I’m so glad to inform that another of my milestones has been achieved.
It took me 6,252 days, or, 17 years, 1 month and 12 days but I finally arrived at the 600,000-page mark. This has been quite the journey, filled with amazing stories, long nights of reading, and best of all, a lot of friends cheering me on.
The book that got me over the goal was the tenth and final volume of the incredible graphic novel series Scalped, written by Jason Aaron and beautifully illustrated by R.M. Guéra, fittingly tiled Trails End, in which, we get to witness the bloody conclusion of federal agent Dash Bad Horse descent into the underbelly of the reservation that watch him grow up, as with most of the Vertigo Comics series, I highly recommend you check them out, none are easy reads, but they are a good detour in comics from the superhero genre.
With 2,022 left until my 50th birthday, and the deadline of this particular goal, now more than ever every single day count, and with all the future endeavors, new sections (shout-out to my partner in crime for the inspiration and support of the expansion of this idea, forever grateful for the daily feedback and encouragement to keep pushing this into another level),and even the plan for some merch from my beloved journey.
The 1,000,000-page mark is destined to be the beginning of something far greater than what I imagined all those years ago, sitting on a table with a book and having the crazy idea of keeping track of my reading
The focus now is the next milestone, 650,000 pages, which according to my projections will be achieved on April 25, 2027. I know that this date can be and should be much earlier, but for that, I must pull all the tricks in my hat, and get it done.
As the year winds down, I have exactly 200 days left on this year, the need to turn my reading up becomes even more impending, there’s a lot of pages and incredible stories in front of me , and the last three weeks have been a testament of what can be when I put my mind and effort into, great step forward can be achieved.
But one word comes to mind, Consistency, it should become almost a mantra, not rely on this amazing reading burst, but be disciplined. And always come back to the two main principles that have brought me here: “one page at a time” and “read anywhere, ready everywhere “. If I keep doing this, all my goals will be conquered.
Another thing that I’ll like to acknowledge is that today would have been my late father’s 74th birthday, his presence, love, knowledge and humor is greatly missed. I’ll toast to his memory, how he loved the history of languages, and the life of saints, curious because he was not a religious person, and how there was never a limits for books. As I grew older, he was a great source of debate and philosophical insight. I do miss him terribly, but I can feel his presence and guidance.
Mi viejo, I’ll see you someday again, and we can walk the vastness of that paradise you described, that purple desert, with the fleeting sunsets and the stars shining brightly.
Coincidentally, it was his mother, my grandmother Carmen, the one person that introduced me to the enthralling world of books. She had a vast library, could recite her favorite poems by heart, and was the most gentle and loving person in the world. I can remember the Christmas holidays surrounded by books and her amazing cooking. I will get lost for hours in books and at night, she would make stories up so I could go to sleep. She was also bought me my first comic book, Punisher to be precise, not really appropriate for a nine year old, but that started a life long love with reading and knowledge.
It always good to have those types of influences in your life, they were and are a great gift.
Coming back a little bit back to my journey, this past three weeks were really packed. I finish the incredible book The Ritual by Adam L.G. Nevill, and let me tell you that it was a tense and eerie ride from beginning to end. The melding of psychological horror and the dread of being lost in an environment so alien and terrifying only adds to the desperation that the characters in the book. And to top it off, add some nordic folklore and monsters, well it just crushes you. I’m only beginning to get into horror novels, but the past two book by Mr. Nevill had been a true delight, I can’t wait to get further into that genre.
The next book on the queue is the critically acclaimed novel by Susanna Clarke, Piranesi. I’m just got into the first 45 pages of the book, but as always, Ms. Clarke weaves a fascinating story. It follows the main character, Piranesi, and his journey exploring an infinite House filled with halls, where the statues and skeletons make up the entire populace. I can’t wait to see what the tides bring, what lies in those eternal halls.
