Reading Ladders

Code:

⭐-Not for me. Would not touch again ever.

⭐⭐-Bad. Had some decent moments/quotes.

⭐⭐⭐-Good. Enjoyed, but probably wouldn’t read it again completely.

⭐⭐⭐⭐-Great. Would re-read some time in the future.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐-Stellar. Favorite books. Will read again and force others to do so. I will quote these forever.

Feb 2019 Reading Ladder

Listed in chronological order

Image result for the prisoner alex berenson Image result for mythology edith hamiltonImage result for fahrenheit 451

Coming off of exams in late January, I pledged myself that I would get back into reading books. I had about 3 pages per day in that span, and it was all essentially randomly reading books when I had finished a test. However, this provided me with a great foundation to boost off of, as I highly doubted that I would be able to hit lower than 3 pages per day. February was an OK month for me in terms of literature read; however, a decent chunk of that came from just having read the required reading for ELA.

The Prisoner – Alex Berenson ⭐⭐⭐

520/520 pages.

This novel is very recent, being published on New Year’s Eve of 2017. The novel is about a secret agent, John Wells, who goes undercover in a Bulgarian prison to gain information about an Islamic State informant. This story takes the points of view of multiple characters who are all in different places but are connected in the end. It reveals some deep topics about the CIA and military and really makes you question the people we let defend us. When a failed mission in Syria leads to the death of two operatives, Wells believes that there is a CIA rat exposing their secrets to the IS. Meanwhile, Soufiane Kassani is an Islamic State chemist planning a gas attack on the French, and it is up to Wells to stop both.

This book has a great plot overall, but I was quite disappointed by how slow and dry the character introductions were. It seemed that we as readers were being given every single bit of irrelevant information, including things that were not resurfaced later at all. Also, this book is number 10 from a series, and it doesn’t do enough new to the series. The last few books were essentially the same story, just different locations. I would come back to this in maybe 3-4 years (since I own the book) and just skip the beginning.

Mythology – Edith Hamilton ⭐⭐⭐⭐

70/330 pages.

Mythology is a collection of the recorded myths of history; mostly being those of Greek or Roman origin. I personally believe that this novel is a timeless classic because of the fact that it deals with age-old stories and myths that show us how the human condition has essentially remained the same over time. The author, Edith Hamilton does a great job in compiling epics and poems together into an easy to read format. Obviously, some chapters are more interesting than others, due to personal preference, but my favorite would have to be the chapter entailing Odysseus’ journey home. It captures perfectly the idea of longing and homesickness, and it just testifies to how humans have always been really similar in their desires.

The reason I barred this from five stars is that the representation of the myths is not very diverse. About 80% of the novel is Greek myths, 15% being Roman myths, and the rest five being mostly composed of Norse origin. I would’ve liked to see more Native American stories, or ancient Persian stories, or even very old Sumerian ones. These all exist and I think it would be great to see Hamilton’s representation of them.

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury ⭐⭐⭐

82/205 pages.

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel in which the main character, Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books for a living, as they are considered evil, mind-corrupting and unnecessary. Montag enjoys his job until he meets Clarisse McLellan, a 17-year-old girl who explains to Montag the past in which people read books and did not fear the knowledge from them. Montag’s wife, on the other hand, is a completely bland, mediocre person who is completely brainwashed by the constant TV that is always speaking, but never anything of real value. Clarisse acts as the catalyst for Montag’s self-examination and examination of the world.

I’ve only read less than half of the book, but I love how it is based on Montag’s slow realization of the world and what it means to be happy. It feels as though we as readers are experiencing this along with him. This may have to do with my reading level, but I feel as though the book is slightly disorienting and difficult to make sense of at times. For example, there is one section of the book where one of the characters, Beaty, says:

Click, Pic, Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here…organize and organize and super-organize super-super sports. More cartoons in books. The mind drinks less and less.'”

Whilst I get that this is meant to show the nature of the society, I think it’s difficult to read and get the message from it. It is only later when Montag refers to his statement I understood what was said.

That puts my total pages read to 672 pages.

That puts my page-per-week rate at 168 pages per week.

That puts my page-per-day rate at 24 pages per day.

That puts my page-per-hour rate at 1 page per hour.

I don’t need to go on, do I?

My goals for March are to increase this to 38 pages per day. I want to do this by reading more easy books. I feel as though for the last year or so I have been enjoying my reading, but I’ve been doing it in an extremely active way where I am just looking for difficult books, and I need to take a break from that. It is for that reason that I’m trying to write more casually, to ease my mind and not perplex myself.

Overall, February was a good month for me. Hopefully, I can get up to my goal of 45 pages per day and also read some more “candy” books. We’ll check back next month.

 

March 2019 Reading Ladder

Listed in chronological order:

Image result for manhunt a michael bennett storyImage result for the deceivers Image result for for whom the bell tollsImage result for scarlet letter

I’d like to say that I had a great month. I was at the library at the beginning of the month and enjoyed everything I picked up. This time, I read some more candy at the beginning of the month and read the more advanced reads later on. I’d say my reading ladder is quite balanced and I will likely continue to see this as a model month for the coming year. Also, not a lot of my reading came from required reads for English class.

Manhunt – James Patterson and James O Born ⭐⭐

145/145 pages.

Manhunt is part of a series known as “Bookshots”, with the idea behind them being plot-driven short novellas or novels with little to no description. The purpose is to deliver the plot of a novel in a short paperback format. This works especially well in Manhunt, with the novella being about an officer, Michael Bennett, who is in charge of discovering the perpetrator behind a terrorist attack in New York. Michael meets Darya, a mysterious Russian agent as they try to solve the mystery of “the holiday terror”.

The best thing about this story was its length. It took a mere four days for me to breeze through it. The plot was alright but left holes at times since the novel was so short. There was no real message to it in my opinion, just plot which is fine for this series. Overall, it had some funny moments, but neither the language or the subject matter really stood out to me.

The Deceivers – Alex Berenson ⭐⭐⭐⭐

432/432 pages.

This is the next book in the John Wells series, after The Prisoner, which I read last month. After an innocent man is recruited to suicide bomb American Airlines Center in Dallas, John Wells is sent to South America to meet up with a secret informant, who turns out to be dead. While John is chasing around for leads, these recruiters find someone else to do their work for them. Other terrorist attacks are being targeted towards priests and bishops; making the perpetrator seem Muslim, but John and his team do not believe so, and must find out who the real attacker is.

The majority of the novel is just John Wells chasing around looking for the slightest bits of information and clues. It builds so well and introduces and characterizes characters at just the right time at perfect intervals. The novel is not in a first-person narration but is focussed through the lens of a certain character. It makes it so that you are able to understand the character’s feelings and emotions, yet not having to sacrifice for the trustworthiness of the narration. This novel was really enjoyable, and the only downside to it would be the lack of characterization of John Wells. The novel assumes that you have read the past books and understand his nature and character. Berenson should have explained him in more detail for newcomers and old fans alike. Otherwise, this novel was a great one and I look forward to the next book in the series.

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway ⭐⭐⭐

125/471 pages.

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a war novel taking place in 1937 about a young American named Robert Jordan, who is put with an anti-fascist group in the Spanish mountains. As time passes, Jordan becomes close to the people in the group, finding love, friendship, and dealing with defeat and victory. He sets out to destroy a bridge to halt the fascist movement in Spain, and becomes well acquainted with the personalities there.

That’s pretty much all I’ve read so far, and I can tell that this book is going to be quite special. The language with which it is written seems like such natural dialogue, and from such a personal point of view although it is in the third person. Initially, it was extremely boring; much like Don Quixote, it took a very long time for the characters and settings to be established, and until then, it is extremely boring, to be honest. Until the characters are understood and explored, the heavy amounts of description seem unnecessary. I feel as though this novel will only get better as time goes on. It really appeals to the emotions and makes one understand the characters in an intimate way. The culture of Spain is captured seemingly well, and hopefully, this can turn into a four-star as time goes by.

The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne ⭐⭐

60/60 pages.

After seeing the play, I wanted to read the book to see what it was based on. The Scarlet Letter follows the play pretty much exactly, without the dramatic nature of the novel. Hester Prynn has to wear the red letter A on her chest as a symbol of her illegitimate child, Pearl, whose father is unknown. Hester refuses to let the emotions take over her, whereas  The emotional attachment is simply not there, and the guilt is thus not as easily represented. The portrayal of the book was, in my opinion, much better than the actual book The plot was stretched out quite a bit, forcing there to be more emotion than in the book. The length of the novel was problematic since it was too short, and thus too plot driven. Overall, I’d say the play was a much better version of the concept. 

