52 Books in 52 Weeks, A Bit Off the Mark

aka Epic Fail

At this time in 2008, I set out to read 52 books in 52 weeks throughout the year of 2009. Now that it’s time to look back and summarize I can only say that I failed miserably. My efforts derailed early in the year when I changed jobs in February 2009. The job, that ate my brain, consumed most of time from February to nearly mid-May and then sucked up November as well. However, I can’t blame my failure entirely on the job, after all there would have been plenty of time left in the rest of the year to catch up.

I think the biggest reason for my failure is that it turns out I don’t like the self-imposed pressure that comes from setting a goal like this one. Often I found myself thinking, I should be reading, and it began to feel like a homework assignment instead of something I normally enjoy doing.

I gave audio books a try, but I found that they only worked for me when I was doing really mindless house work like vacuuming or dusting (and clearly, I don’t vacuum or dust enough judging by the list below). I tried listening to audio books at work or while working on a knitting project , but I either became too involved in what I was doing and was not listening and often had to go back and listen again or I was too involved in what was happening in the book and made errors in my work or knitting.

If the goal was to purchase 52 books in the 52 weeks of 2009 then I probably would have made goal. I seem to be surrounded by books I purchased, but have not read, yet. What did get read was:

Living Dead in Dallas

The King's Gold

A Room with a View (audio book)

Angels & Demons
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
Altogether Dead
From Dead to Worse
Death of a Gossip (audio book)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Holly’s In-box
Dead and Gone
The Lost Symbol
The Woman in White
Club Dead (audio book)
Persuasion (audio book)
Whatever You Do, Don’t Run –True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Fool
To Have and Have Not (audio book)
The Stupidest Angel, A Heart-Warming Tale of Christmas Terror

That’s it, that’s the list. 23 books.

Now here’s the part where I try to rationalize it and make myself feel better: 23 books is not very much, but there are people (and you know you know a least a couple of them) who probably didn’t read a single book this year. Not really working so well right now, have to try again later.

While I’ve never tracked how many books I read per year in the past, I’m sure this is my lowest total in years. I always want to try to read more each year, and 52 books in 52 weeks is a great goal which I think I would like to try it again sometime in the future, but for right now I think I’d like to just get back to reading for enjoyment .

James & Gerard

I was wasting time googling images of some of my favorite objects of lust and it occurred to me that someone should really cast James McAvoy and Gerard Butler as brothers in a movie.

Audio Book from Librivox

A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster
finished on Wednesday, February 4, 09

I just finished listening to E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View. I downloaded it from Librivox.org. This was the first time I used Librivox and I definitely will do it again. Since everything recorded there is in public domain the downloads are free. This will be a good way to catch up on some of the “classics” I probably should have read in high school when I was doing other things.

I was able to download it as a podcast through iTunes. A volunteer reader records each chapter, which is an episode within the podcast. Audiobooks that I have purchased through iTunes will group several chapters into smaller “audiobooks” (i.e. Northhanger Abbey is divided into four parts, each part containing several of the original publications chapters.) I think I prefer iTunes way of grouping the chapters, but if I can download a book in the public domain without cost, why gripe about how it is organized. My one other tiny complaint is that there is a disclaimer about Librivox at the beginning and end of each chapter that breaks the mood of the reading.

The book was read by a volunteer named Kara Shallenberg; I found her reading to be very pleasant and easy to listen too. In the background of several chapters, a bird or birds are chattering and singing. Some listeners might find this annoying, but I actually thought it added to the ambience, particularly while all the characters were in Italy.

About the book itself…I love the 1986 movie and I really wanted to love the book. However, I can only say it is enjoyable. I may sometime in the future actually read a printed version of the book, but I don’t feel as compelled now as I once did. However, if do actually read it now I feel that there is more of a chance of my actually finishing it then there would have been before ‘reading’ the audiobook.

