the ask@AAR: Do you have a reading resolution you’d like to share?
It’s the first day of 2021 and, really, it’s not a moment too soon. Worst year ever? No. That goes to 1348 when the Black Death wiped out half of Europe. It’s not even the worst year in my lifetime–that has to be 2001, the year of 9/11. Still, it’s been a dumpster fire of an annum!
2021 has to be better.
For my part, I have made some resolutions I hope will make the year shine. Here are those that focus on reading.
Read at least six non-fiction books. I don’t read non-fiction–my excuse is I read four newspapers/sites a day–but I know I’m missing out. First up: Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile. (Read it? Thoughts?)
Read or at least try to read all the books on our yet to be published Best Books of 2020. (Here’s our list from last year–I’ve read five of these.) There are no better romance recommendations than those of the AAR staff and this year, I’m going to take their advice!
Read the twenty books I’ve not read on the last AAR Top 100 list. (Bonus points if you can guess what those are!)
You? Do you have any reading resolutions for the coming year?
I want to re-read more this year, especially old favorites and going back to the beginning of some series books I’m in the middle of.
Thanks for adding a link to the Best Books of 2019 list – it was fun to see that the book which probably made the biggest impression on me this year, The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood, was on it. I’ve also read three other books on the list and have already bought two more. I’m really looking forward to the 2020 list.
As for my new year’s resolutions, my muscle disease has progressed to a point where I can’t even make plans for the next day let alone the next year. I am at the mercy of this disease and there’s frustratingly little I can control about my life. So as much as I’d like to plan my reading ahead, it’s not a realistic option for me. However, it is my most fervent new year’s wish that even though enduring the physical realities of this disease takes a lot out of me, I could still retain enough mental energy to concentrate on reading and to stay curious about stories and to enjoy them.
Reading is one of the few things I am still able to do. I’ll never travel anywhere anymore, even in my own country. I’ll never do anything much but exist. Except through books. Losing them would be a blow I scarcely dare to contemplate.
How’s that for a maudlin comment? *rolls eyes at self* Sorry for being such a killjoy.
I do wish everyone a happy New Year! I hope it’s a better one for the whole humankind.
Oh my. My heart goes out to you. Your bravery awes me. Books are a brilliant way to connect to realms other than our own and technology is doing such a great job of creating ways for us all to be able to read. I hope and dream you will never lose the ability to apprehend books.
Hugs.
That’s such a lovely thing to say – thank you! :)
I hope so too. Stories and reading have always been important to me, but they’ve become valuable in a way I never expected in the years I’ve been sick.
I do have to say that most of the time I don’t feel brave at all. Quite the opposite, actually. I feel scared and weak. But it’s not like I have a choice. This is what my life is like now, and I have to deal with it whether I want to or not and regardless of how hard it might be.
I’m not really up to date on the newest technology, so I don’t know if there are applications or educational softwares or something a person who has an access to the internet but not to the school system (or who didn’t learn to read at school for a reason or another) can use to learn to read but I hope there are and if there aren’t I hope there will be.
I know that there are mobile devices and applications that can be of help to people who read with their fingers or ears as well as people with learning disabilities and other types of disabilities. I use a big font size when I read myself and an assistive software when I write. I really wish I could read audio books or use text-to-speech converters but I have trouble with auditory processing and have an even harder time reading that way.
Anyhow, literacy should be accessible for everyone – it’s such an important skill for a myriad of reasons.
One of our reviewers is blind and she reads voraciously. I am hopeful you will find the technology that aids you. Much love.
Oh Annik, I’m so sorry that you are suffering this way. Please know how much your comments are appreciated, even more so knowing how you have to work to push through what you are dealing with.
I hope that 2021 will be a year of wonderful things for you. I admire so much that you use your time to the fullest despite your hardships. I also hope you find many, many wonderful stories to escape to for a time.
Sending you good thoughts and warm wishes from another part of the globe!
My most heartfelt thanks for your kind words, Chrisreader! I appreciate your thoughtfulness so much – you totally made my day! :)
Everyone here has treated me with kindness, but the way you in particular have made me feel welcome from the get go and engaged me in conversations and just been all around awesome – words can’t express how much it means to me.
