Book Recommendations?

Natus wrote:
MathGoddess wrote:

I read A LOT (just finished book 27 for 2019).

What in tarnation...?!

I only work part time and my husband does the shopping and cooking.
I have a good life.
(Read 225 books last year )
(One would think I'd be playing more video games...)

MannishBoy wrote:

I pick it up on sales. There is some good stuff, but it's limited. There's a lot of average stuff to bad stuff that fills out the offerings.

Right now, I'm on a 3 month for $.99 deal. I will get my use out of it, then not need to look at the service for several months because there just won't be anything I need to read immediately, then on the next deal, I'll catch up on stuff I like.

Robear wrote:

I got Kindle Unlimited because it's stuffed with all the stuff that my wife likes to read. Currently she's into Cozy Mysteries and supernatural romances. So it saves us a *lot* of, like, $2.99 purchases over time, since she'll run through a couple a week. :-)

Combine these two and your have my situation exactly. My wife loves reading her mystery and romance/teen drama books and devours them when we have KU but the $10 price seems steep when it is often on sale for less than $1.

I know this is the wrong thread but it is also quite good comics, and have recently added DC so they now have the first 1-3 volumes of basically every major book from the past 10 years or so. It's not anything special for regular readers but if you are looking to dip your toe in it's a good place to start.

MathGoddess wrote:
Natus wrote:
MathGoddess wrote:

I read A LOT (just finished book 27 for 2019).

What in tarnation...?!

I only work part time and my husband does the shopping and cooking.
I have a good life.
(Read 225 books last year )
(One would think I'd be playing more video games...)

OMG I have NO excuse. If you have any advice on cranking through so many, do let me know. Thanks!

MathGoddess wrote:
Natus wrote:
MathGoddess wrote:

I read A LOT (just finished book 27 for 2019).

What in tarnation...?!

I only work part time and my husband does the shopping and cooking.
I have a good life.
(Read 225 books last year )
(One would think I'd be playing more video games...)

Where do you exist in this life because I want to go to there. My three pronged plan of (1 Work a job that pays sh*t, (2 Date nobody, and (3 Play the lottery hasn't panned out like I thought it would.

Grenn wrote:
MathGoddess wrote:
Natus wrote:
MathGoddess wrote:

I read A LOT (just finished book 27 for 2019).

What in tarnation...?!

I only work part time and my husband does the shopping and cooking.
I have a good life.
(Read 225 books last year )
(One would think I'd be playing more video games...)

Where do you exist in this life because I want to go to there. My three pronged plan of (1 Work a job that pays sh*t, (2 Date nobody, and (3 Play the lottery hasn't panned out like I thought it would.

Clearly you're not reading enough books

I don't commit as much time to reading as MathGoddess (due to work, video games, giraffes, and other interests), but I do read a lot. What really helps me is being past the idea that some people have that you have to set aside a block of a certain amount of time committed to reading. I learned to read on my own when I was 3 years old, and one of my first lifelong habits has been to *always* have a book with me no matter where I am or where I go. (Much easier nowadays with e-reading devices than lugging around 2 or 3 physical books). If I'm in line at the grocery store, I often read. If I'm waiting for a very slow internet site to load, I read. If I'm doing something unpleasant, I reward myself with reading every so many minutes to get through the unpleasant thing. Every opportunity I have, I'm reading something. My Amazon statistics email congratulated me for having read 365 days last year, and that wasn't even an intentional thing. It just happens because I can't imagine one single day without at least *some* amount of reading. It all adds up!

(I can't do audiobooks as I don't have the attention for them. My mind wanders too much thinking about things.)

I'm like Bekkilyn. Taught myself to read, and never stopped. When Amazon decided to give people credits for Kindle book overcharges, I got hundreds back. Reading is learning, and learning is life.

I've had Kindle Unlimited for a while. I probably wouldn't have it at the $10 a month price, but I subscribe when they have the annual prime day sales for 40% off for multiple years. My current plan expires in December and I paid $6 a month back in 2017 and I think it is worth that. My wife does read a lot of mysteries too (and gets books from the library).

We don't really use it for magazines or comics or whatever else they have.

The amount my wife reads, it's peanuts compared to what we'd spend otherwise.

And there went 28. (War for the Oaks...Emma Bull).

Bekkilyn has it exactly.
When I worked full time with a 40 min commute one way (but before kids) I would still read over 100 books a year. They were just primarily regency romances. I'm lucky and now have the energy for nonfiction and classics and science fiction again!

