37 Great Books in My 37th Birthday Year

So I turn 37 in March. In honor of this usually unceremonious birthday, I've decided to try to tackle 37 "great" books in the calendar year of 2008. Why would I embark on such a task? I've no earthly idea, but it seems like something different to do.

It's definitely going to be a challenge, as I usually read around 35 books per year (but this year I'm well into the 50s). So we'll see how that goes.

I'm including both fiction and non-fiction in the reading list (which will be developed on an ad hoc basis) and they'll all be in English (since I don't read any other language well at all) but this doesn't preclude reading translations. Since it's my project and likely nobody will read this blog but me, I'll be identifying books that are considered "great." I'll largely rely on other folks lists, such as the Modern Library Top 100 lists, but I want to get some 19th century stuff in there too (possibly some 18th as well). I've read quite a few of the books on the Modern Library list, so I know those are good recommendations. We'll see how it goes.

So I start with a work item...

Just as I said I wouldn't do, this first post is about a work item. I'll transfer it to the work blog once I have it up and running. Anyhoo....

A professor comes into my office today asking to find an article from Harper's in 2000. No problem, I think, ProQuest should have it. But as I'm thinking that, he tells me ProQuest said it should have full text, but alas it didn't. I checked the catalog record and sure enough we should have it. I browse for the issue, find it and see that it's full text...except for the article he wants (ok, and a few others). Luckily, this wasn't a problem as we have a large print backfile of Harper's. Technology is great when it works, but when it doesn't....

Who Am I and Why am I Here?

This was supposed to be my blog for work, but my University was nice enough to allocate space on their server, so I'll have my work blog there. This will be my "fun" blog for personal stuff. Of course that all depends on if I can think of anything interesting to write about!