Nonbelieving Literati
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Exterminator over at No More Hornets has started an informal, atheists reading group, Nonbelieving Literati.
And so I’d like to propose such a group. My idea is that nine or ten of us — if we can get that many to commit — will read a book every month and a half or so. That’s a long enough time that even the slowest readers, or those with the least amount of time, can participate. We’ll take turns making book suggestions. The only stipulation will be that the book not be an atheist diatribe, best-selling or otherwise.
We’ll target a specific day on which to finish. On that date, or shortly thereafter, each of us will publish a post about the chosen book. (In fairness, those of us who finish reading early may write our posts, but not publish them online until everyone has had a chance to complete the reading.) The post will not be a review or a summary. It will be an essayistic ramble on what the book got us thinking about. Whether we liked the book or not, we’ll use it as an entry point to our own thoughts. If enough people are interested, perhaps we can even publish a Carnival of Nonbelieving Literati a week or so after each target date.
I think it's a great idea, so I'm going to be bumping the rest of the books in my reading list to read Julian by Gore Vidal. Well, I'm hoping to finish The Blind Watchmaker this weekend at least since it's coming up on the end of the month and I've only finished one book this month.
It should be fun to read something out of my comfort zone. It's been a long time since I've read a book alongside a group of people and had a chance to discuss it afterwards.
Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 8:32:00 PM CDT
If you want to read another book outside of your comfort zone, I have an extra copy of The Savage Nation ;)
-T
Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 9:23:00 PM CDT
Hmm... is that the one you gave me for Christmas? I, uh, think I lost it.
Monday, July 30, 2007 at 2:35:00 AM CDT
that sounds like a good idea...I would be all for joining, but I would have trouble finding those books here in Chile. Unfortunately I live in the country with the highest book tax in the world-which makes for not a lot of book stores. Expensive literature=bad business. So I guess I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that you share your findings with your faithful blog readers :)
Monday, July 30, 2007 at 1:06:00 PM CDT
I could always send you my copy of the book. I've been using Abe Books to buy used books and buying a few together to save on the postage.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 2:15:00 AM CDT
I'm not one for participating in such a project, but I like your idea. It would be interesting to read what eight or nine different people got out of the same book. I hope you make it happen.