Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for weekly geeks] 

Another one of the things Dewey did so well with Weekly Geeks was a weekly round-up. In her weekly post, she would feature a few of the bloggers who participated in the prior week’s activity.

We’re a little slow in getting that part of Weekly Geeks off the ground, and since it takes many Geeks to carry out the tasks of one Dewey, the round-up will be in the form of a separate post.

Since the first week’s activity asked us to list our favorite blogs and subsequently increased the size of all our feed readers by 5 gazillion blogs, I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I skip that round-up and start with Weekly Geeks 2009-02.

Last week, an unfinished person and Joanne posed the following questions:

For those who have been with the group, either from the start or joined within recent months, what does being a member mean to you? What do you enjoy about the group? What are some of your more memorable Weekly Geeks that we might could do again? What could be improved as we continue the legacy that Dewey gave us? For those just joining us, why did you sign up for Weekly Geeks? What would you like to see here?

Erin from crazy comma momma is a self-confessed newbie who is already doing happy dances when the Weekly Geeks blog updates. I practically did a happy dance myself when I read that. Erin says she is new to book blogging and Weekly Geeks gives her a chance to get her feet wet. Welcome Erin! We’ll keep an eye out for that video of you doing the happy dance. ;-)

Megan at Leafing Through Life is a long-time geek. For her (and for a lot of people), Weekly Geeks is about community. Megan was “a particularly big fan of the weeks when we were asked to go out and visit some Geeks we hadn't seen before either to comb their archives or to find something we had in common or just to leave a comment to say "hey, I've been here" and post the links to our travels in our Weekly Geeks post.” “Links to our travels”…I just love that line, don’t you?

Julie at Booking Mama is another fairly new Geek. One of her New Year’s resolutions is to “to be a bigger part of the blogging community. In addition to leaving more comments, I also decided to start participating in Weekly Geeks. So here I am and here's to hoping that I stick with it!” We hope you stick with it, too, Julie! Although we won’t send the Geek Police after you if you skip a week.

Maree at just add books is in it for the fun. “For me, it's a fun thing to do once a week where I get to virtually hang out with lots of like-minded people :)…I really enjoyed the Weekly Geeks where we interviewed each other about what we were reading. I'd be happy to see a repeat of that one. Oh! And the quotes one, where we posted a quote a day on a specific subject. That was a lot of fun too.” Since I'm all about the fun, too, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, Maree!

Ms. Ulat Baku of Ulat Baku in the City sees Weekly Geeks as “a great platform that allows me to make new friends, exchange ideas and learn new things from people regardless of race, religion and background and that’s the main reason for my participation. Plus the fact that I love Mr. Spock to pieces and never had an appropriate post to feature him in my blog until now of course, LOL.” Well said, Ms. Baku, and may Weekly Geeks live long and prosper.

Many of you mentioned favorites Weekly Geeks that you wouldn't mind seeing again. We will be adding the suggestions to the list of themes, and as usual, if you think of any other ideas, feel send us an email.

We will try to post this weekly round-up every Friday. Additionally, once a month we're hoping to feature some of the other Dewey-inspired events that are continuing around the blogosphere. Look for that post next week. In the meantime, happy geeking!

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.
-W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) -
Weekly Geeks started in April 2008. Its brainchild was an effervescent and energetic blogger named Dewey who envisioned a weekly event which would unite the book blogging community. She posted a weekly assignment - a question, a task, a theme - to be completed and posted on the Geeks' individual blogs and linked at the main assignment post. It turned out to be wildly successful.

And then a heartbreaking notification appeared on Dewey's blog on Tuesday, November 25, 2008. The person who seemed to be everywhere in the blogging community, the quintessential community cheerleader who everyone seemed to know and love, had died - leaving a huge hole in our ranks. In the spirit of keeping Dewey's community efforts alive, several bloggers got together and decided to give Weekly Geeks its own space and carry on what Dewey had started.

Over the last nearly three years, the team keeping this blog running has ebbed and flowed. Mostly we've tried to be consistent in posting each Saturday and doing a wrap up each Friday. But, over the last several months not only has our focus as a team struggled, but participation in the weekly assignments has slowed to a trickle. There are those bloggers who come back week in and week out, and sometimes we see some new faces in the links, but overall attendance has sharply declined.

So after some discussion, the Weekly Geeks team has decided that it is time to end this event. We believe that Dewey would approve - she was never someone who hung onto things that were not working. She was willing to look critically at her own inventions and change them up or simply let them go if the community did not seem as excited about them as she was...and so we are taking our direction from the spirit of the person who started this event.

A great deal of thanks are due those individuals who have in some way stepped up over the last three years to help out here, or give us ideas, or participate by posting to their blog one of the assignments. Without the book blogging community behind us, this event would have closed down a long, long time ago.

This is probably also a good time to announce that Weekly Geeks was nominated for the BBAW Best Meme award for this year. The Weekly Geeks team is incredibly honored to be recognized in this way - thank you to those who submitted a nomination!

This blog will remain up, at least for awhile, so that those who wish to may browse the links or read the assignments - perhaps find inspiration for their blog.