Book Number Two

The King’s Gold by Yxta Maya Murray
Finished Wednesday, Jan 28, 09

Okay, clearly I’m falling behind on the 52 books in 52 weeks idea. It’s nearly the end of January and just yesterday I finished my second book, The King’s Gold by Yxta Maya Murray. It took three weeks for me to get through this book – if this had been a library book, I would have given up on the book, but since I actually paid for the book, I felt compelled to finish it.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I love the idea of the book, but it’s slightly off the mark and is never quite as intriguing or suspenseful as it could be. This is the only the book I have read by this author so I don’t if it’s her style or what. What I did not know when I purchased this book is that it is the second in a series of books. Ms. Murray must have done all her character development in the first book of the series, The Queen’s Jade, because there is none here. This lack of character development was very frustrating in the and because of it my first impression of Lola was that she was very, very stupid.

“Yes, strange man with two enforcers who just walked into my bookstore and told me that you are the psychotic son of a psychotic Guatemalan colonel who recently tried to wipe out my entire family and that you in fact would also like to slit my throat, even though we have just met and you know nothing about me, but because you have waved a old letter in front of my face I will abandon the fiancée that I am going to marry in ten days and follow you to Italy like a happy, trotting, elf [my own random Coupling reference].”

Although, to contradict what I just said, the one thing I did like about Lola is that she didn’t try to claim victim status; she is fully aware that she is making stupid, irrational choices as she makes them. In addition to Lola, I also came to find Marco (psychotic son of a psychotic Guatemalan colonel) and Erik (abandoned fiancée) mildly interesting. I might have even imagined a little chemistry between Lola and Marco.

Late in the book, the rest of Lola’s family is forced into the story and there is not one of them that I found at all interesting. Maybe if I read The Queen’s Jade I won’t mind them so much, but the first book appears to be a central American jungle adventure and that’s not really my thing. According to an interview with the author at the end of The King’s Gold, the third book in the series features Erik’s quest to find Excalibur. I cannot find a title or project release date for this book, and whether or not I actually read the book will depend on my impression of the first chapter or two, which will be read in the bookstore.

First Book Read in 2009!

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
Finished Monday, Jan 5, 09

This is the second of currently eight books in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series. I read the first book shortly after the last episode of True Blood aired on HBO. I LOVED the HBO adaptation, but was a bit disappointed in the first book. My primary issue with the book was that it was entirely from Sookie’s point of view, and Sookie and Bill are my least favorite characters from the television adaptation. I really enjoyed every other character on the screen - especially Eric, Tara, and Lafayette – more than Sookie and Bill. I also found Pam intriguing; if I were a vampire, I think I would want to be Pam.

I decided to continue with the series because I really wanted to learn more about the character of Eric, even though I was a bit torn about ruining possible season two plot details such as whose body was in Detective Bellefleur’s car at the end of season one. Spoiler alert: even though it was expected, I was very sorry to learn that it was in fact LaFayette decaying in the back of Andy’s car. I was really hoping that it would be Eggs, but come on, Eggs was a minor character who rated only one scene near the end of season one so there would be no emotional payout in killing him.

Part of the description on the back cover of the book says “…her coworker is murdered and no one seems to care.” Well, I don’t think the author cared very much either. It seems like she had two interesting ideas: the maenad and sex club in Bon Temps and the Fellowship of the Sun in Dallas, but could not flush out either idea enough to make one book. Instead book-ended the former around the later and in my opinion short-changed both possible stories. This book did have a good set-up for expanding the inclusion of werewolves and shape-shifters in future books and I really liked the exchanges between Sookie and Eric, I think there is great chemistry and potential there.

52 Books in 52 Weeks

Ravelry* member MissJulie created a group for readers who wanted to challenge themselves to read an average of 52 books during the 52 weeks of 2009. I like to read and did so quite a bit when I was younger, but seem to have replaced reading with too much television watching. I’ve decided that I’d like to change that in 2009. I, like many others in the group, I have numerous books in my bookcase that I have bought that I have not read yet, so this will be a great reason to get to them. I am rather a slow reader, so a book a week might be out of my depth, but I’ll try it. I’m going to use this space to list the books I hope to read and track books that I actually read.

Finished Books
3. A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster - Finished Wednesday, Feb 4, 09

2. The King’s Gold by Yxta Maya Murray - Finished Wednesday, Jan 28, 09

1. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris - Finished Monday, Jan 5, 09

Possible Reads

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Fools by Christopher Moore (scheduled for release on Feb 9th, yay!)

*Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration.