Monday, November 17, 2008

on books

i must read more!
once i used to read more
when lucky,
a book per week
when OK,
two books a month
and of course there's always fluctuation
and variation, since each author
and each piece is different to read
but sadly
those avid-reading days are far gone!
i started slowing down
when enrolled the infamous
Deutschstunde
and no regrets there
'cause i learn a lot of German culture
auch einfach weil
Deutsch macht Spaß! ;)

then Summer
then heat
then Grand Canyon!!
(even less regrets!
i loved that trip)
and then just bare laziness lately
and some TV (yikes! hurts typing it)
all this been keeping me away from reading

and so on my lap
for soo many days i've been reading
these Anthony Bourdain's
Adventures on the Culinary Underbelly
Kitchen Confidential

and as much as i am loving
señor Bourdain's anecdotes in the kitchens
and his teachings in restaurant business
and rushed way of living... is not a book that should've
been taking me this long to get done with!
as much as i enjoy almost every page

therefore
i am disciplining myself
i will try to go back slowly
but sturdy into a book-per-month schedule
and in order to be able to start a new book in December
i must finish Kitchen Confidential in 13 days

two days ago i made this calculations
the total pages of the book is 312
i've read 178 already
which left me with 138 pages left to be read
divided among the amount of days left in November
15, then i must read 8.93 pages per day
i guess rounding, 9 pages per day



so far i am behind right now!!
instead of typing i should be reading...
procrastination?, ja!

5 comments:

Saadia said...

Haha! I enjoyed your calculations. Quite inspirational, in fact!

When you do read more than one book in week, do you read them simultaneously or one after the other? Are the topics similar?

bereweber said...

hola Saadia

thanks for your comment on my reading calculations, I am struggling to keep in time the reading, heh heh, I have never forced myself to read but I must go back to read more! heh heh

and when I read more I usually do NOT read two books at the same time, they are usually one after the other... since I usually read Fiction and I am not that good at mixing plots

occasionally, if I am tired of the book I am reading, I read in between chapters or so, short stories... I like short stories 'cause I can read them in between books, etc. sometimes they are a nice break from a long novel...

it seems that you like reading too, huh? what are you reading currently?

have a lovely day!

Georg said...

Could be, Berenice, you are reading boring stuff. Bored stiff by high class literature. This affliction exists.

You could even read - or try to read - simple, easy books in German. Simple language but thrilling. That exists. Like in English, the Longman series, give it a try.

Some months ago, friends presented me with a thriller from an American writer. This author was chosen only because of the name Elizabeth George. Well, to make it short and snappy: now, I am already on the third volume featuring Lord Lynley
the aristocrat and his Bentley and and his assistant sergeant Barbara Havers, kind of proletarian from the suburbs. The last one I finished at 1.30 am.

So mùuch for now.

Georg

Id it is said...

There are phases when you just don't feel the 'need' to read, at least with me; I don't want to be bothered with any more mental stimulation! Well, that's when friends step in to suggest - "Hey read this one? I finished it in less than 3 hours!" You know they are trying to get you to snap out of your mental stranglehold.

Here's a light read that a friend suggested when I was in one of my 'low read' phases:

The Sounds of Language
by Malladi

bereweber said...

hi again dear Georg and mister iditis

i truly appreciate your words on books and your recommendations

Georg, that Elizabeth Georg mix is perfect for you and well, Elisabeth, thanks for the name and i do like thrillers!! so it's a good recommendation for me, now that i remember early this year, i read a couple of sort of 'light' bordering 'silly' "culinary mysteries" by Diane Mott Davidson
www.dianemottdavidson.com/
they are light reading and sort of fun since the main character and 'investigator' of the cases has a cooking and catering business, so the reading has recipes in between chapters... they were fun!

and as iditis said, not much of mental stimulation!!

and i think i do have a combination of both, boredom and one of those non-reading phases! but the discipline exercise of the 8.9 pages per day is working and i am almost done with Bourdain's book now...

thanks a lot for the Malladi's The Sounds of Language recommendation too!

and finally back for both of you another of my preferred authors

please read anything by Julian Barnes and by Paul Auster

for you Georg, i think living in France you'll truly appreciate Barnes' literature, he's a British with many links in France, i'd recommend you Flaubert's Parrot
http://www.julianbarnes.com/bib/fp.html

and for you dear iditis
i think any of Paul Auster books will touch your taste
http://www.paulauster.co.uk/body.htm

have a good Monday!