Books, Books, and More Books: July's Reading Relay Marathon

[Pippa]

I am just going to pretend that I didn't disappear from the Ning for over a month. I'm not even going to give an excuse because it is just so hopelessly generic and unimaginative, it's just not worth stating.

Instead I am going to talk about my 50 Books Challenge. I have read 26 books this year. This puts me relatively on schedule. I'm a little behind but nothing significant. Actually, I was hoping to get the majority of the books read before school starts. However, I did not anticipate how busy graduating from high school would make me.

To make up for lost time I have undertaken a Reading Relay Marathon for the month of July. Instead of reading just one book at a time as I have been for the first half of the 50 Books Challenge, I am now reading no less than six books at a time. Here is how it works.

I choose six books (or seven if I count Harry Potter, which I am re-reading per my annual Harry Potter Summer Reading Marathon. Yes, I am in the middle of a 50 Books Challenge, a July Reading Relay, and a Harry Potter Summer Reading Marathon. I have a problem).

I take the books along with enough lemonade to last a whole day to the back porch where I have set up a Reading Sanctuary. This includes the most comfortable porch chairs and a table with my iPod plugged into the speakers. It is removed from the hustle and bustle of the house and has the most spectacular view of the farm. Once the music is set up (sometimes shuffle, sometimes albums, sometimes playlists like the one I made especially for July's Reading Relay), I get down to business.

I simply start at the top of the stack of books, which are not in any particular order. Each day has a new rule. Yesterday it was 50 pages then switch. Today it might be one album then switch. Tomorrow it might be 3 chapters then switch. Another time it could just be half an hour then switch. Sometimes I might be creative. Read until someone dies then switch. When working, the rule is: Read until Baby wakes up, then take care of Baby and switch when Baby goes back to sleep. You get the picture.

The idea is to read as many pages of as many books as possible in one sitting. Yesterday, I read for 6 straight hours (I didn't have work). I read a whole book start to finish (E. Lockhart's The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks).

Here is todays list of books:
Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez [I've been meaning to read this for a long time. I read A Hundred Years of Solitude and have a book of his short stories. The man is a gift to the literary world.]

Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell[I started this a few years back but never finished it, returned it to the library and promptly forgot all about little Molly Gibson. But then I saw it again in the library, it's so pink and eye-catching, and thought I would give it another go. After all, Elizabeth Gaskell is one of the only 19th century women authors that I haven't read.]

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance - Barack Obama [I started this as my beach read on Senior Week. It was a funny book to read on the beach, especially during Senior Week, because it's just so unexpected. Go to the beach for a week of drunken debauchery and read President Obama's autobiography while hungover on the beach. Well, I only read about half of it and now I need to finish it because my sister is bugging me to read it next.]

The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery [This book I just picked up in the bookstore and was hooked after 3 pages. I ended up only paying $4 for it because I had saved up so many Rewards Points. That's how much I shop at my bookstore. Every few months I get a book for free because I am constantly racking up Rewards Points. But I'm really excited about this book because I think I read too many American authors and not enough modern European literature. Although this list is actually pretty diverse if not actually dominated by British literature. Muriel Barbery is French.]

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke [I got this book for Christmas. My mother picked it out for me and it was my very favorite Christmas gift (I was more excited for a book than my new digital camera). A 900 page book about magic in England. What's not to love? I was so excited to read it but about 300 pages in I became distracted by school and set it aside. It's about time I finish it.]

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday - Neil MacFarquihar [I am planning to minor in Middle Easter Studies (I'm taking Arabic next semester!). I am fascinated by the Middle East and someday want to be a foreign correspondent to the Middle East. I am constantly reading about the Middle East and can never stop myself from browsing through the Middle Eastern History section in the bookstore. I'm really excited to read this book, which is written by a New York Times journalist.]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J. K. Rowling [This is part of my Annual Harry Potter Reading Marathon.]


Obviously I have a lot of books to read. I have this problem. Every week after I receive my paycheck I go to the bookstore. Last week I bought four (four!) new books I did not need. This week it was only 2. But this is a problem because as you can tell there are a lot of books already waiting to be read. This is just the start. I still have about fifteen books stacked up in my room waiting on dech to be read. And yet I'm constantly buying new books and going to the library regularly. I just keep buying new books and the stack of book waiting to be read keeps growing. But this month I am hoping to finish all of the books stacked around my bed (there's no more room on my 2 bookshelves so now I just stack them on my bedside table and dressers).

Let the second day of July's (Nerdily Awesome) Reading Relay commence!