This is sort of a weird choice for my next book. After all, I'm taking 3 classes this quarter, and the summer quarter is short---only 6 weeks. You'd think I'd tee up the Madonna book, but I've picked this super long World War II book (next year, I pledge to make my TBR war book *not* about WW2!) by Tony Judt. It's called Post War: A History of Europe since 1945.
I originally read about this book at the site of my favorite blogger, Ta-Nehisi Coates at the Atlantic. Basically, this book is right in my wheelhouse. I've read a lot of books about Europe during the war, and I read a book about Japan after the war, but not as much about Europe after the war.
Now, you might be wondering why on Earth I would tackle this behemoth of a book right now. The actual number of pages in the book is north of 900, but of course there's the huge number of endnotes. So what was am I thinking? I am thinking I had to burn an audible credit, so I looked to see which of my TBR books was available--and, voila! Postwar, weighing in at a massive 45 hours long. Is that normal?! It seems terrifically long, but then again, I'll be driving back and forth to Evanston three times a week, which is at least 45 minutes each way from my house. This is a lot of listening time!
I listened to the first 45 minutes today in the car. It's a little weird to listen to *history* rather than *a story*, and certainly I think there are going to be some problems when it comes to all of the names in other languages, etc. However, I am willing to give it a shot. I think I might have to review the text sometimes when I get home, but overall, I feel pretty hopeful about this as a way of tackling the text.
Speaking of which, I finally finished listening to the Veronica Mars book! I liked it. I think the best part of the book, honestly, was listening to Kristen Bell say "fuck" so many times. Hahah. I hope there's another one!
How are things going on your end?
Jenny
I'm laughing about the naming convention for these posts! Let's see... it's usually "[Name]'s Book #.[yy]: [Book Name]" But it's been hard for me to track this year because my numbers aren't matching up so well with the *month* numbers. Reviewing your reviews so far, this would be... "Jenny's Book 6.14: Postwar". Which means... at least you are starting this in Month 6!
ReplyDeleteAs for whether or not a 45 hour aBook is normal... it's no more "normal" than a 900+ page pBook. Meaning: That's a long fucking aBook... cause it's a long fucking pBook. I actually *like* long aBooks because I can spend more time listening and less time choosing books, but... yeah. That's a long one. How's the narrator?
Also, with a book that is particularly complex, it's great to have the text for "review/consultation". I've done that with a few books lately and I actually really like the experience -- it's like speed-reading. Heh.
As for my progress... I have finished reading 4 TBR books. Two of them still need write-ups. I have started a 5th. So I need to finish that sucker + read one more ASAP to get on track here. On the other hand, I have read a lot of other books that are not on the TBR pile, soooo... what I *really* need to do is *focus* on the TBR books!
Re: Veronica Mars... it's supposed to be a "two book series" and the second book is rumored to be coming out in late October 2014 (Happy Birthday!) I have seen the first book in about a every airport bookstore I have been in this year. Hopefully that's been boosting popularity. :)