No, not a hundred posts... I'm way past that. 100 books. The Kanawha County Public Library is opened up a challenge for patrons to read 100 books in celebration of their100 years. Now, I read a bit. I'd say I average about a book a week (minus graphic novels. Some of which are like novels and others are not. I read both kinds so count neither).
Anyway, I'm giving it a shot. My strategy is to mix it up: read a bunch of shorter works (including poetry) as well as my usual fare of big-ass novels. I finished my first read last night: Charles Dickens' Hard Times. It was a pretty dense read, at times maudlin, at others saccharine, but generally deeper than it appears. This one criticized love and marriage. The couples most in love and most compatible in the book are those who either aren't married or can't marry. As he tends to do, by the end, Dickens punishes the wicked, reverses the fortunes of some, turns a couple of characters into martyrs for their hearts and overly rewards the simple and virtuous.
Still, a pretty good book. Even I got a little choked up after what happened to noble Stephen Blackpool, but not Dickens best by a long shot.
One book down. Ninety-nine to go. Next, we've got a tiny book by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh called "The World We Have." Should be a hoot.
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Resolutions 2015
- Don't Quit
- Make Plans
- Follow Through
- Take It Easy On Yourself
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- primalscreamx
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3 comments:
100 books is a lot! Last year, I read about 20. I tend to favor lengthy biographies and social sciences books, though, and I'm still working on my first book of the year: Street Gang (it documents the creation of "Sesame Street," of course).
My question is can I count books I read to my kids? I also think graphic novels should count, too, because I just got a collection of the original EC Suspenstories and it's more challenging reading than anything Dr. Phil's written--I'm sure his books count.
With any luck, I'll finish a couple dozen new books. Have fun with the challenge!
There isn't a defined rule on Graphic novels. I'd say yes, to a point... No, on the funnybooks stuff like Bone and Spider-man, but yes on things like Fables, Y The Last Man and everything ever written by Alan Moore.
Ooh... EC comics... Cool stuff. If you ever get interested in reading about their rise and fall, check out "The Ten Cent Plague." It's a very cool book about comic book hysteria in the early 50s.
According to the library rules: No on kids' books.
Very cool--and the "Ten Cent Plague" is one of the books I recently got, which is how I got interested in the EC line!
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