Great Books: a new obsession?

Am in the middle of an excellent book, biding my time until Harry Potter arrives at the library for me on Saturday (I reserved it back in January!): How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren. A self-help book in the real sense: aims to show how I can gain understanding from any book without external aids. Perhaps an ideal book for bookclub? Amusing to think that J.K. Rowling's latest tome may be the first book I may try out the techniques.

Anyway, I am now considering how best to initiate my own Great Books program. There are TONS of suggested lists (including this intriguing compilation), and many forums, from live Great Books bookclubs to yahoo groups. If I take Adler's and Van Doren's advice to heart, however, I might end up simply reading and analyzing the works on my own. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the time pressure of yet another bookclub. Not to mention the freedom of discarding a book that doesn't interest me in the first 50 pages (a tip from Leveen's book).

My focus on books, however, means little knitting progress beyond frogging Nikita's sweater. Perhaps I should consider it making it in time for next year.