Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project

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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jun 30, 2014 23:12:15 GMT -5

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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 23:12:15 GMT -5

So somewhere in July I will turn 45 and over the last half year or so I have come to realize I have way way too much stuff I haven't read-books, trades, comic strips, pulps, comics, etc. I keep saying I'll get to these one day before I die, but turning 45 has put a little point on this that maybe I should get started...no Corvettes or Ferrari's or other cliched mid-life crisis toys, just reading whats I already gots

The question was how to go about it. I took my inspiration from the way I have been sorting/storing my comic back issues. I had been planning on reading through my comics chronologically, then I decided to include the stuff I had in trade with it, and then in a moment of sheer lunacy I decided to throw in all the speculative fiction I own into the pile of stuff to go through. I've spent the better part of June puttering through my shelves and storage bins going through books, pulps, magazines, etc. noting what I have and making a chronological reading list. I am trying to limit it to speculative fiction (i.e. sci-fi, fantasy, horror and related genres) and comic/comic related material I own, not stuff I can get on the net or in libraries, but stuff I actually physically own. Some will be rereads as I haven't read them in a long time, but a vast majority will be first time reads. The goal was to start reading in July, and part of the reason I didn't read much in June was spending time prepping for this. It will take a little time before I hit the comic book era-the list is still incomplete, but right now it spans from 1818 to the present (I have dipped into the first book on the list-Shelly's Frankenstein the past couple of days). Not sure if I will ever finish, but I hope to keep plugging away at it. I will most likely be keeping up with current stuff I buy as well, but we'll see.

This thread will serve as a pseudo-blog of sorts with reactions to what I am reading (not quite reviews, sometimes lists, sometimes stray thoughts on the materials, sometimes actual reviews or commentary, depends how the mood strikes me. If anyone wants to follow along or join in, they are welcome...like I said Frankenstein is first up, and Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow will be on deck after that, and Poe looming on the horizon after that...

It will be a few days before I start in earnest, but wanted to give a little notice in case anyone wants to follow along on this insane journey of mine, even if its to point and laugh...

-M

A Tally of the Journey

Journey Began with: Frankenstein (1818)
Currently Reading Year: 1928 Skipped from April 1835 to Jan 1928
Currently Reading: March

Number Read
Novels: 1
Short Stories: 12
Novella/Novelette:
Poems: 32
Essays/Articles:
Comic Books:
Daily Comic Strips:
Sunday Comic Strips:

What I've Read
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
A Dream by Poe
Dreams by Poe
The Happiest Hour by Poe
Song: To- by Poe
The Elves by Ludwig Tieck
Stanzas by Poe
Evening Star by Poe
The Lake by Poe
Imitation by Poe
Spirits of the Dead by Poe
Tamerlane by Poe
Alone by Poe
To- (Should my early life seem) by Poe
To the River by Poe
Sonnet: To Science by Poe
Introduction [Romance] by Poe
Al Aaraaf by Poe
To--(The bowers whereat in dreams) by Poe
An Acrostic by Poe
Elizabeth by Poe
Alone (To M-] by Poe
Heaven [Fairy-Land] by Poe
To Helen [Stannard] by Poe
Mysterious Star by Poe
Israfel by Poe
Irene [The Sleeper] by Poe
The Valley of Nis by Poe
The Doomed City (Poe)
A Paean by Poe
Metzengerstein: A Tale in the Imitation of the German by Poe
The Duke de l'Omelette by Poe
A Tale of Jerusalem by Poe
Loss of Breath by Poe
Bon Bon--A Tale by Poe
Serenade by Poe
Fanny by Poe
Four Beasts in One: The Homo-Cameleopard by Poe
To—(sleep on sleep on another hour) by Poe
MS Found in a Bottle by Poe
The Visionary by Poe
To One in Paradise by Poe
Berenice: A Tale, by Poe
The Riders of Babylon by Robert E. Howard
The Dream Snake by Robert E. Howard
The Wind in the Portico by John Buchan
Cool Air by H.P. Lovecraft

Last Edit: Nov 10, 2014 17:17:24 GMT -5 by Deleted

shaxper CCF Site Custodian Posts: 22,871	Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jun 30, 2014 23:15:19 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by shaxper on Jun 30, 2014 23:15:19 GMT -5 Yey for insane journeys! Boo to mid-life crisies! Of course, it's entirely likely I've reached the middle of my own life expectancy, so I'm onboard to witness and share in your madness.

Deleted Posts: 0	Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jun 30, 2014 23:38:57 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 23:38:57 GMT -5 I started my mid life crisis at about eight years old when I put that Countach poster on the wall.