I hope that 2021 will be the best kind of year for you in every possible way, filled with everything and everyone you love the best!
You are so sweet Annik, thank you for your lovely wishes and thoughts.
I always enjoy reading your posts as I can tell they are so thoughtful and that you take great care with what you post. I’m still amazed that English is not your first language as I’ve never seen any mistakes and I am always catching mine after I post! I find it a pleasure to read your contributions to the discussions.
I’m so happy that you found your way here to AAR! I think during this pandemic all of our worlds have gotten a little smaller. I know my “real” life seems to have shrunk to my immediate family and work/coworkers lately. Like a lot of posters here, I don’t really get to have these in depth discussions on romance novels with people in my day to day life. It’s a treat for me and a nice break to come here to discuss everything from historical fiction to the raciest romances, to “Bridgerton”.
I love the idea that other people around the globe are experiencing the same emotions I am while reading the same stories and I always learn something new or get a fresh viewpoint after visits here.
I know it’s not easy for you to post and it takes a special effort on your part to contribute, so thank you for thinking it’s worth the time and energy to contribute here.
Hoping 2021 brings you much joy!
You’re the best! Just so you know. :) I’ve had the biggest smile on my face ever since I read your comment – thank you so much for saying what you said. You are always so considerate.
It still makes me so happy to hear about my English not being a problem as it is something I still don’t feel quite at ease with. Finding the right words can be challenging, and I feel like I can never be 100% sure if I actually end up saying what I want to say because I know it’s possible I haven’t managed to translate everything correctly. Also, I know my punctuation is all over the place, for example, but I don’t seem to be able to help it. I use assistive software when I write (and then I copy-paste my comments to the comment field) but it only helps with the most rudimentary stuff when it comes to English. It’s more helpful when I’m writing in Finnish.
I’m happy I managed to screw up enough courage to start commenting here. It has enriched my life a lot and made me think about things I’d never thought about before in completely new ways. Reading people’s comments has not only made me contemplate my own views but also reminded me how important it is to know why it is that I think the way I do, i.e. to be able to explain at least to myself the reasons behind my opinions. I can’t even remember when was the last time I’ve been this actively engaged in contemplating a variety of themes. It has done me good.
I’ve never had an easy time relating to people or making friends, but what I always have felt pretty good at is enthusing about something with others. I suck at casual conversations, I don’t know how to just hang out with people, but if we share an interest, we are unlikely to be short of things to talk about. That I know how to do. That I love to do. I love being able to hear what other people who are into the same things as I am think about the things that I’m excited about, and it’s wonderful (if a bit nerve-wracking at times) to be able share my own thoughts too. It’s so cool that modern technology has made it possible for people to read books and watch series at the same time regardless of their location and then talk about them online. I remember back in the day, when we sometimes had to wait for months for a movie or a tv show to premiere here in Finland, for example. It was so frustrating. And since I’ve never really had anyone to talk about books with – any kind of books – it feels like such a gift to have found this place. It’s just so exhilarating to see with my own eyes as I read through the comments that there are all these people who take the same books seriously as I do and are passionate and analytical about what they read.
This is so lovely to hear. Thank you for sharing it with us. It’s always been my goal to have AAR be a place where people of all perspectives find a place to belong.
I’ve found AAR to be just that kind of place. I think you’re doing an excellent job!
And thank you for all your time and hard work – they are greatly appreciated!
“hugs”
Isn’t that the best feeling when you find someone who posts EXACTLY what you were thinking about a book, a show or character?
I’m afraid I’m the same way in that I hate small talk. I have to do it for work of course, but in the middle of it when we both have smiles plastered on our faces and are both trying to come up with pleasant, uncontroversial things to say for the required few minutes it’s just (for me) exhausting.
I have a friend who calls it “soul draining”. When we were in school together I would have to take her by the wrist and literally tow her into whatever required function or gathering we were attending. If I was late I’d find her in the doorway or stuffed next to the potted plant.
On the other hand if it’s a book or show or movie I liked and I haven’t gotten to discuss it I will pepper you with questions because I will have so much to say, Lol.
I remember many years ago at a business luncheon with a bank president (who was the focus of the lunch). She mentioned her love of the Harry Potter novels and the men attending were getting annoyed because she and I were discussing Rowling’s almost Dickensian use of names in the books and they wanted everyone to listen to their boring stories about their own vacation exploits, lol.
