Numbers: June 7, 2021

Today marks a very special occasion, the end and beginning of a year, number thirteen makes way for number fourteen, the first to start one day after my birthday and the inaugural year of my last decade to reach 1,000,000 pages.

Now for the update of my final numbers of (Y-13)

• Total pages : 25,034
• Best month: May, 2021 with 4,991 total pages
• Worst month: February, 2021 with 1,688 total pages
• Best day: November 8, 2020 with 710 total pages
• Daily Average: 105 pages
• Percentage read from goal : 66%
• Total items read: 171
  • Books : 24
  • Comics: 76
  • Graphic Novels/Manga : 71

On my notebook, I have a page that I call days left, where I check off each reading day with a color that represent that day’s progress, from the dreadful 0 to the blissful 500 or more pages this is how it turn out.

Because it was a short year, I didn’t adjust the grid, hence the white mess on the page of the right, to resume my reading days where as follow:

• O total pages: 3 days
• 1 to 50 total pages : 79 days
• 51 to 100 total pages : 60 days
• 101 to 150 total pages : 50 days
• 151 to 299 total pages : 42 days
• More than 300 total pages : 10 days
• More than 500 total pages : 3 days

As you can see it was pretty decent year, with the total from this year the goal to start off this decade of reading will be 64,942 for (Y-14) , and hopefully it will stay at least that number for the subsequent years.

On the broader picture I start this new year with some good news, the new date for reaching my first 500,000 pages, from which I still have 150,337 pages left , is October 23, 2026, a 32 day gain from the last projection.

Now for the golden prize of 1,000,000 pages, to my delight the projections puts it 8,538 days away, a 88 day gain from last projection, which would mean that the end date is October 22, 2044, that’s 4,888 days after the original plan, 78 days less that the last projection, to start this fresh year with such good progress it only predicts that this will be an amazing run.

As I posted before this year will be focused on Science Fiction books, I have some amazing things lined up, but to start, I’ll journey into the imagination of one of Kevin J. Anderson and the critically acclaimed Saga of the Seven Suns.

Let the festivities begin.

Off to read.

azr

Last day, 1 book, and 129 pages

Today is my 40th birthday, and thus, the end of my reading year.

I just finish the last story of the Wizards anthology, an amazing tale of stone and water mages by the extremely talented Orson Scott Card, I have a few of his books on next year’s reading list.

This moves the final goal I set to close out the year to small task, one more book that will give me more than the 129 pages that I need to reach 25,000 pages.

Said book is Réquiem por Tijuana, on page 34 of 163, which right now I’m enjoying with a cup of black coffee while I ponder what to read after the festivities, and how much coffee the human body can take.

Tomorrow I’ll post my end of the year recap, my new notebook to keep track of my daily reading, the goals for the year, and the first book of the upcoming year, focused on science fiction.

Off to celebrate.

azr.

1 day, 2 books, and 529 pages

It will appear than my progress toward crossing the 25,000-page mark for this year of reading has gone out the window, but fear not, everything is right on schedule.

I have the last story left on the Wizards anthology, Orson Scott Card’s Stonefather, which I am prepare to take on right about now, and I decided to finish the first volume of DC Comics 52, I left it on page 354 when I started my Star Wars readathon, it seems a great opportunity to finish this intriguing storyline and sum up a considerable amount of pages to the end of the year.

This morning’s reading started on a really high and funny note, this thanks to the amazing creator owned comic book I Hate Fairyland, by the brilliant Skottie Young.

The first issue is available for free in Comixology, and I just put all the volumes of Gertudre’s misadventures on my wish list.

On a side note, this week’s numbers report will be a close of the year post with my final tally and the goals for the upcoming year fourteen of reading.

Off to read.

azr.

2 days, 2 books, and 561 pages

Yesterday I finished reading Lejanos guerreros, the clash of two warrior cultures, but more than this, it is the story of a young samurai coming of age in a strange and luscious land, I only wish it was a bit longer.

And as you can see I have edge a bit closer to my final goal of this year, with just finishing Wizards, on page 299 of 400, and Réquiem por Tijuana, on page 35 of 163, I would have more than enough to cross the 25,000-page mark.

Between these two books I’ll throw in some of the Star Wars comic books left from my May the 4th buying frenzy.

Off to read.

azr.

3 days, and 725 pages

Finally!

The first pages registered in a few days, this was starting to see as an exercise in futility.

As I posted yesterday, my afternoon , the little free time squeeze in between my father duties and class, was spent in a galaxy far, far away, about 36,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, following the adventures in exile in the prison planet Bogan of Xesh the Force Hunter, the once known Expanded Universe is full really good material, it seems like a wasted opportunity.

For today I have already the really short story from the Wizards anthology, Billy and the Wizard by Terry Bisson, it would be a good idea to close out the day with the next story, The Magikkers by Terry Dowling.

For the rest of the day my focus will be trying to finish Lejanos guerreros, currently on page of 47 of 116.

Off to read.

azr

4 days, and still 821 pages

I am currently working on finishing the Anthology Wizards, the plan is to read one story each of the remaining days, today’s story of the enigmatic Tanith Lee.

Just to finish this amazing stories will give me 400 of the 821 pages that I need to close out the year with 25,000 total pages.

