Here’s what I found bookish & interesting on my tour around the Internet this week:
I loved this story about people forming a human chain to move books to a new library – now that’s bookish dedication!
For the past couple of years I’ve taken part in Goodreads Reading Challenge. I also track my reading at the 50 Book Pledge, which I love even more as it’s very visual. I view participating in these things as a way of challenging myself to read more and do other stuff (watch tv, waste time online) less. The Guardian views the reading challenge another way. Read The bad side of Goodreads’ Reading Challenge.
My brother Mark bought me a Kobo for Christmas. He’s a dear man. “You read a lot,” he said to me when I thanked him. Yep, I read a lot….of BOOKS. Like… books that I can hold in my hand with real pages I can turn and then store on my shelves when I am done. Nevertheless, I tried to set the damn thing up and failed and now it’s just sitting on my bedroom table, abandoned. So…
this makes me inordinantly happy: How Book Porn is Actually Revolutionalizing the Book World
Check out this comprehensive list of 50 Essential Mystery Novels. It’s missing Thomas H. Cook, a mystery writer at the top of my list, but it’s still a great start for newbies to the genre.
Finally – here’s a fantastic list of books for booklovers.
The Ludic Reader 
I would comment on the Guardian, but I don’t see a comment button anywhere (sometimes I’m such a techie nube.) Anyway, I consider the Goodreads challenge a joke. For the past three years, I have challenged myself to read ONE book. Score! This year I am already reading at a 500% success rate — the envy of GR types everywhere.
Anyway, I see this same issue in my own class where I ask my reader/learners to read 25 books a year. Trouble with such arbitrary numbers is this — some books are longer, some are more challenging, and, well, this post has inspired me to elaborate more in my blog this morning.
Thanks for being a fellow early riser. Unless, of course, you’re a good techie and just use the timing feature!
Early riser…um…yes…Okay no, not so much in the winter.
Congratulations on reaching your Goodreads goal so early in the year! 🙂 No, seriously, I hear you about the drawbacks of the challenge – and the people who read 200 books just irritate me because…really? Really? It’s not a race, people.
I don’t know why I do it. I wonder if I wasn’t keeping ‘score’ whether I’d read as much? I think the answer is probably yes.
Now I’m off to see what you have to say on the subject.
Turns out, quite a few people had ideas about it (and maybe more will still weigh in, though blog posts, like tomatoes, have a short shelf life).
Thanks for the early-morning inspiration!