Maybe next year will be the year that I finally keep a book diary

[thatgirly]

I don't read nearly as much as I once did, but I still read quite a bit, especially during the periods of time when I'm not in school, which I anticipate having a lot more of now that I'm, you know, done with school and all. I have repeatedly tried to keep track of the books that I read, either in list form, or in post form, or in brief review form

Comments

[greylady]

You are not alone.

When you read enough, or maybe too much, the details sort of spiral together and you get just a general "I think this happened". I've forgotten books, and re-bought them, and then been sad when I realized I already knew what was going to happen and the journey hadn't been that exciting the first time around.

And whooboy, did Heinlein have some issues. Some of them are amusing, some are annoying, some are just environmental. I'm still glad he wrote as much as he did, because I enjoy his stories, even if I think he was a little obsessed. :)

[thatgirly]

Yay! I was expecting a lot of flack for my Heinlein support. I think it's totally reasonable for folks of our generation to dish the flack in his general direction, actually. I just think it is also reasonable for all thinking folks to stop and think, and try to remember the way things were before we were thinking people, and forgive, without forgetting, and without reinventing. Y

And yeah - the book forgetting thing is annoying, but not altogether unexpected. It's when it happens when the journey WAS that exciting the first time around that it really pisses me off.

[karinablack]

Sounds like you're engaging in good literary nutrition! ;D

Have only started reading again. I'm finding it trying; I can't find things to get interested in :(
I want something with a good storyline, and above an 8th grade reading level. These things should not be mutually exclusive!

I finished Queen by Alex Haley, cried my eyes out but loved it almost as much as Roots (chills). I just bought Napoleon et Josephine and was going to challenge myself to read it in French, just to expand my vocabulary and see how far I could get.. but I'm so braindead after work.

The Prince ... I thought it didn't have so much of a "plot" than, well it felt like a lecture. It has since been made into a graphic novel which was just as pedantic.

Anna Karenina is coming out in theatres, I may give that another go before watching Keira Knightley pout her way through it, but Tolstoy is so damn thick with his fucking descriptions I felt like the plot got lost :(

[thatgirly]

Honestly, most of what I read is total trash, but what I tend to want from a novel is an escape. I think novels do for me what heroin does for other people. I get completely transported, ignore my life and responsibilities, and then walk around in a fog for awhile afterwards trying to incorporate the experience I just had with all of the "real life" that seems to have been going on in my absence. The good news is that it doesn't destroy any of my organs, or threaten my immune system, and novels are much, much cheaper than drugs! (Free, at the library!)

If you like fantasy stuff at all, I'd recommend Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. They're not high literature, by any stretch, but the guy can turn a phrase, and the plots will keep you up later than you meant for them to. :) A slightly more mature novel that I read this year was Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen. I cried. For about a chapter. Maybe two. I read a couple of his other novels as well, but they didn't make me care nearly so much

[karinablack]

We should totally bookswap.

I trudged through Anna Karenina at 12. No book has ever pissed me off more.

I really liked Michael Crichton. I like the scientific details he adds in. Have you read him? and OMG Gregory Maguire just captivated me!

I've heard from Lilith I need to try the Dresden Files. I may just! Thanks!

[thatgirly]

I get most of my books either at the library of via my Nook these days, so book-swapping isn't super feasible, sadly. I do like suggestion swapping though!

I read a fair amount of Crichton, and I feel his stories are great, but his punctuation habits make me want to punch him in the neck. I've settled on enjoying the movies based on his books. I couldn't put Wicked down, but the others in the series left me feeling a little deflated. They were good, but he kind of shot his wad with Wicked, I felt.

Lilith is right! You should! You might also get a kick out of Pamela Ribon's stuff. It puts the lit back into chick lit. I've read and enjoyed Why Girls Are Weird, Why Moms Are Weird, and Going in Circles.

[enchantingamber]

I use goodreads, originally referred be Lilith then Elizabeth. I like it because I can have different "shelves" so I took the easy way out and have books I read in each year as a shelf. It's kinda nice because I can write my own descriptions or notes, but there is a ton of information already catalogued about it (so if I don't write anything there is still something to jog the ole noggin later)

[thatgirly]

I think I actually started an account there at one point, but (shockingly) never kept up on it. Or maybe it was another similar website. I like the idea of shelving by year. And of pre-populated information.

[wickedsin]

I use Goodreads to track what I've read, what I'm reading, and what I want to read. It's awesome, convenient, even has a phone app that you can scan the barcode and it adds the book for you.

[thatgirly]

Maybe I'll start when I finally succumb to the dark side and get a smartphone. My current phone doesn't even take pictures, much less scan barcodes :)

[wickedsin]

It's also perfectly good just as a website.

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4981235-lisa