I’m so happy we can enjoy that kind of in depth talk here and I look forward to many, many more wonderful ones with you Annik!
annik and Chrisreader, I can relate to a lot of this. I’m what I like to call a “talkative introvert.” I hate parties and small talk but can prattle for ages about ideas, books, films, etc. Traditional notions of friendship definitely aren’t for me- never have been. I much prefer venues like internet forums where I can pop in and out without having people glomming onto me. That sounds awful, I know, but I’m not the “Let’s hang out” type. Some people call that a “fear of commitment.” I call it a “dislike of commitment.”
We are all so different in how we connect with other people and how much and in what ways we like to socialize.
I honestly don’t think what you told about yourself sounds awful at all. To me, it’s just one way to be. If a different kind of socializing is not for you, then why should you force yourself to do it? I wish nobody was made to feel bad for needing a lot of space or solitude or whatever their needs might be in regard to interaction between themselves and other people.
In my country there is a saying that ”Humans are social animals.” I’ve always thought that perhaps I’m not a human being then. I think that humans possess a smorgasbord of needs regarding solitude, intimacy, company, companionship etc. I wish there’d be more emphasis put on that, so that there wouldn’t be such a stigma to not wanting or being able to socialize or have friends or a partner at all or in the traditional sense.
Yes to all of this.
On the subject of solitude, have you read Gifts from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh? It’s a short book from 1955, filled with timeless philosophy including the importance of protecting solitude. She decried the hostility toward being alone, saying we should be able to declare (paraphrase from memory): “Sorry, I can’t attend that event. It interrupts my hour of solitude.”
Interesting concept, I thought. She wasn’t praising laziness or being a total hermit. But she believed it was important for everyone to carve out a space totally for themselves, a period each day free from obligation or distractions. A time to just think and be. In that way, her work sounds surprisingly modern. I don’t generally re-read books, but I might make an exception with this one.
I have not read Gifts from the Sea, but it sounds wonderful, and I really liked the sample at Amazon. I’ll make sure to read it – thank you so much for the recommendation!
You are welcome! I originally learned about it as a rec too. Just spreading the word. :-)
Yes! Another good thing I think the internet has helped bring about (along with the passing times) is the reexamination of what is “normal” across the board.
Its surely had an impact on how people view their sexuality, not only in terms of gender, preferences etc. as even among cisgendered straight people there are all kinds of new categorizations as well like “sapiosexual” (which applies any person of any gender or orientation). People are looking at what was considered “normal” and realizing it’s not a fit for a lot of people.
I think it’s true of all interactions and relationships. There’s a sense now of “its OK to NOT do something that you aren’t comfortable with.” You aren’t alone and singular in feeling that way.
I love that (along with a lot of crazy things) the Internet has brought so many people who didn’t or couldn’t interact a safe and accessible way to communicate and participate. I think we are all the richer for it!
I think a lot of us who post here can identify with these feelings Nan.
Real life friendships are great, but they require a lot more time and energy and it sometimes seems that the longer you have known someone the less you may have in common in terms of hobbies and interests.
For all that I know a lot of “educated” people I don’t know that many great readers in real life- at least not fiction readers. There are a lot of people who read the big bestsellers like Gone Girl or 50 Shades or whatever Oprah’s book club is reading but it’s not all that easy to connect with “specialized’ readers and heaven knows (if I want to keep my job) I’m not going going to be asking at work or work related events what the latest “hot” historical romance or erotic romances are!
One good thing I think the Internet has brought about is the ability for people who loathe parties, or louder or more superficial interactions, to be able to zone in and interact in a way they choose with like minded people.
For some reason, this reminds me of an episode of The Connors where Roseanne complains to Dan that the neighbors have a ridiculous amount of fertilizer bags piled up in the front yard. When she leaves the room, Dan’s friend looks at him like “What was all that about?” And Dan says, “When you’re married for forty-five years, you run out of things to talk about.” LOL!
