The end! I did it! And it was the most fun. I’ll do a bit of a round up about the experience, but first – today’s book: Albert’s World Tour (1978) by Rosemary Weir.
I suspect it’s a coincidence that it’s as the 25 days finishes, but I’ve come down with a horrible cold today – and I couldn’t face reading anything more demanding than a children’s book. Growing up, I loved the Albert the Dragon stories – or, more particularly, Further Adventures of Albert the Dragon, which is the one we read most I think. We certainly didn’t have the third, fourth, and fifth in the series – and I decided to buy them up earlier this year. Though only found the fourth and fifth cheaply – and accidentally just read the fifth (for such is Albert’s World Tour) out of order.
Albert is a vegetarian dragon who, as the series starts, is rather feared by the community – but a little boy called Tony becomes friends with him, and the villagers soon realise that Albert only sets fire to things by accident. As the books continue, he has quickly-resolved but rather lovely adventures – and in this book, they decide to fly around the world. They visit Rome, China, and generic-Africa, so job done.
What I loved (and still love) about these books is Albert’s gentle, lovable character, and Weir’s way of putting slightly awkward conversation in the mouths of dragons, unicorns, wizards, and so forth. It’s all very charming, even without the nostalgia I have for the books. And I rather suspect seaweed-eating Albert is, deep down, the reason I’m vegetarian.
So, I haven’t finished on great literature, but it certainly worked with how grotty and tired I’m feeling…
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And the 25 Books in 25 Days project in general? I’ve loved it! It’s been surprisingly easy – I’ve been reading a bit before work, and while walking to and from the Park and Ride in Oxford (I walk for about half an hour after parking, for such is Oxford’s parking restrictions), and finding there is a lot more time for reading in the day (my day) than I usually allow.
I do recognise that only someone in my position – living alone, lots of free time – would be able to do this. Kudos to those with families and full-time jobs managing to read anything! But if you only have one or other of those, I think it’s very doable.
I deliberately didn’t plan out the books I was reading. Each night, I’d pick something for the next day that suited the sort of mood I was in – mixing up fiction and non-fiction, different periods, different genres. Similarly, I wasn’t tying it to my Century of Books intentionally – I thought it would be more fun just to see afterwards how many slots I filled, based on what I wanted to read. And it turns out that 14 of my books matched empty slots on A Century of Books – a happy bonus!
Would I do it again? Definitely – if I have enough short books left on my shelves. I had to pick a period when I didn’t have other reading demands, or an enormous amount of things going on. But maybe next year I’d give it a go. And one thing I’ve really enjoyed is writing short blog posts – perhaps not as useful a resource for my own memory, but getting my thoughts across concisely and quickly.
Anybody tempted to try a similar project??
Hurrah! Well done Simon – what an achievement! I would love to do this but I can se it would have to happen over a summer break!!!
Congratulations! I haven’t commented on any of your posts before, but felt this one deserved an A for achievement. It’s been a fascinating 25 days and I’ve enjoyed your journey. Well done. One question. Do you actually read while you walk? How does that work? I’d be a bit concerned about tripping.
A very belated reply that yes, I do! Though my physiotherapist has now advised me not to…
Well done on finishing this project, what a brilliant achievement (it sounds fun but also exhausting with a book and blog post a day.) You have read some wonderful sounding books.
Really hope your cold doesn’t last long.
Congratulations! I know what an undertaking it is from my Novella a Day in May project. I’m so impressed you wrote daily, I had to give myself a head start so I could write posts at the weekend for the week ahead, I’d never have done it otherwise. Your achievement is amazing!
Well done! And it was such fun to follow along. Now you can take a break…by reading something else :)
Great effort. I enjoyed following the posts.🤠🐧
Congratulations! It was an ambitious idea and it’s great to see how easily you sailed through it. I’m still trying to catch up on your posts as out of town visitors have left no time for blog reading (or book reading) after work lately. I am also lagging woefully behind in my reviewing for ACOB!
Great work, Simon. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed following your challenge over the last 25 days. Sorry to hear about the cold. Hope you’re soon feeling well.
Huzzah! Great work! I eagerly checked each day to see what you’d read and if I wanted to add it to my TBR list. I think the short reviews worked fine for so many short books on a tight schedule. I’ve started reviewing books myself, and it seems like I have time to read OR time to review, but doing both with any consistency can be tough. Fun though! I have been inspired to create a Novella Challenge for myself soon. I’ve found a dozen of them around here, so maybe I’ll make it 2 weeks for 12 books. Wish me luck!
You did it!! I’m so proud (is that weird? haha), congratulations!! It’s been so much fun following this project as you made your way through, and you’ve suggested a few great reads that I’d never even heard of before. Thank you so much for doing it!! I think it’s best with any kind of challenge like this to choose the next read by mood, the way that you did – otherwise you get trapped in this cycle of same-ish books that really make it drag. That’s what I’ve learned in my own little reading list project anyway, glad to hear it worked for you too! ;) Can’t wait to see what you do next!!