Posts tagged literature

  So once again I found myself more interested in reading the books rather than documenting my progress reading them. I suppose that’s just another stage of advancement in this project of mine. I’ve found my way through two more texts and have marched past the 1/5th mark! The strides will only get larger and the distance crossed will become all the easier with each text.

  A sloppy analogy was training in Tae Kwan Do, in the beginning I found myself winded by lifting a leg (I was not a healthy kid) and soon I was sparring for hours without winding. Admittedly I’ve let myself go again and I’m once again going to start fighting that. If I can build myself mentally I can once again build myself physically.

  Soon too get a doctor and a dentist and really move on towards a long healthy life. Something I cherish because it gives me more time to learn, it’s a delicate shell we bare and it must be treated with respect otherwise it just might break down like an expensive pickup (oh they do break down and when they do it is very costly).

  As for my own personal story, the one I’m writing not the one I’m living (or am I living it by writing it? Philosophical debates about otherwise obvious points! Maybe some other time), is going swimmingly. I’ve begun designing the shins of the story, so to speak, I started with the feet and am working up towards a whole human.

  But why start with the feet? It’s nice and far away from the most important part of the body (arguably) and I’d like to think that the most important part of my story will be the end, because hopefully much like the brain it will provide the reader with an avenue to imagine and hope. My goal is to leave the readers wanting more but being utterly satisfied otherwise. Like Clucks ‘n’ Fries at your local Red Robin (which if one is not near you I apologize), it is heaven in a few supple strips and though you’ll likely be full by the end and not immediately wanting more the idea of more right that moment is in no way revolting.

  At least I know I’m thinking to myself “I wonder when next we’ll visit for another delicious boneless piece of heaven?” Which reminds me of diets, my fiancé and myself are both using a program called “MyFitnessPal” the name crunched tightly so that the iPhone character Nazi’s won’t leave a … at the end cutting it off. I get pretty grumpy when that happens to folders I make, but that’s another one of those less important stories for the update.

  The “Foundation and Earth” is an amazing finale to the story of our Galaxy recovering from a great collapse of the central governing body. The ending decision that I will not spoil brings up an incredibly pertinent point about togetherness and the human appreciation of life. It is a belief that I support and have in the past argued with friends about human nature and the true likelihood of human action when left to its own devises. It’s a powerful book in itself but I still think the entire series is worth a look.

  Colbert’s “I Am America (And So Can You!)” is an interesting parody on a view that is very real in our country. It’s so convincing that it is disturbing, he projects a series of beliefs that are all in themselves highly destructive and evil in their ignorance, each time you think “This can’t possibly be an act.” A perfectly executed quip in the margins will jar you from that fear and remind you that this is a precise surgical attack on ideological structures that should be quickly disassembled. It was fun and I read the vast majority today which is a plus (it’s a fluid experience).

  Let me update the list below with the next set of books .

Month 3:

  Week 9: Foundations’ Edge – Isaac Asimov (480 Pages / 68 Pages Nightly)
  Week 10: Foundation and Earth – Isaac Asimov ( 528 Pages / 75 Pages Nightly)
  Week 11: I Am America (And So Can You!) – Stephen Colbert ( 240 Pages / 34 Pages Nightly)
  Week 12: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher’s Edition – Jon Stewart (240 Pages / 34 Pages Nightly)

Month 3:

  Week 9: The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (832 Pages / 119 Pages Nightly)
  Week 10: Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?) – Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw (264 Pages / 37 Pages Nightly)
  Week 11: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution – Richard Dawkins (480 Pages / 69 Pages Nightly)
  Week 12: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason – Sam Harris (256 Pages / 36 Pages Nightly)

(more…)

  Well it is official. I have read the largest book thus far for the Operation 52 project of mine. At 1,074 pages it was a veritable tome of information. In the end I’m pleased with how it ended, I do again feel those pains in the back of my mind as that cast of characters flutters away. But I must admit that at least this time I did feel that I couldn’t have stuck with them for much longer. Barbara was certainly an interesting character, and some of the female cast around him were interesting, but overall I didn’t like any of the rest of the cast.

  Since I am going to do my best to never speak poorly of writers I read, as I would be hurt personally to be bashed, I will say this: The last 400 pages of the book are worth any amount of difficulty that comes from finishing the first 600 or so. They are not BAD, those original 600 are very much needed to lay the groundwork for who the characters are. But I do think most people will have difficulty making it through them.