Very true. And I think the fact Fifty Shades became a mainstream phenomenon is a huge part of what legitimized it in daily parlance. But I don’t believe it legitimized erotica and erotic romance altogether. Maybe in part, but only within very specific parameters. What I mean is, if you mention to someone you read Fifty Shades of Grey, that’s kind of “okay” outside of the most conservative venues and/or professional atmospheres. But you’d get more than a raised eyebrow if you said, “I just read Paula Gets Pounded by the Principal. Actually a pretty good read if you can get past the title.” It could be written 100X better than Fifty Shades, but bringing it up in conversation makes you a pervert. Totally made up example, but you get the idea.
YES! I totally love this. The internet has its dark corners too, but I think it is a positive technology overall.
I do have a good friend IRL who reads a lot of fiction. Unfortunately our tastes rarely match. For Christmas, she gave me a copy of Tess Gerritsen’s The Surgeon, saying she’d enjoyed the book. I read the blurb and came across this line :
“He slips into their homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women lie sleeping, unaware of the horrors they soon will endure.”
Maybe it’s 2020 fatigue, or maybe there’s some other reason, but I would really have preferred to read a book where good things happen to women (*cough* romance *cough*).
Years ago a friend gave me a James Patterson book, Kiss the Girls, where women in the literal forrest I lived near were being kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered. It discomfited me so greatly, I’ve almost never read a book where that sort of violence is treated as titillation.
I’ve never read Patterson but I may gave seen a film version? Having it set near you just adds a very disturbing element to the whole thing on top of everything else.
In Gerritsen’s books there are strong female protagonists- but they deal with murder as well as the aftermath. The Surgeon is one of the few books that kept me up at night because usually the victims make a mistake or leave themselves vulnerable so you can say “Oh well I would never do that”. But here they don’t and it’s unnerving.
I read Tess Gerritsen’s series, or at least I used to as I kind of fell out of them a while ago.
The Surgeon scared the **bejabbers** out of me. And I don’t spook easily. I read mysteries, watch shows like Mindhunter have listened to True Crime. Something about that book made me feel insecure and a little paranoid. And it’s not just women preyed on in the book, sometimes it’s a couple. I’ve used that book as an example of a book that really scared me. Not because it’s super gory as I recall but it just makes you feel…..vulnerable.
I do NOT recommend it for anyone feeling unhappy, uncertain, upset, or anything other than really happy and in the mood for a scare. I thought it was a good book and well written but it definitely hit a nerve with me. YMMV.
I think for the 2020 Christmas season you made the right decision in putting that one off.
YES! I love that feeling so much! It’s this very special kind of joyous, lighthearted excitement that I wish I could bottle up. And as someone who doesn’t always have the easiest time articulating myself, there are also times when I experience huge relief and gratefulness that someone has put to words something I haven’t been able to find a way to express.
Soul draining is exactly what it is. With those words, your friend has perfectly encapsulated the way being in those types of situations feels to me too.
I can totally imagine you and the bank president just talking about Harry Potter while the men seethed. *grins* Sometimes you find people with the same interests in the most surprising places and situations. And seriously, what is it with adults who still haven’t learned that you don’t always get to choose the subject of a discussion and/or dominate a conversation? Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t, but if you don’t, it’s kind of childish, at least in my opinion, to get annoyed about it.
I am very much looking forward to future discussions with you too, Chrisreader! :)
Hello, annik. I am sorry about what you are going through. I would have written earlier, but you know I have a tendency to put my keyboard in my mouth and was worried about expressing myself the wrong way. (I have some problems feeling and expressing empathy- probably one of the reasons I have a tendency to get into internet arguments I should leave alone- but I am trying to do better!)
Anyway, I’m writing to send you a virtual hug, adding to the other ones here. :-)
Reading helps me feel like a traveler too. I especially like DK books for history and travelogues as they are filled with lots of pictures that help me visualize things. Reading comprehension and attention span can be issues for me at times, so I’ve found them both fascinating and helpful. Not to mention gorgeous to look at. If you haven’t already, you might want to check some of them out.
Have a happy new year!
