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What book should I blog-ify?

wordmunger

wordmunger

macrumors 603
Original poster
Sep 3, 2003
5,124
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North Carolina
I'm going to be conducting an experiment over the next month or so: converting a work of literature into a blog. I discuss some of the specifics over on my blog, but the basic idea is to break a great work into chunks the size of a typical blog post -- no more than 3 or 4 screens' worth of text, and enable comments, so that a group of readers can collaboratively enjoy a great text.

Any ideas for a book to turn into a "blook"? It must have been published before 1923, and preferably will be something I've never read, so that I can enjoy the experience along with the other readers. I'd appreciate any other input about the project as well.
 
How about another attempt at translating the Bible from the original Greek or Hebrew?

just kidding...

I could think of all sorts of things. Maybe you could find some of the Norton Anthologies (of English/American) Lit and pick through some of those for ideas.

Melville, Hawthorne, Whitman
Midieval Lit
Civil War Lit
English Lit: Shakespeare (although those are plays, you could blog the events)

keep us updated
 
David Copperfield?
Although, having never gotten around to reading Melville's classic myself, I'd like to see you blog it up.
 
Do you want a book with lots of 'experts' or 'cult following' so that you get more visitors? Or do you want a book/text to introduce new readers to a work? Any genres you favour?

After a look at the Project Gutenberg Top 100, I enjoyed the following...

Pride & Prejudice
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Jane Eyre
War of the Worlds - with the movie coming out, it might be a good one.

Taking a Dickens novel or Shakespeare play that many people wouldn't consider sitting down to read might be interesting.
 
Or.. some of the Mars tales from Edgar Rice Burroughs? I found them facinating when I was younger and shockingly (having re-read them a few years ago for the first time in 25+ years) they had a profound impact on how I view life, honor, and the fairer sex.
 
Machiavelli's "The Prince". Sure to get a few opinions on that gem. Was going to suggest "On War" by Clausewitz, since he's generally quoted secondhand. Might be a bit dry, though...
 
Oooh. Canterbury Tales would be tough--middle english and all. I'm not sure I'm ready for that type of commitment. Plus, I've read it, so it loses out on that count as well.

I've read Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Huck Finn, so those are out.

I believe Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye are still copyrighted, so I can't do those.

I could do David Copperfield -- that might work.

Machiavelli and Clausewitz are interesting ideas. However, the difficulty there might be finding an old enough translation. Any translation after 1923 would still be copyrighted, so might be a no-can-do there. Also, I've read Machiavelli.

War of the Worlds? I don't know. I think I'd like a meatier book than that one. Feel free to debate me, but it doesn't strike me as particularly challenging.

So that leaves Moby Dick and David Copperfield. Of those two, I'd definitely prefer Moby Dick. Any other suggestions?
 
Spencer - The Farie Queen
The Mort D'Arthur
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

also interesting would be to do the Illiad & Oddessey to conronicle Odesseus' travels....

The Aeneid

Could research and do the story of The Buddha....
 
I would say an old Greek Epic, such as the Illiad or The Odyssey, or some good 19th century lit. I would say one of my favorite books, Catcher In The Rye, but that one is still copyrighted - at least I think it is...
 
Wow. I'm surprised at the number of requests for epic poetry. I'm a big epic poetry fan myself, but I thought that made me kinda ... weird. Unfortunately that means I've already read a lot of them, which rules out quite a few, including the Faerie Queene, Paradise Lost, The Aeneid, The Odyssey, the Divine Comedy, and Orlando Furioso.

Somehow I've never read the Iliad, so I could do that one. I'm not particularly keen on doing a translation for my first blook, though. If I did go for the Iliad, any suggestions for particular translations? Remember, they must be copyright-free. I think I might lean toward Pope's translation, but I'm not sure how accurate that one is.
 
wordmunger said:
War of the Worlds? I don't know. I think I'd like a meatier book than that one. Feel free to debate me, but it doesn't strike me as particularly challenging.
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No debate because I agree that it's not hugely challenging but there's likely to be people looking for more information because of the movie so I was thinking more about getting more traffic/comments than quality of discussion.

The Illiad might be interesting although it might be a little too epic straight off since it will require real commnitment from you and your readers to get through it? Depending on your choice of translation, you may also end up with arguments as to wording rather than discussion of plot/storyline.

I know you're looking for a book that you haven't read before but are you disciplined enough to post a chapter on the blog and put the book away? I know if I was enjoying it enough, I'd just want to finish the book and by the time I got round to posting chapter 3, I'd know what was coming in any case.

Are there any books that you may have read some time ago and being older/wiser might want some fresh opinions on or introduce to new people? I know that in recent years I've really enjoyed going back through some of the classics that I read in high school and finding aspects which I didn't appreciate back then.
 
Josh said:
I'd say start out with something small, perhaps like a Hemmingway book or something?
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Marx, Communist Manifesto? :D ;)

Mr. Munger, there is a translation of On War held in the Gutenberg library, it's a 1909 rework by a Colonel J.J. Graham... but like I said earlier, it might be a bit dry. Even though I end up reading lot of old books, none of them are remotely worth blogify/in' :(

Looking forward to the project when you get around to it. It'd be like reading Shakespeare with the English class all over again! -- How about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? :p
 
Moby Dick would be my choice. It's a far weirder book than general popular culture would lead you to believe. I was surprised, when I finally read it, at how good and odd the book actually is, and even more surprised (and happy) that this type of thing could be considered the "greatest American novel."

It is, however, large and demanding. I'd agree with the poster who suggested something smaller to start. Maybe Candide, just for kicks? Small enough and entertaining.

Good luck with whatever you choose.


Ohh....Tristam Shandy! I've always meant to read that one.
 
Josh said:
I'd say start out with something small, perhaps like a Hemmingway book or something?
Click to expand...

his stuff would all be copyrighted still

i don't have access to my copy of the Illiad right now, but it's definitely not the best version out there....

another interesting idea would be blog a book of Plato...

others that pop into my head are:

Robinson Curosoe
Gulliver's Travels
could do some of Poe's short stories
 
I agree that if this is an experiment, you should stick to something that is not too long . . . there's not much point in doing it if you end up stopping half way through . . . That said my vote is for Beowulf.
 
I LOVE the idea! Please link us when you start this!

Suggestions:

I like the ideas above - start with something short and sweet to see how it goes, if it's successful, then move on to something more meaty.

Short book ideas I like: Poe and Marx (seriously).

Long book ideas: Atlas Shrugged/Ayn Rand (still copyrighted?), Republic/Plato, War of the Worlds (draw in people who googles War of the Worlds after watching the movie :D), 1984 (copyrighted though), Confessions/St. Augustine, The Dawn/Friedrich Nietzsche and... Dracula/Bram Stoker. That's right, I've never read Dracula, amazingly.
 
Josh said:
I'd say start out with something small, perhaps like a Hemmingway book or something?
Click to expand...

Or smaller, Aesop's tales.

You can have polls for guess the moral. It can be be a game. It'll be fun.
 
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