Revised Reading Goals

First and foremost, I have two book reviews that need to be written up. Likely they'll happen by the end of this week, possibly even today.

This year, I've been super uninspired by most of my books this year. I don't know if it's due to the order I decided to read them in or something else, but I've made little progress on most of my reading goals. Instead of saying, "Welp. Guess I'm going to fail and that's that." or buckling down and doing nothing but reading, I've decided to look at said goals and revise them for something that will make the back half of the year more fun for me reading wise.

1. Read 45 Books - I've decreased this number by seven. Likely I'll hit 52, but I don't want to be so beholden to the number.
2. Finish my Lord of the Rings in Chronological Order project - Keeping this as is. I'm enjoying my LOTR reading every month. It's what I tend to start the month with. Also, once I finish this challenge, I can declutter some books that I don't need (we currently have two copies of the Hobbit and the Trilogy. For this specific project, I've kept them because there are things written in the margin but I don't need them later.)
3. Back to the Classics - I'm going to change my goal to reading 9 books off this list rather than all 12. I've managed 6 and have three more from my original list that I'm excited about. The other three are books that I want to read, but I keep putting them off for one reason or another.
4. To Be Read Challenge - I'm changing my goal to reading only 3 books from this list. Like Back to the Classics, I want to read the books I've chosen, but they're getting pushed down for other books I want to read more. And I don't want to end my year with books I didn't want to read!
5. Newford Part 1 - Keeping this the same. I've been enjoying these books. 
6. Austen Challenge - Keeping the same. 
7. Year of Wonder - Deleting entirely. I love listening to the music, but there's been some other mental health tracks I've been listening to instead during the time I'd be doing this. I still listen to the music when I have the time, but I'm more focused on the other tracks. 

I've already gone through my various lists and decided what books I'm going to focus on. That comes out to 17 books between now and the end of December. On top of that, I have plenty of other books from said lists so that if I now end up whipping through these, I have more to read as I want. 

LOTR July Update

I got through chapter 9 and am now back on track with this challenge!

I mentioned in my Fellowship Review that I didn't make it through reading these last time I tried. Two Towers is where I failed last time. More specifically, Chapter 7: Helm's Deep is where I quit last time. How do I know? I almost quit this time too. So much battle and I just don't care. 

Chapters 1 - 6 were really entertaining though. I particularly enjoyed the bits with the Ents. Don't be hasty. I whipped through those so quickly... and then Helm's Deep... 

And then I finished chapters 8 and 9 fairly quickly.

I did appreciate the banter between Gimli and Legolas. I thought the kill counts were made up for the movies and was pleasantly surprised to find them in the text!

On another note, I've started playing Dungeons and Dragons again. (Last I played I was in high school. Now I'm the DM.) I can really see how much these books influenced Gary Gyrax when he developed the system. I'm still at the point where I read the Players Handbook over and over and over to try and keep the ideas in my head. The other day I had just read an Aragorn heavy passage in the Two Towers. That night, I was reading up on Rangers in the Players Handbook and realized that all the feats and skills etc are exactly the things Aragorn was doing in the book. The Woodelves are clearly Legolas. The best example was in our game, one of my players, a dwarf, was busy talking about rocks. Waxing poetical about rocks in such a way that he failed a perception check. A couple nights later, I read about Gimli waxing poetical about rocks. 

I only spent a little time in Unfinished Tales of Middle Earth this time. They were mainly more information on the battles at the Fords of Isen that happen between Theodred and the Orcs of Saruman. Might be nice for the one who really wants to know everything, but not necessary for me.

I'll Be Watching You by Charles De Lint

CONTENT WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MENTION OF ABUSE AND STALKING

Title: I'll Be Watching You

Author: Charles De Lint

Pages: 31/351

Finished: Stopped on July 18, 2019

First Sentence: A thunderstorm was raging in Rachel Sorensen's sleep.

Summary: (from back of book) Rachel Sorensen feared she would never escape her ex-husband's abuse. Then a passing stranger came to her rescue - a stranger who had watched her from afar.

