Day 91
8.109 read, -4.047
March 18th
Day 78
8.109 read, -2.105
And this is where the barren wasteland begins of my "little" break. I read nothing during this period. I call the period from now until April 1st the "Sahara". :D
But hey, I made it through, and what an adventure that Sahara was! ;)
8.109 read, -2.105
And this is where the barren wasteland begins of my "little" break. I read nothing during this period. I call the period from now until April 1st the "Sahara". :D
But hey, I made it through, and what an adventure that Sahara was! ;)
March 12th
Day 72
Turn, Magic Wheel 82-92
8.044 read, -1.220
So, I'm actually writing this on April 18th, as well as many after this. Skip to April 18th and read that day's posts to understand better.
I have reimagined the way I calculate results (also on April 18th) and also the way I will post the results here. I wanted that part of the posts to be shorter and just include the most important numbers since I'm now keeping a more detailed track on a spreadsheet. It may look confusing at first glance but I'll explain; it's actually pretty simple.
I've eliminated some unnecessary information, such as the daily total number of pages I've read (you can figure that out anyway just looking at the book pages read) and also the total goal for each day (you can figure that out anyway just by adding the total amount I've read to the amount to go/amount ahead I am, if you're so inclined.
Then, to cut down on how much I need to type each day, I've eliminated the words "pages" and "books". I know it doesn't sound like much, but it makes it harder to type each day having to re-type those words or scroll past them! Just trust me, ha. But it should still be eminently readable. Just look at the numbers after the book title and that's the pages I've read, simple simple.
The most drastic change is that I'm now putting my "Total" and "Results" on the same line and really condensing the information. Here's how to read it:
-The first number is the "total" read (why I still type "read" after it) and I've put the pages into a decimal. So, before the decimal are the number of books read, after the decimal is the number of pages. So, "8.044" means 8 books and 44 pages read so far. Obviously, I use three decimal places because I'll be counting to 260 in the decimals. So, in a way you can think of it like actual decimals except that instead of adding up a number after 1000, it will count up a number after 260. It may sound confusing if you're not into maths but trust me it's simple!
Then, on the same line, after the comma, is the "result", or how much behind or ahead I am from my goal at the moment. It uses the same decimal system. And it will always have a "+" or a "-". Obviously the plus symbol means I'm ahead that much, while the minus symbol means I'm behind that much.
So, simple, today, the third line at the top means as of today, I've read 8 books and 44 pages this year for the challenge, and I am behind my goal by 1 book and 220 pages. If you were so inclined to add it all up, you'd get that my goal today is 10.004, or 10 books and 4 pages, which is what 8.044 and 1.220 add up to!
Got it? Good! ;)
Then, the last change is just eliminating any spaces at the top so my daily tallies now should fit in those top 3 lines, and really only the second and third line since the first is just the day number. I did want to keep including the day because I like how it give the feeling of counting up towards something steadily every day no matter what my totals are.
And remember (from April 18th posts), now the goal is 42 pages per day, and Saturdays are 0 pages per day, so if you're adding up yourself, once a week on Saturday you'll notice the formula happens differently like that.
I hope this all isn't too confusing for a viewer but the hope is that for me, the daily writing of it will be much simpler to keep up with!
Turn, Magic Wheel 82-92
8.044 read, -1.220
So, I'm actually writing this on April 18th, as well as many after this. Skip to April 18th and read that day's posts to understand better.
I have reimagined the way I calculate results (also on April 18th) and also the way I will post the results here. I wanted that part of the posts to be shorter and just include the most important numbers since I'm now keeping a more detailed track on a spreadsheet. It may look confusing at first glance but I'll explain; it's actually pretty simple.
I've eliminated some unnecessary information, such as the daily total number of pages I've read (you can figure that out anyway just looking at the book pages read) and also the total goal for each day (you can figure that out anyway just by adding the total amount I've read to the amount to go/amount ahead I am, if you're so inclined.
Then, to cut down on how much I need to type each day, I've eliminated the words "pages" and "books". I know it doesn't sound like much, but it makes it harder to type each day having to re-type those words or scroll past them! Just trust me, ha. But it should still be eminently readable. Just look at the numbers after the book title and that's the pages I've read, simple simple.
