These Are My JOTtings...

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This is a new day for me.

The reading of a 530 page novel in a little less than two months has been nearly unheard of in my past.

Can I do it?
Can I achieve 2500 credits for the Rising Stars Program?
That is my goal!

I once read A Skeleton in God's Closet, a novel by Paul L. Maier. It has 510 pages. These pages were months in reading.
I once read the written form of Hinds Feet on High Places, an allegory by Hannah Hurnard. This story has 147 pages. Still it took me multiple months to read these pages. (The audio rendering of this tale as read by Nadia May has been of inestimable value to me. I have completed this story on audio at least 20 - 30 times, since it is such a fascinating story for me.)

As a high-schooler I was assigned the reading of Lord of The Flies, the novel by William Golding. I struggled through the words for some reason. Ultimately, my mom had to read it to me. How sad and embarrassing is that for a high school student?

Yet, I must confess, that stories are better grasped by my mind through the venue of the ears of listening and pictures for the eyes than through words for the eyes. Audiobooks and movies are easily received in the genre of stories. Yet, didactic, highly-structured books can be read by me for information with much greater frequency. My library is filled with books that teach.

The only Book I have read multiple times with its multiple thousands of words is The Bible. It is the mixture of teaching and stories, that keeps my interest.

This is the reason I am excited about the book, AllThe Light We Cannot See, the novel by Anthony Doerr. At 530 pages this will be the longest book-length story I have ever read, and six weeks will be the shortest time I have ever read such a story.

The thing I like about Doerr is that he has structured this book into small chapters of two to five pages. That is a goal I can accomplish.

If I can sit down and read a chapter, completely in 15-20 minutes, then I can finish a novel like this I feel certain, because 15-20 minutes is often the time slot I have available to me for reading words. If the chapters are 15-20 pages long with many words, then I tend to get sucked down into the maelstrom of confusing verbiage.

(My concentration is usually longer for pictures. Hence, two to three hours for movies is per usual.)

I like the premise of Doerr's novel. A blind teenaged girl on one side of the war and a sighted teenaged boy on the other side of the war must work together to survive the war. There is great anticipation for life lessons.

I plan to share more later...