Logging my monthly update a bit earlier than usual, because I've just hit a small milestone with my
French reading, and it feels like a good moment for a pit stop.
Finished "Millénium IV" (217 p.) and started "Millénium V: La fille qui rendait coup pour coup" (214 p.). I found the end of part IV a bit anticlimactic, and am starting to find the writing a tiny bit annoying at times - though I like the fact that the books are narrated from the perspective of multiple characters, the change of perspective would usually happen with a small cliffhanger that sometimes feels a bit forced to me. It took me a bit longer this time to warm up to the plot as well, but being halfway through, I am finally hooked. Found Millénium VI in a book shop in Belgium.
Read Part II of "La grande histoire de la Belgique" (37 p.). This part dealt mostly with the feudal system and was a bit boring. One sentence made me giggle though; the author described how the state of the Roman roads considerably deteriorated throughout the Middle Ages. Poorly maintained roads, that is a genuine Belgian brand just as beer and chocolate. In my quest to discover the origin of Belgium, have I found the missing piece?
Reading was a bit less than in April (468 p.), but I had anticipated that; a rheumatoid flare had me spend too much time on the couch in April, whereas the flare is over now, and I am happily catching up with gardening work instead of reading. I still made good progress. 3600 pages read and
exactly 200 pages/month left.
Goal for June: Finish "Millénium V" and read about the Burgundian and Spanish era in my history book. This will be more than the 200-page average, but I will be on holidays and thus able to spend more time on reading than during the second half of the year.
Listening: nothing, apart from a conversation among my Belgian friends. I have one friend who speaks so terribly fast that I usually fail to understand her. I had hoped the second Super Challenge would change that but nope.
This thread gave me a reality check. I may have spent about 500-600 hours on listening throughout the past decade, and have been quite proud about my achievements, but the level of listening skills that I dream of may require about ten times more than that. I really need to up my game here.