The Great Reading Competition

Introduction
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The Great Reading Competition

Number of Books Reviewed So Far: 234

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Overall Scoreboard
WILL	3	DAVE	2

In the Beginning...

It came to pass one day that Will came across Dave in a clearing. Dave was, of course, minding his own business, pondering the many wonders of the universe, when Will struck him from behind, nearly toppling him over. "I say!" declared Dave. "Rather!" declared Will, who threw his glove onto the ground. Dave picked up his glove, and thus began the Great Reading Competition.

What Is It?

The rules are fairly simple: Dave and Will agree to a category (say, Eastern European Literature), then agree to a length of time (three months, six months, etc.), and within that time period, each tries to read as many books that fall into the category agreed upon in the allotted time period. To ensure that one doesn't simply read a dozen short books, the pair have agreed to go by page count (though a book's pages only count when the book has been completed successfully). Judging is based on the honor system. Whoever has read the most pages in the time allotted is declared the winner, and receives the coveted Golden Egret Award.

Previous Competitions

Below are links to the previous reading competitions held between Will and Dave. Entries are listed in chronological order, and note the subject and the winner:

Pentad I

Autumn, 2010: Pentad I Redux

Towards the end of our last competition, Will and I concocted a plan to give our Great Reading Competition a bit of structure. We decided to separate our Great Competition into sets of five lesser competitions (what I've been calling legs). A set of five podia (the new name for a single leg derives from the Greek word πoδι) now comprise a pentad. Furthermore, the final competition of each pentad will serve a very specific purpose.

You see, in the course of our competitions, Will and I accumulate books we intend to read during a given podi, but, invariably, we run out of time and are unable to start them. The final podi of a pentad, hereafter, shall be known as a Pentad Redux (a properly Latin term applied to an otherwise properly Greek word). This will give us the opportunity to read any book which fits the categories of any of the previous four podia. It will be a fitting send off for each pentad, and will also give us time to reflect.

This particular podi, Pentad I Redux, will run from October 1st, 2010 to October 1st, 2011, giving Will plenty of time to get back to work over at the junior university he's attending, and give me plenty of time to come up with excuses (I'm beginning to think I can't win one of these anymore). With that, let it begin!

Current Scoreboard

The Autumn, 2010 competition is underway. The current scoreboard is posted below:

WILL				DAVE
#	Title/Author	Date Read	Pages	#	Title/Author	Date Read	Pages
1	The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (Telegraph)	12/19	524	1	Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (ML)	11/25	153
2	—	—	—	2	The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse (Telegraph)	2/1	222
3	—	—	—	3	—	—	—
4	—	—	—	4	—	—	—
5	—	—	—	5	—	—	—
6	—	—	—	6	—	—	—
7	—	—	—	7	—	—	—
8	—	—	—	8	—	—	—
9	—	—	—	9	—	—	—
10	—	—	—	10	—	—	—
Total:			524	Total:			375
Average Book Length:			524	Average Book Length:			188

* Note: It was decided mutually that books of non-epic poetry would count for half the number of their total pages, seeing as the text of many poems do not take up even half of a full page.

Results

The results will be posted here at the end of the competition a year from now.