That puts my total pages read to 762 pages.

That puts my page-per-week rate at 191 pages per week.

That puts my page-per-day rate at 27 pages per day.

That puts my page-per-hour rate at 1.2 pages per hour.

Unfortunately, I did not reach my goal of 38 pages per day. Although my number increased from 24 to 27, it was minimally. That said, it was a great month for me in terms of reading, and I believe that my goal for March was not very realistic either, so overall this is still a model month for me. I got some good variety of books there, and that’s what really matters. Hopefully, I keep this rate for April.

 

April 2019 Reading Ladder

Listed in chronological order:

Image result for for whom the bell tollsImage result for the samurai's taleImage result for blood feverImage result for the antidote oliver burkeman

I’d like to begin by saying that I had a weak month. I went to the library every week and only picked up two books, which I didn’t really make a dent in. The book that I mainly read came from English class.

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway ⭐⭐

126-285/471 pages.

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a war novel taking place in 1937 about a young American named Robert Jordan, who is put with an anti-fascist group in the Spanish mountains. As time passes, Jordan becomes close to the people in the group, finding love, friendship, and dealing with defeat and victory. He sets out to destroy a bridge to halt the fascist movement in Spain, and becomes well acquainted with the personalities there.

I’ve read more of this novel this month than last month, and my opinion of it has lowered. It features one of the most boring protagonists: we are given little information about his hopes and dreams and such. They all seem to revolve around Maria, a girl who he has supposedly fallen in love with after a few nights. The writing is incredibly monotonous; not much has changed in regards to language and usage. Only one new character has really been introduced. The novel builds action painstakingly slowly and seems to go on long, 50-page rants of completely useless past information. It reveals reality extremely well, however. It is very lifelike in regards to the ways that humans interact with one another.

The Samurai’s Tale – Erik Christian Haugaard ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

234/234 pages

In case you didn’t know, The Samurai’s Tale is my all time favourite novel. This was the third time I have read it and it was still amazingly gripping and emotional. Taro, the son of a murdered samurai, begins his new life as a lowly slave in the cookhouses of one of the feudal lords of Japan. There, he observes the amazing lives of the samurai and begins his journey to become one.

One of my favourite things about this novel is that even after Taro becomes a samurai, the tale is not over. He struggles for a while with the temptations of love and loyalty, and of what society wants of him. It tells of the battle between the pursuit of ideals and the expectation to be content. It forces the reader to enter the Edo period Japan and take in the beauty and respect that comes with that culture. This book is a masterpiece in my opinion and I hope to someday forget all of it and experience the world of Taro all over again.

Blood Fever –  Charlie Higson ⭐⭐⭐

60/371

This one was definitely a candy read. I recognized I needed more reading and so picked up one of my favourites as a child. This book is part of a series telling about James Bond as a young schoolboy and his adventures. This particular one follows the story of James, who, after school, sets out to solve the mystery of a stolen ship and where the inhabitants of said ship have gone. This takes him to Sardinia, a large Italian island, as well as numerous other secret locations.

I read this book when I was in grade 7, so I really couldn’t remember much. It starts the action right out of the gate and hooks the reader in quite well. It delivers action very powerfully and uses great imagery to describe the surroundings. I would say that it doesn’t characterize enough, as Bond is too busy being a spy to reveal his inner nature.

The Antidote –  Oliver Burkeman  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

27/199 pages

The Antidote is a self-help non-fiction novel that supposedly holds the secret to living a happy life. This secret is that one should not strive to become happy and think positive, because this will cause them to notice all the negative around them, and rather than embrace sadness, insecurity, and pain, one should _______

I haven’t gotten that far yet into the novel to know what goes into the blank, but I do know that this is a great book. It’s my first ever non-fiction novel and I very much am liking it so far. It deals with a lot of themes that are difficult to address in plain speech; things like the expectation of being happy and surrounding one’s self with happiness. This has made me rethink a lot of my decisions and I look forward to finishing this novel.

That puts my total pages read to 480 pages.

That puts my page-per-week rate at 120 pages per week

That puts my page-per-day rate at 17 pages per day.

That puts my page-per-hour rate at 0.7 pages per hour.

Obviously, this was a bad month for me in regards to reading. I don’t really have any reason for that besides the fact that I was just being lazy. That said, however, I know that I can do better next month. If the past is anything to go off of, I read a lot when I’m hungry, and I will be fasting for pretty much all of May.