Thank you so much for your considerate words, Nan De Plume! They mean a lot and I truly appreciate it. :)
The visual I got from this is gold! I laughed out loud for real. That being said, I’m sorry to hear you feel that way. I think I’ve mentioned that I have a tendency to put my foot in it when I speak, and upset people without meaning to and often without understanding why they are upset. I’ve worked long and hard on this and I do feel like I’ve made some progress, but it’s not easy and I fear that it’s mostly just about me being better at keeping my mouth shut, not about my improved communication skills. It seems that in the process of translating my thoughts into English and then typing them up, which usually takes hours, I mostly manage to get rid of the worst blunders, but I, too, worry. Always.
It sounds like there are several things that we both struggle with: feeling and expressing empathy, reading comprehension and attention span. So I feel like I can relate. I mean, we are obviously different people and even people with the same problems can have very different experiences, but there is usually some common ground to be found, and I know it’s not always easy, navigating through life when you struggle with matters like this.
I like your idea about DK books – thank you for the suggestion! I just have to make sure I don’t get too greedy with beautiful pictures and choose too big books. I have this reading aid – a floor standing book/e-reader holder which holds a book or e-reader in front of my face so that I don’t have to hold it in my hands or look down (I have trouble doing either). It can be adjusted so that I can use it both when I’m sitting up and lying down. It’s awesome and I couldn’t do without it, but it has its limits when it comes to a book’s size and weight.
Happy new year to you too! *sends you a vitual hug*
Thanks for writing back, annik. Like you, I think everyone here at AAR has been kind for the most part. This is the only website I comment on regularly because I appreciate that different viewpoints and sometimes tense discussions are allowed as long as we respect one another and stay somewhat on topic. Plus, we’re all brought together by the wonderful world of literature!
Yes, I can relate to this. I may say controversial things sometimes- maybe more emphatically than I should- but I never say anything with intentional meanness or malice. I was actually really disappointed that a number of regular commenters left AAR for good after a brouhaha that I probably had a big part in contributing to. But I’m also glad new commenters, like you, have joined in the discussions. Let’s face it, underneath my prickly exterior, I’m a bit of a softie. :-)
I’m glad you like the DK book suggestion. I’d definitely check the book’s dimensions though if you use an online library catalog as some of them are quite big and heavy. I recently put a hold on a volume about the American Revolution and when I got it at the library, I thought, “Holy cow! This is HUGE!”
As for your reading aid, isn’t technology great? I’m all in favor of innovations that improve reading accessibility. Literature for all, y’all. ;-)
This is the only website I comment on at all. I’m certainly not the most skilled in scouring the internet, but at least I haven’t been able to find another site where it would be possible for someone as slow as me to participate in a conversation about romance novels. I’m so glad and grateful for the way the conversations have been arranged here – that there are several days time to comment on both book reviews and discussion topics. That’s really special, and the reason it was possible for me to even try to participate in the first place.
And like you, I appreciate the different points of views that can be heard here. I’ve learned so much from the conversations. Even when I don’t have the energy to participate in a conversation myself, I do my best to read through the opinions and arguments, and then challenge myself to think about my own opinion and the reasons behind it. Sometimes I go and do more research on a topic. To me, it’s been interesting and motivating to hear different points of views regardless of whether I happen to agree with them or not.
I think books with a lot of pictures tend to be a bit bigger in general, but I already checked and there are smaller ones too both in travel and history categories. I’ll make sure to check the book’s dimensions before loaning or buying anything. I actually learned this the hard way. Cooking and baking is a special interest of mine, but unfortunately books on both topics are often on the larger side. Some time ago, I bought this gorgeous and quite expensive book called Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel. It had got great reviews and the recipes sounded interesting (not that I can bake them myself anymore but I still love reading recipes and about techniques etc.), but somehow I’d totally missed it being the size of a small house. I haven’t been able to read it at all, it’s too large and heavy for me to handle. So yes, I’ll be scrutinizing those book specs like nobody’s business.
Happy (belated) New Year! Dabney, I just knew this was going to be the ASK topic. :-)
Now, for my reading resolutions? Hmm… I don’t like to get too specific when it comes to my leisure reading because then I feel pressure to meet benchmarks like it’s a job rather than fun.
Having said that, I hope to chip away at my TBR list. More specifically, I want to read those free e-books I’ve downloaded on Amazon Kindle. (I see a lot of commenters here have the same revolution.) I have a terrible habit of checking things out of the library and never reading them, so maybe exercising a little more commitment in that regard. If I check something out, I should probably give it a fair chance rather than being so impulsive that I never even crack open the cover.
