Skip to main content

A Resolution, of Sorts

I've been using Goodreads for the last couple years to keep track of what I read - and perhaps more importantly - to see what friends and colleagues are reading. I work in a library, so keeping abreast of new titles as well as books in a variety of genres is important. Goodreads helps me do that. It's also a great place to find recommendations from people who have similar tastes. I invariably learn about books I'd probably never had heard of through my Goodreads friends. Add in the copious social features (places to share reviews, comment on reviews and update your status) and you've got a pretty neat tool for book lovers. As if that weren't enough, the "Never Book Ending Quiz" is addictive and educational.


This year (2012 that is) I signed up for the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge. It's a system that allows you to set a target number of books to read in the coming year and then track your progress. My hope is that by using this tool I'll be a little more intentional about the time I set aside for reading. You see, for someone who works in a library I don't read all that much. Sure, compared to a lot of people I probably do, but compared to my friends in the profession I'm a plodding and pokey amateur.

The target for my 2012 Reading Challenge is 52 books. One book a week seems reasonable, but I guess we'll see how that works out. If you want to be friends and follow my progress I've linked my profile page below. Also - at the risk of sounding like a student in the panic of an almost late assignment - if you know of any good, short books, feel free to make a recommendation :)

Jeff's Goodreads Profile

Comments

  1. RobJanuary 29, 2012 at 6:57 PM

    Don't let it get away from you. That was my goal last year (and lord knows I've got a lot of time on my hands). Well, I slacked and ended up having to read a lot in December to catch up. On the bright side, I'm ahead for 2012. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff RegensburgerJanuary 31, 2012 at 12:11 AM

    Thanks for the encouragement Rob. My plan is to keep pace through the judicious reading of select children's and young adult books. That said, I'm losing ground already as I slog my way through 512 not-particularly-compelling-pages of "Blackout" by Connie Wells.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ohio Historical Center: A Defense

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Carrie Ghose at Business First to share my thoughts on architecture in central Ohio. The recent controversy surrounding the new Student Union at Ohio State had apparently sparked a number of conversations regarding what constitutes "good" building design. Carrie was following that story , and developing a second piece to get feedback on other notable Columbus buildings. At the time I offered a staunch a defense of what I believe might be the most maligned and misunderstood building in central Ohio, the Ohio Historical Center. Business First wasn't able to run the whole piece, so I've decided to turn it into a blog post. photo courtesy of OHS/ www.ohiomemory.org The refrain is a as old as the building itself, "It's ugly. It's just a giant brown box. It doesn't even look like a museum". Sadly, it's that exact line of thinking that poses the greatest threat to the building Architectural Record referre...
7 comments
Read more

Some "Before" Pics

I noted in a previous post that we bought a house. Now that the ink has dried on our closing documents, I feel like I can share a bit more about that. While my wife and I currently live in Columbus, we've got family in the greater Akron area and had been looking to move there for a while. There were many houses we looked at, and many houses we could have bought. The one that we ultimately landed on though was 1925 almost mansion in north Akron. If I were to describe it in the parlance of real estate listings I'd say, "This spacious home in Akron's historic North Hill neighborhood boasts wood floors, radiant heat, loads of period details, a stunning ravine view, and...racoons. Two people stand in a snow covered yard in front of an older home that is overgrown with vegetation. They hold a sign between them that says "SOLD". An interior picture of an empty dining room in an older home. The room has wood floors, dated wallpaper, and wainscoting. Yeah. Racoons. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Problem With Librarian Problems

So it's come to this; a curmudgeonly blog post about the state of the profession (complete with finger wagging, tsk-tsking, and even a little SMH thrown in for good measure). "Shake your fist at 'em Pops. These kids don't know from librarianship". That's how you do it, right? Oh, the irony. I've spent 15 years in the profession deriding Will Manley and his hectoring ways. Now I've apparently become him. Point being, I'm acutely aware of all the contextual layers of this post. I know the implications and risks of saying, "Hey, that's not cool". I've been around long enough to know how easy it is to dismiss the contrarian stance; to push back against even the slightest hint of correction (Trust me, I've done it plenty of times myself). More to the point, I've been around long enough to know how easy it will be to dismiss what I'm about to write. Please don't. It's important. It's important to us individua...
8 comments
Read more