It’s about to go down

It’s been a while since my last post, and of course, this situation must and will be corrected.

Including today, there’s only 3 days left in the fifteen year of reading. Fortunately, there’s only 314 pages left to reach this year’s goal of 64,942, but more importantly, there’s an opportunity to surpass the amazing results that year fourteen presented.

You might ask what should I do to make this happen, well, only read a total of 1,172 pages in the next 3 days, and I’ll be celebrating not only my 42th birthday but also the second year on a row to register more than 65,000 pages.

Those results keep well on the road to reach the coveted 1,000,000-page mark by my 50th birthday. Right now, my projections put me 7 years, 9 months, and 27 days behind schedule, but this number is rapidly decreasing. For example, on March 13 of this year, I was 8 years, 10 months, and 17 days behind schedule. In only 3 months of reading, I knocked down more than a year of lost ground.

It’s safe to say that this gives me great hope for what’s to come.

Off to read.

azr

Estrellas y Dragones, Episode 3: Nightflyers by George R.R Martin

The latest episode of the podcast Estrellas y Dragones, in which, I colaborate with my dear friend Dred from the blog Lo que leemos , has just dropped.

We discussed the 1980 novella Nightflyers by famous author George R.R. Martin. This particular work was nominated for a Hugo and won the Locus Award for best novella in 1981. The author, better known for his epic fantasy Saga of A Song of Fire and Ice, gives us an enthralling science fiction horror story that is equal parts Aliens and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Be sure to check out the episode on Spotify. The link is above, or in any platform, that you get your podcasts. Or if you prefer to see the video version of it, you can catch us on YouTube.

Off to read.

azr

Daily Journal: May 13, 2023

After a much needed rest, I’m back to try and conquer this year’s goals, and more importantly, getting back to my previous writing rhythm with these daily entries.

Today’s reading has been a bit slower than what I had in mind coming into the weekend, but it’s better not to focus on what I haven’t done and instead try to salvage a bit of the day with a last effort before succumbing to sleep.

As tradition dictates, the month of May is mainly focused, from May 4 to May 25, to read anything from the many tales from a Galaxy far, far away. I have already finished a couple of books, Ahsoka and Before the Awakening, and right now, I’m working on a pretty interesting story of the training of infamous Sith Lord Darth Maul.

In The Wrath of Darth Maul, we bear witness to the cruel methods of Darth Sidious in order to obtain a worthy apprentice in the dark sith arts. Although this story is not part of the official story canon, there’s a lot of ties to the events that are portrait in both the Prequel Trilogy and the Clone Wars series. Regardless of what the new direction of the universe has taken, I still have plans to go over the more than 100 books from the Legends series. There are some true gems waiting to be discovered.

To top things off , there’s a couple of printed graphic novels that I bought quite some time ago. One from the High Republic era and one from the Bounty Hunters storyline that takes place in the Rebellion era. This little reading marathon is the perfect excuse to jump into what has been going on in the current storyline and maybe try and play catch-up.

Off to read.

azr

Perpetual motion, or, how to read 9,000 pages in 26 days

The end is nigh

Not in an apocalyptic way, but at least for my fifteen year of reading, the clock is ticking away, and let me tell you, I’m not even close to where my total should be. Of course, this gives me purpose.

The pressing number for the last 26 days of my reading year is 9,125 pages. This magical number comes from one of my many projections. With that gargantuan number, I’ll balance out this year’s reading, offsetting the enormous amount of surplus pages that have stacked up over the years, more than 200,000 pages in all.

With a little over 8 years to get to the coveted 1,000,000-page mark, I’m looking for at least 65,000 pages for each of the remaining years. This makes any extra pages a necessity to come out victorious and finish the last sentence of the last book, sitting in a beautiful space surrounded by books, with a light drizzle making beautiful and calming music.

But as always, there’s an immediate task to tackle in order to savor the final result right now it’s to read around 350 daily pages from today until my 42th birthday.

Off to read.

azr

P.S.

I’ll keep you posted with the return of my Daily Journal entries.

