I thought that a sort of “reading hangover ” was going to take over my this week’s activities. I mean, what was achieved last week was no easy task, but much to my delight, the reading rhythm has maintained a very decent pace.

My total for today is 280 pages, summing up, in only the third day of April, a total of 1,853, which represents almost 34% of the projected quota. I’m in desperate need of getting the numbers update post back on a weekly basis. There have been quite a few exciting developments, especially on the end dates of the first 500,000 and the whole project, not close to where they should be, but moving forward with each passing day.

With this in mind, I’ll try to squeeze in some more pages before the day is done, of course, in addition to what is already in the registered pages column, which are a couple of pretty interesting story.

First, a return from a few weeks of hiatus was volume number twenty-five of the Manga series Shaman King. The battle still rages on to close out the tournament and hopefully crown the new king of the Shamans. The story is always high paced and fun of action, with a very welcomed dose of acid humor.

The other graphic novel was the first work that the extremely talented Jeff Lemire wrote and illustrated, Lost Dogs, following the story of a behemoth of a man that loses his family in a tragic encounter, and finds himself crawling back from what could have been his watery grave, mind you, this is not a feelgood story with a happy ending, but as with all of the stories I have read from Mr. Lemire, it’s a necessity to read and to see how his particular style of illustration begins to emerge. It’s simply a delight to witness.

Off to read.

azr

Although this has been a historic week for my reading progress, there’s still one last thing I have to do in order to achieve, for the first time, what seems to be an impossible task, read the weekly quota three times over, that means a total of 3,780 pages.

I’m just 203 pages away from getting there. With a couple of hours left on reading day, the odds are looking tipping toward my favor. In addition to reaching this outstanding milestone, it will also mark one of the best starts to a new month of reading. The total for April, in only two days, is 1,349 pages, which represents almost 25% of the total quota for the month.

Things are getting to a rhythm that’s starting to show serious promise to get me over the 60,000 page mark, and even being really optimistic, getting the 64,847 pages that I projected for the year. This is all toward getting to that 1,000,000-page not only in time but also with a little panache.

Now, I must not get ahead of myself. There’s one more graphic novel left on my queue for today, Noragami: Stray God Vol. 8, this will leave with only 1 page to reach the goal, that’s where a couple of pages from The Book of Lost Tales will come really in handy.

I’m on these privileged position, thanks in part of the amazing graphic novels that were on this lazy Sunday TBR pile. I will not get into detail, being that I have more present matters to attend to, but you can see in the images below what comprise said material.

Off to read.

azr

This couple of days have been outstanding for my reading progress, and I do mean earth-shattering good. Yesterday finished with a total of 609 pages, and today, with one more reading session left in the tank, my total is a whopping 743 pages, which represents almost 14% of the month quota, and in one day, I hear celebratory fireworks going off in my head.

This is the perfect way to start the next to last full month of my year. My year finishes on June 6, so that gives only April and May in their entirety, and those 6 days of June become the most intense period of reading for the year.

By the way, March ended with a total of 7,153 pages, which is 1,635 pages over the projected quota. I was aiming for over 2,500 extra pages, but I’m not complaining about the end result. Any forward motion is gravely appreciated, more so with the clock winding down freakishly fast.

Today, my reading choices took another pathway, I was focusing on a couple of manga series for most of the week, and I needed a change of pace in order to keep things fresh and exciting. The main reason today’s progress is so amazing is because of the two graphic novels that accompanied me thru the day.

The first is a fresh look on the classic novel by the vampire queen herself, Anne Rice. For this particular adaption of Interview with the Vampire, we get to witness the story thru Claudia’s eyes. If you think the original novel was harrowing, the experience of the child vampire is even more heartbreaking. I loved the artwork by Ashley Marie Witter, who also adapted the story, is simply breathtaking, her color choices of making it Sepia hue with a splash of blood red, gives every panel a dreamlike quality.

The other graphic is the award winning trilogy by one of the best and favorite writers working on comic books right now, Jeff Lemire. Essex County, located in Ontario, Canada, tells the story of the happenings in a rural town, loosely based on the author’s hometown, where the everyday life of a plethora of characters collide over three generations.

As with most of the comic books that Mr. Lemire writes and illustrates, you’ll find conplex stories that will not suit the casual comic book reader. They are filled with such beautiful insight into the harsh and difficult times that most human beings have to traverse in their existence, facing ghosts from the past, sometimes as cathartic moments, and others just as haunting memories. All of this is perfectly captured by the minimalistic approach of Mr. Lemire’s artwork, not one line, is missing or exceeding what the moment needs to be perfectly captured. As you can tell, I just simply love his work.