The most drastic change is that I'm now putting my "Total" and "Results" on the same line and really condensing the information. Here's how to read it:
-The first number is the "total" read (why I still type "read" after it) and I've put the pages into a decimal. So, before the decimal are the number of books read, after the decimal is the number of pages. So, "8.044" means 8 books and 44 pages read so far. Obviously, I use three decimal places because I'll be counting to 260 in the decimals. So, in a way you can think of it like actual decimals except that instead of adding up a number after 1000, it will count up a number after 260. It may sound confusing if you're not into maths but trust me it's simple!
Then, on the same line, after the comma, is the "result", or how much behind or ahead I am from my goal at the moment. It uses the same decimal system. And it will always have a "+" or a "-". Obviously the plus symbol means I'm ahead that much, while the minus symbol means I'm behind that much.
So, simple, today, the third line at the top means as of today, I've read 8 books and 44 pages this year for the challenge, and I am behind my goal by 1 book and 220 pages. If you were so inclined to add it all up, you'd get that my goal today is 10.004, or 10 books and 4 pages, which is what 8.044 and 1.220 add up to!
Got it? Good! ;)
Then, the last change is just eliminating any spaces at the top so my daily tallies now should fit in those top 3 lines, and really only the second and third line since the first is just the day number. I did want to keep including the day because I like how it give the feeling of counting up towards something steadily every day no matter what my totals are.
And remember (from April 18th posts), now the goal is 42 pages per day, and Saturdays are 0 pages per day, so if you're adding up yourself, once a week on Saturday you'll notice the formula happens differently like that.
I hope this all isn't too confusing for a viewer but the hope is that for me, the daily writing of it will be much simpler to keep up with!
March 11th
Day 71
Total - 8 books 25 pages
Result - 2 books 2 pages to reach goal
March 10th
Whew, a whirlwind of catching up with the blog posts!
As you can see glancing back the last week or two, I've been reading slower. I made great strides with Shutter Island, then lost it going back to the Iliad.
And I'm OK with that. I still feel I'm doing good - I think I only read maybe seven or so books in all last year, so to already be there and ahead of it by March feels great. Of course, it would feel better to be caught up to the goal, lol.
But I realise the more difficult books I need to read slower. That's why Shutter Island was so fast. Not especially difficult, and knowing the story from the film made it a breeze. The Iliad was especially challenging because I was reading through the notes this last week or so, and that required a lot of going back and forth from notes to section and re-reading some sections (which I didn't count the re-reads, which in a way was most of the Iliad test) as I went to understand the notes.
But I finished the notes (yay!) and now for the Iliad, I only have the introduction left which should be faster, and also I ordered the companion book by Wilcock which I'm excited to read. Heh, I know it may sound strange, excited to read a companion book to an old classic I just read and found hard, but oddly I found that re-reading it with the notes this last week or so, I almost enjoyed it more, seeing it from new perspectives and with new background info. So I think that will continue with the companion book.
For instance, even Lattimore, who's very faithful to the original text, just gave us everyone's names without translation. But in Ancient Greek, apparently everyone's names actually meant something. They weren't just names like so many of ours today, they translated into everyday words. Sort of like Native American names in a way.
Anyway, it was very interesting the few notes that told of some name translations. Like, one poor man's name translated as "dung man". Wow, some parents there, huh? Heh. It was in relation to his son being better at everything and his son having a better name. I'm really OK with delving so deep into a classic such as this because you don't only learn about the book itself but about the culture and about history and about thinking at that time so it's fascinated me more than I originally expected going into it.
Anyway, I finished up the notes right as the next book club pick was announced. Well, it was a lottery month for the literary club, so the winner picked it (hi, issybird!). Turn, Magic Wheel. The author's name Dawn Powell sounds vaguely familiar, but I wonder if I'm thinking of another author with a similar name, but I don't know if I've ever heard of the book, so knowing it's literary and supposed to be good, it's fun going into a book knowing almost nothing about it.
It was hard at first, and in a way reminded me of Fitzgerald, crossed with Dorothy Parker. The writing wasn't straight-forward like most novels, it was more train-of-thought for a bit, and a lot of thoughts.
But now that I'm into it I'm enjoying it more and more so far. The writer's wit is great and she really slams the rich of NYC in the 1930s. I've actually lived in NYC before, so it's very interesting reading a book that's such a part of the city at another era. She mentions many particular locations and streets and things that I recognise and some that I even lived beside, and it's very interesting to imagine how it was in the 30s there where I lived. I know there's plenty of old NYC novels but this one really plops you down on the street right in the middle and describes the streets, the people, the places there.
