Reading

I’m not sure that anyone, myself included, really needs this post. On the other hand, I read a thing about re-reading and I want to write about *that* but keep getting hung up on reading. So I wanted to write a little bit about how I think differently about reading than I used to.

This is a story about I went from feeling like I should read more to feeling happy with — and about — reading. I use the word should too much and I’m trying to “stop shoulding all over myself”, as a therapist once said. I spent a long time feeling like “I should read more” and now I read a lot and really enjoy it.

I’ve written about reading on the blog before. I had two different projects to read books, Project 3 to read 25 books in 52 weeks and Project 15 to read 12 books in 21 weeks. I’ve also posted quite a few different notes on the things I read or lists of the things I read and from 2017 to 2022 I posted one word reviews of books. Reading more or better has been a regular resolution in my year end posts.

Like I said, I’m not sure I needed to write this. I like reading, so I read a lot. This is probably all we need, but I will say that beyond liking to read I’ve also given myself permission to read what I like and to ignore what I don’t like. That lets me enjoy the bits of books that I think are really good and if a book has bits I don’t like, I kind of don’t care.

Sometimes that means I jump to the end of the chapter if a confrontation in a book bugs me, or I might hit the skip ahead  button. Sometimes that means speed reading, or setting the speed on an audiobook up to 2x (or 3x) if I decide I don’t want to spend that long with a book — or if the book is written by Asimov, but I guess I repeat myself.

I’ve also given myself permission to stop reading books. Some books aren’t the right book for you to read right now and in the past I tended to slog through, refusing to start the next book until I finished this thing I didn’t want to read. The result was I used to … not read as much. Accepting that I can read for the love of reading alone has been immensely freeing and now when I hit a book that’s not the right book for right now I can move on.

So now I find I can enjoy the parts of books that are good. I can enjoy the writing or the characterization or the setting, even if I don’t love the other parts. I often everything now-a-days, but I have permission to step out whenever I want.

So person on Mastodon who replied to my year end post on reading, “Wow, you read a lot of books.” You didn’t ask, but that’s how I read so much. I enjoy it, I skip the bad parts and I listen to Isaac Asimov at about 3x speed.

If you were to ask me — and I’m aware that you haven’t — I would say if you want to read more, do it because you think it’s fun. Read the books you want to read, don’t worry about what’s good, skip the parts you don’t like, you can always come back later. Put down books you don’t like or that you’re not interested in. Maybe find a couple friends who read a lot as well (thanks friends on Goodreads) and figure out which of the books they like that you’ll like.

Anyway, I think reading more, and more happily, has been a big step forward in my overall mental health and I’m glad to be doing it.

Books are good. (Wow I really could have written a shorter post.)

Project 1: Project Octoseason Blog*

Happy Blog End and Start Day!

via GIPHY

Yes, it’s time for that annual celebration where I remember that I started the Blog on August 1 (a long time ago) and should probably figure out what I’m doing with it. It’s also your annual reminder that not all things last forever, but this blog still might for another year.

Ahem, first, as tradition dictates, I’d like to remind you that the “Blog” here comes in two parts, the Blog as Project Report, and the Blog as Blog (which is itself a project). Effectively, my intention here has always been to get excited and make things - even if that’s not always as evident as I’d like it - and one of those things I’m excited to make, is a Blog where I talk about - well mostly the media I’ve consumed, but you get the idea.

Tradition further suggests that now is the time that I tell you I’m not done my PhD, but I’m close - and folks I’m getting ever closer to actually finishing the damn thing - and given that, that I haven’t done quite as much work on my own creations as I’d hoped last August. Still, here we are, I’m not going to beat myself up, I’m just going to celebrate what I have done.

In terms of projects in the last year, I’ve worked on four and I’m generally, pretty happy with how they came out. I started messing around generating floor plans for a game I’d like to make at some point. That only managed two posts, but I still had fun - and I’m still thinking about it, the Flurpins will be back “soon”. I pushed myself to read more, and set myself the goal of reading 12 books in 21 weeks. That was a nice project, in that it had a set end date, and ended at the end for 2017. I actually made it all the way to 18 books - what a stunner. I started on a program to help me with game tracking, and also to just get some general programming practice in. Finally I tackled #NaFYoFuThMo an effort to get me pushed across that finish line of that ever looming PhD.

A Flurpin ... an odd side effect of generating floor plans.

As far as the Blog as Blog goes, in the last year I’ve kept up with tracking my video game playing, which I continue to find interesting, even if it probably seems a bit repetitive. I dropped a little behind in the monthly posts, partly because I was fairly overwhelmed in the Winter managing teaching and the PhD. I’ve mostly caught up now, and you can expect to see the June and July posts in the next few days. 

Following on from the success I had in boosting my reading in 2017, I’ve tracked all of the books I’ve read so far in 2018. I think It’s been worthwhile, and I’ve boosted my goal for the year on Good Reads from 32 to 40 (but that’s mostly to accommodate the fact that I can read a volume of Saga in a morning, and I hadn’t planned to read Saga at such a rate).

I only wrote one “thoughts on” post this year. That was Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, last August. I haven’t really finished another game this year that I’ve had that many thoughts about - while I loved Into The Breach, I found I didn’t have a lot to say other than, It’s really good. I suspect that in the next little while I may write a “thoughts on” piece for Paper Mario: Colour Splash - where you can enjoy my chants of “The WiiU is not a 3D system!” - and I may write a follow up to Breath of the Wild, another hundred hours on.

It's ok, you just have to trust the game not to smack you in the face with a hammer ... which you can't.