 

May 2019 Reading Ladder

May 1st – 31st

Listen in chronological order:

Image result for for whom the bell tollsImage result for twelve days alex berenson Image result for i am the messenger

I’m  proud of my reading numbers this month.  Overall I read some enjoyable novels.

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway  ⭐⭐⭐

286- 471/471 pages

Last month I ranked this novel at two stars. Now it is three stars. The last two hundred pages of the novel are actually quite enjoyable; we begin to actually start moving the plot somewhere and the protagonist, Robert Jordan actually is given some character depth and change. In this novel, Robert Jordan is instructed to blow up a bridge. He finds love and friendship with the guerrillas that he works with.

The end tied up a lot of loose ends. I’d say this was overall a novel that most people wouldn’t really enjoy because it only really gets interesting near the end. Also, I found that I wasn’t actually caring too much about the characters, which tends to be a bad sign. In my opinion, the themes were okay. I feel like it introduced a lot of themes and motifs but just didn’t capitalize on any of them and explore them. Obviously, since this is a war novel, we are expecting the effects of war to be central, which they were.

Twelve Days – Alex Berenson ⭐⭐⭐

288/288 pages

If I ever feel as though I’m not reading enough books, I like to pick up a John Wells novel. This is one of his earlier ones in the series. The United States has promised to invade Iran if they do not stop creating nuclear weapons, which Iran even denies creating. John Wells believes that it is actually an Israeli businessman who is supplying terrorists with uranium to create bombs, and must uncover the plot before the United States bombs and kills hundreds of thousands of people.

The thing I like most about John Wells novels is that they are constantly filled with action. There are always more bad guys to kill, more heroes to save, more kings to protect. However, this novel was more about John’s desperation and scrambling around to find information that actually getting out in the field, which I didn’t like as much. Also, the plotline was very predictable from the beginning. I didn’t find any interesting plot twists that are typical to this author. That said, it was a fun and easy read.

I am the Messenger – Markus Zusak ⭐⭐⭐⭐

370/370 pages

Let me start off by saying: this was a great novel. In this novel, local deadbeat Ed who has a lack of purpose in his life is suddenly pushed into a life of service and delivery once he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. He delivers messages to people, good and bad, and ultimately realizes that he is not the messenger: he is the message to basically do things with your life.

I thought this novel was excellently written, beautifully poetic and quite hilarious at times as well. My only criticism is that I think it was too short. The plot was squeezed in too tight and we didn’t have enough time to slowly witness the change of the characters. That said, it was a joy to read this.

That puts my total pages read to 843 pages.

That puts my page-per-week rate at 211 pages per week

That puts my page-per-day rate at 27 pages per day.

That puts my page-per-hour rate at 1.1 pages per hour.

I feel pretty good about returning to form at 27 pages per day. I feel like this is a good number for me, and even if I don’t increase it by a lot I am still happy with it. My only problem is that I still don’t really read anything out of my realms like romance or poetry. I’d like to get some of that work done so I can broaden my horizons.

 

September 2019 Reading Ladder

September 1st to 30th

Image result for exoplanets bookImage result for for the win cory doctorow

The first month of the year had a pretty uneventful reading list for me. I read a non-fiction novel about space, which is new and interesting, and I revisited one of my grade 7 favourites. So, I wasn’t feeling really good about my reading for September, but as it’s the first month, I don’t really mind too much.

Exoplanets – James Trefil and Michael Summers ⭐⭐⭐⭐

225/225 pages

This novel is an excellent non-fiction work that really explains a complex topic in an accessible way, so that everyone may enjoy the wonders of outer space. This novel really bridged together the factual and poetic sides of outer space, in a way that really inspired me to write about space, like my September Free Choice piece. Space was described as a such a vast and empty wasteland, but also a realm of possibility as well, so it was interesting to explore that sort of duality.

However, I really wish this novel took a more philosophical turn with its writing, as it hinted at doing so with quotes that began each chapter but did not expand upon them.

For the Win – Cory Doctorow ⭐⭐⭐⭐

270/478 pages

For the Win is a young adult science-fiction novel that revolves around the struggles of underpaid and overworked labourers in the video game industry, which I think is a very relevant topic, as we can see technology labour beginning to increase in Eastern Asia. Also, the novel takes an economic approach as well by casting a business-like light to the gamers and their work. I think this novel really legitimizes technology as a real worldwide career, and something that can’t be ignored any longer.

