flight paths discussion
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After I posted last night, I was thinking about how radically the experience of discovering and purchasing books has changed in the last 20 years. Back in the early 90s, I worked at an office that was across the street from the mall. On Fridays, when I got paid, I would go to Walden Books in the mall, and pick a book to read for the week. The selection was pretty limited, so I usually chose from familiar authors or the next book in a series. And the clerks knew me well enough to make recommendations. I'd spend between $5 and $10 and that book would be what I would read for the next 7 days.
Now, I can troll all over the internet and in so doing, amass a ridiculously huge TBR list. And shopping? That can now all be done online as well, and it's easy to pick up books for about $2 each, if you know where to shop and are aware of sales and specials. And it's just as easy (and cheap) to order from the UK as it is from the USA.
It seems rather indicative of the times - overwhelmed by too muchness. I think we've lost an element of wonder.
About the OT dudes. I don't think they lied. I think they just sucked at math. After all, Pythagoras and Euclid weren't born yet. ;)
I have approximately 300 books on my Goodreads TBR list. HOWEVER, this list is not inclusive. For example, I'd like to read most of the 1001-Books-To-Read-Before-You-Die (have read 80), the complete works of James Michener, Agatha Christie, and several other authors. So - that would make my list...oh, never mind. It's too overwhelming to think about. As you said, HRO, one book at a time (or several at a time, in my case - I just have to be careful that they're all very different).Eloquently said as to an "element of wonder" being lost. I agree it's a little sad.
As much fun as GR is, there's definitely a strong element of making members want to consume. The competitions, book counts, member ratings, list votes, and so on, all contribute to our natural tendency to compete/play/achieve goals. Games and sports and contests are things we all enjoy, but keep in mind, when we are in these states of mind, we are very open to suggestion, and therefore prone to over-consumption. Monkey see, monkey want...My TBR currently has 338 titles. The first 30 or 40 are books that are part of my reading plan and that I already own or have downloaded free versions from gutenberg. Of the remainder, maybe another 50 or 60 are seriously under consideration, which leaves over 200 books which I will likely not read, but which I added to the list because they sound interesting. If any of the 200 show up free, cheap, or at a garage sale, well then I'll take them home, but I won't be stressed if they never make it to my actual book shelf.
What's my point, then? Beware the dark marketing forces built into this site. Be your own reader!
I gave in and started adding the most recent purchases, taking me over my cap of 100.With a small break at Christmas I should be in a position to meet the 2012 challenge of keeping sub 100.
An attempt at balance in an unbalanced world.
124 books + Christmas gifts to come and 6 weeks to read to go sub 100 .............. that's Ellie speed !
Ice wrote: "124 books + Christmas gifts to come and 6 weeks to read to go sub 100 .............. that's Ellie speed !"Okay, I may have a workaround for you, but it requires a certain moral flexibility.
Make "TBR under 100" a New Year's Resolution. This way, if you break it, you can rationalize the situation by saying, "Everyone breaks their resolutions. Besides, New Year's resolutions are dumb. I can get along quite alright without some stupid resolution. What am I anyway? A sheep following the herd?" And voila! You'll be off the hook without having to read 24 books in 38 days...
Absorbing Jim's comment, I dont have to meet the challenge on Day One ! I guess or adopt the chinese calendar.The science of Ellie speed. Rate required 230 per annum. Ellie's rate:
Books Read : 6,584
Age : 21* (again)
Rate per annum : 299 books per year (one for the again)
:-D * (LOL or ROFL is my guess for a response)
ROFL.9 is the correct age, sadly lowering my performance rate considerably.
You are only 9 !!!! LOLI hope Maths is not your teaching subject
No-sorry. 9 is about when I started reading "serious" books.(I'm now 18. ROFLMAO)
6,586 .... gaining Ellie speed every day, you may have read the entire New York or british library before you reach 25 !:-)
My theory is that we carry inside us all of our ages. Each year we get to add one more to our repretoire. When we have completed a year, we can be said to know it.Instead of each year being subsumed in the count, it is added. So, not one, then two, then three but one and two and three. Experience counts.Circumstances influence us to manifest certain responses. Notice how we trnd revert to 9 yrs old when we are around our mothers. Some people get stuck at a certain age and never develop much past that level. Some people make us feel older, or younger.We are as old or young as we feel.
I certainly have to laugh when I think of my chronological age, tho it is starting to catch up with me.
I have another theory regarding the paradox of reading. We sit still and experience the world, and while we are reading we gain insight but we dont age.
Magdelanye wrote: "My theory is that we carry inside us all of our ages. Each year we get to add one more to our repretoire. When we have completed a year, we can be said to know it.Instead of each year being subsume..."Well, that explains the crowd inside my head!
It's true about reverting around certain people. Not only about age, but about which version of you the other person is thinking of when they see you, as often happens when you're visiting someone you haven't seen in several years. Which Jim was I in 1978, 86, 94, 2003, and so on...
Jim, you totally get it :-)My challange is remembering who I am right now!
That old me still pops up from time to time...that sad,angry, reclusive Luddite girl.
I have to remind myself that I am a grown up, and that kindness and pleasure are not wimpy and self indulgant but rather qualities I want to enhance...
Great solution Jim, I can divide my TBR list into 7 and they should all be sub 100 !!
Magdelanye wrote: "Jim, you totally get it :-)My challange is remembering who I am right now!
