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High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016
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DrNefario
Posted 2017-04-05 7:23 AM (#15560 - in reply to #13703)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		I decided a few months ago to drop back to the 9-book tier for this. I've been fairly strict about what I counted, and I've also been reading some self-published fantasy which isn't on the site, so I thought the full 12 was a bit too much of a stretch. As of a few weeks ago, when I read The Other Wind, I have completed this slightly less challenging version of the challenge.
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JohnBem
Posted 2017-04-29 1:47 PM (#15630 - in reply to #13703)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Just as it took me longer than usual to finish The Birthgrave, it has taken me a long time as well to complete Vazkor, Son of Vazkor. These are good books, very good, and while the writing in them is dense, complex, and thought-provoking, I don't think that's what is slowing me down. I think my problem is a personal one; for the last 30 months or so, since before I even joined WWE, I've been reading primarily genre fare; despite my great love for science-fiction and fantasy, I think I overdid it. Recently, I started reading books about rock-and-roll, another great passion of mine. I'm currently blazing my way through Please Kill Me: The Uncensored History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, and after that I've got lined up Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs, Lonely Boy: Tales From a Sex Pistol by Steve Jones, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello, and Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein. These are the books that I am most interested in reading right now; nonetheless, I will soldier on. To meet the High-Fantasy Challenge deadline, I will dutifully need to read 10-12 pages a day of Tanith Lee's Quest for the White Witch. Then, to meet the Grand Misstresses challenge by the end of the year, I will have to be very mindful of how much I daily need to read of those works. These then will be the first two reading challenges I've ever undertaken that will be true challenges; normally I speed through challenges, beating deadlines by weeks if not months; these current challenges will be the first where I've truly taken it right down to the wire. I am deriving pleasure from these challenges, and the books so far have been very good, but I've just never been in this weird mood and strange place where I have to consciously goad myself to successfully complete a reading challenge. Onward!
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JohnBem
Posted 2017-04-29 2:00 PM (#15631 - in reply to #15537)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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devilinlaw - 2017-04-03 1:35 PM


Then i trudged my way through Little, Big by John Crowley begrudgingly. It's not that it's a bad book, it's just not my style. i had a hard time getting through to the end.


A friend of mine loved Little, Big. Adored it. One of her all-time favorites. Because of her, I tried to read it, starting it on no less than three occasions. And I could never get more than a dozen or two pages into it.

The book has been in my collection for more than 10 years; I never traded or sold it because of my friend, Cheryl, thinking I would read it some day and then she and I could finally discuss it.

And now, sadly, she died. Last autumn, just a few months ago. And now Little, Big is not just another "something to get to some day." It rests on my shelves reproachfully, a grim reminder of the transitory nature of all things; a guilty reminder of tasks undone, moments never shared, and memories never created.

I don't know now if I'll ever be able to read Little, Big. Nor do I think I'll ever be able to part with it. Over two-thousand books line my shelves and teeter in stacks, and yet this one now stands out more prominently than all the rest whenever I shuffle through my library on some insomniac quest, and profound feelings of loss and existential dread wash over me. This is the most deeply I've ever been affected by an unread book.

Edited by JohnBem 2017-04-29 2:04 PM
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Sable Aradia
Posted 2017-05-05 7:44 PM (#15673 - in reply to #13703)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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I'm reading a bunch of self-published fantasy lately too. As a result of that and a brutal writing schedule I have decided to extend the deadline of this challenge into June. Perhaps that will make it a little easier! Glad you guys are enjoying it!
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JohnBem
Posted 2017-05-22 10:51 PM (#15763 - in reply to #13703)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		I've finished Tanith Lee's "Quest for the White Witch," which concludes the Birthgrave trilogy, which concludes for me the High Fantasy Reading Challenge. Despite some initial struggles with the Birthgrave books, I really got engaged in QftWW (that re-engagement plus a 2-hour wait at the garage while my car was inspected allowed me to finish this book a few days earlier than expected). Lee's writing got stronger with each novel and QftWW was the best of them, a very good book indeed. So that's 12 books and 12 reviews (admittedly most of them short, written at the bleary-eyed tail-end of the day) and now it's onward to the Grand Mistresses challenge and Cherryh's Morgaine saga. I'm glad to have been introduced to Lee's writing, and there is more of it ahead of me in Grand Mistresses, but for now I am looking forward to a different story and a different style.

Edited by JohnBem 2017-05-22 10:53 PM
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jontlaw
Posted 2017-06-01 4:19 PM (#15797 - in reply to #13703)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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Location: Alief, TX		Still like the sound of this one, but it's just not going to happen for me yet. I've just finally knocked off the Definitive 1960's Challenge, and I'm gearing up for both the 12 Awards in 12 Months and the Second Best, so I think the rest of my year is spoken for, let alone the next month. But if you restart for another year, I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
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Sable Aradia
Posted 2017-06-30 7:38 PM (#15952 - in reply to #13703)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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Hello all! Okay, so I'm way behind on my reading schedule because I've been writing, and I see a lot of other people are still struggling, so I've expanded the challenge to finish at the end of September. I've also changed the levels to give the people who are already done something to do (basically, I ditched the 6 book level and added a 15 book level). I hope nobody minds the changes but if you do, please let me know. There will be a new high fantasy challenge in October. Thanks everyone! Happy reading!
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JohnBem
Posted 2017-06-30 7:56 PM (#15953 - in reply to #15952)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Sable, although my OCD doesn't like seeing those three blank spaces at the end of my challenge, especially since I pushed myself to finish by the original deadline, I think it is very nice of you to extend the time. I doubt however that I'll be able to take advantage of the extension to fill those three troublesome gaps, because I'm hip-deep in your Grandmistresses challenge; at my current pace, I may be pushing that one right up against the deadline as well.
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DrEvilO
Posted 2017-07-04 2:38 PM (#15964 - in reply to #13703)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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Location: CA		Really appreciate having this one available, thanks everyone!
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Sable Aradia
Posted 2017-10-02 1:27 PM (#16319 - in reply to #13703)
Subject: Re: High Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016		Quote Reply



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Hey guys, starting up the new one today! I sure didn't do as well as I intended to on this one. Let's see what happens this year!
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