Bookends – START
| Personal: Happy Father’s Day to my Dad! I have so many things to tell and talk to you. I’m happy now and hope you are too, wherever you are (I presume in a better place). Don’t visit me while am sleeping or else you will freak me out! I miss you so much! I love you! |
The whole concept of Bookends is to have my own virtual library shelf on my blog. I cannot really claim that I’m a big bookworm as my reading frequency has been declining in years (thanks — or more of no thanks, to work and internet). But, very recently, a string of influences made me regain it back. It is primarily because of Sword and Laser, a book club with podcast and video ventures. I’ve been a fantasy fan for many years already, but it never really materialized. I mean I like the idea of medieval times, warriors and magics — but I only encounter them in games (which I rarely do now too). The guys from Sword and Laser gave me that push to read fantasy, as well as Sci-fi, novels — which I have been wanting to since my schooling days. And that’s why this year, most likely, I’ll be reading books under the said two genres, but will still try to read non-fiction ones.
The Sword and Laser team then led me to Goodreads, a site dedicated for books. You can create your virtual library here, organize your read, to-read, currently reading books, and get reviews and recommendations from just about everyone. It is simple but fun site and I always come by to it to look at new books and recommendations or to update status of my currently reading novels.
Bookends posts will be in-sync with my Goodreads profile. My book reviews will be posted in both these “channels”. Don’t expect my reviews, though, to be of a professional level — I’ll write what I think and feel about the book; but nonetheless, I hope it gives you an overview about the book itself, whether you want to read it or skip it.
For my reading journey this year, I will be starting three campaigns — with one taking a lifetime to finish.
#1. Current Status
Well, the title describes itself. I’ll just post a weekly status of my journey in Bookends — to my thoughts about my current book, to new recommendations and to-read materials. I aim to be able to keep an electronic track of my journey — while all links and reference points back to Goodreads.
 Source |
Currently Reading: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Current page: 327 out of 678 (48%) Anyway, good grief, the last chapters were exciting. There was disguises, plots, politics, magic binding, sex, and a whole lot more. *applauds*” |
 Source |
Currently Reading: The Fundamentals of Architecture by Lorraine Farrelly
Current page: 10 out of 176 (6%) |
#2. 2012 Reading Challenge via Goodreads
Reading journey will not be complete if you have a challenge (or more of a goal) for the year. Goodreads apparently has it’s on scheme on the book challenge and it will monitor and update as you move along (and update) your account. You may have noticed the Goodreads widget on the right of the blog showing my current progress on this. For 2012, I aim/challenge myself to read 25 books — and I’m optimistic that I can do it.
Current progress: 4 out of 25 (16%)
(1) Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
(2) The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow
(3) Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
(4) CURRENT: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
#3. Books around the world
While exploring reviews in Goodreads, I found a link to a blog wherein he is doing a lifetime (or long-term) reading goal — to be able to read at least one book in almost every country in the world. It actually came from his other friend, Julie who got it from another Goodreads user (the trail of information is long!), and am quoting:
In one of my Goodreads groups, a clever person had the idea of each of us challenging ourselves to read a book by an author from every country. Obviously, this is a big challenge, and not something that can be banged out in three minutes, or even three months (for most of us!)
This is a big challenge indeed! And I’m quite up for it — I think it will bring nothing but good things to you. For one, you will be able to have a lot of to-read books in the coming years. Second, you will be able to have an idea of literary materials from around the world — and from there you will be able to know more about the country’s culture, ideas and history. I won’t be that strict though with the rules. The main country classification will be to classify the book to where it really fit or belong — might be to the author’s country of origin or where he wrote it or publish. The list of countries will be the same list with the blog I found, covering 201 countries/quasi-nations:
| Afghanistan – Albania – Algeria – Andorra – Angola – *Antarctica – Antigua and Barbuda – Argentina – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – Bahamas – Bahrain – Bangladesh – Barbados – Belarus – Belgium – Belize – Benin – Bhutan – Bolivia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Botswana – Brazil – Brunei Darussalam – Bulgaria – Burkina Faso – Burundi – Cambodia – Cameroon – Canada – Cape Verde – Central African Republic – Chad – Chile – China – Colombia – Comoros – Congo – *Cook Islands – Costa Rica – Côte d’Ivoire – Croatia – Cuba – Cyprus – Czech Republic – Democratic Republic of the Congo – Denmark – Djibouti – Dominica – Dominican Republic – Ecuador – Egypt – El Salvador – Equatorial Guinea – Eritrea – Estonia – Ethiopia – Fiji – Finland – France – Gabon – Gambia – Georgia – Germany – Ghana – Greece – *Greenland – Grenada – Guatemala – Guinea – Guinea-Bissau – Guyana – Haiti – Honduras – Hungary – Iceland – India – Indonesia – Iran – Iraq – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Jamaica – Japan – Jordan – Kazakhstan – Kenya – Kiribati – Kuwait – Kyrgyzstan – Laos – Latvia – Lebanon – Lesotho – Liberia – Libya – Liechtenstein – Lithuania – Luxembourg – Macedonia, FYRO – Madagascar – Malawi – Malaysia – Maldives – Mali – Malta – Marshall Islands – Mauritania – Mauritius – Mexico – Micronesia, Federated States of – Moldova – Monaco – Mongolia – Montenegro – Morocco – Mozambique – Myanmar – Namibia – Nauru – Netherlands – New Zealand – Nicaragua – Niger – Nigeria – North Korea – Norway – Oman – Pakistan – Palau – *Palestine – Panama – Papua New Guinea – Paraguay – Peru – Philippines – Poland – Portugal – Qatar – Romania – Russia – Rwanda – Saint Kitts and Nevis – Saint Lucia – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Samoa – San Marino – Sao Tome and Principe – Saudi Arabia – Senegal – Serbia – Seychelles – Sierra Leone – Singapore – Slovakia – Slovenia – Solomon Islands – Somalia – South Africa – South Korea – South Sudan – Spain – Sri Lanka – Sudan – Suriname – Swaziland – Sweden – Switzerland – Syrian Arab Republic – Tajikistan – Tanzania – Thailand – *Tibet – Timor-Leste – Togo – Tonga – Trinidad and Tobago – Tunisia – Turkey – Turkmenistan – Tuvalu – Uganda – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates – UK [*England - *Northern Ireland - *Scotland - *Wales] – United States of America – Uruguay – Uzbekistan – Vanuatu – Venezuela – Vietnam – Yemen – Zambia – Zimbabwe |
And that’s it. WHOA! I was able to cover a lot of things with this Bookend post — next post will feature a review of a book I read this year.
Till then, adieu~
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