I read multiple books at the same time. Started Foresnsics by Val McDermid and The Future of Humanity by Michigan Kaku last night (and just when I'd freed up a number of bookmarks I had to go and start more books). Bought the latest Michelle Sagara book on the kindle, so that's what I'm reading without the glasses. I must have my bifocals for print and it's frustrating.

I don't feel like I set aside enough reading time since I put books down and pick up the tablet, play swgoh or best fiends or surf too much. TV is just about never on unless we are watching a specific video (doing crazy number of movies this year and calling our 25th a silver screen anniversary year. Considering Reservoir Dogs tonight as an appropriate Valentine's Day movie (and my first Tarantino movie too)).

In the past couple years I have been adoring the annotated books...Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland. Absolutely fascinating.

I finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea yesterday. It took me a couple months to get through. Too many descriptions of fish. Sent my husband a text though with a quote from the book about the Gulf Stream... If the speed and direction of the Gulf Stream were to change, "Europe's climates will suffer consequences that are incalculable." Book was published in 1870. I keep sharing bits of my reading with him...especially the fascinating nonfiction.

I also started Fullmetal Alchemist last night for the Read Harder challenge. My son was shocked

Now to figure out what to pick up....

I tend to buy a lot of the books that would be available for Kindle Unlimited as there are loads of them that are 1.99 that you can add the audio book for .99. They aren't all very good, but they are typically fun. I should probably look into getting KU.

MathGoddess wrote:

Now to figure out what to pick up....

I suppose if you're not tired of "fish" yet, you could go for Moby Dick.

I typically only read one or two fiction books at a time and usually one of those is a classic of some sort that I don't want to rush through. Then I might have one to five more non-fiction books going for various reasons. I actually *need* to read interesting things for my work now, so I have that excuse too!

Or "Two Years Before The Mast", by Richard Henry Dana. Fantastic book based on his diary of experiences as a common sailor on two merchant vessels in 1834-36. Gripping book. There's also Melville's "White-Jacket", which is more accessible than the moby "Moby Dick", and is based on the author's 14 months in service on the USS United States.

Both are required reading if you want to understand life on a ship in the mid-19th century. I know serious historians who can quote them for paragraphs at a time.

For those looking to save some money on books, subscribe to Tor's newsletter. You get a free sci fi or fantasy book each month. I've found some really good stuff there.

I was considering KU, but I've found that most of the Kindle Unlimited books are available through my library as ebooks. I use Hoopla and Libby (Overdrive) and it transfers the loan directly onto my kindle.

Robear wrote:

Or "Two Years Before The Mast", by Richard Henry Dana. Fantastic book based on his diary of experiences as a common sailor on two merchant vessels in 1834-36. Gripping book. There's also Melville's "White-Jacket", which is more accessible than the moby "Moby Dick", and is based on the author's 14 months in service on the USS United States.

Both are required reading if you want to understand life on a ship in the mid-19th century. I know serious historians who can quote them for paragraphs at a time. :-)

Which is all the more impressive once you realize the length of many of those paragraphs.

I know at least one of them who memorized a lot of those passages by candlelight on a sailing ship.

Robear wrote:

I know at least one of them who memorized a lot of those passages by candlelight on a sailing ship. :-)

LOL

Now that's inspiring!

Just finished "The Chalk Man," by CJ Tudor, and I loved it. I read it after Stephen King tweeted something along the lines of "If you enjoyed 'It' you should check out 'The Chalk Man'." It definitely has an "It" vibe, minus the supernatural, so if that sounds like something you might enjoy, you might want to pick it up.

Another update since last Friday on my book backlog progress!

Poetry Adventure and Love by Ed Elgar
Tick (Book 1) by Allison Rose
Indecent Proposal by Jack Engelhard
Proximity: A Novel of the Navy's Elite Bomb Squad by Stephen Phillips
Progeny by Shawn Hopkins
Secrets in the Shadows by T.L. Haddix
Trapped on the Titanic by Tammy Knox
Rowena Through the Wall by Melodie Campbell
Pandora's Genes by Kathryn Lance
Tomfoolery by Lou Harper

So I may have been done with this entire list by today except that I liked the book Pandora's Genes enough to want to read the rest of the trilogy, so now I'm about 26% through the third book now. I wasn't sure when I started Pandora's Genes that I would like it, but the characters have grown on me and so here I am in the third book!

Hopefully by next week I can show a completed list and will have picked out another chunk to work on from the backlog!

You people that read multiple books at a time are weirdos.

I usually have a sci-fi/fantasy, a history, a "classic of literature", a software dev book, and another random fiction/non-fiction that does not fit into those other categories going at once.

And I wonder why I finish so few books per year...