This will be the final Weekly Geeks "assignment"...share one of the following on your blog:

• If you knew Dewey - a favorite memory of her, or one of your favorite "events" which was Dewey-inspired.
• Browse the topics here and re-post one of your favorites

Weekly Geeks assignment 2009-04 was the brainchild of Chris of Book-a-rama. Inspired by our founder Dewey's passion for knitting, Chris wanted to know about our passions aside from reading and blogging:

What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging? For example, are you crafty (knitting, woodworking, scrapbooking, model building)? Do you cook? Into gaming (computer or board)? Sports (player or spectator)? Photography? Maybe you like geocaching, rock climbing? Or love attending events like renaissance fairs, concerts? Music? Dancing? You get the idea.

Tell us why you're passionate about it. Post photos of what you've made or of yourself doing whatever it is you love doing.
Chris also asked us to share outside links ("tutorials, recipes, YouTube videos, websites, fan sites, etc, anything that will help us learn more about your interest or how to do your hobby") related to our passions, and to visit other Weekly Geeks to learn more about their passions.

Bogsider at Lous_Pages wondered whether she had an answer to this question at first:

Passionate is such a big word. But then again, I do know that I do not have to take the meaning literally and that if I translate it to something like "what are your other interests" it applies (and appeals) more to me. I can see the gap between being passionate about something and having an interest in something. But taken literally, I am not red-hot with passion over anything. But I am interested in a lot of things, and definitely, I feel more interested in some things over others. And there are of course things which I am very interested in and spend a lot of time doing or thinking about. Surely.

Framed in those terms, Bogsider did have some passions to share. She is close to completing a master's degree in Egyptology, an interest which allows her to pursue two other favorite activities, photography and travel. Photography is a hobby mentioned by several other Weekly Geeks, too. A few folks, like work their photographs into another one of their passions - scrapbooking, either traditional, like Erin at Crazy Comma Momma, or digital, like Tasses of Random Wonder.

When they're not holding a book, Weekly Geeks seem to like using their hands for needlework crafts like crochet and cross-stitch are popular. Knitting is a favorite pastime of Julie from Booking Mama, while Yati of "Fiddle-de-dee's not English" is one of the Geeks who enjoys patchwork and quilting. Some geeks express their creativity through drawing and painting, like Claire at Kiss a Cloud and Sarah from Puss Reboots, and Care of Care's Online Book Club makes mosaics.

But even though they love to read and blog and be creative, Weekly Geeks like to get outside once in a while too. Some Geeks enjoy working in their gardens. Some enjoy working with animals, like Wendy of Caribousmom and Bookish Ruth, while Gavin of Page 247 is a volunteer Beach Naturalist. One Weekly Geek, UnfinishedPerson, is preparing to run his first marathon this summer.

And every now and then, a Geek likes to come out from behind her books and entertain people. Ali of Worducopia sings with a choir, and Joanna from It's All About Me performs in plays and musicals.

Weekly Geeks are definitely more than just bookworms!

This week in Weekly Geeks, Chris thought it was a good time to revisit one of the original Geeky assignments: book review link exchanges.

1. Write a post encouraging readers to look through your archives (if you have your reviews in a particular place on your blog, point them there), and find the books that they have also written reviews. Tell them to leave a link to their review on your review post. For example, I've written a review for Gods Behaving Badly and Jane Doe leaves a link to her review of Gods Behaving Badly in the comments section of my review.

2. Edit your reviews to include those links in the body of the review post.

3. Visit other Weekly Geeks and go through their reviews. Leave links for them.

4. Leave a note somewhere on your blog to let people know this is your new policy.

5. Write a post later this week letting us know how your project is going!
(I've kept this policy on my own blog since the original assignment, and recently edited my Book Review Policy to mention that I participate in review-link exchanges, but other than that I didn't officially participate in WG this week.)

One reason for re-visiting this topic was so that newer arrivals to Weekly Geeks who might have missed this assignment the first time around, as well as Geeks who just haven't gotten around to it before, would have the opportunity to join in and start link swapping themselves. Joanne (Book Zombie) was excited to get this going for her book reviews, and so were Dreamybee (Subliminal Intervention), Farm Lane Books, and Heather (Belle of the Books).

Some of this week's WG players adopted the link exchange in May of last year and have stuck with it since then, but took advantage of the opportunity to re-state the policy. Geeks in this group include Jackie (Literary Escapism), Nymeth (Things Mean a Lot), Nicole (Linus's Blanket), Ali (Worducopia), Heather (Book Addiction), and Gautami Tripathy (Reading Room),

Some Geeks who have fallen off the link-exchange wagon seized this opportunity to catch up or reinstate the practice on their blogs, like Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness), and Megan (Leafing Through Life). Softdrink (Fizzy Thoughts) loves the idea, but confesses that despite her best intentions, she's probably going to keep forgetting to do it.

Check out the Mr. Linky on Weekly Geeks 2009-12 to see who else participated this week, and visit them to find out if you have links to share - but please be aware that this policy was never meant to be exclusive to Weekly Geeks participants. The idea behind it is community building, so you're encouraged to seek out links to any other blogger's reviews of the books you review, and to offer your own review links freely to other bloggers as well. Fyrefly has created a custom Book Blogs Search Engine for Google that makes finding other reviews quick and easy.

Happy linking!

DEWEY began blogging at The Hidden Side of a Leaf in April 2007. While her main topic was books - book reviews, book discussions, reading challenges, book giveaways - her focus was always on building community, as she said herself:

My main focus in blogging is community. I want to share my love for books with other bloggers, hear what they think of what they’re reading, and have lots of bookish fun. My non-review blog activities...are all meant to build community.