For the first time I wrote a New Years Resolution post. I think it was good for me to write down what I wanted to do better, or differently, this year. Generally, I’ve been more successful than not: I’m *slightly* better at monotasking and much better if I don’t let stress build up. I think I’ve done an okay job of holding fewer opinions, although that also varies with stress. I do think it’s helped while teaching introductory computer science, where many people hold a number of *very* strong opinions which may not matter very much. I think I’ve also been better at acting and getting stuff done just by standing up and doing it - it’s easier than I think it is.

I’m going to finish my thesis, sooner rather than later. I think in a small way I’ve been better on Twitter and happier with how I’ve been on Twitter. I’ve definitely read more and enjoyed a lot of what I’ve read - and then there’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves. I’m not sure I’ve made more stuff, but I’ve done a lot of stuff around the house that feels similar. I’ve seen more things, but I’d like to see more and keep pushing past the boundaries of inertia. 

More or less, I’m happy with the Blog as Blog in its seventh season. It has mostly been bits of media I’ve consumed. I didn’t really mean for it to work out that way, but at the moment I’m feeling fairly happy with that. My favourite YouTube videos have fallen off, but I think given the state of that platform generally, I'm okay with that. I may bring them back in a different form in the future.

I’m going to do an Eighth Season of the Blog - surprise! I suspect it will look very similar to the seventh. Tracking media keeps me interested, and if I find I have something I want to write about in relation to that, then I’ll have a good space to do that. I am hoping that as I finally finish the PhD, I’ll be able to add in a few more projects - I have several in mind, which should be fun.

Thanks to all of you who read, I hope the fun I have here is at least a little fun for you as well.

via GIPHY

*Yes, yes I did make a stupid reference to Octopath Traveller in the title, what of it?

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks - Wrapup

That was fun. I've been really bad about reading over the last few years and I wanted to kick myself to do a little more. And I think I did that, I read 18 books, some were comic volumes or graphic novels and a lot were audio books but I'm happy. I read several books I really enjoyed, particularly The Nameless City and American Gods. The Laundry books also scratch a lot of my nerdy itches even if they do sometimes leave me wanting just a little more.

I'm happy to wrap the project here, although I think I'm going to try to keep a list of my reading updated as I go (like the Lee and Miller's books read list) which will look basically like the project updates did. I've also challenged myself to read 32 books in 2018 in the good reads reading challenge.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 14

The Legends of the Guard books are interesting in that they're basically other artists playing in the Mouse Guard Sandbox. Lots of quick fun different stories.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks

Provenance doesn't stand up to Ancillary Justice, but it is still a very fun space opera through an interesting universe.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 12

The second volume of Mouse Guard was as good as the first, and possibly even better. I don't read a lot of comics, so while I feel like the pace of the story is a little slow, that might just be par for the course. The art is absolutely phenomenal.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 11

I finished the 10th Anniversary Audio Book version of American Gods last night (staying up way too late again). It was a fantastic read and I feel a little in awe of (and inspired by) just how wonderfully Gaiman writes a story. I enjoyed every single moment of it, I loved the characters, and the world, and most of all I loved how the characters, and the world harmonized with the story.

I also find it really weird (but interesting and cool) how similar Gaiman and Stephen King's stories feel.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 10

I've probably started reading Mouse Guard a half dozen times. This time, I finally actually finished the first volume. I enjoyed it and I'm curious now what goes into the following volumes.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 9

At Christmas last year, I kinda forced my loved ones to all exchange books. Which I think mostly worked out for the good. I especially enjoyed getting A View From the Cheap Seats (the hardcover is beautiful). Neil's writing is engaging and warm and funny and the only problem with the book its it contains a lot of introductions to other books, so now my reading list is longer than when I started.

I also made it to 12 books in 12 Weeks. Mostly Audiobooks, but I'm quite happy. I'm going to keep going and see how many books I can read in the remainder of the year.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 8

When I was a teenager, Stephen King's nonfiction ruled my world. His fiction too, of course but there's something I always loved about the way he writes and the way he projects himself in his writing. Listening to On Writing again, I was struck that while I still love his style, I have a lot more perspective on his approach to writing. Still he hits the most important point, I think which is if you want to be a writer, write.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 7

I'm not sure I enjoyed The Player of Games, but I sure did stay up later than I meant to finish it. Machina ex machina, describes it the best I suppose, which leaves me a little unsatisfied with the story as a whole. On the other hand you can always get my attention with vague descriptions of game play.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 6

Well I didn't expect to blow through the Delirium Brief all at once, but it's was really stressful and I just wanted to know what's happening. I'm more than ready to read the next one too, although I think hoping for a happy ending is ... unwise.

As for The Nameless City I've been working on it a little while and just finished. It's a great book and totally recommended.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 5

Suddenly back in, I finished The Annihilation Score and The Nightmare Stacks, one of which took me a week or so to get into and the other of which I listened to straight through (basically). I think these are the two strongest in the Laundry Files so far and both were great (if slightly stressful) listens

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 4

More Stross, more Laundry. More Vampires? Don't be silly, vampires don't exist!

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 3

Back on the Stross wagon, with the next in the laundry files.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update 2

Back on the Stross wagon, with the next in the laundry files.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks: Update

Really enjoyed reading through The Atrocity Archives again. Sadly The Jennifer Morgue is by a wide margin my least favourite of the Laundry Files, so I basically just skimmed it in audio book form.

Project 15: 12 Books in 21 Weeks

Once upon a time, a few updates ago, I set myself a project of reading more. I've felt lately like I haven't been reading enough, so I'm back in with Project 15, 12 Books in 26 Weeks.

The plan is to read books (for non-research purposes) and enjoy it. I figure at roughly 2 books a month, that should wrap this whole thing up December 31, 2017.