successful than I ever hoped, thanks to all your participation and generous support for the project. The best thing, apart from an excellent education in the canon of Pros fanfic, has been getting to know readers I wouldn’t have encountered in other comms, and getting to know some of the usual suspects much better.

It would be great if someone wanted to take over the Reading Room and carry it on, or else launch some new and different reccing project here – in either case, I guess you should consult the mod, byslantedlight. If there’s any interest, we might still have the occasional get-together. For instance, franciskerst has offered a recc for some time in October.

And I’m sure byslantedlight would agree that recs are always welcome here at ci5hq.

Comments

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

Well, all good things come to an end, I guess, but I've thoroughily enjoyed every minute of the Reading Room. Thank you so much for modding it for those eighteen (?!) months. You've done a terrific job!

It's been fun to take part in these discussions. I hope we'll have other such opportunties down the line.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

You've certainly been one of the most encouraging people involved - which I've very much appreciated, I can assure you. Your recs and your insights into Pros fic and writing in general have been very interesting (and the recs occasionally challenging) and I'll miss being in contact most weeks. So do keep reccing anyway.

[etain-antrim.livejournal.com]

Thanks from me, too. Even though I'm a slacker who hardly ever participated, I enjoyed reading the discussion each week.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thank *you*, and sorry to deprive you of your weekly read. *g*

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

What a pity!
It was something you could look forward every week.

But thank you very much for the good times!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Sorry to disapoint you. And you've been such a great friend of The Reading Room! Thank you for all your support and for always getting in there with your own particular views. *g*

[londonronnie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all your hard work in organising the Reading Room and keeping it going. I have to admit to not participating very much, mainly because I could never get the stories read in time (!), but I've really enjoyed reading all the discussions.

Here's hoping that we see more of the Reading Room, or something similar, in the future.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I do wish someone would carry it on, or rather something new and similar but different.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

ci5hq was set up originally as somewhere for people to rec and review and discuss stories, so of course I hope that people will continue to do all of those things here whenever they want to!

That said, Reading Room has been brilliant, and even though I didn't manage to join in as much as I'd hoped to, it was always interesting seeing what other people thought of stories. It would be lovely if it could continue informally, even if no one wants to take over a formal scheduling... Thank you for all your hard work with it jaycat92!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for your help and for hosting us all this time!

"it was always interesting seeing what other people thought of stories." yes! Recs that were more like reviews, and thought-out responses running to paragraphs.

I don't understand recs that just give the author and title and maybe quote a pithy line from the text. I like to know something about why that fic made an impression on the reccer, and other readers in their comments.

gosh, feeling nostalgic now, but I think The Reading Room in my hands has run its course (save for occasional reunions!). Should be possible to do something similar informally though.

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

This is sad! Thanks for *all* your hard work here, it's been a lot of fun and a great way to remember the older, less-well remembered stories and to introduce new ones to people. Perhaps it could continue as and when people feel they've got a story they want to discuss in more detail than the usual reccing post?

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps it could continue as and when people feel they've got a story they want to discuss in more detail than the usual reccing post?" I do hope so. There were always recs at ci5hq before, but it was rather dominated by the Reading Room, so hopefully it will revert to people reccing at ci5hq as and when the mood takes them. I have a couple lined up already.

[starlite876.livejournal.com]

A big thank you from me as well.

Ever since I've discovered The Reading Room I have been eagerly waiting each week for the recced fic and the discussions. Although I haven't been actively participated in the discussions I do love reading other people's thoughts and opinions of the fics… and I have discovered so many stories that I would not have known if not for The Reading Room.

Thank you for all your hard work in organising the weekly fics list.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. It's been really helpful to me to have the motivation to read fics I would not have read otherwise.

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Well, I haven't participated hardly at all, I admit, but I love the idea of the Reading Room. You've done an amazing job, and your enthusiasm made it work, I think. I do hope someone else might take over the modding and prodding. It's such a fantastic thing to find people discussing Pros stories old and new. And having to have a story read by a certain date actually works to get the stories read and discussed. Bravo!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your kind words.

"I love the idea of the Reading Room. ... It's such a fantastic thing to find people discussing Pros stories old and new." Absolutely. That's what made me put the idea to byslantedlight way back, and by and large it worked. How could it not, with such a vast body of fic and articulate, passionate consumers to discuss it.

[potztausend.livejournal.com]

That's really sad - but thank you for your work! If more recs are needed, I could choose four in 2010 - one for each month, starting September.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thank *you* for your recs and being a good friend of The Reading Room, and someone I wouldn't have got to know otherwise.

