Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
A Feast of Books
When I was growing up, I read like I breathed. I remember reading an entire book (or close to it) during church one time (before my parents stopped letting me read during church, haha). I told one of my parents’ friends about it after the service and he did not believe me, but that’s who I was. I read all the time.
Then, college and the Internet hit, and I stopped having a lot of time to read. After that, I found my attention span had been greatly affected, and so I just chose not to read much.
However, a few years ago, I started really reading again, and I would say this year has been my greatest feast on books in a long time. Part of it is because I discovered audiobooks, but even so, I’ve actually read 24 physical books so far this year, and I’m almost done with another one with plans to read at least two more. My total right now is 40 books for the year, but it should at least get up to 45. My goal was 30 (20 physical books and 10 audiobooks).
I think my favorite physical book I’ve read overall is probably Persuasion, by Jane Austen (a re-read), and my favorite audiobooks were the Harry Potter series (sorry to be a typical millennial). My favorite new book might be The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It was part of my quest to read classic literature that I missed growing up. I’ve made a list of 50 classic books that are almost all different authors, and I am working my way through them a little at a time. This year, from that list, I also read Brave New World (which was my overall least favorite book of the year – I would not have finished it if it hadn’t been the audio version), The Great Gatsby, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The book I’m reading now is Frankenstein, and that will be my last “new classic” for the year.
Next, I’m going to turn my focus to Christmas books. I started the Chronicles of Narnia audiobooks so that I can listen to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe during the Christmas season (I’ve read them before, so I thought I’d listen this time). I also read the first six Trixie Belden books, and the last one of those was a Christmas book. (I don’t know if anyone here read Trixie Belden, but my mom and sister love them, so I decided to finally give them a try – they are so fun!) I’ll finish out the year with Hercule Poirot’s Christmas and Andrew Klavan’s new book, When Christmas Comes.
Bon appetit!
Published in Group Writing
Yeah, I can’t do that. The words I hear interfere with the words I’m writing. I do that sort of thing when I’m playing video games, in the theory that wasting time two ways at once is slightly more efficient. But if it gets to a part of the game where I actually have to read things then I have to pause the book. I listened to Sense & Sensibility (there’s a good librivox version of it on youtube) this way over the summer.
What? I really liked Frankenstein. It showed me how nice it would be to have relatives to nurse me through long periods of madness; who conveniently ignore the content of whatever dark ravings I might put forth in those times.
Does it contain any useful advice?
I’m currently reading about his service in VietNam. I’ve skipped ahead a bit and he was dealing for many years with what he saw and did there (don’t know if he calls it PTSD).
I couldn’t get past the ridiculous contrivances required to make the story work. And that’s aside from the whole bit about resurrecting a human body.
Just my opinion (which, grantedly, isn’t worth much) but when it comes to Moby Dick, I saw the Gregory Peck movie before I read the book and the movie is much better.
I love your book posts Allie. I think I commented before in agreement with you about Persuasion, I reread it at the beginning of the year and then watched the TV version on YouTube.
Reading has always been a source of enjoyment and comfort for me. Even in my 20’s when I was out almost every night of the week I still read regularly.
In my 30’s when I returned to full time education I was reading too but it was almost exclusively to do with my course. Then there was an unfortunate few years during my dad’s illness and when I was moving from one job to another feeling very unsettled where I hardly read at all. When I did it was books which were pressed on me, I seemed to have lost the capacity to find a book for myself.
Around the end of 2018, a new friend I’d made suggested I read Amusing Ourselves to Death which opened up a whole new world of thoughts and ideas to me. I had spent my teens reading classics and philosophy (usually not understanding half of it), my 20’s reading entirely fiction and my 30’s reading textbooks. I’d never really read non fiction before. I’ve read so many fascinating books since then and particularly since 2020 and usually each book will cite another book so I’m always adding to the list. I’ve also read books based on what Ricochet members have discussed or mentioned; Justice on Trial, Green Tyranny, Apocalypse Never and Profiles in Corruption are a few.
Right now I’m reading Jordan Peterson’s new one and also Ireversible Damage for my book group. I think last year I read about 40 books but this year, what with work being so much busier and also by taking about 6 weeks to read one rather depressing book about the Khmer Rouge I’ll probably only have read 20 something by the end.
I just checked this author out, and he seems to be remarkable. Plan on ordering several of his books.
Check out Tim Challies’ yearly book challenge: https://www.challies.com/resources/2021-christian-reading-challenge/
He divides the the list into light, avid, committed, and obsessed (2 books per week). He also challenges the reader to vary the type and genre of book. I’ve been doing this challenge for a few years and push myself to beat the last year’s number.
Best books I’ve read this year: Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holliday, Robert Galbraith’s (JK Rowling) Cormoran Strike Detective Series, The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradl, and The Common Rule by Justin Early.
I have not read Frankenstein but did read Dracula and enjoyed it much more than I expected. I just have not been able to get into audio books – or for that matter the kindle format. I will read on screen only if a physical book is not available. Thanks for the post and comments. I love hearing about books and reading.
I’m having fun with the books discussed on The Close Reads Podcast. They take several episodes to get through a book, so I can read other things as I read along. The last one I read was Brideshead Revisited. They just now started A Confederacy of Dunces. And I am reading Hanna Coulter so I can listen to that archived discussion, too. Their old series on stories by Flannery O’Connor was truly excellent.