As for my journey toward reading the next book of the gargantuan series of Warhammer, The Horus Heresy, as I stated on past posts, the goal was to read ten books of my TBR pile in order to purchase the next one the series, Fulgrim. I’m delighted to announce that The Ritual was the seventh book on the list and Piranesi will be eight, the next step is almost at hand. The list of reading goes as follows :
The First King of Shannara (Terry Brooks)
Verano (J.M. Coetzee)
Between two Fires (Christopher Buehlman)
Babel (R.F. Kuang)
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
The Reddening (Adam L.G. Nevill)
The Ritual (Adam L.G. Nevill)
Piranesi (Susanna Clarke)
TBD
TBD
For books number nine and ten, I will leave the choices to my partner in crime and future collaborator on this blog , let’s see what the fortunes bring my way, and what need literary worlds I get to dip my toes into.
On the comic book front, this past weeks have been almost entirely dedicated to the controversial comic book series by writer Jason Aaron and illustrator R.M. Guéra, Scalped.
The crime-noir series was originally published by Vertigo Comics on January, 2007, with a run of 60 issues mostly under the helm of the original creators and it follows the story of undercover FBI agent Dash Bad Horse has he returns to the fictional reservation of Prairie Rose in South Dakota. His main goal is to bring down the corrupt and brutal Chief Lincoln Red Crow, as his grips over all the tribal affairs is iron clad and extremely violent.
In his mission he finds all sorts of strange characters and deadly foes, some descents into addiction and murder, and the moral conundrum of the prize to bring what the outside forces deemed as peace.
There’s some backlash on the story for the depiction of some of the Native American characters and the way of life inside the reservation , as with all stories, you should be careful, as a reader, not to fall into the stereotype of the characters because of any of their background, it should be treated like that, a work of fiction that not necessarily reflects the actual reality.
That being said, I really enjoy the series, it’s full of turns and twists, and with the protagonist being not this picture perfect law enforcer, it gives it this high stakes game where you are not sure he is going to survive, but you keep hoping that he does. I have only one volume left on the series, there’s some nervous anticipation to see how this plays out
As you can see, it was a busy couple of weeks, and with this enormous momentum, I hope to ride this pace until the end of this year, with plenty of stories read and 30,000 pages under my belt.
As spooky season comes down to a close, as always, I’m not ready just yet to let go of the ghastly stories, and the ghouls that have accompanied me during this month.
So I decided to mark the closing of the season with the release of Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, which comes out next Friday , November 7. What better way to celebrate this month long marathon than with two of my favorite things, a film by the brilliant director and one of my favorite books of all time, just the cherry on top of the cake. And as usual I’ll be enjoying it with my in-house horror expert and partner in crime for all the future endeavors of this blog.
I tell you, it’s priceless to have someone to share with, who has that same energy and love for the spooky season, it just made it extra special and fun.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to go thru some stories that caught my eye and send chills down my spine. In that note, the current book on the queue is The Ritual, the most recognized work by English writer Adam L.G. Nevill. I jump right into after thoroughly enjoying The Reddening, it was quite the experience, the book grabs you and keeps you tense all through out, that ancient evil that permeates on a seemingly quiet coastal town, just chills you down to the bones, and makes it very clear that us, as humanity are truly the most vicious creatures in the world.
The Ritual has that same vibe to it, but the setting changes quite a bit. The story, without any spoilers, takes place in the Scandinavian wilderness, where four friends, of English origin, decide to take a hiking trip to reconnect with each other, things go really wrong, really fast. I’m just 80 pages in, and you can feel atmosphere getting denser and darker with each page.
On the comic book front, there are some stories that were recommended in a few post from other avid readers of horror comics, which I’m fairly new to, but one stand out. The Autumnal, written by Daniel Kraus and beautifully illustrated by C. Shehan, follow the story of Kat and Sybil Somerville, mother and daughter respectively,as they return to Comfort Notch, this in wake of Kat’s estranged mother passing away. This seemly idyllic town holds a darker secret, there’s something in the trees, and escape is not and option.
