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Fantastic Books and Where to Find Them (Reading Blog)

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Entry 5

I. General

Over the past six months, I am ashamed to say I have only finished five books, three of which were read this week. :ashamed:

I am not going to take up more space by explaining all the reasons why, though, so let us move on, shall we? :smile:

I am now… nine books behind. Yikes! :afraid:

It is fine, though; as long as I read two or three books a week, I shall be up to date before I go back to university in October. :h:

The books I read met the criteria for topics 34 (a suggestion from the AtY 2018 polls that did not win but was polarizing or a close call), 1 (a book with the letters A, T, and Y in its title), 27 (a book about surviving a hardship), 7 (a gothic novel), and 48 (a book related to one of the seven deadly sins).

II. Book 16: ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ by J. K. Rowling (Topic 34)

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III. Book 17: ‘Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals’ by Immanuel Kant (Topic 1)

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IV. Book 18: ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe (Topic 27)

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V. Book 19: ‘Phantom of the Opera’ by Gaston Leroux (Topic 7)

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VI. Book 20: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen (Topic 48)

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Tag list:

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(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 41

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Reply 42

Michiyo

Original post by 04MR17

Reply 43

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by Michiyo

I love this thread so much. :jumphug:

Reply 44

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Yesssss my image is in OP :rave:

Reply 45

Tiffany Miles

great idea! good luck to you!

Reply 46

Michiyo

Original post by 04MR17

Yesssss my image is in OP :rave:

Of course

Sorry it took so long to put it in the OP. I did not want there to be any 'attached images' at the end of my post, but then, I realised I do not care anymore, so yeah. :lol:

Original post by Tiffany Miles

great idea! good luck to you!

Thank you! :cube:

I will need it :laugh:

Reply 47

Msbrownie.xo

Original post by Michiyo

Hi!

Michiyo here. :h:

This year, I am doing the Goodreads Challenge: to read 52 books on specific topics before the year ends! :zomg:

My current average is about 14-15 books a year, though I am ashamed to admit I only finished three books in 2016. :ashamed2:

In my defence, I was extremely busy with other things and read a lot of academic articles and fragments of books rather than entire books themselves, but this year, I want to make up for that! :woo:

I should read a book a week to complete this challenge. This is not entirely impossible for me as I can finish a book in a day and even if I read no books for a week or two, I can make up for it. My record before this blog was finishing a book a day for eight consecutive days, but as of Entry 3, it is now reading a book a day for fourteen days straight, which I am very proud of. :proud:

I am going to swap the topics around because I have already started reading books that fit the topics of later weeks. :flute:

In addition, I will have to read books for the weeks ahead sometimes as I might not have the time to read in the next weeks. For example, I have exams in the summer, so naturally, I will be too busy studying during those weeks to read. :sadnod:

Will I succeed? Probably not! :hide:

Is it worth a try? Definitely! :biggrin:

I will be overjoyed if I manage to read at least 16 books. :daydreaming:

I will post my impressions of the book(s) I read or at least a list of them every week. On weeks when I read nothing, there will be no update and I will catch up on the reading later. :colondollar:

Credit to @04MR17 for the title and blog picture. :adore:

Topics finished so far: 20/52 (as of 23rd July)

Entries:

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Tag list:

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Warning: Massive spoilers for all the books I read ahead.

good luck, its cool to see someone with different reading goals to me, i aim to read about 60 books a year lmao

Reply 48

Michiyo

Original post by Msbrownie.xo

good luck, its cool to see someone with different reading goals to me, i aim to read about 60 books a year lmao

Thank you! :hugs:

Good luck to you too! :grin:

Honestly, I do not think I have ever read more than 15 books in a single year, so 52 is more than enough for me :yep:

Reply 49

Michiyo

Entry 6

I. General

I am like ten books behind, which is even worse than in my last entry. :ashamed2:

This week, I finished the books for topics 24 (a book with a map) and 41 (a book by an author with the same first and last name initials).

