This year, I made it my resolution to read more. I was inspired by Jess at Fresh Jess and her Goodreads challenge in which she read fifty books in one year. However, I know fifty books in a year is too ambitious for me, so I set a goal of two books a month. To keep myself accountable, I said I’d share my progress here. So here’s my update:
I’m doing a terrible job.
Since January, I’ve only managed to finish three books – The Wise Man’s Fear, A Single Man, The Gunslinger. As March has just ended, I should have completed six books by now. That means in order to get on track, I need to read five books this month. Seeing as how it’s already the middle of April, I don’t think that’ll be happening.
I was supposed to start off my whittling down my list of partially read books, but as usual ended up picking up new titles that I almost immediately put down to ‘save for later’.
Currently I’m reading The Drawing of Three (the second book in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series), and The Fran Lebowitz Reader. I very much enjoy Fran Lebowitz’s signature sardonic humor. I’ve drunkenly tried repeating a few of her quips, but “let me assure you”, only Fran Lebowitz can do Fran Lebowitz. Do not attempt.
The Wise Man’s Fear: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two
This was a hard one to start off with since I have a tumultuous relationship with this fantasy series. We follow Kvothe, a young man who lost everything as a child, as he attempts to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. I absolutely love the world Partick Rothfuss has created, particularly the magic system. There’s the more traditional, powerful form of magic called Naming, where skilled arcanists master over any being or element by knowing and calling its true name. Then there is Sympathy, which takes a scientific(ish) approach to magic, creating links between items and transferring heat and energy from one to the other.
Yet I struggled to finish the book, even more than I struggled with the first, The Name of the Wind. Not for any failure in this fantasy world, lack of creativity, or issue with the writing. I just fucking hate Kvothe. I find him to be an insufferable know-it-all Gary Stu. But you know, a lot of other readers love Kvothe. Sometimes some people just rub you the wrong way. In this case, the person is fictional.
Nevertheless, I’ll likely pick up the last book, The Doors of Stone (working title). Despite my feelings towards Kvothe, I love this story so far and want to know where it goes next.
A Single Man
I’m a big fan of Tom Ford’s directoral debut, A Single Man. It’s such a beautiful film. It’s been accused of being overstyled by some, but that’s a big part of why I enjoyed it so much – aside from the hefty doses of loss and grief. It’s a short but pleasant read. The film is pretty similar to the book, so if you don’t mind some differences you could stick with the movie. You get to look at Colin Firth. Either way, it’s an important story to experience – not only for dealing with loss, but dealing with loss as an invisible but hated outsider, and thus suffering silently and alone.
The Gunslinger
What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On?
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