Race to 52 - 5 days remaining

Christmas was not a good time for reading. I zipped through the very engrossing last third or so of The Caine Mutiny and had that finished up on Friday. That was December 23. I did essentially no reading on Christmas Eve. Final preparations and a visit from my mom and her husband filled up my usual reading time. Then came Christmas.The day started off well enough, but then my brother messed everything up. I spent the afternoon drunk so I could stay calm and not create a huge scene. Needless to say, I was in no shape to read by the time all the relatives had gone home.

I was up for buying some books though. Both The Intelligent Investor and About a Boy were on sale. I bought both ebooks while drunk and trying to avoid my brother. I had both of these books targeted as potential purchases since very early in the year. Well, I wasn't specifically looking for About a Boy, just something by Nick Hornby. Seeing both titles on sale the same day felt like a sign. I also bought Undermajordomo Minor. It's on sale all month. I was waiting until I finished The Caine Mutiny to buy it. I wanted to keep my books to read total at 175. So much for that. I'm up to 177.

I would get back to 175 if I manage to finish both Swann's Way and book 52 for the year (it's looking like Executive Power is going to get that distinction). I would also have to hold off from buying anything else. That's not going to happen. I have a $10 gift card to B&N that I got for free after buying $75 in gift cards right after Thanksgiving. I've been waiting to use that for weeks. Tomorrow is the day. I think I know what I want to get with that card, but I may make a last minute change. We'll see what I'm feeling when I'm actually in the store tomorrow. I also want to read an Iris Murdoch novel. The local B&N stores don't any of her book in stock. I'm going to check a used bookstore tomorrow. If they have The Sea, the Sea or Under the Net, I will not have to order it from Amazon.

I've done some reading today. I finally made my way back to Swann's Way. Under 100 pages are all that stand between me and the end of this first volume of the epic novel. I need to read 20 pages a day to make it. That will be my first reading priority for the rest of this week. Executive Power has started with a bang. I knew it would. That's why I bought it anticipating that I would need something quick and easy to read as the sprint to the finish book. It kind of feels like cheating, but this is my game so I can play anyway I want. It's not a particularly short book, it's almost 500 pages, but those pages go very quickly. I will have to push. Maybe it's not so close to cheating after all.