Baroque Summer is Here!
Get your engines started, ladies and gents. My crazy summer reading project begins today, June 1. I’ll be reading all three of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle trilogy, Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World over the summer. The pace is 200+ pages a week. First post and discussion will be next Monday, June 7. Details are here.
Embarrassing disclosure #1: My geek husband G. Grod and I bought all three when they came out in hardcover (HC). Then we bought the trade paperback (TPB) of Quicksilver when it came out, as I thought I’d read it, and it would be way less wrist strain than the HC. I didn’t make it very far, though. So when I proposed the Baroque reading plan, my husband said he’d read along, and he’d take the TPB and I had to read the HCs since he’s already read them. Then I went book shopping today and found another TPB of Quicksilver, and 2 apiece of The Confusion and The System of the World. So I have a matching his-n-hers set of Baroque Cycle TPBs so my husband and I can read simultaneously, and neither has to drag around the doorstop, author-inscribed HCs. Yes, that means we have 3 sets of the trilogy. Yes, we are geeks.
Embarrassing disclosure #2: I bought Stieg Larsson’s Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest last week for $16. I was traveling over the weekend, and thought I could tear through it before I had to start Quicksilver. Alas, I didn’t get as much reading time as I thought, and I’m only about a third of the way through the Larsson. I think the best plan is for me to try and finish before I start Quicksilver, but I may be behind next Monday on my own project. Nice. Though I imagine some of you understand, no? Happy reading, all, and I look forward to seeing who’s here next Monday!
June 1st, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Oh, I understand. Finally decided I’d give Baroque a chance, but I also picked up GWKTHN last week hoping to get it read this last weekend, but didn’t even start it, cuz I’m trying to finish another 600-page book. My Baroque reading will be limited to bed, cuz there’s no way I’m lugging my hardcovers around on the subway (my other reads at least are in e-format). I’ll definitely check in next week to see how you’ve managed!
June 1st, 2010 at 6:37 pm
I’ve started, but don’t know if I can be committed enough to get through all three books in a row. My fickle nature may have me cheating along the way.
June 1st, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Isabella, what 600p book are you trying to finish? And Amy, I figure all we can do is start, and keep plugging away, right?
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:25 pm
re: disclosure#1: we have many versions of certain “sacred” books, including but not limited to mass market, various trade paper, and illustrated/annotated hardcover versions of LotR.
re: disclosure#2: your strategy makes perfect sense to me
good luck going baroque. will look forward to your progress!
June 7th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
I posted a message earlier indicating that Mr. M-mv was finishing my shelves. Well, you can’t finish when one brace is snapped in half and the wood facade of another is splitting.
heavy, heavy sigh
My mistake, I know, was ordering from JCPenney. But, in my defense, they looked lovely onscreen, were on sale, and eligible for the coupon code I had. Needless to say my TBR stack of reproach is again, just that — a stack, well, several stacks.
MFS