A Bend in the River just keeps drifting away

Erasure is why I read my way through lists of highly regarded books. I'm not a big fan of books that delve deeply into racial themes, they are usually so obvious and trite, but this one was engaging and interesting. The point of the book wasn't particularly profound or difficult to parse from the text, but I liked how the novel Erasure was really the response to what the publishing industry expects from Black authors. It was human in a way that these kinds of books so often lack. The Sell-out, another racially themed book that I've read this year, lacked that relatable human experience that was so central to Erasure. I may have to explore a bit more of Everett's work. Once I make progress on some of my other reading goals of course. 

I'm slowly plugging away at The Sea. Another excellent book, but it's surprisingly ponderous given its lack of physical heft. This was supposed to be a quick read to break in my library card before I got back to A Bend in the River. It's not a quick read. I'm past the halfway point and suitably well invested in the book to take it to the end. These kinds of departures from my plan are what slow down Bookshelf Zero. At least it won't be a later contribution to my owned book pile. I had The Sea sitting in my Thriftbooks cart but removed it last night. No need to pick this up anytime soon.

This morning's Kindle Daily Deal may have extended my hiatus from reading owned books. One of the Drizzt books is on sale. It's a few ahead of where I am in the series, but just seeing it prompted me to check the library for an ebook version of the next book for me to read in the series. My old library (which allows for 3 week check out versus the 2 weeks of my new spot) had it available so I picked it up. I have the book, The Silent Blade, on audio, but I have just been skipping that when picking out audiobooks. (I've been listening to the last of the Mistborn second age novels, The Lost Metal, after finishing an audiobook about The Predator movie.)  Drizzt books are usually pretty fun, quick reads. I read the intro of this one after checking it out just to get a feel for how I would respond to another Drizzt tale. I think I could get into it. I'm not committing to anything on that front yet. We'll see how I feel after I finish The Sea.

The best laid plans...

Of course I didn't shift right into A Bend in the River after I finished The Mind of Thomas Jefferson. My wife and I finally checked out the local library on Saturday. I had this new library card so I had to check out something. I checked out The Sea. I've had it on my radar for awhile. I've checked out the ebook but didn't read a single page. The book is short and the font is large so I figured I could give it a shot. It's a short book so taking a few days to read it wouldn't cause a huge setback. I've read enough to know that I want to finish it. I probably would have finished it by now if I hadn't also checked out an ebook from my new library. I just picked a random book from the new classics list to get a sense of the online collection's depth. The book was there, Erasure, so I checked it out. I have it for two weeks. I made the mistake of starting this one too. It's better than The Sea. It's also a short book, about 6 hours or so according to the Kindle app, so I could theoretically get it read in my two week borrowing window. 

So I have three books going on simultaneously. A Bend in the River (I have read a few pages so it's not like I've abandoned it...again), The Sea, and Erasure. I should get serious and finish Erasure this weekend (it has the shorter loan period). That will free me up to wrap up The Sea before getting back to A Bend in the River. That's my current plan, but I guess there's an argument that a better plan would be to return them both and focus on the book that I own. That would depend on the goal. Reading good books? Reading them all is the right choice. Reaching my target of reading 35 books this year? Adding two short books to the list is a good step to realizing that goal. Bookshelf Zero? Using all my reading time to get through an owned book would be the right choice. I'm into all three so I'm going with the reading good books perspective. The extra books towards my reading goal is a bonus. 

My plan is still to get to The Count of Monte Cristo after A Bend in the River. Reading these other two books kind of helps make that happen as it will be easier to dedicate the time to such a big book if I have a couple more titles in the bank.

Reading plans for July (and an effort to convince myself of taking on a bigger challenge)

So here are my (always subject to change) plans as we roll into the second half of 2023. I'm almost finished with The Mind of Thomas Jefferson. It's a book by a historian for other historians. Plenty of interesting insight into the titular subject, but the undercurrent of how academic historians talk to each other also provides interesting stimulation. I have one and a half essays left to read. I will finish that one this week. I will quickly move on to A Bend in the River. I read a bit of this one before going back to the Jefferson book. I was sufficiently engaged, I just decided to pick up the Jefferson book again. A Bend in the River is physically short but my experience with this type of book is deep enough that I no longer confuse physical dimensions with the amount of time required to get through a carefully written work of literature. That puts us somewhere in the middle of July with 14 books read. 

The third Brandon Sanderson special project book is downloaded on my phone. That will be my 15th book of the year. These haven't been particularly long or challenging reads. I should get to 15 books read (and 170 books to go) before the end of the month. With 22 weeks or so left in the year, I would need to get to a book a week clip to make it to my goal of being under 150 books to read by the end of the year. Or I could bail on that goal and pick up a hefty long read. I could go back to reading two books at a time to get through a big book while maintaining a reasonable reading pace (I did this while reading Anna Karenina), but I'm not sure that system would work in my current circumstances. I also just don't really want to do that right now. 

I spent 3 months reading The Once and Future King last year. What would be the big deal if I spent a month or two reading The Count of Monte Cristo? I wouldn't get to 150 books by the end of the year, but I would have a large book (that many people seem to really love) checked off my list. I would demonstrate to myself that I have it in me to take on these big challenges again. Take on isn't the right phrase. I have the ability to succeed in reaching a big, challenging goal. I picked up the Malazan books because I thought it would be a challenge to read through those monstrosities. I knew they would take time and a focused effort to complete. I got through all 10 of them. I was successful in reaching a well defined long term goal. 

I haven't been successful in reaching many long term goals over the last few years. My energy has been dissipated into just making it through the day. My career is just kind of stumbling along. I'm doing better at applying meaningful effort, but I still have improvements to make. My marathon training, and physical fitness efforts in general, have been abysmal. I've finished the WDW Marathon twice since moving to Florida, but preparing properly is the real point of signing up for the marathon. I use the race as a framework for solid training that is aimed at making me more fit. That hasn't happened in the last two years. I've definitely run more than I would have without the race as motivation to put in long Saturday runs, but I haven't had the extended effort that is central to successful marathon training (like I know what that is). So just getting through a random assortment of short to medium length books to reach some arbitrary count at the end of the year isn't me applying a focused effort on a meaningful task. It's just going through the motions to feel like I'm doing something that I claim is meaningful to me.

The number of books I read, even the type of books that I read, isn't really the point of Bookshelf Zero. The point isn't to read the books. The point is to spend time on doing something that is meaningful. An evening spent scrolling social media on my phone or flipping through TV channels has a place in my life, but it's also important to stay focused on efforts that have a deeper and more meaningful impact on my life. I've spent 3 years watching my energy just dissipate into a nothingness morass. I've accepted any effort as evidence that I'm still engaged. I'm not looking for an edge or trying to reach new levels of performance. I've been coasting on past accomplishments. I've started to turn that tide, but real effort is going to be needed to make real progress. Getting fit, staying sharp, and staying engaged with a broader world of ideas and opinions are worthy ways to spend my time.