Month 7: Starfighters and dragonmen

Month 7 of 260 (2.69 percent)

Size of list: 80,706 pages (3.8 percent greater than starting size)

Pages read: 3,950 (5.15 percent)

H-list: 1,206/22,219 (5.74 percent)

N-list: 1,103/35,009 (3.25 percent)

O-list: 1,641/23,478 (7.51 percent)

Finished: The City Stained Red, Solo Command

Reading: The Dispossessed, The Great Hunt, The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft (no progress this month)

Added: The Courtship of Princess Leia, Brothers in Arms

I've been slowly reading the X-Wing series of Star Wars EU books over the past few years, and Solo Command was the seventh and sort-of last. It wasn't as good as Iron Fist, the sixth book, in part because it added in Han Solo as a character and had to set up a book that was written before it, apparently. I want to see what happens to Zsinj, so I have added the Courtship of Princess Leia, even though it's apparently pretty bad. Mainly, I ended this book wanting to read more about Wraith Squadron and more by Aaron Allston. That's a good sign. (Note to self: add the novels listed here.)

On the other hand, I ended The City Stained Red unsure about keeping on. And it's the first volume of a Tolkien-style trilogy; the last time I ran into one of those, I finished the first one and devoured the next two. The City Stained Red does a lot of things right; the worldbuilding is creative yet understandable, the characters are distinctive and interesting and have detailed motivations and personalities, and the action sequences are entertaining. It's the right mix of grim and funny, sometimes both at the same time. Why do I not feel compelled to pick up the next volume, then? As I mentioned last month, I might have given it short shrift by often going days between chapters, but that became less an issue in the final third.

Some reading that is not part of the plan was a novella by Lois McMaster Bujold. She's on my list already. I've never read her before, and this novella made me want to read more. She threw in a note at the end as a reading guide, and recommended reading Brothers in Arms before Mirror Dance (which won the Hugo), so I've added that to the list.

I'm about halfway through The Dispossessed, and that's pretty good so far, and I expect it to get better as it goes; and about a fifth of the way through The Great Hunt, the second Wheel of Time book, so it's really just getting going.

Month 6

Month 6 of 260 (2.31 percent)

Size of list: 79,994 pages (2.9 percent greater than starting size; all growth this month from revision of books already on list)

Pages read: 3,302 (4.13 percent)

H-list: 1,015/22,219 (4.57 percent)

N-list: 979/35,009 (2.80 percent)

O-list: 1,308/22,766 (5.75 percent)

Finished: Startide Rising

Reading: The City Stained Red, Solo Command, The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft

Added: none

All I finished this month was Startide Rising, the first of the middle era of Hugo winners. A few weeks later, and I barely remember how it ended. What I remember is the premise and the characters and how interesting they all were. Most of the characters are dolphins, "uplifted" into being able to use language and control harnesses that let them use tools; a few others are humans, and there's one chimp, and then several brief scenes focusing on aliens. It's the second in a series, and way, way, way better than the first, to the point where I would recommend skipping the first. 

I've been reading The City Stained Red somewhat intermittently, and I think my enjoyment has suffered from that. Each chapter is entertaining on its own, but I get more enjoyment overall when I read it without weeklong gaps and can put the threads together. The characters and races and world are original enough to be fresh, but not jarring. (Somehow I need to work the couthi into a D&D game.)

I've also, separately, done some reading of the Hugo nominees packet, as I'm a Hugo voter this year. I've only done the reading for a few categories, so I have a lot to do. (There have also been two major soccer tournaments going on, so I'm way behind where I should be this month. I'll catch up.)

Month 5: Exploring the difference between genres

Month 5 of 260 (1.92 percent)

Size of list: 79,786 pages (2.6 percent greater than starting size)

Pages read: 2,532 (3.17 percent)

H-list: 736/22,219 (3.31 percent)

N-list: 970/35,009 (2.77 percent)

O-list: 826/22,558 (3.66 percent)

Finished: Sanctuary, Foundation

Reading: Startide Rising, The City Stained Red, The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft (no progress this month)

Added: Ancillary Sword

This month was quite the contrast.

Foundation is one of those books, like The Lord of the Rings, that my friends read in middle school and I didn't, and now I love it. Sure, it helps that Asimov's psychohistory is awfully like econometrics. But it's also the economy of every scene. Rarely are more than two or three characters on stage, and I say stage because the book could totally be done as a stage play. Every scene is dialogue, not action; in fact, every scene, every chapter, is a negotiation. 

Coming back to Sanctuary felt like a letdown. It's no insult to say Lackey doesn't write as well as Asimov, but the fact that there was so much narrative exposition after a book with practically none was jarring. Sanctuary isn't as good as the previous books in the series, and often some of the setting feels like a metaphor for the Bush administration (during which it was written). The ending was a major change, so I am curious to see what happens in book four.

