This post isn't as long as it looks
Only my family--famous for its arguments, tournaments and competitions--could turn reading into a competitive sport.
2007 was my second year taking part in the "competitive reading club." This might be familiar to some of you; I wrote about it a while back. The competitive reading club was the brainchild of my computer whiz/actor/stand-up-comedian skydiving, kickboxing, globetrotting, newly married, stepfather of two nephew, Shawn.
Apparently Shawn doesn't have enough to do, so he decided to ratchet up the excitement quotient in his life by turning what is normally a quiet, private, sedentary activity--reading--into a contest.
The rules are simple. You read a book. You write down the title and the author. You give it a star-rating, and you write a review of no more than five words. such as, "exciting and compelling story!" or "couldn't put it down!" or (this is my review of frank delaney's latest book, "Tipperary") "Forrest Gump in Ireland."
Books between 150 and 500 pages give you one credit. 500 to 750 pages gives you two credits. 750 to 1000 is three credits. And Edmund Ruthurford's "London," which weighs in at a staggering 1,152 pages, gave me four credits.
Everyone chips in $10, and at the end of the year the person with the most book credits wins, and they win the pot, in the form of an Amazon gift card.
I won easily in 2006, with 78 books, and earned a $70 gift card. I entered 2007 flush with victory and with high confidence.
I had not counted on Mike.
Mike (shown here with another competitive reader, my nephew Chris) is Shawn's stepdad. He had not competed in 2006, and he was a dark horse.
I had no idea the man could read as much as could.
We were neck-and-neck through the first couple months of the year--I read six books in January; Mike read five. I read five in February; Mike read six. And then March rolled around, and Mike read nine books. And he never looked back. And I never led again.
We finished the year one-two. Mike in first place, with 76 books, and me two books behind.
If only "London" had been seven hundred and fifty more pages! We would have tied!
Still, I can't blame Mike entirely for my defeat. My 2007 total was down from 2006, and I know what is to blame: blogging.
Starting in March, when I began this blog, a lot of my book-reading time suddenly turned into blog-reading and blog-writing time. Blog entries do not count in the competitive reading club, though I can tell you that if they did, I would win, hands-down.
I am not about to change my blog habits for 2008. So I think I know the strategy I must employ if I want to regain my crown: We must get Mike to start a blog.
Here is my book list for the year. If you want to see others' lists, or check out my star ratings and five-word reviews, go here.
"Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife," by Morgan Llewelyn
"Yukon Alone: The World's Toughest Adventure Race," by John Balzar.
"Those are Real Bullets: Bloody Sunday, Derry, 1972," by Peter Pringle and Philip Jacobson
"The Rug Merchant," by Meg Mullins
"Travels with Macy," by Bruce Fugle
"Nancy Culpepper Stories," by Bobbie Ann Mason
"The Last Time they Met," by Anita Shreve
"Stealing Love: Confessions of a Dognapper," by Mary A. Fischer
"Paula Spencer," by Roddy Doyle
"Light a Penny Candle," by Maeve Binchy
"Pieces of Me: A Life in Progress," by Roisin Ingle
"The Dew Breaker," by Edwidge Danticat
"The Dogs of Bedlam Farm," by Jon Katz
"The Kite Runner," by Kahled Hosseini
"Grace Eventually: Thoughts on Faith," by Anne Lamott
"The Dower House," by Annabel Davis-Goff
"The Fox's Walk," by Annabel Davis-Goff
"This Cold Country," by Annabel Davis-goff
"London," by Edward Rutherfurd
"A Piano in the Pyrennees," By Tony Hawk
"Clementine in the Kitchen," by Samuel Chamberlain
UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT (i critique these occasionally for a publisher)
"The Ocean in the Closet," by Yuko Taniguchi
"Whitethorn Woods," by Maeve Binchy
"The Judgment of Paris," by Ross King
"At Home in France," by Ann Barry
"On Rue Tatin," by Susan Loomis
"Walled Gardens," by Annabel Davis-Goff
"On Chesil Beach," by Ian McEwan
"Oracle Bones," by Peter Hessler
"Dog Days," by Jon Katz
"The Leavetaking," by John McGahern
"The Life All Around Me, by Ellen Foster," by Kaye Gibbons
"The Sun Also Rises," by Ernest Hemingway
"A Perfectly Good Family," by Lionel Shriver
'Lost in Mongolia," by Colin Angus
"When the Astors Owned New York," by Justin Kaplan
"Mademoiselle Victorine," by Debra Finerman
"The Law of Dreams," by Peter Behrens
"Finders Keepers," by Mark Bowden
"The Long Walk: A True Story of a Trek to Freedom," by Slavomir Rawicz
"A Murder in Bellmont," by Sebastian Junger
"Tallgrass," by Sandra Dallas
"Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee," by Charles J. Shields
"Notes from a Small Island," by Bill Bryson
"Amongst Women," by John McGahern
"Saving Graces," by Elizabeth Edwards
"Body Surfing," by Anita Shreve
"Metro Stop Dostoevski," by Ingrid Bengis
"To My Dearest Friends," by Patricia Volk
"Thunderstruck," by Erik Larson
"Lonesome Dove," by Larry McMurtry
"A Three-Dog Life," by Abigail Thomas
"The Life of Pi," by Yann Martel
"The Streets of Laredo," by Larry McMurtry
"It's OK to miss the bed on the first jump," by John O'Hurley
UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT
"Fall on Your Knees," by Ann-Marie MacDonald
"Ulysses," by James Joyce
"The Devil in the White City," by Erik Larson
"The Choice," by Nicholas Sparks
"Letter from Point Clear," by Dennis McFarland
"Tipperary," by Frank Delaney
"Later, at the Bar," by Rebecca Barry
36 comments:
Laurie, At first I read it thinking 'oh no, surely competing to read loads will suck out the fun' but no, I'm completely convinced and love the idea.
JJx
So, was "A Piano in the Pyrenees" as funny as "Round Ireland With A Fridge"?
I feel like I should be appalled by the whole competitive reading thing. But what I'm really appalled at is the cigars in that photo . . .
Ooh I love this idea. My husband and I (in the flush of new love--married a year now) had thought we would have this great, romantic, 2 person book club. He reads classics and I read current fiction, so my thought was that we'd alternate selections, giving me the incentive to read classics that have been on my list for years, and he'd read something by someone who's still alive, or gasp! maybe even a female. (He's not sexist but he sometimes sounds as if he is....) Guess what? I read the most boring book of his choice, The Adventures of Augie March, and he NEVER read my choice. It was a one book event only club! Bad form, I told him. But I still love him; now we each read what we want. But this kind of club sounds intriguing!
Wow. That's quite impressive. I love the short descriptions of the books - those are an art form of their own.
Maybe we could somehow conspire to get Mike a very time consuming hobby, like wine making or glass blowing. Do you think that might slow him down? He sounds like the underhanded type and if he did start blogging he'd probably find a way to force a rule change.
How did Doug do?
JJ, i was dubious, too. but it's fun. it's fun to see what everyone else is reading.
jim, "round ireland with a fridge" was much better. much. the cigars were because it was shawn's wedding.
rose, i'm curious--what was your choice? that he didn't read?
RC, out of a field of 14 competitive readers, doug came in third with 64 books.
I think the contest sounds like fun. I'm surprised anyone beat you after seeing your list. I'm lucky if I read a book or two per month.
Great list. Loved the Danticat book. She is such an amazing writer. Glad to see her short-listed for the National Book Critics Circle award this year.
amy, that book was devastating.
Well this is intriguing. Inspired me to make a list of all I read in
'07 and am now trying to decide if anyone would find me interesting based on my reading list. Do you all case people's book shelves when you visit? Nosy, but very revealing.
I was going to write that it is a shame to turn reading into a competition, because do you really savor the book that you are reading?
Then again, my husband reads many books every week and he seems to enjoy them all.
Still, personally I would not want to be in such a competition. Reading is such a personally gratifying pastime that I would not want to turn it into anything else. I would feel that I would have to hurry up and finish a book and get started on the next one as quickly as possible.
I had a friend who watched 5 new movies in a single day. I don't think he enjoyed every one of them or even remembered what they were all about. He called it his movie binge. I called it crazy.
Mike looks like he is retired. Is he retired? If he is I think you need a handicapping system.
That is quite the list. I have only read two books, Kite Runner and Life of Pi. Both were discussed at my non-competitive book club. If I had time, I would read much, much more than I do.
Pre-children and pre-college, I inhaled books. Now life gets in the way. One day....
Some great titles there - I love teh one about missing the bed!
Coming from a competitive family that does sound like fun, however, I've already noticed since blogging I read less~ so maybe I won't suggest it!! Your book list is very impressive.
What if - like me - you don't read books???
Then you're screwed really, aren't you??
'Forest Gump in Ireland' hehe brilliant! You make me realise how little I really read despite what I might have thought.
Maybe we can make blog reading competitive in the same way :-)
You know, actually that was as long as it looked. I can't help feel competitive book reading somehow missing some point or other.
