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Haven't been reading as much this year but have now got into a good routine and shot through some books, I hope to continue this. Took me a while to find this thread, really happy there is a permenant one!
My recent reads!
The Black Hawks - David Wragg
One of those 99p amazon books I snapped up I knew nothing about. An interesting twist at the end aside this was pretty crap, no depth or development to the characters or world. Forced myself to finish it.
The Tea Master and the Detective - Aliette de Bodard
This was another cheap grab basically as I liked the cover art. Terrible policy to purchase books with but I occasionally fall folly to it. This was actually a great little read though. Sherlock Holmes space opera with Asian culture. I'd actually have liked this as a full novel or series.
Steelheart, Mitosis, Firefight - Brandon Sanderson
I'm a fan of Sanderson' s Mistborn series, at least generally speaking, (I hate book 2 and 3 but like the other 4) so have been branching out to his other works. Elantris was a great stand alone novel so decided to try his young adult Reckoners series which so far I really like. Sanderson is always great at coming up with powers, magic and rules around them. The characters are world have been pretty engrossing. Going to start the final book Calamity tonight , hopefully it won't drop the ball in the last minute.
Been avoiding some of his other works until they are closer to being finished. He tends to write too many series rather than finish them off....
My recent reads!
The Black Hawks - David Wragg
One of those 99p amazon books I snapped up I knew nothing about. An interesting twist at the end aside this was pretty crap, no depth or development to the characters or world. Forced myself to finish it.
The Tea Master and the Detective - Aliette de Bodard
This was another cheap grab basically as I liked the cover art. Terrible policy to purchase books with but I occasionally fall folly to it. This was actually a great little read though. Sherlock Holmes space opera with Asian culture. I'd actually have liked this as a full novel or series.
Steelheart, Mitosis, Firefight - Brandon Sanderson
I'm a fan of Sanderson' s Mistborn series, at least generally speaking, (I hate book 2 and 3 but like the other 4) so have been branching out to his other works. Elantris was a great stand alone novel so decided to try his young adult Reckoners series which so far I really like. Sanderson is always great at coming up with powers, magic and rules around them. The characters are world have been pretty engrossing. Going to start the final book Calamity tonight , hopefully it won't drop the ball in the last minute.
Been avoiding some of his other works until they are closer to being finished. He tends to write too many series rather than finish them off....
I just started Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao. Felt like some lighter YA material after finishing a horror novel then I Am Legend (which I should have read years ago). So far so good. The writing is nice and the world she's slowly building seems intriguing.
I am Legend is fantastic. I was apprehensive about it as I read it after the (terrible) film but the book was far better.
It's kind of unbelievable how much better the book was in every way, especially when considering it was published in 1954. It's baffling how they took such a great, reflective, almost psychological sci-fi thriller and turned it into whatever the hell that movie was trying to be.
Traded my old kindle to get a newer one. Forgot how easy it's to get books.
amazon has the "great on kindle" section. I ended up getting like 8 books lol. What I'm reading right now:
Ray Dalio: Principles
Samantha Powers: The Education of an Idealist
Rachel Maddow: Blowout
Olga Tokarczuk: Drive your plows over the dead.
I can't not start a book while already reading something.
I like all 4 for different reasons.
amazon has the "great on kindle" section. I ended up getting like 8 books lol. What I'm reading right now:
Ray Dalio: Principles
Samantha Powers: The Education of an Idealist
Rachel Maddow: Blowout
Olga Tokarczuk: Drive your plows over the dead.
I can't not start a book while already reading something.
I like all 4 for different reasons.
Howdy book nerds. I've been struggling to reclaim a love of reading since grad school burned me out. I think I'm going to try the 52 book challenge in 2020. Has anyone done it in the past and if so, what advice do you have?
As for currently reading:
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Name of the Wind by Philip Rothfus
As for currently reading:
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Name of the Wind by Philip Rothfus
The challenge itself is a good motivator, I also find that I read more when I get books from the library. The due date motivates me to start reading the book and my enjoyment of the book does the rest.
I did 52 this year
I didn't even really decide to do it until about early July
I wanted to finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest before leaving for a weekend trip to a con in Knoxville, TN. I read the last few hundred pages and moved on to something else and found that I really enjoyed it.
At the time I had already hit my goal of 15 books for the year. My goal at the start of 2019 was simply to read A Song of Ice and Fire 1-5 in 2019. I figured out that if I did a chapter per day I would get through it. Of course I went way beyond that and finished the first four books in about six weeks.
After that it became a game of what I could find for cheap on Kindle or from Overdrive at my library.
