Interlude - on failure and success

Has life ever gotten in the way of doing something you really wanted to do?

The good news is that over the summer I got accepted to a cybersecurity training program. The bad news is that put a serious dent in my fiction reading time. However, I'm not giving up.

Failure in one sense

In a way, this is a defeat, as I will not complete all 25 categories that I set out to read in 2022. Of course I'm disappointed. But I've tried to keep 2 things in mind:

• This isn't school. No one's grading me on any of this.

• Self-compassion is always a good idea. Beating myself up about falling short isn't somehow going to make me a faster or more organized reader.

Success is still possible

So now what? Basically, I'm committing to finishing this challenge, however long it takes. However, I think part of the reason I didn't meet the original timeline is that sticking to these categories felt a bit too rigid, so I'll be weaving this in with other reading. I love my highbrow stuff, but I also need a commercial palate cleanser every once in a while.

So now what?

I already have a couple of books in the can that I read for a book club I belong to which meet the challenge requirements, so those writeups will be up soon. I'm also part of a couple of other online reading groups, so I might post some thoughts on the books I read there, too.

One of those online reading groups is centered around classic literature, so I probably won't review that material in the same way I've been reviewing books on this blog to date. It feels tacky to say, for instance, that I don't recommend a particular Shakespeare play, even if I don't personally enjoy it. But I would like to discuss these works in some way, so stay tuned. Normal service is resuming.