Category: (Y-14)

Under the weather

Yesterday I received my booster shot of the covid-19 vaccine, and as the last time, there were some mild side effects. I had to stay in bed yesterday, and today it will seem that the day shall progress similarly.

I’ll take this as an opportunity to get some much needed rest, and of course what better activity to pass the day that getting some reading done.

I’m glad to inform that for the second week in a row the 1,246-page mark was achieved, my total was 1,324, that means that I had 78 positive pages to take down the massive surplus of pages accumulated thru-out the week that my reading wasn’t great.

For this week, number 23, I started with 5,290 negative pages, but, much to my delight , the first day of the week started with a bang, 520 total pages and I’m pretty sure that the next milestone is complete, reaching 25,000 total pages for the year. Hopefully, I’ll feel better during the day in order to register the finished items to see how close that next step is.

For today, my reading will comprise of a healthy dose of China Mieville’s La ciudad y la ciudad, currently on page 220, and a couple of graphic novels, Snow Angels, by the amazingly talented creative team of Jeff Lemire and artist Jock, and some classic Wolverine action, part of the collection contains Rob Liefield’s legendary run with Logan.

Concerning my “end of the year reading marathon” , I’m closing in on 20 hours, leaving only 160 more to go, a walk in the park.

I’m shooting for a 6 hour reading day, and at least another 500 pages of total reading, this in between some energizing naps.

Off to read.

azr.

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A quick one before I lose myself in some pages

This passed week was just perfect.

Finally, after a 4-week drought, I completed the 1,246-page goal, and even had 24 extra pages to decrease the gargantuan amount of backlog pages that have been collecting thru the weeks.

I still have some graphic novels and a couple of books left to tally in the total for the year, but I’m closing to the 25,000-page mark, and that bottle of wine is just screaming to be opened.

The pictures below are some of the graphic novels from last week’s reading, I particularly recommend Monstress, Marjorie Liu’s writing is superb, and the artwork by Sana Takeda is simply breathtaking.

Concerning two of my active mini goals, 52 books in 52 weeks and End of the Year Reading Marathon, there’s some really good news.

I’m about 20% away from finishing Sisterhood of Dune, book number 23 of the year, which gives me a two-week advantage in that regard.

On the 180-hour reading marathon to close out the final 60 days of the year, the clock is closing in on the 10-hour mark, and with my classes rapidly coming to an end, I think is number, along with my total pages, will increase exponentially.

I’ll start taking advantage of the upcoming three-day weekend, and have some intense sessions. See you probably until my magic Monday reading report, this of course if there’s nothing out of ordinary to share.

Off to read.

azr.

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More self imposed reading marathons

Although in the last time-based marathon I barely surpassed the midway mark, as you can attest from the image below, but what it did to boost my motivation for reading was far more important than to hit the whole 49 hours that was the goal.

I mean, almost 26 hours in 10 days, not a small chunk of change, which included November 2 with the amazing total of 446 pages.

My plan for the remaining 58 days of 2021, yeah you guess it right, more reading marathons. To start things off, my plan is to read a daily average of 3 hours, that would give around 180 hours to complete by December 31.

This is going to include at least 4 page-based marathons, one around Thanksgiving, which include eating massive amounts of turkey, one around December 6, which marks the halfway point of this year of reading, and the other two, which becomes a two-headed monster, and it revolves around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, this is probably my favorite of the year, it’s filled with good food, lots of drinking, a lot of new books as presents, and more importantly, lots of amazing traditions with my lovely wife and kids.

Time to tackle those 178 hours and hopefully by the end of the year, I´ll be looking at around 37,000 total pages.

Off to read.

azr.

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Numbers: November 1, 2021

Back to my magic Mondays, again, and hopefully this time around will be for good.

Now, and I must say a welcomed surprise, the 52 book in 52 weeks challenge is still working like clockwork, I´m already full steam on book number 22 at the start of week number 21, which brings me back to the amazing universe started by the great Frank Herbert,continued by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Dune, next in the chronology is the story of the origin of the mysterious Bene Gesserit Sisterhood.

Had to go back to this intriguing universe, fueled specially because over the weekend I say the latest interpretation of the famous title book, in all it’s IMAX glory, by the extremely talented director Denis Villeneuve. It only felt right to go back and explore some of it’s back story.

Now let’s talk about MY NUMBERS, the current total is 21,567 of the 64,952 pages of this year’s goal, that’s 1,865 registered pages more than last update, one step closer to the next milestone, 25,000 pages, and a very special bottle of Mexican Red Wine awaits for the mandatory celebratory drinks.

The end of the year projection of total pages suffered a setback, right now is at 53,335 pages, close to 4,000 less than the last update. My reading schedule, which keeps me up at night, is now 27 days behind, this is the first thing I’m trying gain some momentum to win days.

I start week 21 with a deficit of 5,392 pages, and a total 9,754 pages to get back to balance, must work on improve my consistency.

Now, for the first 500,000 pages, I have only 127,859 pages left, and the new date of reaching that goal is April 28, 2026, 4 days sooner than the last projection, still my sights are pointed at March 20, 2023 as the desired date to reach the first half of the challenge, that gap narrowed from 1,140 to 1,136 days behind schedule.

The second part of the journey, or the other 500,000 pages, the weekly average needed is now 1,866 with a daily average of 268 pages, pretty much the same as my last projections, fluctuating between 2 or 3 pages on the daily average.

