Today I have been trying to construct a timetable for the rest of my PhD. I do this periodically as part of project management, usually after every supervision, about once a quarter. It can be more difficult and time consuming than one would expect but it is a very useful exercise. It gives a realistic sense of what I can get done (estimating how many books I can read in a certain time period), gives a sense of where the project may go (e.g., should I read more Marx and ignore Nietzsche or try to deal with both?) and so helps to structure it. Without trying to construct a timetable I wouldn’t have to think about these issues. Having a timetable, especially one that my supervisors have seen, creates a kind of accountability, it makes more real what would otherwise may have been merely a velleity.
As for the best books I’ve read this month, I finally finished re-reading Theology and Social Theory, which it would be silly to deny is an amazing achievement, whatever else you may think about it. I also read an excellent little book by Coady called Messy Morality. Novel-wise, I thoroughly enjoyed The Death of Grass, which I think has far more to it than The Road even if its prose isn’t as good (McCarthy is hard to beat on that front). I also liked Things fall apart though I’m still deciding whether the ending is a bit of a deus ex machina.
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