This newfound rhythm of reading has reignited my hopes of reaching the coveted 64,000 total page goal for the current year. And yes, today was another successful outing for my daily quota.

Right now, my total sits at 202 pages, and with another reading session, the last of the day, this number should increase at least by 60 pages. The intention is to close off with the weekly quota, only 69 pages to do so, and with the most productive day ahead of me, this is shaping up to be exactly the type of week I should aim to repent for the 11 left in the calendar of year fifteen.

My total for the month of March is now 2,405 pages, representing almost 44%, putting in the perfect position to reach the halfway mark 12 days into the month. There’s still a matter of 800 pages to help balance out the slack that build up over the not so productive weeks of the year. This figure is not so farfetched, I have been known to have days of reading that well exceed those numbers. I’m not saying that it’s a done deal, but there’s a high probability that I could do it.

Maybe tomorrow, I can repeat what one of my short reading sessions did for me today, just not in the same location, sit quietly surrounded by some trees for 15 minutes, breath in, and get some reading done.

For now, I’ll follow the mantra that has upheld my journey thru the last months, “one page at a time,” and hopefully, the pathway should open up for me.

Off to read

azr

Another successful day of reading, make that 10 in a row, a perfect way to keep things rolling toward that coveted 64,000-page goal for the year fifteen of reading.

As I posted yesterday, the 40,000-page mark has been successfully surpassed, and the total for the month of March now sits at 2,203 pages, representing almost 40% of the monthly quota. This weekend should be more than sufficient to reach the halfway point, and hopefully, register some more pages.

With that in mind, my immediate goal is to, preferably, by tomorrow, reach this week’s quota, there’s 271 left to do so, and maybe aim towards getting the 800 additional pages to keep chipping away at the amounting surplus pages from past weeks.

To help me along the way, there’s a couple of graphic novels on my queue. The first item is the third volume of the epic adventures of the deadly and furry Miyamoto Usagi, currently on page 151, and the sixth volume of Elves, published by French publisher Delcourt, one of the graphic novels with the most beautiful artwork that I had the privilege to read.

All of this sprinkled with a few pages from Robin Hobb’s The Ship of Magic with a side order of H.P. Lovecraft.

Off to read.

azr

I’m glad to say that the streak survived to fight another day. As I write these lines, my total for the day is 181 pages, I know, just 3 pages over the daily quota, but as long as that number can be reached, even surpassed by only 1 page, that kind of day will always go o the win column.

Still, my focus for the rest on the night is trying to finish the second volume of the amazing Usagi Yojimbo Saga, currently on page 504 of 662, which will get past the 40,000-page mark, just need to register 348 pages to do so.

And March is still looking like a turning point month, in only the eight day of the month, I have 1,800 total , representing 32% of the monthly quota, that’s exactly the kind of numbers I need to get this year back on track. There’s also the looming need to squeeze in a few extra pages on top of the monthly quota. For this month, it’s around 2,700 extra pages.

The other good news coming off today’s reading sessions is that I finally resume my reading of H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Collection. The story behind why I started the collection is that my wife got me an illustration by local artist “Puro Barragan” depicting a character from the short story The Cats of Ulthar, that’s when I realize that there were some stories that escaped my mind and I had to explore the vast world created by one of the best horror writers in history.

Right now, I’m on page 448 of the whopping 1,353 that comprises this vast collection, and the perfect way to resume my journey is to go thru The Mountain of Madness.

Off to read.

azr

Yesterday was an amazing day for my reading. Not only did I finish the hauntingly beautiful story that Cormac McCarthy weaved in The Border Trilogy, but I also read a total of 395 pages, getting me passed, just barely, the weekly quota. Hopefully, this will be the case for the foreseeable future.

Also, if I include today, my reading streak, of reading at least 150 pages per day, has just gone up to 6 days. This is the main key to getting the first leg of my journey done by the end of 2023.

After all the dust settled on what was a very productive reading day, I finally got around to tallying the amazing stories that were finished and, much to my delight, found that there’s only 386 left to hit the 40,000-page mark on this the fifteen year of my beloved project.

To help me complete this part of the journey, I will be embarking on new adventures with two of my favorite writers/creators.

First, on the book side of things,I’ll be coming back to the mesmerizing worlds created by the amazing talented Robin Hobb. On the first book, The Ship of Magic, of the Liveship Traders series, we will step aboard a sentient ship and its perilous journey to try and cross the Rain Wild River, if anything the previous series by this author is an indication of what is in store, this is going to be a breathtaking adventure.

Secondly, and from which I’m fast approaching the middle part of the book, there’s the joyous adventures of ronin Miyamoto Usagi, the cunning rabbit warrior and his adventures roaming the country side in search of himself and some redemption hidden away at the edge of his katana.

This amazing series, masterfully created by Stan Sakai, first saw light on 1984 and currently has around 219 issues. I choose for this particular endeavor to indulge in the digital edition of the Saga Collection, being the second volume of nine that comprise the epic saga of the gentle but deadly warrior.

Let’s keep things rolling and keep hitting those little steps toward the bigger picture.

Off to read.

azr

I’m glad to say that the quota for this lazy Sunday has already been met, and hopefully, I can sum up a bit more to end the week with the sort of momentum that I should maintain for the next nine years, no pressure.

There’s still one task that I would like to meet before the day is done. It’s cool that this is the fifth day in a row that the quota has been met, but there is a matter of the weekly quota that has not yet been reached. Thanks to two very unproductive days to start the week, I find myself looking at 202 pages to cross the 1,246 page. For these task, I’ll bring out the big guns and the perfect Sunday read.

That would be the case of any volume involving Hellboy or the rag tag group of misfits known as the B.P.R.D. The history that graces the end of the day reading session is B.P.R.D: Vampire, written by the master himself, Mike Mignola, and beautifully illustrated by the dynamic duo of Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon.

This will bring close to the goal, just a bit short of the mark, but I’ll compliment with what will hopefully be the last session of Cormac Mccarthy’s The Border Trilogy. Those 1,040 pages will be a breath of fresh to this year’s total pages.

Off to read.

azr.

There’s just 32 pages between me and the fourth day in a row of reading over 178 pages, and with the late rhythm I’m catching, it will be a walk in the park.

For tonight’s session, there are some comic books on deck, a series called Elves by French publisher Delcourt, not the first series I have read, and let me tell you, they have some amazing series with intricate story lines and breathtaking art work. The particular versions that I’m reading are a digital English translation, bought them a while back when there was still a Comixology store, the main source of almost every single comic book and graphic novel I have read for the past 5 years.

The other two side quest for tonight will be to get Cormac Mccarthy’s The Border Trilogy down to 100 pages to read and try to knock off as much as possible of the 443 pages left on this week’s quota.

Off to read.

azr

I’m glad to say that the start of March wasn’t as bad as I predicted last night. Somehow , against all odds, my total for the day finished with a very satisfying 193 pages.

To top it off, this morning surprised me with some light snow flurries, and the first blooms our plum tree. So, the natural thing to do was to breathe in this beautiful morning in the company of one of my favorite short stories, Mouse Guard from Free Comic Book Day 2010. It’s always comforting to go back and revisit the Mouse territories with the legendary Guard.

But the day isn’t over, I still have some more reading to do. I just have 97 total pages, a little bit from DR. Stone Vol. 10 and a little bit from Cities of the Plain. The intent is to go 490 straight days hitting the page quota, which, if I count today, will make 2 days in a row.

Off to read.

azr