I know this isn't for everyone, but normally I will be reading two books at a time. One is always easier than the other, and when you don't feel like something too difficult, you read the much easier one. Right now between Lord of the Flies and the first Mistborn novel, Lord of the Flies is undoubtedly more difficult to read, despite being much shorter. I make progress slower in that and I'm enjoying it a bit less.
I have read a bit of YA stuff too, including some rereads of things I enjoyed when I was much younger and loved reading. None of them are too easy and all had at least a couple hundred pages, but they are clearly geared toward younger audiences although reading them as an adult you are able to glean a deeper meaning from some of them that I couldn't fully appreciate as a kid.
It also helped me that I had a solid month of summer vacation left before having to go back to work in mid August so I could spend a lot of my free time reading. I just wanted to read what I enjoyed and enjoy what I was reading and it has lead me on so many random quests and goals and lists and things I never dreamed I'd want to read. I thought finding enough books I would want to read would be difficult but it has been the exact opposite.
Just have to stick with it. I read every single night before I go to bed. Some evenings I just sit and read for an hour or two or maybe even more depending on how much I'm enjoying it. Also incredibly lucky to have a little downtime here and there at work where I'm able to read a little. Often times it is only one or two days per week I can sneak 15-20 minutes in, but over the course of a semester that can really add up.
Most important thing to remember is to always have fun and enjoy it. If it feels like a chore, just back off. I was lucky enough that i constantly found new and engaging things to read and always had a sort of plan to what I would read next. I am also lucky to be blessed with a routine work schedule where I have nights, every weekend, and every holiday off so that I can build up a nice, consistent routine.
I didn't even really decide to do it until about early July
I wanted to finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest before leaving for a weekend trip to a con in Knoxville, TN. I read the last few hundred pages and moved on to something else and found that I really enjoyed it.
At the time I had already hit my goal of 15 books for the year. My goal at the start of 2019 was simply to read A Song of Ice and Fire 1-5 in 2019. I figured out that if I did a chapter per day I would get through it. Of course I went way beyond that and finished the first four books in about six weeks.
After that it became a game of what I could find for cheap on Kindle or from Overdrive at my library.
I know this isn't for everyone, but normally I will be reading two books at a time. One is always easier than the other, and when you don't feel like something too difficult, you read the much easier one. Right now between Lord of the Flies and the first Mistborn novel, Lord of the Flies is undoubtedly more difficult to read, despite being much shorter. I make progress slower in that and I'm enjoying it a bit less.
I have read a bit of YA stuff too, including some rereads of things I enjoyed when I was much younger and loved reading. None of them are too easy and all had at least a couple hundred pages, but they are clearly geared toward younger audiences although reading them as an adult you are able to glean a deeper meaning from some of them that I couldn't fully appreciate as a kid.
It also helped me that I had a solid month of summer vacation left before having to go back to work in mid August so I could spend a lot of my free time reading. I just wanted to read what I enjoyed and enjoy what I was reading and it has lead me on so many random quests and goals and lists and things I never dreamed I'd want to read. I thought finding enough books I would want to read would be difficult but it has been the exact opposite.
Just have to stick with it. I read every single night before I go to bed. Some evenings I just sit and read for an hour or two or maybe even more depending on how much I'm enjoying it. Also incredibly lucky to have a little downtime here and there at work where I'm able to read a little. Often times it is only one or two days per week I can sneak 15-20 minutes in, but over the course of a semester that can really add up.
Most important thing to remember is to always have fun and enjoy it. If it feels like a chore, just back off. I was lucky enough that i constantly found new and engaging things to read and always had a sort of plan to what I would read next. I am also lucky to be blessed with a routine work schedule where I have nights, every weekend, and every holiday off so that I can build up a nice, consistent routine.
Good reads says I've read 157 books so far this year, though I probably forgot to log a couple. I do most of my reading on my commute.
Holy crap! I have managed maybe 20 or so. The last couple of weeks I've started reading 30 mins to an hour every night on the sofa with my partner and made very quick progress.
I'm exactly halfway through The City in the Middle of the Night.
Really enjoying it so far, it has a fascinating premise, I like the characters, the worldbuilding is very well done without being overbearing and I really like the pace so far; like I said I'm halfway through and I've read through 3 "mini arcs" and can't wait to find out what's next.
Really enjoying it so far, it has a fascinating premise, I like the characters, the worldbuilding is very well done without being overbearing and I really like the pace so far; like I said I'm halfway through and I've read through 3 "mini arcs" and can't wait to find out what's next.
I did the 50 books and 50 movies challenge on the old site. I've done a similar reading challenge every year since with varying goals. I would say I'm guilty of sticking by a book even if I'm not enjoying it purely because I've already sunk time into it. Try not to get into the habit of doing that. These days I tend to know early on if I'm in the mood for a particular book and if it hasn't grabbed me I shelve it for another day (or indefinitely if it's that bad).
