Reading Week: the end of the OWLs 2020
OWLs 2020 is officially over – it has been over for 4 days already – and I decided to compile the last two weeks into one post. After the second week, it started to get a little complicated to keep the momentum. These are some exceptional times we are living in, and not every day is a good day. Also not having a book like
Wednesday, 15th April 2020
Well, there goes my posting schedule! I haven’t done anything today other than resolve tech issues. First, I was trying to understand how some memory cards work in a Wifi IP camera and others don’t. Having all that figured out took me hours, not even counting testing time.
Then, my mother PC decided that the Windows needed to be activated. The last time I tried to fix that, it took me 5 hours and a bunch of potentially viral software that would mess up the PC even more. But this time, I found a quicker and easier way to fix it using the command prompt, and I felt very stupid for wasting all those hours the first time. Since I was already working on the PC, I might as well clear it up to make it faster.
Today was a crazy day spent working in front of two screens to try and work everything out. It was really tiring, and I just want to go to sleep.
Saturday, 18th April 2020
Forget Marie Kondo, I have a new organization method: The Nike Method. Reorganizing my bookshelves? Don’t think about it, just do it. I need to fix my vegetable patch and clean the balcony? Just do it! This is a method well known among procrastinators because we are pros in doing productive things while not being productive. Spring cleaning can’t wait if I have other important things to do. I could be reading, but NO, I need to clean the balcony!
And now it’s 1 am on Sunday, and I’m going to read Game of Thrones. I’m going to regret this decision in the morning since my bunny wakes me up every day around 8 am. Although I didn’t read anything in the afternoon, and I don’t want to waste another day without reading a single page.
Monday, 20th April 2020
Today started a new educational TV program as a teaching complement for all the middle school students that are at home with schools closed. And I decided to check it out. By pure luck, the English class was about books. The teacher started by talking about an interesting French author: Daniel Pennac. Apparently, he wrote a book called Rights of the Reader (previously Reads Like a Novel), and it explores the reader’s rights. Since on the internet people tend to be too opinionated about everything even what each of us does with their own books, I thought this book that would make an interesting post. If it’s the readers’ manifesto I’m hoping it will be, it’s the answer for all discussions and arguments between readers.
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone.
Say, could that lass be I?
Outlander is getting better and better. Clair and Jamie are a pair! Oh my… Their dynamic and Jamie’s personality are a treat to watch. Next week is going to be the wedding and I’m already laughing. I can’t wait for what its to come.
Wednesday, 22nd April 2020
I decided not to post anything today because not only I haven’t been reading much, but also the days are all the same. Not leaving the house for a month and making every day feel different is a challenge. I can still keep track of which day of the week it is, but I lost all notion of time. I don’t know if what I did this morning was today or yesterday, and it’s something I did a few hours ago, how can that confuse me? I just know my days feel like a continuous line sprinkled with different moments.
Friday, 24th April 2020
I just finished Goldilocks by Laura Lam for the blog tour at the end of the month. Now I don’t have any responsibility and can dedicate all my time to Game of Thrones.
I did my math, and considering the speed I’m reading GoT, the speed I’m probably going to read If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller and A Muralha de Gelo, multiplying that for the number of pages left and adding the audiobook The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and dividing that for the seven days left until the end of the month, I need to read about 6 hours every day to be able to finish them all. Is it going to be hard? Yes, but I’m determined to nail it. Do I believe I can succeed? Nope, but I’m not giving up!
Saturday, 25th April 2020
Last night, I started reading If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino, and I’m remembering why I bought it. If there is such a thing as the 4th wall in books then this story breaks that. The narrator is talking directly to the reader and speaks about the book that I’M reading. So I’m reading If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller about a reader reading If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller. Late at night, this is the kind of things that really mess up with your brain. But it’s so fun!
Sunday, 26th April 2020
Even though I technically finished Game of Thrones this afternoon, I’m really only halfway through the story. And it’s so strange where the story ended because it clearly doesn’t feel like a full novel, the end is missing. With 20€ per book, the publisher sure knows how to make bucks!
I don’t know how I’m going to read 400 pages in the next 4 days when I take 3 minutes per page. I even stopped using markers and tabs and annotate the book later to save some time, and yet, I still take a long time to read it. I even gave up on reading before bed because I’m more likely to fall asleep with the long descriptions, and still I take too long to read it.
On other news, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller is starting to become a struggle. The story basically jumps between different books as the protagonist is trying to find the missing story of If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, and I don’t have any interest in the other books. Basically, they are little incomplete short stories, and I don’t care for them at all.
Tuesday, 28th April 2020
At this point, I already told myself that I won’t be finishing the second volume of Game of Thrones (A Muralha de Gelo). Readathons aren’t a race or a chore, so there is no reason to stress out and putting enormous pressure on myself to finish this book in time. What if I don’t finish it by the end of the month? Nothing bad happens, on the contrary, I get to enjoy this story for a little while longer than 48 hours.
Wednesday, 29th April 2020
I’ve spent the morning working on the review for Goldilocks to have it all scheduled and ready for tomorrow and to allow me to spend the rest of the afternoon listening to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe while working on a puzzle. I have to say the audiobook is lovely! It’s a great story to be read out loud, and I wish I had someone I could read it to that would fall in love with the magic of Narnia.
And the best part, I completed another exam: History of Magic. Successfully completing the seminar on Legal Defence of Fantastic Beasts.
Thursday, 30th April 2020
Final hours on the readathon and I’ve completed another book: If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller. It was so… boring. The concept of the book is excellent. A reader embarks on a quest to read the rest of the new book by Calvino because his copy is incomplete. Although he keeps on find other incomplete stories. The key part of this book is to be interested in the half stories just like the Reader. But I wasn’t.
For a lot of times, I thought about DNFing or just skipping the stories. Yet, I kept on pushing just to understand how it ends without “cheating”. However, I did skip the last story and skimmed some of the last paragraphs. I was tired, wasn’t enjoying the experience, and only finished for pure stubbornness. And if I wasn’t sure, by now I want more than ever to savour the rest of Game of Thrones without any pressure.
For now, I don’t have anything else planned to continue with these posts. But whenever I find another Pachinko that gives me a lot to think or another 50 Shades that… It’s 50 Shades, I’m sure I could make a great post out of it! I’ll be back to take you day by day on the reading journey.
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