Epilogue: Every New Beginning Comes from Some Other Beginning's End

As is apparent by my lack of updates for, oh, nearly two years, the NaNoReMo experiment didn't exactly succeed. As always is the case, life happened, and the act of living got in the way.

Situations have changed since then, and I've decided to have another go at it. There are still things standing in my way, like my immense desire to sleep, but other circumstances have changed. Before I was sharing a house with two friends, four dogs, six cats, and a big screen television with HBO, Showtime and DVR. Now I'm living with my two cats in an apartment without cable, and a television that has recently decided not to turn on. I am still a full time student, which detracts from some free time, but I now work at a non-franchise coffee shop with a super chill owner who allows me to read during down times. It wasn't great to leave a job where I was surrounded by books, but more flexibility was needed to continue classes, and saving about an hour a day in commute was rather favorable as well.

With summer coming up, I seem to be afforded the opportunity to take on more luxury reading. Which is as good of a time as any to begin the challenge. I don't intend to start immediately, but plan to wait until the semester ends. I'll formally begin on Sunday, May 9, following the end of finals week. In the meantime I'll continue my normal habits and try to increase pace.

I haven't decided if I'll compile a formal list of titles to read, but any recommendations are always welcome.

Let the games begin!

Chapter Four: A List is Just A List

It appears that the Book List for November is ready to go. Here's the rundown (also available in the sidebar, [shamelessplug] with links to the product at booksamillion.com [/shameless plug])

Books will probably not be read in this order, but are simply listed in the order that people shouted titles at me.

1. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen: This novel was written during NaNoWriMo, so it seemed fitting as a first book for NaNoReMo

2. Star Dust - Neil Gaiman: Suggestion by co-worker John

3. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan: Suggestion by co-worker Rachel

4. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk: Pick from Kevin

5. Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk: Pick from Kevin

6. Coraline - Neil Gaiman: Pick from Kevin

7. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card: Pick from Kevin

8. Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett: Pick from Kevin

9. Wizard of Earth Sea - Ursula K. Le Guin: Pick from John

10. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut: Pick from Kevin

11. Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood: Pick from Kevin. I heart Margaret Atwood's stuff, but haven't read this one.

12. Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier: Pick from Kevin. Started reading this I think while I was in the process of moving to Knoxville, hence not getting very far into it.

13. Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson: Pick from John

14. Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino: Pick from John

15. Year of Wonder - Geraldine Brooks: Pick from boss Donna. When she was describing the book to me, she said it was about the Plague, to which I said "I love the Plague!" I meant I love studying about it, not that I'm wanting to actually bring it back in style.

16. Run - Ann Patchett: Read Patron Saint of Liars a few years ago and enjoyed it. This is actually on the BAMM Book Club List for November, so I can use a coupon :-)

17. The Doctor's Wife - Elizabeth Brundage

18. Almost Moon - Alice Sebold: Love, love, LOVED The Lovely Bones, and Lucky, so I probably can't go too wrong with another of her titles

19. City of Ember - Jeanne Duprau: Everyone I talk to either says this is a good read, or has heard it's a good read and wants to read it. I saw a preview for the movie counterpart, and it looked good, and I don't see movies without reading the book first.

20. March - Geraldine Brooks: Pick from boss Donna

21. The Shack - William Paul Young: I want to know what all the fuss is over this book. And I've been told it's a really good read for people who are grieving, so maybe I can continue to get some perspective.

22. 14 - JT Ellison: Local author brought to my attention by my friend Sandy. Kinda interested to see how it turns out

23. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini: My most lovely and wonderful but temporarily departed sister-at-heart Emily suggested this book to me over a year ago. I picked it up, but haven't read it. I think I'll save this one for the 19, which will be the one year anniversary of her leaving.

24. Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs: I'm a well-rounded geek, because I knit too. And a Friday Night Knitting Club (if it's to be taken literally) sounds like fun to me.

25. The Wednesday Letters - Jason Wright: Got this book free for answering a question correctly at a meeting. I was technically asleep, but the prizes still totally count!

26. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larson: Same as above

27. Turn of the Screw - Henry James: One of my professors did her doctoral research on Henry James, which sparked my interest in him. I have this book on the shelf, but haven't yet read it.

28. Watership Down - Richard Adams: Ashamed to say I haven't read this.

29. Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky: Pick from Kevin

30. Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie: Another relatively short one on my shelf that I haven't read

OK. So there we have it. A little bit of the "why" these were chosen. Kevin is hellbent on making me read more sci-fi & fantasy, because it's just not something I have ever really been into for a number of reasons, so we'll see how that goes.

Chapter Three: A Picture Holds A Thousand Words

Suggestions of what to read are starting to trickle in. I am currently sitting on my bed, and I easily have 30 eligible titles within my sight and reach... my sight is bad and my arms are short. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. I'm a serious bibliophile, but I don't want to recover!

I'm holding off on adding the aforementioned titles to the list because I haven't nailed everything down. I've allotted out 5 choices to Kevin, because he's endlessly full of suggestions, and granted 3 to another co-worker, who started rambling off titles as soon as he saw me at work today. My boss, Donna, who's freaking awesome, gets to pick one or two. Actually I think she already handed me one that is in my "to buy" basket stowed away somewhere. So that leaves me to filling in about 20. Despite my addiction to buying books, I think, at least for November, I'm going to stick with a lot of the books I own but haven't read or have only half read. Some of them I'm borderline ashamed and scared to admit I haven't read. Yikes.

