Book Recommendations?

MannishBoy wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

Have you grown a braid for tugging?

Is this dirty talk? ;)

Actually? Yes.

mrwynd wrote:
Robear wrote:
mrwynd wrote:

I read Hyperion and loved the way it put separate stories together. Any recommendations for books with a similar structure?

I would say Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series? Starts with "The Shadow of the Torturer".

Thank you, this will be my first book of 2021.

My local library doesn't have much Wolfe so I'm going to add this to the list and start with one they have available that was recommended to me - A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Don’t forget that many libraries have ILL (Interlibrary Loan) where they can get you the book from a different system. Some have a shipping charge for it. Check with your library

So as I'm going back further in the thread ... how the heck do you guys read 100+ books a year and manage to play games?!? Seriously, I need some pointers.

jdzappa wrote:

So as I'm going back further in the thread ... how the heck do you guys read 100+ books a year and manage to play games?!? Seriously, I need some pointers.

Some of us are just really fast readers. I can read a 300+ page book in ~4-6 hours if the mood strikes me. (I'm not even sure if that's exceptionally fast. I've had people comment on it though.) I suspect I don't retain as much as slower readers.

Product of being a giant nerd as a kid.

jdzappa wrote:

So as I'm going back further in the thread ... how the heck do you guys read 100+ books a year and manage to play games?!? Seriously, I need some pointers.

Audiobooks at 2x+ speed while doing all kinds of mundane things.

Brainsmith wrote:

Talking about re-reading: What are the books that you re-read the most. Whenever I talk about this topic with students or friends the answers I hear the most are usually The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit and Harry Potter.

LotR/Hobbit, Gibson, Douglas Adams, Zahn, Jonathan Maberry, Pratchett, Daniel Suarez, Richard K. Morgan, Neal Stephenson

MannishBoy wrote:
jdzappa wrote:

So as I'm going back further in the thread ... how the heck do you guys read 100+ books a year and manage to play games?!? Seriously, I need some pointers.

Audiobooks at 2x+ speed while doing all kinds of mundane things.

1.5x and i play a lot of games (some shooters, builders) where in game music/sound isn't important.

ranalin wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:
jdzappa wrote:

So as I'm going back further in the thread ... how the heck do you guys read 100+ books a year and manage to play games?!? Seriously, I need some pointers.

Audiobooks at 2x+ speed while doing all kinds of mundane things.

1.5x and i play a lot of games (some shooters, builders) where in game music/sound isn't important.

Just for fun's sake I tried the 2x speed with "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman. Well, that's a way of taking all of the fun out of his reading style.

kazooka wrote:

Some of us are just really fast readers. I can read a 300+ page book in ~4-6 hours if the mood strikes me. (I'm not even sure if that's exceptionally fast. I've had people comment on it though.) I suspect I don't retain as much as slower readers. (...)

That is ridiculously fast indeed (depending on the font size, I guess). All this talk about keeping track of reading over the course of a year has made me curious as well. I have only done this once when I tried to finish the All-TIME 100 Novels in a year. I read 61 in the end, but I didn't note down all the books that I read apart from that list.
I have to (re-)read books constantly for work, so it is hard to keep track. I couldn't even tell you which one I've re-read most often, because whenever there is a new translation of a favourite novel it's hard for me to give it a pass – which is why at some point I've owned three translations of "War and Peace" and "The Master and Margarita", and Russian literature is not even my area of expertise. To satisfy my curiosity, I will actually try to write down all the books that I read this year.

Also thanks for all the contributions regarding which books you've re-read the most. I looked up some of them and put them on my list. For example, Tim Powers was not on my radar at all before.

I was at 103 books (plus some) in 2019, but only about 53 this past year. I put that down to games, primarily the huge puzzle game Logistical 3: Earth taking up much more time this past year than before. But normally I’m in the 80’s to low 100’s. I am a fast reader but about a full-size page a minute, been at that rate since my early teens at least. So I’m not skimming or “speed reading”, but rather reading for comprehension.

