Leni's coping with 2020 log

[Leni]

I used to take part in all sorts of reading challenges and reading groups, and I kept logs and wrote reviews etc etc. Then, in December I just tanked, because reasons, and started just reading holiday themed books and barely even bothering to mark them as read on Goodreads. And for the first five months of 2020 I have almost exclusively and obsessively read "guilty pleasures" from Kindle Unlimited. Loads of MM Romance and a sprinkling of Urban Fantasy (SFF, and especially Urban/Paranormal Fantasy has long been my go to when I'm feeling down. My MM Romance obsession is new, and somewhat surprising to me). I just didn't have the will, inclination, energy, or focus for anything else.

During Dewey's 24 hour readathon I branched out and read a few chapters in multiple different genres, and it felt good. Like a brief return to a temporarily misplaced part of myself. But it was only as June rolled in that I felt ready to look up from my Kindle. Now, I'm not about to cancel my KU subscription. I still need my fix. But I am ready to read some of my physical books, and maybe some of the many books on my Kindle that I own. But baby steps. No entering into a bunch of challenges. But maybe keeping a little log here would be nice. We're still in lockdown and life is just weird, for that and other reasons, and I need some sort of... goal? Structure? Rythm? Sense of getting something done? Enjoyment in life? Yeah, all of those, I suppose.

[Leni]

I'm backdating this to the beginning of June, since that's when I had my slight "awakening". I'm focusing on a combination of finishing books I have previously started and reading physical books that have been on my shelf for a while, with emphasis on finishing series I started long ago.

My challenging book for the next couple of months is


I started it two summers ago, and did the 10 pages per day thing, where it takes three months to complete and there are forum posts on a dedicated website to follow. It was hard going at times, but I really enjoyed it. For some reason I stopped 650 pages in. I was even at a really dramatic point and I have often though about the characters and wondered and worried what would happen next. I don't know why I stopped reading. Well, I've started over now, because there are so many characters and timelines to keep track of. And it is much easier going this time, so I'm slightly ahead of schedule. Might try to do it in two months.

I'm also trying to finish the books I started (and then promptly abandoned) during Dewey's.
I have completed this interesting but not terribly well written memoir:



And I have almost finished this horror graphic novel, which has been kind of a disappointment to me because it is so "male fantasy" and I have read another and much, much better work by the same author:



After that I will complete



which is enjoyable but slow going.

I have also picked up a trilogy that I started in 2017.


I really liked the first book, but it was so self contained I didn't feel the need to leap into the second book. I have now re-read the first book (still enjoyable), read the second book (enjoyable, but not as good), and have started the third.

[Jamie]

I read Pnin a few years ago, and I think I liked it well enough, but not enough apparently for it to stand out against all the other Russian novels I've read.
I realized this month that I have been reading far too much fiction and needed some nonfiction, so I'm on a history theme for a bit, mostly WW1 and WW2 general histories.

[Leni]

Jamie wrote: "I read Pnin a few years ago, and I think I liked it well enough, but not enough apparently for it to stand out against all the other Russian novels I've read.
I realized this month that I have bee..."

Yes, it took me a ridiculous amount of time to get through the first half of Pnin. On the meta-level and from a writing technique point of view there's quite a bit to Pnin, but there isn't much actually going on. It's just a mildly comic and frequently tragic look at university professors and Russian emigrées, and it's very episodical. Usually I don't mind a lack of plot if the characters are interesting and the writing good, but here it just didn't grip me until the second half. So if I were to make a list of my favourite novels by Russian authors (which I am not going to do), it wouldn't be on the list. It's not even my favourite Nabokov (and I've only read a total of three of his books). I didn't dislike it though.

[Leni]

I need to make a new stack to work through so I don't just default to whatever catches my eye on KU.

I've fallen behind on Infinite Jest so I plan to focus on that. I'd really like to read Midnight's Children and the second Gormenghast book, but I know it's a bad idea to start either of those while I'm still reading IJ. But at least I have a plan there. Infinite Jest, then Midnight's Children, then Gormenghast.

Meanwhile I'll read:


Because chilling with the odd fantasy short story in between other books is always good.


I've read the original quartet so many times, and finally read the short stories two years ago, but still haven't read the final book. Why? Maybe because it's not about Ged. Maybe because I don't want it to end. Then again, there's another short story set after this book, so I guess it isn't truly the end.




I've had the first three Jason Bourne books for a while. I'm curious about them after seeing the movies, especially since Ludlum fans have told me that they were totally baffled by the demise of Marie in movie 2.


More short stories. I love du Maurier's writing style. I might put this in my stack for the upcoming reverse readathon.