"How to use information" or "The Goodreads-Wikipedia-Symbiosis"

Answer of the (yester-) day:

At the year's end I tend to get a bit philosophical. Let me therefore start today's answer with a question:

Will there be any practical use of this project, other than the enlightenment of the writer himself?

The answer is: There might be.

As I am also a contributor to the German Wikipedia, I'll try to use some of the information gained druing the challenge to pimp the articles on the persons, I read about.

Second "practical" implication of the challenge are of course the reviews on Goodreads. I'll post a "Useful links"-section on every final post an a book (as I already did with The Americanization of Edward Bok), where you'll find the review and some Wikipedia-information on the book is I        

Last but not at all least, I hope, the blog will entertain its readers and perhaps interest them in one of the Pulitzer-Books of course!!

With this, comes the final remark of 2013:

I hope you enjoyed the few post of this year, wish you all the best for the upcoming year 2014 and hope you'll follow my blog in the new year - and enjoy it!!

"Another volume" or "Give me more!"

Answer of the (yester-) day
Lately I started reading

A Son of the Middle Border

 by Hamlin Garland

which is not a Prize-winner and I hope to be finished with it by the end of the year. The inclined reader might ask: Why now is he reading books that are noncompetitive, when there are 97 Prize-winners to read?
Thanks to this inclined reader, I'm able to pose a set of inevitable question:

How should I deal with Prize-winners, that consist of more than one volume?

As I see it, there are mainly two ways: Either to write about each volume seperately or to write about the work as a whole. The latter seems the better, even though, it'll take longer until I can cast the final vote on it. Therefore, if the winner consists of more than one volume (as will be the case right at the beginning with Julia Ward Howe - 2 vol.), you will have to prove some patience, but will get the whole picture!

The second question is a bit more complicated and leads to why I read A son of the Middle Border.

If only one book of a multi-volume biography entered the competition for the Prize (and of course won), should I read the whole set?

Take for example A Daughter of the Middle Border by Hamlin Garland, which was awarded the Prize in 1922. It is the prosecution of A Son of the Middle Border, which Garland wrote in 1917. I decided to read both, to be able to put the winning book in its proper surroundings. That might of course lead to a multiplication of books to read, so it's just a try.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to deal with the questions posed, please let me know!

Question of the day:
How much of the information on a person, contained in his or her biography can you memorize?

1921: The Americanization of Edward Bok

Today marks the first "pre-start" highlight: The first book to be reviewed for the challenge. I'm not yet sure about the general approach of the reviews. Therefore, if you got any suggestions or requests, just let me know.

The answer of the (yester-) day:

As already mentioned the first book I read is

The Americanization Of Edward Bok 

 by Edward Bok
 

The edition

The edition I chose was the free Kindle version. It surely has the disadvantage that it doesn't contain the real page count. There were a few typing errors but as I don't have a printed copy at hand, I can't say if they are already part of the original version. The only thing to be a bit annoying, is the layout for cited letters. Way too much space between the lines makes them quite hard to read. But, as I am generally a positive kind of guy: It was for free, so what's to complain about? :)

The author 

In case of an autobiography, telling you something about the author apart from the content of the book is a bit difficult. Therefore I will just keep to some key facts, so you know who we are talking about:

Edward Bok (1863-1930) was a Dutch-born American who worked in the editing business for over 40 years. He became famous as the editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, which he headed for nearly 30 years.

The book and its content

The book tells us about the life of Edward Bok. For his autobiography he chose to write in third person, which is quite uncommon. Right at the beginning he tells the reader that this ows to the fact, that the editor Edward Bok whom this book is about, isn't the same as the then retired Edward Bok writing the book.

As the titel reveals, the book starts with the family immigrating to the United States. Even though we learn something about Boks family, little is said about the family living in the Netherlands. As Bok lost his father quite early, he was the breadwinner for the family in an early age. His first job (while his father was still alive) was to clean the windows of a bakery in his neighbourhood in Brooklyn. Later he worked there as a shop assistant. In his free time, he collected letters from famous persons. He tells quite a few funny stories about how he met some of them in person (as a young boy he dined with Teddy Roosevelt and his wife for example).

His first contact with the publishing business was when he joined Henry Holt and Co., today one of the oldest publishing companies in the U.S., in 1882 as a clerk. While working there, he became interested for the first time with women as readers. At the same time he also started his first own enterprise Bok Syndicate Press, together with brother William. They sold articles to various newspapers, including a special section on topics for women. Two years later he joined Charles Scribner's Sons, where he rose from stenographer to head of the advertising department. There he befriended Frank N. Doubleday, founder of Doubleday Publishing.

