The last breath before the plunge

With exactly one week to go in my year of reading, and 1,037 pages to get to the ultimate goal. I must remind myself to.

Take a deep breath.

Remain focus

And, most of all, DO NOT FUCK IT UP.

With this motivational speech, I’m bound to get pass the magic number. But you might ask, What are you reading to get pass this monumental milestone?

Well, let me show you.

I’m about 100 pages into the first story, chronologically speaking, of the now known as Star Wars Legends, in Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void, we follow the steps of the ancient padawans in their quest to become adepts of the Force.

To help along and motivate this final week, I went out and got some pretty interesting graphic novels.

This just fits perfectly with the 14 hours, of the 62 left for the month of May. I’ll push the envelope to get pass this year quota before the weekend.

Off to read.

azr

(Y-12) Quarantined days, update 22

I have been reading on a slower pace this passed week.

I have exactly 60 days to achieve two goals.

First, reach my goal of reading 41,665 pages, from which I am about 800 pages shy.

The second one, the 50 head hydra, is to read a whooping 50,000 total pages, from which I am about 9,343 pages away.

A monumental task is ahead of me, but I’ll take one page at a time.

And for that, I’ll start with two amazing graphic novels from French publishing house Delcourt, volumes two and three of Dwarves

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I solemnly swear to make daily update of these final tasks.

For now, I am off to read.

azr.

(Y-12) 30,000 pages and hungry for more

Yesterday was another great day of reading.

I finished Star Wars: Phasma, the origin story of the infamous chrome armored menace of the latest installments of the saga.

I found it really good, especially those little hints to Dune, and the writing by Delilah S. Dawson is top-notch, she keeps you glued to the book.

With these book under my belt, and a couple of graphic novels, I have reached another milestone on this year of reading, 30,000 pages.

This, coming 34 days before of what I originally projected .

Obviously this has given a tremendous confidence boost.

For my next books I will be going back to my favorite independent Mexican publishing house, Paraiso Perdido, with a couple of titles I have been meaning to read for a while.

On the graphic novel front, I’m going back home, that’s to my favorite comic book imprint, Vertigo Comics, responsible for Sandman, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, among many other classics.

To start off, or continue, I’ll finish Daytripper, created by the Brazilian dynamic duo of Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá.

Continuing with the first two volumes of Jason Aaroon’s Scalped.

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And to top it off, a manga of Death, Morpheus’ older sister, created by the incomparable Jill Thompson.

Some pretty cool things ahead of me.

40,000 pages, here I come.

For now, I am off to read.

azr.

(Y-12) Reading, more reading, and an extra day

I know, I know.

I have been away for close to two weeks, but it is safe to say that those days are over.

Although these last days have been really productive.

Including the extra day in February, because of 2020 being a leap year.

First of all, I finished some amazing graphic novels.

The first was the seminal work by legendary writer/illustrator Will Eisner, yeah the same who has the most prestigious award in the comic book industry.

This book comprised of three of his graphic novels set in the fictitious New York avenue Dropsie.

From different perspectives, different time periods, and different racial realities, this is one work all of graphic novel lovers must have in his library.

The next series I started and was Haunt by Robert Kirkman, of Walking Dead fame, illustrated by one of my first favorite artists, and comic book legend, Todd McFarlane.

This story remained me so much of McFarlane’s most famous creation, Spawn, this not as a bad thing, more like an exploration of the use of this character of his supernatural abilities as a special agent, and making this a conscious decision, unlike Spawn, who is thrown into a celestial conflict as a mere pawn.

Give it a chance, these are two amazing creators having some fun.

The first order of business for this week of reading is to continue with my current book, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first volume of the marvelous, and the really vast world of Dragonlance.

I have the first trilogy on deck, this is Chronicles storyline, after that, I’ll continue with the adventures of drow elf Drizzt, only to come back to read Dragonlance’s Legends Trilogy, Second Generation, and Dragons of Summer Flame novels to close out the books I have waiting on my shelf.

Parallel to this, and as I always do, I will be reading some graphic novels.

Off my shelves, I will be reading a classic Batman storyline, Knightfall.

Bane breaks the Bat.

This particular edition is new reprints in Spanish comprised of three oversized trade paperbacks of the entire storyline.

From my Kindle Unlimited subscription, I will pick up from where I left off, about 12 years ago, with the critically acclaimed series The Walking Dead.

The culprit of my 300,000 pages

The culprit of my 20,000 pages of this year

I have three volumes on deck, from 8 to 10 of the 32 that this long-running series has available.

I have some really good things line up.

Now let’s talk about my numbers.

This year of reading has been amazing.

My total for year twelve is 18,861 pages.

