Kenia's Reading Projects

[Kenia]

Kendra wrote: "Looks like an awesome year of reading! I love the idea of reading all of Austen's books in one year. Also, Brave New World was one of my favorite books I was assigned to read in high school - it's ..."

Thanks Kendra! Maybe we can discuss Brave New World this year!

[Kenia]

Cleo wrote: "I read all of Austen's main works in 2015; you're going to have lots of reading fun!

I've kind of stalled on my Great Ideas project .... I need to get back to it.

Great to see your list, Kenia,..."

Thanks so much for all your encouragement Cleo! I'm glad to hear you've read all of Jane Austen's novels....I just might bug you to talk about them as I go along. ;-)

I'm also looking forward to seeing my own progress...lol It's Ambitious! (for me at least)

[Kenia]

Sorento62 wrote: "Hi, Kenia-
Thanks for posting your plans. I am following along with some of your additional Literary Project selections in addition to the TWEM books in chronological order.
I had put Zeno's Parado..."

Julie, I'm so touched! I don't think I realized anyone was following along with my non-TWEM selections. Were you interested in reading Zeno's Paradoxes this year, in addition to Rig Veda? Let me know. I was trying to be conservative in outlining my goals...but am willing to attempt it this year if you are!

Sorry to have snuck in the Rig Veda at the top of the list, after I've already read past it chronologically (turns out it was composed around 1500-1000 BCE: http://www.ancient.eu/The_Vedas/). Basically, as you know I took the TWEM list and added several other famous classics to it. But then, on top of that, I took a look at the course list for the St. John's College which is completely based on the Great Books. I looked at both their western and eastern lists, combed through it, and that's where so many of my non-TWEM classics came from. The Rig Veda was one of them.

Of course I may read other classics that are not on my list, but I've decided to finally cap it where it currently stands, else it will continue to grow on forever. (and 334 books is already very formidable).

[Sorento62]

Hi, Kenia- I am perfectly content to wait til next year for Zeno's Paradoxes. We both already have ambitious enough plans for this year. ;-)
I want to gradually catch up on some of the earlier TWEM books (and other Great Books) I've not yet read, such as Gilgamesh and the Iliad, so reading the Rig Veda this year fits in well with that. Gilgamesh is on my list for this year too.
-Julie

[Kenia]

Ok Julie! Next year it is. ;-) Enjoy Gilgamesh and The Iliad!!!

[Kenia]

Having set aside Herodotus for a much-needed break, I will now be turning my attention to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, as I am making a presentation on Mary Wollstonecraft to my Philosophy group at the end of March.

[Cleo]

That's always interested me but has never been at the top of my list. You'll have to let us know what you think Kenia.

Oh, to live closer and be able to join your Philosophy group! I can't even find a classics book group close to me. Sad!

[Kenia]

If only you did! I joined my philosophy group through meetup.com. Have you ever checked it out?

[Cleo]

Kenia wrote: "If only you did! I joined my philosophy group through meetup.com. Have you ever checked it out?"

Thanks for the tip. Quite a few book clubs but no classics. I'll keep checking back.

[Kenia]

Yeah, mostly book clubs are all about contemporary reads. Nothing wrong with modern books but the lack of classics clubs is frustrating.

...have you ever considered starting your own?

[Cleo]

Kenia wrote: "...have you ever considered starting your own? ?"

I have but I just don't have the time right now. It's a good idea though because then I won't have to read books over again. I'll have complete control, imagine that! ;-) Perhaps next year, which is looking more open.

[Sorento62]

Kenia wrote: "...have you ever considered starting your own? ?"
Hi, Cleo and Kenia-
I volunteered to be the organizer of a Meetup classics book club several years ago when the founder stepped down. It's been great, and I am now at the point where I want to encourage others in my group to present short lists of books for selection voting and to encourage others to lead some of the discussions even when I am not absent.
Let me know if you want any tips...
-Julie

[Kenia]

Sandy wrote: "Kenia, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Wollestonecraft. Like Cleo, I have been intending to read it. Every year I put it on my lit birthday list for her birth-month but it always ge..."

We'll see! I hadn't planned on reading it for a while but for my Philosophy group now.

[Kenia]

Sorento62 wrote: "Kenia wrote: "...have you ever considered starting your own? ?"
Hi, Cleo and Kenia-
I volunteered to be the organizer of a Meetup classics book club several years ago when the founder stepped down...."

Julie, how have you handled the book selection? Is it an executive decision and you pick it for the group each time? Or do you provide a list for a vote? Do you take suggestions from others? What's your process?

[Sorento62]

Hi, Kenia-

I provide a list of about 6 to 10 books for my classics book group to vote on at the end of each of our discussion meetups to choose a book a few months ahead, generally by having people rank their top three choices from the list. Usually from a given time period. We meet once a month. Right now in the fiction selections we are working forward in time from 1900 and are at about 1940 or so, then alternating that roughly every other month with working backward from 1900 and we are in the mid-1800s now. (I just started listening to Uncle Tom's Cabin yesterday.) I do take suggestions to some extent and fit them into the list with other books of the same time period. We read mostly fiction, because most people find it more entertaining than nonfiction. We generally do one or two nonfiction books a year.

After learning from experience, I've settled on general guidelines for Goodreads ratings and Goodreads "percent liked" as well as page number guidelines, with the criteria being a bit different for pre-1900 fiction vs. post-1900 fiction. For nonfiction, I like to have very high Goodreads ratings and not too long a book. We occasionally read a doorstop book like The Brothers Karamazov for example, but only once a year or so during the summer.

