Great Circle closed

The first third of this book is fantastic. I figured I would have to
read what actually won the Booker Prize because whatever beat this
book out must be fantastic. There is a weird shift somewhere in the
middle of the book where the magic that propelled the early narrative
slips away. The Marian Graves arc flounders. Things wrap up
satisfactorily, but that middle third or so really drags down the
novel. The book is still excellent, but the power of the early part is
not sustained throughout the entire book. I'm happy I read it. It's
such a relief to read a contemporary novel that isn't about a writer
trying to navigate their overwrought life.

Another Booker Prize shortlisted book that I had on my library waiting
list came available right as I was finishing Great Circle.
Bewilderment grabbed me just as strongly as Great Circle. I read a few
pages this morning and I have been compelled to dip in pretty
regularly all day. I read a decent chunk of one of my owned books
yesterday, I really want to build some owned book momentum, but I was
drawn back to Bewilderment. The writing is top notch, but the book is
also really short. I don't feel like I will get too off track with the
owned books with this one as I will zip through it pretty quickly.
It's so short I expect it will be more uniformly strong.

I'm back to 169 after buying Kafka on the Shore. So be it. I may buy
Overstory if Bewilderment delivers on its early promise.

Another book finished, sticking with the plan

I finished Siege of Darkness today. I should have finished it last
week, but reading is a pretty low priority activity when I'm at home.
It was one of the better Drizzt books. I'm always impressed with how
well Salvatore keeps the stories fresh despite a relatively limited
cast and settings. The limited scope allows him to add depth and
dimension to his characters and settings. Plots move forward with a
good pace but new elements get added so the series moves forward with
fresh new angles. I'm happy to keep plugging away at these.

I implemented the defined reading time tonight. The first night was a
success. I didn't have to deal with the big question of what to read
next as I've been reading Siege of Darkness and Great Circle
simultaneously. I just picked up Great Circle right where I left off
from my library loan. I read to experience books like this. It's
fantastic. It's such a pleasure to read. I wouldn't know what to say
if somebody asked me what makes it so fun. I may figure out its appeal
by the end of the book, but I'm just happy to go along for the ride.

As it's the beginning of the year, this seems like a reasonable place
to check in on my progress to BookShelf Zero. Not great. I bought a
bunch of books right at the end of the year to bring my book total to
169. Finishing Drizzt 10 brings me down to 168. I wanted to get below
140 last year. I ended up adding 13 books. That's not really the
direction I want to go, but that's just been life. Hopefully this
regular reading time will get things moving and I'll start checking
off books on the regular.

Serious reading slump

It's been two weeks since I finished a book. I borrowed Choke from the
library after hearing the author on Rogan (don't want to look up his
name, it's the guy who wrote FIght Club). I started reading Henderson
the Rain King but wasn't making good progress. I actually started
Choke after Henderson. Choke wasn't anything particularly special. It
wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything particularly good either. I impulse
purchased a Kindle Daily Deal book called The Reading List. I thought
that might get me out of my funk, but it was terrible. It was so bad I
returned it. I had no interest in finishing it. So much for that plan.
I haven't abandoned Henderson yet, but I need to start making progress
soon of it will join the tried once but didn't finish Goodreads shelf.

I am flying home tomorrow. (Not sure if it's really home anymore, but
it's where my family lives so that's enough to make it home for me.
Maybe it's home 1 while the house down here is home 2.) I'm in the
middle seat on both flights and it will be dark so I was going to get
something from the Sci FI list from the library that I can read on my
phone. I pulled up the list to see what is available (I've italicized
the titles that I have seen in the library catalogue in the list I
keep in Google) when I saw the Drizzt books. I fished the next one out
of the boxes of books that I have yet to unpack at the house. (I would
probably have moved on to something else if I had the books out where
I could see them. All in good time.) I'm not sure how much of it I can
read on the plane tomorrow, but I should have time to read it while
I'm home. I will have stuff to do around the house and I plan on
getting in some good runs, but an easy book to read will be a good way
to spend some time too.

I should take a Dickens book. That's the most accessible reading
resolution that I have for this year. Oliver Twist is the shortest one
that I have left to read. Little Dorritt is realistic. Dombey and
Sons, not so sure about that beast. It would also be another owned
book read. I guess I'll see if I can find Little Dorritt in my book
boxes...

Did some math blah blah

Would be down to 75 books to be read
Would be finish in May of 2025

A week into setting time aside to read

The defined reading time is working reasonably well so far. I finished
reading Sex at Dawn tonight. I had just started the book when I
decided to define a reading time. I would still be in the middle of
the book if I hadn't defined a time to read. Picking up the book and
getting started is the hardest part of reading in the evening. Once
I'm going, it's not hard to keep going. Getting away from all the
other low energy requirement activities is the challenge. Sex at Dawn
is not a particularly challenging read so that always helps too. It
wasn't a particularly good book either. I've read enough of these
books attempting to link our drives to our ancient past that I can see
through the flimsy arguments. They all seem to start with a desired
conclusion and build an argument with scant evidence and ample
speculation. You want to prove we're all slutty, there is data for
that. You want to prove that we're all driven to be in life long pair
bonds, there are data for that. We're highly social creatures with a
tremendous aptitude for adaptation. We can become whatever we need to
become. The only way to be human is to expand to fill your niche as
fully as possible.