He was a photographer, and Rachel was his perfect subject. He lived only to make her happy - and eliminate those who didn't.

Now he wants more than her beauty. She owes him her life - and he means to collect.

Thoughts: I did not finish this one, not because it was bad, but because it was just too dark for me. De Lint wrote a number of books under the pseudonym Samuel Keyes. The purpose for this, as he explains in the introduction, is that the books are super dark and quite different from his normal affair. By using the pseudonym, his fans would be able to self select books for themselves before reading them. Those who didn't want to read the darker ones would be able to tell without getting mired into plot.

And this one is dark. Super dark. Not bad. Just dark.

In 31 pages, we meet four main characters:

Rachel - the main character who escaped from her abusive husband. Fully realized within a couple paragraphs. Also, her flashbacks are super disturbing. She also mentions something about how it doesn't matter what you wear as a woman. You're still going to get catcalled. Book was written in 1994 and it's still a thing today.

Lily - Rachel's best friend. When we meet her, she's in the middle of lecturing her boyfriend about how women can't "just get out" of an abusive relationship. It's a discussion that you could still have today and doesn't feel out of place.

Frank - Rachel's abusive ex-husband. His chapters are awful. How he views women... just makes your skin crawl.

Unnamed savior - hasn't saved Rachel yet, but he's absolutely disgusting. Clearly sees women as property. Just awful awful person. Made me sick to my stomach.

So my impression, the characterizations are fantastic. Gross and ugly, but fantastic. If the quality is of De Lint's normal books, this is probably a great book. It's just not one I'm interested in reading. So I'm going to count this one as read and strike it off the list of Newford books to read. 

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Title: Deep Work

Author: Cal Newport

Pages: 296

Finished: July 9, 2019

First Sentence: (Coming shortly once I have the book in front of me)

Summary: Cal Newport argues that, in this age of internet, email, and smartphone distractions, it's the people who can disconnect from all of that and work with an intense focus that will get ahead.

Thoughts: Yes. I agree with I'd say 90% of this book. In fact, I'd been experimenting with many of the things the author discussed before I started reading, and have been working harder at implementing them.

The thing is, most of my life isn't the type of knowledge work the author talks about. At first I was like, "Well, if I'm not figuring out astrophysics or anything, is this necessary?" But then I remembered quiet time. After lunch, my preschooler spends an hour in her room reading or playing quietly. I take the time to either read, do some of my self-care, or work on a sewing project. I can get a lot done in that hour.

While reading this book, I also had an experience at work. I work in a library. Most of my time is spent "on desk" meaning I'm out in the department available to help patrons at any given moment. Because most of my time is spent on desk, I also have to be able to get my work done while in this state of distraction. Off desk isn't much better because we're in a fairly open office plan, and many of my coworkers are collaborative brainstorming people. There's a lot of chatter. One day, I had an hour off desk when no one else was back in the office. I got an entire month of story times, planned, pulled, and fully prepped. It was incredible. And since we have a new boss who as been asking us what she can do to make our jobs easier, I immediately emailed her to ask if it was at all possible to get me one hour of off desk time during those times when there's no one else around.

The strategies in this book are good. I think there are plenty I'll start toying with more. As a primarily stay at home mom, my deep work sessions are ones that have to be planned a little more carefully, but I've even started viewing my time with my kid as "deep work." Leave the phone in the other room and be present.

In general, the main issue I had with the book was the issue I have with many non-fiction books in the self-help and parenting sections. They always start with an argument for their thesis and then the do this to be better bit. While the argument is probably great for people who either don't know what the discussion is, or who aren't fully bought into it, it gets rather tedious if you do buy into the argument before reading. For example, I know that working without distraction is better. I love reading productivity books. Everyone talks about it. So I found myself skimming for main ideas in the first part of the book.

Read for my To Be Read Challenge.

Year of Wonder June Check-in

Beginning of June was a bit sparse in favorites, but the last week had such amazing music. I really enjoy listening to it all!