If it's all about rekindling the love of reading, don't be too focused on the goal or too disheartened if you are falling behind. Keep in mind what's important. You want to be enjoying your reading again.
Try out different genres or authors you haven't read from before. You never know what you might end up liking.
I try to vary the books I read so I'd read say, fantasy then crime fiction then scifi etc. I tried not to read too many books from the same series in a row unless I was absolutely hooked. I also tried to vary the type of book, so if I'd read something dark and grim I'd try a lighter, more hopeful book next. If I read something with really dense and difficult prose, I'd go for a easy-to-read thriller. Same with the length of books. It's just about mixing things up.
Best of luck to you.
If it's all about rekindling the love of reading, don't be too focused on the goal or too disheartened if you are falling behind. Keep in mind what's important. You want to be enjoying your reading again.
Try out different genres or authors you haven't read from before. You never know what you might end up liking.
I try to vary the books I read so I'd read say, fantasy then crime fiction then scifi etc. I tried not to read too many books from the same series in a row unless I was absolutely hooked. I also tried to vary the type of book, so if I'd read something dark and grim I'd try a lighter, more hopeful book next. If I read something with really dense and difficult prose, I'd go for a easy-to-read thriller. Same with the length of books. It's just about mixing things up.
Best of luck to you.
I've only read like 11 or 12 books this year lol. I tend to read in bursts and sort of wear myself out by reading for hours on end day after day for a week or two, then take a break for months.
Got addicted to Better Call Saul so I didn't do any progress with Barrayar this weekend after all, either.
Got addicted to Better Call Saul so I didn't do any progress with Barrayar this weekend after all, either.
I have read one book for almost the entire year, Moby Dick. I still haven't finished it (about 50 pages to go).
And then in about 3 weeks I finished a 700 page book.
It really depends what you're reading, honestly.
No it helped me a lot!
My gripe was not with the Character itself, just how easy he talk his way out of things. How he gets his first ship and then another and then a space station and more ships and soldiers. It seemed so effortless how he talks seasoned captiains and soldies into following through his lunatic plans. But now it get the feeling that it wont work out in any good way for him mayhaps?
If it gets deeper and i am on boards again. Because as the earlier cites vatta's war , they don't.
Thank you again for helping to get me through this first bit :)
Bahahaha . That what happened to me as well. For me it was chernobyl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine :)
Yup, I mix it up to some extent, but I stay in my comfort zone when I feel like I want to. If I want to push myself to try something new, I will. Speaking of...
Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
Not a genre I generally read but Celeste Ng does a good job of using a suburban drama to sideswipe a bunch of political and moral issues revolving around community, personal accountability, and how there is not one perfect path for anyone in life. I feel like this one hit pretty close to me and my hometown and that I can become a better more understanding person after reading it and that makes it a worthy read.
Just started After Dark, by Haruki Murakami last night. It seems to be the shortest book I've read by him, which may turn out to be a blessing after struggling through the mammoth book that is 1Q84.
Ah. In that case I would say don't worry. There's a quote in the books that Miles takes to heart, "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." It should give an indication of the way things can go in the series. It doesn't all go his way. Part of the fun is seeing him adjust to that. Again though, worth bearing in mind that not every book is a military SF book. Some read like murder mysteries. There's one very memorable comedy of manners even.
I never read this series in the period it was actually being released in the 1990s. I recall first hearing about it in the early 2000s, in the context of one of those articles attacking the Harry Potter series for lack of literary merit and which cited Philip Pullman's book as a worthier example; as a fan of Harry Potter, hardly a context likely to make me interested in reading it. In any event, with the TV series coming out, I felt it was time to take a crack at it. I quite enjoyed it, and can see why it was popular. As a history nerd, a lot of the ways that Pullman constructs his alternative history is really fun. It's also, by times, remarkably gory for a book aimed at children (thinking in particular of the polar bear ritual combat). Also, the book early on teases the idea that Lyra will have to unknowingly betray somebody, but the seeming fulfillment of this at novel's end is a pretty big stretch to call a "betrayal".
The ending of the last book was heartbreaking. I've never been able to re-read them because of how it ended. Also, I highly doubt the TV show is going as hard with the underage sex and "religion is fucking terrible" angle the books pushed, but I guess we'll see?
