This book is totally kicking my butt. I did a Quote Post back in September and since then have only made it to the 34% mark. My plans to read it on the weekends didn’t pan out, as the subject matter is very tough.
What I need to do is power read through it but I’m afraid if I do that, I might end up in dreaded book slump. I haven’t had a real slump in years thanks to my reading rotation, but I don’t know what else to attempt. I do not want to dnf it just because it is hard. With the elections here in the US looking like Biden is the President Elect, this is even MORE important to read than ever.
What I need is a plan that is going to get me through this book. A plan that is going to work for me. A plan that I will actually stick to. I’m wondering if I need to dedicate January to this book and get it done. Piecemeal is NOT working, as evinced by the dates on the quote post and then this. Sigh.
#bookwormproblems
#bookwyrmproblems
Piecemeal doesn’t work? Even chipping away at like 10 pages a day?
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Sadly, it doesn’t. I just avoid reading when I tried that 😦
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Well, that’s no good. And powering through will leave you in a slump? That is the bookish equivalent of a rock and a hard place.
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Exactly, hence my problem. I am seriously thinking about taking a week in January and just powering through, come slump or high water. But that’s a month away and it’s easy to talk when the committment is that far away 😀
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How many pages do you have left?
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Just over 400.
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Hm. Do you think you could plough through them? How long would it take you?
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I am seriously thinking of taking the first week, or two if necessary, in January and just read nothing but this. One of us, me or the book, is going to break and it won’t be me!
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Heh, I might be a little desensitized, as in my corner of the world you start reading about such things in high school, and Auschwitz is one hour away… what can I say, you chose the biggest book on the topic, there are shorter ones that might have prepared you to bear this, but since you’re already there, I hope you’ll manage to get it done, page after page, if all at once is not an option…
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Wife and I planed on coming to Krakow for my biethday this year as I seem to make a habit of visiting deathcamps on it… Corona happened so we will be going another time
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Great idea! It’s much more than the camp, let me know before, I’ll show you the best spots 🙂
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Was going to try make contact with you if it wouldve gone through. Would love to meet some bloggers in real life🙂
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It’s going to happen, that is for sure. Just need to figure out how 🙂
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So how does Gulag Archipelago 2 compare to the first one? Didn’t know there was a sequel…
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There are 3 volumes, comprised of 6 books. Im on the 2nd volume. The first book was more about the setup for how things happened and how arrests were made, etc. This is about camp life and it’s horrible’ness.
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It’s a very tough read, not just for language, but also for the political message. You feel it’s relevant today? Seem to remember Mrs Thatcher citing it…
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Joe Biden, our President elect, is a communist in all but name. His policies and attitudes would have aligned with Stalin’s, no problem.
Biden is just a much better politician than even Lenin ever could have been though 😦
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I went to examine Lenin’s embalmed body in Moscow, he was in poor shape, don’t see him coming back personally. Most of Biden’s appointments so far are quite middle of the road so far, do you fear communism sneaking through the back door?
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i’ll get back to you on that after work.
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I’ll be expecting some Michael Caine related thoughts too…
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Coming up in about an hour. How old is Caine these days anyway? Not sure I’d want him in the whitehouse either….
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87. Back him now for 2024…
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Man, he’s as old as Biden! Least he doesn’t have dementia, sigh.
Anyway, to answer your previous question on a serious note. Some background to put the rest of it in context.
I’m a very big right wing government kind of guy. Ultra-conservative is another term. I’m of the bent that believes in small, extremely limited federal government. If I had my way, we’d be talking a federal government that was pre-Lincoln in style. And despite what the mass media portrays us as, we’re not stupid idiots and we’re not a tiny little fringe minority. Like I’ve said in other comments, we’re just silent because we’re getting on about our business and leaving other people alone.
What worries me about Biden’s potential candidates is that “diversity” is as big a factor as anything else. Not qualifications, even from an extreme leftist viewpoint, but skincolor and gender.
You also have the fact that almost all of the people on his various lists are the kind of people who worship at the alter of State Control. Don’t take this personally, but they want to turn us into Little Europe and that is a nightmare I don’t want to even think about.
People like Elizabeth Warren are not moderates by any stretch of the imagination.
It comes down to personal liberty and responsibility. Biden and his kind think that the Government is the End of the Matter, with themselves at at the head. Give me someone who will leave me alone, for good OR bad and that is the kind of person I want in the White House.
Hope that answers a little bit. I would say, if you want to discuss it any more, shoot me an email. Much easier to not get all riled up when I have the time to contemplate and think instead of reacting 😀
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Thanks for this! Gives me a wider picture. I don’t claim to know much about Biden, or his plans; it seems to me that he’s been elected by a majority who are less pro-Biden than anti-Trump. No place for Warren in the cabinet to my knowledge. But I can also understand why the majority of Americans do not take an interest in politics on a day to day level; independence does not mean depending on the state, but personal liberty. As Ferris Bueller said, a person should not believe in an ism, they should believe in themselves. For the most part, most politicians inspire negative rather than positive emotions from me. I welcome free thinking with open arms. But it does concern me that the pandemic, which is very real worldwide, is being used as a reason to curb our freedom not to participate in a political system that doesn’t accurately represent our point of view. I don’t want to identify myself with one side or another, but aspire to see things as they are, no filter. But it’s no easy task…
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Good luck on this, judging by the first book i think i know how you feel already
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Yeah, I knew what I was getting into but even with that I didn’t think it would be this hard
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That looks a weighty tome. Best of luck.
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The text is really packed in there. No need to add extra spaces or page breaks to fluff the numbers upward. That is part of my problem, just how dense it is.
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So long as it’s the book and not your good self that is dense.
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Definitely depends on the day 😀
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Oh man, I feel your pain.
I bought this book months ago. After buying it, I found out my dad has it in his personal library and I could have borrowed it. Gulag Archipelago 1, Jen 0.
Now? I haven’t even started it. And I don’t think I will before the holidays, because I am preparing to launch my 2nd book in the new year and that’s where my head is at. Archipelago 2, Jen 0.
On the plus side, I have now lent my Thomas Sowell book to 2 people and they are actually reading it!
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Glad at least Sowell is getting some time. I might have to check out his stuff when I’m done with Gulag (next year, sigh)
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Maybe you should just take a break from this for a month or so? You’ll get rid of the guilt, and at some point you’ll be able to come back to it with a fresher head?
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That’s what I did in October 😉
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Well, but that one wasn’t fully intentional and you seem to have harbored a bit of guilt about it – judging by your post 😉 So this time, embrace it! 😀
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I’ve got some political books to tackle and I’m thinking of doing it in the chapter per night way or something. I hate doing it that way but UK socialist policies and politicians are heavy reading for me so it might be the only way to get through about 8 political diaries from 1963 onwards at 700 pages a go!!! I’ll read other stuff for fun around this chore I hope…!
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Best of luck!
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Let me know if you decide on a plan and then if it works. I couldn’t get past the first 25 pages of volume I. I do plan to try again though.
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I will definitely keep you updated.
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This sounds like green veggies that you just need to consume whether you like it or not though. 😛
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more boiled brussel sprouts 😦
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[…] CR: Gulag II […]
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