Come Out, Come Out Whoever You (Seven) Are
Evidently, it's "de-lurking week," which I didn't know. And here it is almost over. I feel like such a jackass.
Anyway, I don't imagine I have many lurkers, which I would define as someone who regularly visits a site and never comments. What I imagine I have is a decent number of devoted readers who comment from time to time. I do have a lot more visitors than I thought I would when I started tracking such things, but I think a lot of them are of the variety who find the site through some random Google search and only stick around for however many seconds it takes to determine that Google has badly misled them. (Recent phrases searched on Google that led here include the rather poetic "what might be the cost of not being afraid," the rather mangled "was there any famous people on the titanic," the pretty much inexplicable "what does the board game that john is playing with martin symbolize," and my favorite, "I'm afraid of the gym.")
If you care to prove me wrong about my lurker population, here's a chance. Below are five books I plan on reading this year, come hell or high water (both of which seem likely to arrive soon, given the 73-degree temperature in Brooklyn last Saturday). Visit the comments and leave the name of one book you want to read this year. If you don't plan on reading any books, name one anyway. No one's going to fact-check this exercise. Anonymous comments are welcome, too. Let's just try to get more than five -- you know, for self-esteem reasons. Thanks.
Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life by Andrew Motion
Nonzero by Robert Wright
The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford
The Gambler by Dostoevsky
Secretariat by William Nack
Anyway, I don't imagine I have many lurkers, which I would define as someone who regularly visits a site and never comments. What I imagine I have is a decent number of devoted readers who comment from time to time. I do have a lot more visitors than I thought I would when I started tracking such things, but I think a lot of them are of the variety who find the site through some random Google search and only stick around for however many seconds it takes to determine that Google has badly misled them. (Recent phrases searched on Google that led here include the rather poetic "what might be the cost of not being afraid," the rather mangled "was there any famous people on the titanic," the pretty much inexplicable "what does the board game that john is playing with martin symbolize," and my favorite, "I'm afraid of the gym.")
If you care to prove me wrong about my lurker population, here's a chance. Below are five books I plan on reading this year, come hell or high water (both of which seem likely to arrive soon, given the 73-degree temperature in Brooklyn last Saturday). Visit the comments and leave the name of one book you want to read this year. If you don't plan on reading any books, name one anyway. No one's going to fact-check this exercise. Anonymous comments are welcome, too. Let's just try to get more than five -- you know, for self-esteem reasons. Thanks.
Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life by Andrew Motion
Nonzero by Robert Wright
The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford
The Gambler by Dostoevsky
Secretariat by William Nack
posted by JMW at 10:20 PM
25 Comments:
wait, is this also for non-lurkers? if so, The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro. if not, please disregard.
Yes, of course -- non-lurkers welcome, as always.
Howdy. I hope to read The Ruins by Scott Smith.
I'm really more of a secret admirer than a lurker... but I will risk giving away my IP address by admitting herein that this year I, too, hope to read in full The Power Broker, which I've been attempting for at least the past year already, but am only at about page 25 of the 1,500-odd-pp work.
Welcome, secret admirer. I don't know IP addresses by who leaves comments. It's possible such things can be discovered, but I'm remarkably ignorant of computer technology for someone with a blog.
Hmmm... I wasn't really trying to hide my identity when I said I wanted to read The Ruins. Damn blogger. Anyway, hello again.
First time... I just followed you over from Pajiba, but I've had this book The Fortress of Solitude sitting on my shelf for two years. My brother gave it to me. I think it's time I finally gave it a whirl. Has anyone on this read it?
the hero's walk - and yes i totally lurk
I like your daily links.
I plan on reading "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" by Chuck Klosterman(sp?) and also way more Flannery O'Connor.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Augh I'm bad at computers...
Land's sakes, you like Marilynne Robinson, too? I haven't read Gilead, I hear it's quite good. I did read a wonderful article on John Calvin that she wrote.
You also posted about virtue.
And you like Ross McElwee.
Welcome to my blogroll.
My next read will also be The Ruins.
I'm so lame for being the 4th or 5th person to make the same comment that I want to read The Ruins this year too. How unoriginal.
And by the way, I'm also very interested in how many lurkers I have too, but I'm too afraid to post a question to ask out of fear that I don't have any. So, well done. Very brave of you.
hello, I'm a lurker.
and I like your blog.
I plan to read Oblivion, by David Foster Wallace.
I think I'm a semi-lurker; regular reader, irregular commenter.
I'm currently re-reading The Bell Jar for the tenth time due to reading Prozac Nation for the first time. I hope to read a lot more Joanna Russ this year.
All of a sudden I feel pretty good about the fact that I've already read The Ruins.
Amanda Mae, I read Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs on a flight back from London, and I'm pretty sure the guys sitting next to me wanted to kill me by the time we landed because I kept interrupting what they were doing so I could read them excerpts.
I got a bunch of books for Christmas, but right now I'm reading The Fall of Hyperion (I hadn't read any sci-fi since middle school, so I figured I'd give it another shot), and my next book is King Dork.
-- Comish
I would like to finish A Winters Tale which I stupidly put down after 150 pages and lost the momentum. Back to the beginning for me. Wish I had lurkers.
The Lurker at the Threshold by H.P. Lovecraft. And of course, The Ruins.
I am an admitted lurker. Planning to read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I found your blog from Pajiba by the way, no weird google searching gone wrong.
what is the what, by dave eggers. and maybe at some point one of vendela vida's books, just to, you know, do my part for domestic harmony.
A Brief History of British Kings & Queens by Mike Ashley. Yeah...brief. 464 pages. Wish me luck.
Followed a link from pajiba. Something about the line "she always looks like she just sent a Gummy Bear down the wrong pipe". Definitely a man who knows how to turn a phrase.
I'm yet another Pajiba devotee - I'll *finally* read 'The Botany of Desire' which has been on my reading list for years now. I found a copy at Goodwill last weekend, which satisfied my thrifty soul, but dealt a serious blow to my sense of cultural literacy.
I have no idea what book I'm going to read next. I just finished Dirty Blonde(not really a book,by Courtney Love) And now I'm reading simultaneously Positively 5th Street
and manhattan Loverboy by Nersessian.
At least I think that's how it's spelled.
wow my captcha word is really long!
Hi, JW -- Wish I could pretend you flushed me out of the "lurkernet," but you know too well that I've been here all along. Just thought I'd add to the reading list. I know I'm about a decade behind with this, but I've been carrying around Guns, Germs, and Steel because I realized recently after re-reading Heart of Darkness (which I'm mentioning not just because I hope it makes me look smart, but also because it's fascinating and good for multiple readings) that I know very little about the rise of world civilizations. If someone can recommend a better source, though, I'd be grateful. Then I'm going to read King Leopold's Ghost.
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