Origin and all that stuff

Came upon a blog in which an evolutionary biologist mentions that he has never read Darwin's On the Origin of Species, and he will do so before the anniversary of Darwin's 200th birthday (Feb 12), and blog the process. Seeing that I have never read it either and it's one of the books sitting in a pile of to-be-read-when-I-have-the-time books, I've decided to read along.
There has never been a time when I wasn't a complete believer in evolution but I would have lost any debate on the subject because of lack of specific points and explanations. Plus, people who argue against evolution, although they haven't read the book themselves for most part, seize on the fact that you haven't read it either like a life-raft and hang on for dear life.
On the negative side, I can read and understand a book well enough but given the present state of affairs, I'm not going to remember it a week after I read it, so I'll be in the same position should a heated debate break out. Still, I'll at least be able to say I've read the book, and it will make a dent in that pile of books I must read before it's too late.
So off to read The Origin of Species and get some backup for my convictions.