In just over a year and a half as a book blogger, Dewey quickly became a leader in the community she sought to foster. Her book reviews were well-thought-out, insightful, and thorough; her style of reviewing and the books she wrote about influenced the reading and blogging choices of many other book bloggers - and while she was a prolific reviewer, her reading outpaced her reviewing, and she often remarked about being behind on her reviews. In addition to her own reading and reviewing, Dewey organized and managed several reading challenges, and founded three events which spread across the book-blogging community: the semi-annual 24-Hour Read-a-Thon, the monthly Bookworms Carnivals, and Weekly Geeks.

In April 2008, Dewey proposed a new sort of "challenge" at her blog; not a reading challenge, but a blogging challenge, to be called "Weekly Geeks" - her initial post to gauge interest in the idea prompted 150 people to sign up! The challenge would involve a weekly assignment - a question, a task, a theme - to be completed and posted on the Geeks' individual blogs and linked at the main assignment post. Not every Geek participated every week, some assignments were more popular than others, and new Geeks joined in as the word spread. Visiting other Geeks' posts for that week was part of the assignment as well, which is where Dewey's community-building focus kicked in.

The book-blogging community was stunned and saddened by the news that Dewey passed away on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - but it never doubted that Dewey's contributions to it would live on, and there was a drive to continue the events she founded. It will take committees of bloggers and several blogs to keep them going, though. Welcome to the new home of Weekly Geeks, part of Dewey's legacy to the community she was so important to.

Written by Florinda

The following table contains links to the many posts that have been written in memory of Dewey:

Blog Name
Tribute Post
Weekly Geek Post
1 More Chapter Dewey You'll Be Missed -- 1330V Dewey Thinking Of Dewey 3 Rs Reading, ‘Riting Randomness Book Bloggers Say Goodbye Blogging For Dewey A Garden Carried In The Pocket Requiem -- A Girl Walks Into A Bookstore Dewey -- A Guy’s Moleskine Notebook Goodbye Dewey -- A Reader’s Respite Rest In Peace Dewey -- A Striped Armchair Rest In Peace Dewey -- APOOO Books RIP Dewey -- Armenian Odar Dewey, Thank You For Everything -- At Home With Books In Honor Of Dewey -- B&B ex libris Dewey -- Back To Books A Sad Loss To The World -- Bart’s Bookshelf :( -- Beastmomma Losing A Blogging Pal -- Becky’s Book Reviews Sad News Indeed In Her Own Words Belle Of The Books Dewey Will Be Missed -- Bibliolatry A Great Loss -- BlogHer Remembering Dewey -- Bloody Hell It’s A Book Barrage Farewell, Beautiful Dewey -- Bluestocking Guide Loss In Our Community -- Bluestocking Society Goodbye To Dewey -- Bold. Blue. Adventure We’ll Miss You Dewey -- Book-A-Rama Unbelievably Sad News For Dewey Book Addiction -- Remembering Dewey Book And Cranny Shock and Sadness -- The Book Mine Set Rest In Peace Dewey -- Book Dads The Butterfly Award -- Book Nut -- Geeky Tribute Book Zombie Remembering Dewey This One's For You Bookfoolery And Babble This One's For Dewey -- Bookgirls Nightstand For Dewey -- Bookish Ruth Farewell Dewey -- Booklorn Sad Day -- Bookopolis Bookworms Carnival -- Bookroom Reviews God Bless You Dew -- Books And Border Collies In Memoriam -- Books And Movies A Huge Loss -- Books And Other Thoughts Remembering Dewey -- Books I Done Read Sad News -- Books Of Mee Bye Dewey -- Books On The Brain A Sad Goodbye -- Bookstack Loss Of A Builder -- Bookworm In Memory Tribute Post brideofthebookgod -- Dewey Care’s Online Book Club -- Weekly Geeks Caribousmom Remembering Dewey -- A Loss In Memory Of Dewey Casual Dread -- Dewey ChainReading -- Remembering Dewey Deus ex machina complex Oh Fuck In The Land Of Denial Everyday Reads Prayerful Weekly Geeks Fizzy Thoughts In Memory Of Dewey For Dewey Fyrefly Books In Memoriam -- Galley Cat Book Blogger Dewey -- Giving Reading A Chance Dewey, You Will Be Missed -- Hey Lady! Whatcha Reading? We Love You Dewey -- In Search Of Giants In Memory Of Dewey -- In Spring It Is The Dawn Farewell Dewey -- Incurable Logophilia Bookshelf Peeping -- It’s All About Books Dewey We’ll Miss You Dewey Tribute Just Add Books Huge Loss Making It Count The Kea <3 -- For Dewey -- Kids Book Buzz Farewell To Dewey -- Kittling Books Dewey's Community -- Kristina’s Favorites For Dewey -- Leafing Through Life Missing You -- Life Happens While Books Wait Dewey -- Literary Escapism Sadness In The Book Blogosphere -- Literate Housewife In Remembrance -- Lit*chick Two Things -- Madeleine’s Book Blog In Memory Of Dewey -- Maggie Reads My Eyes Are Dewey -- Maw Books Blog In Which We Say Goodbye -- Melody’s Reading Corner Dewey ... You’ll Be Missed Honouring Dewey Musings Remembering Dewey -- Musings Of A Bookish Kitty In Memory Of Dewey -- My Friend Amy Farewell Dewey For Dewey My Own Little Reading Room My Prayers For Dewey Remembering Dewey My Years Of Reading Seriously Life... -- Naked Without Books Dewey -- Fortress Is Their Library -- Nothing Of Importance This Is Real Life Tribute To Dewey Out Of The Blue Dewey Remembering Dewey Page After Page Life Is So Fleeting Dewey Edition Pages Turned Remembering Dewey -- Passion For The Page -- RIP Dewey The Printed Page Thoughts And Prayers -- Random Wonder In Remembrance -- Reading Adventures Sad News Indeed -- Reading Derby Dewey You Are Missed -- Reading In Appalachia For Dewey -- Reading Is My SuperPower Oh Dewey -- Reading, Writing and Retirement Candle For Dewey For Dewey Ready When You Are C.B. In Memory Of Dewey -- Rebecca Reads A Farewell -- Savvy Verse & Wit My Dearest Dewey Dewey Tribute She Reads Books In Memoria -- Shelf Life Sad News -- Should Be Reading In Memory Of Dewey -- Sleepy Reader For Dewey -- So Many Books, So Little Time Hole In Our World -- So Many Precious Books Today Is A Sad Day In Memory Of Dewey Some Reads So Sad -- Sophisticated Dorkiness Sad News Remembering Dewey Sprite Writes Dewey -- Stephanies Confessions A Terrible Loss... -- Stephanie’s Written Word The Hidden Side Of A Leaf -- Stuff As Dreams Are Made On Oh No... Weekly Geeks Subliminal Intervention -- Dewey Tales From The Reading Room Saying Goodbye -- Tammy’s Book Nook For Dewey, With Love -- Things Mean A Lot Dewey For Dewey Thoughts Of Joy Extremely Sad News -- Tiny Little Reading Room Rest In Peace Dewey -- Tripping Toward Lucidity Loss -- Trish’s Reading Nook In Memory Of Dewey -- True Confessions Of A Book Lover Dewey -- Valentina’s Room -- For Dewey West Of Mars Public Service Announcement -- Word Lily For Dewey Remembering Dewey Worducopia Goodbye -- In Memory Of Dewey Dear Dewey The Written World In Memory Of Dewey -- You Can Never Have Too Many Books Dewey --

