Reading Ladder 2019
•In order of what had been read first
★★★★★ Life-Changing
★★★★ Enjoyable
★★★ Typical
★★ Never Again
★ What is this
February
- The Nightingale: Kristin Hannah(331 pages/548 pages) ★★★★
- Girl with a Pearl Earring: Tracy Chevalier (111 pages/233 pages) ★★★
- The Awakening: Katy Chopin: (60 pages/ 190 pages) ★★★★
Total Pages Read: 502 pages Pages/per week: 125.5 pages Pages/ per day: About 18 pages
February Reading Ladder: This month I read roughly 18 pages per day, which to me is below what my expectations usually are. My semester hasn’t been too bad so far; it’s just that I need to get back into reading. All three of my books are ‘just right’, so I am hoping to bring in a little more challenge when it comes to next month. For some reason, I couldn’t stay committed to one book and began reading several at a time without ever actually completing any. This is a major drop from where I was at the end of Creative Writing last year – around 38 pages per day. There were many days where I had to choose between sleep and reading, so you already get the idea.
My favorite book for this month has been The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. The juxtaposition of how she weaves in a romantic love story while having it set amidst the chaos of World War II is beautiful. Her style of writing is something that I emulate from myself. The two sisters – Vianne and Isabelle – first come together after years of carrying personal grudges and then separate again going on two completely different paths. Isabelle goes off to join the resistance and becomes essential in bringing back British soldiers to their home country, thus becoming known as the nightingale.
Another good book was Girl with a Pearl Earring, which I read solely because of Tarannum. It was the story of a girl named Griet who became a maid for a nearby family so that she could make the money necessary for her family’s well-being. She develops a connection to the painter for whom she works and is sneaking around the house to get supplies for her master. However, the plot goes by quite slowly because she uses quite a bit of imagery, which is why it’s a little boring at first, but I appreciate it for the piece of art that it is.
Lastly, The Awakening by Kate Chopin is another interesting and short book that I am currently reading. The novel takes place on an island named Grand Isle where so far a woman’s life with her husband is being described as unstable and monotonous. There is another guy named Robert who falls in love with the protagonist Edna, but he can’t love her for she is married to another already.
In March, I am planning to finish reading these three novels and then start Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and maybe even The Collected Poems of W.B Yeats by W.B Yeats.
March
- The Awakening: Kate Chopin (143 pages / 190 pages)
- The Collected Poems of W.B Yeats: W.B Yeats ( 544 pages/544 pages) ★★★★
Total Pages Read: 687 pages Pages/per week: 171.75 pages Pages/ per day: About 22 pages
March Reading Ladder: Although my reading rate was 22 pages a day, the poetry book I read is what compensated for my lack of actual novels. The weeks leading up to the break were quite hectic, and then I used the break to pretty much take a break from everything. March wasn’t a productive month, but I can only hope that April is better. Now the problem I had for this month was that I only read two books and one of them I had already talked about last month, and the other one is just a poetry book.
My favorite book for this month, out of compulsion, was The Collected Poems of W.B Yeats. His writing style is very unique yet also emulated by many in that he used lots of allusive imagery as well as many symbols. What made me want to read his poetry was that last year in Creative Writing we analyzed one of his poems titled “When you are old” which I emulated in my poem “Forgotten”.
My second favorite book, also out of compulsion, was The Awakening. Although in a period of one month I have only read an additional 60 pages, I still loved this book. Edna conquers her fear of the sea symbolic of her sense of awakening, and she turned her friendship with Robert into a romantic adulterous affair. To forget about this relationship, Robert leaves for Mexico and Edna eventually leaves her husband.
For April, I am hoping to finish: The Awakening, start Heart of Darkness, and maybe read some Shakespeare. The level of difficulty in these books is what will limit my page count for this month, but at least I am looking at the quality of these books rather than focusing on the amount.
April
- The Awakening: Kate Chopin (190 pages/190 pages)★★★★
- Othello: William Shakespeare (35 pages/ 143 pages)
- Milk and Honey: Rupi Kaur (208 pages/208 pages) ★
Total Pages Read: 433 pages Pages/per week: 108.255 pages Pages/ per day: 14.5 pages
April Reading Ladder: This month was pretty terrible in regards to my reading rate as it dropped down to 14 pages a day. I’m not gonna lie, but I had a feeling that this whole semester wouldn’t turn out great for me in terms of reading because of how stressed I currently am. April was more productive than March in everything, except for reading.