To find books to choose from, I draw from a number of different lists of "greatest novels" and such, as well as from books shelved as classics by Goodreads users.

The Meetup group has a couple hundred members, but only about 4 to 8 people generally show up each month, most of whom are regulars. I send email reminders about two weeks before the date of the event and another about two days before the event, asking people to change their RSVP to No if they won't be attending. No shows are very common, especially among first timers. The group link is here:
https://www.meetup.com/BooksIShouldHa...


-Julie

[Sorento62]

Oh, members of the group can also create a meetup and choose a book themselves and set a date, but that has only been done once so far, for Silas Marner.

[Kenia]

So it sounds like you read 1 book per month (alternating forward & backward in time), and you have the next few months already voted on in avance?

[Sorento62]

Yes, that's the general scheme these days, though there are exceptions. Like the nonfiction book we're reading for April is from the 1700s, while we are not that far back in time in our fiction readings yet.

[Kenia]

Sorento62 wrote: "Yes, that's the general scheme these days, though there are exceptions. Like the nonfiction book we're reading for April is from the 1700s, while we are not that far back in time in our fiction rea..."

That's such a fascinating book club structure! Thank you for sharing Julie. :-) I'm so glad I asked you about it.

[Kenia]

My 2018 Plan is as Follows (roughly in this order, although that will mostly likely change, lol):

-1500 The Rg Veda (selections)* anonymous PHILOSOPHY
-441 The Histories Herodotus HISTORY
(Currently still reading it from last year. I'd like to finish it this year.)
-430 On Airs, Waters, and Places Hippocrates SCIENCE
(Catching up, as this was our last 2017 book)
-400 The Birds Aristophanes DRAMA
-600 Sappho* POETRY
-430 Zeno’s Paradoxes* Zeno of Elea PHILOSOPHY
-400 Bhagavad Gita* Krishna Dvaipāyana Vyāsa PHILOSOPHY
-400 The Book of Chuang Tzu* Chuang-Tzu/Zhuangzi PHILOSOPHY
-400 Tattva-Kaumudi/Samkhya* Karika PHILOSOPHY
-400 The Peloponnesian War Thucydides HISTORY

Can't wait to discuss some of these with all of you!

[Kendra]

Looks like a wonderful and stimulating list! Enjoy!

[Cleo]

Looks great, Kenia! I might join you for The Birds. I'm still slogging through The Republic, Plutarch's Live and City of God so I have my plate overflowing, never mind my cup, lol!

[Kenia]

Thank you Kendra!

Good luck Cleo! You have a lot of exciting things going on. ;)

[Kenia]

I confess I am still struggling to get through Herodotus at a reasonable pace, to then begin Thucydides. I've been timing myself, and it takes me ~6 minutes per page! And this is because every other sentence or so I need to look at the maps in the Appendix to orient myself in order to understand what Herodotus is describing, or taking a detour to read the Notes. These geography-intensive histories take 3x the amount of time a book normally takes for me.

The good thing is that I do find I enjoy reading Herodotus now that I'm used to his style. But I'm going to take a new approach:

I've decided to divvy up the total Herodotus + Thucydides page count across the rest of 2018. If I have an exact goal for # of pages to read each week, I think I'll actually succeed (as opposed to the, "reading what I can, when I can" approach).

The other reason for doing this, even though Thucydides is scheduled for us to finish up this month, is that I'd rather fall behind on these 2 books and stay on track with the rest of our group's schedule, rather than insisting on finishing these first and falling into a domino effect, being perpetually late on every other book this year.

Wish me luck. I hope others are faring better than me! lol

[Kendra]

I know it's a challenge, Kenia, but keep going! I'm sure you've reached it by now but I found that the book moved a lot quicker for me once Herodotus really started telling the story of the war as a narrative. It became cohesive and intriguing. I'm really glad I ended up buying The Landmark Herodotus for the sake of the maps and notes on the same page - I found myself tracing the movements on the maps with a pencil as I read about them. But I still have a little bit left to go so I will likely be doing the same thing as you with Thucydides - progressing through it while still continuing down the list.

[Kenia]

Thanks for the encouragement Kendra! It seems The Landmark editions are a wise choice for these works. I have the Oxford press edition of Herodotus, but I’m glad I’ve purchased The Landmark edition for Thucydides. It really does seem essential to have the maps immediately adjacent to the text!

[Bill's]

Did you find a good version of Zeno’s Paradoxes? I am looking at your Literary Project list and making up my Christmas wish list.

I am listening to A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps and reading the corresponding chapter in the book after listening to each episode. I am current on the episode/chapter about Zeno of Elea. historyofphilosophy.net

[Kenia]

Ah, yes. I had trouble with this one. I couldn’t seem to find any book that simply printed out his paradoxes, so I eventually opted to purchase an essay anthology on Zeno’s Paradoxes contributed to by various leading philosophers. The book is simply called “Zeno’s Paradoxes” and it is edited by Wesley C. Salmon. I’m curious to hear what you end up choosing.

[Elizabeth]

Re the SF project many message ago: I have... read ALL of these already!!! Apart from Wm Shakespeare's Star Wars...

[Kenia]

Elizabeth, that's amazing!! I have more of these SF classics' worlds yet to explore... Except recently I was distracted by more "new & shiny" reads, namely NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy ever since she won the Hugo for best novel for every book in the series (2016, 2017, & 2018), a historical first!

[Elizabeth]

Ooh! Added to list!!