Lisa Roe, an online publicist wrote a three part guest post in memory of Dewey. The posts can be found on these blogs:
1. Part 1 Dewey, Our Blog Friend Remembered @ AndiLit.com
2. Part 2 Lisa Roe’s Memorial Post For Dewey @ BookingMama
3. Part 2 Lisa Roe Remembers Dewey @ Reading Is My SuperPower

This is a guest post by Jackie of Literary Escapism who has graciously offered to organize the Book Blogger Top 10 again this year.

For the second year in a row, we're asking book bloggers to help put together a top 10 list of books published in 2009. I want to thank the Weekly Geek staff for helping put this together again. It was such a blast (forgetting the headaches) to do last year that I had hope they would let me work on it this year as well.

Before I lay out what I am even talking about, I have to mention something that came to me while I was writing this. It's been a full year since the book blogging community lost Dewey. It doesn't seem like it's been that long and yet, her presence is still very much felt around the blogosphere. The 24 Hour Readathon just celebrated another day of reading in October; Weekly Geeks has been amazing with the weekly topics and keeping everything organized; and the Bookworms Carnival is still going strong. Dewey has definitely left a legacy in our community and I'm sure her loss is still felt by many around this time of the year.

I don't want to ramble, but I'll be honest, the reason this hit home with me right now was because I was in the middle of working on this same project with Dewey last year when I heard the news. For the second year running, welcome to the Weekly Geeks Book Bloggers Top 10 of 2009.

You always see these “Top Whatever” lists that the newspapers/publishers put out and, for a second year in a row, we the book bloggers are going to put out our own Top 10 list. This week, the Weekly Geeks team and I are asking you to come up with your own Top 10 Books that were published in 2009 (books that were reprinted or re-released are not eligible, sorry).

Now, the idea is to only choose books that were published in 2009, regardless of what country you live in. If a book was released in the US in 2008, but released in your country in 2009, that's okay. I know there is still a month in a half left of 2009, but if you know there is a book coming out between now and Dec. 31st, then it’s still eligible.

This year, I am also asking for something a little more specific. When you submit your novels, you must include the genre it is from as well. Last year, when I was trying to categorize everything, I had to guess on a lot of novels and I know there were some people who disagreed with my choice. If there are any contradictions in genres (say if a book was selected for two genres), then the Weekly Geek Staff will vote on where it goes (please?).

If you see a Top 10 list somewhere else, add it to the Mr. Linky, even if they aren’t a part of Weekly Geeks. We're trying to gather as many lists as we can, so we can come up with a nice comprehensive list. You'll have two weeks to come up with your list before I begin compiling the voting booths. Then we'll put it to a vote. Last year, we ended up with over 1300 individual voters and I know we can make it just as big this year.

So what are your top 10 books of 2009?

** Please post your list and link it to Mr. Linky by December 4, 2009. Jackie will put together the voting book after then, then we’ll write a post to let you know it’s ready. Thanks!

This week's edition is guest-hosted by Care!

In July 2008, I had emailed Dewey with an idea for Weekly Geeks. Dewey responded positively to my suggestion but alas, the timing just wasn't quite right, considering... Here's my original email (I was quite excited to find it this week when The Weekly Geeks team offered that I be a guest host!)

