![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Turn the Page
Jan. 19th, 2021 10:25 amI'm about halfway through reading The Dragonbone Chair, which I've had on my shelves for years and never actually got around to reading. So far I'm enjoying it, and I've found it's a trilogy, so that gives me something to look for. I'm still on this project of reading books I already own, and it's allowed me to further pare down my library as I start something, decide I don't like it and won't finish it, and it goes into the "donate" box for the Friends of the Library.
When people freaked out over Marie Kondo talking about only owning thirty books and said stuff like "this woman is a monster," I at first thought it was funny, because I thought the comments were hyperbolic for the sake of humor. Then I found out they were serious and was horrified both at the vitriol aimed at her for the supposed crime of only owning thirty books, and at how badly I miss social cues. Like that wasn't even a "whoooosh" because I was nowhere near close enough to even feel the breeze as it passed by.
I know typically reading more is good, but for the last five or six years I've been setting - and hitting - a fifty book per year reading goal. After ditching GoodReads I did not set a reading goal for 2021 and so far ... I kinda like it. I'm obviously not going to stop reading altogether, but the pressure is off for the next twelve months. I can just read what I want and enjoy it and if I don't feel like reading (too tired, too scatterbrained, etc) I don't need to force myself to knock out ten pages of some boring tome I picked up because it'll look good on my friends list.
I guess it's a little like having a refeed after you've been on a strict diet for a while. I needed a period to reset. Even if the only other things I read this year are manga it doesn't matter. Manga is still reading. And I don't need to defend my intellectual status or anything by spending more time deciphering marks on a piece of paper. After I got my degree, that summer I read one book. That book was Lonesome Dove which is not an inconsiderable novel. In fact it's a heckin' big chonker. But the point stands - I took a couple of months off and when I did read a book I read an adventurous Western story. And it's a hell of a good book, too, I'd highly recommend it, and I'm not even a particular fan of Western novels.
The Dragonbone Chair is a chonker, too, around 700 pages worth. But as I said, no timetable involved, no need to finish before January 31 or anything. And I'd probably be further along but some nights I'm up gaming a little later. I mean hey, I'm on the final boss in Hollow Knight, and yesterday I switched my charms up and found a pretty good combo that allowed me to get a lot further in that fight than I've been previously. I've got a couple of good games going right now but being on the last stage of a game is kind of exciting, ya know?
When people freaked out over Marie Kondo talking about only owning thirty books and said stuff like "this woman is a monster," I at first thought it was funny, because I thought the comments were hyperbolic for the sake of humor. Then I found out they were serious and was horrified both at the vitriol aimed at her for the supposed crime of only owning thirty books, and at how badly I miss social cues. Like that wasn't even a "whoooosh" because I was nowhere near close enough to even feel the breeze as it passed by.
I know typically reading more is good, but for the last five or six years I've been setting - and hitting - a fifty book per year reading goal. After ditching GoodReads I did not set a reading goal for 2021 and so far ... I kinda like it. I'm obviously not going to stop reading altogether, but the pressure is off for the next twelve months. I can just read what I want and enjoy it and if I don't feel like reading (too tired, too scatterbrained, etc) I don't need to force myself to knock out ten pages of some boring tome I picked up because it'll look good on my friends list.
I guess it's a little like having a refeed after you've been on a strict diet for a while. I needed a period to reset. Even if the only other things I read this year are manga it doesn't matter. Manga is still reading. And I don't need to defend my intellectual status or anything by spending more time deciphering marks on a piece of paper. After I got my degree, that summer I read one book. That book was Lonesome Dove which is not an inconsiderable novel. In fact it's a heckin' big chonker. But the point stands - I took a couple of months off and when I did read a book I read an adventurous Western story. And it's a hell of a good book, too, I'd highly recommend it, and I'm not even a particular fan of Western novels.
The Dragonbone Chair is a chonker, too, around 700 pages worth. But as I said, no timetable involved, no need to finish before January 31 or anything. And I'd probably be further along but some nights I'm up gaming a little later. I mean hey, I'm on the final boss in Hollow Knight, and yesterday I switched my charms up and found a pretty good combo that allowed me to get a lot further in that fight than I've been previously. I've got a couple of good games going right now but being on the last stage of a game is kind of exciting, ya know?