There’s still a couple of graphic novels buzzing around and begging to be devoured, but I think it is probably best to close out today’s session with a little bit of Robin Hobb’s The Ship of Magic.

Off to read.

azr

There are only a few hours kept in the month of March, and I couldn’t be happier about how things are progressing. The total sits comfortably at 6,948 pages, that’s 1,430 over the projected quota, not quite the extra 2,000 pages that I would have like to have gone thru, but nonetheless, it’s still a pretty impressive feat.

The challenge that’s still alive and kicking is to read 3 times the weekly quota. Right now, I have a total of 2,023 pages for the week, leaving me with 1,757 pages to read in about 50 hours, quite the herculean task, but with the jolt of energy that this last few days have given me, 4 straight days logging over 400 pages of reading deserve a grand final act. There’s no question that I’ll jump into this skirmish head-on.

To close out today’s reading, I’ll continue with the sixth volume of the Manga series Noragami: Stray God, our rogue God Yato has proven to be more mischievous than first tough, and with a whirlwind of Gods, and some mythical warriors, the stakes are getting higher, not to spoil anything, but volume five ended on a sour note, that I presume will affect deeply the already angry demeanor of our protagonist.

If there’s a little bit of fuel left on the tank, I will probably continue with my path to have a better understanding of how my most beloved fantasy universe was created and populated with such a rich cultural and mythological background. I’m, of course, referring to what Professor Tolkien achieved with the creation of Middle-Earth.

Right now, I’m reading a chapter dubbed The Chaining of Melkor that follows the imprisonment of the OG Dark Lord of Middle-Earth, who consequently was mentor to Lord Sauron But if Sauron comes thru as an evil entity, Melkor, better known as Morgoth, makes him look like an amateur, that dude did some evil shit. Can wait to keep exploring the first age and all the mythology that shaped the place that feels like my second home.

Off to read.

azr.

I go into the last day of March with an impressive streak, and one that hopefully will hold for at least the spring vacation period, which in Mexico is two whole weeks.

Today’s total is 347 pages , giving me a whopping total for the 43th week of my fifteen year of this crazy endeavor of 1,557 pages. Could this be mythical week when I finally read 3 times the minimal quota? I’ll just have to keep on pounding away with my daily routine of reading and probably earn my first sigil, which will be forever engraved on my skin as a remainder of what I can achieve with a little effort and lots of discipline.

But better not get ahead of myself. It’s always good to get my feet on the ground and recite the daily mantra: one step at a time, one page at a time, although there’s no harm on getting excited while putting in the work.

As I said, this month has proven to be a turning point on how I started this year of reading and probably shaped this project for the remaining 8 years until my 50th birthday. What better testament of this, well, 6,482 total pages scream pretty loudly over the self-doubt that was looming over my head.

To keep things rolling in the right direction, there’s a plethora of reading material floating around to help me achieve my coveted goal. For tonight, I’ll be continuing with a new manga series that I stumbled upon, Noragami: Stray God.

It follows the misadventures of Yato, a homeless God that lacks both a shrine and worshipers, but his ambitions plan to have his own temple push him to start a help service, with a small fee as tribute, to fuel his endeavor he takes all sorts of oddball jobs to fill his pockets, as you can tell, chaos will most definitely ensue.

I’m just about to finish the third volume, and with plenty more available on my Kindle Unlimited membership, there’s a pretty clear notion of what I’ll be doing for the weekend.

Off to read.

azr

This particular day has been very satisfying and productive. I completed this month’s page quota. The current total for March is 6,135 pages, which are 617 extra pages from the desired total. There’s still 2,111 pages left on what I expected to chip away from the surplus pages of past months, quite the task for the two days left on the month. Nevertheless, I’ll give it my best to at least get 800 more pages.

As I said, this day, that still has a little more fuel left on the tank, as been a testament to my newfound routine. Before, I was obsessed with having these massive reading sessions that extended for hours on end, but now I found that the most efficient way to go about things is to have mini sessions, preferably of 15 minutes each, spreaded thru out the day.

Thanks to this new approach, my last four days have tallied a total of 1,589 pages. Now, the true challenge is to make this kind of results a habit, of course taking into account that the daily number I have to strive for is 180 pages, at least this is according to my projections for hitting the 1,000,000-page mark by my 50th birthday.

Slowly but surely, I have been seeing an increase in my daily average, which now is 88 daily pages. Still, there’s a lot of ground to cover, but as long as my numbers keep on moving forward, there’s room to maneuver toward the bigger goal.