Hi Dewey, I just had an idea and thought I could propose as a theme for a someday Geek Week: How about everyone's suggested standard REVIEW questionaire/format? could be genre specific or ???? And if, for example, I chose YOUR standard questions for a review, I would reference YOU in my next review? Feel free to pan, alter, whatever.
THANKS! Care (aka bkclubcare.wordpress.com)

This was her response, dated 11/23/2008:

Hi Care!
I am finding several July emails that were buried by this huge pile of bookworms carnival hosting emails! AHHHH I'm drowning in bookworms carnival! Anyway, I love this idea. I will use it next week! Dewey

And now, thanks to the awesome team that is so good to continue hosting our Weekly Geeks activity, I am honored to guest present the idea. I only ask you to do one, some, all or none of the following:

1. Explain your review format - if you have one. Or maybe your rating system?

2. Highlight another book-blogger's review format by linking to a favorite example - don't forget to tell us why they are a fave!

3. Do a review in another book-blogger's format of your latest read. I did this just the other day when I had read a great post discussing what makes a good review and 'borrowing' from a comment by Ramya. That post was one of Bethany's and my example giving Ramya the credit is here.

4. Highlight a past review that you are particularly proud of and why the format or structure may have had something to do with it.

I would have loved to have seen how Dewey would have presented this - she was always so gracious and helpful with her comments on reviews. It's wonderful that her spirit lives on with this community we are building, the conversations we are sharing, the friendships we are making and the BOOKS we are READING!

Last, and certainly not least, Dewey's blog featured a page devoted to her review questionaire format which is what inspired my idea in the first place.

Happy Geeks!

Care

Would you like to guest-host a Weekly Geeks post? Or do you have topic suggestions? Email us!

In the third Weekly Geeks of 2009, let's have fun with the classics. For our purposes, I'm defining a classic as anything written over 100 years ago and still in print. (If your memory needs jogging, see: Classic Literature Library for examples.)

For your assignment this week, choose two or more of the following questions:

1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don't get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have you truly loved? Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books? Go all out, sell us on it!

2) A challenge, should you choose to accept it: Read at least one chapter of a classic novel, preferably by an author you're not familiar with. Did you know you can find lots of classics in the public domain on the web? Check out The Popular Classic Book Corner, for example. Write a mini-review based on this chapter: what are your first impressions? Would you read further? (For a larger selection of authors, try The Complete Classic Literature Library).

3) Let's say you're vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don't find her a book, she'll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary book/s with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

4) As you explore the other Weekly Geeks posts: Did any inspire you to want to read a book you've never read before—or reread one to give it another chance? Tell us all about it, including a link to the post or posts that sparked your interest. If you end up reading the book, be sure to include a link to your post about it in a future Weekly Geeks post!

Do as many or as few of these as you'd like—and remember, you have all week! This is especially important for task #4, which is easier done after more people have responded.

Create your blog post, come back here and sign Mr. Linky with the url to the actual post, and feel free to leave a comment below. And don't forget that visiting other Geeksters and saying hello is part of the magic of Weekly Geeks!

Last week Ali challenged us to think about the classics. She gave us four questions, and allowed us to mix and match.

1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don't get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have you truly loved? Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books? Go all out, sell us on it!

2) A challenge, should you choose to accept it: Read at least one chapter of a classic novel, preferably by an author you're not familiar with. Did you know you can find lots of classics in the public domain on the web? Check out The Popular Classic Book Corner, for example. Write a mini-review based on this chapter: what are your first impressions? Would you read further? (For a larger selection of authors, try The Complete Classic Literature Library).

3) Let's say you're vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don't find her a book, she'll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary book/s with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

4) As you explore the other Weekly Geeks posts: Did any inspire you to want to read a book you've never read before—or reread one to give it another chance? Tell us all about it, including a link to the post or posts that sparked your interest. If you end up reading the book, be sure to include a link to your post about it in a future Weekly Geeks post!

Many people chose to answer the first and third questions, although every question did get answered. Some geeks love the classics, while others are a bit more apathetic. But everyone had something great to contribute to the discussion. Here is a sampling:

Both Chris Voss and hagelrat from Un:bound answered this week’s challenge. Un:bound is a team blog, and in a possible history making event, more than one team member participated. Very cool. I also love this line from hagelrat: “it's my pet theory that a girl who has nothing but classics on her bookshelves keeps nothing but mills & boon under the bed.”

In another potentially history making post, Weekly Geeks appears in Danish! Dorte kindly translated her post into English, as well. For which I am forever grateful. I did a double-take when I first saw her post, but then I noticed the helpful arrow for us English readers directing us to look below. Thanks for joining Weekly Geeks, Dorte!

Frances at Nonsuch Book included a beautiful mosaic of book covers in her post. All of the covers are from the same book, The Damnation of Theron Ware. Although I’ve never heard of the book, I found the first cover with the windows to be quite appealing. Frances also reflected on the role classics played in her own development.

Puss Reboots admits that “many of the books I read are older than I am.” She also talks about how she compares Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to Jay and Silent Bob. Dude! Awesome comparison. Go check out her post and enjoy the links!

I will confess to letting out a little woo-hoo when I read Terri’s confession that she feels “pretty inadequate about classic lit, considering I have a BA in English.” Sometimes it’s nice to know that English majors haven’t read it all. Terri also made a wonderful comment about comparing reading the classics to music…”it’s a bit like learning music theory and getting a good base of classical music before journeying off into other styles.”

Sassymonkey discusses how different the classics are from each other. She also mentions the required reading list she made for her boyfriend. Inquiring minds want to know…did he make it through the entire list?

