Books and book meme
Apr. 7th, 2004 11:26 amI've embarked upon a new project.
I always have a book available for reading in the bathroom. I've found that it's a great way to make my way through books that I have a certain resistance to reading -- not because they're poorly written, but because they don't suck me in the way other books do.
After having alphabetized my entire paperback collection, I'm now planning to read my way through all the books, in alphabetical order. My theory is that if I can't read the book, even as a bathroom book, it's probably ripe for culling.
So far I've read Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott (formerly written pseudonymously by A. Square, I believe) and I'm 100 or so pages into Shardik by Richard Adams.
The odd thing about Shardik is that I believe I've tried reading it several times and bounced off each time. But the memory of the plot I'd read before I bounced off doesn't match the plot of the book I'm currently reading. The book I remember has a man encountering the giant bear and being savaged severely enough that the injuries would have been life-threatening, but a woman comes along and despite the two of them being enemies of some sort, she agrees to heal him, and they form an uneasy truce.
I wonder what book that opening might have been from, or if my copy of Shardik had some sort of translocation into a sideways universe.
I'm also reading The Wolves of Willoughby Chase as my by-the-computer book, having skipped a couple of thicker books to get there.
I haven't quantified all the rules of this reading-all-the-books business; I'll work them out as I go, assuming I don't quit in disgust halfway through the first shelf.
As for the great 100 books, here's my list of what I've read:
( Read more... )
I always have a book available for reading in the bathroom. I've found that it's a great way to make my way through books that I have a certain resistance to reading -- not because they're poorly written, but because they don't suck me in the way other books do.
After having alphabetized my entire paperback collection, I'm now planning to read my way through all the books, in alphabetical order. My theory is that if I can't read the book, even as a bathroom book, it's probably ripe for culling.
So far I've read Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott (formerly written pseudonymously by A. Square, I believe) and I'm 100 or so pages into Shardik by Richard Adams.
The odd thing about Shardik is that I believe I've tried reading it several times and bounced off each time. But the memory of the plot I'd read before I bounced off doesn't match the plot of the book I'm currently reading. The book I remember has a man encountering the giant bear and being savaged severely enough that the injuries would have been life-threatening, but a woman comes along and despite the two of them being enemies of some sort, she agrees to heal him, and they form an uneasy truce.
I wonder what book that opening might have been from, or if my copy of Shardik had some sort of translocation into a sideways universe.
I'm also reading The Wolves of Willoughby Chase as my by-the-computer book, having skipped a couple of thicker books to get there.
I haven't quantified all the rules of this reading-all-the-books business; I'll work them out as I go, assuming I don't quit in disgust halfway through the first shelf.
As for the great 100 books, here's my list of what I've read:
( Read more... )