Long time participants in #1book140, AKA bookies, have made an implicit agreement with each other. The crowd picks the book and we all read and discuss it, whether we like it or not. This approach lets you learn what others like about the book, explore your dislike, and frequently gives you insights you would never get on your own. It’s a great way to read a book.
This month, several of us considered The Fault In Our Stars just a little too much to bear. The reasons are varied but most seem to relate to not wanting to deal with the emotional drain of cancer in a young person. The young person in The Fault In Our Stars is well-crafted and the drain is real, or at least it was for others I’ve talked to who have read the book.
So a few of us are cutting ourselves some emotional slack but not abandoning #1book140. We’ve chosen to read the February runner-up, Little Brother by Corey Doctorow ( @doctorow ) and take the same approach to discussion.
Please note, this is not an either/or decision and this isn’t a private club. If you want to read Little Brother this month and discuss on twitter, please join us. So without further ado, here are the hashtags and the schedule for Little Brother.
Week 1, February 1-7
Chapters 1-5: #1alt140_1
Week 2, February 8-14
Chapters 6-11: #1alt140_2
Week 3, February 15-21
Chapters 12-16: #1alt140_3
Week 4, February 22-28
Chapters 17-end: #1alt140_1
For any discussion that might spoiler the week for others, #1alt140_x
Oh! A final note. Corey Doctorow has released Little Brother under a Creative Commons license and allowed people to create electronic versions without DRM restrictions. If you want to download the book and read it for free, you may. Thank you, Mr. Doctorow! Here are a couple sources:
- Corey Doctorow’s blog craphound.com
- The Gutenberg Project
Ironically, Little Brother upset me more than any other book I’ve read since childhood. It will be much better for my mental health to read about kids dying of cancer…
(I’ll try to check in on the Little Brother discussion from time to time, but it won’t be my main focus. For one thing, I’d already ordered The Fault In Our Stars before the splinter group became a sure thing, and for another, I want a new book after the last two picks were re-reads for me. I hope everyone enjoys LB, though. It’s a wonderful book, and it’s emotional impact on me is to its credit.)
Thanks for your post. I know that Little Brother packs quite an emotional punch. I hope it will be one of those experiences that is rough but worth it. That said, if it gets too rough, I may have to stop reading or take breaks.
Sometime in the future, I hope to read The Fault in Our Stars, but right now the subject of cancer is too close to home for me.
Oops, see too busy. I hope that peeps post their thoughts on @realjohngreen’s The Fault in our Stars here also on the 1Blog140 site
Me too. And remember everyone, the door’s wide open. If you register with this site, you’re registered as an author and can post your own articles. But let’s keep the focus on twitter and distill our thoughts down to140 characters as much as we can.
Two books too much for me in this busy and short month. I’m sticking with the main #1book140 reading choice.
Thank you for the write-up and info! I just read TFiOS last December, so I’ll be joining the splinter group for LB.
Thanks, pétomane ancien! I’ll be joining up a bit later.