What are you reading?

[Ted Dansons Wig]

9 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

@gigpusher That's a great list! I've mentioned on here before but I just set myself a challenge to read 52 books this year, and I'm 75% of the way there. It's made me realise that I am a very target driven person 😂 I've been wondering how to keep up my good progress this year in the next, but without it just being the same thing. I'll definitely apply those topics to each month and try to read at least one book that fits for each one.

I too joined Goodreads and my 'want to read' list is growing exponentially. I really should challenge myself to add no more to it until I've read all of the ones I've got listed there!

52 books in a year is mighty impressive. Most of my reading is in bed so depending on work I'll be lucky  if I do more than a few pages before falling asleep.

 

[gigpusher]

20 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

@gigpusher That's a great list! I've mentioned on here before but I just set myself a challenge to read 52 books this year, and I'm 75% of the way there. It's made me realise that I am a very target driven person 😂 I've been wondering how to keep up my good progress this year in the next, but without it just being the same thing. I'll definitely apply those topics to each month and try to read at least one book that fits for each one.

I too joined Goodreads and my 'want to read' list is growing exponentially. I really should challenge myself to add no more to it until I've read all of the ones I've got listed there!

I set myself a target of 20, then upped it to 30 when I realised I was reading a lot. I'm now on my 50th book and due to go away for a fortnight to the middle of nowhere so now I'm just curious to see how many I manage this year. At the start of the year I asked friends what they would read to fit in those categories and got quite a lot of suggestions and I've tried to read at least one suggestion from those who bothered replying. It's been interesting to read a wider variety of stuff although I do still drift back to my favourites which are biographies (especially music ones) and thrillers. I have also tried to be more diverse in my reading selections so I have read some books specifically about race but also just read more books by authors who are POC. 

[deebeedoobee]

Does anyone else have to finish a book even if you are really not enjoying it? I hate the fact I can't stop reading a book once I've started even if I think it's boring/ not my thing etc. 

[funkychick2007]

1 minute ago, deebeedoobee said:

Does anyone else have to finish a book even if you are really not enjoying it? I hate the fact I can't stop reading a book once I've started even if I think it's boring/ not my thing etc. 

Yes and I’m the same with a film!! 

[Gilgamesh69]

1 hour ago, WestCountryGirl said:

@gigpusher That's a great list! I've mentioned on here before but I just set myself a challenge to read 52 books this year, and I'm 75% of the way there. It's made me realise that I am a very target driven person 😂 I've been wondering how to keep up my good progress this year in the next, but without it just being the same thing. I'll definitely apply those topics to each month and try to read at least one book that fits for each one.

I too joined Goodreads and my 'want to read' list is growing exponentially. I really should challenge myself to add no more to it until I've read all of the ones I've got listed there!

What's your Goodreads? I wanna check it out if ya don't mind

 

 

Remembered I've got a bunch of classic Greek books i've never read at my mum's house. Stuff like Aristophanes, Sophocles, Aeschylus etc. So trying to get her to post them all to me  🤞

 

 

[Ted Dansons Wig]

4 minutes ago, deebeedoobee said:

Does anyone else have to finish a book even if you are really not enjoying it? I hate the fact I can't stop reading a book once I've started even if I think it's boring/ not my thing etc. 

Absolutely. A mix of "I've paid for it so I'll finish it" (I also take the same view with Television and Pies) and some wierdly misguided view that the author put loads of effort into it so somehow I'm letting them down. 

[SwedgeAntilles]

@theesundayroast @Quark if you're looking for a good Star Wars book I'd strongly recommend this, it's the best one I've read (and I include the Thrawn trilogy in that) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Plagueis-James-Luceno/dp/0099542641

He also did one on Tarkin which, albeit not as enjoyable as Plagueis, is still a good read.

[deebeedoobee]

1 minute ago, Ted Dansons Wig said:

Absolutely. A mix of "I've paid for it so I'll finish it" (I also take the same view with Television and Pies) and some wierdly misguided view that the author put loads of effort into it so somehow I'm letting them down. 

