I’ve now read 108 more pages of War and Peace for a total of 212 over the course of 6 hours of readathon….Now that the hour grows extremely late (or early depending on your perspective) and my brain wearier, I’m going to return to Preacher and finish off the readathon with its final 3 volumes.
Since my last update 4 hours ago, I’ve been reading Preacher: Volumes 5 and 6 (462). Cassidy behaves in an unconscionable manner toward Tulip in Volume 6. Overall, I enjoy Ennis’s take on the whole vampire mythology. It beats Twilight by far any day (and shh! I actually kinda like Twilight). I’m now returning to War and Peace for 197 pages of Volume IV.
In the past 14 hours, I’ve read and blogged for approximately 12 and half. In the past 3 I’ve read 104 pages of War and Peace. Reading War and Peace is defiantly slowing my reading pace, but that’s ok since War and Peace is a book rich with history, character development and footnotes. I also had a glass of red wine which made me a little sleepy. When I first starting reading War and Peace back in January, I noted to myself that the reading of epic fantasies is excellent training for reading huge Russian novels with a never ending cast of Having finished a Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin earlier today, I notice seen more similarities. War and Peace is obviously of higher literary quality and based in actual historical events…but still…Both have a lot to say about the nature of history and the effect of “grand” events on “ordinary”citizens.
Mid-Event Survey
t1. What are you reading right now? I’m about to switch to the Preacher graphic novels by Garth Ennis.
2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished 2 I already had started and read 104 pages of another…for a total of 669 pages…or roughly 50 pages per hour.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? See question 1. They’re graphic novels so they’ll be a nice change of pace…plus I’ve been itching to get back to the series.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? I took yoga on Monday instead of today.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I did a 2 hour Skype call for a conference I’m running. It was nice to have a break. I also got to play some Glitch during it.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? I’m surprised I haven’t taken a nap yet.
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? I haven’t been very interested in this year’s Mini Challenges, so I’d suggest a different mix.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.
9. Are you getting tired yet? I’m a bit tired, but blogging and caffeine have refreshed me.
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Word Press eats posts (I lost this one 3 or 4 times before finally finishing it). Save frequently.
I skipped posting at the 9 hours read mark because hours 7 and 8 were spent in Skype call. Since then I’ve read for 2 and half hours, eaten dinner, and I’m about to take a nap. I’ve finished up A Clash of Kings and read 15 pages of War Peace. A Clash of Kings contained another plot twist. This one I didn’t see coming. The battle scenes were also well written and easy to visualize. I’m equally divided as to whose plot line I’m more engaged in; Arya Stark’s or Jon Snow’s. The Imp and Sansa Stark are both growing on me.
Edited: Hour 11.5 It appears I’m not going to take a nap yet, as I do not feel sleepy.
I’ve been reading for almost six hours now and finished Neal Pollack’s Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude (134 pages) . It gave me some useful food for thought about yoga, and I thoroughly enjoy Neal Pollack’s writing style (also checkout Alternadad) . I’ve also read 264 pages of A Clash of Kings (398 pages read total) All I have to say is I knew it!! I saw that plot twist a mile off, but still it was artfully accomplished. I have 169 pages left to go when I resume after a 2 hour meeting over Skype (hopefully it will actually be shorter). I hope to finish a Clash of Kings before dinner and then start War and Peace after dinner and possibly a nap.
I’ve now been reading for almost three hours and have finished 174 pages of A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. There are curious things a foot as magic reawakens along with Daenerys Stormborn’s dragon. In honor of the fact that I’d normally be in yoga at this time, I’m switching over to Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude by Neal Pollack for awhile. My Mom will be joining me for a little bit and reading The Pale King by David Foster Wallace.
(1)Where are you reading from today? Silver Spring, Maryland
(2) I like macaroni and cheese a lot. I’ve recently started doing yoga. Green is my favorite color
(3) 16 (but some of these I’ve already started)
(4) “Come hell or high water, I’m going to finish War and Peace during this readathon.” I’m also going to try taking a preventive nap around 4 to ward off late night sleepiness.
(5) Don’t be afraid to nap
I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I posted in this blog. I’ve been neglecting it for other pursuits, but rest assured I’ve still been reading. I’ll be posting on the blog during the readathon, and I’ll be considering re-launching the blog in the upcoming months. If you’re interested in what I’ve so far this year, you can go to my Shelfari page. My plans for the readathon include finishing up a few things, reading some bits and pieces of other things, and hopefully starting and finishing a few whole books. I plan to update this post every 3 hours or so.