Brainsmith wrote:

Just for fun's sake I tried the 2x speed with "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman. Well, that's a way of taking all of the fun out of his reading style.

You have to work up to it. I think I started at 1.2 and gradually over a year ended up at 2.1x for most voice content. Sometimes I have to slow it down if books use sound effects in the background or the reader has a strong accent I'm not used to (some British readers, but not all).

Now if I start to listen to a podcast I'm used to at normal speeds, the host sounds drunk and like they're slurring

It's really tricking your brain into compressing things down. I still totally enjoy a good Gaiman book at high speed. I can just enjoy more of them in the same amount of time

I can't do books at anything less than 1.25(that is only if kids and wife in car, too). Depending on narrator I am usually at 1.65-2.25, with about 1.85 the standard.

Brainsmith wrote:

Talking about re-reading: What are the books that you re-read the most. Whenever I talk about this topic with students or friends the answers I hear the most are usually The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit and Harry Potter.

95 books last year. Mostly comfort reads to distract me from reality - Murderbot, Jack Campbell, Bobiverse, Witcher, Marko Kloos. Ten Realms is pretty rudimentary but I love them anyway.

Hats off to you all. I can read text pretty quickly if I have to but it’s harder for me to do that for pleasure, and currently 1.5 is the fastest I’ll go.

The listening to books while you play is a great idea - maybe I start that.

MathGoddess wrote:

Yeah.....I read a LOT.
267 books last year. It’s been over 200 each of the past 3 years.

^This is what I aspire to in life, and I am deadly serious. Riches, fame, and baronial manors in the countryside all pale to insignificance when compared with having the iron concentration to read 100+ in a year.

jdzappa wrote:

Hats off to you all. I can read text pretty quickly if I have to but it’s harder for me to do that for pleasure, and currently 1.5 is the fastest I’ll go.

The listening to books while you play is a great idea - maybe I start that.

I can do podcasts while gaming, but I can't keep up with a plot.

That said, I'm kind of in a period where I'm not gaming as much. But I listen to books walking the dog, washing the car, working around the house, etc.

Natus wrote:
MathGoddess wrote:

Yeah.....I read a LOT.
267 books last year. It’s been over 200 each of the past 3 years.

^This is what I aspire to in life, and I am deadly serious. Riches, fame, and baronial manors in the countryside all pale to insignificance when compared with having the iron concentration to read 100+ in a year.

I’m up to 2 already for this year!

When I worked full time, I only had the mind space for “easy” fiction. I’m not working now and am reading absolutely everything and loving it! (The Master and the Margarita should be arriving today!)

I also read quickly. When I’m reading fiction and am into the story, I don’t see the words on the page. It’s more like watching/participating in a film.

MathGoddess wrote:

(The Master and the Margarita should be arriving today!)

You are in for a treat!

Natus wrote:
MathGoddess wrote:

Yeah.....I read a LOT.
267 books last year. It’s been over 200 each of the past 3 years.

^This is what I aspire to in life, and I am deadly serious. Riches, fame, and baronial manors in the countryside all pale to insignificance when compared with having the iron concentration to read 100+ in a year.

I don’t count but I am very solidly a book a week so 50ish a year done solely in the hour or two before bed as a sleep hygiene routine. I have never really done audiobooks though due to quite an extensive podcast habit. Very very impressed by those of you who manage more.

MathGoddess wrote:
Natus wrote:
MathGoddess wrote:

Yeah.....I read a LOT.
267 books last year. It’s been over 200 each of the past 3 years.

^This is what I aspire to in life, and I am deadly serious. Riches, fame, and baronial manors in the countryside all pale to insignificance when compared with having the iron concentration to read 100+ in a year.

I’m up to 2 already for this year!

