Pages

Terms of the Duel

New-Year's resolutions have a pronounced and infamous tendency to fall by the wayside by, say, the 1st of February. Perhaps, however, that is because they are resolved upon, adhered to, and discarded, by solitary individuals. Perhaps what's needed is some good old-fashioned competitive spirit.

The participants:

  1. Ilya Gandelman - desk jockey from 9-5:30, Monday thru Friday. Free time activities include, but are not limited to, writing, reading, watching tv/movies (very selective in this area!), eating Meredith's delicious food, playing with Gizmo, spending time with family and friends.
  2. Meredith Gandelman - also a desk jockey, from 9-6, Monday thru Friday. Free time activities include, but are not limited to, reading, watching tv/movies, cooking/baking for Ilya (and others), snuggling/playing with Gizmo and spending time with family and friends.

The resolutions:

  1. To read more books
  2. To watch less television
  3. To spend less money (by reading library books, and by making our way through unread volumes gathering dust on the shelves)
  4. To spend more quality time together with a shared interest

Therefore, the challenge proposed: who can read the most books in a year? On one side the wife, on the other the husband: who'll get the most volumes under her or his belt before 2015?

The rules:

  1. Books will be chosen independently. Any genre or subject is eligible.
  2. No second thoughts once starting a book. An uncompleted book is not counted, except of course as time lost. We shall have to choose carefully; and if a book seems to be disappointing, best to soldier on through to the end!
  3. A 300-page minimum. However, books briefer than 300 pages may be combined with others to count as one entry in the Duel.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Moving along nicely

I just finished reading The Lovely Bones.  I will write some kind of proper post about it later, but as a generic review I would say it was captivating and enthralling, well-written and definitely worth the read.

I have decided to read The Reader next (kind of funny, right?  Me, the reader, reading The Reader).  Ok, I guess it's not all that funny, but it amuses my dorky sense of humor.

The Reader is 219 pages, which technically counts as a book, per the rules of the duel.  However, I do not really feel like I should count this one on its own.  I mean, it just barely makes it past the 200 page marker and from what I see so far it is broken up into very short chapters so there will be a lot of half blank pages.  Therefore, I have decided that after The Reader, I will move on to Winter's Bone which is only 193 pages.  These together, I feel, make up an adequate entry into the duel.

I saw the movie version of The Reader a few years ago and don't remember much except that I enjoyed the film.  It is always helpful for me going into the book with an open mind in this kind of situation (not really remembering details from the film), to avoid the constant comparisons along the way.  I'm looking forward to this one and am going to try and get a few pages in before my lunch break ends.

Additional update(s) to follow later tonight.  
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)