Jacob, that is a wonderful idea, as much as I hate Oprah. I've been talking to Brian about this over *gasp* AIM (my first AIM chat, reason enough to celebrate), and I think our first book ought to be something short and easy. Starting with War and Peace might be quite off-putting and the project (not that it will) might gain a bad reputation from the beginning when it already holds so much wonderful potential.

SO this is the decision Brian and I came to after much delibration.

Kafka, Franz. "In the Penal Colony."

Justification:
(1) We were supposed to have read it for seminar anyway before the professors canceled it to make more room for Foucault and final projects. So, even if some of you have read it already, you'd have reread it for seminar anyway, so there's no harm in rereading it for the rest of us.
(2) It's in our course packets, we all have it, we might as well. I personally don't have access to all the wonderful books you have at every bookstore in your country, and it's just easier for us lazy / disadvantaged people to start with something we have already.
(3) As I've said before, it's short, and a shorter piece seems more suitable for our first work until we get the hang of how the discussions will work out.
(4) It's Kafka!

I'd post more reasons but I've just taken out my course packet and it smells of TASP, it's crazy, so now I have my nose pressed to the pages and inhaling like the maniac I am.

Brian suggested that we don't have a deadline for people to read it by, because "actually, we might want to just leave it open, but have people blog comments when they finish. Hopefully then, as more blogs come in, the laggards will be inspired to get reading."

Yes. What Brian said.

posted by Tae-Yeoun Keum   [7:50 PM]

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