Finally, a note about Aunt Myrtle. Poor Myrtle, I’m afraid we were a bit harsh on her. Although she did get plenty of good books out of the deal. I kind of want to be Aunt Myrtle, just to get the books.

********************

In other news…

At the end of each month we’re going to attempt to give shout-outs to the other Dewey-inspired events that are going on. Many of these events already have links over in the sidebar, but a little more linky love never hurt anyone, right?

Chris and Robin are hosting the Dewey Books Reading Challenge, complete with monthly mini-challenges and nifty prizes. This event lasts all year, and just happens to be dear to my heart because I’m participating and reading some incredibly good books. Go check out the blog for more info. Or this site to read some of the reviews of the participants. Betcha find a book you wanna read.

Jackie has started a new blog to continue the Bookworms Carnival. Info on the upcoming themes and hosts can be found at that site, The Bookworms Carnival. The 23rd Edition of the Bookworms Carnival will be held by Jessica over at The Bluestocking Society, where the theme is Books to Movies. Submissions are due by February 13th.

Also, Jackie has made mention of a Facebook blog network for Weekly Geeks and the Bookworm Carnival. Since I know squat about Facebook, I’ll give you the link and hope you all know what she’s talking about. :-D

There has been chatter about the continuation of Dewey’s popular Read-a-thon. As far as I know there are plans to continue (yay!) and the next Read-a-thon would be held in April. We will let you know more info once the planning starts.

Today's Weekly Geeks brought to you by Wendy from Caribousmom.

Here in the United States, families and individuals are celebrating our independence. Traditionally, July 4th means putting out our flags, watching fireworks displays, going to parades and concerts, barbecuing with family, and beach trips with friends. Fourth of July also makes us think of hot summer nights, summer vacations, and relaxation. In many ways, it signifies the "kick off" to summer. But on a more serious note, it represents the history, government, and traditions of our country.

So here is your "task" for this week's Weekly Geeks:

1. If you are an American citizen, share what the Fourth of July means to you and how you celebrate it. Do you think of it as the true start to summer?
   
2. If you are from another country, other than the United States, share what national holidays are significant to your country. Are any of them similar to our celebration of Independence Day? Are there traditions around their celebration? Do they suggest the beginning of a season or something other than the National purpose?
   
3. Go a step further...let's talk books.
   

• Have you read a good fiction or nonfiction book which centers around a country's search for independence?
• Do you have any book recommendations which embody the traditions or celebrations of your country?
• And since the Fourth of July brings to mind summertime ... are there any great summer reads you are looking forward to reading over the next month or two?

We are Weekly Geeks, and we are proud to read without guilt! However, since we are aware that some people will judge books by their covers - and judge us for reading them - we may save certain books for our at-home reading.

This was Guilty Pleasures Week for the Weekly Geeks:

Given that the holiday season is filled with eating the foods we love (but shouldn't eat), parties that last far into the evenings (way past our bedtimes), sipping those holiday drinks (fat with calories but oh so delicious), and curling up in front of our fireplaces with books that take us away from the holiday stresses...I thought it might be fun to share our guilty pleasures with other readers:

• Tell us The Books that you Love but are Embarrassed to be Seen Reading
• Tell us WHY you love them
• And (just for fun) tell us your favorite guilty snack that goes perfectly with all that guilty reading.

Bernadette put it this way:

“Of all the things in the world there are to worry about, what other people think of the books I read does not even make it to my radar. I’m Catholic and spent 12 years being taught at strict Catholic schools so I know a little something about guilt. Even so, I flatly refuse to feel guilty for spending my free time in a way that I enjoy and that doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
On the other hand, some Geeks offered up specific guilty-pleasure favorites:

Kat @ A Journey in Reading named J.R Ward’s “Black Dagger Brotherhood” series; Kimberly @ Rouquine Reads counts a particular YA sci-fi romance, the Twilight Saga, and Gone With the Wind among her guilty pleasures. In addition to the Stephanie Plum series, Steph names a book rarely found on lists like this: The Great Gatsby. It’s really her very favorite book, but she thinks it might sound pretentious to admit it.

Check out more responses at Weekly Geeks 2010-40: The Guilty Pleasure Edition, and thanks to everyone who played along this week!

Weekly Geeks 2011-14 was a big hit with list-loving Geeks, as Suey invited us to share our favorite authors - in alphabetical order:

You know how when someone asks you who your favorite author is? And you feel a bit crazy coming up with just one? Now is your chance to come up with 26 (at least) favorite authors by making a list of them ABC style.
Naida @ the bookworm has multiple favorites for some letters, and none at all for some others.

On the other hand, Darren @ Bart’s Bookshelf has an entry for letter except U on his list, but he admits to a little fudging: He switched from last-name order to first names to fill in spots for a few letters.

For her very first Weekly Geeks post, Yvonne @ Socrates’ Book Review Blog made a list of her all-time favorite authors.

NicolaO @ Alpha Heroes managed to limit herself to one author per letter, and fill all 26 slots, by getting a bit creative.

And Becky @ Becky’s Book Reviews not only had authors for 25 out of 26 letters (no X), she included links to her reviews of some books by each one of them.

You can find links to even more Alpha Author lists at Weekly Geeks.com. Thanks to everyone who played along this week!

How Weekly Geeks Works:

1. Every week there’ll be a different theme. One week might be “catch up on your library books” week and the next might be “redecorate your blog week” or “organize your challenges” week or “catch up on your reviews” week. It’ll be fairly bookblogocentric, but not exclusively.