To Finish Up:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (404 pages to go): Come hell or high water, I’m going to finish War and Peace during this readathon. I’ve been reading it on and off since January, but I keep getting distracted by other books. I’ll be going back and re-reading Volume III: Part III for the 2nd or 3rd time, before continuing on to Volume IV and the Epilogue.
A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (423 pages to go)
I’m normally in yoga from 10:45 am to 12:15 on Saturday. I did a make-up class on Monday. During the time I’m usually in yoga, however, I plan to continue my reading of Neal Pollack’s Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude on my Nook (134 pages left). If it’s going well I’ll likely extend my reading of it in order to finish it.
Bits and Pieces:
Catch up with where my book group is in Dante’s The Divine Comedy: Canto 27 through 33 in Purgatario and Cantos I through III in Paradiso (62 pages)
A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski: This one is pretty dense, but I’d like to read 5 chapters of this (115 pages)
The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel: I’ll be dipping in and out of this collection of essays about libraries. I can’t imagine a better thing to read during a readathon than a book about books!
Options of Things to Start and Finish
Prequel to Ender’s Game: Formic Wars: Burning Earth by Orson Scott Card (Graphic Novel, 176 pages) and Ender’s War (Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead, 634). I’ve had a hankering for some Ender for awhile now, especially given that there’s now going to be a movie
Preacher: Dixie Fried by Garth Ennis (Graphic Novel, 224)
Preacher: War in the Sun by Garth Ennis (Graphic Novel, 240)
Preacher: Salvation by Garth Ennis (Graphic Novel, 256)
Preacher: All Hell’s A Coming by Garth Ennis (Graphic Novel, 192)
Preacher: Alamo by Garth Ennis (Graphic Novel, 224)
My friend Laurel got me hooked on this graphic novel series. All five volumes currently sitting on my shelf are borrowed from her. I’d like to be able to return them, when I visit her the second weekend in November. I’ll probably read a couple during the readathon and the rest over the next few weeks.
The
The Enchanted Garden by Elizabeth Von Armin revolves around four women lured away “from the dismal British weather to San Salvatore, a castle high above a bay on the sunny Italian Riviera,” and how they change as “the Mediterranean spirit stirs [their] souls.”
I decided on The Enchanted Garden based on this review on Thomas’s My Porch blog. Even after reading such a positive review of it, I was slightly wary. I tend to be skeptical of so-called “women’s fiction” where there is very little action. To my great surprise, however, I found the whole book simply delightful. The characters are fully realized and very funny. The landscape and architectural details are also well done. The most appropriate word for the prose would be lush. Von Armin also describes well how new surroundings can awaken the mind and soul, and how we can become numb to the beauty of what we see every day.
“Yet the four visitors, while their bodies sat–that was Mrs. Fisher’s–or lay that was Lady Caroline’s–or loitered–that was Mrs. Arcbuthnot’s–or went in solitude up into the hills–that was Mrs. Wilkins’s–were anything but torpid really. Their minds were usually busy. Even at night their minds were busy, and the dreams they had were clear, thin, quick things, entirely different from the heavy dreams of home. There was that in the atmosphere of San Salvatore which produced active-mindedness in all except the natives. They, as before whatever the beauty around them, whatever the prodigal seasons did, remained immune from thoughts other than those they were accustomed to. All their lives they had seen, year by year, the amazing recurrent spectacle of April in the gardens, and custom had made it invisable to them.”
When reading the Enchanted Garden, I was reminded of my own experiences of place (and its effect on my mind) while in Ireland and Scotland. I was also reminded on how numb I can be to the wonders of living in (well near) D.C.
Some other miscellaneous thoughts: Her style of punctuation was hard to get used to at first, but after the first 50 or pages or so I did. The last 50 pages or so with it’s Shakespearean style love triangles and somewhat mistaken identities were hilarious. I can definitely see this part making a good movie. I’m not so sure about the rest of the book making a good movie. There’s a lot that goes on internally for the different women, and I have a hard time seeing how that translates well to film. I have the movie saved in my Netflix queue to watch soon. This was a good book to read while sick, since it didn’t demand too much brain work. I will definitely be reading more NYRB books and more Virago Books. My edition of The Enchanted April was actually from the library and was the Virago edition not the NYRB one. Virago Books is dedicated to the celebration of women authors. I wish the library had more of both, since my book buying budget is limited.
Happy Satuday folks!