Television I can take or leave. Pies should never be left 

[theesundayroast]

7 minutes ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

@theesundayroast @Quark if you're looking for a good Star Wars book I'd strongly recommend this, it's the best one I've read (and I include the Thrawn trilogy in that) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Plagueis-James-Luceno/dp/0099542641

He also did one on Tarkin which, albeit not as enjoyable as Plagueis, is still a good read.

Funnily enough, I started listening to this in audiobook form a few days ago. I've not made much ground on it as of yet as I do prefer reading (I only tend to listen whilst on longer walks) but am really enjoying it so far. The narrator does a great job at the various voices and getting a bit of Palpatine backstory surely can't hurt!

[gigpusher]

16 minutes ago, deebeedoobee said:

Does anyone else have to finish a book even if you are really not enjoying it? I hate the fact I can't stop reading a book once I've started even if I think it's boring/ not my thing etc. 

Lol!! Apart from this year when I kept reading one that was awful I normally give up if I can't get into it at all by 100 pages. I did Theatre Studies at uni and I always said that I did it rather than English because at least you know you can finish reading a bad play in a couple of hours whereas there are a lot of classics that I just couldn't read more than a few pages without falling asleep. 

I have gotten much better at not persevering with things that I'm not really enjoying anymore (and I see that as a good thing - our time on this planet is finite so I try as much as possible not to waste it with things I'm not really enjoying) I also don't waste time complaining about the things I didn't enjoy, just move on and find the ones you love instead.

I remember once saying I was going to stop watching a TV show because I wasn't enjoying it enough and my husband said he'd keep going because he didn't detest it yet to which I replied that it was a very low bar that he'd set himself. 

[WestCountryGirl]

1 hour ago, deebeedoobee said:

Does anyone else have to finish a book even if you are really not enjoying it? I hate the fact I can't stop reading a book once I've started even if I think it's boring/ not my thing etc. 

I have read a couple books this year that I really, really didn't enjoy but I stuck with them because they were short. 

If it's any bigger, I tend to have a 100 page rule - if I'm not hooked into it by then, I give it up. I'm glad I've felt better with that as the year has moved on - especially as I'm working towards my target, if I'm not into reading a book it just sits there and it's slowing me down! Got to streamline 😅

[Quark]

1 hour ago, deebeedoobee said:

Television I can take or leave. Pies should never be left 

Preach.

[Quark]

1 hour ago, deebeedoobee said:

Does anyone else have to finish a book even if you are really not enjoying it? I hate the fact I can't stop reading a book once I've started even if I think it's boring/ not my thing etc. 

Nah, I've got better at it these days. Like @gigpushersaid, time's too limited to force myself into completing for the sake of it.  Same with TV shows.  As soon as anyone says what basically boils down to "you need to sit through 6 hours of rubbish before it gets any good" I'm done.  There's just so much out there, why waste the time?

Pretty sure I'm not going to be on my deathbed regretting that I never watched Breaking Bad or read the full works of Shakespeare.

[WestCountryGirl]

1 hour ago, Gilgamesh69 said:

What's your Goodreads? I wanna check it out if ya don't mind

 

How does one share your own Goodreads? I just go by my first name on there!

[Gilgamesh69]

8 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

How does one share your own Goodreads? I just go by my first name on there!

I haven't used mine in ages, gonna make a new account. But if you go on the Friends page, there should be an "Invite Friend Link" section. Should work hopefullyy

[Snerrick]

These are the best books I've read over the last year or so.

Fiction:

• The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende. Completely enchanting book chronicling four generations of a family in Chile.
• Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo. Follows a string of women of colour in the UK, with each chapter told from a different perspective. Deservingly won the Man Booker prize last year.
• Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A historical fiction book following several characters through the years before, after and during the Biafran-Nigerian war. Very evocative writing.
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck. An absolute masterpiece.
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin. An incredible and very thought provoking science fiction novel with utopian/capitalist themes.

