Book Challenge Progress

As far as my book challenge progress goes, I’ve read ten books out of the forty I have listed in my book challenge. Slow going but I have read a total of eighteen books this year (double the amount of books I read last year this time around) so I’m on a roll!

I’ve discarded a few books that have bored me at the first chapter (honestly, if I can’t get past the first chapter, why bother reading it when I have too many other books to read?) therefore the titles have completely been deleted off my list. I’ve already started my reading list for next year but perhaps it’s too soon?

Below, a few tips to complete a reading challenge for yourself:

Ditch your MP3 player

It’s easy to tune out everyone and listen to music on your morning commute which I understand. If you want to really finish that book you’ve been reading for over a month, take a break from your music, leave the mp3 player at home and focus on your book.

My commute is fairly short (50 minutes to and from work) so I would normally listen to some tunes while crossing the Williamsburg bridge. When I committed to completing any book I was reading at the moment, those five minutes waiting on the train platform and those fifteen minutes on the train to my destination piled up which allowed me to read at least a chapter (depending how short) or a quarter of a chapter. Add those minutes up to the commute home? And I’ve read two chapters (or one, again, depending on length) in the day.

I used to listen to my iPod while reading but found myself actively paying attention to the melodies than my story. As much as I like to tune out completely, the soundtrack of screeching train brakes and automated train advisories proved to be less distracting and intrusive.

Carry the book (or e-reader) with you

You have no idea how much time flies when you wait for someone at dinner, lunch, or brunch. Not to mention, your commute to wherever you may socialize as well as work. All those times in between add up to completing the book you’ve been reading since two months ago. You’d be surprised how much quicker the book is read when the work is physically always in plain sight.

Create a goal

Take the time to check in on how many books you want to read for the month or year, execute, and complete. Write it down so you can see it and take mini strides to complete, whether it’s a chapter or half of one; if the intention is there, it will be easier to follow through.

When I look at the book (or books) I’m reading, I commit to completing either a chapter a day, finishing the chapter I started at work during lunch, during my commute, or when I’m in bed. Because completing the book is on my mind all the time, I make that much of an effort to devote my time to reading about another world or someone else’s life.

Compile a “Books to Read” list

Coinciding with my “Read Books I Own” list, the book queue I created has significantly helped me accomplish my goals.

Make a list of books that sound interesting, that you’ve seen a blurb of on a talk show, mentioned in a newspaper article, a friend has mentioned, and so on and commit to reading those books. There doesn’t have to be any particular order or genre (unless you choose it that way), it’s all about the love of reading in an organized fashion.

Join or Organize a Book Club

I have to say, being part of a book club is tons of fun. Not only do you share your love of reading, you get to discuss these books with folks and read genres you may never have thought of reading unless suggested.

In my book club, we’ve read non-fiction, young adult, historical fiction, literary, horror, and books with magic realism. The variety I’ve encountered in close to two years is more than I’ve ever encountered in my reading lifetime. I’m a Stephen King fan so I read everything he’s written. Book club allows me to venture out and explore stories I’d never pick up otherwise.

If you have friends that share your love of literature, organize a book club that chooses a book once a month, then meets at a member’s home or a different locale; whatever works for the book club. I find that hosting makes the members of book club connect not only as book lovers but as friends as well. If you don’t know any book lovers, there are many book clubs on Meetup.com if you plug in your zipcode.

or (for those who like to go it alone)

Track your progress

Pay attention to how long it takes you to read books. I place a sticky on my bookmark with the date I started and space for the date of completion to be aware of my reading stealthiness. When you can gauge how long it normally takes you to finish a story, you can track how many books you will complete by the end of the year and realize that when a book is taking you over six months to finish on your list that’s 300 pages, abandon and move on to the next.

I started The Hobbit three times before I finally physically lost the book. Will I read it? Probably not. Chances are, I’m just that into it no matter how many people love it.

For those with e-readers, I don’t own one so I have no idea what that would look like.

Do What Works For You

At the end of the day, organize your reading habits however you please. These are a few ways that have allowed me to accomplish my reading goals. If not, I don’t know how many books I will have read at this point this year.

Happy Reading!

