Mark's Book Blog: First Virtual Book Club Selection Announced! And my next three books. . .

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

First Virtual Book Club Selection Announced! And my next three books. . .

Since one (ONE!) person has agreed to read Anathem by Neal Stephenson, the selection of OUR FIRST DANIEL SUAREZ VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB selection (hardcover 960 pages; mass market paperback 1008 pages) was OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVED. With, as always, apologies to the publisher, I'm borrowing Anathem from the library.

I'm still reading American Pastoral by Philip Roth and don't expect to finish it until later this week (about 100 pages left--dense book--not much dialogue--great book, too). If it's only two of us reading Anathem, I see no reason to set a reading deadline. If, however, anyone else has interest in joining the VBC and the ensuing expected spirited discussion, let me know. I'd expect that it will take a couple of weeks to get through Anathem.

Two books are on my radar to follow Anathem (I have both on order from BN.com. While I link from this site to Amazon, I generally buy from Barnes & Noble. No real reason other than the fact that I am a Barnes & Noble member and get the member discounts. Plus, I get additional cash back if I buy through my Chase Visa. OK, so I guess there is a real reason. Also, repeat after me: Paying shipping is for suckers. Yes, Super Freakonomics--see below--comes out on October 20 and my copy won't be shipped until November 10 with Under the Dome--see below--because I needed to spend $25 for free shipping. But what of it?)

The first will be released on October 20 and is the follow up to the Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner non-fiction book entitled, "Freakonomics." The sequel is aptly named, Super Freakonomics. Freakonomics discusses apparent mysteries of everyday life and how they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. One of my favorite discussions related to the effect of home sales agents on the market prices for homes. Freakonimics is a recommended read even for those who may not or will not agree with the authors' methodology or analysis. The book is thought provoking, and I expect nothing less from Super Freakonomics.

Meanwhile, on November 10, 2009, shortly after my birthday, Stephen King's upcoming magnum opus Under the Dome will be released. This one is 1080 pages. Even with Super Freakonomics' manageable 288 pages, that's 2,348 pages accounted for. I'm thinking that I'll need until November 30 or so to get through all of that which means upcoming fluff posts if I can't get any new material from readers.

Remember, RIF.

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Mark's Book Blog

Welcome to Mark's Book Blog!

Why did I set this up? Several reasons.

1. I'm constantly asked for book recommendations. I often cannot remember what I've read recently and, consequently, struggle for a recommendation. This will keep me up to date.

2. We're all busy. Sometimes I forget what I liked and what I didn't like about a book I read a month or two ago. As a result, this blog commits me to memorialize a book shortly after reading the book.

3. I, too, want book recommendations from those I trust (so I may or may not read your recommendation). From this blog, you can see what I've liked--you may not like my taste, may never come back to the blog--that's ok. If, though, you like some or all of what I like, tell me. And, more importantly, tell me what else I'd like!

Here's my recommendation scale--I will rate all books I read (subject to my ability to rate a book that I stop reading for good reason). The recommendation scale has gone through many iterations since inception of the blog and is effective for all books recommended on or after December 29, 2009. For the recommendation scale applicable to books recommended prior to that time, go here.

This blog uses a "grading" system. In order to accomplish the blog's goal of "recommending" books, the grading scale works out like this:

A - Highly recommended

B - Recommended

C - OK, you might like it

D - A waste of time

F - A HUGE waste of time

If a book, let's say it's a sports-themed, non-fiction book, earns a recommendation in the "A" range, the blog post will note that the book is "Highly recommended for fans of [we'll just insert the sport of tonsil hockey here as a placeholder]." In other words, even an "A" recommendation may not be a book that I suggest you read. It depends on your tastes. Certainly some books in the "A" range will be recommended to all.

One other note. I am generally a stickler for grammar and punctuation (for using made-up words like "stickler," not so much). As I've stated in various posts, I am well aware that this blog does not utilize the well-established "underline book titles" convention. There are some places where book titles are in quotes. There are other places where book titles are merely capitalized. While I apologize in advance for being such a heathen as to ignore this convention, it bothers me. It really does. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up nights. Seriously. I decided, however, about 50 posts in that I would make the lack of consistency in the identification of book titles the consistency for the site. Therefore and henceforth, I will utilize whatever convention I want in any willy nilly fashion I see fit.

Mark

Mark's Book Blog

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

First Virtual Book Club Selection Announced! And my next three books. . .

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