The other two stories I have been working on is one of the local creators from my region, 656 comics, a group of artist and writers that work on both sides of the border of Juárez-El Paso. This time, I have started reading the series Cryptidnals, written by Ray Ramos and illustrated by Dario Rodriguez, imagine that a secret war has just unleashed between legendary creatures, and it’s up to figures like The Goatman, La Llorona, and Quetzalcoatl to stop it, the first issue was amazing, and I can wait to keep on reading.
And to close out the current comic book on my queue, I m taking on an iconic character, Batman, written and illustrated by two legends, Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson.The Cult, finds Batman captured by an delusional cult leader, Deacon Blackfire, with the sole purpose of using The Caped Crusader on his deviant plans. In my opinion, one of the essential stories of The Dark Knight and it’s always a delight to see Mr. Wrightson’s work.
Still a lot of chills and thrills left on the extended spooky season, and with that culmination of the week with the much anticipated adaptation of Frankenstein, there’s a lot of fuel to make this an amazing week of reading.
This past week was crazy busy, and as you can image , my reading took a little bit of a hit. With Halloween just around the corner there’s some preparations to be made, so in all, it was really enjoyable and spooky days.
Now, I will put some extra effort to keep my weekly goal streak going. Nothing major, just 906 pages to go, and a good 4 hours on this lazy Sunday to achieve that apparently huge number. I have done it before and I’ll do it again.
One of the great news for this week is that one of the sections of this adventure will return with a new post, Caffeine Pilgrimage, that’s the one where I go to different coffee shops, drink copious amounts of that magical elixir , and check out the reading vibe of the place. I’ll be doing this collaboration with a pretty cool and special person, which makes the experience even more exciting.
Let’s talk about the reading plans of the last days of spooky season. First of all, my current progress on The Reddening, serious what a creepy and exhilarating ride at the hand of Mr. Nevill, is almost at page 300, which is about three quarters of the way through.
I also added to my reading itinerary a couple of short stories collections from his extensive bibliography, Before you Sleep and Before you Wake., so is easy to say that this spooky season was placed in the really capable hands of this British author.
And not being satisfied with those three works, yesterday, there was the addition of his most recognized work, The Ritual, which as my in-house expert on new horror films, it’s a very disturbing and memorable movie. I’m thinking that the book should be even greater than that.
On the comic book front, there’s a lot to go thru. For starters I stumbled upon a collection from two of the greatest horror creators in the medium. Steve Niles, from 30 days of Night fame, and the legendary illustrator Bernie Wrightson, this beautiful black and white collection includes three stories, for my money the best of the collection will be The Ghoul, there’s a bit of hints of Hellboy and a noir detective that just make it a delight to read
To continue with the great stories for spooky season, I can’t not get enough of my favorite comic book universe, of course I’m talking about Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. My latest incursion was with the finally of the story arc of the long running Hell on Earth. Although one of the greatest member of the extensive history of the B.P.R.D comes and saves the day, the great Liz Sherman, the earth shattering consequences are feel throughout several planes of existence. Yes the frogmen are defeated, along with the Black Flame. But a new terror rises in the mist of the appear victory.
Which brings us to the new story arc, The Devil You Know, starting off with the first volume, Messiah. As the B.P.R.D neutralizes the apocalypse, while trying to rebuild the world among cults and demons running around, they return to the ruins of what once was their Headquarters to find a mysterious coffin containing the remains of non other than Hellboy himself, to get the full shock effect of this revelation I recommend to read The Fury and Hellboy in Hell story arcs
Not to exaggerate, but I strongly believe that this spooky season has been the best, not only in all the material that has passed thru my hands, but also the overall feel and especially the catching up with all the horror movies I missed out on in recent years, again, this is all thanks to my in-house expert, and future collaborator on this blog , on the subject.
I’ll get back to reading, there’s a gargantuan task to be tackled, and as always, I’m not about to back down from a challenge, especially if there’s coffee and books involved.
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