wow.....BEST book club meeting EVER!

Ok, ok. So it truly was an excellent meeting, but we missed many of you! Excellent, despite the fact that a few of us didn't do our homework, myself included. Nonetheless, it was great discussing Poirot's gumshoeing and the Chesterton piece. Comparing and contrasting Poirot and Holmes, as well as Christie and Conan Doyle, were lively topics.

If nothing else, I've at least accomplished two goals with last night's meeting. 1. Eating at BlackFinn (delicious and absolutely supreme service). I was worried the staff at the more-upscale-than-usual BlackFinn would frown upon a gaggle of book clubbers taking up space. Not the case! The staff was friendly, the food adequate, and the atmosphere pretty decent.

I'm very much looking forward to our next assignment, and I promise to not shirk my duties this month and actually put my eyes to page. That said, let's not wait a whole month before getting together again. I know our schedules are all equally hectic, but I suggest a happy hour sometime, or even a weekend get together. I'm happy to host a gathering any time. It would be alot (that's for you, Amanda!!!) of fun.

See you all soon,
Ta ta.

Next meeting and next readings

Hey book clubbers,

I wanted to remind everyone of the meeting this Thursday evening at Blackfinn.; we'll meet there between 5:15 and 5:30pm to discuss Poirot.

I spoke with a few book club members this weekend, and as everyone is SUPER busy lately, we thought it would be a good idea to do the Grimms Fairy Tales (Gutenberg) for next month. I would just say read whichever ones you like and come prepared to chat about them over drinks. The meeting will be on March 24th (a Thursday) and the location is TBD.

Thanks!

Read.gov

In my perusing to find some enlightening content for the ol' blog, I came across a wonderful little page for Classic Books on Read.gov, the Library of Congress's website for "Online books and resources for literacy & reading for everyone." As with the rest of their online books, the classics that they make available are neatly listed, and with a simple click on the "Read Now" link, your book of choice is opened in a really nice web app.

These things are nice. I mean, really nice. You get gorgeous, full-color scans of these weathered old books - the whole books. Everything from the cover to the blank pages at the end are included in such rich detail that it's almost as good as actually being able to hold these patina-infused treasures of literature. Check out this screen-cap of The Raven:

You can also switch to "scroll view" if you don't like that 2-page at a time look, which is a nice touch (although part of what I love about this web app is the two-page view's page-flipping animation). Perhaps the best part of all of this is that the webapp is apparently NOT Flash-based, which is just wonderful (and probably explains why it actually works). Full disclosure: I'm a big Adobe fanboy, but I whole-heartedly believe that Flash's reign of terror on the internet needs to end, as soon as possible.

That said, I am definitely adding Read.gov to my list of reasons to buy an iPad 2. This interface would be perfect on an iPad in landscape orientation, and the best part is that it's free (your tax dollars at work!), and accessed completely through a regular ol' web browser (meaning that in the case of using it on an iOS device, it'd be nearly impossible for Apple to block it). Additionally, it's great for drooling over illustrations from The Raven (which are apparently by some nobody named Eduard Manet) on a laptop screen while lounging around with a neck pillow on in bed. Anyway, sorry for that little geekgasm there, but this is one of the coolest things to come from our federal government since the National Parks, and I am extremely excited about all the free (and visually delicious) content that's up for grabs. Thanks, Uncle Sam!

Good Thing I'm In a Book Club

If I weren't, how could I have won fake $1,000 in Jeopardy? Look at how happy I am... all by myself. Still, thanks Dantes. You're the man.

Quick Note

Hey fellow bookclubbers! I am, like you all, very excited for our next discussion. I feel like it's been a really long time since the last one. Also, I would like to say that I am making it a personal goal of mine to put more frequent and interesting content up on the ol' blog here (it's going to be extra funny when a month from now this is still the newest post, el oh el). Anyway, sorry for the lack of exceptional, witty, and engaging content lately (and by lately, I mean since about June of last year). This Book Club Blog is going places! Stand by!

Discussing Poirot

Hey guys,

I hope you are all enjoying The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Innocence of Father Brown.

We will meet at BlackFinn American Saloon at 1620 I Street NW at around 5:30 on Thursday, February 24th. See you all soon!