It took 391 days. Eight more days than I predicted on April 10, 2019. It was on April 10th that I started reading Ulysses by James Joyce. I originally predicted I be finished on April 28th, 2020. I actually finished on May 6, 2020. Not too far off! Fell off a bit in the middle somewhere but The Quarantine allowed me to catch back up. I'm just proud I actually completed this goal!
The secret was reading two pages a day. This took the pressure off. I could read other books at the same time. I didn't have to worry about the obscure language. I just read two pages a day and kept going. Another key was utilizing the online resources that helped explain the content. It was a difficult read and I needed the help.
But the challenge was worth it all. Completing a goal over a long period of time is immensely satisfying. I had been attempting to tackle this book for twenty years and it feels so good to have gone and done it. I guarantee I'll be celebrating Bloomsday on June 16th this year!
So I've kinda begun a routine of reading one challenging book over a long period time while reading one or two other more accessible works at the same time. I've now challenged myself to tackle Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. 776 pages. It's not the length, its the depth of the content that can be challenging. So this will be my long read for the next while. I started today, May 7th, 2020.
There seems to be page breaks about every eight pages or so...a lot more than the two pages a day pace I used for Ulysses. But I'm going to give that a shot. Some page breaks are a little shorter and some a little longer. I haven't looked through the whole book so I could be in for some surprises. But I think I'll try to keep it at eight pages max.
At 776 pages that would mean I would be done in 97 days. I'm going to give my self a little longer simply because I'm not sure I can do eight pages a day every day while reading two other books concurrently. So I'm going to give my self 155 days (average of 5 pages a day).
So that means I should be done with Gravity's Rainbow by October 8, 2020. 155 days from now.
Let's do it.
