November Group Read: Check-in The Second

[glinda]

It's still Friday! If only by the skin of it's teeth! We're two weeks into the challenge, just past the half-way point! Are we all forging ahead with our tasks, or are we stalling out and in need of some cheerleading?

*waves pompoms enthusiastically*

Check in below with your triumphs and tribulations. Celebrate the achievements big and small, whether you got through a whole book or merely made a start on a book that's been taunting you for ages.

Comments

[peaceful_sands]

I struggled this week. I'm still plodding through the audio of The Luminaries but I've not had so much time.

Reading of actual books, I've finished 'Arrival' by Ted Chiang (previously released as Stories of your Life and others) and two graphic novels and have started on Heretic.

As far as my goals for the month are concerned, if I finish either of the two books I'm reading at the moment (The Chase or Heretic) than I've completed the goal I set for the month (and passed it by some), With luck there may be a little more time next week as there's been none at all this week.

[tamsin]

How did you like Arrival? I really liked the movie, so I've been thinking about giving it a try.

Hope this week goes smoother for you!

[peaceful_sands]

The book is a series of short stories - only one of which relates to the movie (not sure if you knew that). I enjoyed the book despite not being a big fan of short stories, but each one of these was thought-provoking in some way. I found it took me a bit longer to get through the book because I wanted time to digest each story and ponder it for a while before moving on to the next.

I loved the film Arrival, but actually saw the story from which it evolved as a different entity entirely - for me they didn't even prompt the same kind of thinking.

Speaking personally I enjoyed it and found that it prompted a lot more thinking than most of the fiction I've read of late.

[tamsin]

That sounds like it's not quite what I was expecting but still worthwhile reading. Thank you for your answer!

[glinda]

Oooh how did you enjoy Arrival/Stories of your life? I read them earlier this year and really enjoyed them so I'm curious to hear someone else's thoughts!

[peaceful_sands]

I'm not a big fan of short stories, but actually did enjoy this collection because each one made me think and I found that I wasn't racing through the book but rather wanted to spend time thinking about the ideas that the author had prompted. It's a great collection. Part of me was sad that they had changed the name of the book to match the film, because I think that people looking for something that relates to the film might be a bit disappointed. I loved the film, but see the two as completely separate entities - even the story from which it evolved gave me a very different set of thoughts to the ones that were prompted by the film.

[tamsin]

I've finished two books so far and am on track for my goal. This week is going to be pretty busy though, I don't know how much reading time I will get in.

[glinda]

Well done, excellent progress so far!

[glinda]

I just realised that I made this post and completely forgot to report my own results! Last week I was distracted by another library book that was due back - so while I did finish a book (A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan) it doesn't count :(

I only managed a couple of chapters of my current shelf book (The Makers of Scotland) last week, though this week I seem to be making better progress so hopefully I'll actually have finished it by Friday!