  I have also begun redesigning my story, I’ve found that my original ending would have been pretty grand. Which meant that the book following it would likely feel less interesting, to put it in war terms, once you’ve seen a nuclear bomb every bomb after that feels a little less grand and awe inspiring. Because of this I’ve decided upon a new ending and am going to work in the same way that a person finds the median amidst a large swath of numbers. You line everything up, then start pecking away at the beginning and the end until you meet in the middle. I will write both events, the start of the book, and the very last events in the book, and decide what series of events would best tie the beginning to the end.

  I want it to be satisfying and to feel like a journey that wasn’t written on the fly, though those are indeed my favorite kind. Maybe if I get better at this I’ll do that more often. The information about my reading for this week are as follows .

Click on the image to see it much larger .

Click on the image to see it much larger .

  My next book will be much smaller, at the rate I tend to read it might be done in 3 days. That’s quite alright with me. I’ll probably start reading the next book after that. My goal is to make sure I read at LEAST one book a week, if I read more than that, all the better. I’ll need to get off my butt and grab the next 4 books and list them soon before I run out of information…though that WILL force me to do it .

Month 1:

  Week 1: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling (448 Pages / 64 Pages Nightly)
  Week 2: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling (752 Pages / 107 Pages Nightly)
  Week 3: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling (870 Pages / 125 Pages Nightly)
  Week 4: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling (652 Pages / 93 Pages Nightly)

Month 2:

  Week 5: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling (784 Pages / 112 Pages Nightly)
  Week 6: Under the Dome: A Novel – Stephen King (1074 Pages / 153 Pages Nightly)
  Week 7: Foundation and Empire – Isaac Asimov (272 Pages / 38 Pages Nightly)
  Week 8: Second Foundation – Isaac Asimov (272 Pages / 38 Pages Nightly)

  Another week another novel down! I still haven’t gotten my Wisdom Tooth removed but we have a few names that I’ll be looking into this week. I’ll probably be dropping 500 dollars on the removal (if the internet isn’t lying about the cost) and that’ll leave me quite poor. But luckily I have already got the books in my planned reading in possession so that won’t hinder this.

   As for this book I found myself not really enjoying Harry, his teenage angst reminded me a bit too much of how silly high school was. However it was nice that the book addressed just how silly he was and how much kids that age act like it. Not being much older myself I remember that far too well.

  As for Data, we have the pages read per day below. You’ll notice, very likely, that I read nearly half the book on Saturday. I didn’t have much better to do and it was an interesting challenge, I ended up reading long into the morning passed 2am. I took a short break and then finished the book which was Day 7 (as it was now Sunday morning).

Saturdays are becoming my crunch days whenever I slack during the week. Click on the image to see it much larger .

  For those wanting an in-between-the-graphs pep talk I’d suggest this activity to anyone. You probably won’t want to go quite as deep into it as I have and start reading nearly thousand page books if you are working full time somewhere BUT if you do and you manage to make the journey, well it is satisfying.

  Once I make it passed the Stephen King Novel I think the next month will be smaller Asimov novels. I’ve been thinking I might be able to knock out multiple books a week which is perfectly acceptable for me. My only rule is that I keep track of what week they were scheduled for and that I do not take longer than a week to finish any one novel.

  After the foundation books I’m looking into some books on Astrophysics and perhaps a book or two from the old controversial world of Atheism. There are plenty of wonderful things to read…I’m also planning on purchasing and owning every single Magic: The Gathering book ever written, that is to say one copy of each mind you.

My overall reading time is sporadic, on Day 6 and 7 I was reading to 1-2 in the morning and from 2 that morning till about 3. So I’m not surprised the reading time was slow.

  When I play games too much I find that I dream about the games or plot over them at night, when I write too much I stare at the ceiling at night deciphering what I’ve written, and indeed it appears now that when I’ve read too much I will start thinking in storytelling mode. I was literally thinking this morning “Harry goes to brush his teeth.” as I got up to brush my teeth. The name of the character doing the things would change but…it was odd.

  Made me understand how people can get so headlong into faith and start killing one another. The words wash away the reasonable nature of your mind for a bit, if I were constantly indoctrinating myself in the same text over and over I’m sure I would certainly go mad. Humbling revelation for sure.

  Finally, just as a passing point. Have you ever had someone who you were avoiding because of an uncomfortable feeling they gave you? I’m quite lucky it is just someone on the internet, but still, you know that once you return to conversation they’ll likely be heated and that you waiting because of that just compounds the problem. Ah well. Such is life, once I get this tooth removed life will be much more pleasant.

Month 1:

  Week 1: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling (448 Pages / 64 Pages Nightly)
  Week 2: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling (752 Pages / 107 Pages Nightly)
  Week 3: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling (870 Pages / 125 Pages Nightly)
  Week 4: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling (652 Pages / 93 Pages Nightly)

Month 2:

  Week 5: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling (784 Pages / 112 Pages Nightly)
  Week 6: Under the Dome: A Novel – Stephen King (1074 Pages / 153 Pages Nightly)
  Week 7: Foundation and Empire – Isaac Asimov (272 Pages / 38 Pages Nightly)
  Week 8: Second Foundation – Isaac Asimov (272 Pages / 38 Pages Nightly)

  Well I’ve finished the first week and am fairly pleased with the results! My reading speed is much lower than it once was but with practice I’m sure it will improve. I’ve extracted, what I think is, some interest data! So here I am to bring it to the foreground to all of you!

  First we’ll look at the pages per minute achieved during each reading session. I got this data from writing down my start times, my end times, and the total pages read. Fairly simple math from there.

The red line is the average pages but can also be considered the optimum reading level.

  I only peaked out over the average reading rate a few times. Those also happened to be some of my longer reading runs. I found that my reading levels are similar to a car at a traffic light. It takes a little big to get going once it turns green, but with sufficient time I will get much faster than that initial period right when the light changes. There were two exceptionally short reading periods, one on the 23rd which actually started after a shower that itself started after the 22nd’s reading session and on the 21st when I got a copy of the game “Tropico 3” for 7 dollars and found myself losing track of time.

  Speaking of long and short reading session here is another fun chart.

Again the red line was the average necessary or my goal. I was under it most of the time.

  I’m not too worried about my performance this time. Becoming an avid reader is not something that hits most folks overnight. I’m working out my life schedule and trying to get more regular reading times. Ideally if I can supplement this with excercise in the mornings and healthier eating habits I could have what I’m sure my body would consider “An Ideal Lifestyle.” We’ll edge into this slowly as temptations are far too grand to try and do it all cold turkey.

  For future titles I’ll switch the actual dates to “Day 1/Day2/Day3..” and so on. That way I can overlap them and we can look at improvements overtime in pages read per day and overall PPM. (Note: The keen eye will notice it already on the first graph. I borked my math so poorly I had to go back and fix it.)

  About Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:

  It was certainly an interesting read. Rowling has a way of making time irrelevant, which given this particular books events is a humorous statement to make. Hours can wash away in a sentence so well that it hardly offends the senses at all. The characters are all very well thought out and I often find myself wishing that I hung out with Hagrid. Crookshanks seemed to be an appropriate hint towards Hermoine’s love for “Gingers” which if my memory of the movies serves me well enough is a nice subtle foreshadowing.

  I am looking forward to moving onto my next book and will likely start a day early tonight. After this week anytime I finish a book early I’ll take a stab at using the remaining days to write more details for my story. See if I can gather ideas for how to develop environments, people, and as I mentioned above: timelines.

  So for a refresher below is my 8 week plan. Once Month 1 has been obliterated I will present my plans for Month 3. The more I read the more this seems like a very doable goal. Perhaps I could start some sort of movement? That would be quite a treat.

Fun Facts:

* I read roughly 54.6 pages an hour. Which means I can figure out almost exactly how long I need to read everyday at my current speed. For example the next book will require I read 1.95 hours or 117.58 minutes each night to accomplish my goal.

* Since I’ve begun reading I’ve been getting tired at an earlier hour and sleeping much more soundly than before I was reading. I look at these as positives that overtime may provide me with the early morning waking that is necessary to begin exercising in the mornings.

Month 1:

  Week 1: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling (448 Pages / 64 Pages Nightly)
  Week 2: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling (752 Pages / 107 Pages Nightly)
  Week 3: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling (870 Pages / 125 Pages Nightly)
  Week 4: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling (652 Pages / 93 Pages Nightly)

Month 2:

  Week 5: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling (784 Pages / 112 Pages Nightly)
  Week 6: Under the Dome: A Novel – Stephen King (1074 Pages / 153 Pages Nightly)
  Week 7: Foundation and Empire – Isaac Asimov (272 Pages / 38 Pages Nightly)
  Week 8: Second Foundation – Isaac Asimov (272 Pages / 38 Pages Nightly)