November Group Read: Check In The Last

[glinda]

I haven’t forgotten, I’m just in unexpectedly in Edinburgh for work for a few days so my schedule is all to pot! (I did manage to finish a book last night, hotel rooms being good for that, so, victory!)

So it's time to review your joys and woes for this month! Did you get through everything you wanted this month? Or did you read something entirely different? Discover anything new or odd about your reading habits? Did you start strongly then crash and burn completely half-way through the month? (Not me for once!)

Did you saunter over your self-set target deadline or are you reading furiously right up to the final minute of the final day, just to finish one more book?

Comments

[illariy]

Yay for finishing a book last night despite an unexpected work trip! :D

Just today, I finished my 3rd book of the month, "Machines like me" by Ian McEwan, which I started this week. Then... I wanted to see if I could do still "do it", and started a new book, "Ich will, dass ihr in Panik geratet!" (I want you to panic?) by Greta Thunberg, a very short book that is just a collection of some of her speeches up till 2019. I finished it, too, so that makes it my 4th book of the month.

At the moment, my pile of unread and bought physical books stands at 8 and my pile of unread and gotten-for-free physical books is at about 34. So the pile is still high but less intimidating than at the start of this month.

Especially given the fact that I had to unexpectedly buy and read a book for coursework, I am satisfied with my progress and the overall state of things. I have made it a bit of a habit to read on the train back home from uni. I used to have this habit once but then lost it and spent more time on my phone. Hopefully, I can keep this budding habit alive this time! Here's to the future! *raises mug of tea to toast*

It was wonderful to do this challenge with you all. Thank you to Glinda, especially, for hosting! :D

[glinda]

Hooray for a less intimidating pile of unread books! Especially as you had to detour for unexpected coursework reading in the middle there!

And good luck with your new reading on the train habit, I miss having a train commute for all the reading and knitting I used to get done on it! *toasts you with my own tea* I'm delighted you enjoyed taking part in this challenge!

[shanaqui]

Ahh, wave to my favourite bookshop! (Topping & Company.)

I struggled to read most of this month, but after a long weekend, I kind of managed to find my way to it and read a lot this week. Hurrah.

[illariy]

Yay for getting back into it and even reading a lot! :D

[glinda]

*waves to the bookshop* I was actually staying just round the corner from there on Waterloo Place, but sadly didn't have time to go in. (Well, sadly me, not for my bank balance!)

Glad you've managed to find your reading mojo again, sometimes your brain just needs a wee rest!

[krait]

Furiously reading up till the last minute! Knocked out my The Goblin Emperor reread a few days ago, but will hopefully get through it tonight.

[illariy]

Furiously reading till the last minute sounds good! A reread is lovely, I hope you were able to get the rest of it done till now. *fingers crossed*

[glinda]

*shakes pompoms* Nearly there!

[taichara]

All things being equal, I think I've managed pretty well --

I did wander off the plan of catching up my unread rpg zines/books (although I got a good few of them tackled), but I chewed on other books, including some old friends, and I've kept on shoving things into my head so I'm going to call it a success all told.

I didn't finish the death rituals book yet -- big book, 27 essays -- but the contents are great so far (have read about nonhuman responses to death and what we can infer about palaeolithic death rituals and burial practices) so I'm certainly likely to finish it.

Alas I also detoured to read the (actual novel section of) the last volume of Heaven Official's Blessing, and that's some time of my life I'm not getting back *sighs* We'll see when/if I go back to it to read any of the short stories.

All and all though, the month went pretty well ~

[illariy]

Ooooh, I am familiar with zines but not with rpg zines. A casual googling didn't really explain it, either. Could you tell me what a rpg zine is?


Yay for doing some reading even if it wasn't on the planned stuff. Reading is reading and it's all good. :D

The death rituals book still sounds quite intriguing. The nonhuman responses to death sound very fascinating though I can imagine it is not the lightest read. Best wishes for finishing this one!

[taichara]

Zines for rpgs are a lot like any other zine. Small digests or minizines, usually stapled, can be anything from totally handmade to glossy things printed by Mixam or the like. They can have anything from collections of short material (scenarios, rules suggestions, monsters, etc) or essays or fictional settings to entire rules expansions or games in them.

I'm not finding the rituals book all that heavy a dead, honestly, I just have backlogs everywhere and am easily sidetracked into multitasking, which is great for getting through things in aggregate but less so weekly, lol --

[illariy]

Oooh, thank you for the info! The rpg zines sound like fun. My flatshare and I just started playing rpgs.

