I started keeping track mid year and was already through several novels that I have not been able to circle back, and if truth be told wont be going circling back to fill in the reviews for those selections. I was recently asked how I come up with all of the books I read since they come from a large diversity of genres and subject matters. While most of my selections are made from Si-Fi and Fantasy, I do touch on much more than that.
Most notably, I read off of other readers suggestions. I have several people in my group of friends that read more interesting things than I do and I mine them for it. I actively ask and seek out council on what people are reading. I strengthen this bond and mutual book borrowing by offering some of my favorite reads. Once they have proven that they are as interested in me as reading solid books despite the subject matter and can facilitate dialog from it the process really becomes that easy. Failing that, I dig through book stores and take references from shows like the Colbert Report and The Daily Show. I find both shows provide a large and diverse amount of hosts with a magnitude of different subject matters in which they push to their books to the masses. These are generally the books I choose to fill my breaks from Sci-Fi and Fantasy.
It is always super frustrating when people borrow books and don’t return them. I guess I should be better at setting expectations with people.
I prioritize reading high on my weekly obligations. I will devour a three hundred page book in a day while 600pg and higher books generally bog me down more to a week or two. Coffee shops are where it's at. Reading at home keeps me in my comfort zone and allows me to get distracted by people and what they are doing, computer be it for work or pleasure, and of course my beast who I just want to play with at all times. Even reading at night is not all that productive as I will only get a chapter or two before hitting the late. "Trickle Reading" is hard for me. I just do not find it rewarding. I think this is why I prefer moderate novels as apposed to these 1400 page monstrosities (yea, I see you "A Clash of Kings". Not to say I won't read/re-read these, I just think it is the reason I get bogged down on them.
I have thought about writing reviews for the books I don't finish. I suppose I should but it seems wrong to discredit the authors simply because I did not find the subject matter all that interesting. It is rare that I come across a published work in which the writing quality is, for a lack of a better word, shit. Generally it is a book that I picked up and just found it to not be engrossing in any form. One notable read from this year that I didn't finish, Utopia, just failed to be interesting to me. Perhaps it was the subject matter, I personally find 1800-1920 pretty damn boring. Add a Faery King that lives in the mountains and runs around raping woman, surgery and abortion in gross detail, and dialog that is reminiscent of the time period uneventful and uninteresting. I realized about three quarters of the way through this three hundred page book that I just didn’t care. In between chapters I took a break to put the "Buddha to the Shurm" and just took my book mark out and put it in another book from the stack. Moved on and felt better for it. Utopia will just go in the bin for me to return to a used book store for in store credit.
I have been accumulating books since High School and after several negative incidents of moving these books from house to house I have decided to only keep books that I would lend, would read again, or I consider to be esteemed works. This generally leaves me with an on site collection of around a 150 books. This is a manageable level for me. It was sad to drop off five packed boxes of good books to a used book store a few years ago and I have told myself I wont ever let my accumulation stack up to that level again. It is not that I mind having so many books on hand, I just cant house them in any of my current housing establishments. It is just not convenient for anyone.
I am excited to continue reading and sharing that with the members of OurLucid. This provides a way for me to consolidate my thoughts on a book and try to entice other users to read. In some instances it has been a great success, such as "Soft Apocalypse." In others it has become apparent that no one else is interested at all, "Jasmyn". Either way to me I suppose as I am going to read what I am going to read. Writing reviews can be daunting as it does take a decent amount of time. I am currently sitting on three reviews that I need to write. One of which I am not sure how to write that hasn’t been said by anyone that has ever read it. I guess I will just vomit it out.
The stack is it's own monster. I will get to them all I promise. If you have suggested a book and accepted it from you, I will read it. Be patient. The stack in no particular order as it stands now:
Collapse - Jared Diamond
Mechanique - Genevieve Valentine
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell - Tucker Max
The Shack - WM. Paul Young
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The White Plague - Frank Herbert
Tales of H.P. Lovecraft - H.P. Lovecraft
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
Three Armies At the Somme - William Philpott
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