Day 25 of the 200 day march

Well, my plan to read 100 pages of Storm of Swords didn’t sailed has smoothly as I will hope, of said goal my progress was only 25 pages, a quarter of my original intent. The next day I only read 4 pages of the book. Can I say more. This gives a total of 9,815 pages, slow progress. In happier news I was going through my Hellboy comic collection (both the printed and digital material ) and found out that I haven’t read a couple of graphic novels in the seven year that this project has been active, so it’s time to revisit some old friends. The left one is Volume 7: The Troll Witch and Others, the right one is Volume 2: Wake the Devil, I’m so excited to delve into this mysterious and dark world, which it feels just like home. The other good news is that my comic book stash grew exponentially thanks to a mega bundle in comixology. I found it by chance, the bundle consist of 141 comic books and more than 5,000 pages from publisher Dynamite Entertainment and include the like of Red Sonja, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards and much more, all for the measly price of 6 dollars. If your interested here is the link http://www.comixology.com/The-Dynamite-Mega-Bundle-Pt-2/bundle/914 So I have replenish my stock and ready for the challenge ahead. Happy Readings azr

21 April, 2015 0

Day 8 of the 200 day march (but the first update)

So I started my new reading goal with a bang. But as I slowly got into it my numbers sort of mellow out.

Part of it I think is that my head and my body are trying to tell me that I also need to rest.

I’ll figure some strategy to balance this two things. Caffeine is ever present but this task I think asks for something more.

Well here are the numbers for the first 7 days.

March 28-208 pages

March 29-353 pages

March 30-212 pages

March 31-148 pages

April 1- 11 pages

April 2-87 pages

April 3-89 pages

As you can see some great days some not so much.

So that’s 8,331 pages down, 41,669 pages to go.

For now I’ll keep reading Storm of Swords and finish my gigantic cup of coffee.

Happy Readings

azr

4 April, 2015 0

The 7 months hiatus and the brewing of new projects.

The last few months have been a real whirlwind.

Between life itself and having a new member in my family, time has the tendency to evaporate.

In the reading front my progress has been decent (given the circumstances) ,but not to my complete satisfaction.

A couple of weeks back we had the opportunity to take a small road trip to the city of Casas Grandes ( about 170 miles southwest from Ciudad Juarez, my hometown) and it gave me a chance to reconnect, to unwind and refocused.

Being surrounded by the mighty desert and exploring the ruins of the majestic lost city of Paquime with my beloved wife and my amazing kids This will always have a positive effect on my mood. And to top it off staying in a charming B & B, well that just made this that much more special.

WP_000124 — A shot from the museum in Paquime

WP_000126 — A shot from an interior garden in the museum of Paquime

WP_000128 — A scale model depicting how Paquime was originally build.

WP_000150 — An interior courtyard in the museum of Paquime.

WP_000151 — The interior patio from the B&B “Las Guacamayas”

WP_000152 — A shot of the rooms at the B&B “Las Guacamayas”

WP_000153 — A shot of the interior Patio at the B&B “Las Guacamayas”

This trip got me thinking about my reading goal and the direction of this blog.

It gave me the idea of starting a couple of new sections.

The first one I’m going to call it “Ambulat” which is a derivation of a greek word that means “to walk”. It’s main purpose is creating a space to share my little road trips around my region, and eventually, here’s to hoping,around the world.

The second one I’m going to call it “200 day march” starting on march 28 I have exactly 200 days left until the end of the seventh year of this project. The idea is to push myself and reach the gargantuan task of reading 50,000 pages. Wish me luck. This will be follow by daily progress entry.

So to catch up to speed here are some quick numbers

Total Pages : 157,323 pages

For year seven : 8,235 pages down 41,765 pages to go

Days left until the end of Lost in a Million Pages: 5,909 days

As of now I’m working on this three bad boys, pretty awesome each in their own accord.

I have a long weekend ahead, that only can mean one thing, BINGE READING!!!!

