"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads only lives one."
- George R. R. Martin
Showing posts with label george r r martin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label george r r martin. Show all posts
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The 150 Book Challenge [Updates]
So far the challenge is going pretty well. I finished book 29 yesterday, and I'm midway through book 30:
I've been able to cycle books pretty quickly, partially because I've mastered keeping a flow of books coming. Without new books to read, the whole process would stop.
[Amazingly, the last ten books I have read have all been by women. That happen all the time.]
One thing that has been holding me back, though, has been how cold its been here in DC. I spend 15 to 30 minutes every day waiting for the bus (I have to transfer buses, which accounts for some of that time). Its been too cold to get my hands out of my coat to hold the book, so I've been waiting until I actually get in the bus to begin reading.
I've got to read 12 to 13 books a month, which so far I've been right on: I hit 25 books the last day of February. With the last few books added into the mix, I've been finishing a book every 2.3 days on average. In order to stay on pace, I have to finish nine more books this month.
In the wings, I have one of George R. R. Martin's books in my To Be Read pile. Those have been challenging this year, because they are 800-1000 pages long, and have taken 6-7 days to complete. So far to combat that I've been trying to get through at least 100 pages of it a day, no matter what.
Right now I'm 22 days ahead of where I was last year, or 7 books ahead. So its going pretty well. Just for a comparison, here's 2010:
And here's the same time period again, this year:
Pretty awesome. More books read in the same time period.
I've been able to cycle books pretty quickly, partially because I've mastered keeping a flow of books coming. Without new books to read, the whole process would stop.
[Amazingly, the last ten books I have read have all been by women. That happen all the time.]
One thing that has been holding me back, though, has been how cold its been here in DC. I spend 15 to 30 minutes every day waiting for the bus (I have to transfer buses, which accounts for some of that time). Its been too cold to get my hands out of my coat to hold the book, so I've been waiting until I actually get in the bus to begin reading.
I've got to read 12 to 13 books a month, which so far I've been right on: I hit 25 books the last day of February. With the last few books added into the mix, I've been finishing a book every 2.3 days on average. In order to stay on pace, I have to finish nine more books this month.
In the wings, I have one of George R. R. Martin's books in my To Be Read pile. Those have been challenging this year, because they are 800-1000 pages long, and have taken 6-7 days to complete. So far to combat that I've been trying to get through at least 100 pages of it a day, no matter what.
Right now I'm 22 days ahead of where I was last year, or 7 books ahead. So its going pretty well. Just for a comparison, here's 2010:
And here's the same time period again, this year:
Pretty awesome. More books read in the same time period.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Why Women Don't Read Fantasy [Excerpt]
From page 344 of A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
This Brienne woman is badass: she is basically the equal, if not the better, to most men in battle. But she fails in being beautiful. And therefore is to be pitied. I almost threw the book when I read that part.
It reminded me of when someone wrote on a Huffington Post blog this of Elena Kagan's mother's reaction to her daughter becoming the first female dean of Harvard Law School:
Beauty, they called her . . . mocking. The hair beneath the visor was a squirrel's nest of dirty straw, and her face . . . Brienne's eyes were large and very blue, a young girl's eyes, trusting and guileless, but the rest . . . her features were broad and coarse, her teeth prominent and crooked, her moth too wide, her lips so plump they seemed swollen. A thousand freckles speckled her cheeks and brow, and her nose had been broken more than once. Pity filled Catelyn's heart. Is there any creature on earth as unfortunate as an ugly woman?Italics are from the text.
This Brienne woman is badass: she is basically the equal, if not the better, to most men in battle. But she fails in being beautiful. And therefore is to be pitied. I almost threw the book when I read that part.
It reminded me of when someone wrote on a Huffington Post blog this of Elena Kagan's mother's reaction to her daughter becoming the first female dean of Harvard Law School:
She nodded, unsmiling, and sighed in that stoic way that was now so familiar to me. "Yeah..." then a long silence..."but I really wish she were married."
Never mind her other accomplishments...How is she doing with the menfolk?
[Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]
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