#nanoreadmo

Since NaNoWriMo is a noble goal among some, but an infinitely stressful and anxiety-producing goal among others, and often noble and anxious all at once, an alternative option is available: National Novel Reading Month. 

There are many diverse interpretations of the requirements of this obligation sacredly avowed by the November moon, ranging from sharing one favorite or influential novel per day to constructing a rigorous itinerary of novels one wishes to complete before the December snows, and using the month to sweep up strays or leftovers on one’s “to read” list, etc... This gives you lots of room to customize it to your whim.

So yeah. If you find yourself angsting over NaNoWriMo and end up not participating, know that you can always have NaNoReadMo for yourself as a no-shame creative zone. Taking in others’ creativity is just as important as putting out your own, and doing so in such a constrained timeline is such a lot to ask of yourself. 

NaNoReadMo Book 4 (ish): back to Mr. Chabon who I had to put aside in order to get to various "required reading".  

But trust me, I'm being scrupulously honest about page counts during NaNoReadMo and am not counting the pages of this book that I read in October.

#NaNoReadMo: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

The house of leaves is a novel with multiple personality disorder, a goddamned postmodern artifact of ergodic scripture. A sudden turn of the tradition of printed text. An ambitious exercise on cutting edge literature with hints of Melville, Conrad and even Borges. A visual essay that traverses through numerous plays of typography. Nothing compares to the experience of reading this book, the only time in my life I have felt physically affected as well and mentally by a book. It is a terrifying experience where the story of the house of leaves crawls inside your skin and torments you with each passing page, a story that presently still gives me nightmares. It is chilling to think a novel can create a psychosomatic response on the reader as well as a deep obsession that makes you want to finish the story one way or another.