So another owned book (that I've been curious to read for awhile) has
been removed from the I'll get to it someday pile. I took a peek at my
Resolutions to see if there are any other goals that I could pursue
with my next reading choice. Get my to read pile under 140 is not
happening but reading something I own is in the spirit of the goal. I
set a goal to read 5 Modern Library books. I've read 2 this year (The
Heart of the Matter and Death Comes for the Archbishop) so there is
hope I could get to 3. I could read a Dickens book. I'm not seeing
Dickens in my immediate future, maybe later this month. I'm thinking
Henderson the Rain King will be my next reading effort. I also have
Ginger Man on my phone. Those are both Modern Library books. They're
also pretty short. The effort starts tomorrow. Time to go to bed.

GROWing towards Book Shelf Zero

I had some largely useless training at work last week (some things
never change) that I was pretty much ready to forget the second I left
the room. The awful trainer was wrapping up the course by reviewing
GROW. The idea was to use the framework to develop a strategy for
achieving a well-defined (preferably measurable) goal. As she was
walking her victim through the approach, I decided that I would
subject my long standing reading goal to this coaching technique. I
will not belabor the details of the framework. Do a little searching
and you will likely find more than you ever wanted to know about
realizing a goal.

The Goal in this case is well-defined. Read all the books I own.
That's a big goal with a very simple solution, read more and buy less.

I want to say that simple statement obscures a more complex situation,
but that isn't Reality. Meeting my reading goals always comes down to
choosing to read rather than waste time on my phone, play video games,
or take a walk. I've explored this topic before, but deciding to read
rather than do something else is always the conflict. The fact that I
have to make a choice to read or do something else is an interesting
wrinkle. I have a set time to run (first thing in the morning), lift
(currently in the morning but that may shift back to lunch time), and
work. I leave reading to find its own place in my day. I mentally
pencil in reading time for the evening, but it's never a priority. I'm
happy to watch a football game while messing around on my phone or
something else right up until I'm ready for bed. Should I designate a
reading time?

Reading time is certainly an Option. The length of that time is one
thing to consider, but that could be decided by how much time I have
to allocate for reading. Looking at my regular weekday, I could read
after I eat dinner, after I get off the phone with T, or make it the
last thing I do before bed. I am pretty much always finished eating by
6:30. I usually talk to T at 8:30 so I could allocate some portion of
that two hours to reading. I could also read after I get off the phone
with T. That could be from 9:45 to 10:30 or so. Right before bed is
when I usually squeeze in a few pages. The big issue with right before
bed is fatigue. Drifting off while reading in bed is not uncommon. So
that leaves after dinner or after my phone call. I like to walk or do
other errands after dinner. That leaves after my call with T.

How Will I implement this plan? Well, how long will I read? At least a
half hour feels appropriate. I could always read longer, but a half
hour ensures that I get a good 20-30 pages of my current book read.
That's 100-150 pages over a week. Throw in some reading on the
weekend, and that's approaching a book a week pace. I will start
tonight. Not sure how much I will read on Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday as I'm moving out of the apartment and into our house, but I
will make my best effort. Not sure how much I will be moving that late
in the day anyway.

I will give it a week or two and report back.

Nearing the end of this awful Riftwar series

My predictions on Drizzt were sound. I managed to get that one wrapped up quickly. I pretty much focused on the events of Menzobarizon over what happened in Monticello and France so I have still not finished the Hemingses. I read a couple of chapters. I will finish it eventually. 

I started reading a book about an object from outside our solar system, Extraterrestrial, just to see what the book was like. I got into it and ended up finishing that on the plane ride back up to Vriginia. It was a short read. It had a different angle than I anticipated, but I am sympathetic to the frustrations of institutional inertia against new ideas. New ideas are risky. People who live in big organizations are highly risk averse. That was a book I owned (bought when it was on the Daily Deal) so I was able to check another one off that list. The Drizzt book (Starless NIght, for the record) was also a book I owned. They were both ebooks so I didn't lighten my physical shelves at all with those two. 

The book I"m reading now, A Darkness at Sethanon, is a physical book. I picked Beyond Psychology over this one just about 6 weeks ago. I read it on the plane flight back. That was a lucky stroke. That chunk of time got me deep enough into the book that I was sure to keep going to the end. I was feeling bogged down in the middle, but it picked up in the second half. I have less than 100 pages and there was finally a reference to Sethanon. The book is not good. It's very trite and the dialogue is so stilted and awkward. The pacing isn't good, the characters are boring, and it's just not a very exciting story. If I wasn't doing this NPR list (and I didn't have a Resolution to read a series this year) I would have left this series after the first book. I will be happy to have it finished in the next couple of days. 

My Florida life is moving faster than I anticipated when I was thinking about what it would mean to live down here by myself for several months. My time in this apartment could be ending soon, fingers crossed all goes well, and I could be in a house. I think my life will be much better in a house. I wish the schools were better in the area around my apartment because I prefer this area, but I"m sure I will adjust to Palm Harbor quickly enough. My books will be moved again. Maybe I will actually get a few of them read soon.