I’ve been on my Christmas Break for 14 days now, which means I should have read 1400 pages to be on track to meet my goal of reading 3000 pages in 30 days. As of Saturday night I was at 1327 pages. Just a little short, but nothing that can’t be made up.
In that time I’ve finished three books — Mountains Beyond Mountains, Traveling Mercies, and Dracula is Dead. I’m in the middle of reading The Blind Assassin now, and I’m not sure what’s next.
I’ve only had three days where I didn’t read at all. Christmas Day I spent more than 8 hours playing completely through Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box on my Nintendo DS. New Year’s Eve I went shopping with a friend and then out with other friends, leaving no time to read. And New Year’s Day I spent most of the afternoon napping to recover from staying up way, way to late the night before. Not bad though, all things considered.
A couple of observations — It’s a lot easier to be motivated to read 100 pages in a book you’re really enjoying versus a book you’re not that into. Even though it’s 521 pages long, I’ve read The Blind Assassin in just a few days because the book is awesome. Although I’m not done yet, I’m pretty confident the book is going to get a full five stars. I’ve gone back and forth a million times about the big mystery of the story and still don’t really know the answer. With only 45 pages to go, I don’t want to put it down (even for Boyfriend, who just got to the Twin Cities yesterday for a visit!).
If you have any questions about the four books I’ve read for my 3000 in 30 project so far, leave them in the comments to this post and I’ll answer them in my reviews.
Also, what’s your best winter vacation read so far?
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Professor Layton is so fun! I can’t wait to hear what you thought of your books! Happy new year! 😀 Exclamation point!
Lu: It is a fun game — I think I played straight through the first one too. I love the British accents 🙂
I would love to know your thoughts on Traveling Mercies. Did it live up to your expectations? I don’t have a winter read yet. I’ve been in a reading rut and haven’t finished one book yet.
Vasilly: I hope you get out of your reading rut soon. I’ve been really happy with all the books read so far, Traveling Mercies included.
Despite my negative feelings for Mountains Beyond Mountains, I’m excited to read your review 🙂 Arguing about the same book for months on end does that to you!
Sarah: I think I had the same problem with In Defense of Food that you had with Mountains Beyond Mountains because IDF was our common read book this year. I was sooo tired of talking about food and food politics that I was a little worn out with it and ended up not having super rosy impression of IDF.
Kim, I’m so impressed with ow much reading you’ve gotten done on your break! I pretty much did zero reading while away (maybe a total of an hour or so…), because I was just too busy with other stuff. But now that I’m back home in Nashville, the reading can commence once more.
Also, if you’ve read any other Atwoods, I’d love to know how you feel Blind Assassin compares. I’ve never been all that interested in reading that one, but then I joined the blogging community and most people seem to love it!
Steph: It’s been so much fun to just sit down and read for an afternoon and not feel guilty about it. Luckily most of my family lives close together, so I just had to get from Madison to home and gotten to stay put since.
The only other Atwood I read was The Handmaid’s Tale, which is pretty different from The Blind Assassin. But I’ll think about that for my review 🙂
woo hoo! I was going to ask you abt Mts but am distracted by Sarah’s comment… so.
and I liked Blind Assassin; I believe I read Tender Mercies but can’t quite recall it…
Knowing that Mts was your first Kidder, are you ready to read any more? and if yes, which one? Strength is an obvious answer but House was so cool and I might have to re-read Soul since it’s been 20 yrs for me.
Care: Good questions! The short answer is yes, absolutely, more Kidder for me 🙂 But I’ll expand in my review!
I know what you mean – I’m struggling with a book right now and I’m finding lots of excuses not to read it. It sounds like you’re making great progress with your goal. I’m sure you’ll make it.
Kathy: I’m happy with my progress so far — onwards and upwards though. I had one book that I avoided a bit, but once I was into a new great one it was smooth sailing. 100 pages in a day, easy.
wow, 3,000 pages in the month of december? that’s a lofty goal for a month crammed with parties, shopping, and other festivities! i guess that’s why you only made it to 1300+. i think i only read about 1,000 pages all month. i’ll repent in january! hopefully, we’ll get some snow days from school and i’ll be forced to stay home, snuggled in bed with my learning tower of TBRs!
nat: Well, it’s 3000 pages between December 18 and like, January 18 (the days of my break). But the first part was over Christmas and everything, so I’m not worried about it. Part of me is hoping for some snow days coming up too!
I felt rather meh about Mountains Beyond Mountains when I read it last year, but I was also really sick when I was reading it, so I don’t know how much was the book’s fault! lol I’ll be looking forward to your review though. 🙂
And The Blind Assassin rocks!!! I think I read it when I was 16 and a senior in high school…soooo good.
Eva: It’s tough to love books when you’re sick. I’m still thinking about the review, but I enjoyed Mountains Beyond Mountains quite a bit. And The Blind Assassin was awesome… I can’t wait to re-read it!
I’m glad you are enjoying The Blind Assassin so much! I’ve been reading longer books lately, so not much progress of fun-I-can’t-put-them-down books yet!
Rebecca: You’ll get some can’t put down books soon 🙂 It was fun to invest the time in a long book that was actually awesome.
I enjoyed Mountains beyond Mountains too, because it’s not something I knew anything about before reading it. I read it only because it was the common book at Otterbein College a few years ago.
Jeanne: It’s been a common book at a few different colleges, for good reason I think. I didn’t know anything about the organization or Farmer’s work before the book either, so I thought it was fascinating.