jwcarlson Posted January 10 Author Share Posted January 10 On 1/10/2024 at 1:35 PM, anewbie said: I am currently waiting for the following books to have something to read: stone door The winds of winter The navigator children Light Bringer (i think i read this); and red god. -- It is hard to find good stuff to read; esp when some of these series take 20+ years. You're going to be waiting awhile on a couple of those. That said, I think good books are almost too common anymore! Sooooooooooooo many things to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettsPapa Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 On 1/10/2024 at 1:35 PM, anewbie said: I am currently waiting for the following books to have something to read: stone door The winds of winter The navigator children Light Bringer (i think i read this); and red god. -- It is hard to find good stuff to read; esp when some of these series take 20+ years. I'm beginning to give up hope that either of the first two will ever happen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 I finished Of Blood and Fire by Ryan Cahill and am excited to read the second book. Finished The Surgeon by Leslie Wolfe last night. It was OK, but I'm not a great fan of twists simply for the sake of twists and then when you think that is the last twist here's two more. Meh. It wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't particularly great. Lots of belief suspended and I'm typically a fantasy reader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastie Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Finally found this topic. I am an avid reader, but I read utter crap. It is astonishing how bad books I pick. The problem is, I read most of the time when re-watching tv shows, or while boyfriend is still working and we have something in the background. Some books require to be read in silence, without distractions and I find it hard to do that. So instead I read cheap fantasy, scifi, even romance books that have no deeper meaning or complicated language and can be easily read while not fully committed. I also have this other bad habit where I know what good books are, I have them in my library and then I have hard time getting into them and give up. I have Joe Abercrombie series, read two chapters, sitting on a shelf. Lies of Locke Lamora, 15% in, lost interest and that was few years ago. Some scifi is just too hard to read cause the language is not easy to follow. I desperately need to switch to the "good" books and stop wasting my time on the "crap". I know I dont even finish some of them, if I dont finish the book that evening, I will most likely not pick it up again, as I dont have the interest anymore nor the drive to figure out how it ended, given they are mostly the same. On the other hand I promised myself to stop being so hard on myself, given I enjoy some of the books and it is comparable with watching bad tv. So why not. I also reread books and series a lot, when I remember a line or a feeling or a scene, I just have to read the book again, which sort of leads to rereading the series. My most favorite ones are books by Ilona Andrews (The edge series, Hidden Legacy series, Inkeeper series, not the Kate Daniels and the following) or Patricia Briggs or Kim Harrison, so it is clear there what style I like 🙂 On that note I started reading Great Gatsby, interesting one, sort of feverish pace, reminds me of Kerouac books and I need to do just a chapter or two at a time. I also started the Dawn from the Lilith Brood series by Octavia E Butler, I am listening partially to some czech crime book which is too scary to listen to in the evenings so I switch it with Killer Moon by N.K. Jemisin. Not to mention I have tabs opened for some of my crap books, like The Alpha by Avanne Micheaels or Unwanted by Marley Valentine How do you manage to do the correct books? I even tried like Haruki Murakami, boy I hated that book (1Q84), took me long time to finish and I hated it even more after that 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 Book taste is wildly subjective. Just because "everyone else" loved it, doesn't mean you will. I will say that I think you're sleeping on Abercrombie and Lies of Locke Lamora, The First Law series and Gentlemen Bastards are among my favorites. I, too, read amongst plenty of distractions and I've done two things when I really want to focus. Ear buds and listening to classical music or movie soundtracks or just regular old ear plugs. You have to be a certain level of anti-social for this and I don't often use them. But I will break them out when I'm reading the heavier books like you're talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastie Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 On 1/30/2024 at 4:30 PM, jwcarlson said: I will say that I think you're sleeping on Abercrombie and Lies of Locke Lamora, The First Law series and Gentlemen Bastards are among my favorites. I will get to them at some point and I bet I will love them. Sometimes it is the circumstances, the mood one is in, the weather, the timing 🙂 Some books sucks but some books suffer from external things influencing the reader I also use the headphones and I will have to change the approach and move the reading from the bedroom/couch to a chair or something 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JE47 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 On 1/30/2024 at 7:30 AM, jwcarlson said: Book taste is wildly subjective. Just because "everyone else" loved it, doesn't mean you will. I have to agree with this statement as my favorite selections of books to read where written in the Victorian Era 😂 Needless to say not everyone is interested in reading books that old. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettsPapa Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 On 1/30/2024 at 8:48 AM, beastie said: . . . I desperately need to switch to the "good" books and stop wasting my time on the "crap". Why? Read what you enjoy and don't stress over it. If you enjoy reading the books you term crap then I contend they aren't crap and you aren't wasting your time. On 1/30/2024 at 8:48 AM, beastie said: . . . How do you manage to do the correct books? I even tried like Haruki Murakami, boy I hated that book (1Q84), took me long time to finish and I hated it even more after that It's very easy. I define the "correct" books instead of letting other people do it. If I like them, they're correct. If I don't like them then they aren't correct. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 On 2/7/2024 at 11:25 AM, JettsPapa said: Why? Read what you enjoy and don't stress over it. If you enjoy reading the books you term crap then I contend they aren't crap and you aren't wasting your time. It's very easy. I define the "correct" books instead of letting other people do it. If I like them, they're correct. If I don't like them then they aren't correct. ^this. If you're happy reading it, who cares if anyone else enjoys it! I've recently read One Piece volumes 4, 5, and 6. And last night finished Blake Crouch's The Last Town - the third book in the Wayward Pines Trilogy. I loved the series. Blake Crouch is an absolute must read, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 (edited) Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus Very insightful, to say the least! Edited March 7 by Jeff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted May 31 Author Share Posted May 31 Once the weather gets nice, I tend to read quite a bit less and end up listening to a lot more books. I don't personally count audiobooks as "read", but here are the paper books I've read here recently... Of Darkness and Light - Ryan Cahill (The Bound and the Broken #2) - This series is very good. The books are chunkers, but they're worth it. I think I'll read the third book after I finish Foundryside (the book I'm currently reading). Snowbound - Blake Crouch Golden Son - Pierce Brown (Red Rising #2) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 Three Body Problem, Fahrenheit 451 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 The series of narnia, and I am in the middle of the LOTR series as well. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolstoy21 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 I’m currently reading this post. 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 From Brandon Sanderson. all of the Stormlight series. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JE47 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 I am reading Gene Stratton-Porter's book called The Harvester it's a sweet romantic story. I have read it numerous times especially when I need a pick me up it's what I call a comfort novel. 😄 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolstoy21 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 (edited) You know, I just don't read books anymore. I don't think I've actually read a book in a about 15 years. This is funny, because I have multiple graduate-level degrees in Literature and taught at a couple college for a little while (both community college and university-level courses). So while I have read A LOT, one day I just thought to my self -- Ok, you know, I'm done with books. What's next? Edited June 1 by tolstoy21 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettsPapa Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 On 6/1/2024 at 2:53 PM, tolstoy21 said: You know, I just don't read books anymore. I don't think I've actually read a book in a about 15 years. This is funny, because I have multiple graduate-level degrees in Literature and taught at a couple college for a little while (both community college and university-level courses). So while I have read A LOT, one day I just thought to my self -- Ok, you know, I'm done with books. What's next? I'm surprised to hear that. While I don't have a degree in Literature (or anything else), I've been recreational reading for 50+ years, and can't imagine ever stopping. Do you just not enjoy it any more? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolstoy21 Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 (edited) On 6/3/2024 at 8:35 AM, JettsPapa said: Do you just not enjoy it any more? Yeah, I just got to a point where I felt that everything I was reading I had already read (in terms of fiction). There are only so many plot lines, tropes, etc. etc. Every now and then, my wife will start to tell me a cool plotline to some book she's reading, and I'll be like 'You know that's already been done by [insert one or more authors here].' She hates watching movies with me because I can predict pretty reliably how they are all going to end within the first 15 or so minutes. I'm a total killjoy like that! I did switch to reading non-fiction for a bit, but I found that many non-fiction book just took too many pages to relate to me the core facts I was looking to understand. I'm getting older now and I tend to find more value in experience: rose gardening (long time hobby), various home renovation projects, birdwatching (another long-time hobby), fish-keeping, playing music, etc. I'm a computer programmer/infrastructure automation engineer by day so if I'm reading anything it tends to be related to that. Don't get me wrong, reading is wonderful and I often recall fondly my favorite books over the years. Just, ya know, it's not doing it for me anymore. Edited June 3 by tolstoy21 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettsPapa Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 On 6/3/2024 at 11:11 AM, tolstoy21 said: Yeah, I just got to a point where I felt that everything I was reading I had already read (in terms of fiction). There are only so many plot lines, tropes, etc. etc. Every now and then, my wife will start to tell me a cool plotline to some book she's reading, and I'll be like 'You know that's already been done by [insert one or more authors here].' She hates watching movies with me because I can predict pretty reliably how they are all going to end within the first 15 or so minutes. I'm a total killjoy like that! I did switch to reading non-fiction for a bit, but I found that many non-fiction book just took too many pages to relate to me the core facts I was looking to understand. I'm getting older now and I tend to find more value in experience: rose gardening (long time hobby), various home renovation projects, birdwatching (another long-time hobby), fish-keeping, playing music, etc. I'm a computer programmer/infrastructure automation engineer by day so if I'm reading anything it tends to be related to that. Don't get me wrong, reading is wonderful and I often recall fondly my favorite books over the years. Just, ya know, it's not doing it for me anymore. I keep books, and especially series, that I like, and read them again years later. Even if I still remember how they end, there are still details that I've forgotten. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted June 3 Author Share Posted June 3 My reading ebbs and flows with the season. But I'm quite literally always reading a book. In fact, if I finish up a book at say, 11 PM, while laying in bed. I go out to my book shelves and pick out the next book and start reading it. I might only make it through a page before nodding off. But I've always got one going. I've always joked that if I run out of books to read I'll die. I can appreciate moving to different hobbies, however. It's difficult to do other things while reading (unless you're listening to audiobooks). I can also appreciate that a lot of the tropes and whatnot are recycled. That said, I think we might be in the golden age of fantasy... the same ol' tropes, but interesting and unique twists. 🙂 My reading does sometimes stray from fantasy. I also enjoy horror, scifi and thrillers for changes of pace. I have tended to try to listen to audiobooks for non-fiction books when I can precisely because of what you mention. I can appreciate some effort being made to tell a compelling story. But a lot of times it just seems like they're trying to hit a page count for a publisher. I read Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of time many years ago and that was like running into a buzzsaw. A really interesting book, but it felt heavy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted June 5 Share Posted June 5 The Few by Alex Kershaw. about a handful of Americans who snuck off to fly with the brits during the battle of Britain. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clownbaby Posted September 18 Share Posted September 18 Beowulf. Picked it up at one of those little free libraries while class was on a break. Interesting so far! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 18 Share Posted September 18 I have not been reading too much lately but the book I am currently working on is Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes. I have I few others me and my brother bought but I haven’t gotten to those yet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woowala Posted September 18 Share Posted September 18 Last thing I read was The Sun Also Rises. Oh man, that last line. Devastating. Before that I think it was Candide. Hilarious. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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