Well, the first week of the blog is in the books (haha) and upon reflection, much chaos…. I am glad that I have started this project, and it will take a lot of love (labour) to get the site up to a standard that I would expect as a user myself. There are a lot and ideas and paths that are in front of me currently, which way to proceed? That is why I shared a map of my earliest reading journey on the Galactic Tales page. I found myself reading books that others were recommending without regards to a plan. People would say “Oh, this is a nice book to read” or “here is another”. 

This ended about 5 years ago when an English teacher at my school offered a challenge (I teach Physics and Mathematics, so ohh boy, please be sci-fi). She would suggest a book for me to read, and I would suggest a book for her to read. Most English teachers read contemporary fiction (just not my cup of tea TBH), but a challenge is a challenge.  Her choice, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. So, I did my thing as an adult reader, I searched up Dumas, looked at French history and tried to see if I had read any of Dumas’ contemporaries and then see what they had to say about Dumas. I had read The Man in the Iron Mask before and I had watched The Three Musketeers Movie, sooo… 

I enjoyed the book up to a point. It was published as a serial, and I really felt that with some selective editing of word padding that it would have been even more enjoyable for the digital age. The problem that I have with most sci-fi and fantasy books are deus ex machina’s (See Amazon link –  Ready Player One as an example). Poor writing and then magic or science happens and abracadabra, the plot moves forward. Hey, it happens but shouldn’t be relied on consistently. Dumas’ serial (novel?) sets up all of these with the idea of extreme foresight and planning and in a revenge plot. It mostly works, but it got old and by the end of the story I just wanted it to be over. But that is not why I stopped taking book suggestions. 

I had suggested that she read Don Quixote – The Man of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra since her choice (she went first BTW) was a foreign classic with over 1000 pages. Don Quixote is a familiar tale to everyone, at least the basic elements. The most remarkable thing for me was that it was LOL funny, especially the second part. I found that interesting for two reasons, one, 1300s humour was still relevant and two, being translated to English didn’t lose the effect (I won’t speak to quality lost in translation, I am reading Proust with regret because it would be even more beautiful in French). I thought at the very least it was a fair challenge. 

She never read it, didn’t even start it. She claimed that she was not interested and didn’t have time. I believed that she figured that she would give the Physics teacher an ‘impossible’ task and was not interested in swapping suggestions. Pity, Don Quixote is a fun read. And also, Dumas’ real-life family history is more interesting than the Count’s. 
— Jim Cobb