I never read this series in the period it was actually being released in the 1990s. I recall first hearing about it in the early 2000s, in the context of one of those articles attacking the Harry Potter series for lack of literary merit and which cited Philip Pullman's book as a worthier example; as a fan of Harry Potter, hardly a context likely to make me interested in reading it. In any event, with the TV series coming out, I felt it was time to take a crack at it. I quite enjoyed it, and can see why it was popular. As a history nerd, a lot of the ways that Pullman constructs his alternative history is really fun. It's also, by times, remarkably gory for a book aimed at children (thinking in particular of the polar bear ritual combat). Also, the book early on teases the idea that Lyra will have to unknowingly betray somebody, but the seeming fulfillment of this at novel's end is a pretty big stretch to call a "betrayal".
Slowly getting through Lonesome Dove.
I've heard it's a slow burn, didn't think it would be this slow, but they've done a good job of defining each of the characters so I'm interested to see what happens.
Slowly getting through Lonesome Dove.
I've heard it's a slow burn, didn't think it would be this slow, but they've done a good job of defining each of the characters so I'm interested to see what happens.
Read it this year after initially being turned off to the novel in my younger days.
It is so worth it. Might be in my top 5 books of all time honestly.
Nearly finished Anne Radcliffe's 18th-century bestseller, The Mysteries of Udolpho. Basically the Stephen King equivalent of its day:
Didn't say YA. Thought it was a book for young kids 9-13 age range.
Is that not YA? Anyway, regardless of what you think, it tackles some pretty adult themes. A lot better than most YA tripe in my opinion by a country mile.
Interestingly, Pullman's most recent novel spends a lot of its time attacking Dawkins-style rationalistic atheism and insisting on the importance of imaginative belief. I think it's mostly organised religion he wasn't a fan of.
That is interesting. That's why I said it was unfair of me to make that association in my mind. If he was an atheist along those lines he probably wouldn't have been able to write such good books.
This looks good!I'm exactly halfway through The City in the Middle of the Night.
Really enjoying it so far, it has a fascinating premise, I like the characters, the worldbuilding is very well done without being overbearing and I really like the pace so far; like I said I'm halfway through and I've read through 3 "mini arcs" and can't wait to find out what's next.
just started reading Northen Lights (The Golden Compass) again. i had hoped to start it before the His Dark Material show started on BBC but was too busy finishing others.
last time i read it was years ago before the book of dust books came out (and obviously the tv show). so it's kind cool reading it now and having a better understanding of things. some of the characters mentioned in the first few chapters become really important in The Book Of Dust. this book came out in 1995 and the first book of dust came out in 2017.
last time i read it was years ago before the book of dust books came out (and obviously the tv show). so it's kind cool reading it now and having a better understanding of things. some of the characters mentioned in the first few chapters become really important in The Book Of Dust. this book came out in 1995 and the first book of dust came out in 2017.
I'm really into this trilogy. Starting the third book now. Fitz might be one of my favorite fantasy protagonists. I loved seeing him grow as a character throughout these books.
Eww, that cover is trash.
Started GRRMs Fire & Blood back in September or October, and have largely ignored it since. But recently got back into it in a big way, and am determined to finish it by years end. I've got about 200ish pages left, I think.
Also recently started Brandon Sanderson's Skyward, and am really liking it so far. It's nice to have a simple novel to read alongside something as... faux academic? as Fire & Blood.
Additionally also started to read Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet yesterday. I started it years ago, but never finished. Don't remember much, or where I left off anyhow, so restarting from scratch.
And with the release date announcement of Stormlight 4, I'll be starting a reread of those too, because I don't already have enough going on, apparently
Also recently started Brandon Sanderson's Skyward, and am really liking it so far. It's nice to have a simple novel to read alongside something as... faux academic? as Fire & Blood.
Additionally also started to read Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet yesterday. I started it years ago, but never finished. Don't remember much, or where I left off anyhow, so restarting from scratch.
And with the release date announcement of Stormlight 4, I'll be starting a reread of those too, because I don't already have enough going on, apparently
OP
OP
This series was ok but his Dagger and Coin series is really so much better. Really epic and I highly recommend it.
I feel like I may have started it too some years back, that synopsis sounds really familiar. But I'll add it to the list for 2020 reading
]I finished Pandora's Star yesterday at 4 am. After getting all excited with how it was starting to culminate, I have to say that I found the ending to be a very unsatisfying letdown. After such a long read not much was resolved but instead, there were a huge bunch of cliffhangers to get one to buy the next book. One is not amused! After all the praise I am once again out of step with others in my opinion/tastes. Oh well, I shall give it awhile for this feeling to pass and give the sequel a go. I might feel more kindly disposed towards it then.
After mooching around Google Play, however, this caught my eye:
I downloaded the sample and didn't even bother finishing it before I had nabbed the full book. I adore his OMW series so this had a good chance but 'space opera with humour' that is a really easy read? Sign me up!
I think of Pandora's Star and Judes Unchained as one long book. Don't be Dissuaded By the ending, the next book is one long roller coaster to the end.