In 1889 Cyrus Curtis, owner of the Ladies' Home Journal based in Philadelphia, won Bok as editor. He came to direct the Journal for nearly 30 years. Under his administration the Journal, as first periodical in U.S.-publishing history, toped a circulation of one million. The reader not only learns about Bok's views on a veriety of topics such as architecture, fashion and policits and how he won former Presidents of the United States as writers, but also how the Journal managed during World War I. On the other hand, Bok also shows how, from time to time, he was heavily criticized by his readers, for example for his opposition on aigrettes.

The autobiographical part of the book ends with Boks retirement as an editor in 1919.

As a kind of appendix, Bok spends some thoughts on the question on how american society deals with the integretation of immigrants. That's quite interesting to read from today's perspective. To my readers from the U.S.: Your comments on that one would thouroughly interest me!

The book and the Prize

The book gained to Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1921, shortly after its first edition appeared in 1920.

What I think

One main goal of all this is, of course, to tell you what I think of the book. The way I see it, The Americanization of Edward Bok was the perfect start for the challenge. It deserved the Pulitzer alright! Not only the style of Bok's writting  makes one leap through the book without one moment of hesitation. The story as a whole is a very balanced one with very entertaining anecdotes as well as some serious thoughts. Of course, you have to cut some of the things as self-advertisement of the author. But the way I see it, that is what you get with every autobiography.

The result

As a result, those of you interested in a fun-read and some interest in the history of the U.S. publishing business get the first unconfined recommendation!

Useful links

• The free Kindle version at amazon.de and amazon.com
• Article on Edward Bok on Wikipedia
• My review on Goodreads 

Question of the day

What's next?

"Mr. Pulitzer, tell us more!" or "The hard facts"

Christmas is nearly over, unfortunatelly I have to work between Christmas and New Year. Therefore let's use this day for a post about some facts on the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.

The answer of the (yester-) day

Here are some hard facts on the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography:

As of today:

• The Pulitzer Prize is named after the publisher Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911).
   
• The category Biography or Autobiography is one of 22 categories that are currently awarded (another 16 categories were formerly awarded but are not today).
   
• Offered since 1917 the Prize for Biography or Autobiography is, together with five other categories, the oldest denomination currently awarded.
   
• Since 1917 the Prize for Biography or Autobiography was until now awarded 97 times.
   
• 1938 the Prize was split between Odell Shepard and Marquis James
   
• In 1962 the Prize was not awarded at all.
   
• Of the 92 awardees, 14,1 % are women.
   
• Ten authors recived the Prize twice.
   
• The youngest author to recive the Prize was Carleton Mabee, who - when awarded the Prize in 1944 - was just 30.
   
• The oldest author to revive the Prize was Katharine Graham, who - when awarded the Prize in 1998 - was 81.
   
• Twice the Prize was awarded posthumously.
   
• John F. Kennedy, awarded the Prize in 1957, was until now, the only US President to recive the Prize.

I think that will do for today.

Question of the day:
Now, what about Edward Bok's autobiography???

"Merry Christmas!" or "Jumping the Gun"

As I accidentally deleted today's post, here is another try:

First things first:

Merry Christmas everyone!!

I hope you spend some nice days with your loved ones and have some time to relax.

The second thing of today's post is of course

The answer of the (yester-) day:

Those of you, who follow me on Goodreads might already have noticed that, over the last few days I read

The Americanization Of Edward Bok 

 by and about Edward Bok

this book being the 1921 or 5th winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.

So I kind of jumped the gun on that one. The good thing is, the challenge gained a bit of advance from the original plan. Therefore it doesn't matter that much, that Richard's Julia Ward Howe will arrive only on January 6th.

I will share my experiences on Bok's book with you in the comming days. For those who are a bit imaptient, I just reviewed the book on Goodreads.

The question of the day (special Christmas-edition):

What is it all about the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography? 

To Kindle or not Kindle, that is the question

Answer of the (yester)day:

I stuck to the two-volume-set of Richard's Julia Ward Howe offered at abebooks and paid the 50 bucks. For that I will even get a first edition which is, acording to the description, in very good condition. Unfortunatelly, acording to the seller, the volumes will, mainly because of Christmas, only be delivered on January 6th. So give me just a day or two to think of what to do, to keep the starting date originaly set on January 1st.

