Esto no es una canción de amor by Abril Posas

I have finished the second book of Paraiso Perdido’s reading challenge, and the second one I read from author Abril Posas.

As with the previous book, El triunfo de la memoria, she evokes some really strong connections with the past, and how we create a mythology around our memories.

Growing up on the 90’s, and losing my mother recently, hit some strong emotional fibers, and I can safely say that I loved this book.

I also remember Eddie Vedder closing his eyes, letting the lyrics guide him thru the emotional maelstrom, and connecting with the music with music on a deeper level, making it my first solace and shelter.

For now, I am off to read.

azr.

100-day march, (Y-13) edition

Yesterday marked the beginning of my final 100 days of reading for year thirteen of this challenge to read 1,000,000 pages.

This year is a particularly special one, for one it’s the shortest in length, secondly it’s the first one that will end at my birthday, the date that eventually will become the last day of this trek in 2031, and lastly it marks the start of the final decade of the project.

My immediate goal is to read the remaining 21,908 pages of this year, and device a plan for the next 10 years, that by the look of it ,they are going to be massive ones, with around 60,000-page goal each in order to reach my coveted goal.

With this up ahead of me, I better get back to reading.

azr.

Paraiso Perdido’s reading challenge, February

I have only 4 days to finish the second book of Paraiso Perdido’s monthly reading challenge.

It is the turn of the newest book by Abril Posas, Esto no es una canción de amor, which translates to This is not a love song.

And the fact that opens up with a quote from P.J. Harvey, it just it bodes good omens.

For now, I am off to read.

azr.

Deadlines are coming

It will appear that every single one of this year’s goals are closing in.

That most immediate one is to finish the eight volume of The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Toll the Hounds, currently on page 696 of 1269, and with 10 days left on my deadline, it’s time to step it up.

On a bigger scale, I have 103 days left on year thirteen, and little over 20,000 pages left to read, that means that on Friday I’ll start my infamous 100 day march, all the way up to the metaphorical top of my reading mountain.

Let’s see how it plays out, I’ll rely on all my tricks, and specially on caffeine.

For now, I am off to read.

azr.

Short story challenge, day 18

I’m back after a forced hiatus, and to be completely honest, I haven’t read all these days, but hopefully I’ll pick right up where I left off.

For today short story I come back to the adventures of The Cimmerian, today’s tale is Iron Shadows in the Moon, originally published in Weird Tales of April 1934, where Conan faces the deathly Red Brotherhood.

For now, I am off to read.

azr

Still breathing… the really cold air

After a very interesting week, from power outages due to a massive winter storm, all of Monday we where without power, to the first, and probably the only snowy day of all this winter, I am glad that it’s finally going back to normal.

The only cool thing was that my wife read to all of us, me and my 9 and 6 year old, Harry Potter and the Sorcerors Stone, and of course watching snow is always a pleasant sight.

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Hopefully, my reading will follow suit, and gets back on track, because as this days passed, it’s ice cold.

For now, I am off to read

azr

Short story challenge, day 11

I have been crazy busy, but no so much that I couldn’t read for a little bit.

The last two days I completed my task of reading a couple of short stories, still working on Wizards and The Coming of Conan The Cimmerian anthologies, on thursday was the turn of Conan, with the story of The Scarlet Citadel, in which our friend The Cimmerian is already king.

Yesterday’s story was from Wizards, The Ruby Incomparable, written by Kage Baker, in which two unlikely forces come together and create a world changing creature, I loved how the story develops so beautifully in such short number of pages.

For today I’ll go back to our friend the Barbarian, and one of his most iconic adventures, Queen of the Black Coast, with the mystifying Pirate Queen Bêlit.

I am more than thrilled of how this little project is going, I have only missed one day, and to find, hidden away in my bookshelves, more short story collections, gives me great hope of finishing successfully.

Lots of adventures ahead of me.

For now, I am off to read.

azr.

Short story challenge, day eight

I have forgotten how good was the story The Tower of the Elephant from Conan The Cimmerian, it showcases some of the weirdness of the creatures from the vast menagerie that The Barbarian faces.

Today, I went back to Wizards anthology, to enjoy a fantastic tale by Mary Rosenblum, involving wizards, fading building, and the color of words.

On another note, I am very excited to tell that I have found a couple of new books of short story collections, I’ll share them tomorrow.

For now, I am off to read.

azr.

Balancing act, part seven

This weekend’s readathon didn’t yield the outcome I hoped for, this of course entirely my fault.

I read for about 5 hours, and only 300 pages, not what I was hoping for.

But that’s a missed opportunity, one ot will not happen again, as I check the numbers left for this year of reading,I find the window is closing to achieve my goal, and leave the next 10 year of my project as I predicted.

This gives me a pathway, and motivation, to reach those goals, starting of with my balancing act for February, from which, I still have 6,545 pages to go.

This with the endgame of reading the 37,984 that make up this year’s goal, from which I still have 22,733 pages to go, and about 119 days to do so.

As all the times I feel discouraged, or overwhelmed by my task, I ask for assistance to some of my favorite characters, and authors.

This is the bounty to help me along the way.

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Let’s get to it.

azr

Short story challenge, day seven

After I few hiccups, and one missed day, I am back on track with my mini project, the last story I read, Holly and Iron, from the anthology Wizards, written by Garth Nix, made me want to get into his alternative reality of the magical Ingland, and it’s already on my never ending wish list.

Today I will be going back to the adventures of The infamous Cimmerian Conan, this time is Tower of the Elephant, first published in Weird Tales of March 1933.

For now, I am off to read.

azr