The Long Read

I like to read an epic every year or so, too; then I pace myself and knock it out in about a year. In 2009, I read Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, which by the way, is a great book about codes (both computer and signals intelligence). There are three or four main stories, but they take place in the present day world of computer programming and the World War II era at Bletchley Park and in the Philippines.

For a variety of reasons, I kind of fell away from that last year, but have picked up again recently. I am currently reading Stephen King's The Stand, with a projected end date of December 2011. It's good so far. I'm about a third of the way in. I'm way too busy to read only The Stand. If I tried to tackle it all at once, I'd probably get bored and abandon it. But I really want to finish it - both because I really want to read it, and I really want to feel that sense of accomplishment.