I started reading Othello because I like a lot of Shakespeare’s works even though it can be a little challenging to catch all the little innuendos within his writing. In the first 30 pages of the book, the emphasis is on the affair between the moor – Othello – and Desdemona, which has made Brabantio – her father – quite mad and disgusted. The duke blesses their marriage, and the moor goes to lead the fight against the Turks which requires him to go out to sea.
In desperation, I had to grab a poetry book, and since I heard a lot about Rupi Kaur, I decided to go with her. Although she is a source of inspiration for many children, her poetry is not poetry. For a young audience who are all trying to cope with their own problems, Rupi Kaur is an advocate who speaks for them. She is seen as someone important to them, which is something I respect. However, looking at her poetry from an analytical perspective, there is only an illusion of depth that she creates through her use of enjambment. It is hard to criticize someone’s writing, but if there is no depth to what you say, and you cover this superficiality with fancy structure and illustrations, it does not make it any better.
At the end of the novel “the Awakening” Edna has already defied social norms through being sexually independent and taking control of her own life, without dependence on a man. She comes to conquer her fear of the sea and embraces this feeling of freedom that she finds through her own death. A great book, and a great writer.
For May/June, I hope to complete Othello and find some books from different genres that I can experiment with and try to adopt into my writing. I really don’t know what I’m going to read in the next two months, but we’ll see.
May/June
- Othello: William Shakespeare (40 pages/ 143 pages)
- Old Seeds of a new Tree: Sandeep Kishore (192 pages/192 pages)★★★★
- A Suitable Boy: Vikram Seth (1488 pages/1488 pages)★★
Total Pages Read: 1685 pages Pages/per week: 187 pages Pages/ per day: 27.6 pages
May/June Reading Ladder: Okay, so these two months have been a lot better than April on its own probably because I am better at managing my time now. Life seems pretty good when you get a 27.6 pages per day reading count. For some reason, in these last two months, I have been reading a lot of books from the Indian culture as well as Hindi poetry. It’s been a while since I’ve read Hindi, and it did feel nice connecting back to my roots through these books.
For Othello, well I ended up reading five pages more ever since April, so I guess that’s some improvement. Plot is still the same, and I just wanted to say that Shakespeare’s stories are brilliant because sometimes he is able to create different books based off a similar idea. Although this doesn’t relate tot Othello, both Macbeth and Hamlet share so many similarities that it becomes quite interesting to look and see if all of Shakespeare’s books are derivatives of one another.
‘Old seeds of a new tree’ is a poetry book by Sandeep Kishore. I haven’t read much Hindi poetry, but I can say that there is some element in each of his poems that adds this depth and richness to it. In it’s original version, before it is translated into English, there is this rawness to it, which I just love reading because at that point you’re not reading the words, you’re feeling them as you go along.
Alright so for this last book, I partially cheated in that I got one of the longest books I could find to compensate for my lack of pages.It focuses on the dynamic relationship of these different families, where two of them have different ethnic heritages and where each of them are strongly connected to each other. The whole novel revolves around one of the families’ daughters – Lata – and her mother’s desire to get her married to a ‘suitable’ boy. A lot of the plot was unnecessary, in my opinion, but in the end it was a great story.
For the summer reading ladder, I’m planning to hopefully finish Othello and read: Death of a Salesman, The Handmaid’s Tale, and one other fiction novel that will probably keep switching for a while.
September
- Othello: William Shakespeare (50 pages/143 pages)
- The Metamorphosis: Franz Kafka (126 pages/126 pages)
- The Importance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde (10 pages/ 75 pages)
- Salome: Oscar Wilde (40 pages/40 pages)
- Lady Windermere’s Fan: Oscar Wilde (70 pages/70 pages)
Total Pages Read: 296 pages Pages/per week: 74 pages Pages/ per day: 10 pages
September Reading Ladder: For my September reading ladder, I feel very disappointed in my page count as its one of the lowest I have ever gotten although I was able to read many of Oscar Wilde’s short plays. My reading comprehension test results in English are suffering because of it, and I am hoping to recover by getting in a greater variety of books, with varying lengths. My Fiction and Shakespeare marks are currently lower than the rest, which is why I wish to include these genres in my future reading lists.