I am 24 days ahead of my reading schedule, this on the tail end of my best month of reading, February with a total of 5,249 net pages, and a perfect month, with all of the 29 days of reading with 115 pages or more.

Also, I am 941 pages to reach 300,000, my goal is to reach it before next weekend.

My focus now is to get my projected dates to reach the two major milestones of this project, reaching 500,000 and 1,000,000 pages.

Right now, according to my projections, I will reach the first 500,000 on the 28 of October 2027, that’s about 4 years later that I would like to.

Of course, this number has been coming down, and my current goal is to reach this first leg of the journey by March 20 of 2023.

In the case of the ultimate goal, my projections place me reaching 1,000,000 on November 17, 2046, that would mean that I will be 65 years old.

15 years too late.

With my current pace, I have great faith that when I am celebrating my 50th birthday, and will also be sitting in a beautiful library somewhere in the Pacific coastline of the United States, reading about some American deities as told my a crazy genius, English man.

But that is a story for another time.

I am off to read.

azr.

 

(Y-12) There is always a first time for everything

Right now I will be closing down my day with a bit of reading.

More specifically with a couple of great adventures.

Yesterday, late at night, I finished the fourth book of the amazing series The New Jedi Order, set 25 years after Episode IV, A New Hope.

With a new threat coming from outside the knowed galaxies, the New Republic must rallie to put a stop to the relentless Yuuzhan Vong.

We finally see the reappearance of our favorite scoundrel, Han Solo, who has been laying low after the tragedy in Serndipal, were he losses his partner in crime, Chewbacca.

But with this warriors cast wrecking havoc on the galaxy, Han must put his mourning aside, and fight once again for the faith of the galaxy.

Let’s see what’s in store in the fifth book of the series, Agents of Chaos-Jedi Eclipse.

The other adventure is an amazing graphic by José Luis Pescador, La caída de Tenochtitlan.

In which the everyday life inside the Aztec empire is beautifully depicted, and how the winds of war came rushing in to take down the gem that was the beautiful city of Tenochtitlan, the heart of the Aztec power.

This graphic is only available in Spanish, but I highly recommend that you learn the language in order to enjoy this amazing piece of art.

In other news, and for the first time in all of the twelve years I have been keeping track of my reading, I am on schedule, in fact, I am a bit ahead.

And to celebrate, I will read some more.

azr.

(Y-12) We Stand On Guard

Just finished We Stand on Guard, by the extremely talented Brian K. Vaughan, famous for comic book series like Saga or Pride of Baghdad.

On this occasion he writes about a dystopian future where The United States and Canada go to war, and the Great White North ends up being occupied by some robotic forces.

Not my favorite work by the author, but it is still an amazing graphic novel, the art work by Steve Skroce is phenomenal.

I am off to read.

azr.

(Y-12) Keep the spookiness rolling

We are 5 days until Halloween, and that means some monsters galore.

Up next in my reading, besides my traditional Frankenstein annual reading, is the first volume of the classic Marvel Comics series Werewolf by Night, the cursed man knowed as Jacob Russoff.

Created by Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog, he first appear in Marvel Spotlight #2 in 1972.

I pretended to read this last year, but now it is the perfect season to do so.

I am off to read.

azr.

(Y-11) Lights on

Finally, after 14 hours, the lights, and more importantly the A/C has comeback on.

Hopefully it will stay that way, and with the final days of reading before I hit the mark of 50 days to go on my year of reading, I’ll try to get down my total left to 11,000.

As I did yesterday, I will continue with the second volume of the graphic adaptation of the legendary Elric.

As the night falls, and heat does not gives in, I’ll be better be off to read.

azr.

(Y-11) Lights out

For the second night in a row we have experienced a total blackout, this means no A/C , and with the weather nice and crisp around 31 degrees Celsius, about 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

So what better way to forget this heat than with a sweaty midnight reading.

Because the lights are out and the batteries on my reading lamp are going out, I’ll have to read on my cellphone.

For this candlelight evening there is going to be a special guest, Elric of Melniboné.

The legendary albino created by Michael Moorcock.

Let’s hope the lights come back soon, if not at least I’ll have some great company.

Off to read.

azr.

(Y-11) new comic books and close to another milestone

Today I went to picked up some back issues that were back order and picked up a few other things.

With these I almost complete my Dragonero collection, it has 17 issues printed in Mexico, this of the more of 50 that exist in Italy.

I grabbed the third issue of the paranormal adventures of Dylan Dog, and back order the first two issues.

And finally, a couple of graphic novels.

The Magic Order by Mark Millar and Transmetropolitan, the third volume, by Warren Ellis.

On the front of my total reading for this year, I am really close to 38,000 pages and pledged to reach 40,000 by the 15 of this month, that gives me 12 days to read a little over 2,000 pages.

And on that note.

Off to read.

azr.