A friend who was unhappy with her previous attempts at book clubs, in-person and virtual, decided a book club where we each read whatever it is we want to read might work better. Thus, 12 Books, 12 Months was born.
Here are the rules for the 12 Books, 12 Months Challenge:
- Pick 12 titles from your To Read Pile. These should be titles you currently own in whatever format you prefer.
- Acquisition of other formats or translations is permitted. So, if you have a paperback but want to read on your Kindle, you can get a Kindle copy. If you have a library copy but want to buy your own, that’s kosher. Heck, if you own a copy and want to check another out from the library, I’m not gonna stop you.
- Post your list in your public space of choice by September 1, 2010. If you prefer not to post, you can just leave a comment with your list.
- Read all 12 titles between now and September 5, 2011. Might as well tack on an extra long weekend at the end for cramming.
- When you finish a title on your list, post about it in your public space of choice. If you prefer not to post, you can just leave a comment with your review.
- Once a month, I’ll post a round-up of the reviews posted from that month so that we all know what everyone else has read.
My list:
- Ronald Gross, Peak Learning I am trying to find some kind of structure (best word I can think of at the moment) to help me get a grip on my own pursuit of lifelong learning and am hoping this might have some ideas that I can (and will) implement. I know goodreads says that I am currently reading this but that was months ago and I will need to start over. I hadn’t got very far anyway.
- Catherine C. Marshall, Reading and Writing the Electronic Book I am interested in e-books for a variety of reasons and while I love print books I also think e-books can one day provide immense value over and above the mostly “convenience factor” that they now provide.
- Carol Collier Kuhlthau, Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services Even though I expect to disagree a fair bit, I did like some of the ideas from a short bit of Kuhlthau that we read in 501 (intro course), and, really, the title says it all for me. Also, seeing as Kuhlthau is one of the major players in this area I need to know her ideas better if I am going to be critiquing work in this area of the field.
- Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening This is another one that I started a while back. I got almost halfway through before being “interrupted” by a couple of weddings and a move. Going to start over. I am interested in Buddhism and its tenets, at least the non-mystical kind. I have another of his books on my TBR shelf that I am also looking forward to reading.
- Michel Meyer, Of Problematology: Philosophy, Science, and Language This came recommended by David Bade via his citing it in a couple of places and then some f2f discussion. What is problematology”? The study of questioning.
- George Lakoff and Mark Turner, More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor Metaphor and poetry. ‘Nough said.
- Anthony Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious History From the inside jacket blurb: “The weapon of pedants, the scourge of undergraduates, the bete noire of the “new” liberated scholar: the lowly footnote, long the refuge of the minor and the marginal, emerges in this book as a singular resource, with a surprising history that says volumes about the evolution of modern scholarship.” I have been wanting to read this for several years and finally acquired a copy earlier this year.
- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information I have been wanting to read this ever since it was brought to my attention in LIS501 Fall 2004. In fact, I probably acquired this copy back then so that I could. ::sigh:: Oh well, I’ve had books in storage for this long that I acquired in the mid-80s and still haven’t read. Anyway, hoping that it will have something useful to say about “information” beyond society’s preoccupation with the “stuff.”
- Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse I have read a couple of her books and have quite enjoyed them. I am particularly looking forward to rereading Eros the Bittersweet some day.
- Jorge Luis Borges, Seven Nights Seven lectures over 7 nights in June and August 1977. Topics are: The Divine Comedy, Nightmares, The Thousand and One Nights, Buddhism, Poetry, The Kabbalah, and Blindness. I have seen these referenced in multiple places and am looking forward to them. I also highly recommend Borge’s This Craft of Verse (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)
- Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions Can one really have too much Borges? I think not.
- George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss I adore Middlemarch and Silas Marner and also enjoyed the other shorter things of hers I have read. I have this in 2 different editions, the Penguin Classics referenced here and a nice leather bound one from some set of “great books.” I have been wanting to get to this for a while and a couple of months back I read some idiot commenting on free e-books that “If I had wanted to read The Mill on the Floss I would have done so in college!” Screw the idiots of the world! I’ve read a bunch of e-books and almost every one of them has been free. And many of them have been exceptional!
- S. R. Ranganathan, Classification and Communication This was recommended to me by fellow student, friend, and all-around-brilliant-guy, Tom Dousa. This, as Tom assured me, will probably run counter to what I believe about the interface of these topics but one must understand one’s betters if one is to critique them.
Whoops! How did I end up with 13 books?
There are scores more books I want to/could read and there are certainly more on my goodreads to-read shelf besides being a couple (or more) score not on the list.
The above are all certainly currently near the top of my TBR list but things changes; i.e., interests, focus, discovery of something previously unknown or just published, …. Thus, I am going to reserve the right to substitute any book for one on this list. As I see it I will probably read more than 12 books in the next year anyway so maybe they’ll only be additions. One can hope.