Lady Windermere’s fan is perhaps one of my most favorite plays that I have read up till now. The story is based around the dynamic relationship between Lady Windermere and how she was told that her husband – Lord Windermere – is suspected of cheating on her with a Mrs. Erlynne. However, she is unaware that Mrs. Erlynne is actually her mother and that her husband was actually trying to help support her because of financial problems in her life. The fan is symbolic of the trust that Lady Windermere shares with her husband and how it is gradually lost, given to someone else, and then, ultimately, taken back.
The Metamorphosis was an interesting read, and it follows the life of Gregor Samsa who is a travelling salesman that, out of nowhere, turned into a cockroach. He had been working tirelessly before to get enough money to support his family, which is why he had lived in isolation, stressing about the monotony of his job. However, upon turning into a cockroach, Gregor truly felt the extent to which he had been isolated from his family and how after turning into a cockroach, even his mother wouldn’t look at him. Franz Kafka is a creative and clever author who crafted quite the masterpiece of a book.
Salome is another beautiful play by Oscar Wilde which looks at Salome, the stepdaughter of King Herod of Judea, who is in a sense the reincarnation of luxury and sexual desire. King Herod had imprisoned her father, also his older brother, executed him, and married his wife. Jokanaan is a prophet who curses the royal family for its incestuous relations, and after Salome had failed in her attempt to seduce him, she told her father to give her his head as a ‘wish’ which he had promised her.
As mentioned previously, for October I’m hoping to increase my page count from this month and at least do a minimum of one Shakespeare play.
October
- The Importance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde (75 pages/75 pages)
- Their Eyes Were Watching God: Zora Neale Hurston (202 pages/202 pages)
- Antony and Cleopatra: William Shakespeare (20 pages/143 pages)
- Beneath: Roland Smith (272 pages/ 272 pages)
Total Pages Read: 569 pages Pages/per week: 142 pages Pages/ per day: 18 pages
October Reading Ladder: For my October reading ladder, I feel a bit more satisfied knowing that I got to an 18 page per day reading rate. I feel like the difficulty of the texts I read is decent, but hopefully I’ll be able to continue reading these types of books and continue to challenge myself. Since my Fiction and Shakespeare marks were suffering when it came to reading comprehension, I decided to read three fiction novels accompanied with one Shakespeare.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of my favorite novels that was a reading requirement in my AP class, and I’m really glad it was. There is something about this book which makes it feel raw and wholesome, and I felt like I could connect to it more because of it. The colloquial language of the novel was from a small town in Florida during the early 1900’s, which was a slight reading barrier for me that I eventually overcame. It followed Janie Crawford – a confident, handsome, black woman – who gains a broader perspective after marrying three different men throughout her life. She becomes much more mature and finds herself and who she is while being in these three relationships. Honestly, if you take nothing from my blog, at least read this book – seriously recommend it.
The Importance of Being Earnest is a short play written by Oscar Wilde and revolves around a rather simple yet bewildering idea: that Algernon won’t sanction his friend Jack’s marriage to his cousin unless he explains why the name ‘Cecily’ is engraved on his cigarette case. This leads to the explanation that Jack pretends he has a brother named ‘Earnest’ who lives in the city and does all these immoral things, when in reality, it is him. Algernon does the same thing, and after much confusion throughout the play, both men get the girls they love and realize that they are more closely related than it seems. A brilliantly short piece of writing, which I also definitely recommend for anybody who has read Oscar Wilde’s plays before.
Although I haven’t read much of Antony and Cleopatra, it already seems to have an interesting plot with Antony being blinded by his love for the Queen of Egypt – Cleopatra. So far, I have realized that Antony is actually already married to Fulvia but is not in love with her. After hearing news of her death and that he is needed in Rome, Antony leaves while Cleopatra continues to long for his return. I have liked this play thus far, so I do recommend checking it out.
For November, my plan is to finish reading Antony and Cleopatra as well as start rereading The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Great Gatsby.
November
- Antony and Cleopatra: William Shakespeare (143 pages/143 pages)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde (288 pages/ 288 pages)
- The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald (172 pages/ 172 pages)
Total Pages Read: 603 pages Pages/per week: 142 pages Pages/ per day: 20 pages
November Reading Ladder: November was another busy month, seems like a pattern to me now, but I’m still satisfied knowing that I achieved a 20 page per day reading rate. Hopefully, I will be able to both maintain and improve this amount as even the level of difficulty for the books I read was about average. I have always wanted to continuously improve my writing, and it all comes down to how much and what type of books I read.
