Life sucks at the moment (thanks COVID)

I committed to commenting on my new unread book total of 152 at the end of my last post. So here's my comment, getting to Book Shelf Zero just isn't my number one priority at the moment. In the midst of COVID hysteria, I needed something to look forward to. Waiting for books to arrive is a great joy, far more joyful than it deserves but that's just how I am, so I ordered some books that looked interesting. I've mostly bought nonfiction titles. I'm talking hard core academic history titles. I finished one of them earlier this week. Tobacco Culture. It's about the mindset of the great planters in Virginia prior to the Revolution. It was an interesting and fun read. It was also really short which is definitely a plus. I'm planning on reading a few more before I buy again though. 

I'm actually finding it very hard to fit in reading time right now. I spend way too much time playing Dr Mario on my phone or scrolling through Twitter. The game is fun but Twitter can be obnoxious. I am so thoroughly and utterly over the social distancing and flimsy talk of people's safety that I just about can't stand it. We have so over reacted to the virus that I find myself more aggravated than I would prefer. I've never really struggled with mental health, but this damn situation has me feeling more depressed and defeated than I can remember. I still read and exercise and do those kinds of things, but it's more from habit than a desire to really get out and improve myself. It's just so hard to escape the negativity and malaise. All of my usual escapes have been contaminated with the insanity of trying to control the virus (an utter waste of effort). The little gaps in my day where I was able to clear my head have also disappeared as I'm working from home and my kids are here with me everyday (with today being an exception with one of them at a friend's house and the other at her summer camp). I should be at the gym, but I decided to write this first. I'm not very motivated to exercise, but I always feel better after I've lifted or run a couple of miles.

A brief note on reading before signing off. Not sure what physical book I will read next. The wife suggested something I've owned for a long time. Based on a previous evaluation, I think the longest tenured book in my collection may be Crime and Punishment, but it could be Don Quixote. Neither sound particularly inviting at the moment. Maybe I'll just scan the shelves and see what jumps out at me. I read the first Witcher book after borrowing it from the library. I watched the Netfilx series and enjoyed it. The book was good too. I have the next one borrowed already. The clock is ticking so I need to get to it before it goes away!

Reading Projects

Bookshelf Zero is not my only reading project. This is not news to the careful reader of the blog. I have my two Big Lists of books to read. The Modern Library 100 and the NPR list of science fiction and fantasy books. I added the 20th Century Canon list to my reading spreadsheet as well. I've mentioned those active pursuits, but I have a few other little projects going on at the same time. I've been saying I'm going to read Proust for years. I've read the first book and that took my 3 tries to get through. I own them so they are part of Bookshelf Zero. We'll see if that has an impact on my progress. I'm also working my way through a shelf of books in my garage (I think I've mentioned this one too). I had read zero of the books when I shelved them, I've read about half of them at this point. I intentionally picked books that I really wanted to read for that shelf so it's no surprise that I've made reasonable progress on this mini-project.

The reading project that gives my wife the most joy is my decision to read all of Dickens. I read some Dickens book one year and decided that I would set a New Year's Resolution to read all of his novels. I failed that resolution. I kept making it, eventually simplifying it to just reading one book in a year. I've read a decent number of his novels (I actually don't have a list of this one ongoing, that should change), but I haven't read them all...yet.

There are a series of books about the Civil War in Virginia. I've read the first two (maybe three) years (each book focuses on a single year of the conflict). They are short books composed of a a half dozen or so essays by academic historians. They are almost too easy to read. I should go back and read another one. They are engaging, informative, and not overly intimidating.

I've been working through the Flashman books for years. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this after finishing a couple of the books last year or the year before. The humor and creativity of the series was great in the first several volumes, but the series has gotten a bit formulaic and stale as I get near the end. Flashman's story bounces around chronologically so it's not like the series is building towards some big climax. I have two titles left. They are short, fun books. I just forget about them (and I have to buy the last two books as they are hard to find in libraries). I should finish just to say that I've finished the series. James Bond is in that same class. Short, fun, but getting a bit old as the series drags on (or, said another way, as the author gets older) but I should get finish it and move on.