Since I like these discussions so much, I even read Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, and enjoyed it even though he can be a bit dark for my taste and as a friend said the guy was so poor he couldn’t afford commas. The Moviegoer is another book I probably wouldn’t have read without prodding from that podcast.
Another excellent podcast, currently going through and arguing for the supremacy of Mansfield Park (much villified in some quarters) is The Literary Life Podcast.
Since I am now well out of the academy (whew!) I like the structure, insight and sense of community these podcasts provide. Of course, there are others out there too.
I’m the same way – I can really only listen to audiobooks when I’m driving or exercising. I’ll listen to podcasts other times when I don’t care if I miss something.
I’ll have to watch it after I read the book!
Dracula is on my list, but I don’t really do vampires, so we’ll see how it goes, haha. I’m with you about ebooks – if I’m going to legitimately read a book, I want it on paper. I look at screens enough as it is.
It sounds like you’ve had a really interesting journey with books, yourself! Maybe you’ll write a book about it one day. :)
What YouTube Persuasion did you watch? Did you find it was pretty faithful to the book and good casting?
That’s an intense challenge for the “obsessed” one! Great idea, though. I read a lot of nonfiction last year (at least about 50/50), but this year it’s mostly fiction again. I do have a lot of nonfiction books I want to read, though, so maybe I’ll go back to that more next year. How did you like the JK Rowling series?
I’ve participated in Allie Stuckey’s Facebook book club some, and it also helped me read some things I would not have read otherwise (or at least not read at that moment).
I have finally read all six of Jane Austen’s core books, and I did like Mansfield Park – although I would definitely say it’s not the “supreme” one, haha. I’d be interested to hear their arguments.
Whelp. Each is excellent in its own way. But the movie does have Alf Edwards playing the English Concertina at the Spouter Inn. How John Huston knew to hire the great master of the instrument is a wonder. I guess that’s why Casting deserves a mention in movie credits.
But I can see how the book might seem a bit slow and unfocused if you like more modern stuff. Try Billy Budd sometime. That one reads like a detective story–almost.
I’ve not bought a Kindle yet, but I’ve thought about it. I especially thought about it twice: once when I bought the Complete Shakespeare, and once when I bought the third volume of Manchester’s biography of Churchill. I generally read in bed, and I couldn’t support those heavy volumes.
Yes–it’s definitely pushed me to read more nonfiction. I LOVED the Rowling/Galbraith series. I’ve never been a big detective fiction fan, but the CB Strike series was my gateway to Tana French, Kate Atkinson, and a few other British and Irish crime and detective writers. I don’t think I would have recognized Galbraith as Rowling, so if you’re expecting Harry Potter, it’s definitely not the same experience ;-). However, I’m appreciating Rowling’s abilities more and more as I read through the series. She’s slowly building the characters’ friendships in much the same way as the HP series, adding more supporting characters as she goes. Definitely worth it and excellent on Audible.
Great post! Like you, I read voraciously when I was young. I still remember the first time I read an entire book cover to cover in one day. I was probably eight or nine. The book was a Hardy Boys mystery novel. (I can’t recall which one.) Over the years my book reading diminished for the same reasons you describe. And my attention span diminished for the same reasons as well. Every year I recommit myself to reading more books. More years than not I fail, hence the continual recommitment.
Over the last few years I have done better and probably read at least a dozen books a year. A pittance to be certain, but more than in many past years. In 2017 I took on a challenge to read 52 books in the course of the calendar year. To keep myself motivated, I made it into a fundraiser by getting a few people to agree to donate to a missionary friend if I succeeded. Due to much procrastination over the summer I had to really throw myself into it over the last 3-4 months of the year but I crossed the threshold with a couple days to spare. The entire Narnia series was included among the books I read that year. I had skipped them in my childhood but rather enjoyed reading them as an adult. I also read the C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy which was fascinating.
Thanks for your post, and for the reminder that we should all keep reading books rather than just mindlessly scrolling the internet and social media!
Ha! I think a ricochet post might as much as I’ll manage.
The version was a bbc one from the 1970’s which got criticised for its ugly costumes and period inappropriate hair styles. It’s very faithful to the book though and I really enjoyed it.
I would love it if the BBC gave all the Austen books the treatment it gave to P&P.
This post is part of our group writing November theme: “Feast, Famine, Fast.”
Sign up now to share your own dish, or just to dish with us this month! We have had a feast of posts so far, but now face a famine for the weeks ahead. Act fast! There are eight open days left this month.
Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.
What is librevox? Never heard of it. (I feel like I am getting further and further behind as far as so many website and computer related items.)
As best I can recall, it’s goal is to record all books in the public domain. It uses amateur readers, and the results are spotty. Sometimes, when it’s testing out readers, each chapter will be read by a different person.
Public domain audiobooks. https://librivox.org/
There are some audiobooks on Spotify, too.
Good to know, thank you! I’ll have to give it a try.
Thank you for sharing, as well! That is encouraging to know someone else is struggling in the same ways that I am. Your fundraiser idea is genius!
I have the Space Trilogy on my TBR list, and my sister just found them for me at a used bookstore, so I’ll probably read those next year. I’m excited! I’ve read Narnia and a few of his nonfiction books, but I’m excited to see his take on sci-fi.