Friday, March 24, 2017

The Game of Reading Redux, Redux



It's time once again to revisit The Game of Reading!  What, already?  It's only been a month!  But nevertheless.

MRtB

A few weeks ago, I finally played Card #263 from the 2016 deck, The Bridge on the Drina, and I've been reading it steadily along with other stuff every since.  The card I drew up was a bit mischievous on the part of my Christmas Eve self, the guy who set up this year's deck.  It was Card #527: "MRtB."

You probably don't know, or have forgotten, that I theoretically have another online periodical, older than this one, called Michael Reads the Bible.  I seem to have forgotten it myself, as it turns out I hadn't written anything for it since August of 'aught fourteen. So, what Card #527 meant was: "Read a book of the Bible, and write it up for that other blog."

A spot of research revealed that I was two posts into the Book of Daniel, and that I had written a third but never posted it.  In obedience to the card, I finished Daniel and wrote up a post, which should be running today.  Here: go take a look!  If you like what you see, there's another post coming soon about some material that is in some Books of Daniel, but not others, and also has racy pictures. There are also 150 back episodes.  Knock yourself out!  Make Comments!

What Happened with the Cards I Was Holding on February 24
Card 263 [2016 Deck]: The Bridge on the Drina.  I'm currently reading it!
Card 498 [2016 Deck]: Ask J***.  I've still got the same issues with this card as I did before, viz. not liking the book that J*** assigned me.
Card 273 [2016 Deck]: The Time Traveler's WifeI've currently got in on my headphones.
Card 78 [2016 Deck]: Rabbit Redux.  I listened to it -- or rather, Rabbit, Run -- a few weeks ago.
Christmas Free Book!  I used this one on an audiobook version of The Semi-Detached House, a Victorian light comic novel.  It was OK, but not worth a Free Book.
Card 457: Other Non-Fiction.  I used it for Stuff Matters, a well-reviewed book about materials science that turned out to be a bit on the lite side.
Card 397: Unrestricted New Book.  I used it to for Logicomix, a graphic novel, or graphic non-fiction I suppose, about Bertrand Russell's work in mathematics and logic.  More fun than it sounds. 
Card 320: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy.  Happily, I was able to return this one to the deck with a "Return one card to the deck and draw two" card.
Card 321: Resurrection Men (Inspector Rebus, #13).  I invoked the serial fiction rule and used this one to listen to Standing in Another Man's Grave (Inspector Rebus, #18)
Card 396: Unrestricted New Book.  Having read Richard Russo's Nobody's Fool to satisfy a "Reread Something from Before You Were Using Goodreads" card, I then used this card to read the recent sequel, Everybody's Fool.
Ninety percent turnover, not even including nine cards that have come and gone in the interim!  Backed into a reading corner, I have not been.

The Cards I Have In My Hand Right Now
Card 498 [2016 Deck]: Ask J***.  Still a problem card, as discussed above.
Card 514: Shakespeare.  I decided to use this one on Merry Wives of Windsor, then discovered it's not on my Shakespeare shelf!  That's no way to run a railroad.  So, I've bought a copy.  You'll probably get a write-up here. 
Card 354: Unrestricted New Book.  I might use this to read Universal Harvester, a horror novel by the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle. 
Card 557: Reread Something pre-GR.  I might use this to re-read Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.
Card 480: From the Spanish.  I'm excited about this one -- I have a copy of Roberto BolaƱo's 2666 on order.  It looks great!  I hope I like it!
Card 110: Watchman.  A book from early in the career of a detective writer, without his famous detective.  I've apparently read it before, but I have no memory of it.  I look forward to it with little enthusiasm.
Card 470: From the French.  Okay, I'm really tempted to use this one to re-read Georges Perec's Life: A User's Manual.  If I do that, though, there's a risk that I'll draw Card #281: Life, a User's Manual.  What happens then??? You can see my hesitation.
Card 210: Kate Atkinson, Emotionally Weird.  I just picked it up at the library tonight.  A treat!
Card 378: Unrestricted New Book.  This is what I drew when I started on the Book of Daniel.  I suppose it is a card of virtue rewarded.
Card 43: Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945.  Really, a pretty terrific history.  I fondly remember listening to it during the great run-cation of 2012.  It might be a bit heavy to take on again, or, maybe it would reinforce my learning.  At my age, do I still need to bother with reinforcing learning?  Well, it can't hurt I suppose.
The problem with the hand is that there's lots of great stuff to eye-read, but not much ready to roll when I finish my current audiobook.  I suppose I could lay off the headphones, like I did the first 38 years of my life, but that would be weird.  I might have to sacrifice some of the Unrestricted and less restrictive cards in order to keep the ear-reading going, which would ordinarily be a real sacrifice but perhaps less so when the other holdings are so rich.

I Always Like to Ask

Anyway, that's where things are at in my reading life!  What are YOU reading?

1 comment:

DrSchnell said...

Yay, temporary return of MRTB - I find it endlessly entertaining and enlightening, and a better read than the actual Bible!