I have finished some reading projects. I've been successful reading big series. The Wheel of Time, Malazan, Culture, and Harry Potter are all completed reading projects. I've read all four Lonesome Dove books too so it's not like I only read series in a particular genre. Although I do read plenty of fantasy series, like the Cold Fire trilogy. I somehow made it through John Dos Passos U.S.A. Trilogy. I was too politically naive when I read those almost 20 years ago. I would say that I should reread them but they were boring and I have better books to read. I read Rachel Cusk's Outline trilogy. That was an easy one. The books were short and excellent. Asimov's Foundations series is good, but the Red Mars trilogy got bogged down in the politics of the nearly immortal first settlers. Looking back on it is more pleasurable than the experience of reading the books. I'm pretty sure I've read all the Mitch Rapp books that Vince Flynn wrote (I haven't read any of the books written after he died).

More projects are always being considered as well. I recently bought the first volume of Malone's Jefferson biography. I feel like that's the one to read to really be up on my Jefferson knowledge. (Yes, I said bought, so much for no books in 2020, and it wasn't the only one.) That would be a new reading project (it's also a book acquisition project, that's certainly a key player in my pursuit of some of these series). I have jotted down a few books from a list of recommended Civil War books that I saw a year or so ago. I bought one of the books, still haven't read it though. I recently looked for a PhD reading list for the US colonial period, particularly Virginia and Williamsburg. Boston College has huge reading lists to help history PhDs get ready for their exams. Wow. These lists are long. I have a few of the books that I saw on these lists and they are not exactly short. Reading one of those would be a huge undertaking (but would provide lots of opportunity to acquire all kinds of fun new reading material!).

So I will just leave a brief note here that I have managed to finish Jefferson and Monticello. An excellent book, a very good recommendation by the tour guide. I have also bought 5 books. This Covid bullshit was just too much for me. I needed some kind of outlet. I found Thriftbooks.com and it was just too easy to acquire a bunch of fun books. I will list them once the two other books I just ordered arrive. It will be 7 in total. I'm back up to 152 once all is said and done. I will say more on this number next time.

Mid May isn't so bad

So much for not buying any books this year. Thanks thriftbooks.com. I checked out the site after seeing a picture that somebody posted of a photograph stuck in a book that was just delivered. I had read a column about some book that dealt with European revolutions. Was that book available on this thriftbooks site? Yep, it was under $5. In the shopping cart. What about that big Jefferson bio, the 6 volume one? Volume 1 is on the site, also for under $5. I sat on those a few days, added a history of jazz by this guy I heard on the Conversations with Tyler podcast who has a good Twitter a few days later, and finally gave in and made the purchase. I blame the coronavirus. I have so little going on in my life right now. I just wanted something to look forward to (and I always look forward to new books being delivered).

A big part of the book being delivered fun is tracking their progress from wherever they originate to my door. All three of these shipped from different places so that makes it three times the fun! I was looking at the European revolution book and noticed that I bought book 2 rather than volume 1. Whoops. No problem. Volume 1 is on the site and also under $5. I get free shipping if I spend more than $10. I found a book from this list of contemporary books over 500 pages worth reading and added to more books to my haul. So much for my new low. I'm not really bothered by it at all. 

That list of long books worth reading also provided my introduction to my most recent finished book. Life After Life. I got it from the library. It took me a few chapters to get into the flow, but once I picked up on the structure, the book really started to resonate with me. The whole killing Hitler thing is a bit cliche, but it's kind of done and discarded so it's not really the center of the book. Urusula leads a few very painful lives. It's not all roses (well, she also dies frequently so there's that). It was a worthy read. The list held up for my first book selected (I have read a few already on the list, including the recently finished Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, so I knew that the taste level was pretty high. It's not a list I will be pursuing in completion though. I already have enough reading projects ongoing. 