The Man From Beijing

 Author: Henning Mankell

Publisher: Knopf (2008)

The book starts with a wolf that enters the town of Hesjovallen that is deserted because someone came and murdered everyone. An older man discovers a body in blood, gets in a car accident, and has a heart attack, dying in the process. Enter the investigators Vivi Sundberg that has to figure out who responsible for this Swedish massacre. Then we are introduced to judge, Birgitta Roslin from another town who learns that her grandparents were killed in that massacre. Then we are introduced to these Chinese brothers – San, Guo Si, and Wu, who have to leave their home in China because the landowner has murdered their parents and will come find them to pay a debt. As the book unravels, these three stories are intertwined in a roundabout way that makes the ending anticlimactic.

 As a book club selection, this book was a doozy. Perhaps it was the translation from the Swedish language to English, but I found this book very hard to get into and read. The English was stilted, stiff, trite, too direct, too much the way people don’t talk but should, and not fun or interesting to read. The plot started interesting enough; I thought the author would stay and thrill the reader in the way the story started. I thought this story would be more of a thriller the way it started with each different character section. But as much as each part was necessary to tell all parts of this story, this didn’t work as a whole. It was so damn awkward and blah that I found it so very hard to care. There was social commentary about the Chinese government and affairs which was clunky and bogged down the story; the direction of this tale was on pause as the characters talked about the Chinese government. I was bored to tears. I found myself scanning most of those sections to see what else would happen which was Nothing! I like fiction with current affairs integrated when it’s done well; even Dan Brown made history entertaining and I’m not too enamored with his work. If you are a fan of this author’s work, pick this up. If you are not familiar with Henning Mankell’s work, avoid this and try his other series. As a stand alone work of fiction, The Man From Beijing was weak, uninteresting, and bland.

Bird by Bird

Author: Anne Lamott

Publisher: Anchor Books (1994)

Seventeen years ago, Anne Lamott published a book about writing in which she weaved her life experiences (reminiscent of Stephen King’s On Writing but of course, Lamott came first) being published, the aftermath, the reactions to negative and positive reviews, as well as putting pen to paper.

The Other Wes Moore

Author: Wes Moore

Publisher: Spiegler and Rau (2010)

Wes Moore is about two men with different fates. Both grew up without fathers, have mothers who wanted to raise them in better environments, and started out rebellious. One of them landed in jail while the other is a Rhodes Scholar.

Discipline

I started the National Novel Writing Month on the first. I started with one idea and then went off and did something totally different. I am satisfied with what I’m writing about though so I don’t feel as if I shafted myself.

What I’ve been slacking off on is the discipline to sit down and write for a long period of time. I find myself tweeting instead or updating my word count every five hundred words or minutes. Talk about distraction!

Amidst the distraction and lack of focus, I have been constantly thinking about writing, planning my social gatherings around enough time to write, and meeting folks (online and in real time) who are writers! I am aligned with the universe in my passion, which is a fantastic thing.

When I do sit down to put words on the page, there’s an acute attention and concentration that takes control as my hands fly across the keyboard; I’m in the zone, the story is taking itself somewhere I didn’t expect, and my characters are really talking to each other. It’s an amazing feeling.

I mostly have this concentration when I’m doing NaNoWriMo though; when I’m writing a short story, the creation is already written down on the page and being transcribed onto my laptop. There’s a different energy when I’m typing versus when I’m writing. When I have a pen in hand and I’m writing from a prompt, my creative juices are flowing, my mind is churning, and I’m putting everything down on paper to make sense of things later. With this contest, I’m doing the same thing but the accomplishment is greater because it’s a novel, not a short story or prompt.

I love NaNoWriMo. I wish I could have this kind of discipline with all my writing year round. Maybe this time, I’ll carry this with me for years to come.

NaNoWriMo and things…

Sunday afternoon after a night of celebrating my single pad living situation (yes, I had an “I Live Alone” party and I’m so not looking for a roommate), I nursed a mild hangover and forced myself to trek into Manhattan to write with a fellow writer (one of the co-workers I befriended who’s also a writer) at Union Square’s Barnes and Noble.

Connection

How do you connect with other writers?