What’s on your list? [Whether or not you intend to participate in this or any other challenge, I am interested.]
27 responses so far ↓
1 Mark // Aug 24, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Oh. Yeah. I will in all probability post my reviews/comment both here and at goodreads. Sorry for that oversight in the main post.
2 jenny // Aug 24, 2010 at 11:11 pm
I see a traditional mark/jenny fight brewing with #2.
3 Irvin // Aug 25, 2010 at 12:31 am
Stephen Batchelor’s Buddhism without Beliefs is great. I’d also recommend Steve Hagen’s Buddhism Plain and Simple http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/776.Buddhism_Plain_and_Simple which I’m currently reading. It also takes a non-mystical approach to dharma practice (which is I think what they both prefer to call it), although the two books are otherwise quite different. He’s also written a book on meditation I liked.
4 Mark // Aug 25, 2010 at 6:40 am
jenny Yay! Oh, wait. I don’t like these fights. Do you think it’ll be something to do with the Marshall book itself or with something I said in my blurb about e-books? Cause that was simply shorthand for some much longer thoughts.
Oooh, spooky. As I write this your face pops up on one of my monitors background picture.
Irvin, thanks for the recommendation. I will have to check it out at some point.
5 Angel // Aug 25, 2010 at 2:49 pm
This sounds neat. I am not sure a list of mine would be as deep. Anyhow, as soon as I look over my shelves and decide, I will post and share.
Best, and keep on blogging.
6 Eric // Aug 25, 2010 at 11:43 pm
This is fabulous. I’ll look forward to your summaries. I may have to weigh in on the e-book debates…
My “list” is here.
http://www.harbesons.info/eric/blog/?p=16
You’ll find I’ve taken considerable liberties with the rules!
7 Meghan // Aug 26, 2010 at 11:25 am
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2538578?shelf=12-books–12-months
Here is my list.
8 Mark // Aug 26, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Eric, Rock on, dude! More power to you on that daunting task. As for taking liberty with the rules, I say you should!
Seriously, though, that is extremely important reading, as you well know.
Hi, Meghan. I see a couple interesting titles on your list, esp. The Lexicographer’s Dilemma. Ah, and I see my wife has it marked to read too.
9 Mark // Aug 26, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Oops. Missed you, Angel. Well, really more forgot that you had commented earlier due to my complete and utter exhaustion due to being kept awake from 12:30 or so AM until 5 AM when I finally got up. Trains. Or more accurately, train whistles.
I know they say this town was built by railroads, but seriously folks, this is the 21st century. Could we find a higher tech, less audibly intrusive way to move all these trains in/past/through town?
Anyway, looking forward to your list, Angel. And don’t give me that “deep” crap! I see what you read. And that often makes me ashamed I’m not working harder at the issues than I am.
Best.
10 jessa // Aug 26, 2010 at 4:48 pm
*blinks* dude. you are wicked smart.
mind if i jump on the 12 books bandwagon? looking forward to your reviews. <3
11 Mark // Aug 27, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Thanks, jessa!
But I don’t consider myself such. Mostly, I guess, because I have little drive and motivation to actually make use of any of what I might have. I *want* some things but rarely seriously work towards them. And mostly I am OK with that. Mostly.
And of course you can jumps on.
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13 Eric // Aug 28, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Thanks! I’m super-psyched about it. I wonder if this could become CAS project material…
It occurs to me that rather than taking liberty with the rules, by choosing 13 titles we may actually be following the Ethiopian calendar, which has 13 months! That is how I have decided to justify it, anyway…
14 Elizabeth // Aug 31, 2010 at 8:42 am
I look forward to reading about all of these!
15 latter day bohemian » 12 Books Sign-up Round-up // Sep 1, 2010 at 11:24 am
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18 Angel // Sep 12, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Good grief. I finally managed to get my selections in a list. You can find the list here:
http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/09/12-books-in-12-months-challenge-better.html
Best, and keep on blogging.
19 Mark // Sep 14, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Glad to see you “made it,” Angel!
And glad to see Miss E noticed. No idea how she’s keeping so on top of this but a big shout out to her for doing so!
20 Short History of Myth « Epist // Sep 29, 2010 at 5:37 pm
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21 Marshall – Reading and Writing the Electronic Book // Dec 13, 2010 at 11:36 am
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22 Borges. Seven Nights // Dec 13, 2010 at 2:44 pm
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23 Batchelor. Buddhism Without Beliefs // Dec 23, 2010 at 12:37 pm
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24 Personal Learning // Jan 8, 2011 at 3:54 pm
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25 Brown and Duguid. The social life of information // Jan 26, 2011 at 10:50 am
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26 My Spring and Summer 2011 Classes // Feb 1, 2011 at 12:18 pm
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