Concerning the Hours in the Day

There just aren't enough of them. Hours, of course. We only get 24-alloted hours, which between sleeping, eating, going to class (a necessary, albeit unfortunate, activity) and reading for school-associated reasons, doesn't leave much time for enjoyable things - like reading.

As you can see, I spent a large portion of my Sunday coming up with my challenge lists for 2008, most of which are rather extensive. I have the hardiest of intentions to compete in the 888 (8 books in 8 categories in 2008) challenge, the Year of Reading Dangerously, and the Decades challenge for 2008. I'm excited, and a little wary. I go back and forth between having a list of books I can choose from (as opposed to having to pick one blindly from the library shelves) and feeling constrained by such a list. We will have to see how it goes!

Up next on the nightstand is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I'm already about 50 pages in to it (thank God for reading through English 205) and so far I'm not entirely sure how to feel about. I'm really interested in the characters, specifically how the backstory is crafted for each one. Sammy, as of yet, has yet to be developed (that would be Clay) where Josef has been given quite the backstory so far (that would be Kavalier). The empahsis placed on disappearing acts a la Houdini and the like is very interesting - I don't think I've ever read a book where so much lock-picking is done within the first 100 pages. The only thing that really remains to put me off is the length of the book. Most books, I've found, don't necessarily need to be as long as they are, making for a sometimes boring read. This book, at about 630 pages, might be one of those books. Then again, it did win the Pulitzer prize, so perhaps its best not to judge it too quickly...

I've given The Time-Travelers Wife to my friend across the hall, sending it off with nothing but the highest of accolades, and I hope she enjoys it as much as I (and anyone else thats read it) did. She likes fantasy books, so I know that part will appeal to her, but I hope that she finds the love story just as touching as I did. I always feel it necessary to offer a sort of disclaimer whenever I reccommend the book to people, because it IS about time travel, which I feel might cause it to be discounted by those who really don't know. Hell, it almost kept me from reading it the first time! I just keep telling people that if they can get past the time traveling/fantasy aspect, then they will find one of the most touching love stories to date.

And with that rather trivial post completed, I'm off to waste some more of those precious 24 hours.

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