Day 7 Does Not Exist

I'm sorry. Today I'm calling a mulligan. Nothing happened the way I wanted it to.

I got interrupted by phone calls.

I got hiccups so violent that I couldn't keep my head straight.

I just couldn't focus.

So today's reading is going to be divided among the next three days. I hope to be caught up by the end of the week.

(Sorry.)

Day 6, or, Return of the Mondays

So today was a busy one. Actually, I take that back; this entire weekend was busy and it carried over into today. That's why I didn't post anything over the weekend, even though I had intended to do so.

It's probably just as well, seeing as I didn't have much to talk about, anyway.

1) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Progress: 164/265 pages.

If you're paying attention, you might realize that I only read 20 pages today. And that's true, although I did read the full hour. I just couldn't get into the story today for whatever reason. And that is truly weird, considering that the big scene at the end of my reading was one that I illustrated in the eighth grade, and I have fond memories of it.

Just a note: The Hobbit is a strange pick for summer reading in the eighth grade. Then again, so is being required to create a travel brochure for Middle Earth (see illustration mentioned above). I think my English teacher in middle school was just a whole lot nerdier than I gave her credit for at the time.

2) The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams. Progress: 179/309 pages.

But Victoria, you are surely saying to yourself, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe doesn't even have 179 pages, let alone 309! Also, how the heck did you read that much in an hour?

It doesn't, and I didn't.

I mentioned in the intro post to this whole big blog that I was given an omnibus of the whole trilogy a while back, and that is what I'm using for this project. And so I am listing the page I am on in the volume out of the page number where the current book ends. Did that make sense?

Not much to say about the book right now, as I'm not that far into it. However, I am looking forward to great things from this one.

3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Progress: 186/324 pages.

So Ender is a commander! Surprise, surprise. Also, a few more of my questions were answered. To wit, commanders are usually promoted at the age of eleven or sometimes twelve, and graduate at thirteen. That doesn't make much sense given what that one kid said to Ender at the beginning, but oh well.

Also, how are we supposed to know that Ender wasn't supposed to use the commanders' mess until he won his first game? It's fine, of course, but it was never mentioned before, unless I've forgotten something, and I don't think I have.

4) Dune by Frank Herbert. Progress: 194/762 pages.

Ta-da! I don't have much negative stuff to say today. The scene in the desert was good, both sloooowly moving the plot forward and revealing more about Duke Leto and Arrakis. Hurrah! There's something to be said for actually enjoying what I'm reading.

But that huge amount of talking about the inevitable betrayal? Well, it still hasn't happened yet. I'm still waiting. And I still say it can't live up to the hype.

Day 5: Week 1 Completed!

Aaaaaand it's Friday, ladies and gentlemen! I will leave you to fill in your own personal cheers of happiness, because I am far too tired for it.

This is what happens when all of my energy goes to being excited over china patterns. Not my china pattern, mind you, seeing as Kendrick and I haven't picked one out yet. No, I found an item in my parents' china that they don't have, and I picked it up for less than half of its normal price. Giddiness followed, because I am just that much of a dork. Still, whenever I look at it I want to squeal and jump up and down (carefully, seeing as it's china and all). And I have been looking at it all day, as it is currently resting on our bookcase, and I spend quite a bit of time there.

Now, let's discuss the reasons why I spend so much time at that bookshelf:

1) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Progress: 144/265 pages.

I am officially over one half of the way done! And yet the thought gives me no pleasure, because I really do like The Hobbit, and I know the slog that will come once I'm through with it.

2) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Progress: 143/143, that is to say, DONE.

This is officially the first book that I have completed in this challenge. Granted, it's not hard, seeing it is a rather short book, but I'm still allowed to feel accomplished. I mean, for crying out loud, I read 143 pages in just one book out of four!

And now I get to start in on the next book in the series, which I hope will be just as pleasant a read. I haven't attempted to read it in a very long time, and I've never finished it, so this will be fun, unexplored territory.

3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Progress: 153/324 pages.

To answer some of my questions from last time, Ender became a toon leader at age eight or nine. This was around when his launch group moved up into the regular armies, and it seems that some of them skipped being a soldier in a toon straight to being a toon leader. Perhaps that's the normal way of things, then.

As for everything that's actually happening in the story, I'm holding off judgment, because I want to see where it all goes. There's wonderful writing in Ender's Game, and a wonderful, horrible feeling of needing to know what happens next.

