Sunday, June 10, 2007

Final Stats For This Year's Book Challenge

Total number of books completed: 4
Total number of pages read: 1,430
Number of books given up on after starting: 3
Number of hours reading: Say, 30 over a 48-hour period, with breaks for writing two blog posts, taking two showers, making a trip to the Chinese restaurant to pick up takeout--the usual.

My family is quite humiliated for me because I read only 4 books this year over a 30 hour period while last year I read 7 over a 23 hour period. However, I actually read more pages this year--1,430 vs. 1,312. And that's not counting the 60+ pages I read on 3 books I didn't like.

On the surface, last year's Challenge seems more successful for me because I liked all the books I read and felt I was getting the hang of magical realism, since I read only those types of books. However, I definitely got something from this weekend's experience, too. Like many serious readers, I've always had a need to finish reading every book I start. Over the last few years, I've been able to begin to get over that compulsion by skimming books I'm not enjoying. I've only recently started giving up altogether. Giving up on 3 books in 24 hours as I did this weekend was a liberating experience.

The number of books published goes up and up and up, but for some reason or another the number of hours in the day remains constant. How much of my life do I want to sacrifice reading stuff I don't like? Not much, it seems.

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4 Comments:

Blogger Dewey said...

I wondered if I should post the book I gave up on after starting it. Which were yours? Mine was Adverbs by Daniel Handler.

1:00 AM  
Blogger cloudscome said...

I have learned to abandon books I don't like too. Life is just too short! I think you had a great weekend.

12:21 PM  
Blogger gail said...

It wasn't a bad weekend at all, though I may suffer some physical consequences as a result of lying on the couch for so many hours.

I see you read The Light in the Forest. I remember that from eighth grade English.

1:55 PM  
Blogger gail said...

Dewey--You couldn't get through Adverbs, huh? I haven't even seen it around anywhere. I'm not a major Snicket fan, anyway.

One of the books I couldn't get through was Erec Rex. I found it gimmicky and random.

2:02 PM  

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