books read

[nolly]

?.01 Mark
So I'm trying on of the "read the Bible in a year" programs; this one takes 5 days a week, and isn't reading cover-to-cover-in-order -- it's "a bit of Old Testament, a bit of New". And so, I have finished the book of Mark. But do I count it as a book, or do I wait and count the whole Bible at the end of the year, assuming I succeed? I like marking off the books as I finish them, but adding them to the tally feels like cheating, so I'll count individual books in the decimal, and fill in the number, currently a ?, when I finish.

Comments

[howeird]

Depends on what you are scoring. They are called the books of the Bible because each one is a separate book, and for convenience they have been bound into a large single (or double) volume. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a good illustration of how they were originally separate books.

However, if you forget the history and go by volume, it's all one Book.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Just counting books read, no particular goal. I'm aware of the history of the individual texts and the canon. However, some of them are short enough that I certainly wouldn't count them as books in any other context -- think 2 John and 3rd John, for instance. I think counting in this way is a good compromise.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

I counted the Bible as a book when I finished reading it. Then I gave it a review. tl;dr, I said the book itself was ok but that it's fandom is worse than Twilight fandom.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I disagree.

Most Twilight fans have read the books, after all.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

This is a great comment and you are great for making it.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Although, in the interest of fairness, I have met quite a few Twilight fans who only watch the movies, and have not read the books.

And the sensible Christians I know have read the book; I have, too, just not lately.

[postrophe.livejournal.com]

Hee!

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

*Like*

[ben-raccoon.livejournal.com]

I wish you luck. I tried doing that when I was little, and I'm not sure if it was the translation or what, but there's some parts in there that make absolutely *no* sense.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Could be any number of factors, including youth. I think the way this mixes up OT and NT will help -- instead of reading lots of the drier bits all together, which is where I failed last time I tried, it's mixed, so there's a little of this, a little of that -- along with Mark, I've been reading bits of Genesis and Psalms; now it's Genesis, Galatians, and Psalms; etc.