When I worked full time, I only had the mind space for “easy” fiction. I’m not working now and am reading absolutely everything and loving it! (The Master and the Margarita should be arriving today!)

I also read quickly. When I’m reading fiction and am into the story, I don’t see the words on the page. It’s more like watching/participating in a film.

That's the best. It means you're in the flow. Too often my brain reminds me that I'm reading, what I think of the author's prose quality, and how long until the end of the book. Not helpful.

I'm dying to read The Master and the Margarita as well, and it's been sitting on my shelves for far too long without being opened.

MannishBoy wrote:

I can do podcasts while gaming, but I can't keep up with a plot.

Depends on the game type, for me. When I was playing a ton of Minecraft, I had audiobooks playing constantly. Same with DQ Builders, Factorio, and Satisfactory. They're good while running around collecting all the nonsense in open world games, as well.

But if the game has any type of story or text I'm going to need to read, then yeah. Nope.

jdzappa wrote:

So as I'm going back further in the thread ... how the heck do you guys read 100+ books a year and manage to play games?!? Seriously, I need some pointers.

I swore off reading social media on my phone. So think of all the times you look at your phone to read social media, now I read books. It was an an amazing amount of time. Now if I'm in line somewhere, waiting for my SO, commercials during shows, etc, I read the book on my phone. It adds up.

karmajay wrote:
jdzappa wrote:

So as I'm going back further in the thread ... how the heck do you guys read 100+ books a year and manage to play games?!? Seriously, I need some pointers.

I swore off reading social media on my phone. So think of all the times you look at your phone to read social media, now I read books. It was an an amazing amount of time. Now if I'm in line somewhere, waiting for my SO, commercials during shows, etc, I read the book on my phone. It adds up.

That's a brilliant idea! I know for most of the leadup to the 2020 election I was constantly doomscrolling. I now feel I can back off a bit so that's a good habit to try.

Quite simply, if I'm not doing something else with my mind, I read.

Brainsmith wrote:

Talking about re-reading: What are the books that you re-read the most. Whenever I talk about this topic with students or friends the answers I hear the most are usually The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit and Harry Potter.

For me it's The Lord of the Rings (skipping Tom Bombadil), Master & Commander (well, the first 4 books or so), Douglas Adams, and 1984. I tend to pick up the first Game of Thrones novel and reread it at least partially.

firesloth wrote:

For me it's The Lord of the Rings (skipping Tom Bombadil) (...)

I’m not a big LotR guy, but I remember having a heated discussion with one of my English literature professors about Bombadil not being in the movies unnecessarily heightening the power of the One ring disproportionately compared to the novels. I am pretty sure that I am not the first one making that case. But... I don’t know why anyone would skip that part.

Oh no we have activated the Tom Bombadil argument quick hide the sharp things. I like Tom partly for the reasons above and how he places the ring in context but can totally understand why Tolkien’s poetry/songs can turn people off.

bbk1980 wrote:

Oh no we have activated the Tom Bombadil argument quick hide the sharp things. I like Tom partly for the reasons above and how he places the ring in context but can totally understand why Tolkien’s poetry/songs can turn people off.

Come for the Tom Bombadil controversy, stay for the Scouring of the Shire contretemps.

bbk1980 wrote:

Oh no we have activated the Tom Bombadil argument quick hide the sharp things. I like Tom partly for the reasons above and how he places the ring in context but can totally understand why Tolkien’s poetry/songs can turn people off.

I would like Tom if that section were 50% shorter. I've read it so many times that I don't need to keep going back to it.

firesloth wrote:
bbk1980 wrote:

Oh no we have activated the Tom Bombadil argument quick hide the sharp things. I like Tom partly for the reasons above and how he places the ring in context but can totally understand why Tolkien’s poetry/songs can turn people off.

I would like Tom if that section were 50% shorter. I've read it so many times that I don't need to keep going back to it.

The first part of TFotR until the Flight to the Ford is a slog.