Reading Challenges

Welcome to another Magic Monday, this makes it four weeks in a row, and just one more to go for the whole sweep of August. Also, there’s a couple of posts brewing from another sections of this blog, I finally feel confident that the rhythm of my writing will continue to grow exponentially.

But let’s get into with what we are here for, the progress of the past week.

Concerning the twelve week of current year of reading, well, let’s say it was a little underwhelming. The total was only 904 pages , that’s 447 pages less than the minimal projected for the week, being Saturday the best day of reading with 281 pages. This is a minor setback, but nothing that a few cups of coffee accompanied by some intense reading sessions can’t resolve.

Even with this low result, the total for the year ascended by 900 pages, place it at 13,061 pages. This gets me even closer to the milestone of the year, the 15,000-page mark, which, according to the projection of this week, I should be crossing it in 12 days, that would be September 5, a couple of days more than last week, but my goal is to off-set that little increment by the middle of the week.

For the upcoming week, number thirteen of the year, my goals are clearly set, read at least 1,418 pages, finish the fifth volume of The War of the Spider Queen, Annihilation, currently on page 286 of 411. And finally, and what will live be without some challenges, reach the aforementioned milestone of 15,000 pages. Easy pease

Now for the bigger picture. The monumental task ahead for me to conquer the whole purpose of my beloved project that I started almost 18 years ago, is fortunately getting closer with each passing week.

Let’s start with the 700,000-page mark, the current projection places it on September 2, 2027, that’s a two days decrease from last week. As I have been saying for the last month, I’ll take any progress I can get, and this particular milestone should and will be achieved within the confines of this year of reading.

For my personal favorite milestone, the 750,000-page mark, the current projection places it on January 7, 2029, that’s also a two days decrease from last week. And to spoil a little bit from the incredible trip attached to the achievement of this gargantuan task, I can say that it will take us, that’s me and my partner in crime, on a journey of 2,704 kilometers across the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah, fulfilling a live long dream of standing on one of the most breathtaking deserts of the world.

Respecting the big boy of the party, better known as the 1,000,000-page mark, the current projection puts it on October 8, 2035. And as it was last week, the date decreased by a whole week, and with 4 years 4 months and 2 days of delay, I’ll take every single day closer to my 50th birthday, hoping and working on my reading to make the final leg of this magnificent journey as easy as possible.

As with any great story, the main quest is the final destination, but the side quests is what makes the journey interesting. Speaking of which, my first side quests, or the 49-hours timed reading, had a significant progress, the clock move an impressive 7 hours 50 minutes and 15 seconds, leaving 20 plus hours between me and the new acquisitions for my ever growing book shelves.

The second side quests, or how to read 100,000 pages in one year, the toll still sits at a hefty 86, 939 pages, which seems unreachable, but with a little elbow grease and 2,163 total pages this week, the goal can remain obtainable. This particular side quest is screaming for a classical Readathon in the style of my favorite challenge of the now extinguished 24in48 marathon, yeah, that’s reading 24 hours over a weekend. I should look into that to give a much needed boost to my year.

To close out this edition of Numbers, and with all the joy of my heart, my At the End total had an increase, right now is projected to tally 839,701 pages by my 50th birthday, that’s an increment of 1,273 from last week.

This always brings me back to my mantra: “ one step at a time, one page at a time “. The most important thing right now is consistency with an added dash of craziness to keep my momentum going forward, because believe me, I’m going to need all the help I can take, that, and vast amounts of caffeine.

A quick recap

Total pages (Y-19): 13,601 pages
Pages left (Y-19) : 57,143 pages
Total pages (General) : 662, 041 pages
Date to achieve 750,000 pages: January 7, 2029
Date to achieve 1,000,000 pages: October 8, 2035
Days behind: 1,585 days

For now, I’m off to read

Azriel

Welcome to the glorious return of Magic Mondays, the section of this blog where I torture myself and question why I haven’t read more, you know, normal problems for a book worm.

It’s been 253 days, that’s November 24, 2025 if you’re keeping count, since I made a thorough breakdown of my progress on this crazy journey of mine.

So this will be the first progress report for the nineteenth year of reading. In an earlier post, back in June, I commented that last year was by far my best one, wrangling a whopping 70,570 pages, thus, setting a new standard of total reading that I’m planning to pursue for the remainder years of the project, which aren’t that many.

Well, after almost 2 months of reading, I’m inches away from the first 10,000 pages of the year. My total is at 9,735 pages, this thanks to a plethora of characters, from treacherous Drow to conflicted Dark Knights, let’s say my reading has been nothing short of epic. Still, there’s at least 60,469 pages in front of me.

The next milestones for (Y-19) will be reached firstly 10,000, hopefully in a couple of days, and 15,000 in around 31 days, at the beginning of September, but as always, the objective is to bring that date closer to the middle of August.

Now, for the broader picture, the next big milestones are 700,000, 750,000 and 1,000,000 pages. According to my final projections this first milestone should be achieved by September 15, 2027. The second milestone or the three quarters of that juicy million should be achieved on January 21, 2029, comparing it to my last projection on November of last year, this date has moved up by 399 days, that kind of forward motion is what rekindles my confidence in getting to my goal on my fifteenth birthday.

Lastly, the big boy, that coveted 1,000,000 pages, my last projection put my finishing date by October 26, 2035, and again, if I compared it to November’s projections, I made a leap of 533 days. There’s no secret formula, just consistency and sticking to the mantra: “One step at a time, One page at a time”

I’m still 4 years, 4 months and 21 days behind schedule, but this is no deterrent for me to keep pushing forward, and to further motivate myself, I’m implementing a couple of side-quests.

First, in order to broaden my already swelling book shelves and have more material to dive into, I’m implementing a 49-hour timer that at its completion will hold a couple of books/Graphic Novels/ Manga as a prize at the end of this gargantuan task.

At the end of this 49 hours there’s Relentless, Book 36 of The Legend of Drizzt and Volume 35 of the legendary Manga, Berserk

The second side quest is to finally read 100,000 pages in one year, talk about a gargantuan task. Right now my pace is a bit slow, but with 90,265 pages in front of me, and little over 300 days to do it, the task doesn’t seem that far fetched, now the only thing left to think about is the prize at the end of this journey, if you have any ideas, hit me up on the comments.

As the final note of this edition of numbers, I have been tracking for some years how much, with the projections between average pages per day and days left, will I achieve by the time of my 50th birthday, better know in this project as At The End, well, right now that magic number is at 837, 794 pages. I’ll better get back to the Underdark to keep pounding away those pages

A quick recap

Total pages (Y-19): 9,735 pages
Pages left (Y-19): 60,469 pages
Total pages (General): 658,715 pages
Date to achieve 750,000: January 21, 2029
Date to achieve 1,000,000: October 26, 2035
Days Behind: 1,604 days

For now, I’m off to read

Azriel

Tag: Reading Challenges

Numbers: August 24,2025

Numbers: August 3, 2026

The Road to 1,000,000 pages