Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the tenth day of the month is "Judgment." I have personally decided that I will pass judgment on a book on the tenth day of each month, although I think we all know that the judgment of a book by Betty Smith is going to be a positive one.
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| I bought myself the same copy I recently bought for my niece. |
1. Everybody get a copy of the book! You can obviously buy it or borrow it from your library. However, there are also some online resources, as well. There's a PDF version that is free (at least in the US) and I just experimented with it and it's easy to read and the "read aloud" feature seems to work well, too, if you'd prefer to have it as an audiobook. The Internet Archive also has a searchable pdf version and there are some downloadable options on that page, including EPUB and Kindle. If you are not in the US and can't find a copy, please let me know and I'll hook you up! In case you can't tell, I really want this to be as accessible as possible to as many people as possible (unlike my face-to-face book club that chose a book with months long wait times when I wasn't there to prevent this from happening *ahem*).
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| Here's where the read aloud option is for me on the pdf when I open it my browser. |
2. I divided it up so that we'd read roughly 50 pages for ten weeks by the following schedule:
July 17 (Chapters 6 -10)
July 24 (Chapters 11 - 18)
July 31 (Chapters 19 - 26)
August 7 (Chapters 27 - 32)
August 14 (Chapters 33 - 37)
August 21 (Chapters 38 – 41)
August 28 (Chapters 42 – 45)
September 4 (Chapters 46 – 51)
September 11 (Chapters 52 – 56)
September 18 (entire book wrap up)
3. On each of the days listed above, I'll do a post with a brief summary of the chapters and a question or two to get the discussion started and then we'll go hog wild in the comments.
Sound good? Does anyone have questions or suggestions?
You have a month to get ahold of your book! Go order it right now if you don't already have a copy on your shelves!
Yay! I have a copy on my shelves which I have read many times, but I am wondering if I would like it as an audiobook! I have put it on hold at the library and will see what I think. The only issue with an audiobook that I have had when discussing a few chapters at a time is that it was hard to know when the chapters ended and often I was accidentally ahead of the group at our discussion. That is obviously a personal problem though!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to rereading and discussing my favorite book of all time! Thanks for putting this together.
Yay! I have never read it as an audiobook, either, and my library only allows me 21 days with an audiobook (no renewals), I don't think that will work for me, but I'd love to know how it goes if you do listen to it!
DeleteLovely! Looking forward to this!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I'm so happy you're on board!
DeleteI'm excited!!! I'm going to see if I can borrow a copy from a friend; if not, I'll order it as it's a classic that would be nice to have on my shelf.
ReplyDeleteIt is a classic! I can't wait to hear your thoughts.
DeleteThe paperback version is less than $10 on Amazon! They also have it at the library (obviously) but not at my branch- trying to decide if I want to put a library hold on it or just buy it. I'm excited- I haven't read this since I was a teenager.
ReplyDeleteI actually bought my copy! I think it was maybe the second or third book I've bought this year and the only physical book! I'm going to have to decide if I write notes in the book or not. Will I enjoy having marginalia on future rereads or will I find it annoying?!
DeleteI'm in! Things are going to be crazy for me in July but I'll definitely be chiming in (I hope so, anyway). I haven't read this for ages!
ReplyDeleteYay! It might be a nice break from crazy things!
DeleteI hope I'm allowed in given that I JUST learned about this yesterday from Sarah's post. :) Me and my late comments... I have my old copy on my shelf and will happily swap my current night time read for this. :) Thanks for leading us, Engie!
ReplyDeleteYou have a month before we get started, so you're not late at all! Welcome aboard!
DeleteI just have to say I am LOVING this. Love rereading old childhood favorites... not sure why I never before considered this one. Thank you for setting this up!
DeleteI'm getting so excited about it! (And worried. I think this is going to be quite a lot of work for me!)
DeleteI don't think you're going to have to worry about getting peoples' thoughts on this. For real. A LOT of people are into this. So even if some people drop off, or don't "talk" as much? I think you'll still be able to pose some questions/insights from your own reading and let 'em at it. :)
DeleteThanks. I'm set. The downloads above work in Australia.
ReplyDeleteGreat! Thanks for letting me that it works outside of the US.
DeleteYay! I'm happy to have your expertise along for the ride!
ReplyDeleteI am IN. I just ordered a copy which should arrive this week. I am going to try to read it to my daughter! So fun!
ReplyDeleteOh, yay! I'd love to hear Carla's thoughts on it, too.
DeleteI have a copy on my shelf - not nearly as pretty as yours, though! I'm in!
ReplyDeleteSo exciting! I'm loving how much enthusiasm everyone has for this project.
DeleteThis sounds like a fun idea! I've never done a book club of any sort. Looking at my July calendar and it's pretty full. Wonder if I can find it on audio and do it that way? I see that you mentioned that, but I don't see the 'read aloud' on the PDF.
ReplyDeleteHmm...I wonder if it's because of the kind of Adobe you have on your computer. I took a screenshot of what it looks like on my computer when I look at the pdf and highlighted where I found the read aloud function.
DeleteI found the audiobook on Hoopla and through Libby through my library, but my library only gives 21 day loans, so that's not long enough for me!
I can't wait! I have a copy on my shelves already, so I'm looking forward to the reread. Thanks for organizing this, Engie!
ReplyDeleteYay! I am so excited to get started.
DeleteOh yay, this is exciting. I need to see that I get a copy... and do hope to keep up! :)
ReplyDeleteYay! I am THRILLED that so many people are doing this.
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