I guess we can add the Malone bio to the list of reading projects, although that may be a bit premature as I only acquired the first book a few hours ago. It's fun to embark on a new reading project. I guess the ones worth doing get finished and the bad ideas get dropped. I haven't read one of the Modern Library books in over a year. Thanks to Drizzt, I'm still chipping away at the NPR list. The 21st Century Canon and that long books worth reading list have a few overlaps (like Middlesex, a book that constantly pops up as something worth reading that I just haven't gotten around to yet, I bet it's on thriftbooks.com). I expect that I will keep whittling those lists down over time. At least they can't get any bigger. 

A brief update before I go on the audiobook realm of my book life. I have stuck with Alexander Hamilton. It's a surprisingly engaging book given that it's a biography. The fact that he emerges as Jefferson's rival (and that he just leads an interesting life that has been told well in Chernow's hands) makes the book an interesting counter to my other readings. I hit a bit of a dreary section in the post-War years, but I have been listening to the Hamilton soundtrack on my runs and that has shown me what lies ahead if I can push through Hamilton's early career as a lawyer. The book and musical are nicely reinforcing so the songs provide a fun way to review what I've heard while giving me a sense of what's to come. Maybe I'll finish it before all this COVID BS resolves itself (I will be surprised if I I finish it in a world that looks similar to what we were in a few months ago).

Book Shelf Zero: 147

A long overdue update

I have once again matched my lowest number of to be read books. I'm back at 147 after finishing The Map and the Territory last week. The last bit of that book took an unexpected turn, but I think I get what Houellebecq was getting at with a creative/destructive impulse thing going on. It was a weird ending, but nothing like the weirdness that suffused The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I've read plenty of Murakami, but TWBC really takes the crown for random, weird stuff going on in a novel. I enjoyed reading the book. It's a good thing that I did as I spent several weeks working my way through all of its 600 pages. I finished that one a week or two before I read The Map and the Territory.

I had some library reading between those owned books. I read The Topeka School. I waited awhile to get this one so there was no way I was going to let it slip past the borrowing period without finishing it. I was actually reading this and The Map and the Territory simultaneously for a few days. They were getting way too mixed up in my brain so I set aside the owned book for a bit. I'm only a few years older than Ben Lerner. The sections about high school felt very real and familiar. I didn't live in Kansas, but white kids living in suburbia had a fairly consistent experience in the late 90s. The sections about proving your manliness were a bit less familiar. I relied on my size and status as a starter on the football team to vouch for my masculinity. I never really felt the need to prove anything, unless being able to bench press 315 pounds is considered demonstrating my masculinity. Maybe it was, but I was also a virgin with no girlfriend so I wasn't really checking all the stud boxes either.

I had fun reading Buzz Saw, a book about the Washington National's World Series winning season. I bought the book for the family so I never counted it as a book that I bought. My daughter read it so I wasn't just justifying a way to get a book without adding it to my tally (and violating my plan to avoid buying books in 2020). I expected it to be a quick read. I was not wrong. It was very fun to revisit the season (particularly given that there is no baseball, or any other sport, being played at the moment). I finished that book a couple of days ago. It was the 8th book I've finished this year. 

I wasn't sure what to read next. I picked up a Jefferson bio that I have on my nightstand last night. It focuses on his relationship with Monticello. The book was surprisingly engaging. I had to force myself to put it down to attend to some things I needed to take care of for work. I'm not sure that I will stick with it though. I'm listening to the big Alexander Hamilton bio on Audible (after abandoning Neal Stephenson's latest), and I'm not sure I want to have two Founding Father narratives running parallel in my brain. I'm not sure what else I would read though so I may have to deal with having two sides of a big story going on at once. 

Looking forward to hitting 146. I don't have much else going on in my life at the moment so it's nice to have a goal!