Month 14: Why must we wait?

Month 14 of 260 (5.38 percent)

Size of list: 82,256 pages (5.8 percent greater than starting size)

Pages read: 7,819 (9.51 percent)

H-list: 2,096/22,674 (9.24 percent)

N-list: 2,670/35,009 (7.39 percent)

O-list: 3,053/23,466 (13.01 percent)

Reading: Fool's Errand, The Big Time

This has been a terrible month for reading. I could list off reasons: a wave of sickness, having relatives visit for two of the last four weeks, continued work on the new house. Really, though, the reason is that I got a new console and have been playing an MMO. Video games are the enemy of reading.

My intention is to start each year (and each midyear) with a Wheel of Time volume until it's done. In this case, because I'm still plugging away at Fool's Errand, I restarted The Big Time on my phone, because it's short and it's a Hugo winner. I'm a little more than halfway through, and I kind of hate it, but I did just read a chapter that made for interesting concepts, but why did we have to wait until halfway through? Fool's Errand, too, introduced a twist two-thirds of the way through that introduces interesting concepts (or, actually, fleshes out a concept developed in an earlier book) that makes me wish it had come up earlier, to be explored more. (It's the first in a trilogy, so maybe it is being saved.)

Onward! To finish books!

Month 13 / Year 1

Month 13 of 260 (5 percent)

Size of list: 82,256 pages (5.8 percent greater than starting size)

Pages read: 7,556 (9.19 percent)

H-list: 2,027/22,674 (8.94 percent)

N-list: 2,670/35,009 (7.39 percent)

O-list: 2,859/23,466 (12.18 percent)

Finished: The Name of the Wind

Reading: Fool's Errand

Added: A Wise Man's Fear

One year down! I had hoped to be 10 percent into the plan by the end of the year, but I did not quite make it. Stuff happened this year, and this month we bought a house and moved, so that took up a lot of time. I didn't even finish my pre-made list for the year; I'm still only half-done with Fool's Errand. But I bought a house and moved, and we hope that will never happen again, so I have 19 years to make up for it.

The Name of the Wind was a fantastic, enjoyable, but meaningless, book. I added the sequel, A Wise Man's Fear, and I'm sure I'll add the third book (when it comes out). The magic system is interesting in that it has the trappings of something internally consistent, and that would act like magic would, sort of. And the relationships with friends and rivals and contacts is interesting. It's not revolutionary, it's not profound, it's just a joy to read.

I haven't touched The Big Time in months, so I decided to take the pages so far away and restart it. It's short, it deserves a blitz. I'll read it on my phone while finishing Fool's Errand in print, before starting the next Wheel of Time on my phone.