Overall, it has me thinking about a difference in types of literature, which I think aligns mainly with the line between science fiction and fantasy. Books like The Demolished Man, Ancillary Justice and Foundation introduce and play with new concepts and new worlds; books like Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time and The Dragon Jousters (of which Sanctuary was book three) focus more on events that happen to characters and how they react, in worlds that, for all their dragons and magic, aren't really that different than ours. I'm waiting to see if other fantasy can blow my mind like science fiction does; maybe it's just a matter of which fantasy I read. But it's just a preliminary theory I've been kicking around in my head.

Month 4: This is why

Month 4 of 260 (1.54 percent)

Size of list: 79,430 pages (2 percent greater than starting size)

Pages read: 1,803 (2.27 percent)

H-list: 557/22,219 (2.51 percent)

N-list: 970/35,009 (2.77 percent)

O-list: 276/22,202 (1.24 percent)

Finished: Ancillary Justice, The Dying Earth

Reading: Sanctuary, Foundation, The City Stained Red, The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft (no progress this month)

Added: none

This is the first month where I feel like I've really been rewarded for choosing to do this. Reading these books was superior to most other leisure choices I could have spent the same time on, and I'll continue to be happy in the future that I read them.

Ancillary Justice is the first of the Hugo winners in what I define for my own purposes as the modern era. It did what I want good science fiction to do: start with an interesting concept, in this case a consciousness that can inhabit multiple bodies, and then go beyond to consequences of that. All the noise about how it handles gender (which is in service of making the POV character not human) really does a disservice to what a good book this is.

The Dying Earth is a hugely important book in the creation of D&D: based on my reading of what others have written, I'd say it's behind Lord of the Rings and ahead of Hammer horror in terms of significance and influence. It's enjoyable in its own right, but more enjoyable for being able to see that this is where certain mechanics, spells and tropes were invented. (Also kind of cool: I borrowed it on interlibrary loan and it came all the way from the University of New Mexico-Valencia. And there was a cigarette ad in the book, a sheet of color glossy paper inserted between two pages in the middle.)

I've just in the past few days cracked Foundation; when my friends read it in junior high, I didn't, in part because there was a prequel trilogy and I tried to read the first volume and couldn't get into it. It appeals to me much more now, especially because Asimov's psychohistory makes so much sense now that I've studied social science. I'll probably finish it within two weeks.

Month 3: For real now

Month 3 of 260 (1.15 percent)

Size of list: 79,430 pages (2 percent greater than starting size)

Pages read: 1,097 (1.38 percent)

H-list: 283/22,221 (1.27 percent)

N-list: 814/35,009 (2.33 percent)

O-list: 0/22,202 (0.00 percent)

Finished: The Eye of the World

Reading: Ancillary Justice, The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft

Added: A Trip to the Stars by Nicholas Christopher; The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay; How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer; Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism by Andrei Markovits 

Not included in the statistics of the plan is that I finished Infinite Jest, a leftover from Year Zero. The ending was infuriating; I had to Google "what happened at the end of Infinite Jest" to find the story that continued after the ending (which was actually a really cool scene), which was apparently buried in clues all through the 1,000 pages. 

I also finished The Eye of the World, which was also frustrating. The end felt like when I was in fourth grade and planned an epic story but tired of writing so came up with a shortcut for my characters. And so much of it felt like standard fantasy tropes. Some near the end felt halfway original, but I'm not enthusiastic right now about reading 13 more volumes.

I added four books. Two are recommendations from my wife; two are books I've already had on my shelves.

I'm ahead of my overall pace, but behind on my pace for the year; with the whale out of the way I feel good about my ability to plow through the plan, as long as I keep the commitment. 

Month 2: Not enough

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. 

Month 1

Month 1 of 260 (0.38 percent)

Size of list: 77,777 pages (starting size)

Pages read: 548 (0.7 percent)

H-list: 173/22,221 (0.78 percent)

N-list: 375/35,009 (1.07 percent)

O-list: 0/20,547 (0.00 percent)

Read: nothing completed

Reading: The Eye of the World

Added: None. 

This looks good and bad. Good because I'm ahead, right? 0.7 percent of pages in 0.38 percent of time. But it's bad because the list is going to grow, so I should be reading at twice the rate of days, so I should be at 0.76. That's not much difference, until I remember I took a head start, so a big chunk of my pages weren't even this month. However, I'm only reading one book from the plan because I'm still reading Infinite Jest on the side. Once I finish that, I'll pick up the pace on the plan, especially on H- and O-list books.