I have stuck–one day!–to my resolution.
Last night I began reading Last Hope Island and was instantly sucked in. So… yay!
Because of COVID, in 2020 there was a lot less original programming on TV. Many shows that I watched also had their series finales in the early part of the year. This resulted in the time I had spent watching TV changing to time I spent reading and I found that I didn’t really miss TV all that much. There was stuff on streamers that I did watch and enjoy (like Bridgerton) but I read more books this year than in any of the previous 10 years. My resolution is to watch only the TV that truly interests me and continue to have a balance of time that favors reading over TV.
More Australian fiction for me. I mostly try Australian writers on audio and I’ve discovered a few gems this year in various genres: mystery, memoir and whatever category Liane Moriarty fits into. I read three unrelated books that were set in rural regions I’ve actually lived in, and it was so cool to recognise uniquely Australian characters and settings. I keep a tally of my books read each year, divided into romance (almost all American with a bit of British thrown in) mystery, non-fiction and ‘other’. This year I’m going to add an ‘Australian’ category. I don’t mind reading American romance most of the time but when I come across writing that reflects the understated irony and pragmatism of the Australian attitude to life, it feels so refreshing.
Also, hopefully I’ll have a lot less reason to let news articles cut into my fiction reading time this year!
Have you read Arthur Upfield? His book series began – I think- in the 1920’s/30’s. Solidly Australian. Great feel for the country and its vastness.
I hesitate to give an Australian tips about romance writers from her own country—especially since you’re probably already are aware of them—but I would recommend N.R. Walker, Sarah Mayberry, and Eve Dangerfield. I’ve enjoyed so many of their Australia-set romances. (I was bummed when Dangerfield recently announced she is no longer going to be writing romance and will be publishing under a different name in a different genre.)
I should add Kelly Hunter. I can’t believe I left her out! Especially MAGGIE’S RUN and all of her contributions to the various Outback Brides series.
Adding Sean Kennedy as well . . . Tigers & Devils is lovely.
i’m in med school and my resolution is not to let reading fall by the wayside. fingers crossed that I manage to come out of med school with at least some hobbies and interests intact!
Good luck in school!
Good luck! That’s a very demanding and noble course of study. You go!
Sometimes the love of reading has to take the back seat when life demands. But it never completely goes away. Thank you for aspiring to be a hero.
My last year of Vet School there was no reading, but when I was still in lectures the first 3 years I was able to read a little, but it was like escapist, easy to read stuff.
Hi Ayesha, when I was in college I still had time to read romance but I have to admit that there was very little time in med school and residency. I kept up by following this website and I carted my romance novel collection with me around wherever I lived. Even if I didn’t have time to read a full book, it was a good pick-me-up to read passages from my favorite romances. And when you get on in your career, the time will come again when you can be an avid reader. Good luck in your studies!
My main reading resolution for 2021 is to go through my kindle and make decisions about books I got as either freebie downloads or 99-cent specials. When I first got a kindle (about five years ago), I was so thrilled with all those freebies in the Kindle Store, I went on a download spree, grabbing books willy-nilly, regardless of whether I knew of the book or the author. Yes, I found some gems and new favorites, but I’ve also clogged my kindle with books I must admit to myself I’ll never read. I plan on clearing those out. A harder part of my resolution is to address the books on my kindle that I have read and ask myself honestly if I’ll ever read them again…and delete the ones that I know I won’t. Tune in this time next year to see how well I did, resolution-wise.
Selecting the Manage Content and Devices inside Amazon while using the computer browser is the easiest way I’ve discovered to do this. With an ebookshelf in the thousands since I bought my first Kindle ebook in 2007, I started deleting in batches of 20 a couple times each year. My keepers list is what I can see myself rereading. So, I sort by year purchased and delete, then I sort by author and then delete more. Sometimes I do reverse author Z-A if I ran out of mojo the previous time.
Thank you for the tip!
Having to get a new Kindle also helps! I got a new Paperwhite this year so did a lot of selective downloading :). But I should probably do some actual deleting of the books I’m never going to read from my account.