Now for the golden prize of 1,000,000 pages, to my delight, the projections puts it 8,049 days away, a 31 day gain from the last projection, making the end date is November 15, 2043, that’s 4,546 days after the original plan, 10 days less that the last projection. In spite of everything, I managed to stay in 2043, with my eye on the prize of the coveted end date of 2031, and the very special trip to close-out the final pages of my journey.

To summary the numbers from my Journey Back.

  • Pages to reach 500,000: 127,859 pages
  • Days to reach 1,000,000: 8,049 days
  • Days behind schedule: 4,546 days

Now ,if you’ll excuse ,I have about 10,000 pages to read , and a couple of traditional “pan de muerto” to devour.

Off to read.

azr.

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The plot thickens

As November starts, I find myself with some unexpected challenges in this year’s reading journey.

By now I should be around 26,000 total pages for the year, the reality of things is that my current count is 21,567, some 4,000 pages behind schedule, and as a new month begins, the projected total sums up quite the hefty sum.

The challenge, in November, is to read 9,754 pages to get back on track, I’m well aware that it is a monumental task, but now more than ever my mindset is more than ready to take on this seemingly impossible task.

And to start off things with a bang, I’ll take on what it seems like a really stupid idea, which in my mind sounds like the perfect plan to tackle the sheer amount of pages in front of me, get thru the remaining hours of my Spooktober reading marathon.

Being that sleeping is overrated, I’ll take these two remaining days to close-out my favorite time of the year in style.

Off to read.

azr

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Spooktober reading marathon update

My reading this passed few days have been underwhelming to say the least. Of the 49 proposed hour, I have only gone thru 3 and a half hours

But that is the least of my worries, there´s still 2,431 pages left on my October reading goal, and 5,012 pages to get back on track. The good news is that my weekend, starting tomorrow, looks pretty clear, some intense late night reading sessions are in order, maybe even some outings to some local coffee house, there are a few quiet and cozy places to read the afternoon away.

My focus today is to finish with this year´s traditional reading of Frankenstein, currently on page 205 of 260, and if my eyes can holdout, finish with the second volume of the Enderverse, La voz de los muertos, currently on page 388 of 451, finishing either one would get me back on track with the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.

Big plans for one of my favorite time of the year.

Off to read.

azr.

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Spooktober marathon

It’s finally here, the week leading up to Halloween and Dia de Muertos, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a 9 day reading marathon.

The rules are quite simple, complete 49 hours of reading by the end of November 2 and maintain as much as possible the Science Fiction theme of the year, if there’s some space horror to throw into the mix, it would be just perfect.

To keep track of the hours left, I’ll use the really handy timer plus app. So, the clock is set.

Let’s go get those remaining October pages and more.

Off to read.

azr.

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2,814 pages

I start the final stretch of October with 2,814 pages left to read, this, from the 5,518 projected as the minimal total for this month. That gives around 312 daily pages to read, which is really doable, just need some focus, and large quantities of caffeine.

To keep the tradition of this time, I started reading this year’s edition of Frankenstein, a present from a couple of my dearest friends, makes this all that more special. This particular edition is from Nordica Libros, a publishing house from Spain, and its beautifully illustrated by Elena Odriozola.

Another delightful surprise is that this edition contains introductions from Mary Shelley and her husband Percy Shelley, and if I´m not mistaking, it’s the first time I read side by side.

I’ll take this days to also close the Aliens Omnibus series, currently about to start volume number 4, right after I finish the first volume of the manga Ghost in the Shell.

The only left is to make the list for the movie marathon form Halloween to Día de Muertos and I will be set, on top of the list is ParaNorman by request from my two kids, there’s also James Whale’s classic, Frankenstein, but from there everything is pretty much open territory.

Now to tackle those pages.

Off to read.

azr

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79 pages

If at this hour you would tell that my total was 79 pages, my initial though would be that is not bad for a busy Thursday.

But the reality is that my total for the whole week is those measly 79 pages, including another blank day.

By now, I should be close to 24,500 total pages for the year, with almost 4,000 pages of deficit. My focus is to close the gap by one of one of my favorite time of the year, Monster Mash, that begins with Halloween and ends with Día de Muertos.

I have some catching up to do.

Off to read.

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20,000 pages , and just getting started

I have finally reach another milestone on this year of reading, 20,000 total pages.

Not the milestone to break open the champagne, or the red wine in my case, but it’s an important stepping stone toward the broader goal of the year, and a much needed wisp of fresh air to fill my being with renew hope.

To keep on rolling on this high, I will attempt to knock-off at least 1,000 pages of the backed-up pages from passed weeks, and get my reading back on schedule, which as of now, it’s 4,250 pages behind schedule, but first things first, read the remaining 608 pages left to reach this week’s quota, and then, take a little off the top.

To help me along the way, there’s some amazing things helping me out, from a couple of French Comic Books, Clockwerx and the Ark, the latter part of the material that got me over 20,000 pages-

To the classic Manga, Ghost in the Shell, which I’m currently reading while listening to Mr. Nick Cave´s solo performance in Alexandra Palace, Idiot Prayer.

And top off the night the award-winning novella Binti, written by the Nigerian-American author Nnedi Okorafor, which won both the Hugo and the Nebula Award, and it’s sequels both were nominated for the Hugo Award in their respective years. I am about halfway thru it, and is quickly escalating to the top of the best book of this year of reading.

There’s still some intense reading to close-out the day with a strong progress, but with such good material, and a couple of really strong black coffee, this night is shaping up to be a really good one.

Off to read.

azr.

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