Happy readings

It’s good to be back

azr

3 April, 2015 0

Book Twenty 2013, Claraboya

The first book written by José Saramago in 1952, but the last he publish, posthumous.

It was lost for about forty years, the publisher only got back to him

when he was already an acclaimed author.

The story revolves around a building in Lisbon were the many lives of its very particular residents becomes to unravel. Through jumping from apartment to apartment in each chapter we can see tiny worlds forming in each house all of them with their internal wars and blissful moments.

Full of wit, tragedy, longing, the very worldly necessities of their every day lives, Saramago explores what became the omnipresent theme in all his novels, the beauty and hideousness that is the human condition.

His clear and powerful voice is already there, lazed with beauty and grace we become witness to the birth of one of the most illustrious literary genius of this century. For my money it is the second best novel I have ever read by the master Saramago second only to “Ensayos sobre la ceguera”.

So that’s 10,140 pages down, 39,602 pages to go.

Total Pages : 121,720 pages

10 June, 2013 0

Books Eighteen and Nineteen,2013

This past few weeks I read two amazing books, mind you that I’m not that into science fiction I’m more of a fantasy guy. That been said I think that one of the books I read is probably the greatest science fiction novel I have read.

To start of I read the Second book of the trilogy, written by the Italian writer and archaeologist Valerio Massimo Manfredi about the enigmatic Macedonian king, Alexander the Great.

This book chronicles the quest of Alexander to conquest Asia. As he marches on he recovers some Greek cities that had fallen into the hands of the Persians His journey takes him south until he reaches the Libyan desert were he founds himself in the ancient enigmatic land of Egypt, there he decides to build the greatest city the world has ever seen, Alexandria.

He also encounters who is perhaps is greatest enemy and the only one that could challenge is march down Asian territories, Memnon of Rhodes, the Greek mercenary commander of King Darius III army. Alexander himself call him the only worthy enemy he has encounter .

In all this is a very entertain book that introduces us to one of the greatest man to ever walk this earth.

The second book was Orson Scott Card’s behemoth of a book.

Ender’s Game follows little Andrew ” Ender” Wiggin, the boy genius who is the only hope for our planet to defeat the ever present “buggers” threat, an insectoid-like creatures that have tried to invade earth on a couple of occasions.

The novel follows Ender training in battle and commander school and you witness how his military genius blossoms at a very tender age.

With a tremendous pace and several plot twist this is a book that I think will be revisited several time in the coming years.

So that’s 9,723 pages down, 40,019 pages to go.

Total Pages 121.303 pages .

25 May, 2013 0

Books Fifteen,Sixteen, and Seventeen 2013

So I have been away for a while, you know how it is with life.

But that hasn’t stop me from reading.

In this past weeks I have finish three amazing books, one graphic novel and a very interesting magazine about generations throughout human history.

The first book I finish was “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman, this intricate story follows the witty Lyra Belacqua and her dæmon, a sort manifestation of ones soul in the form of an animal, Pantalaimon. Our heroine is trown into a perilous journey where she must face the mysterious Lord Asriel and his quest to find the enigmatic origin of the substance known as “Dust”, the ruthless Mrs.Coulter, the exiled armored bear Iorek Byrnison, the child-stealing Gobblers, the honorable gyptians and even several clan of witches. With it’s profound subject matter and beautiful narrative this novel is destined to become and ageless classic.

The second novel is Kerouac’s masterpiece “On the Road”, a chronicle of the journey throught a infinite number of miles that Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty travel in order to find the meaning of their existence. A rocky road fill with jazz, drugs and the ever stretching mystical highways of america. This novel tap into my need to go out and explore the world, to find some epiphany with the radio blasting and the road unfolding before me.

The third book was the collection of short stories “Smoke and Mirrors” by Neil Gaiman. I will highly recommend this book to witness the large scope that Mr. Gaiman can cover. Some of my favorite stories are collected in this volume like “The Price” the story of the brave black cat, or ” Murder Mysteries” the thriller about the murder of an angel. I also found new material to me, especially the tip of the hat to H.P. Lovecraft.