Thank God it's not televisual. Celeb Competitive Book Club. Presumably with a member of the club voted off each month.
faye, it's fun to keep track. i'm much less competitive this year--the pressure is off to repeat my victory. so now i'm slowing down and reading more magazines, which, i have to admit, i kind of gave up on that first year.
irene, you're right. i did feel that way at first. but i got over it. you can't sustain that. plus, we get monthly totals of where everyone is. so i think for most people who are pretty far back in the pack, the pressure is completely off.
two cents, he's not retired! holy moly, when he does retire, look out. he'll probably double his output.
very nice man: one of my nephews never read. last year he read one book a month, just so he could take part. it was like a victory. he was quite proud of himself.
bobo, i don't think it misses the point. it's really just a way to keep track of what you're reading, and see what others are reading. that's really the point. but my family likes the spice of competition. we compete in all kinds of areas; when i was growing up we used to have trophies for volleyball and bridge and fudge-making and all kinds of things.
I love your book competition! When I started blogging, one of the things I wanted to do was incorporate my reading into my blog. But like you, blogging and reading blogs has really cut down my book reading. Luckily (or not luckily at all actually) I have started commuting by car two hours per day, so I get to 'read' audio books too. It's still not enough, but there are only so many hours in the day!
Oh, great - now I have even more titles on my "To Read" list. I still love the 5-word reviews.
bookwoman, i bet you'd like "Oracle Bones." it's written by a former Wall St. Journal reporter, about life in modern china. fascinating, and particularly interesting given the lead paint toy recalls, and the upcoming olympics.
also, not on last year's list, "the places in between" by rory stewart and "a fine balance" by rohinton mistry.
somehow, not even knowing who you are, i think you would like those books.
Oh my. I was proud for reading 13 books last year. I suddenly feel so inadequate. ~Leslie
Thanks for the recommendations, Laurie. Right now most of my reading is for a class I'm taking, but I have high hope for lots of summer reading. I'll let you know how it goes.
I wasn't sure if these were the books of 2007 or the upcoming books.....
'Fall on your knees' - what a gut-rocking book
'The Kite Runner' - I loved it...
'Lonesome Dove' - Wow...
I think I will just print off your list and leave it with my librarian. Then, when I show up at the counter with the latest Patterson or Grisham, she can put something a little more....esoteric in my hands!
Great list, Laurie.
What fun! Lovely seeing what you read. I'm going to start keeping a list too. My mom kept a list in a book; the Strib even ran a little story about it (by me, of course) after she died.
I went to your reviews but can only find a few; are there more? They're great, too. A review in five words! Love it.
aims, this list is what i read in 2007.
god help me that i ever get so organized i can tell you in advance what i'm going to read in any given year.
and yes, "fall on your knees" was gut-knocking. i had read "as the crow flies" and loved it. this one was emotionally tougher, but just as brilliant.
pmiller, you can get to the other reviews by clicking on the months, where it says "toggle."
sandy, i've never read john grisham! but i have my share of light and guilty pleasures in my list--all that maeve binchy, for instance....
Laurie, you have read Ulysses?! I am banging my head on the floor - respect to you. I have tried a couple of times and just cant be bothered. some great books on your list that I have read and some i have never heard of. Blogging has seriously cut down my reading time too.
I hope this won't be a duplicate comment since it seems my last one got lost...
I think it is great to have a challenge/competition like this. Good for you!! I made my own personal reading challenge last November. I hope to read 100 books by next mid November. So far I have read 11.
I grew up in Park Rapids. What part of Northern MN are you from???
i love all these comments. no surprise that blog-writers and blog-readers are also passionate book-readers.
eclectic, i grew up in Duluth. winter was fully a month longer there than it is here in the Twin Cities. i loved it there very much, but i wonder if i could take the long winters again.
you, obviously, could....
elizabethm, it was not much of an accomplishment. more an endurance test. i only understood it in parts. but i did love much of it.
How fun!! I would be pretty stiff competition for both of you!!! But, you are right..blogging is cutting into my reading time!!
Wow! Now I am very impressed Laurie! And it's such a good idea too!
One question though, do you read and still enjoy the books or do you find yourself rushing through them to keep your totals up? My competitive streak would be fighting to get out!!
aoj, i don't rush through them. just read at my normal pace.
i'm competitive, but i still want to enjoy the book, and think about it--it's hard for me to plunge right in to the next book after i finish one. i like to wait a day or two.
but i am a pretty fast reader, normally. except for "Ulysses."
That sounds like a fun contest! I would never win. I usually read about 3 books a month... anymore than that and my kids don't finish their homework and we all start wearing dirty clothes!
Plus, I have that very time consuming hobby of knitting! This month I have knit a baby blanket and a sweater.
I love your list!!
I figured out the toggles. An impressive range of books you read. My fav review is Doug's on the Lee biography, "Killed thousands, loved chickens."
Wow, I'm impressed. Think I will take your list as inspiration on what to read once I'm through my pile of books.
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