4) Dune by Frank Herbert. Progress: 161/762 pages.

See what I was writing up there about Ender's Game? It doesn't apply to Dune in the slightest. While the writing has gone from absolutely terrible to passable and even decent at times, the pacing is still a drag. I can't say that nothing's happening anymore, but I can say that it happens far too slowly, and that most everything drags. At 160 pages in, I feel like I should be able to say more about the characters or at least more about the story. As it stands, though, I feel that there are really great characters here, and that I'm not allowed to know them. As for the story, let's just say it hasn't really come up yet.

One exception to my liking the characters overall: Paul. Paul Atreides is a blander than bland Gary Stu at this point in the book, and I don't know why. Doesn't he have some response to either of his parents' angst besides spouting quotations and inane "wisdom"? I realized he's been trained to control his emotions on the outside, but aren't we in his head enough for him to have some glimmer of actual personality? He keeps having these thoughts of great and terrible purpose, but it seems like he just kind of takes it all in stride.

Oh, yeah, maybe I'm going to become a Mentat. Oh, yeah, maybe my dad's going to be killed or damaged in some horrible way and I can't stop it. Oh, yeah, maybe I'm going to become some kind of crazy Messiah figure someday.

Whatever. It's not that big of a deal.

Right.

Day 4

This is the earliest I've completed my reading for the day. Granted, that's not saying too much, but I hope that this signals good things to come. I'm sure that my husband would like that, as I'm afraid I've been cutting into my time with him by keeping up this habit. I will get better! I promise!

I'm just not sure when.

1) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Progress: 115/265 pages.

I find the character of Beorn to be puzzling at best. He remains largely unexplained through the whole book, merely the subject of conjecture (and there is a bit of that). Tolkien seemed to have a gift for side characters, whether they turn out to be important later on or not.

You know who I think about when I think of Beorn? Tom Bombadil, whose acquaintance I'll be making in a short while in The Fellowship of the Ring. Both of these characters are so magical, so incredible that I want to know everything about them. And yet, no explanations are ever given for them. If I find someone to be interesting, I frequently want to know more from their perspective, know more about them.

I realize it's impractical and impossible, but I don't care. I want to know where Beorn comes from, are there more people like him somewhere? It drives me batty, really it does.

2) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Progress: 110/143 pages.

I love Arthur, really I do. His confrontation with Zaphod and Trillian makes me giggle every time I read it, as does Ford's reaction to the whole thing. And I think it's rather nice that he is the one who saves the day and makes the big discoveries when they finally reach their destination. Everyone rags on him for not knowing anything, but being out of his element doesn't negate the fact that Arthur has a solid head on his shoulders when everyone is losing theirs.

Also I wish to write my words of condolences to that sperm whale. Godspeed, big fella.

3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Progress: 115/324 pages.

I have a hard time imagining this book. Usually I sort of half-play out scenes from books in my head, but it's hard for me to do that when I'm reading about children so young. It doesn't help that we're rarely given ages to go along with characters that aren't in Ender's launch group, since kids change very quickly as they grow older.

How much younger is Ender than the other members of his army, anyhow? I know they said that children aren't generally assigned to armies before they're eight, but is assignment at eight a rarity or a fairly common thing? How long do they have to be in an army before being considered for becoming a commander, or is it marked on age as well? When do they normally leave the Battle School? There was that boy from the beginning who was twelve or something, and he was considered old. So how long does one even have to be in an army or be a commander, anyhow?

I'm sure all of my questions will be answered in a while, but that's not going to stop me wondering in the meantime.

4) Dune by Frank Herbert. Progress: 130/762 pages.

I'm still waiting for things to happen. Is the suspense killing me? Not really. My main complaint of the night is that there's so much suspense and so much build up for Harkonnen treachery that there's no way that it'll ever be able to deliver. My goodness.


Also I am getting really sick of the Princess Irulan's "writings". Either shut up or show up soon. I know it's a literary device, but it's not a very good literary device if it takes me out of the story so completely that I wish I never read it at all.


All in all, I think that Frank Herbert is, in himself, Dune's greatest downfall. The characters are (mostly) good and the descriptions are (usually) very vivid, but the actual writing? The pacing, the gradual reveal of information? It's bad. Really bad. How did enough people sit through it for this to become such a classic?

