I don't read enough anymore, not since I nuked the whole commuting thing. It's mostly just an hour on a Sunday night in the bath with a beer. And I certainly don't read outside my comfort zone. It's all 800 page sci-fi page turners, or clichéd fantasy 10 book epics.I need an excuse to read more, and read better.
So let's start an EED Bookclub. The idea is that we take it in turns to pick a book, each go off and read it, then discuss it - probably in a blog. The turnaround time should be about a month, but that's not set in stone, neither is the choice of book. But here's a few pointers that I think would make good guidelines for selections:
- Consider the length. Even with a turnaround of a month, some people read slower than others. While we'd all like to be able to fit in books 1-10 of Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series, it simply isn't practical. 2-300 pages seems a good compromise.
- Consider the genre. Let's face it, we all are pretty well versed with sci-fi/fantasy genre books. And while there's plenty of good thought provoking stuff out there, it might be nice to expand our horizons. Not saying we need to dig up the Brontes, but let's think outside the box.
- Consider the discussion. Since it would be a good to get some serious discussion going on the books we read, the books themselves should be interesting. You might like to pick up the latest Dean R. Koontz, but it's probably not got the kind of literary depth that would provoke comment.
Of course, all of that is entirely at the discretion of the book nominator.
So, if you're interested (and this isn't limited to EED only, if any UKG or others fancy getting involved) then post on this blog. I'll make a list and put them in the hat and draw out the nomination order. To aid those who want a two month turnaround, we'll pick one book in advance and they can dip into every other discussion.
Posts
11 comments: