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Hey, I wondered if you guys might want to do a book challenge?

You pick a challenging number of books, and you aim to read that many in 2016.

No rules other than that! And just track them here and we can talk about whether you liked them or hated them or whatever.

I'm doing 50. I've aimed for 50 the last 7 years and only succeeded twice... wish me luck...

Anyway if you want to try one that'd be cool...

So far I've read...

1. Kevin Hearne — Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi (Del Rey, 2015, 267 pp.)
2. H.P. Lovecraft — The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (Del Rey, 1982, 372 pp.)
3. Tsugumi Ohba/Takeshi Obata — Death Note Vol. 1 (Viz Media, 2003, 195 pp.)

yo we have a book/what are you reading thread dude.

also, how high school english teacher of you.

I am interested to see what you guys are reading, though.

Fresh through 2016 for the first time are so far:

William Finnegan's Barbarian Days
The Schoolyard Game: An Anthology of Basketball Writings
JD Salinger's Franny & Zoey
Dave Evan's The History of British Magick After Crowley


which is probably the best CV of my own personal interests I could have ever given anyone. 10/10 thread idea. Best New Music sticker.

JD Salinger's Franny & Zoey

This is one of my favourite books. I love the Glass family because to me they represent a family that has a modern spirituality. My wife and I are very all over the map spiritually speaking... I don't really commit to any one religious philosophy or anything, or even to the idea of religion at all. Existentialism and all that. Anyway, my wife was like, "Sometimes I wonder if our kids will be thoughtful in a spiritual way? Like... we are because we were raised in and left the church. But I wonder how we'll impart the importance of thinking about life in a philosophical way to our kids? Like... if you just borrow from every world tradition, how do you convey that in a compelling way to your kids?" And I was like, "Well, I read all Salinger's Glass family books, and they seem like they were all raised with a general sense of meaning in life, from their oldest sibling Seymour who's into the Tao and whatnot, and they seem pretty alright. Maybe a little emo."

Apparently later this decade they're going to publish the Caulfield Saga and the Glass Saga as separate box sets, with a lot of new stories his lawyers are bogarting for the time being.

I don't think that's something you can impress on children. I think it's something they learn for themselves.

D.o.S. wrote:I don't think that's something you can impress on children. I think it's something they learn for themselves.

100% agree... isn't that one of the biggest problems with organized religion? Indoctrination? Dawkins went as far as to say, there's no such thing as a Christian child, a Muslim child, even an atheist child. Let them figure out.

I'm down. There's no way I'd hit 50 books a year, as I tend to gravitate towards tomes for some reason. That said, I read a ton and it's generally one of my favorite things in the world to do.

Haven't exactly started 2016 out with an intellectual bang, though. I read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and am about to finish up book 2 of The Expanse. The former--kinda eh, the latter--super fun.

Also on my bedside table in various states of completion:

David Stubbs - Future Days (Krautrock)
Blair Jackson & David Ganns - This Is All a Dream We Dreamed (Grateful Dead)
Mary Louise Parker - Dear Mr. You (Essays/Letters, really great so far)
Anthony Marra - Thr Czar of Love and Techno

The only way I'd get to 50 is if I keep a pretty loose definition of "books" and "reading", but if comics and art books count, I'm well on my way, ha! I probably only read 10-20 proper books in a year. So far I've done...

REAL BOOKS:
John Higgs - Stranger Than We Can Imagine: An Alternative History of the 20th Century
Alessandro Papa - The Process: Archives, Documents, Reflections and Revelations

ART BOOKS:
Mark Mothersbaugh - Beautiful Mutants

COMICS:
Grant Morrison - Kid Eternity
Arnold Drake - Doom Patrol Archives Vol 1-5
Jack Kirby - Challengers of the Unknown Archives Vol 1-2
Paul Di Filippo - Top 10: Beyond the Farthest Precinct

a pretty loose definition of "books"

For me personally I'd say 50 pages and up is a "book" but no rules, you be the judge.

I don't read.

2016 so far, either current or complete:

Books:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Haruki Murakami)
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar Vol 1. (Ao Jumonji)
Kotenbu Vol. 1 "Hyouka" (Honobu Yonezawa)
Modern Romance (Aziz Ansari)

Manga:
Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi Vol. 1-7 (Kei Sanbe)
Orange Vol. 5 (Ichigo Takano)

I have a tendency to read long fantasy books because they really help me unwind in the way that video games do. They're a lot of fun. They can be thought provoking. I love the world building and who doesn't like wizards?

I'm in the middle of a series by Raymond E. Feist but I'm in a holding pattern because I'm also reading 1Q84 by Murakami.

It feels too late in the game for me to read 50 books. Also because I'm often reading 700+ pages books it seems very lofty.

also, how high school english teacher of you.

It isn't part of my class, but I did extend an offer of extra credit to any students who attempt a book challenge.

No takers. Apathy runs high.

It feels too late in the game for me to read 50 books. Also because I'm often reading 700+ pages books it seems very lofty.

No rules! If you wanna do a 25 book challenge or whatever, adjust to taste.

It's just to push yourself to be more well-read, whatever that means to you personally.

I really wanna read IQ84.

Have you read all the other Murakami books? I assume you're talking about Murakami, but 1Q84 is pretty widely regarded as one of his lower works. (I haven't read it myself but yea internet opinions are important.)

I read way too much, I can't go to sleep until I do so.