Meltish wrote:I tend to speed read; I'll race through a book and get an overall impression. If it's really good I'll go back and do it again sometime.
I'd say I read about an hour or two a day...
As for how many books... my book list has a REALLY LARGE number because I'll add essays and other small stuff I might want to look back at later, but it's +100...
That's a really good idea (though I only put in books and the very few videos I watch). Being able to go back later and actually find what you vaguely remember is such a boon. As well as a physical journal that I write in, I also put my list on the computer, so that I can search it. It surprises me how much I use it. 17 years of keeping a book journal, and I only wish I had started sooner. I don't put in re-reads, as some people recommend--way too many for that, as probably half my yearly intake is re-reading.
108 (new) books this year--sad compared to some years in the past, when the average year was 250-300 new books. Mind you, I collect children's fiction, so we're talking about ~200 pages per book, vs 600-800 pages. Alas! reading and writing don't mix very well, I find; that might explain the lower number.
My sympathies,
SA, most of my reading is fiction, too. Right now, though, I'm plowing through volume 2 of "Salute the Sappers" by Neil Orpen. It is a fairly detailed work on the South Africa Engineering Corps's (SAEC) work in Africa and Italy throughout WWII (so far my grandfather's been mentioned twice by name, making it worth the insane price I paid).
And now,
Melty, more than 2 years later
:
While browsing through said journal, I saw that this past year I read the
Graustark novels by George Barr McCutcheon (using a mix of online and hard copies; all but the last one. Couldn't lay hands on it
) Have you read those ones?
Which brings me to the point of discussing Anthony Hope and the Ruritanian stories. It seems that the chief difference between the Ruritanian/Graustarkian sub-genre is that in the former, it is a British foreigner, and in the latter, an American, who provides the necessary action. The other difference is that each Graustark book ends
happily, as a rule, unlike Hope's works.
I
liked Hope's writing, just not most of his endings. With
Zenda I was ambivalent,
Rupert was 'hijous;'
Heart of Princess Osra did have a good ending, but oh, the agony! on the way. Let's just say that I'm glad I'll never be so beautiful as to drive men to madness or to cause
VDT wrote:real wars, and all Narnia and Archenland, Telmar and Calormen, Galma and Terebinthia, were laid waste with the fury of the kings and dukes and great lords who fought for her favour.
as wrote a certain author of our acquaintance.
Hope's
Half a Hero was interesting, in a way. I didn't mean to read it: it just happened. It's more a political "romance" and ends nastily, but with a similar element as in
Rupert--a decision for good or bad, we don't know which. It wasn't until I read
Phroso that I was unreservedly happy. Such a nice book--and a nice ending!
Then there was Harold MacGrath. Yes, yes and yes. As well as
The Goose Girl, I read
The Princess Elopes, which is the same story, written earlier and from a slightly different point of view. Still can't decide which version I prefer. And then there was
The Carpet from Baghdad. I'd like to read more by him.
In my spare time...