In Which I'm Almost Done

This post was originally written on July 12, 2020, to give a snapshot of my feelings at the time. -M.R.

This morning I closed the cover of R99, my second last romnov of the entire project. I expect that before the end of the day today, I'll be holding Ulysses and preparing to dive in to what is supposed to be the best novel (in English) of the 20th century.

It's been a long road, and it's not over yet by any stretch of the imagination, even though the end is now in sight, a mere two books away. I wouldn't dare tempt fate yet by reflecting on the entire experience. Instead I'll just say how I feel now.

I'm not looking forward to reading Ulysses. My previous experiences with James Joyce have already convinced me that he's not an author I care for. I'm not very familiar with the original story of The Odyssey despite knowing its very broad strokes. But I'm trying to go in with an open mind. I recently rewatched the short clip of Stephen Fry praising the book and I'm hopeful. I have an annotated edition to read and I'm going to do my best not to get too caught up in annotations and to actually enjoy the story as much as I can.

For my very last selection, R100, I've decided to have a go at Pride and Prejudice, the great grandma of romance novels. I'm excited to give Jane Austen another shot. Oddly enough, I'm also excited to continue my exploration of the romance genre. My only worry in picking up Pride and Prejudice is that it won't live up to all the hype that I've seen for it over the years.

What I'm most excited about is getting to the end of this project and moving on. I hate to admit that I already have some new endeavours in mind (I'm going to have to force myself to take a break from any formal reading projects for a few months at least!).

I can't imagine how I'll feel when this whole project is complete, but I hope it'll be a sense of accomplishment rather than regret over wasted time or something like that.

We'll all find out soon enough.

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