II. Book 21: ‘World Order’ by Henry Kissinger (Topic 24)

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III. Book 22: ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ by James Joyce (Topic 41)

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Tag list:

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Reply 50

Michiyo

Entry 7

I. General

This week, I read the book for topic 28 (a book related to water).

II. Book 23: ‘Stillhouse Lake’ by Rachel Caine (Topic 28)

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Tag list:

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(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 51

Michiyo

Entry 8

I. General

I finished five books this week! :gasp:

Only one fit a topic (topic 44: a ghost story) and the rest were short nonfiction books with lots of pictures, though. :sad:

At least I finished three books in a day, which is a new record for me! :woo:

One thing I noticed was that sticking to the topics has both encouraged me to read and put me off reading. Nowadays, I only read books if they fit a topic, and it has been that way for the entirety of the year. I realised the feeling that I have to read a certain book has alienated me and made it harder for me to finish books. Quite frankly, I did not really enjoy around half of the books I have read over the course of this blog; I just read them because I had no idea what else to read for their topic.

In consequence, I have decided to change my approach. Instead of only reading what fits the topics, I will alternate topic books and books I truly like and want to read. Top tip: Never read something you do not enjoy just because you feel like you have to unless your grade depends on it. If you need to read a book (e.g. for school), try switching between that book and a book you like in order to make it more bearable.

I had to extend my Goodreads Challenge number of books to 56 in order to finish all the topics and include my casual reading. :pinch:

While reading this week’s book, I discovered that it is possible to ask my Kindle’s Alexa to play cats purring. :zomg:

Listening to cat purring when reading is the most satisfying and wholesome feeling ever. :emog:

II. Book 24: ‘The Ghosts of Sleath’ by James Herbert (Topic 44)

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Tag list:

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Reply 52

Robin18

How long do your books need to be to qualify for the challenge? I'm really into short stories right now such as Edgar Allen Poe's tales, as well as postmodern science fiction.

This one is my favourite and it's pretty unique, so I don't know which category it would fit into, but I recommend it. :smile:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43294454-climate-fever

Reply 53

Daniel.Scribbler

Original post by Michiyo

Hi!

Michiyo here. :h:

This year, I am doing the Goodreads Challenge: to read 52 books on specific topics before the year ends! :zomg:

My current average is about 14-15 books a year, though I am ashamed to admit I only finished three books in 2016. :ashamed2:

In my defence, I was extremely busy with other things and read a lot of academic articles and fragments of books rather than entire books themselves, but this year, I want to make up for that! :woo:

I am going to swap the topics around because I have already started reading books that fit the topics of later weeks. :flute:

Will I succeed? Probably not! :hide:

Is it worth a try? Definitely! :biggrin:

I will be overjoyed if I manage to read at least 16 books. :daydreaming:

I will post my impressions of the book(s) I read or at least a list of them every week. On weeks when I read nothing, there will be no update and I will catch up on the reading later. :colondollar:

Credit to @04MR17 for the title and blog picture. :adore:

Topics finished so far: 24/52 (as of 27th August)

Entries:

Spoiler

Tag list:

Spoiler

Warning: Massive spoilers for all the books I read ahead.

Your book choices are compelling, though sometimes it seemed strange to me how you're able to switch from such books as Crime and Punishment to the ones like Harry Potter within a short period of time... I personally wouldn't be able not to take breaks between complicated profound literature, immersing in reflections, and entertaining fantasy books that don't demand high concentration. You also mentioned Bradbury, and he's one of my favorite authors of all time. I actually enjoy dystopian science fiction. That's why I advise you to read a dystopian novel "WE" by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin. There's also an interesting article that reveals the connections between dystopian works of different authors. Zamyatin seems to be a pioneer of the themes also highlighted in Orwell's "1984" and Huxley's "Brave New World". https://plagiarismsearch.com/blog/dystopian-literature-plagiarism-or-conscious-imitation.html

(edited 5 years ago)