Ish Kabbible
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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jun 30, 2014 23:50:57 GMT -5

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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 30, 2014 23:50:57 GMT -5

MRP I know exactly how you feel since I'm 15 years older and came to the same realization years ago.Spent my life amassing insane amounts of comics,books,DVDs,newspaper strip collections etc.Enough that if I lived 3 lifetimes it would be doubtful that I'd have the time to read them all.First thing I did was sell my comics collection-just about everything along with tons of books I never got to reading.Most of those books were in storage and not very convienent to access.It made no sense to pay storage fees for the rest of my life. It made sense to cash them in while I can.With them gone,I no longer felt compelled to buy many new comics that I was doing as a force of habit.

I still have more than enough books and the like to read till I'm buried.And enough DVDs to watch till I'm blind. My only advice to you would be don't feel obligated to read something if you won't enjoy it.Skip it, spend your time with what you would like.You can always go back later to what you bypassed.Time goes fast and theres never enough of it

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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jun 30, 2014 23:58:37 GMT -5

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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 23:58:37 GMT -5

Jun 30, 2014 23:50:57 GMT -5 Ish Kabbible said:

MRP I know exactly how you feel since I'm 15 years older and came to the same realization years ago.Spent my life amassing insane amounts of comics,books,DVDs,newspaper strip collections etc.Enough that if I lived 3 lifetimes it would be doubtful that I'd have the time to read them all.First thing I did was sell my comics collection-just about everything along with tons of books I never got to reading.Most of those books were in storage and not very convienent to access.It made no sense to pay storage fees for the rest of my life. It made sense to cash them in while I can.With them gone,I no longer felt compelled to buy many new comics that I was doing as a force of habit.

I still have more than enough books and the like to read till I'm buried.And enough DVDs to watch till I'm blind. My only advice to you would be don't feel obligated to read something if you won't enjoy it.Skip it, spend your time with what you would like.You can always go back later to what you bypassed.Time goes fast and theres never enough of it

Anything I read that I don't enjoy or can't bring myself to finish is going into the purge pile, and I will get rid of it (sell, give away, toss, whatever). I may even purge stuff I enjoyed but have no desire to hang on to, so I get where you're coming from definitely.

Sadly I keep coming across stuff I forgot I had or that I managed to get multiple copies of. Going through my REH stuff I realized I have some stories in like 4-5 different anthologies and entire anthologies of material I had elsewhere, the only thing new was the cover art...so yeah, I plan on trimming a lot of stuff down as I go through this.

-M

sacorn
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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 0:20:31 GMT -5

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Post by sacorn on Jul 1, 2014 0:20:31 GMT -5

Oh I'm jealous. I want to do the same exercise but can't even find a starting point.

Just thinking about that seems daunting enough, so it keeps getting put on the back burner for that mythical day when I have no other obligations and can spend it doing just what I want!

I look forward to reading about your exploits

Nowhere Man
Friendly Neighborhood Regular

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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 3:16:37 GMT -5

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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 1, 2014 3:16:37 GMT -5

I'm doing something similar, but only with comics. Basically, I want to read all the most important Marvel and DC comics of the Silver and Bronze Age as well as some Modern Age stuff. The total as it stands, if they were all individual issues (many or most are trades and digital of course) is just under 4000 issues. If I can average a mere five comics a day, I should get through this in just over two years. I also will be doing this chronologically, but have been mulling over whether or not I should restrict my classic comics reading (new books are okay) to just those in this essential list of comics so as to not prolong the process even further. I've become extremely anal about chronological readings ever since I started using comic library programs to sort comics by year and month...ugh.

The Captain
CCF Mod Squad

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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 6:01:18 GMT -5

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Post by The Captain on Jul 1, 2014 6:01:18 GMT -5

I turned 40 last year myself, and it was at that point that I reassessed what and how much I was buying. I own DVDs I've watched once, and entire series of TV shows on DVD that I haven't put in the player in years (Buffy, Angel, Chuck). In the past two years, thought, I've only bought a total of 3 DVDs (Thor: The Dark World, Serenity (on Blu-Ray), and season 9 of Supernatural), and I've passed up opportunities to buy Iron Man 3 or Dark Knight Rises cheap because I just don't know how many times I might ever watch them.

I went on a binge in 2012-2013 where I bought almost 1650 comics, of which I've probably read 25% at this point. Most of it was $1 or $.50 stock, but that still turns out to be around $1000 spent on books that I bought seemingly just to say I owned them. This year, I've purchased just 251 so far, of which 138 were in January (big $1 warehouse sale at one of the LCS), which works out to just 22 per month since then. Granted, a big reason it's slowed down is because I have a lot of what I wanted now, but it's also because I'm not just buying things for the sake of buying them, and I'm also buying more collected editions, which take up less space and cost less than buying all of the floppies. That's one of the reasons I like the Classic Comics Reading Club, because it forces me get into this massive collection I've accumulated over the past 30 years and is helping me keep on track to read things and then consider getting rid of them (I did that last week, unloading about 175 books that I knew I was most likely never going to read again and had no need to keep).