This novel was definitely a candy read, and for that reason it could not deliver in seriously making me question the nature of economic profit. I think that if this were published with an older demographic in mind, and thus a greater focus on monetary principles, it could get the full 5 stars from me.

That puts my total pages read to 495 pages.

That puts my page-per-week rate at 134 pages per week

That puts my page-per-day rate at 18 pages per day.

That puts my page-per-hour rate at 0.8 pages per hour.

Honestly, I know I can do better. But now that I’m in grade 11, I can’t be putting off the importance of reading and writing all kinds of literature. Therefore, my goal for October is to get up to 22 pages a day, and read a play for the first time.

 

October / November 2019  Reading Ladder

Image result for their eyes were watching godImage result for man of la mancha coverImage result for i am the messengerImage result for the great gatsby book cover

My reading ladder was kind of garbage again this month, although I think it’s important to remain honest and continue putting down these numbers that I’m not super proud of.

Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston ⭐⭐⭐⭐

312/312 pages

Hurston’s novel about an African-American woman and her quest to discover herself as well as a true man to love makes for an amazing life. From the amazing setting description to the perfect character development of Janie, this novel was really an amazing one to read and immerse me into the early 90s of the southern States. Interesting, the theme of race is not explored very much, and I found that quite refreshing that an author was choosing to show other themes that are universal and are felt by everyone regardless of race. This makes the novel truly universal and not weathered by the passing of time. However, the African-American vernacular was hard to understand at times, which causes me to drop it just one star.

Man of La Mancha – Dale Wasserman ⭐⭐⭐⭐

97/97 pages

Man of La Mancha is a 97-page long screenplay adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ extremely long novel: Don Quixote. This was the first screenplay that I’ve ever completely read, and I think it was a pretty good adaptation of one of my favourite novels of all time.  The play centers on the real Miguel de Cervantes who quickly performs a play in prison while he is waiting to be judged. The shifts between the play and the play within expose a lot of comedy and tension, and the only criticism I have about this is its length. Don Quixote was a crazy long piece, and I think this play could be performed better if it was lengthier and explored more of Quixote’s adventures.

I am the Messenger – Markus Zusak ⭐⭐⭐⭐

370/370 pages

There aren’t many novels that I can be bothered to read more than once, but reading this novel for the second time really made me appreciate it even more. Zusak’s novel is about a man named Ed who gets thrust into delivering “messages” to improve people’s lives, although this eventually causes him to discover his true identity and who he is in life. Ed’s transformation is really interesting to read, but I was already aware of that. What really caught me this time was the writing style used. Zusak uses pretty simple language, but it was effective in communicating Ed’s life and the type of person he is.

The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald ⭐⭐⭐

55/171 pages

This novel is pretty characteristic of my opinion of ‘AP novels’. I feel like sometimes I have to examine these books instead of just diving in, but Gatsby actually allows me to enjoy the story as well as appreciating the beauty of the novel as a work of art. The characters are engaging and well-rounded, but I took away a few stars because of the chapter beginnings. A novel should start off its chapters with engaging words, but these chapters seem disjointed at the beginning, which doesn’t incentivize me to read them at all.

Over the course of October and November that puts my total pages read to 834 pages.

That puts my page-per-week rate at 104 pages per week

That puts my page-per-day rate at 15 pages per day.

That puts my page-per-hour rate at 0.625 pages per hour.

I didn’t reach my goal of 22 pages per day, but my goal remains the same for next month. I truly need to get there, as this is not a joke anymore.

 

December / January 2019 Reading Ladder

Dec 1st to Jan 15th

Image result for the book of negroesImage result for the awakeningImage result for death of a salesman book coverImage result for ill give you the sun"

The Book of Negroes – Lawrence Hill ⭐⭐⭐⭐

657/657 pages

While I was initially a bit daunted when I picked up the novel, as it is very thick and has a lot of pages, but I honestly was captivated by it from the first page. I can’t stand it when novels are boring at the beginning, as I think that you need to make your writing the most interesting at the beginning to incentivize someone to keep reading. However, The Book of Negroes was interesting and hooked me in from the first page, and I went through the first 200 pages in a mere three days. The novel’s progression of showing how Aminata has changed throughout the different times of her life was a captivating story, and the author did a great job with capturing the time period of the mid to late 1700s and very early 1800s. This reminded me of some of my favourite novels like Memoirs of a Geisha, but I feel like I would give it five stars if it returned to Aminata’s early life more. Oftentimes, I found myself forgetting about who Aminata was in her past since she moved around a lot, so reminding the reader with memories and stories of the past could have worked well here.

