Think of this thread as a mid year review:
How many have you read and are you on track?
Favorite reads of the year so far?
Least favorite reads of the year?
Any new releases you are looking forward to?
I’ve read 9 books so far this year. I used to read a lot as a kid/teen, but barely read anything since I started working (For example It took me over 1.5 years to read Dune, which I finished this year). In march I decided to start reading more again. My goal is 12 books a year, so I’m on track. I no longer take my smartphone with me when I go to sleep and that helped a lot, less distraction.
Favourites this year:
- Started reading the Discworld novels (City watch series). The series as a whole is fantastic, but my favourite so far is Jingo.
- A non-fiction dutch book called Terroristenjager. It’s about someone who worked in the special forces of Belgium and how everything changed with the terrorist attacks in Brussels a couple of years ago.
Least favourite
- I’ve only read classics this year, they were al very good, no clear winner (or loser) here…
Nice! Dune is a bit of a beast. I reread it last year, and read the sequel, Dune Messiah this year. I can’t say I loved DM (not as much as Dune anyways), it felt like a book that existed entirely to set up the next book? I’ll probably keep reading the series but I’m definitely taking a bit of a break.
Did you watch the movie first? My wife found that the movie really helped her connect all the weird names and characters together without getting overwhelmed.
This is basically me, although I started a few years ago. I always plan for 12 a year but usually go over. I do use my phone though. I check out books from the library using Libby. I’ve found having a book on my phone gives me an excuse not to browse social media before bed. I’m hoping to get into Discworld soon, but I find it a bit daunting.
I’ve been really bad about tracking stuff this year. I just went back and added ~100 from this year. I don’t really set goals; I don’t track rereads and I don’t want to be nudged in whether I should read something old or new when I finish a series.
My favorite new reads are CJ Archer. Her Glass and Steele and After the Rift series were both really enjoyable. I guess I’ll also mention Karen Rose’s Cold Blooded Liar. I think she’s done great character development and story telling with a new pair of partners in every book, but this looks like a departure where she’ll be following one character (pair?) through multiple cases and slow playing the development. I look forward to seeing how that plays out.
I’m looking forward to Beneath Dark Waters. It’s the first Karen Rose arc where I couldn’t just read the city straight through and I’m fiending for her to give me the next one.
Here’s my year in a spreadsheet.
https://i.imgur.com/zncjTUB.png
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At 22 books, shooting for 40 so I’m barely on track.
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Favorite reads: Definitely Demian by Hermann Hesse and Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I knew I was going to like Grapes, as I loved East of Eden and I’m a leftist so Grapes is a match made in heaven for me. But Demian was a big surprise at how much I loved it. It just… scratched a certain itch in my soul I didn’t know I had. It also kind of reminded me of The Picture of Dorian Gray is a weird way? Which is one of my favorite books of all time.
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Least favorite reads The Unbearable Lightness of Being was not a great read for me. Occasionally there were moments of philosophical profundity and some pretty prose but for the most part I found the themes a bit pretentious, the characters all awful, and a non-engaging plot. Shoutout to Anthem. I despise Ayn Rand as a person, and The Fountainhead was the worst book I’ve ever read, but Anthem wasn’t terrible? It was probably bottom 5 for the year, no doubt, but I didn’t hate it.
I actually hadn’t realized it, but I’ve already read 10 books this year! That’s easily the most I’ve read in the past 3-4 years.
In terms of favorites, I’d say The Unexpected Guest (Agatha Christie), Twelve Angry Men (Reginald Rose), and What Moves The Dead (T. Kingfisher).
For least favorite, I have to go with Seed (Ania Ahlborn). Seed was a perfectly good story, but I was so annoyed by the main character by the end (though I think that might’ve been intentional by the author 😅)
According to my stats on Storygraph, my goal was 25 books for the year and I’m sitting at 38 books read. I shouldn’t have been so conservative with my goal I think.
Favorite? Probably “The Book that Wouldn’t Burn” by Mark Lawrence. The worldbuilding and character work are just phenomenal. Another best book is The Crippled God (started Malazan last fall and finished it early this year).
Least favorite? Babel. I don’t even count it as read since I couldn’t get beyond chapter 4. I loved Poppy War and my book club was reading Babel but it was just so flat. One-dimensional characters and too preachy and on-the-nose. I don’t mind messaging in books but this wasn’t even nuanced or natural.
New Release? I backed Sanderson’s Kickstarter, so I am waiting for my physical copy of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter so I can read that in print. I read the other 2 secret Projects in ebook form but this one I want the new book smell experience.
I just got The Book That Wouldn’t Burn and am reading it next. I’m happy to see the world-building and characters hold true to Lawrence’s usual level.