Month 2 of 260 (0.77 percent)
Size of list: 77,777 pages (starting size)
Pages read: 702 (0.9 percent)
H-list: 173/22,221 (0.78 percent)
N-list: 529/35,009 (1.51 percent)
O-list: 0/20,547 (0.00 percent)
Read: nothing completed
Reading: The Eye of the World
Added: None.
This is a disaster. Each month is 0.38 percent of the 20 years, and this month I read only 0.20 percent of the total. Maybe it's not so bad because I read a fair bit of Infinite Jest and that doesn't count. But I should be reading at least on pace. Remember, I need to read ahead of pace, because the list is going to expand and what's on pace now will leave me behind in the future.
Notes on what I've been reading:
I'm almost three-quarters of the way through The Eye of the World, and I noticed something disappointing: the same part of the story, told twice in consecutive chapters. It's the bit about the farmer offering Rand and Mat his boys' scarves. At first I thought it was the same story told from different viewpoints, but the second time it's not even from a strong viewpoint, but rather the standard omniscient, describing both Rand and Mat. It was really disappointing. If you're going to take 11,000 pages to tell a story, you should at least not repeat any of them.
Reading the first Wheel of Time and Infinite Jest at the same time makes me wonder about long books. Infinite Jest could probably be told in half or less the words, but it's not just about the story, it's about the atmosphere and the writing and the setting. But all that could probably still be delivered in fewer words.
Anyway, if I had maintained the pace I was reading before we got the baby, I'd have been finished with it before Christmas.
This is a disaster. Each month is 0.38 percent of the 20 years, and this month I read only 0.20 percent of the total. Maybe it's not so bad because I read a fair bit of Infinite Jest and that doesn't count. But I should be reading at least on pace. Remember, I need to read ahead of pace, because the list is going to expand and what's on pace now will leave me behind in the future.
Notes on what I've been reading:
I'm almost three-quarters of the way through The Eye of the World, and I noticed something disappointing: the same part of the story, told twice in consecutive chapters. It's the bit about the farmer offering Rand and Mat his boys' scarves. At first I thought it was the same story told from different viewpoints, but the second time it's not even from a strong viewpoint, but rather the standard omniscient, describing both Rand and Mat. It was really disappointing. If you're going to take 11,000 pages to tell a story, you should at least not repeat any of them.
Reading the first Wheel of Time and Infinite Jest at the same time makes me wonder about long books. Infinite Jest could probably be told in half or less the words, but it's not just about the story, it's about the atmosphere and the writing and the setting. But all that could probably still be delivered in fewer words.
Anyway, if I had maintained the pace I was reading before we got the baby, I'd have been finished with it before Christmas.
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