The Awakening – Kate Chopin ⭐⭐⭐

189/189 pages

This is an example of a novel whose message and plot I find more engaging than the actual writing. I consider myself to be someone who really cares about the writing language and structure of the novel I am reading, but I feel like I was not able to enjoy that in this piece. I found the writing to be flat and difficult to read at times, with the descriptive language being curt and almost like Ernest Hemingway’s work, but not quite capturing the special brevity with which he wrote. However, I think Edna’s development and awakening is something that provokes a lot of discussions, and I see this novel only becoming more and more important as time passes. It is a must-read not because it was particularly enjoyable, but because I learned a lot from it.

Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller ⭐⭐⭐⭐

139/139 pages

Death of a Salesman really seems to me like an AP novel. Perhaps it’s because I don’t read very many plays, but I find that the enjoyment of this novel doesn’t come from the plot. If one were just to come uneducated to see the play, they’d miss out on the great analysis of this piece that really gives it so much substance. I found that every one of Miller’s lines contains so much analysis that can really bring insight to a lot of themes such as death, success, and the American dream. This is once again a novel I don’t particularly enjoy for the plot, but instead because of the themes within it and how it teaches us a lot about the world. 

I’ll Give You the Sun – Jandy Nelson

70/371 pages

I know I’m going to tick off a lot of people by saying this, and I’m sure the novel gets better as it goes on, but right now it sucks – really bad. The plot is disjointed and jarring in terms of transitions, and I find Jude’s grandmother’s interludes to remove so much focus from the present plot. I feel like the author tries her best to be super thematic and cool at the beginning of the novel, when she should actually try to establish actual context to the rest of the novel. This is the biggest problem: the only reason I keep reading is that people say it’s good; otherwise I would’ve put it down already. I’m not patient, so I need the novel to get interesting early so that I can actually enjoy most of it. The first 70 pages of this book have been a huge disappointment, and I don’t know if I want to continue.

That puts my total pages read to 1055 pages.

That puts my page-per-week rate at 175 pages per week

That puts my page-per-day rate at 23 pages per day.

That puts my page-per-hour rate at 1.3 pages per hour.

This is a very welcome return to form for me. This month, I put up very consistent reading numbers and I kept my habits good. I read about the same every day, and I got to my 22 page-per-day goal. Especially with exams coming up, I’m pretty proud of myself.

September 2020 Reading Leader

Sep 13 to 30

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel: Amazon.ca: Kingsolver, Barbara: BooksNational Geographic Magazine, October, 1986 (Vol. 170, No. 4): Amazon.com: Books

The first month of this year was okay for me, but I was helped along definitely by the fact that this month was abbreviated.

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver

402 / 533 pages

Another book to add to the esteemed 4-star club to kick off this year, and it was a great experience to read this one. The novel stars around a family of six who move to the Congo in the sixties in order to lead the locals into eternal salvation under the eyes of Jesus Christ. The novel was an incredibly new look at the lives of villagers in the heart of Africa, and how completely different their lives are. The problems they face and lives they live are constantly in flux with nature, contrary to how we live in the Western world. The only thing preventing this novel from being a 5-star is the fact that since it is narrated in the first person by each character in intervals, some of the intervals seem pretty boring just due to the perspective. Though, I could easily see someone enjoying the book for this very reason.

Nat Geo October 1986 –

60 / 60 pages

I found a stack of 10 National Geographic magazines from the eighties for only a dollar, and I found it exhilarating to read this one. It mostly focuses on the Red Scare and how Americans were seriously terrified regarding the Soviets building some scary space weapon. Naturally, this was obviously untrue, but it was insane to read the speculations of people at the time. National Geographic Magazines can be really dry sometimes, so I wasn’t interested in all of it. I’ll definitely be reading some of the older ones though.

Overall this month, I read 27 pages a day, which is pretty awesome. Things are only going to get more difficult as time goes on, so my goal for the future is to maintain at least 20 pages a day for the rest of the year. I also want to read more non fiction novels and a greater variety of books in general.

