One of the highlights of my Nieman year has been becoming friends with the incredible Jeff Howe. About a month ago, Jeff hatched a plan for a great internet read — One Book, One Twitter — and soon after he asked me to join the project as a member of the 1b1t advisory board. Here’s my first blog post for the group.
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Tomorrow morning is the official premiere of One Book, One Twitter (#1b1t). This begs the question: how do you get thousands of people to read one book together without ruining the suspense and twists for anyone? After all, some people like to read in delicate sips of ten or twenty pages, while others — like me — prefer greedy three or four hour binges. And many of you have already devoured the entire book, or are reading for the umpteenth time!
You can read (or reread) American Gods any way you want during the next eight weeks – God help us if we tried to stop you – but please, please be kind to others and stick to the following schedule for your comments. That way even the most delicate readers among us will have a chance to enjoy Neil Gaiman’s finely-crafted thrills.
If you feel slightly queasy about tackling such a big book, use this schedule to divvy up the task into manageable chunks. Each week, this schedule covers 70-100 pages, which you can nibble down bit by bit every night before bed, or gobble down in one great, lazy Sunday bender. Happy reading everyone, and remember to follow @1b1t2010 for updates and to add the #1b1t to your tweets!
Week 1 : May 5-11
Caveat, Warning for Travelers
Epigraph
Discuss Chapters 1, 2, & 3
Week 2 : May 12-18
Chapters 4, 5, 6
Week 3 : May 19-25
Discuss Chapters 7, & 8
Week 4 : May 26-June 1
Discuss Chapters 9, 10, & 11
Week 5 : June 2-8
Discuss Chapters 12, & 13
Week 6 : June 9-15
Discuss Chapters 14, 15, & 16
Week 7 : June 16-22
Discuss Chapters 17, 18, & 19
Week 8 : June 23-30
Discuss Chapter 20 and Postscript