LeapingGnome wrote:

You people that read multiple books at a time are weirdos. :P

If I didn't have so many paper books at the top of the pile, including a bunch from the library, I would have an ebook AND a paper book going at the same time. Ebooks are more convenient for reading while waiting in line (because it's always right there on my phone) or in bed (because it's self-illuminated). My husband's just having to deal with me and my book light at bedtime.

That is interesting Katy that you split it between devices, most people that give an eReader a try either love it and don't read paper books any longer, or don't like it and stick with paper books. I am in the former camp where I can't really stand to read paper books any more since using a Kindle for years. The biggest thing I miss though is going to the used book stores and picking out books. On the plus side libraries have gotten much better about ebooks over the past five years, but a web page is not the same feeling as a store shelf, and a digital collection is not the same satisfaction as seeing your own bookshelf with titles you love. I still have a dream one day of having a 'library room' with dark wood everywhere, comfortable chairs, and walls lined with bookshelves. I love everything about physical books except the actual mechanism of reading them.

Have you tried a Kindle (especially paperwhite) or just your phone? I can see still defaulting to paper if it is paper vs phone decision.

I still read paper books too, but not anywhere near as much as e-books, particularly when it comes to fiction or non-fiction without a lot of maps, charts, and diagrams that are too large to easily see on a small screen. In some cases, only the print books exist.

I still manage to have bookshelves full of print books along with even more e-books.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Have you tried a Kindle (especially paperwhite) or just your phone? I can see still defaulting to paper if it is paper vs phone decision.

I have a paperwhite, which I love, and still sometimes have context-switch issues when I happen to be reading a paper book (I try to look up words in the built-in-dictionary, or cross-reference character names. It just doesn't work quite the way it does on a Kindle.)

But I like both paper and e-reader; just depends what I'm doing. But since most of my book reading ends up being done right here on my couch, paper books work pretty well. And not everything is available as an e-book from the library, especially when I'm reading back-catalog stuff.

The biggest thing I miss though is going to the used book stores and picking out books.

I've spent some pleasant weekends lately with my husband wandering around looking at area bookstores. Between that and the stack of Christmas-present books I haven't read through yet, there are a lot of physical books around right now. (Physical books can be more satisfying than e-books to give as presents.)

quote is not edit

But to justify this post, the first sentence of the books I'm reading right now are:

This is the worst story I know about hocuses.
"Has anyone seen Dottie?" Miss Nelson asked.
Lost in the shadows of the shelves, I almost fall off the ladder.

I hit bookstores all the time, to browse. I usually buy a graphic novel or something to be polite. But I'll go home and download the good stuff on Kindle.

SallyNasty wrote:

I tend to buy a lot of the books that would be available for Kindle Unlimited as there are loads of them that are 1.99 that you can add the audio book for .99. They aren't all very good, but they are typically fun. I should probably look into getting KU.

The $1-2 audiobook add ons are much rarer than they used to be. Many that used to be in that range are now $7.50.

It used to be worth it to get KU just to check out books, then pay the extra for the audiobook add on vs using an Audible credit or buying the book outright. Then you'd own the audiobook even after you checked the KU digital book back in.

IIRC, I bought several of the Bobiverse books that way, and they no longer even have the audio add-on discount.

PSA: If you're big into KU and Prime Reading, don't forget most libraries these days have digital services that you can use to check out books, too. I've saved thousands of dollars on audiobooks over the years by checking out digital books. If you haven't investigated what you can get with a free library card, you really should. The services aren't as convenient as buying stuff, because you might have to wait in a queue sometimes with Overdrive or OneClickDigital (Hoopla is immediate checkout). However...free.

You can also pay for access to some of the bigger libraries if yours doesn't have good options. I think Brooklyn lets you pay $50/year, and they've got a great Overdrive catalogue.

MannishBoy wrote:

You can also pay for access to some of the bigger libraries if yours doesn't have good options. I think Brooklyn lets you pay $50/year, and they've got a great Overdrive catalogue.

Whoa, I had no idea! I was begging for something like this when we were in Chile. Our little library is great and served us well, but there were a few books here and there that they didn't have. For one year I would have gone for that.

As for Kindle v. paper books: I can't go back. When you're reading in bed, you have to have a separate light to wrangle and keep lined up, the pages fall closed / open...I would always choose to read a book on Kindle over reading a real book these days! And don't get me started on trying to travel with a book in your carry-on. That's why I started with a Kindle: I was trying to read one of the Game of Thrones books, but I was near the end, so I was packing two of them in my bag. Or trying. The Kindle has made me read a lot more on planes, rather than spending that time watching movies.