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A telegram, lodged between the pages of the book, S.

It’s another blank page. It’s time to conquer it! Let’s go!!!

My motivation for today that is.

Anyway, I had a good long meeting with my bed last night after a very long day yesterday. It was a day that included the long-overdue adult physical checkup (I’m good, but need a bit more exercise) and the sometimes-dreaded work performance review.

On a much brighter note, I got more reading on S. done. The core story is a decently good one. So far, it’s featured a man with amnesia (that’s S. himself) and a ship crewed by whistling ghouls. Seriously, only one shipmate could sort-of-speak English. S. has endured being Shanghaied so far, and his adventure’s only just begun. To be clear, he knows his name, as do people he introduces himself to, but it’s obscured from the reader so that whenever he presents himself, it looks like this:

“What’s your name?”
“S—.”

It’s the only book I’ve ever picked up that is written this way.

At any rate, it’s getting a bit easier to keep the loose items that come tucked into the book from falling out, now that I’m a bit closer to the middle of the binding. Like a good video game, I’m looking forward to discovering their meaning on my next “play-through” of this book.

Also, my sweetheart shared this fun video, made by one of my favorite YouTube creators, Freddie Wong:

She truly knows how to get me hyped for a movie.

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S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst

I’ve had this book for a few years now. Every time I see it, I remember that it’s not ordinary, for a book. It has, as a core feature, multiple layers. There’s the core text, the fictional author V.M. Straka’s Ship Of Theseus, and then there are the copious notes and other physical ephemera shoved between pages of the text, placed by apparently multiple characters. That’s the secondary layer and is why it comes in a solid dust jacket as well. This is definitely a book you don’t experience properly in electronic form.

I’ve made at least one attempt to complete this adventure in the past, but now, I think I may have the fortitude to do so. It’s going to take a while, I know, because my current plan is for at least two careful readings, with the first being to get the bottom layer text under my belt. These readings will require ignoring the margin notes, bits of loose notes, and multiple colored annotations. I’ll get to that on the second reading, as I try to unravel what’s going on with the 2(3? 4?) other readers.

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The Magician King, by Lev Grossman

I’ve been briskly cruising through this adventure for the past week.

I had a copy of The Magicians for a while, but stalled out a bit until I was reminded that SyFy will soon have a live-action adaptation of it. I’m a bit hopeful since their adaptation of The Exspanse seems good so far.

Anyways, on to this book. If you’ve not read The Magicians yet, I recommend it. My take on it, so far, is that it’s a bit of Harry Potter, a bit of Narnia, and lots more angst and cynicism.

The main character is not an orphan, nor a legend, but he, Quentin, did dream of a world more extraordinary than our own. He wanted to visit the land he’s read about since he was a kid, the fantastical kingdom of Fillory. He sort of got his wish in The Magicians, attending, and graduating from the magician school, hidden in the state of New York, Brakebills, and The Magician King is the continuing adventures of Quentin, but he’s not alone.

I feel like I relate more to Quentin than Harry, or even the Pevensie siblings. He had the misfortune of angsty teenage years, unrequited love, a fantastic turn of events, and a coming of age in the magical world. Turns out that his initial love interest didn’t share the same journey, but he’s been reunited, and this story see’s Quentin trying to learn more about her, while still trying to find himself, even as the adult he is.

Inspired by: Friday Reads | L Jones Edition

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What am I reading? Good question.

I’m going to answer this, but before I do, I want to be clear: I love audiobooks for consuming stories. They increase the volume possible to get through and, frankly, the storytelling mode of one person to another (or many) is one I favor. I do enjoy directly reading when I can, but some locations (such as driving) prohibit that. So, without further adieu, here’s my current list:

Darth Plagueis (Star Wars)

by James Luceno

“Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise that he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.”
—Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith

When I saw that moment in Episode III, I thought it might be interesting to actually dig into that story. Roughly a year ago, I was informed by a friend and fellow Star Wars fan that this story exists. I knew then that I had to at least wishlist this story, so I did.

American Gods

by Neil Gaiman

Gaiman’s a well-known author and I’ve enjoy a few of his other works, and the fruits of them, in other media, so I decided to add this to my list.

I should note that both of these are sort of “on hold”, but they’re available at the tap of a button on my iPhone, so I will endeavor to get through them. I think I’ll alternate listening to them with podcasts (oh, yeah, I love those as well, but that’ll be another post.)

A much longer list is the list of books I want to read. I’ll keep chipping away at that as well.

The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)

by Neal Stephenson

Confession: I like me some door-stopper books, but especially if they’re by Stephenson. I actually have this one digitally, however, to give my arms a break.

What are you reading these days and why? What’s on your reading list?

via Daily Post – 1.20.2015 – Daily Writing – Desk Community.