Day 3

Aaaand, regular as rain, I'm done with my reading for the day. Actually, that phrase is ill-fitting seeing as how I live in a desert. Regular as... not rain? I have no idea. I don't have a lot to talk about today outside of the books, so onwards!

1) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Progress: 86/265 pages.

I've now met the creature Gollum and left him behind. Actually, I will never leave Gollum behind because I still consider him one of the creepiest parts of my childhood.

My mom read The Hobbit to my sister and me when we were very young (I was, in fact way too young to remember anything about it, but I wanted to be included anyhow). Somewhere along the line, also when I was almost too young to remember, we watched the Rankin/Bass animated version of the book. Gollum scared me to death. Every once in a while, in my box of Little Long-Playing Records, I would stumble upon the record-book we had of it. The record was red, and I'm not sure we had any other records that color, so I remember it rather distinctly. Every time I plucked up the courage to listen to it (and that was not a frequent occurence), Gollum made me shiver. Take a look and see if this wouldn't have freaked you out when you were three.

Also, that movie was animated by Topcraft-- probably my first experience with a Japanese animation studio. I did like the look of it, and of The Last Unicorn's Rankin/Bass adaptation, which was also animated by Topcraft. Little did I know that Topcraft had, by the time I was watching, mutated and reformed into the animation end of Studio Ghibli. You know, the ones who produce Hayao Miyazaki's films. Interesting little fact there, that may partially explain my soft spot for anime.

2) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Progress: 70/143 pages.

I am almost precisely halfway through, and thankfully I am beginning to enjoy myself again. It helps to finally have all the main characters in one spot, although technically they haven't met yet. Tomorrow! Tomorrow I get to read that part, and perhaps laugh a bit in the process.

3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Progress: 85/324 pages.

I keep on expecting to get beyond where I've already read in Ender's Game, but it keeps not happening. And today, when I read my hour dutifully, I realized how much further I have to go in order to reach stuff I haven't read before. How did I get that far into this book only to drop it?

4) Dune by Frank Herbert. Progress: 98/762 pages.

Dune is starting to progress. Stuff actually happened in what I read today. Imagine that!

One thing is really starting to grate on my nerves, though. We keep jumping perspectives in the narrative with absolutely no warning. Is it necessary? I'm not sure, honestly. It may be that Herbert really couldn't find any other way to give the reader all the information they need. Or it could be that Herbert was kind of a lazy writer and didn't think it would make the story disjointed. If the latter is the case, then let me tell you: He was wrong.

Oh, yeah, and you remember how I mentioned earlier that I live in a desert? In the book, there's a list of plants and animals that were brought to Arrakis, and I find it funny. It's kind of like a checklist of things I can see if I look outside right now. Saguaro? Check. Barrel cactus? Check. Evening Primrose? My favorite flowers!

Also, I totally thought Frank Herbert was talking about kangaroo rats when he mentioned kangaroo mice. Turns out that he wasn't; they are, in fact, closely related genera of rodent. I learned something today.

From Dune.

Life is weird.

Day 2

Ah, back again. I don't really know if I'm supposed to feel so accomplished after only doing this for two days, but really I do! Four hours of reading a day, plus everything else in my schedule, plus a blog post.... It's really quite a big deal, at least in my mind.

I do feel kind of bad about letting my other reading languish, though. I was lent an audiobook of The Help recently, and I haven't even started listening to it yet. And I'm a quarter of the way through Flora Frasier's biography of Queen Caroline, too! And I do hope to get back to them soon, after I pick up some sort of a routine for my normal Monday through Friday readings. Alas, I'm just not ready yet.

Regardless of any other reading I may or may not be doing, I did accomplish an hour (or slightly more) with each of my books today. Huzzah!

1) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Progress: 56/265 pages.

I had a friend insist a few months ago that The Lord of the Rings was written before The Hobbit, which he said was merely a prequel meant to throw a bone to the kids. I didn't feel like looking it up at that point, but he was wrong. Very wrong, in fact, and I kind of wonder if he had actually bothered to read The Hobbit at all. The first few chapters of the book are quite different from Tolkien's later works about Middle-Earth, from what I've been able to force myself to read of them.

It's not just that the tone is different; it's not just that this is a children's story and so the ideas are smoothed around the edges. It feels much more like a traditional fairy tale, with trolls and giants and elves that sing annoying songs because they're tricky creatures and not the genteel ones encountered later. It's very clear that Middle-Earth hadn't really settled into what it would later become, and you know what? I like it.

2) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Progress: 40/143 pages.

Yet more distractions, sadly. At least I actually got to meet Zaphod Beeblebrox (which is a name I enjoy typing more than a little), and Trillian, at least in passing. Unfortunately, instead of really enjoying myself with this one, I feel more like I just want to get it done with so I can move onto the next book. As I mentioned in introducing the book, I've never read its sequels, and I have read Hitchhiker's Guide several times before, so I guess I'm really just looking for something new. This is interesting for two reasons: First, I've read The Hobbit about as many times, and I can't get enough of it, and second, I still don't remember how it ends. I'm sure it'll come back to me soon.

3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Progress: 53/324 pages.

And finally Ender volunteers to go into training. I've never finished the book before, but I did start it back in August, so I'm rehashing old territory right now. As with Hitchhiker's Guide, I feel like I'm trying to plow ahead to the new stuff, but at least with Ender's Game I'm enjoying the retread -- for now, at least.

4) Dune by Frank Herbert. Progress: 65/762 pages.

Well, looks like it's getting some better. It's not good, certainly, but I sat down and read for an hour without wanting to chew off one of my limbs. This is a marked improvement, ladies and gentlemen. I didn't remember that a good deal of the annoying pretentiousness exits with the Reverend Mother (not nearly enough, in my opinion, but I'll take what I can get).

Also there were no Harkonnens in the section I read today, which is good, because they are not good villains. They bore me to tears because they aren't creative. They feel like stock characters. The absurdly fat dictator, the heir who's dim-witted and full of himself, the devious advisor kept in line by feeding his drug habit.... Oh yeah, and two of the three have Russian names. Way to be subtle there, Herbie.

As long as I can stay away from old Witchy-Face and the Three Stooges, I should be fine. Then I can resume the long, long wait for something, anything at all, to happen.

Day 1

So today was the first day of my not-so-little challenge, and I came out of it alive. (At least, I'm assuming that I came out of it alive. I think my husband would have said something if I were a zombie.)

Anyhow, here's a summary of what I started reading today (the official list can be found here, if you want to look ahead and/or follow along):

1) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein. Technically this is a cop-out, because the Lord of the Rings trilogy was the official list-topper. However, while The Hobbit was ineligible due to being a children's book, The Lord of the Rings would never have existed without it, so I think it's worth the inclusion. Also there's the part where I love this book and its sequels bore the ever-living daylights out of me and I'm looking for a way to soften the blow.

Progress: 29/265 pages. I'm not really that slow of a reader, it's just that the introduction has runes in it and I took the time to squint and read them. Yes, I know the Elder Futhark script. I wrote my journal in runes during high school. Judge me if you wish.

2) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I'm really not sure what to say about this one that hasn't been said before. I don't know how many times I've read the first book already, but I always got distracted during the sequels so I haven't actually read any of them. However, I was given an omnibus of the whole trilogy a couple of years ago, so they're easy access.

Progress: 19/143 pages. This time the introduction had no runes for me to read. What it did have was an exceedingly convoluted story that I had to read twice to make sense of. Also it didn't help that I was interrupted more than a few times.

3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I've been meaning to get around to reading this since I was in, oh, sixth grade? I'm planning on reading the original quartet (Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind).

Progress: 15/324 pages. Another book, another introduction, and this one is long. Considering how fast and easy the actual book is to read, you would think that Orson Scott Card would know how to keep things concise, but no.

4) Dune by Frank Herbert. Unlike Ender's Game, I've never really wanted to read Dune. At all. And then I tried last summer and wanted to pull my own eyeballs out over it. I know it's influential and a lot of people like it maybe just a bit too much, but I don't understand why. It's the kind of thing that I wrote when I was thirteen-- too much pseudo-philosophical nonsense and too many words of gobbledy-gook with little to no explanation. Blegh. Seriously, this is the most bombastically stupid book in the world and unless it gets better quickly, I'm probably going to spend a good deal of time banging my head against a wall.

Did I mention that I'm going to be reading all six books written by Frank Herbert himself? Good grief.

Progress: 31/762 pages. No introduction, no author's note. Just oodles and oodles of self-inflated, bad, bad writing. If I keep at this pace, I'll be stuck with Dune (only one of six, mind you) for five weeks, and by then I'll be crying myself to sleep.