This increase is in great part a result of looking for new sources of reading material that I haven’t tapped before, such as the example of the manga series that has been on my reading queue this last few days. Of course, I’m talking about Somari and the Guardian of the Forest, a beautiful fantasy tale with an amazing approach to the genre. Sadly, I just finished the sixth and final volume available, although, there’s some rumors that the creator, Yako Gureishi, is really determined to continue her magical work in the series. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I better get back to it. This, of course, is with the intention of getting past my weekly goal. There’s only 50 pages left, but the mere act of getting the task completed in three days holds more to it than simply another notch in the win column. It reignites my dwindling hope that I have a real shot of celebrating my 50th birthday on a really rainy city, turning the final page of my favorite book and hoisting the imaginary medal that is this lifelong dream.

Off to read.

azr

Another day with not only amazing results with my reading progress but also with the breathtaking books that I had the joy of reading today.

I’ll first get into what I achieved number wise, and it was a lot. Firstly, this is the third straight day with 300 or more pages, being today the one with the most, a whopping 378 total pages, with the final reading session pending, shooting for a 500-page day isn’t that farfetched.

With the month of March dwindling, there’s the question of how close am I to getting the monthly quota finished. Well, today is the day that I can say that the challenge is now officially on the win column. My current total is 5,616 pages representing 101% of this month’s desired total, so anything else that goes into the books is going toward getting those pesky surplus pages out of that awful red tint that has been bothering me for months.

The plan was to read around 2,700 additional pages on March to try and tip the scales back in favor of the main goal of 64,000 pages for the year. This is quite the gargantuan task, but non the less, and judging how things are progressing this week, there’s a perfect window to get that much needed boost to finish strong.

I continue reading the fourth volume of manga series Somari and the Guardian of the Forest, and it hasn’t let up, the story just getting more emotional, heartwarming, and gut-wrenching

But my favorite read of the day was the delightful and beautifully illustrated Kodi. It is the story of Katya, a lonely girl who finds solace and friendship in the most unlikely of places, the backwoods of her grandmother’s house in the form of a gigantic but gentle bear. She shares her love for comic books and a ton of delicious food to form an unbreakable bond that no amount distance can destroy. The writer and illustrator, Jared Cullum, captures the hazy mood thru some amazing watercolor artwork that just floats from page to page. This type of story is why I keep coming back to comic books.

Off to read.

azr

This is the second day that I read 300 pages or more, and let me tell you, this is a feeling that will be really easy to get used to. Especially after a catastrophic week of reading, nothing gets my motivation back on track quite like a day with a total like that.

This gets March’s monthly quota up to 5,238 total pages, which represents almost 95% complete, with 280 pages to go and 4 days left to do so, I’m fairly confident that there’s even room to chip away at those pesky surplus pages from past months, anything kind of additional pages help, more so with eminent end of year fifteen looming just over the horizon.

With such an overwhelming result, I’m considering calling it an early night, or maybe there’s another reading session left on the old tank. I mean, with such beautiful stories awaiting, like the third volume of my latest manga discovery, Somari and the Guardian of the Forest, I’m enthralled with this beautiful story. It’s a fresh take on the tale of the heroes journey, and thankfully, there’s a total of 7 volumes to read on my Kindle Unlimited membership.

This keeps my Tolkien inspired reading marathon going, and as always, particularly in the fantasy graphic novel department, suggestions are welcome, nay, necessary.

Off to read.

azr

This has been a very redeeming day for this week’s reading. Right now, my total is 379 pages, and with a final reading line-up and ready to roll, I’ll probably finish the day bear the 500-page mark.

Also, the monthly quota is fast approaching the 5,000-page mark, only 75 pages to go, representing almost 90% complete. The weekly quota is a little more complicated to reach,there’s still 309 pages, and to be completely honest, I don’t think that with the time left on the day, this is not a feasible goal, but at least the effort will be made

The upcoming week will continue to be one focused on the epic journey that began yesterday with the first event of the year, Tolkien Reading Day, which was not as successful as last year, but non the less really enjoyable. I finally got to immerse in the inner workings of how Profesor Tolkien created the mythology of what is probably one of the most intricate worlds created in the vast tradition of the epic fantasy genre.

I’m really excited to keep exploring the twelve volume series that collects all the pieces of the puzzle that gave birth to Middle-Earth. The work that went into collecting and painstakingly decoding the vast amount of information created, mostly done by the professor’s own son, Christopher Tolkien, is admirable.

The one thing that stood out from today’s reading was a gem of a manga that I discovered thru my Kindle Unlimited membership. Sorami and the Guardian of the Forest follow the story of the quest of a little girl and a Golem in search of the rarest creatures in the land, human beings. Not only is the story really heartwarming, but the artwork is simply breathtaking. I will look for more work by its creator, Yako Gureishi.

Off to read.

azr