Good that the rituals book isn't that hard to read. Yeah, I have tons of backlogs in all sorts of places, too, much sympathy on that front. :-)

[glinda]

That does sound quite impressive, even if it wasn't all in the direction you'd originally intended!

[autumndaze]

I didn't get through everything I wanted (there's at least one book I've been working on for ages cause it's paperback only and I prefer ebooks), but I did finish the 551-chapter "Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint" by Sing Shong in its entirety (along with its 179-episode webcomic adaptation), and adored both. Possibly my favorite thing I've read this year.

I read quite a few wonderful books in November on top of that, including "The Imperial Uncle" by Da Feng Ga Cuo (Chinese boys love, historical fantasy, political thriller), "The Murderbot Diaries: System Collapse" by Martha Wells (latest Murderbot, absolutely wonderful in so many ways, as usual), and "Dark Heir" by C.S. Pacat (loved it even more than the first one, dark fantasy YA). And some other great finds. I spent most of yesterday just chilling, honestly, and rereading and browsing fanfiction, which was nice.

[illariy]

I still admire you for finishing that tome of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint as well as the long webcomic adaptation. That were both huge time commitments yet you finished it, yay! :D

And you even read a number of other books on top of that! Please tell me, how do you manage to read so much? Is it cause ebooks allow to read lots of places with minimal hassle? (Been thinking of buying an ereader and I do read on the Kindle app plus pdf reader on my phone ;-)

[autumndaze]

I read a lot because I've always been a very fast reader XD It's a skill I've had since I learned how and I only improved when I got older, and it's part of why I'm good at my job, and I'm like that with physical and electronic books. I just find ebooks a lot less of a hassle these days (it's more inconvenient to me to have to sit with a physical book than it is to hold my phone and read that way). I do think ebooks are hopeful if you have space problems. I like traveling with large libraries so it's convenient to have access to as many things to read as I want at all times, and also easier to bookmark my place (electronic bookmarks don't fall out) and I can highlight as much as I want without damaging the book. I can also increase the font size however much I want. But I mainly use my phone, not a tablet or anything like that. It's also easier on my hands, since it's more lightweight than other options, and smaller. I wish you luck if you end up getting an e-reader!

[illariy]

Oooh, that sounds good! I have always been a fast reader, too, but I gradually fell out of the reading habit and nowadays spent too much time on Youtube, Facebook groups, Reddit and reading blogs rather than books.

You have given me some lovely pointers to increase my reading time again, thank you so much for sharing the tips! :-)

[glinda]

It feels like everyone I know is reading (or re-reading the series ahead of reading the next installment) Murderbot at the moment! It's been on my 'must get round to that' list for ages - I've only read the short stories - and now I really want to read it too, but I've too many unread books to justify it at the moment!

[autumndaze]

Yeah, I think because each entry is so short? The first 2-3 stories are novellas rather than novels, and you can get through them so fast. It's some of the tightest, most well-written science fiction I've ever read, and folks have been waiting for the next big entry for two years, so a lot of people have been reading it in the lead-up to System Collapse's release this past November. It's well worth the time taken to read it. I was going to put it off when I first heard about it, but I ended up giving it a shot and devoured book 1 in a couple hours. I get prioritizing other stuff though!

Good luck if you try it! I hope you like it!

[kalloway]

I certainly didn't stick to my original plan, but I read all of Hikaru no Go and a bunch of other random stuff and that's okay too!

[illariy]

Sounds like you got some good reading time in and had fun and that is all that matters. :-)

[kalloway]

I did! It was, overall, a good month.

[glinda]

Progress was made, even if it wasn't the originally intended progress!!

[peaceful_sands]

I finished 8 of the 11 I set out to read, I abandoned 1 because it just wasn’t working for me and am still reading ‘Soul music’ and ‘Cloud Runner’. I also finished as extras ‘Persuasion’, ‘Troublemaker’, ‘Dragonflight’ and ‘Termush’. I abandoned another library loan that came in that just wasn’t working for me at the time, paused Tigana and instead listened to ‘Shift’ which was on the list but I’ve gone back to Tigana today after another early arrival library loan ‘The Burnout’ got finished. I also almost finished ‘Mooncakes & Fake Dates’ and got partway through ‘Split Infinity’ . All that and I think I probably still ended up with more than I started with!

[illariy]

Wow, sounds like you got a lot of reading done and also made some decisions about stuff that wasn't working for you in the moment.

Yeah, I, too, keep expanding my TBR pile and especially my book wish list. At this time, I am starting to believe it is a sickness :P

[glinda]

That's pretty impressive progress all round!

[mekare]

Very late for the check-in, but I did make good headway with my audiobook. Only one hour left, which I‘m counting as a success.