Non-Fiction:

• Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker.  
• Drink? The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health by Professor David Nutt.
• So You've Been Publically Shamed by Jon Ronson.
• Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About The World by Tim Marshall. Gives a great insight into geopolitical strategy.
• Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez.

[WestCountryGirl]

11 minutes ago, Snerrick said:

 

• The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende. Completely enchanting book chronicling four generations of a family in Chile.

This has been on my list! Definitely need to get it next. 

East of Eden is my favourite book. And my favourite book that I've read this year is 'Pachinko' by Min Jin Lee, which again is a novel chronicling multiple generations of the same family, in this case a Korean Family in 20th century Japan.

Edited October 13, 2020 by WestCountryGirl

[gigpusher]

8 minutes ago, Snerrick said:

These are the best books I've read over the last year or so.

 

 

• Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez.

That one is on my want to read list. I keep my want to read list on a wishlist which I check weekly and buy any that are on offer. 

[mcshed]

2 hours ago, deebeedoobee said:

Does anyone else have to finish a book even if you are really not enjoying it? I hate the fact I can't stop reading a book once I've started even if I think it's boring/ not my thing etc. 

When I'm not furloughed I work in a bookshop, so I feel a certain amount of pressure to know a reasonable amount about current publishing so I dip into a few chapters of quite a lot of books but only read things the grab me all the way through.

[WestCountryGirl]

16 minutes ago, Gilgamesh69 said:

I haven't used mine in ages, gonna make a new account. But if you go on the Friends page, there should be an "Invite Friend Link" section. Should work hopefullyy

Check out the books I added on Goodreads. http://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?invite_token=Y2U5M2ExNWMtNTRjNi00ZDI3LTlhMjQtNzc1NzIzNTM3OTRk

This should do it then 🙂

[gigpusher]

2 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

Check out the books I added on Goodreads. http://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?invite_token=Y2U5M2ExNWMtNTRjNi00ZDI3LTlhMjQtNzc1NzIzNTM3OTRk

This should do it then 🙂

I've just added you as well. Hope you don't mind. 

[Gilgamesh69]

6 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

Check out the books I added on Goodreads. http://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?invite_token=Y2U5M2ExNWMtNTRjNi00ZDI3LTlhMjQtNzc1NzIzNTM3OTRk

This should do it then 🙂

Added! Need to start filling this in. I haven't actually finished a book in about 3 years, it's terrible 🙃

[gigpusher]

42 minutes ago, Quark said:

Nah, I've got better at it these days. Like @gigpushersaid, time's too limited to force myself into completing for the sake of it.  Same with TV shows.  As soon as anyone says what basically boils down to "you need to sit through 6 hours of rubbish before it gets any good" I'm done.  There's just so much out there, why waste the time?

Pretty sure I'm not going to be on my deathbed regretting that I never watched Breaking Bad or read the full works of Shakespeare.

Although must confess I stuck with Schitt's Creek probably longer than I normally would because Lauren Laverne bigged it up so much and it was worth it. I loved it in the end but it's a slow burner. There has to be a kernel of something there to keep me going though. 

[gigpusher]

3 minutes ago, Gilgamesh69 said:

Added! Need to start filling this in. I haven't actually finished a book in about 3 years, it's terrible 🙃

Sometimes to start the fire in you again start with something easy. When you get out of the habit you don't want to be starting with War and Peace. Try a good page turner. 

[zero000]

20 hours ago, Ted Dansons Wig said:

Cant make my mind up about Mitchell. Enjoyed Cloud Atlas - but have kept trying other ones and given them up as pretentious nonsense and not that well written. Bought this one from local bookshop but finding it hard to get the enthusiasm to start it.

Feel the same about Mitchell. Cloud Atlas is one of my favourite books, but I struggled my way through the bone clocks which I found a bit dull.