A few months ago (August 2nd to be exact) I was putting in an all-nighter, and rolling around on my bed trying to find a comfortable position was quite difficult. This would be why:

I think I counted 17 books there at the time. Breaking Dawn is the one that's open. Sigh.

A song I got attached to recently says "Only my book in bed knows how I look in bed." Too true. But hey, at least I know my beloved books won't give me syphilis.

Chapter Two: Rules Are Made To Be Broken; We'll Just Call This A Stern Suggestion

So as with any challenge, something about this needs to be hard. Hence I figured out a few rules.

1. No talking about Fight Club.

Officially I can't make this the first rule, having never read or seen Fight Club. But everyone else makes it their first rule, and I'm nothing if not an obedient member of the mindless flock. Right.

2. Since this is based on NaNoWriMo, who deems a novel as "175 pages, 50,000 words", that seems to be a good jumping off point for daily reading. I'm going to revise it to be just 175 pages, since doing a word count would take me three months.

3. For this one month challenge, I'm going to stick with novels. When I go for the big year-long adventure, I'll most likely branch into some non-fiction works, like biographies and history books. Manuals, textbooks, travel guides and plays don't count. Well, maybe plays, but not in November.

4. No reading novels that I have already read in the past. This seems like cheating to me. Slight exception for anything that I may have started but not completed.

I'm asking myself a lot of questions in my head. The most prominent one is "Who shot JR?", but since this doesn't apply to the current endeavor, I'll push it aside for the timebeing. I'm trying to decide, is it going to be just reading 175 pages a day, or actually 30 titles? Inevitably I'm sure I will come across some that are shorter in length than others, and days where I will be finishing one book and then immediately starting another. It would be ideal to find 30 titles whose pages, when added and divided, would average around 175 pages a day, but that's more math than I'm willing to commit to figuring. But I don't want to read 30 short novels, or just be plowing through my 175 pages daily as if it were a loathed school assignment.

NaNoWriMo doesn't say that a participating author must write on a daily basis, therefore, I will not be forced to read every single day. For me that's basically saying "Hey, it's ok if you don't want to breath today", but I can't predict what may happen to prevent me from being able to sit down daily.

I've decided that my first book will be Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It's been on my list to read, especially of late, but I also recently learned that the book was written for the NaNoWriMo challenge, and therefore seems only fitting.

In the next few days I'm going to time myself reading, just to see what kind of time it will take daily to read 175 pages.

Also, all the links of book titles will redirect you to the Books-A-Million page for that product. Go buy it, so I can continue to work at BAM and buy more books!

Chapter One: An Explanation

It all started with this guy.

Yeah, I know, people who know me are probably rolling their eyes and saying, "Oh no, not again." Well, it's not that kind of story, so if I could continue please?

It all started with this guy, Kevin, that I met in July when I began working at Books-A-Million. Kevin is a writer, and he told me about an event he's participating in, NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. For those who don't find the title explanation enough, it's a challenge to write a 175 page, 50,000 word novel in a month. His purpose for telling me about this was basically to say "Warning you in advance that I can't hang out with you for a month." So like a good friend, I pouted for a bit and then a light bulb went in my head. Actually it could have been a mini-stroke, but whether it was caused biologically or intellectually, the end result was what I thought might be a good idea. If Kevin could do NaNoWriMo, then I was going to have NaNoReMo, or National Novel Reading Month. Rather than write a novel, I'd read a novel daily. One a day, every day, for 30 days.

Think I'm crazy yet?

As long as I can remember I've had a tiny goal in the back of my head to read a book a day, or 365 titles a year. It was something I figured I would tuck away to attempt when I was retired, as the act would be so time-consuming I wouldn't be able to do much more than read. Or so I thought. As Kevin explained the ins and outs of his writing challenge, ideas of how I could plausibly undertake a reading challenge began to form in my mind.

I have tentatively decided that 2009 will be my first official stab on my quest to read a book a day. I say tentatively because in 2009 I will also be continuing to work my 40-hour a week job, working with a start-up theater group, and going back to college in the fall. Someone once referred to me by saying, "Hi, my name is Sarah, and I have 10,000 commitments." Well, starting 12:00 AM, November 1, I'll introduce myself by saying, "Hi, my name is Sarah, and I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to catch up on my reading."

Kevin, though amused at my newly-dubbed counterpart to his own challenge, wants me to write in November. Once upon a time I was a writer, but then life started happening and my muse appeared less and less, and now while I gather rave reviews for my occasional blogs and notes inside cards on special occasions, the creative bug seems to be on its back, legs flailing and hoping desperately not to be squished by the gigantic foot that looms somewhere in the distance. So as a companion to the reading, I'll keep this blog to post thoughts and reviews of what I'm reading, and to update anyone who happens by of the decrease in my mental stability as I become a sleep deprived, squinty-eyed, pasty shell of my former self. Who knows, maybe (and that's a very tiny maybe) keeping a daily blog will help me get back into the writing habit, and next year I can participate in NaNoWriMo. Wait. Except I'll be two months from completing The Year of Living Literarily. Hmm. Maybe in 2010 then.

I tend to be an escapist reader; I can get very lost in characters and plot and I simply forget that there exists an outside world, and I'm often disappointed when I'm interrupted or when the story ends. I'm seriously one of those people who was left wishing for a secret wizarding community after finishing Harry Potter. So, if nothing else, I'm going to think of November as a nice, long, inexpensive vacation... from reality. Working retail in the holiday season? Won't phase me. Election results? Who cares! Give me books, or give me death!


Or in this case, it may be both. Nothing to do now but sit back, relax, and crack open a good book.

Or 30.