For those who like mysteries, I really liked The Lost Man by Jane Harper. She also wrote The Dry, that I recommended several months ago.
My new year resolution is to read the books gifted to me first!
My problem is books I owned or given get pushed down in priority. I reserve too many books in the library, or read the latest recommendations (best of year lists, this forum) and tend to work thru those first. I canât be the only person with this problem.
Nope we all have that problem. I have a stack of advanced reader books (that I get from my library), that I never seem to get into, because I have other books that people suggest, get good press, or I have to read for one of my book groups.
Not a new book - it was published 20 years ago and is set in the 80s, but Iâve just been blown away by The Sabbathday River, by Jean Hanff Korelitz.
Just read âThe Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripperâ by Hallie Rubenhold. Terrific book and I learned a lot about Victorian society and how the media treated victims of the Ripper. Made me think about present-day parallels. It was also interesting reading how many areas that are now considered very trendy and expensive in London were once considered dangerous (i.e., Notting Hill, Chelsea).
Thank you to all who recommended Ronan Farrowâs âCatch and Killâ, primarily about the Harvey Weinstein scandal but also about Matt Lauer, the start of the #metoo movement, the National Enquirer, and how money and blackmail can buy extensive smoke and mirrors. A very unsettling book and an excellent read.
I just finished (on audio) the Pulitzer Prize winner, âThe Emperor of All Maladies: a Biography of Cancerâ by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Heâs a good writer!
Iâm curious about your reading habits especially those of you who read 50-100 books a year.
Do you have a regular routine or time when you read, faithfully?
Do you read other media, papers, magazines etc?
I read two newspapers a day and subscribe to a few periodicals and I never feel like I have enough time to read everything. It feels like a guilty pleasure to set aside an hour or two on a weekend to read. I need to get over that.
I read all the time. I read every morning for a half hour while I ride a stationary bike. I read during the day when I have nothing else to do and every evening. I only work part-time, so I do have lotâs of spare time. I only read books - I do not read papers, magazines, or listen to podcasts.
Did you know that reading is like meditation and has similar health benefits and is one of the easiest ways to practice mindfulness?
I read and listened to 68 books this year, I would not be able to reach this number if I only âreadâ. I donât read newspapers/periodicals but read online news, I listen to podcasts extensively as well. I donât watch TV.
I am a slow reader, I read during the day and in bed. I need to get off CC more then I will have more time to reading.
I read on the eliptical at the gym, bike at home and about an hour before going to sleep. I read the local paper every day and most of the New York Times on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I read Scientific American and college alumni mags in the bathroom. We watch one TV program a day. Usually switching between a couple of shows that we are catching up on. I read about 50 books a year.
I just finished listening to the audiobook version of The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman. Though Iâm not usually a big fan of magical realism and fantasy, I just love Hoffmanâs prose. This is the third novel Iâve read by her and really enjoyed it despite its heartbreaking subject matter.
Iâm also about 60% through This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. I had read his novel Ordinary Grace which I loved, so have been looking forward to this one, his latest novel that just came out in September.
Iâve read/listened to 76 books so far this year and should finish out the year with 80.
I donât have a regular routine when it comes to reading but I donât watch a lot of tv so use my downtime in the evening for reading. I also spend a lot of time at the beach in the summer, where I can easily read 3-4 books in a week. Normally I canât stand being read to as I am a very visual person when it comes to processing. However, a couple of years ago, I was working alone in a catering kitchen and got bored listening to music all the time, so started listening to books. It took a long time to train myself to listen and concentrate, and I do still have to really focus. I can only listen to books when doing something relatively mindless. Iâm in my car a lot every week and now use that time to listen to books. Probably 1/3 of the books Iâve âreadâ this year were audiobooks. Iâm also picky about the narration-if I donât like the narrator, I will read it instead of listen to it.
I also read two newspapers every day, but one of them only takes about 10 mins to read (local/town paper).
abasket, for your young adult list, Iâd like to suggest The Astonishing Color of After by Emily XR Pan. One of the better books I have read on loss and grief with a little cross cultural magical realism thrown in.
I donât read as much as Iâd like, as getting to bed for reading time seems to become far too late these days. Getting my books close to the couch for down time rather than upstair should help a great deal.
I enjoyed the Underground Railway (colson whitehead) on audio book, again a story with some fantasy aspect but still so solid on content, but I am really enjoying An American Quilt. Narration isnât great but that isnât putting me off.
Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout. Itâs a follow up to Olive Kitteridge. If you liked that one, youâll like this one as well.
@wisteria100 I have it sitting in the to be read pile next to me. Family members said they liked it better than Olive Kettridge even.
We read *The Underground Railway * for the CC bookclub. I didnât love it, but it was really interesting and gave one a lot to think about. And also sent us to the history books to see what was fact and what was fiction.
@kiddie Itâs hard to believe that most of my reading is at all good for me, but I do like the idea of making more time to combine reading and the bike. I hate the bike (my younger son gifted it to us) so I donât feel guilty about not using it, but I do like that you can bike and read or bike and listen, which is harder to do with the forms of exercise I like better.
I donât like the Underground railway, nor Washington Black, but I like Washington black better. I was deeply moved by âthe book of night womenâ, about slavery in Jamaican sugarcane plantation, It is a very difficult read, but it didnât give me the feeling of âHollywood-readyâ Underground Railway.
I think the author, Marlon James, said it best, he âThank for the history I learned and the history I had unlearnedâ in writing the book.
Itâs nice to know Iâm not the only one who didnât LOVE the Underground Railroad. We read that in our neighborhood group. After that book, I didnât wish to see movie Harriet. .
I canât say that I loved the Underground RailroadâI thought it was depressing, but something that I benefitted from reading. I thoroughly enjoyed Sag Harbor, which is the only other book of Whiteheadâs that Iâve read.
Iâve read 46 books this yearâI started keeping a list of my readings for the year about 3 years ago. I read about 60% literary fiction and 40% from the mystery/memoir genres.
My D took me to a great independent bookstore in NYCâMcNally Jackson Books in the Seaport area of Manhattan. This bookstore was very impressiveâhuge selection.