Clarissa in April: Failure.

Well, it is officially the end of April, and I should be posting about how amazingly wonderful it was to read all of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa in one month.

If you didn't guess by the title, I should clue you in. My attempt to read Clarissa this month was a total failure. I think that the three of us who were attempting this (Adam and Jillian were my partners in crime) all felt like we "could" do it, but none of us did. I think Jillian made it the furthest before setting it aside, and by stalking Adam on Goodreads, he only made it to page 165. My Goodreads isn't up to date (I should fix that), but I only made it to page 450 or so.

So why did we all seem to fail?

Personally, I had way too much going on in the month of April to concentrate on such a BIG book. Since my copy is so massive and heavy, it didn't fit easily in my purse (in fact, it doesn't fit at all), so it stayed home a lot of the time and smaller books were brought with me. I also had a really hard time reading it in bed, which is where I spend a lot of time reading. I usually read while on my back, but after being smacked in the face once by not holding the book steady, I gave up. It also killed my hands to hold it open for long periods of time.

I also think I simply misjudged my abilities to plow through it as I intended. The first 200 pages or so are incredibly repetitive, so I struggled to get past that point (now it is A LOT better). The font is small, and the pages are large.

More than anything else, I was simple too busy to read it in April. I had some new units to prep for school that required me to reread those books, and since I was so worn out, I could only read 20 or so pages of Clarissa at a time before throwing the towel and moving on to something easier.

So, I sadly have to admit that I failed in reading this in April. I'm not sure I can actually set a date for finishing it, but ideally, I'd like to be done with it by the end of August. It is the perfect book for rainy summer days, so I hope that at some point I can say, "Hey! I finished that really big book I was talking about!"


(I also have plans to read Richardson's Pamela this year, so we'll see how that goes).

Adventures with Clarissa: Post 1.

I figured it was about time for me to update my status on my reading of Clarissa. You know, for that group read I'm doing with Adam and Jillian.

I think I hear laughing in the distance, and I bet you that it belongs to Adam. I was very gung-ho about this whole shebang before it started, and I tried to be very encouraging.

I was probably over-confident, and now I am kicking myself since I am lagging very far behind where I should be.

If I was at the halfway point, like I should be, I should be closing in on page 750 or so....I'm only around page 200. Yes, pathetic.

But now that I am caught up on school readings and lesson-planning, I will be spending every spare moment of my time cramming in more of Clarissa. I am determined to finish it BEFORE the end of the month.

Anyway, I thought that it would be fun to photo-chronicle my read through the book to check my progress. The first picture, up at the top, is of me starting the book at Detroit-Metro Airport. People walking by gave me funny looks as I tried to begin the book.

The second picture is when we were on vacation. I banished myself to the back of the van in attempts to get some reading done. I was only semi-successful...something about reading super tiny print in a bouncy car just doesn't appeal to my stomach. It didn't help that my brother and his friend were picking on me. :)

This next one is from last night, where I was trying to prop the book open in bed. My hands struggle with keeping the book open unless I am sitting up, but I wanted to be cozy in bed, so this was my solution. It worked a little...

I'm really enjoying the story so far, and now that I am diving into it a little more whole-heartedly, I think that the pages will start to fly by. I mean, the print IS tiny, and the pages are ginormous, so the pages take a little longer to flip. But I really like the expository style, and while some of it is repetitive, I'm still pretty engaged in what's going on. I feel for Clarissa, and I wonder what will become of her in the future...

Anyway, I hope that when I update again, I'll have a few more locations to share with you, as well as a few hundred more pages. :) If all else fails, I know what I will be focusing on during the upcoming Readathon.

What are your tips for getting through long, chunky books? Do you set daily page goals?

Clarissa Update #1:

I figured I would stop in with a small update on how the first two days' reading of Clarissa has gone.

I started the behemoth yesterday while we were waiting in the airport for our flight. I managed a good 20 or so pages before we boarded the plane, and then I attempted to read some more during the flight. The problem was trying to keep the book open while we were flying. The book is HEAVY, so it kept slipping out of my grasp and slamming onto my tray table. Not a good experience.

I picked it up again this afternoon before I took a nap (haven't been sleeping well). I was on my back reading, with the book propped up on my stomach/chest. It was fine until the book slipped, slammed forward, and hit me on the face and nose. I yelped a little, since it hurt. Then I got a headache and now I am eying it warily from where I am sitting at the table in our hotel room. I think the book is best read while I am sitting up, since my hands can't seem to hold a grip on 1450 pages on one side and a mere 50 on the other. Perhaps when that evens out I'll be a bit better.

Anyway, I'm starting to doubt my ability to read the whole thing in 30 days, but I am going to keep pushing forward. I actually really like what I've read so far, so at least the content is engaging. I'm just intimidated by the size, you know?

My two main counterparts seem to be doing okay based on their Goodreads status, so maybe they'll have better luck. ;)

April 1: Starting Clarissa.

Today is April 1, and you know what that means (and no, I'm not talking about April Fool's Day). Today I begin reading Samuel Richardson's Clarissa with Jillian and Adam.

I have been excited about reading this since Jillian and I talked about it last fall. There is something a little daunting about reading one of the longest books in the English language in 30 days (the book is close to a million words. To put it in perspective, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is about 565,000 words, War and Peace is about 587,000 words, and Les Miserables is about 530,000 words). But, I think we can all handle it, as long as we get lots of cheering on.

I know there are a few others who are also going to tackle this one with us (you can go to this post to see who else is jumping on board). I'm not sure when I'll be posting. We all decided to tackle this one on our own and see how we do. I'm sure I'll update every few days. ;)

If you want to join in, you can download all 12 files of the book on Project Gutenberg, or order the 5 lb. Penguin edition. ;) That makes it sound more exciting, doesn't it?

Wish us luck!

Announcing Clarissa in April: A Readalong and Sign-ups.

I'm happy to finally announce "Clarissa in April," a group readalong hosted by myself, Jillian, and Adam for the month of April.

Jillian and I have been talking about Clarissa by Samuel Richardson for months, so I am glad we're finally nearing the month we decided to read it. I think we made our plans last October! We recruited Adam in our evil plan a couple months ago, so the three of us are set and primed to dive into one of the English language's longest books.

At close to a million words, nothing else really comes that close to this chunky brick of a book. And what better challenge for ourselves than to dive in and read it in 30 days?

You know that I'm always game for a challenge!

All three of us have the Penguin paperback edition (Seen at left). Our graphic for the event, above, was taken from the cover as inspiration (the image is the 1740 painted called "Sir Edward and Lady Turner"). The book is massive at 1499 pages (1533 with notes) and pretty tiny print. When my book was shipped to me, my packing slip told me it was over 5 pounds.

This is going to be fun. :)

We want to extend an invitation to anyone who wants to join in on the fun. We're going to approach this in a very low-key manner. After talking about it, we don't want to have a posting or reading schedule, which will give us the freedom to go at our own pace and post as we wish to (If you do want a strict schedule, it works out to reading 50 pages a day, or 350 pages a week).

If you feel like joining in, feel free to grab the graphic and post about it. The more the merrier! :)

And if 30 days is a bit too much for you, there is a year-long group read of the book taking place with Lakeside Musing and Tip of the Iceberg.

See you in April!