The Great Gatsby is a play written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and it is perhaps one of my most favorite novels, purely because of the setting. The whole 1920’s look and style is something which has always fascinated me as it seemed like everything revolved around wealth, whisky, and women. Jay Gatsby is quite an enigma in that people in the town know either a lot of lies surrounding him or know nothing at all. His extravagant parties serve for only one purpose: to lure in his former lover Daisy. Although this does seem like a cheap way to get a girl’s attention, I must hand it to him because in the end, it kind of worked.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel written by Oscar Wilde, which looks at the life of Dorian Gray, a young man, who through a painting comes to terms with his mortality. His wishes become reality, and he doesn’t understand how to cope with it after it has been fulfilled, so he turns to Lord Henry who corrupts him with his rubbish talk on life and sin. This leads Dorian spiraling down a path of sin from which he is unable to escape, and it, therefore, becomes his demise.
Antony and Cleopatra has been an interesting play thus far, and after summarizing the first part of it last time, there was much more plot, which led to an almost unsatisfying ending. After Cleopatra sent fake word of her committing suicide, Antony is pushed to do the same. Upon hearing of this news, just like in Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra is unable to cope with this loss and kills herself as well. Although it ended as a tragedy, there is always something beautiful about the demise of people who loved each other as their ability to kill themselves for whom they love reveals how much that person means to them.
For December, I am unsure of what novels to read, but I am hoping to maybe start reading Anthem, King Leopold’s Ghost, and perhaps one play.
December/January
- Anthem: Ayn Rand (108 pages/108 pages)
- Death of a Salesman: Arthur Miller (140 pages/ 140 pages)
- The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes(re-read): Langston Hughes (717 pages/ 717 pages)
- Atonement: Ian McEwan (30 pages/ 371 pages)
Total Pages Read: 995 pages Pages/per week: 248 pages Pages/ per day: 32 pages
December Reading Ladder: My initial December reading rate would have been realistically quite poor if I did not add The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes on to my list. I would say that although my page count went up to a 32 pages per day, the quality of the texts did not do the quantity any justice. This only applies to the collected poems, as the other three texts were at an acceptable level of difficulty but what made it hard was that they were all short.
Death of a Salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller and perhaps one of my most favourite plays that I have read until now. It follows the life of Willy Loman – a failed salesman who, in his delusion, continues to pursue this ideal vision of the American Dream first through his own ambition and then by delegating this responsibility to his children Happy and Biff. Willy cannot confront the harshness of his reality; that is, he cannot cope with the fact that he no longer has a job, that Biff’s only success was when he was on a football team in high school, that his children will not be the ‘seeds’ he wishes to plant in the world. In his pursuit of these ideals and being ‘well-liked’, he tried forcing Biff to be what he didn’t want to be, and eventually he couldn’t run away from his reality any longer. This is a short and beautiful text, and I would definitely recommend reading it.
The short text Anthem by Ayn Rand is definitely an interesting read, as it brings up ideas that you want to agree with, but then take a step back and realize what it truly means if these ideas were to be implemented. This book has been seen as controversial through the philosophies she employed within it. She attacked collectivism in that individuals do serve some other purpose beyond just the well-being of society, as displayed through how the ‘characters’ were the same in all respects and identified by numbers. As a child, Equality 7-2521 – name of the character – witnessed the death of a transgressor who discovered the word ‘I’, which represents the constraints against being independent and being an individual. There is this constant battle against the oppression of society as a collective. However, although all these ideas seem right in a sense, if one was to apply Ayn Rand philosophy in real life, it would lead to some catastrophic results. Her theory of Objectivism is based on rational individualism, which means that individuals should selfishly pursue what is best for them and not consider the rest of society. In the end, it is up to the individual reader to decide whether they wish to accept or refute her philosophy, but, nonetheless, it is a great read.
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes is a collection of poems in which Langston Hughes describes the nuances of Black life and focuses on the ‘plain black people’ as he found that they had more significance than anyone who held a sense of importance or status. He embodied all of the struggles of the black populous and crafted poems which everyone could individually relate too. Hughes ultimate goal was to be able to have the many different ethnicities in the general public feel welcomed and understood. He had this undying hope that everyone could live peacefully together and instead of trying to drag down the white population, Hughes attempted to raise the black race. These poems are definitely empowering, and I would recommend others to read his poems.
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