Let’s see if I can register some pages today, I’m thinking off takinh a midday reading break with some of the Origin of the Jedi comic books that I bought during my May the 4th buying frenzy.

Off to read.

azr.

5 days, 3 books, and 821 pages

As I edge closer to the end of this year there are still things left to achieve, the goal of reaching 25,000 total pages is well within reach.

There are only 821 pages in between me and the satisfaction of naming this year a productive one.

Yesterday, I finish a couple of books, the straggler from my short story challenge The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, and a very delightful surprise, La última sonrisa en Sunder City, the Fantasy-noir adventures of Fetch Phillips, I must say that the world building by author Luke Arnold is astonishing, can’t wait for the next chapter, which will come out on the same Spanish edition some time next year .

For today’s reading, I will try to read at least two short stories from the Anthology Wizards, and a couple of chapters from Lejanos Guerreros, a samurai story during the Colonial period in Mexico.

I’ll check-in tomorrow to update my progress.

Off to read.

azr.

Last week

The final countdown has begun, this last week of my reading is going to be fucking epic.

The goal is to reach the 25,000-page mark, that leaves me with 1,803 pages to read, which includes next Sunday an integral part of the celebration of my 40th birthday.

The game plan is pretty straightforward, finish the two books of short stories that I started a few months ago, The Coming of Conan The Cimmerian and Wizards.

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The next crazy feat will be to finish three books, La última sonrisa en Sunder City by Luke Arnold, this morning I passed the halfway point and to be completely honest I don’t want it to end, odds are that I will be done with it by the end of the day. The other two are from my favorite Independent publishing house, Paraiso Perdido, Lejanos guerreros by Héctor Palacios and Réquiem por Tijuana by Néstor Robles, they have been in my radar for quite a while, I mean samurais, music, and the supernatural, how can I pass the opportunity.

And to start off this week’s festivities the right way, I’ll start with two graphic novels, Detective Comics and Dawn of X Vol. 3, and the ninth volume of the legendary Manga Berserk, I am still in shock from the departure of sensei Kentaro Miura, his creative genius will be greatly missed.

Off to read

azr.

Numbers: May 28, 2021

Now that I have completed my Star Wars reading marathon the results were completely overwhelming, as I posted earlier in the week my total was a whopping 4,285 pages, and this showed up in a big way in this week’s report.

Now for the update off my progress..

My current total is 23,197 of the 37, 984 pages of this year’s goal, and I have 10 days left on this year, and as hope dies last the goal still is 25,000 pages.

In so so news, my reading schedule gained a little bit of ground , it changed from 89 days to 85 days behind, hopefully this last 10 days will be over-productive, and my participation prize

The projections for total pages for the year sits at 24,210 a much needed 1,146 page improvement from last week, a breath of fresh air from the embarrassing 6 page improvement from last week.

On the broader picture, my numbers show the kind of momentum I expect to see each and every week moving forward for the last decade of this part of my project, oh yes I have some grand plans for after the 1,000,000 but that

The new date for reaching my first 500,000 pages, now down to 151,260 pages, 1,774 less pages that last week, and the new date is November 21, 2026, this kind of gain, 26 days closer to my goal, make me think that the original end date of March 20, 2023, its an achievable goal .

Now for the golden prize of 1,000,000 pages, to my delight the projections puts it 8,626 days away, a 54 day gain from last week, which would mean that the end date is January 8, 2045, that’s 4,966 days after the original plan, 48 days less that last week, this kind of boost inject new life into my motivation.

To summary the numbers from my Journey Back, here are this week’s final numbers:

• Pages to reach 500,000: 151,260 pages (1,774 pages less than last week)
• Days to reach 1,000,000: 8,626 days (54 days less than last week)
• Days behind schedule: 4,966 days (48 days less than last week)

What concerns the next decade of reading, this week’s adjustment show a bit of improvement on my yearly average and my daily average, they finish like this:

• Pages needed/year: 65,126 (177 pages less than last week)
• Pages needed/day: 178 (1 less than last week)

I’m aiming to at least be at the middle 64,000 pages to start off the next decade of reading, and of course keep on working to decrease it to under 50,000 pages for the last 5 years.

This week, which leads up to my birthday, is always a really productive, one of my annual gifts is peace and quiet, a book, lots of coffee, and new goodies to keep me on track, my beautiful wife always gets me the coolest things that end up being essential to my daily reading routine.

Let’s see what new books join my ever-growing ranks of my book shelves

Off to read.

azr.

What a trip thru hyperspace

Yesterday was the last day of my three week long Star Wars readathon, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

I had the intention to write earlier the outcome of the readathon, but yesterday I was fortunate enough to finally receive my one dose Covid-19 vaccine, and with it came some mild side effects, mainly sleepiness, so today I had a bit of a slow start.

Now, my final page count sits at 4,285 not quite the 5,000 pages of my original goal, but to average over 1,400 pages each week it is an amazing achievement.

But my favorite part was that I could read one book for each week of the challenge, the first two weeks were devoted to stories from The Old Republic, and the third week to a story during The Clone Wars.

Alongside these three amazing books, I also took a trip all along the timeline, this thru 12 graphic novels and 15 comic books.

This was a great booster to close out this reading year on a high note, and these 11 days left are going to be completely epic.

Off to read.

azr.