October 2020 Reading Leader

Oct 1-29

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel: Amazon.ca: Kingsolver, Barbara: BooksThe Wars: Penguin Modern Classics Edition: Findley, Timothy: 9780735234628: Amazon.com: Books

Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist) eBook: Lee, Min Jin: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver

131 / 533 pages

I started to read this novel last month and finished it this month. The novel took a really interesting turn, and it was really cool to see how Africa left its imprints on the lives of the characters. even though they were no longer living in the village of Kilanga. This book was still a 4/5 but I would definitely say it’s one of the greatest novels to read in terms of its ability to transport the reader to a different country while also staying very character central.

 

The Wars – Timothy Findley

226/226 pages

I read this novel due to the fact that I’m doing a writer’s seminar assignment this year on Timothy Findley, and also since it could give me an option to use this novel on the diploma exam in June. I heard a lot of bad things about how this novel was dry and boring and difficult to read, but I actually enjoyed reading about the affect that the war had on a young man. Especially since the main character is Canadian, this one his close to home and made me really think about the innocence lost during the atrocities of war across the centuries.

 

Pachinko – Min Jin Lee

112 / 525 pages

I was recommended to read this one since I loved the novel Memoirs of a Geisha, which was very similar to this one. Truly, this is quite similar to that since the main character is a lower-class woman of Korea who moves to Japan. The setting of Japan around 100 years ago is a beautiful one, and the third person narrative is excellent to display the many stories constantly present within this novel. It’s largely unproven to me currently, but otherwise it seems to be a five-star read.

This month, I read 16 pages per day, which isn’t super great. That said, it was a very busy month for me in my other classes, so I feel like it could be worse. My goal for next month is 19 pages per day.

November 2020 Reading Leader

Nov 1-30

Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist) eBook: Lee, Min Jin: Amazon.ca: Kindle StoreDust to Dust by Timothy Findley

 

Pachinko – Min Jin Lee

376 / 525 pages

I read some more of this book over the last month and I greatly enjoyed it. I love how the narration is always in the third person but follows a particular character and switches over so smoothly that it doesn’t seem disjointed. It seems as though each character, even minor ones, have something important to say that advances the story. I am excited to finish this one and hopefully bestow it the amazing 5-star rating.

Dust to Dust – Timothy Findley

225 / 225 pages

I wanted to read another Findley book for my writer’s seminar project, so I picked up this collection of short stories by Findley. Some of them were excellent, and some I didn’t care much for. At times, they seemed didactic and lacking plot – although I do have to praise Findley for his excellent use of prose. My favourite story was “Dust” in which a man goes on vacation after recently losing his lover.

This month, I read 20 pages per day. I am pretty satisfied with this achievement, as last month I wanted to get to 19. If I can maintain this during crunch time of the year, I will be quite happy with my reading.

December / Jan 2020/21 Reading Leader

Dec 1 – Jan 19

Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist) eBook: Lee, Min Jin: Amazon.ca: Kindle StoreAfter Dark: Murakami, Haruki, Rubin, Jay: 9780385681803: Books - Amazon.caHard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: Murakami, Haruki: 9780679743460: Books - Amazon.ca

Pachinko – Min Jin Lee

149 pages read (book finished)

I finally finished this novel in December and I am pleased to offer it to the 5-star club. I bordered on this for a long time, but the nuanced character-based story was incredibly special to read and I am definitely a huge fan of historical fiction, so it had to be the highest prize for me. The narration is masterful and the story’s progression through time is excellent even though it spans the course of over 60 years.

After Dark – Haruki Murakami

208/208 pages

This was my first experience with Murakami’s novels so I picked a short one. After Dark was interesting from the first page: Murakami is excellent at narration and this shines through this book especially. As readers, we are neutral observers to both the worlds that the characters inhabit. This book was full of vibrant characters, crazy moments, and puzzling experiences. It really makes you doubt the world you live in and has an interesting vibe to it.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World – Haruki Murakami

187/399 pages

Since I loved the first book of his I read, I had to try another one, and so far I’m enjoying it. It seems to follow a parallel universe structure, and this makes the worlds and characters contrast in a cool way. I thought the beginning was very difficult to piece together and disjointed, but things are falling into place now. Murakami knows how to write characters and allow the reader to really understand what’s driving their actions.

Over the course of the past month and a half, I read 11 pages, which is pretty bad. As this was a tough time for me in school, I believe that a rebound is necessary once things calm down.

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