That I ordered a printed copy does not at all mean, I opose e-books in general. I do even own a Kindle (the very basic kind, but with a nice black leather cover). To  tell you the truth: I didn't really buy it. It came as a give-away for buying a tothbrush at Amazon...

Today the question wether to use ebook readers or not kind of kindles the mind of readers. Ask two people and get three opinions on the question. As for myself, I think that Kindle&Co. present the modern way of reading and surely open the field for young people to read. That's the good thing. Furthermore, one should keep up with the times anyhow, for if you are not, you get old quite fast. However (and that's a big however), I am one hundert percent sure that the good old printed book will endure, maybe in the very long run it will even prevail. There are several reasons that make me so sure about that: First, it's the feeling of holding the book in your hands and turning page after page that an ebook will never be able to satisfy. Secondly it's simply question of perdurability. There are books in our libraries that are over 300 years old. Something makes me doubt that a file, may it be e-pub or kindle-format, will ever last that long.

As a result I can promise you, that one or the other book in this enterprise will be read as e-book. In principal I will, as far as my funds permit it, try and gain printed copies of the books to be read. The main reason for that being, that in the end, I would like to stand in front of the bookshelf and say: "I read 'em all!"

Question of today:
As the first book to be read will be late, what's the alternative?

"Let's get started planing" or "The W-Questions"

The idea being in my head, I started "advertising" the blog to my goodreads-friends yesterday. Hopefully one or the other will – from time to time – check in to see how my first trial as a blogger goes.

After the messages were out and the blog is now known to the outside world, I immediately started to pose the W-Questions (Note to myself: Next time, first start planning, then advertise!!).

As the start date is already set on January 1st, the When already answered itself.

To answer the Why you just have to scroll back to yesterdays post.

That basically leaves us with:

Where to start?

and

Where to get the books?

Question 1 seems quite easy: Let’s get off at the beginning. That means of course the first book awarded the Prize. According to the official list this would be

Julia Ward Howe

by Laura E. Richards and Maude Howe Elliott

Being awarded in 1917, that leads right to question Nr. 2. There are quite a few reprints available on Amazon. One of the shops even offers a Kindle-Edition! Abebooks offers a two-volume- first edition but guess what, it’s 50 Euros!! (for those readers that are not so familiar with Europe’s chaos-currency: That equals about $ US 68 or $ CAN 73). That’s kind of a pricy start. Perhaps I should call uncle Santa to bring a gift certificate. But even then... The books ship from the US, so I am not sure, they will get here in time.

Next idea: Public Libraries!
But damn!! According to Karlsruhe Virtual Catalogue (by the way a very good instrument for searching libraries ‘round the globe), the next library that has the book available is the one of the University of Tübingen, but they don’t lend…

Question of the day:
Should I start spending money on a “real” copy or will the Kindle-Edition for only 2,34 Euro (USD 3,20; CAD 3,40) suffice?

P.S.: If there is anyone out there Who knows where to get rare books for reasonable prices, just let me know!

An idea is born

As an  avid reader of biographies I recently came across the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. This coincided with becoming a member of Goodreads. These two taken together formed the idea: Why not try reading the Pulitzer Price winning (auto-)biographies?

First I thought of shaping the whole thing as a bit of a challenge to myself. But how should such a challenge look like?

First suggestion: Try read the books in 2014!

Answer: Noooooooo!!! As the Prize in this category is awarded since 1917, 2013 markes the 97th year of bestowal (okay, it's only year 96 but we will come back to that kind of backround information later). So there are definitely way to many books to fit them all in one single year!

Second suggestion: Try read one book a month!

Answer: Maybe... The problem here is, I'm not a full-time reader. As the guys from the tax and revenue office are quite used to get a part of my salery as monthly payment, stop working and start reading is also not an option. Besides, from time to time my job is quite demanding. So I just can't promise to read one awardee per month.

My Solution

I will start reading January 1st 2014 with the first book and just keep you posted as I go along. Just tune in from time to time and you will see how it goes!!


One last thing on keeping you posted:

Why the heck write a blog about all this, you ask? Sure, I could just post my reviews on Goodreads.  But my hope is, that these will just be the final outcome of it all. The main reason for blogging about this is, that I hope for more than a few interesting experiences and encounters on the way. To put it simple: Might the journey be the reward!!

So if you like, come and embarke on this journey with me!