Good luck, my friend, and know that you aren't alone.

"As a youngin' I used to share the colt 45 on the street corners with my friends. I'm not proud." - icctrombone

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever." - Baron Helmut Zemo

The fact that there is a Highway to Hell but only a Stairway to Heaven should tell us all we need to know about expected future traffic.

Rob Allen The Power Cosmic! Posts: 9,661	Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 14:31:52 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Rob Allen on Jul 1, 2014 14:31:52 GMT -5 So, what do you think about Frankenstein the novel? It's pretty different from the movies. Have you read it before?
	-- Rob Allen This signature conforms to the original standard for signatures on Usenet.

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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 15:11:45 GMT -5

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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 15:11:45 GMT -5

Jul 1, 2014 14:31:52 GMT -5 Rob Allen said:

So, what do you think about Frankenstein the novel? It's pretty different from the movies. Have you read it before?

First time reading it, I'm about 50 pages in and Victor is just getting to the experiments we all know and love...Shelly spends the first several parts introducing and familiarizing the audience with a character who is simply there it seems to hear Victor's account and then the next lengthy part describing Victor's parents and childhood-so the pacing is making me long for the fast paced compressed storytelling of a Bendis so far....

It's well written but the story started at a crawling pace, almost self indulgent prose for the sake of prose.
-M

Rob Allen The Power Cosmic! Posts: 9,661	Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 16:33:39 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Rob Allen on Jul 1, 2014 16:33:39 GMT -5 I guess Mary figured we needed to know what kind of person would attempt such an experiment.
	-- Rob Allen This signature conforms to the original standard for signatures on Usenet.

Jasoomian Senior Member Posts: 568	Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 17:24:26 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Jasoomian on Jul 1, 2014 17:24:26 GMT -5 Although it was published after Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is set in 1790, before Frankenstein.

hondobrode
The Power Cosmic!

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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 22:07:44 GMT -5

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Post by hondobrode on Jul 1, 2014 22:07:44 GMT -5

Nice idea.

I've thought the same thing, as I've got thousands of items I haven't read.

Later I'm going to transition everything from long boxes to short boxes and get everything more accessible and cataloged.

I'm working my way through Comixology and Dark Horse digital as I've picked up more than I can keep up with.

Anxious to read your posts.

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Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 23:04:33 GMT -5

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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 23:04:33 GMT -5

Jul 1, 2014 17:24:26 GMT -5 Jasoomian said:

Although it was published after Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is set in 1790, before Frankenstein.

I've sorted everything by publication date, (or for comics/magazine cover date since it is more easily accessible) so that is the order I will follow. When possible I have noted month and year, when not possible, just year of publication. I have also deferred to first publication no matter what edition or format I have when possible, so Tarzan for example I have listed in the month/year it was serialized not when it was published as a book...but sometimes the info was elusive, and I made a best guess. Posthumously published material is listed when it saw print, not when written as well. The GCD, ISFD, Mike's Amazing, and Stash My Comics (plus wikipedia as a last resort) were all helpful in compiling the list. I'm still debating wha tto do with reprint comics like Marvel Tales and the Treasury editions. I did lidt things like Millennium Editions and Silver Age Classics Editions as their original publication date, and anything in a trade as its original publication date, but part of the feel of reading comics in the 70s was being able to read both the current Avengers issue and a classic story in Marvel Triple Action the same month, so I might want to preserve that with the regularly published reprint books.

It's still a work in progress as you can see.

-M

Last Edit: Jul 1, 2014 23:05:13 GMT -5 by Deleted

hondobrode The Power Cosmic! Posts: 8,266	Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project Jul 1, 2014 23:29:16 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by hondobrode on Jul 1, 2014 23:29:16 GMT -5 Yeah, you can move through the decades with that feel of what was on the stands at that time.

Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project

Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 23:12:15 GMT -5

Post by shaxper on Jun 30, 2014 23:15:19 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 23:38:57 GMT -5

Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 30, 2014 23:50:57 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 23:58:37 GMT -5

Post by sacorn on Jul 1, 2014 0:20:31 GMT -5

Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 1, 2014 3:16:37 GMT -5

Post by The Captain on Jul 1, 2014 6:01:18 GMT -5

Post by Rob Allen on Jul 1, 2014 14:31:52 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 15:11:45 GMT -5

Post by Rob Allen on Jul 1, 2014 16:33:39 GMT -5

Post by Jasoomian on Jul 1, 2014 17:24:26 GMT -5

Post by hondobrode on Jul 1, 2014 22:07:44 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 23:04:33 GMT -5

Post by hondobrode on Jul 1, 2014 23:29:16 GMT -5

Averting a mid-life crisis...or MRP's big reading project