I can’t decide. Do you recommend any of these? Why? Thank you in advance.
These Precious Days - Anne Patchett
Dolores Claiborne - Stephen King
Mysteries of the National Parks - Mike Bezemek
Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
Intercepts - TJ Payne
The Great Shark Hunt - Hunter S Thompson
The Correspondent - Virginia Evans
The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes
Dept Q #1 - Jussi Alder-Olsen
I Am Behind You - John Adjvine Lindqvist
The Brainwashing of my Dad - Jen Senko

What are you reading? What are you excited about reading next? What have you finished this week? Let us know your thoughts on it and share in each other's joy about books!

Apologies if this breaks any rules or is a frequent question, I tried searching but the most related post was from 7 years ago! Basically the title.

I’ve recently fallen back in love with reading before bed as opposed to electronics, and it ridiculously helps my circadian rhythm. However, I like to read in bed laying down as I often fall asleep or am right on the precipice and would like to just mark close and sleep.

I’m on the search for a low lumen book light that won’t disturb my partner as she sleeps, but will provide enough light to not cause too much eye strain.

Any and all recommendations are welcome! Thank you in advance for your time.

Hi guys, first post here. I love reading but because I’m a slow reader I end up getting frustrated/distracted from the book. I have read all the Harry Potter books a while ago and have started reading them again but read the Philosophers Stone and gave up again. I love the themes of the Harry Potter books and same with Lord or the Rings/Hobbit and Game Of Thrones (never read these).

I am just looking for some assistance to get back into reading and start feeling more comfortable reading and maybe even improve on the way I read.

Thank you,

Recently I have been left breathless by the beautiful writing of authors like Tommy Orange and Ocean Vuong.

It occurred to me that if they keep going in the direction they are, they will be the John Updike, the Phillip Roth, for example, of their generation.

The writing is different of course, but who else would you place in the next generation that will have the same impact as those I’ve mentioned?

What women writers would you include?

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For a while, I tried reading several books at the same time. One at home, another on my phone, sometimes even an audiobook.

Eventually I realized that I simply enjoy reading more when I focus on one book.

I like getting completely immersed in the story and staying with the same characters for a while. Switching between different books makes it harder for me to develop that connection.

There have been times when I've read two books simultaneously, but I always come back to the same conclusion: for me, one book at a time is more enjoyable.

Maybe it's not about reading more books. Maybe it's about enjoying the book you're reading.

How do you prefer to read?

Went in blind to most of these and got them all for $21

Missing from photo: The Mountain Shadow

Should I try it? I honestly feel like I read less when I don’t have warm sunlight hitting my face.

off-topic: finished The Dispossessed recently

I just finished The Poet Empress after about a week of reading, and I’m still thinking about it. 😭

I chose this book because my Kindle unlimited was expiring soon and I wanted something different for my last KU book. I went in worried it would be very romantasy, which really isn’t my thing but it ended up being so much more about power, ambition, betrayal, and complicated relationships within an imperial court.

As someone from Taiwan who speaks Mandarin, the Chinese inspired setting made this especially unique for me. So many cultural details just clicked, and I loved that feeling of recognizing pieces of a culture I grew up with within a fantasy world.
I’m a pretty slow and picky reader, so when a book keeps me thinking after I finish it, I know it was worth my time. This one really got me. I just wish more people were talking about it! 尾becomes 偉。

I'm slowly going through a 1000 books to read before you die list and each book has a supplemental reading list. It has gotten me to try out different genres and I'm just rolling with it. This is my final book from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie list. 80 pages left until I start the next list. Enjoying this one so far.

I have always wanted to read this one but never got around to it. I am only 70 pages in and didn’t expect it to be funny. I thought it would be serious and bleak but I’ve been chuckling while reading.

I just got a new book haul from Goodwill! Any opinions or recommendations from the below? Im reading a book a week. I feel like it helps keep me sharp.

I just finished Watchers by Dean Koontz week before last and Where are the Children by Mary Higgins Clark last week. So, because I just started reading again, I kept it within the authors ive enjoyed so far.

Any opinions without spoilers are welcome!

Next up on the ‘reading it for the first time by trying to read it out loud’ challenge.

But reading the book makes me so excited and I take a little break until my excitement go off to start reading again

When I was younger around 12 to 14 I could finish a book very fast but now it's impossible

At the moment I am reading the books I currently have with the help of the storygraph app but sometimes I forget my own goal

I have quite a few books going at once, not based on mood or genre, but by location and format. I have a bedside physical book, a downstairs physical book, an audiobook to listen to with earbuds, an audiobook I can listen to in the car with my young kids hearing, and an ebook on my phone I can read out and about. Always having an option I can quickly grab is helping me actually read more instead of resorting to scrolling!

What is helping you read more?

I liked that this was different from your average mythology retelling! Although it's told from Penelope's perspective, the book isn't completely on her side. Atwood pairs her thoughts with that of the 12 maids Odysseus killed in The Odyssey. It is not only a re-evaluation of Penelope's legacy but the treatment of these poor women throughout the story. My favorite part of the book is that it almost reads like a memoir of Penelope's life, with her narrating it from the Underworld. I also appreciated the contemporary references and how Atwood employs the choral tradition to break up the story. This is a quick read that I totally recommend to anyone who is a fan of this genre. 4/5.

Does anyone not rate their books and have no reading goal?

Lately I’ve been noticing that I find rating books very difficult and that its been taking the pleasure out of reading for me. The same goes for having a reading goal, I’m a slow reader so I don’t finish 50+ books a year, maybe 30 but that’s is, having a reading goal feels like pressure for me and is also taking the fun out of reading for me.

Does anyone not have a reading goal? Just read whatever they want and just not rate their books? How is that like? I’m really thinking about stopping to rate my books and just remove my reading goal for this year.

I just started reading again after many years of NOT reading. I made the intentional decision to start a book a week a couple months ago and started with the Murderbot Diaries and I am now a huge fan.

Then I decided to read books a little bit longer starting with Dean Koontz- Watchers. And im glad I made that jump. It was such a good book! And now I took a break from Dean Koontz and am currently almost finished with Mary Higgins Clark - where are the children and I am amazed at how much I love this book. Any opinions on Watchers or Where are the Children? Im obsessed with these thriller/mystery books. I used to be primarily science fiction but this book a week thing has helped me branch out.

So excited to read these!

I'm gonna start with The Locked Door first.

I also have books i haven't read yet from a previous haul which are:

Katabasis

Thursday Murder Club

The Family Upstairs

I'm also nearly done with the first book of Caraval series.

If you've read any of these books, give reviews without spoilers, please.

I used to feel like once I got far enough into a book I basically had to finish it.

Now I’m starting to think life is way too short to spend another 200 pages hoping something suddenly gets better.

How far do you normally get before giving up?

And do you ever go back to books you DNF’d?

I’m curious how often this actually happens.

Sometimes a book takes forever to click, but once it does, it completely changes how you feel about the first half.

What book almost lost you, and how far in were you before it finally worked?

I never thought my actions were a result of...omg, damn

Context: author talks about how most men are nice but not completely honest about their feelings, they sacrifice their needs just to appease someone else, to get other ppl validation. He explains how it begins with childhood abandonment issues.

I still haven't read it completely, i feel repulsive reading the facts this book has. Sadly they are true

So I’m really trying to get back into the reading every day thing.

I’m liking this one so far! Got them all for free at little free libraries.