Why not give yourself a personal target of one rec per month? If everyone in this comm did that, there would soon be an abundance of recs.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It would be great if you posted your recs yourself, even without the official Reading room, one a month as you plan. You could just say that you'd like to do a discussion rec on such-and-such day, to give anyone who wanted to join in a chance to read it, and then do your rec post and hopefully discussion would follow!

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very very much for all your hard work. I've been away/offline every other month and have always read the fics and then checked the discussions even when I couldn't join in because they were long over! It's been fantastic and you must be very proud to have sustained such a long and deep discussion venue!! I will miss it, of course, and hope we now all know each other better - enough to start proper, if more informal, discussions when somebody recs something here!

I've enjoyed discussions about fics I love (and some I hate) and reading ones that are new to me. I've enjoyed hearing other opinions and sometimes changing my mind in the light of what others have to say.

I know from my own experience what it's like to run something online and reach a stage when it just isn't possible any longer - but be assured that we're all grateful for the wonderful time you've given us!

I hope/assume we'll still 'see' you around!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

gosh, is overwhelmed!
But it takes 'discussants' to make this work, and increasingly I felt able to sit back and let you all go for it.

"I hope we now all know each other better - enough to start proper, if more informal, discussions when somebody recs something here" - you make a very good point there, and a welcome one.

The place I'm mainly to be found is the_safehouse but I have a couple of recs in mind for ci5hq already.

[mysteriousaliwz.livejournal.com]

Thank you for running the Reading Room - it's been much appreciated. I haven't always been able to summon up the mental energy to contribute to the discussion, but I liked the recs and reading the discussions.

Hope RL settles down for you soon!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for your thoughts.

re RL, suffice to say, when my term on the board of the society for which I'm doing all this unpaid work is up, I won't be standing for it again!

Reading Room

[(Anonymous)]

Has it really been 18 months?!?!? Time flies when .. *g*

Thanks so much for doing all this - I've had a lot of fun (re)reading and commenting a bit here and there, and it's been a great activity and resource for the fandom. A big thank you, and I hope RL behaves itself for you.

Re: Reading Room

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Damn, I didn't notice I wasn't logged in!

Re: Reading Room

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Hi there, anon!

Thank you very much, you've been a great source of encouragement, believe me.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for doing this for month after month. You know how much I enjoyed it. I like sharing my love of fic with others and you did a great service moderating this for that long. *big squishy hug*

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
(Hugs you back and sniffles a little.)

"You know how much I enjoyed it." yup, got the message *g*.

[smirra.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your work. It is a great idea to discuss pros and discover great fanfic that way.
I would like to see this continue in some way.

[margaret-r.livejournal.com]

I haven't been here long but have enjoyed the recs and conversations very much. Thank you for being in charge of such an interesting Comm.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Just interupting to say that the Comm itself will still be here! ci5hq has been a place for reccing, reviewing and discussing fic since 2006, and is modded by myself and empty_mirrors - and it will all still be here once Reading Room is (sadly) finished!

The Reading Room was a weekly project here, run by jaycat92, and it was wonderful - but this is still a place where you can read reviews and recs and all sorts (do check out the Index List in the left hand sidebar of the comm for 4 years worth of recs etc!), so I hope you (and everyone!) will still post and rec and read here!

[margaret-r.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that was my poor wording - should have said 'interesting part of the Comm'. The Room Reading was a lovely introduction here for me:)

I will certainly be checking out the index, which is something I haven't had a chance to do before. I'm looking forward to finding more and more lovely Pros fics.

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the Reading Room as a lurker -- thank you very much for organizing it.

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for your excellent coordination and leadership here. The Reading Room gave me an added incentive to get off my butt and discuss a story that I find interesting. As has been said, ci5hq was always a place for this, so hopefully the reccing and discussion will continue though perhaps not as regular as clockwork. ;-)

[andreathelion.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all your hard work on the reading room. You really did a terrific job!
Even if I haven't joined/commented at all, I thoroughly enjoyed to read the thoughts and discussions about the different fics and it let me read some I wouldn't have touched otherwise.
And I often come back to look up some fics, so yes, the reading room really is a treasure to me.

Thanks again J, and I hope your RL calms down for you.

[saintvic.livejournal.com]

While I have, for the most part, just been a lurker at the reading room I wanted to say big thank you to you for organising it. It has always been fun and been a good prompt to reread things as well.

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Wow! Has it really been 18 months? Blimey! Thanks ever-so for all you've done. I've enjoyed it immensely.