The first laugh-out-loud part of the book for me is the first page when a character in the book recalls how he had considered settling in Middle America where he grew up, taking over his uncle's shoe factory. But his uncle told him (paraphrasing), "Son, you'd be no good in the factory. Here's a hundred dollars, now go somewhere far away."
Day 70
Total - 8 books 3 pages
Result - 1 book 247 pages to reach goal
March 9th
Day 69
Turn, Magic Wheel, pages 4, 8-13 (7 pages)
Total - 13 pages
Total - 7 books 217 pages
Result - 1 book 256 pages to reach goal
March 8th
Day 68
Total - 7 books 211 pages
Result - 1 book 225 pages to reach goal
March 7th
Day 67
Total - 7 books 202 pages
Result - 1 book 197 pages to reach goal
March 6th
Day 66
Total - 7 books 197 pages
Result - 1 book 165 pages to reach goal
March 5th
Day 65
Total - 7 books 185 pages
Result - 1 book 140 pages to reach goal
March 4th
Day 64
Total - 7 books 182 pages
Result - 1 book 106 pages to reach goal
March 3rd
Day 63
Total - 7 books 177 pages
Result - 1 book 74 pages to reach goal
March 2nd
Day 62
Total - 7 books 169 pages
Result - 1 book 45 pages to reach goal
March 1st
Day 61
Shutter Island - pages 112-236 (125 pages)
Total - 7 books 156 pages
Result - 1 book 21 pages to reach goal
Well, I've finished the book already, lol! It's really the type of book one can just fly through. In the end, unfortunately, it did follow along with the film, or vice-versa really. This post will have major spoilers, so read March 1st at your own risk!
Now that I can talk freely, I'd like to say that it was interesting reading such a book, with a twist in the same league as "The Sixth Sense", already knowing the big twist. Knowing the whole time that it's a big play-act for Andrew/Teddy to try to cure him really made me see it in a whole different way than I'm sure I would've otherwise.
The dialogue can even make sense if one thinks about it from this point of view - perhaps they were all trying to "fit in" with Teddy and his way of talking and his reality.
I do have to say though, knowing it already, the twist seemed EXTREMELY obvious from like near the beginning. Let me put that in perspective though, as I have a "mystery" background. My mother loved mysteries and so I grew up with them, Agatha Christie and so on. Plus, I grew up on logic problems, word puzzles, etc, and happen to be pretty dang good at them for the most part.
Just growing up in this environment I suppose moulded my brain to always look for solutions in every little mystery. I've always been adept at "figuring out" film mysteries ahead of time, if they give us enough clues. I actually didn't figure out "The Sixth Sense" ahead of time, but Shutter Island I had figured out watching the film before the halfway mark. Of course, not everything as it was pretty complex, but just that somehow Teddy was Laeddis.
Now, in the film things go by much faster so not as much time for thinking, but reading the book, I'm fairly certain I would've figured out the word puzzle part very early if not immediately at the first mention. Growing up doing word puzzles, and I don't mean a few here and there, but my mother had baskets of logic problem and word problem books that we'd do all the time, sometimes alone, sometimes in competition with each other. So I'm pretty positive my mind would've mentally rearranged Andrew Laeddis, being such an odd last name, pretty fast. And if not, the actual code clues, the first one with Laeddis' name, I'm positive I would've rearranged them into Teddy's name as well so I would've solved it there. And even past that, the last code clue "you are him", no doubt I would've solved it the minuted it appeared in the book.
OK, sorry for the detour, enough bragging. But I guess, there was an opportunity, so why not take it? :p LOL. Really, everyone has something they're strong at. Just as a matter of my mother's influence, that's one of mine. And I'm not even a huge mystery fan anymore, but when I read one like now I can't help but think about those sorts of things.
So all that to say, I have to wonder if others can figure it out fast? I just can't imagine some people may go to the end without figuring it out in this book. In the book he leaves so many clues that 2/3 of the way through, it's so obvious that it's ridiculous. I may just be saying that though already knowing the answer. So it will be interesting to see the discussion on it, to see how fast other people figured it out.
All in all, it was a quick read and somewhat enjoyable though it felt a bit recycled since I knew the plot already. And someone told me the ending was different so I was excited, but nope, it ends almost exactly the same way. But hey, it definitely helped me on my goal!
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