June 4 - Overture from Ruslan and Lyudmila by Mikhail Glinka - This is not the first time I've heard this piece, but I wouldn't be able to tell you where I did first hear it. Also, I think I need to read some Pushkin, as this was inspired by Pushkin's fairytale Ruslan and Lyudmila. This is the first piece this month that really grabbed my attention.

June 5 - Ribers no. 9 arranged by the Danish String Quartet - Nordic folk music! Really fun piece. Apparently, the Danish String Quartet made an entire album of folk music that I now must seek out.

June 14 - The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams - Oh. My. God. I've heard this a few times. It's one of those pieces that gets tossed around in music education classes. But I forgot just how stunning it is. It's one of those pieces that takes you out of time and space into a surreal world where everything's a little fuzzy and you get shivers up and down your spine. Seriously, go listen to it.

June 23 - The Seasons, op. 37b - June: Barcarolle by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - I've played this piece before on flute. I played two other movements from this work for my Senior Recital in college. What lovely music. I once decided I was going to learn the entire work, but as of yet I've not started. Perhaps I'll try again soon.

June 24 - The Silver Swan by Orlando Gibbons - I didn't really like this one, but it did surprise me. Written in 1612, it's an interesting madrigal with juicy tensions and resolutions.

June 26 - Sinfonietta: 1: Allegretto-Allegro-Maestoso by Leoš Janáček - I've never heard this before, but it totally sounds like something I'd have played in college band. Really lovely brass work.

June 27 - Bring us, O lord God by William Henry Harris - This is one of the more beautiful pieces of music I've ever listened to. It's one of those "world falls away as you listen to it" songs.

June 29 - Eclogue for piano and strings, op. 10 by Gerald Finzi - The end of June has some incredible music to finish up the month. Burton-Hill mentions that this piece has a way of suspending time, and she's absolutely correct. I was absolutely floored by how much lighter I felt after listening to this.

June 30 - Song of June by Jonathan Harvey - Really interesting piece of music. Neat harmonies and definitely makes me want to seek out more of Jonathan Harvey's works.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

Title: The Fellowship of the Ring

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Pages: 423

Finished: July 4, 2019

First Sentence: When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

Summary: First part of a trilogy. Bilbo Baggins decides to retire from Hobbit life and go on more adventures, leaving his ring behind for Frodo. Little does Frodo know, this small, golden ring is actually The One Ring made by Sauron to control all the world. With the help of his friends, it's up to him to get the Ring to Rivendell where hopefully someone else will take up the burden of destroying it.

Thoughts: My experience with this trilogy: My dad read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to us when I was around 8. I tried reading the trilogy again in high school when the movies were coming out, but found them to be dull and difficult to get through. I listened to the books on Audio post college while shelving books.

This is my first time reading them in a decade. For the most part, I really enjoyed the first book this read through. As I have more experience, I kept comparing the book to the movie. The main difference is the time. It takes multiple chapters before there's even talk of Frodo leaving the Shire with the Ring. And then it takes multiple chapters to get out of the Shire.

In general, one of the things I really like about this story is the friendships and loyalty. I've mentioned it with the four hobbits, but then, when you add Aragorn into the mix, there's something quite lovely about those five.

Really, I don't have a whole lot to say on the book other than I enjoyed reading it in between some of the other things I was reading. It was nice to have a straightforward adventure. I'm curious to see how the other two books fare, as I think Two Towers was where I got bored last time.

Back to comparing with the movies. One thing I have said time and again is that I will give a movie a pass for being "unfaithful" provided it keeps the spirit of the book. Movies and books are separate entities, and often when a movie keeps too close to the source material, the movie becomes boring. I've long maintained that the LoTR movies are spiritually very close to the books. At least with the Fellowship of the Ring, I feel the movie did a great job adapting the book. Sure each episode is shortened and lesser characters are left out. Some things are changed for time. I feel like the Fellowship was on par. We see Boromir falling prey to the Ring's power, even as he's a good man for the most part. We see the grief after Gandalf falls to the Balrog. We see Legolas and Gimli bicker, though as of yet, they have little to no part of the story. Now that the party has splintered, I imagine we'll see more of them.

I'm glad I took on this challenge. Finishing Fellowship means I can strike another book off my Classics Club list, and I'm just a bit closer to finishing this challenge. I have to get through about 9 chapters of The Two Towers by the end of this month to get back on track. 

2019 Goals Quarterly Check-in 2

1. Read 52 Books - Progress: 14 > 20 / 52 +6
   Lots of long books this month that didn't fully inspire me to read. I'm a little behind schedule, but I think some of my upcoming books should be quicker reads.
2. Finish my Lord of the Rings in Chronological Order project - Progress: 41%
   Thoughts:  I'm finally at a point where I'm pretty much just reading long swathes of text without switching out of books. It's really lovely. I'm enjoying the books more this time around, so I'm looking forward to how it all finishes. I am, however, about a month behind where I should be if I want to finish.
3. Back to the Classics - Progress: 2 > 6 / 12 +4
   Thoughts: I'm on target for this challenge. I enjoyed my picks this quarter much more than last quarter, the Dickens most of all. I'm excited to start Eliot in July. Two of the books I read for this challenge made their way to my top 3 for the quarter.
4. To Be Read Challenge - Progress: 0 > 1 / 12 +1
   Thoughts: Hahaha! The order I've been reading my books means these books have been pushed further down than usual. But a number of them are going to pop up in the next quarter.
5. Newford Part 1 - Progress: 2 > 3 / 12 +1
   Thoughts: The book I read for this one was super disturbing, but still ended up in my top 3 for the quarter. 
6. Austen Challenge - Progress: 1 / 7 +0
   Thoughts: I'm sad I didn't get anything read for this, but my classics took up a particular amount of energy.
7. Year of Wonder - Progress: 179 / 365
   Thoughts: I'm a couple days behind here, but nothing too bad or that's not to easy to just take a half hour to listen to music! I really enjoy listening to these pieces! The curator has picked some that are super out of my comfort zone, and others that I've never heard of but that are clearly a part of me. This is really a neat exercise.
8. Other Books Read: 8 or more. I'm not keeping careful track of these as most are Middle Grade Novels for work.

Top 3 Books This Quarter

Dickens, Charles - Barnaby Rudge
De Lint, Charles - From a Whisper to a Scream
Márquez, Gabriel García - One Hundred Years of Solitude

Top 3 Books This Year

Austen, Jane - Sense and Sensibility
de Lint, Charles - Dreams Underfoot
Arden, Katherine - The Winter of the Witch

Nothing this quarter knocked the first quarter books off their pedestal for favorites for the year.

Things are plugging along. As of right now, I am about a month behind where I should be in the Lord of the Rings challenge. So for next quarter, I'm going to prioritize my LOTR reading as the first thing to do every month. Back to the Classics should be fine. The next two I have lined up are 600+ page books, so I think I'll do with them like I did for Dickens and just read a chapter a day. Which leaves space in the month to fill in with other books. I think I'll just rotate between my other challenge books in whatever space I have left. I'm looking forward to the rest of the books on my various challenge lists.

I also instituted "Quiet Time" in our house. My four-year-old takes an hour to play quietly by herself in her room. That's my time to do what I want, which means meditation and reading. Or administrative house duties... But it's been really great for reading those LONG books that I'm reading only chapter by chapter. Then I can focus my bedtime reading on my other books!

I've been reading the books in a weird order. It's vaguely alphabetical with my goals prioritized, but then I also ordered the books in descending page number order. I can't really describe it easily, but the effect is that I don't end up putting off books until the end. I just read the next one down on the list. Or the next two - one chunky book from the descending pages list and one not-so-chunky book from the mostly alphabetical order list. Looking at what's up next, I'm most excited for the following:

Daniel Deronda
Deep Work
Emma
The King of Elfland's Daughter.

Hoping for a good quarter of reading coming up!