In the beginning...
For a while now I've been thinking I should keep a log of all the books I read, including some notes and impressions of the books. I finally decided that I could do that in a blog, so this is my attempt at blogging the books I've read. I'll also include some other observations about books, reading, writing, and anything else that comes to mind.
My intention is that this blog will be about 60-70% book reviews, 10-20% about reading or writing in general, and 10-20% personal stuff.
About that personal stuff.....I've been trying to do more reading lately, over the last year or so. I found that for a while I was watching a whole lot of TV and playing video games, both of which can eat up whole blocks of time. (I still remember playing StarCraft into the wee hours of the morn.) I still watch some TV, but not nearly as much as I used to. When the 3rd season of 24 started two years ago, I told my wife to start watching it but that I didn't want to get sucked in, since it would be a ...well... 24 hour commitment. Ah, I didn't last very long, and I ended up watching the whole season, and the 4th season, and have started watching season 5. Thanks to our DVR (and I almost can't watch TV without it) it's a lot easier to make sure you don't miss an episode.
Anyway, when I started turning off the TV, I started reading more (and writing, but that's another story). Part of the challenge of this became finding good books to read. I've found that the power of a good reviewer is not to be underestimated. Not that I think I'm a good reviewer, but I've definitely got some thoughts to get out there. If you can find a reviewer who you respect and who you tend to agree with, then that can be as good as gold. Spending twenty minutes reading a review can be a good way to make sure the next book you read--which can be a ten to twenty hour investment--is worth it.
A note on my expertise. I did study English, with a creative writing emphasis, my first time around in college. I went back to get a CS degree and now I'm database administrator. I didn't feel like I got as much as I should have out of those English classes, even though I made A's and B's. I think that if I were to return and study literature again it would make a lot more sense. I am by no means an expert on books or literature. I just hope to be able to come up with a few good ideas here and there.
My intention is that this blog will be about 60-70% book reviews, 10-20% about reading or writing in general, and 10-20% personal stuff.
About that personal stuff.....I've been trying to do more reading lately, over the last year or so. I found that for a while I was watching a whole lot of TV and playing video games, both of which can eat up whole blocks of time. (I still remember playing StarCraft into the wee hours of the morn.) I still watch some TV, but not nearly as much as I used to. When the 3rd season of 24 started two years ago, I told my wife to start watching it but that I didn't want to get sucked in, since it would be a ...well... 24 hour commitment. Ah, I didn't last very long, and I ended up watching the whole season, and the 4th season, and have started watching season 5. Thanks to our DVR (and I almost can't watch TV without it) it's a lot easier to make sure you don't miss an episode.
Anyway, when I started turning off the TV, I started reading more (and writing, but that's another story). Part of the challenge of this became finding good books to read. I've found that the power of a good reviewer is not to be underestimated. Not that I think I'm a good reviewer, but I've definitely got some thoughts to get out there. If you can find a reviewer who you respect and who you tend to agree with, then that can be as good as gold. Spending twenty minutes reading a review can be a good way to make sure the next book you read--which can be a ten to twenty hour investment--is worth it.
A note on my expertise. I did study English, with a creative writing emphasis, my first time around in college. I went back to get a CS degree and now I'm database administrator. I didn't feel like I got as much as I should have out of those English classes, even though I made A's and B's. I think that if I were to return and study literature again it would make a lot more sense. I am by no means an expert on books or literature. I just hope to be able to come up with a few good ideas here and there.
posted by Dylan Peters | 1/19/2006 12:08:00 AM
1 Comments:
About watching tv (sorry about my english) dou you remember me a phrase from Marx,non the writer the other one,the really important one of the Marx family :), something like 'encuentro la tv muy educativa,cada vez que alguien la enciende tomo un libro y me voy a otra habitación a leer' i'm afraid i can't translate into english without lost of sense, but i think is very close to the idea of put off tv as educational way,
best regards
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