Reading and Falling Behind

Once again, I've edited my Comprehensive Reading List, CRL for short (as always), for what seems like the 10th time this year. My book count, over this year, has jumped exponentially from 51 or 52 (pretty much somewhere in the low 50's) to a new total of 68. As of now, I'm at approximately 63.63% of accomplishing my goal of this year. It's been such a hard trek in trying to read as much as possible. The cool (and annoying part) of this is that I'm more likely to go down on my progress than go up. This is so mostly because I add books than cross them off, but I'm doing my best to read two books for every one that's added. So, that's a good thing. =D

However, that's not where I'm falling behind actually. For one of my classes that is studying social changes on a macro level (this meaning across a lengthy period of time - in this case, human history), we have to read this textbook called Social Transformations: A General Theory of Historical Development (Expanded Edition) by Stephen K. Sanderson. Our professor warned us that this book will be a challenging read, since the book was written for Sociology grad students, not undergrad students. And reading this book is, well, pretty damn hard. In one of my earlier sociology classes, my professor pointed out that many books academic books are written with a specific lingo or lexicon that seems to shut out any other curious minds outside of that particular field (in other words, she argues that academic books should serve to enlighten everybody, including the everyday man, instead of a select few). 

Anyhow, reading this book makes running in water an easier task to perform. I was supposed to read chapter 1 by Saturday (yesterday), chapter 2 by tomorrow (Monday, which I haven't) and chapter 3 by (Wednesday, which probably won't happen) if I'm going to fully comprehend the lectures and classwork that I'm expected to complete effectively. Hence, I've fallen behind already.

Ender's Game and CRL

Ender's Game is the 41st book I have completed for my Comprehensive Reading List, or CRL as I call it. As I have mentioned a few times throughout the year, the goal is to read 75% of the 67 books I have listed on that list. As of now, I'm at approximately 61.19% (or 61.19402... to be exact). If I didn't add an additional 10 books to the list, I'd be much closer to accomplishing my goal of reading 75% (I'd be only 2 books away, instead of 10 away at the moment). But I'm cool with it! I made this list to be fluid, being able to add and remove books whenever I wanted. There have been times where I removed a book or two because I felt that I didn't take away anything from a book or reading it felt like a waste of time. I still have roughly 3.5 months before the year is over, so I'm hoping to get really close to that magic number.

Ender's Game was a fascinating read. There were times that I had to be reminded that Ender was a boy of nine years, even though he had the maturity of a young man. I can understand why this book was met with much friction, especially from mothers and school teachers. Events that transpired among students aboard the Battle School seemed illogical for children to commit and attempt, ranging from humiliations, bodily harm, and even murder. "Children should be children, not be forced to be adults at such a young age," I guess is the main argument. However, a book like this can have us reflect our actions and behavior toward others and ask ourselves, "Were my actions justified? Or was I malicious and excessive?" While the characters involved (with the exception of Graff, of course) and overall plot was nowhere near morally ambiguous, the actions of certain people were. I've read somewhere that some branches of the military actually recommend reading Ender's Game for its philosophical implications, especially knowing that many soldiers can and will commit actions that we, as civilians, won't ever comprehend unless we were there in combat also. Maybe somebody can confirm this for me? I personally can't wait for the film adaptation to be released. I'm very confident that some scenes that transpired in the novel will, without a doubt, be altered considerably. I don't mind this at all, as long as the core message of the novel stays the same, which we should always hope for in adaptations. 

Next on my reading list is Robert Ellis' The Lost Witness, which I don't know what the novel is about or what to expect. The book was given to me by a friend since he didn't have time to read it and he knew that I have a collection that is constantly growing. I'm hoping it's a good read!