That old me still pops up from time to time...that sad,angry, reclusive Luddite girl.
I have to remind myself that I am..."
Give that reclusive Luddite girl a hug from all of us!
Ice wrote: "Great solution Jim, I can divide my TBR list into 7 and they should all be sub 100 !!"There ya go!
Went through my TBR list today and reduced it by 34 books using this simple question:"Dude! Are you seriously gonna read that? Or are you trying to impress your friends?"
Worked great and I'm now under 400 on TBR.
Jim wrote: "Went through my TBR list today and reduced it by 34 books using this simple question:"Dude! Are you seriously gonna read that? Or are you trying to impress your friends?",,,,
The main benefit of the tbr list is, for me, a reminder. When I read an intruiging review on GR I know I cant rely on my memory so putting it on the tbr list keeps it for me.
That said, it is important to keep it managable, so congratulations Jim!
Somewhat of a coincidence, I actually just now before reading this deleted a title that I have since discovered I am not too interested in. Yes, one.
Trying to synchronise my TBR on GR with my Excel based TBR list, referenced into what I can borrow from family and friends, what is available at the library, and what will be available at the library once I have purchased and read it. Hoping for tokens at Christmas.
I always hope for tokens at Christmas, but I never get them. My family and friends seem to think I have a big enough TBR pile as it is and they are not going to help make it bigger. Spoilsports!
JackieB wrote: "I always hope for tokens at Christmas, but I never get them. My family and friends seem to think I have a big enough TBR pile as it is and they are not going to help make it bigger. Spoilsports!"I don't often advocate revenge-based gift giving, but I came across this link this morning and have to share it with you JB. Maybe next year you'll get the tokens you want - LOL!!!
http://www.wikihow.com/Give-Passive-A...
Oooh! I like how you think Jim. I probably don't have the nerve to carry this out, because I'm more likely to get reprisals than what I want next year, but I shall have great fun considering the possibilities.
Well I got tokens for my birthday so I can patch up some non library items. As to my Sisyphean challenge this year, I seem to be where I started.
what goes around comes around :-0
Despite the fact that I have actually read some books from my tbr shelf, I just broke 500...>>>yikes>>>
Magdelanye wrote: "Despite the fact that I have actually read some books from my tbr shelf, I just broke 500...>>>yikes>>>"I'm holding steady at 400...
I'm not going to say a word.. most of your TBR lists are little babies compared to mine. I've thought of pruning mine, but then I never know WHAT to prune.
well, I get the impression here that we are all on the same boat and it's lifted off, soaring over the falls and off intp the star swept sky :-)
I suppose this is where groups help. Sadly they don't always read what I want to read, when I want to read it (or have time to read it).Hehe, maybe we should stop chatting so much and read more! :P
Magdelanye wrote: "My theory is that we carry inside us all of our ages. Each year we get to add one more to our repretoire. When we have completed a year, we can be said to know it.Instead of each year being subsume..."That's actually so true, Magadalanye! Though we often forget what it was to be a child, the memory is there somewhere in our memory banks, just waiting for the right prodding to float to the surface.
It can be a fragrance, a snatch of song, a rhyme, a gush of wind in your face..
Traveller wrote: "I suppose this is where groups help. Sadly they don't always read what I want to read, when I want to read it (or have time to read it).Hehe, maybe we should stop chatting so much and read more! ..."
You have a point, T, several of them.
GR, much as I love it, eats time, and it's frustrating to try to juggle it all.
Synchronized reading in theory sounds fun to me, but I am definately not one for marching in step, and in practice, I am with you on all 3 counts. Thats why there are no group reads on flight paths, someone else would have to initiate.
Overall, tho, the group gives me a real lift.
It helps to know there are other beings out there that share my passions and that I can commune with on an intimate level.I am continuously blown away, inspired, impressed by the insight and caring I have encountered on this site.The level of courage and trust. No less than the gush of wind in the face that activates a primal excitement,the group activates that same delighted sense of frshness and possibility which is mostly gone from adult life.
My tbr pile, what tbr pile said one of the three wise monkeys, my point exactly said the polar bear, did someone say something said another of the monkeys, the other just made a sign.
Haven't posted here in a long time-just wanted to say "Hi"-and I made it through another school year. Special bonus: my "shadow rating" is "effective teacher" :DOff to the beach for 2 days. Back to work on Monday (summer school).
Short celebration but hey, you take whatever you can get!
hey Ellie, was just replying to Kinkajou (yes, heard from her at long last) and your name was mentioned...( Im still working on our tete de tete)was thinking we hadnt heard from you in a while, but I figured you must be tres busy what with school winding down;all my teacher friends are marking and bogged down in manuscripts. So its good to hear from you.Congratulations on your effective patience!May your days at the beach be splendid and replenishing
and look forward to hearing from you again soon.
I have approximately 900 TBR books listed on Library Thing*. I own about 1/3 of those, so I could read for at least 2 years without purchasing any books. If I then read from the TBR list without adding any more books, I could read for a minimum of an additional 4 years.
How do I plan to tackle Mount TBR? One book at a time. :) And with complete acceptance of the fact that there are many many books that will go unread unless someone discovers how to extend lifetimes to the equivalent of the dudes in the Old Testament.
*I use LT to list my books rather than GR because the cataloging system makes more sense to me. Sorry, GR.