But I need another exercise in material generation. As I said, I COULD write reams about my son. He occupies almost every waking moment of my mommy-addled mind. But, I am thinking? This blog would become insomniacs-only for the rest of you.Â
And I am also thinking we all get a little blog-block now and then. And need for intellectual stimulation. Okay, that last bit may be my ADHD talking.
Since we have a little group of bloggers who seem (by my IP tracking and comments) to be regularly relying on each other’s sites for those boredom-breaks, I have another interactive proposal…
Book Club.
Stop groaning, stop groaning – we all read, right? I have heard the extent of y’alls book collections, so there is absolutely no hiding here. This is not going to be an all-consuming thing, but it will be a once-a-month departure from chronicling our children, work woes and coffee consumption habits.
This is what I am thinking – everyone send me a list of the top three books on your I-have-been-intending-to-read-this-when-I-have-time list. No limits on genre – but we can restrict this to period-related stuff if we want to and actually make something instructional out of it. That, however, might get expensive, since those books are generally pricey. Some of us see each other often enough we might even be able to pass books back and forth to cut the cost down.Â
I will combine the list, in order of preference/prevalence, and we work our way down, one a month – everyone reads the same one.  At the end of the month, there is fodder for blog-material and discussion, even if it is nothing more than “I am going to kill the rest of you SOB’s for making me read this mindless piece of drivel…”
This whole thing has been borne out of my observation that the SCA actually contains folks with a pretty wide variety of literary tastes, and it does us good to get out of the rut of our reading habits. For instance, me? I read virtually NO fantasy/scifi. Shocking for a SCA participant, I know, but I don’t. Discussions on the latest Robert Jordan, and I am like, huh?
The only ground rules – don’t plunk us in the middle of a series. That’s like starting to watch a soap opera in the twentieth season. Too much of a learning curve.Â
Anyway – it’s out there if there is enough folks interested in breaking the “what the f— do I write about?” cycle at least once a month.
 Oh – and did I mention an excuse to go book shopping?
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Alright…going to complie my list now. Of course I tend to read some silly girl books sometimes.
August 3, 2006 @ 1:20 pmOh. Dear. So now we get to collect everyone else’s “books I need to be reading” too?
I’m a bibliophile. That’s like dangling cheap tequila in front of a male Von Ziemer. I’m in. Personally, I’d rather try to make it actual brain food rather than scifi/fantasy/fiction, because I read way too much brain candy as it is- I think I’m up to like 3 books a week, and they’re all crap. You have a point on cost- but there are lots of period writers whose works could be read (like Machiavelli or that godforsaken Christine de &$*%(ing Pizan) whose works can be gotten for cheap in paperback. I’ll look at my shelves and try to narrow it down to 3… or 30.
August 3, 2006 @ 1:42 pmOkay – I am all for doing period or historical books. If we look at books about the time period that fall into the genre of popular history – like “A World Lit Only By Fire” it may not be too bad, price-wise. You can generally get them in trade paperbacks for decent prices. And we are talking one a month here, so we are only looking at about $11-$15 a month. Pittance, really.
Okay, then. History-related titles.
August 3, 2006 @ 1:56 pmSabine on phone:
“Okkkkkkkkkkkkkkk…… Go ahead and post something along the lines of ‘I’m on board’, and HOLY SHIT PEOPLE…. I’m walking through a house and Satan wants to have my children…. I don’t know. Make something up for me.”
She likes the idea. Really. She’s just distracted at the moment.
August 3, 2006 @ 2:05 pmI’m in. If only for an excuse to go to Barns and Noble one more time per month.
BTW, I gave Bam my copy of Anvil of Virtue to read. She was worried that I was trying to tell her something…..
August 3, 2006 @ 3:19 pmNow come on and tell the whole story. I went to bed one night to wake up the next morning with it in front of my alarm clock.
August 3, 2006 @ 3:26 pmI finished it by the way, it was a good read.
Well, I’ll try. My tastes run more towards the bio/autobiographical. I collect biographies of journalists. And cookbooks. My one splurge is the “Cat Who” mystery series. Fiction and non-fiction?
August 3, 2006 @ 3:42 pmI was distracted. I’m still distracted.
But my thought is we should rotate a bit… like if we plan on doing it monthly then once a quarter it should be a “fun” read to reward ourselves from the other more diligent months.
But, I’m in. Just fair warning though – 80% of my historical nonfiction could be loosely construed as porn in some circles… not necessarily this circle, but some.
My first choice?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142002593/sr=8-7/qid=1154644369/ref=sr_1_7/102-2321697-1732951?ie=UTF8
Cause that is the next book on my list of must reads… but I’ll look at my shelves when I get home next week for more options.
August 3, 2006 @ 5:40 pmBooks, good im in, i find that if you stack them along the walls they make good insilation also, but im all for reading them.
Brer James
August 3, 2006 @ 8:59 pmGack! Uh, yeah, like gack.
I don’t read at the moment, and not allowed to actually. Someone special that I respect entirely has made me promise not to read books (magazines are okay) until I finish the book I’m writing. So I’m out.
But it’s a good idea!
August 3, 2006 @ 9:32 pmI’m in. this is kind of interesting: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1566563267/104-7671100-4921546?v=glance&n=283155
And I’m all for brain candy. I get in a serious rut and read too much non fiction and it makes me whiny and grumpy.
August 4, 2006 @ 9:49 amJeezus! Bri what are you doing?!?!?! I’m out because I can’t really stand scifi and I’m not a huge fan of hsitorical research unless I’m forced. I know Bri, you and I, have some simular taste and I have never regretted reading a book you suggested, but once you guys start delving into scifi and historical stuff I’ll just bail, anyway. I’m into the beats (Keroac, Thomspson, Ginsburg, etc.), detective mysteries, and chick lit mostly..
August 4, 2006 @ 10:21 amBooks?? Read?? Who the hell has time to read? I’m up to my eyeballs in projects and now you want me to take away precious project time to read?? The only thing I have time for reading is the packing slip from Dharma.
Sorry guys…I’m gonna have to be out on this one!
August 6, 2006 @ 10:32 amWendy! I was looking forward to your comments from at least two of the books I recommended for the list. Er…speaking of the list….when do we get it? I am actually kinda excited about it.
August 6, 2006 @ 11:11 pm