At work, I overheard two co-workers discussing writing and I was reading a book as they conversed. I didn’t want to sound like a know it all because I’ve taken workshops, worked in publishing, blog, completed a novel, written short stories, and am familiar with the life of a writer without the publication bragging rights.

I sat there, excited, because I wanted to share my insight and experience so badly but I held this all inside because I had no idea how I would come across to them. One girl writes sporadically and has taken one writing workshop while the other co-worker self-published a trilogy (I believe; I was eavesdropping after all) without having taken a writing workshop in his life!

I see these folks every day and this would be a great way to make a connection with my co-workers, especially since I don’t know anyone at my current temporary job now. I don’t have the slightest clue how to speak up because I am so knowledgeable about it all.

How do writers connect outside of the writing community (like at work)?

*Update (10/7/10): I have since connected with these folks and it was so easy to do! Once you step out of your comfort zone, everything else falls in place.

Writing with homies

When I was in high school, I had a writing friend. She was writing a fictionalized account about her experience with a crush while I…can’t even recall if I was writing as much as she was.

Now that I am not participating in a writing workshop, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I proposed an idea in which we would get together, write (like with my other writing workshop) and then catch up. She gave me a book called Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors as a birthday gift years ago. I started reading the book about four years ago and never completed every exercise. This time around, I will fulfill my goal of reading this book from cover to cover – just like I did with Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way three years ago.

Reading like a maniac

My book club and the mountain of books in my room have me constantly reading. As ya’ll who read my blog regularly know, I completed three books in the past week! I’m on a roll and it feels so good!

I have to be careful though. I find myself rushing through the words like I’m in a race to finish as many books as I can this year. This is true but I’m reading like mad so I can enjoy the content and also be exposed to different writing styles; I don’t want this competition with myself to deter me from actually enjoying these books.

Recently, I read the short story, “Secretary,” written by Mary Gaitskill and at first read, I absolutely hated it. The character was completely unlikeable, she didn’t change at the end, and she stayed in the same place she was in the beginning – no arc, no nothing. After the story sat with me for a day, I was able to appreciate what Gaitskill painted in her tale. For one thing, the collection is titled Bad Behavior for a reason; I had an icky sensation after reading “Daisy’s Valentine” and “Secretary” which is why I hated this book for a full five minutes (maybe less, maybe more, I’m unsure) then this loathing went away. What place does the writer have to be in to create such depressing characters? I’m not hating on Gaitskill, I’m lauding her with the praise she’s received for her writing. The way she made me feel had me rushing to take a cleansing hot shower; now that’s deep. The reaction I had to her story was enough to show me this is what writers do – sometimes the stories stay with you and sometimes, they don’t.

Will I be able to create stories like her? I hope so.

As for writing styles, I’m reading memoirs, literary and contemporary fiction to get an idea of what I like and what I’d like to write. After reading King’s Blockade Billy, I realized how much his writing has affected my own work; the journey to find my voice has begun and I’m so excited to perfect it.

This is why reading like a maniac is absolutely amazing.

Bitch Lit

I started reading a novel which is in the new “Bitch Lit” genre and I have to say, I couldn’t get down with it. I read a quarter through the story and absolutely hated the lead character. The writing was good but I was completely unenrolled with the story.

Upon completely discarding this tale about a feminist and fashionista, I researched the author’s blog. I liked the author’s message about feminism in real time than in the story. She talks about the ability to have it all: successful career, marriage, and babies. I don’t know how the story ends but I sure wasn’t interested in the protagonist’s journey to love because I’ve read books like that and it’s a lot harder than it seems.

If this is the other side to “Chick Lit,” I’m not down with it. I comprehend the genre and I can truthfully say I have not encountered women like the protagonist in this novel. The author did such a great job at painting her, I had to stop reading. It was as if I was in the same room with this woman, listening to her thoughts, and I had to run away as far as I could in the other direction. I’m not the kind of person to watch a train wreck happen or even as an accident nearly happens but turns out okay. I don’t pay much mind to that but for others who love drama, I can see why folks enjoyed this.

I applaud this author, Erica Kennedy, who made this person so authentic, I couldn’t stand her! Good job! Her blog is especially empowering and I respect her message.

I’m not a fan of “Bitch Lit” and don’t read much “Chick Lit” either but I’d be interested to see more incarnations in the genre.