As you can see the range of this novels are all over the place, but and with any good book they make take a journey into the unknown.

So that’s 9,044 pages down, 40, 698 pages to go

Total Pages 120,624 pages

28 April, 2013 1

Book Fourteen 2013, Norwegian Wood

A beautiful novel laced by lost love and forgotten lovers, our narrator Toru Wanatabe, takes us on a reminiscence of his college years, his sexual conquests and mishaps.

But the main drive of the story is the infatuation of our narrator with two lovely ladies, Naoko and Midori.

As a back-drop to the story our narrator bear witness to the Tokyo student protest in the late 60’s. An event that was behold in many other nations.

As always Mr. Murakami weaves an intricated story full of beautiful moment as well as heart-wrenching events, all of this accompanied by a radiantly poetical narrative.

Of the three novels I have read of this japanese author this is my favorite.

As an interesting fact, the name of the novel comes from a Beatles song of the same name, and has mention throughout the novel as the favorite song of Naoko.

So that’s 7,651 pages down 42,091 pages to go

Total Pages 119,231 pages

6 April, 2013 0

Book Thirteen 2013, Invisible Monsters

This was going to be the first novel publish by Chuck Palahniuk but the publisher find it really disturbing and decided not to go ahead. After the success of Fight Club they gave it a second shot.

The story follows a disfigured super-model who goes by many false identities given by Brandy Alexander, a transsexual with whom she spends most of the book.

From the moment they meet in the hospital you’re thrown into a menagerie of eccentric characters that goes from a triage of drag queens to a special vice agent who is obsessed with how he looks in a speedo.

The story touches deeply in the burden of being perfect and how can she find new beginnings after her way of life is literally rip apart.

This is no light reading, but as all of this authors work is beautifully executed.

So that’s 7,369 pages down, 42,373 pages to go.

Total Pages 118,949 pages

31 March, 2013 0

Book Twelve 2013, Frankenstein

As stated in past post reading this book has become a new tradition, being of course the second year that I intentionally read this fantastic book an plan to do it , for the foreseeable future, at least once a year.

Mary Shelley wrote it as part of a competition of who could write the best horror story, said competition was between herself, her husband Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori.

The story that emerged from Mary followed the tragically fantastic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his obsession with bestowing life to a creature form by scraps of dead bodies, that with a spark brings to life.

In his success, Victor, creates a hideous deform creature who he resents from the first moment the creature takes a breath.

He is later haunted by the very creature he created as his life is systematically destroy and everyone he loves is taken from him.

For me it raises question of that troublesome persona buried deep in the dark confines of our being, latent , evil and waiting to get out.

Who is the monster here?

The Creature or the Creator.

So that’s 7,172 pages down, 42,570 pages to go.

Total Pages 118,752 pages

27 March, 2013 0

Book Eleven 2013, No Country for Old Men

This is the second book of Cormac McCarthy I have read this year, and let me tell you as always he doesn’t disappoint.

Of all the book I have read by this incredible author this one is the most accessible and will be a great launching point for someone who is looking to delve in his amazing body of work.

The novel is set in 1980 on the border of Mexico and the United States after a drug deal goes terribly wrong, good old boy Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon the massacre, where he finds a huge shipment of heroin and a couple of million dollars abandon.

Against his better judgement he takes the money and opens up a whirlwind of trouble mainly in the figure of the psychopath hit-man Anton Chigurh. Following their steps is veteran Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, he also provides so in-depht thoughts about the rise of violence and the degradation of society.

Touching on subjects that are both timeless and the building blocks of our society.

McCarthy make us dwell on the very things that makes us human and how sometimes they transform us into monsters.

So that’s 6,965 pages down, 42,777 pages to go.

Total Pages 118, 545 pages

18 March, 2013 0

Tag: LIAM