One month

I’m exactly one month from wrapping up year number fifteen of my quest to read 1,000,000 pages, and there’s still a whole lot of reading left to do.

In case you’re wondering, my total so far is 53,965, which puts me about 29 days behind schedule. In previous posts, I was toying with the idea of putting in place a rigorous reading schedule to achieve at least a total that would balance out the enormous surplus of pages from past years. I have done so, with really satisfactory results.

Right now, there are two numbers that have become the main focus of my final ride of the year. The first is 10,882 pages. This particular number is to contribute with some extra pages to counteract my weaker years. With the time left, I will have to read an average of 360 pages to do so, not a walk in the park but also not so farfetched as to not deem it feasible.

The second number is 11,835 pages, being the exact number to surpass by 1 page, my best year. Although year number fifteen has become my second best year, I’ll always strive to make each year my best, if only by 1 page. In order to achieve such an enormous task, I would have to read an average of 395, not as far removed as the number to balance out the year, so of course, this is the real focal point of the remaining month.

The thing that keeps me going forward is that the first half of my project is well within reach, which means that I’m only 29,659 pages away from the 500,000-page mark, putting the projected date on April 4, 2024.

I’ll keep an eye on the prize and work on hitting my marks for the current year.

Off to read.

azr

Itineribus: Two of my favorite spots in The Land of Enchantment

The state of New Mexico, located in the southwest of the United States of America, does justice to its nickname, The Land of Enchantment. You can find a wide variety of vistas, from sweeping desert landscapes to alpine forests with a healthy dose of snow in the winter, this enigmatic land has a lot of places to explore.

Sometimes you have to disconnect to reconnect, and the two places that I had the privileged to visit in this little getaway have a special place in my heart, going back to really pleasant childhood memories. I have visited them several times, but they never cease to amaze me.

The first stop was White Sands National Park, as the name tells really clearly, the park consists of around 710 square kilometers of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals, making it the largest of its kind on Earth. The best course of action when visiting this magical place is to take off your shoes and socks, to walk barefoot on the rolling dunes, believe me not, but you can feel the stress melt away and get swept away by the wind to get lost in the ancient mountains that surround this beautiful desert landscape.

The second stop was City of Rocks State Park, located between the cities of Deming and Silver City, also in the State of New Mexico, this geological formation comprised of large rocks columns is believed to have formed around 35 millions years ago with the eruption of a large volcano, with the power of erosion over millions of years, it formed what resembles the skyline of an ancient city. You can get lost between and the nooks and crannies, and find some really confortable stone chairs to listen to the wind and catch up on your reading, or under the enormous trees, while you take the amazing landscape that the Chihuahuan desert can provide.

In all, this was a very amazing weekend getaway, it was the perfect opportunity to recharge my batteries in my beloved desert, nothing but sunshine and clean air. I hope explore a few more places in this amazing land, there are few places in the near future, including a few ones that I haven’t yet been, anyone interest in a UFO crash site?

Until next time, safe travels.

azr

Daily Journal: April 23, 2023

I had grand plans for today, being World Book Club, one of the most important celebrations for us book lovers. Although not all what I envisioned for today’s festivities came to be, it was a very productive and fun day.

I still have around 8 pages left on my self-imposed daily quota. This is to finish by the end of April with the magnificent book The Ship of Magic, written by incomparable Robin Hobb. I must confess that there’s was a certain struggle at the beginning of reading to catch the flow of the book, but once the story progressed, it hooks you in.

The progress for today could have been a lot better, right now by total for the day is 336 pages, giving me 1,739 total pages for week number 46 of this year of reading. The optimum outcome for this week would have been finishing with a total of 2,058 pages, an extra 319 pages from where I stand right now, but there’s always another opportunity with the upcoming week.

The month of April, with the calendar pages rapidly falling, leaving a little less than a week to go, has a total of 7,239 pages, leaving me 1,221 pages to read in 6 days. As I said before, these extra pages are with the intention of giving me a fighting chance to reach the coveted 64,000-page mark in the end of the year, considering that after April finishes, I have only 37 days before the finish line.

