Rules of Engagement

Now the basic idea of the project has been laid down it’s for a few ground rules. I need to arrive at a bookcase knowing what the rules of operation are!

What is a bookcase?

This may seem a bit basic but if you go and look round your local library you’ll see all sorts of mechanisms for holding books. Some are laid flat on the table, paperbacks are sometimes in wire bookcases you can rotate, and even “normal” bookcases sometimes are rotated so that the form something like a hexagonal group.

For my purposes a bookcase is a set of parallel horizontal shelves with vertical sides. As soon as you cross a vertical line it’s another bookcase. Tables of books laid flat I will treat as one bookcase.

What is a book?

I will only read English prose/poetry books, so things like telephone directories and dictionaries which are not meant for reading I won’t consider as books, likewise audio cds and recordings of people reading books are not for this project. If there are no valid books on a bookshelf then I will ignore that shelf.

If possible I will not read any book or author I have read before and I will select books at least 150 pages long. I’ll only break this rule if there is no other choice on the bookshelf.

My intention is to stick to the adult library and not to select books from the children’s section.

What happens if I don't finish a book?

Should I hate a book so much I don't want to finish it, then I will go back to the same bookcase and find another book. I don't want to torture myself reading endless boring books. I enjoy reading and the aim of this exercise is to broaden my horizons not to punish myself.

What order shall I go round the library?

I shall start at the door and work my way round the outside of the library in an anti-clockwise direction, gradually spiralling into the centre. It’s easier to keep track of what I have covered that way. I’ll have to come up with a little diagram to make it all a bit clearer.