The Fine Print or How It Works

Logistics

Pass the Line works in cycles and phases. Each phase lasts for six weeks. The length of each cycle will vary depending on the number of members participating in that cycle. For example, if there are six members, then the cycle will last for nine months; if there are eight members, then the cycle will last for twelve months, and so on. At the beginning of each cycle, you will purchase one book to read. During the first phase (month 1) of the cycle, you will read your own purchased book. At the end of the first phase, you will pass your book along to the next member, and you will receive another member’s book to read during phase 2. When the books are passed around full circle, all members will have read all of the books, and a new cycle will begin.

All Pass the Line books will be featured on this website. Pass the Liners are encouraged to add their comments to the site as they read each book.

Your Contribution

First, make sure that you write your name and your initials somewhere near the front inside cover of the book. Then, whenever you leave a note in the text, add your initials next to that note. This will facilitate potential discussions between Pass the Liners if we know who wrote what. If you see a note that you'd like to discuss, post a comment on the website!

Now, all I ask is that you share your experience with each Pass the Line book via written notes in the book. There are no guidelines for what you should be writing or focusing on as you read each book, rather, simply focus on sharing whatever thoughts or ideas the text evokes for you. You may not have much to say about certain books, and you may write a novella of your own in others; this is okay. This is excellent, actually.

Pass the Liners each bring a different perspective to the readings. This means that our notes and notating style are likely to vary widely. Please do not look at another member's notes and think that you should be taking your notes in a similar manner. The purpose is to read the notes as a means of exposing yourself to different styles of reading the same texts. The best part about sharing the same book will be looking at the variety of comments and notes added. Some members may spend a significant amount of time clarifying ideas for themselves by adding summaries of paragraphs in the margins. Others may leave more questions than answers. Some readers may simply make references to other sources that the passage reminds them of. All of these reactions are welcome and productive.

In addition, feel free to underline passages, dogear pages, stick post-its in the margins, add articles or copies of other books of note, or to do anything else (short of destroying the book) that you find relevant and important.

Here is an example of my own notes in the preface to my very favorite book, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess: (click on image to enlarge)

Notice that the majority of these notes are for clarification purposes--I'm not making any profound statements here (though profundity is welcome!) I circled the reference to a Dr. Johnson because I didn't know who Burgess was referring to and wanted to do some more research. My end notes are just summaries and points of interest that I'd like to see when I refer back to the preface.

These are the notes that I was naturally inclined to make while reading this (excellent) book, so these notes are completely appropriate. The bottom line is: write what you are thinking about while reading the book. There is no right or wrong here. After all, this is an experiment, the purpose is to share your individual experience with the text, whatever that may be.