The "official" reading group version:
Publisher: Mariner (April 21. 2004)
ISBN: 0618526412
Found here at Amazon.com
Found here at Barnes and Noble's web site.
Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut Paperback found here at Amazon.com
Hardcover found here at Amazon.com
Paperback found here at Barnes & Noble's web site.
evolutio (Latin) unrolling and reading of a scroll, reading of a book.
congrego (Latin) to gather together, assemble, convene.
Our book club is a unique gathering of readers from all walks of life. We meet a couple of times a month to discuss serious books in a manner similar to a literature class, without the annoying grades.
Back in 1998, Terry and I started a reading group at DSW. It was a company-sponsored group of employees that met once a week and discussed a common book. The idea was to capture the essence of a literature class, analyzing and dissecting books as a group to gain extra insight. We kept the weekly page count relatively low to encourage careful reading. During the first incarnation, we voted on books to read amongst the group. This lead to an interesting collection of books, some good, some...well, unusual. What we really wanted was an objective list of literature to solve this random-selection process and make sure we were reading worthwhile books.
In 1999, Random House published their list of the 100 Greatest English-language Novels of the 20th Century. We had found our list! We re-formed the reading group and started working our way through the list (skipping #1, Ulysses, because it would be a hard one with which to start). We do not for a minute think that this is the ultimate end-all list of greatest novels ever, but it is better than randomness and, we figure, some pretty good stuff.
The current incarnation of the reading group includes more than just DSW attendees. It has started taking on a life of its own. A common reaction when we tell people about the group is "Wow, I always wanted to read those books but it's too hard on your own". In the spirit of more minds being better than fewer, we invited all comers. This has led to a diverse, engaging group of readers.
Random House removed the list from their site for a while, but now it is back. Fortunately, while it was away, I was able to find it elsewhere, and captured it locally. It is reproduced here for reference purposes, in case they take it down again. The new list features both the expert's list and the "readers" list. The readers list is frankly frightening -- who is this group of people who believe that four of the top ten books in the 20th century were written by Ayn Rand? And three by L. Ron Hubbard? Yikes! Don't get me wrong -- there is nothing wrong with Ayn Rand -- but four books in the top ten? Please! We aren't going to follow the reader's list.
I have also found other lists of books, perfect for when we finish (!) the Random House list.
Art of Java Web Development
The DSW Group
Manning Publications
ThoughtWorks