If you have an Apple device, you can now delete permanently via the kindle app, rather than having to go via Amazon account, contents and devices. Android devices don’t have this feature though, and have to delete via account, contents and devices. I found sorting into authors a-z helped me decide what to keep, what to get rid of, more effectively – being able to delete in batches.
You can delete them but then you have to have downloaded as the default not all, right?
You can do that on the newer Kindles as well – there’s an option to delete from your library permanently as well as to just delete from your device.
The Erik Larson book is in my TBR pile. I’ve read a few of his other books so I expect it to be good. My Mother has read it and she enjoyed it.
My reading goal for this year is simply to read more of a variety of genres. I have a bunch of nonfiction, mystery, and other genre books sitting in my TBR pile (some for years) and I really need to start chipping away at them. That doesn’t mean I stop reading romance. I am also going through the backlists of Loretta Chase and Julie Ann Long. Somehow I didn’t read any of their books until this past year. Where was I?
Whoa!
I haven’t read Julie Ann Long either, and only a couple by Loretta Chase
I liked “The Splendid and the Vile” but not quite as much as some of Larson’s other books (I think ‘In the Garden of the Beasts” and “Devil in the White City” are my favorites). He is very good at humanizing events and people so that his histories are not simply dry recitations of facts and figures. Let us know what you think of it after you read it.
I have read The Devil in White City and The Garden of Beasts, both years ago and enjoyed them both. He is a very strong writer and does indeed bring people to life brilliantly.
Three years ago I read War and Peace. Yes, really! It took me 6 months – interspersed with many other books. This year I think I will try Anna Karenina. I enjoyed parts of W&P though a lot of it was a hard slog through Tolstoy’s philosophical musings and it was hard work. AK, here I come!! Happy New Year, everyone – 2021 has to be better than 2020!!)
I think Anna Karenina is a much easier read than War and Peace. I’d love to reread it!
One of my daughters read ANNA KARENINA in 2020 and loved it. She put it on her GR Top Ten. I read it decades ago and remember enjoying it at the time—certainly more than the slog that was W&P—but I freely admit I’m never going to reread it.
I read both War and Peace and Anna Karenina when I was in the 6th Form at school – by choice, they weren’t set books. I loved War and Peace but loathed Anna Karenina. That might have had something to do with my reading coinciding with the 1972 BBC version of War and Peace – I really fancied the actor playing Andrei! Anthony Hopkins was Pierre.
What year is 6th form?
‘A’ level years – now called Year 12 and Year 13 in UK. Kids are in their final 2 years at school before going on to university and are 16-18 years old,
Can’t imagine for a mo that W&P is suitable for 6th formers and would put most kids off reading for life!! I saw the Sergei Bundarchuk 2-part W&P years ago and think it’s the best screen version of them all.
I don’t know. I read all the classics in elementary and junior high school. (I couldn’t get through War and Peace, however.) The summer I was ten, I read Gone with the Wind and Anna Karenina and enjoyed both. Did tons of it go over my head? Probably. But they shaped my expectations for books in a positive way. Our 7th grade class (12 year olds) read–which amazes me to think of it now–Stendhal’s The Red and The Black, The Odyssey, Animal Farm, and Catcher in the Rye. We discussed them all enthusiastically.
I believe that books and art bring to you whatever you’re ready for. I fell I was fortunate my parents never censored my reading.
I also read many of the classics either on my own or in jr/sr HS (educated in CA) but Russian literature is on another planet and pretty difficult to digest without knowledable guidance. I think Mark Twain is a good start early on, all 3 Brontes, Austen, Poe, Alcott, Kipling, etc. These days though probably none of them fit into the narrow parameters some demand. Certainly Kipling is on the “unacceptable” list for some in the UK and probably elsewhere. So sad to see the horizons of young imaginations stifled.
Agreed.
The recent BBC adaptation of W&P was quite good. I never got on with Anna Karenina though.
The teaching of English Lit in schools these days is… Well, not great, IMO. Even the great Sir Ian McKellan said he doesn’t agree with the way Shakespeare is taught in that it’s introduced way too early and risks turning kids off for life, and I have to agree. Given so many kids barely read at all unless they absolutely have to, confronting them with Romeo & Juliet in year 7 (11-12) is not the best idea.