2. Everyone who joins agrees that they will try to check each week to see what the theme is, although they DO NOT have to participate each week, only when they feel like it.

3. Everyone who joins is welcome to send us ideas for weekly themes via email at geekstimeout@gmail.com.

4. We will post the weekly theme each Saturday, but you can check in any time it’s convenient to find out what the theme is.

5. If you post about your progress with that week’s theme in your blog (whether you were wildly successful or didn’t get around to any of it) then you can come back and leave a link to that post in the comments for that theme.

6. You can sign Mr. Linky any time you finish. This also allows new people who join us to go back and do any of the old challenges they feel like doing.

7. The next week, when the new theme is announced, we will usually feature about 5 bloggers’ posts from the last week.

8. You can join Weekly Geeks any time! All you have to do to join is sign that week’s Mr. Linky when your post is finished. Very informal!

Adapted from Dewey's original Weekly Geeks

For our second Weekly Geeks of the new year and our second post without our founder Dewey, Joanne of The Book Zombie has these questions:

For those who have been with the group, either from the start or joined within recent months, what does being a member mean to you? What do you enjoy about the group? What are some of your more memorable Weekly Geeks that we might could do again? What could be improved as we continue the legacy that Dewey gave us?

For those just joining us, why did you sign up for Weekly Geeks? What would you like to see here?

Since it might have been a while or perhaps you're here for the first time, just a reminder from last week: Create your blog post, come back here and sign Mr. Linky with the url to the actual post so it can be found and feel free to leave a comment below. (Note: As of 1:20 AM, Eastern time, Mr. Linky was experiencing difficulties because the company was switching to a new server; if you're still having problems later Saturday morning, leave a link to your post in the comments.)

This post was written by unfinishedperson from an unfinished person (in an unfinished universe).

For Weekly Geeks 2009-08, we revisited a theme from Dewey's Weekly Geeks: Political and Social Issues, originally presented in May 2008. The instructions were the same as before:

1. Choose a political or social issue that matters to you. If you were a Weekly Geek last May and already did this theme, pick a different theme than the one you did at that time.

2. Educate readers about your topic by telling us a little about it and any involvement you've had in this issue.

3. Find books addressing your issue; they do not necessarily have to be books you’ve read. They can be non fiction, fiction, poetry, etc...Give a little synopsis of the book or a link to the description.

4. Use images which you feel illustrate your topic.

The theme inspired posts on a wide range of issues. Be sure to go back to this week's assignment post to see everyone who participated and signed Mr. Linky! Meanwhile, here are some of the posts and topics that caught my attention:

• Two moms talked about children's issues that affect more than just their own families - Julie of Booking Mama discussed food allergies, while Julie from A Small Accomplishment wrote about living with ADHD.
• Crime-fiction bloggers Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise and Dorte of DJ's Krimiblog both looked at how social issues are addressed as themes in their preferred genre.
• Encounters between a believer and an atheist prompted Ariel Dalloway to tackle the science vs. religion debate.
• At Worducopia, Ali wrote about the challenges of avoiding things "made in China" (labeled or not).
  
• News and the media interested a few of the WG participants. Kim from Page after Page wrote about media bias, and Nymeth of Things Mean a Lot pondered racism in the media; meanwhile, Maree at Just Add Books wondered why celebrities are "news" in the first place. Maybe it's because they get people to read? On a related note, Frances of Nonsuch Books talked about literacy initiatives.
• And please forgive the self-promotion, but I really do hope you'll read my own WG contribution on the topic of comprehensive sex education for teens at The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness.
  

This week we are going to rewind to May 2008 when Dewey picked one of my favorite Weekly Geeks themes: Political and Social Issues. Since we have many new members to the Weekly Geeks Event, I thought it might be fun to revisit this fantastic theme.

Here is how to play:

1. Choose a political or social issue that matters to you. If you were a Weekly Geek last May and already did this theme, pick a different theme than the one you did at that time.

2. Educate readers about your topic by telling us a little about it and any involvement you've had in this issue.

3. Find books addressing your issue; they do not necessarily have to be books you’ve read. They can be non fiction, fiction, poetry, etc...Give a little synopsis of the book or a link to the description.

4. Use images which you feel illustrate your topic.

You can be as creative as you like - have fun with the theme and show us your passion!

Create your post and come back here to sign Mr. Linky. Be sure to enter the direct URL to your post, not your blog's main URL.

Remember to stop in and say hi to other Weekly Geeks!

This week, Suey asked Weekly Geeks about collecting one particular book:

Last year, I saw a movie, I think it was called Definitely, Maybe, that got me to thinking. In this movie, one of the girls was on a quest to find a particular copy of Jane Eyre, I forget now the specific reason why. But in the process of her search, she ended up with this massive collection of Jane Eyre books, from all sorts of places and years and styles. She had a shelf that went all the way around her room, filled with these wonderful Jane Eyre books.

It made me wish I had a collection like hers, a collection of one particular title, in all its various versions.

So, Weekly Geeksters, tell us, do you have a collection (or are you starting a collection) of one particular book title? If so, what's your story? Why that book, and how many do you have, and what editions are they? Share pictures and give us all the details.

Or perhaps you dream about starting such a collection. What title would it be and what would it take for you to get motivated to start collecting?

Or maybe it's the works of a particular author you collect (or want to collect) instead a certain book title?