Tomorrow, I’ll tally all that is missing in my digital log, and probably, if the day’s isn’t a smorgasbord of activities, I will post a “Numbers” entry, that is way overdue.

Off to read.

azr

Daily Journal: April 22, 2023

Just a quick one,so I can get back to reading. The good news is that this week’s quota has already been fulfilled, and then some. My total sits at 1,376, which is 116 extra pages, with one more day and a special day that I have in-store tomorrow, but more on that later.

My total for April is now 6,876. There’s still 1,584 pages left on my secondary objective. It will seem that 9 days to get that vast amount of reading done as an impossible task, but judging by my recent reading rhythm, this will be a cake walk.

To close out the day, I’ll be focusing on hitting the page mark on Robin Hobb’s The Ship of Magic. I will continue to pursue my goal of finishing by April 30, which gives around 51 daily pages. In celebration of tomorrow’s festivities, I’ll probably set the goal to read double duties, and just for the fun of it, throw a mini marathon with two simple goals, 12 hours of reading, for which the clock is already ticking, and 600 pages to close down some gaps.

Off to read.

azr

Daily Journal: April 21, 2023

Today’s reading started kind of slow. I’ll say it again, if I don’t stick to my routine, my numbers start to dwindle, and to get any sort of rhythm back is nearly impossible. But worry not, there are a couple of very promising hours left in the day, the perfect way to finish any Friday night, spoken as the genuine geek that I am.

Although this slow start, the numbers for the week are looking pretty solid. The current total for week number 46 of the year is 1,183 pages, just 77 shy of the weekly quota. On the monthly reading front, as I posted some days ago, the quota has been achieved, and there’s the new goal of chipping away some of those pesky surplus pages from past weeks in order to balance out the final effort toward the ultimate goal of the year. As of now, I still have 1,777 pages left. It is not impossible but requires some extra effort.

To close today’s effort, I’ll try to read the two volumes left on my shelf of the manga series Berserk, To my disappointment, the next volume, number 20, hasn’t been reprinted, for now I’ll enjoy volumes 18 and 19, for volume number 17 was devoured last night before I went to bed.

I also started, or better said, resumed with Robin Hobb’s The Ship of Magic to keep things rolling and not neglect this amazing series, I put in place an incentive/badge plan to finish the book by April 30. There’s always room for some rewards in order to sweeten the already satisfaction that is to have the opportunity to get lost in different adventures each and every day.

Off to read.

azr

Daily Journal: April 20, 2023

Yesterday’s reading hit the perfect mark, not as rambunctious as the day before, but 234 total pages are the perfect result for a busy weekday. Coming into the 4th day of the week, my goal for the week is still well within reach, 396 pages in what’s left off today, and the whole weekend, a walk in the park.

The other two pending goals are a different story. To balance out the past weeks surplus pages, I still have 1,194, a bit more challenging than the simple week quota. Now, for the whole monthly quota, there’s still 2,096 pages left, a bit more manageable, but still quite the gargantuan task to undertake in the 10 days left on the month.

As always, I have my contingency plan all work out for today’s last session in the company of volume seventeen of the Manga series Berserk, I’m coming to the last consecutive number of the series, there’s the issue of not finding a reprint of volume twenty, so sadly there’s only three more volumes before I’ll have to shelf it until that coveted number is reprinted, let’s hope it wouldn’t be another two years of waiting.

But instead of focusing on the bad, I’ll redirect my attention. Once volumes 17, 18, and 19 of Berserk are on my read column to continue the long trek thru the fifty volumes of Fairy Tail, currently on volume 12. Let’s see what misadventures our heroes from these particular wizard guild get into.

The one part that has been neglected enormously is my progress with my current book, The Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I’ll work it to integrate more reading sessions exclusively to get some rhythm going. I’m still on the fence about what to read next, maybe continue with the two other books from Robin Hobb’s Trilogy, or jump into A.P. Beswick’s Levanthria Series.

Let’s see how things play out.

Off to read.

azr