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BOOKS READ:
- Golden Girls #16 (Camp Confidential), Melissa J. Morgan
- Premium Rush, David Koepp
- Sleepwalk With Me, Mike Birbiglia & Seth Barrish
- Bad News Bears, Michael Ritchie
- Looper, Rian Johnson
So this is what it feels like to be in a slump. Last month I read one book. This month I read one book. I'm so behind I'm even behind on my blogging about being behind. It's mid-October and I'm currently at thirty six books read and counting. If I'm halfway decent at math, that means I'll need to push through fourteen books by December 31st. Totally doeable of course, but I'm embarrassed I've fallen off-track so fast.
Both Lilly and I are/were a bit worried that we wouldn't finish a challenge we started, but since her recent trip to Europe, she's semi-back on track. Clearly the way to start reading more is to take trips where the going takes a lot of time. And it helps if there are long plane rides involved.
I am going to reveal another secret to getting lots of books under your belt: Read short books. Yes! It's that easy. I am already stocking up on middle grade titles for the final push. It makes me feel a bit like a cheater, but if I have to, I'll throw down some sub-200 page books. For damn sure. Nobody can say how long a "book" should be! (Defensive rant over.) Also maybe I'll read a few plays. I really need to game plan the next two months so I can hit my 50/50 goal. Also, this is the last you'll hear of me complaining/distressing about where I am in the challenge, from now on it'll be enthusiasm and full force forward!
In other news, over at the fiftyfifty.me site, we had our first finisher, Selina, and her guest post is a wonderful recap of her reading and watching year so far.
I guess the thing I want to tell everyone to do is watch Looper. I don't know how Joseph Gordon-Levitt is simultaneously in everything at once but Looper is definitely a winner. I know you've probably heard all the hype by now, so do whatever you will with it, but it's not often a movie comes along that's so unexpected and entertaining. Sure, it had its flaws and inconsistencies, but writer/director Rian Johnson is consistently interesting and someone I've been following since Brick.
Also, I read half of 1Q84 before realizing it was the wrong book club book. So I went four hundred plus pages in before having to switch Murakami horses mid-stream. From what I could tell, it was interesting with an assassin and a sort of ghostwriter. I hope to return to it but am afraid if I leave it down for too long, I'll forget everything and have to start at the beginning. Is it better to have terrible reading memory or excellent? Discuss.
Okay, just kidding. Don't discuss. The answer is clearly: excellent memory. I hate how I read things and don't recall anything but the bare bones just a few weeks later. It makes it hard to engage in conversation for more than three seconds about something. On the other hand, twist endings are able to surprise me time and time again. Which is kind of an asset right?