Not many Geeks seem to have extensive collections of single titles, although some admit to having more than just one or two editions of a few books.

At Dreaming Out Loud, Marineko posts about her collection of various editions of A Wrinkle in Time and the other novels in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet. Elena's collection of over eighty books by and/or about J.R.R. Tolken includes multiple copies of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, which she posts about on All Booked Up - and she dreams of adding some first editions to it.

Sometimes collections just happen. Trisha at eclectic/eccentric has accidentally acquired multiple copies of several books, but wouldn't mind deliberately collecting even more copies of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. At Nonsuch Book, Frances showed fellow Geeks that she actually does have a Jane Eyre collection - and one of Swann's Way as well - but neither of them was intentional.

Gautami of everything distils into reading has nearly-complete collections of several authors, and is more motivated to collect those than multiple editions of a single book. Michelle at Master Musings by Michelle is more of an "author collector" as well.

In an interesting twist on the topic, Deanna discussed her duplicate and triplicate copies on Kitsch Slapped, and was inspired by that to do some musing on the classification of bibliophiles at Collectors' Quest.

Thanks to all of the Weekly Geeks participants this week! Check back tomorrow for a new topic.

This weeks participants in Weekly Geeks were asked to explore book recommendations. Becky wrote:

So your assignment this week, if you choose to play along, is to ask your readers for recommendations. Choose a genre--any genre--and ask for recommendations. You can be as general or as specific as you like. Consider it as an "I'm looking for..."

The second part of the assignment is to write a list of recommendations and share them with your readers. Choose a genre--any genre--and share your list of favorites. I think of this as "If you're looking for..."
Here are just a few of the great responses we got...

Bunny from Bookosaurus Rex joined us for the first time (Welcome to Weekly Geeks, Bunny!). She asked readers for recommendations of Victorian literature- 'as in, something actually written during and set in the Victorian era' Her list of favorite books with a Victorian setting includes: Tipping the Velvet AND Fingersmith...both by Sarah Waters, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libby Bray, and The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman.

Megan from Leafing Through Life loves historical fiction. She wants to explore an historical fiction sub-genre involving kings and queens and knights and court intrigues and would love your recommendations. In exchange, she shared some of her five star historical fiction books including: Sweetsmoke by David Fuller, A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, and The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy.

Bernadette at Reactions to Reading is looking for some audio-book recommendations. She writes:

Listened to anything lately that has left you breathless? speechless? teary? joyful? bent over with laughter? If so, let me know. Tell me what book you listened to and what you loved about the experience (if you can please tell me the name of the book, author and narrator as there are often different narrators of the same book and I want to share your exact experience if I can).
Erotic Horizon is an eclectic reader looking for recommendations for good crime fiction, M/M, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal. She also writes that although self-help is not her favorite thing to read, she is 'open to reading books that give you a chance to open you inner eyes and rethink just about everything of your life or the people who revolves around you. Also world folklore would be nice as well.'

Trisha at Eclectic/Eccentric gave us some great recommendations for non fiction, personal essays and short stories including Stiff by Mary Roach, Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, The Latin Deli by Judith Ortiz Cofer. In return she looking for good Contemporary Literary Fiction...'stories published in the last fifteen years or so that aren't YAL, SFF, non-fiction, romance, etc.'

This is only a small smattering of responses to this week's Weekly Geeks. It is never too late to join in!

Welcome to the return of Weekly Geeks! We took a break for six weeks to give us time to honor Dewey, regroup and decide how to proceed. It takes a village to keep Dewey's projects going - and that's just what this blogging village (blogage?) is doing. Although there will be different facilitators every week, this is the place to come for the Weekly Geeks theme, Mr. Linky and comments, so add this page to your favs.

So - shall we begin?

In the spirit of the amazing community building that Dewey was so good at, tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google Reader, that you visit on a regular basis. Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh. Be sure to link to them so we can find them too.

Another option: Reading goals for ’09 and wrap ups for ’08 have been pretty well covered by now on a lot of blogs and other memes. But if you haven’t done this, feel free to make that your first WG of the new year, in addition to or instead of the above.

Most of you know the drill, but for newcomers (welcome!), create your blog post, come back here and sign Mr. Linky with the url to the actual post so we can find it easily. In addition, leaving a comment is a nice touch. So go be Weekly Geeks! And don't forget to visit your fellow Geeksters and say hello.

I hope you're as glad as I am to have this meme return , and I'm sure Dewey is smiling her approval.

This week's WG brought to you by Terri/teelgee

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When Dewey started Weekly Geeks, one of the first projects she encouraged us to do was link our book reviews to each other. Sadly, I've fallen of the wagon on this one. For people like me who need a refresher and for all the new Weekly Geeks this is a topic that could use repeating.

Let's look at Dewey's original post : Dewey's post.

Here's what we'll do:

1. Write a post encouraging readers to look through your archives (if you have your reviews in a particular place on your blog, point them there), and find the books that they have also written reviews. Tell them to leave a link to their review on your review post. For example, I've written a review for Gods Behaving Badly and Jane Doe leaves a link to her review of Gods Behaving Badly in the comments section of my review.

2. Edit your reviews to include those links in the body of the review post.

3. Visit other Weekly Geeks and go through their reviews. Leave links for them.

4. Leave a note somewhere on your blog to let people know this is your new policy.

5. Write a post later this week letting us know how your project is going!

This is a big undertaking but as Dewey put it, it's 'community building'. Have fun!