My goal is to read at least one page every day. Hopefully I can read more, but if all I can muster is one page, then so be it. Last year I managed to read 13 books that way. :)

Personally, I’m thrifting as many memoirs and classics as I can and reading them or re-reading them as much as possible. The key here is the thrifting so I can see annotations and side comments other people may have left in there, just so I can get different perspectives on what’s going on. (Feels less lonely, I suppose? Also budget-friendly!)

(Not sure if you’re taking requests but I highly recommend We The Animals by Justin Torres! It’s a quick read, but incredible and was life-changing for me.)

I just finished reading it for the first time this weekend and was similarly disappointed! Agreed that it had so much potential but didn't love the execution. I struggled through the first 100 pages, devoured the next 300, then again struggled through the last 150. I thought the slow/rambling style worked for setting the mood and adding suspense as >!everyone's paranoia increased after Bunny's death!< but I was really unsatisfied with where it headed -- >!random incest? Richard is a creep for Camilla and Camilla loves Henry? Julian just disappearing?!< -- so I found my eyes starting to glaze over on the 100th description of fog and payphones and cigarettes waiting for it to end already.

in 2021, my goal was to read 24 books, i read 25.

In 2022, my goal was 30 books, i read 32.

In 2023, my goal is 12 books. Yes, I'm deliberately trying to read less books, not more. I want to REALLY enjoy what I'm reading at a leisurley pace.

Sure. I'll keep that in mind.

I loved the Hunting Party so great recommendation.

I will come back to this thread with more details. How do I do that “remind me “ thing?

Read all the books in Zola’s Parisian cycle. They are completely separate novels

I have zero faith in myself as a good director. None whatsoever! I have no doubt that I would be absolutely atrocious at the job. I don't think it would even be funny watching me try. It would just be painful.

However, I'm not directing for others. I'm simply entertaining myself. If I'm entertained, then I'm succeeding. If I'm learning something or expanding my perspectives, that's success as well. That's all that matters when privately reading a book.

How I enjoy a novel might be completely different from the next person. It probably is. It's not a competition, thankfully, and I have no interest in worrying about their expectations.

You may find the longer works of Charles Dickens a little easier if you first read A Christmas Carol. It’s much shorter than A Tale of Two Cities, has a familiar plot, and the style is more direct.

I think that Oliver Twist is usually considered the easiest to read of Dickens’s longer works. Reading one 19th century novel will make you more accustomed to the language and writing styles of the day and your future reading will be easier.

Don’t feel bad if you can’t finish War and Peace - it’s notoriously long and difficult. But it is definitely worth the trouble!

I guess I just have less faith in myself as a good "director". Like, I think I'm giving myself a poorer experience than if I was more faithful to the writer's description.

I'm not a purist. I don't get too fussy about "being true to the author's vision", etc etc. That's important when adapting a work for others, but I read for myself. If I'm enjoying the story, then I'm doing it right, however I'm doing it.

I suppose if I was reading it publicly for other people then I might need to do more research, maybe? Since it's never happened, I've never worried about it.

Yes, sometimes I take artistic liberties with their look as well.

But to be fair, sometimes I only get their looks wrong because the authors don't mention a detail until chapters in, like mentioning a characters hair or eye color off hand, and I'm like "it's too late to change it now"

I haven't read Pride and Prejudice, so I just gave it a go, and got bored within about 5 minutes. It's so wordy! Good luck!

Dickens is a bit better.

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I do.

I really liked it too, as well as the narration by Imogen Church for the audio book.

I'm from South Africa. And yes, from what I understand and know of Appalachia, Child of God captures so much of it.

10 Books 10 Decades from Reggie Reads! Just 10 different books in 10 different decades. The StoryGraph app has a good mix of community-made reading challenges!

I do the Popsugar Reading Challenge every year.

I’ve never understood when people say the Secret History is slow. I found it to be a steady pace and consistent interesting.

The Goldfinch, on the other hand…. That one I put down and never picked back up

I don't really give them voices. When I listened to an audio book*, the narrator gave the characters different voices, and it threw me off. It never occurred to me to "read" (i.e., think) different voices for different characters.

[*the audio book was available: the nearest pb was a long way away. I ended up buying the pb later and enjoyed it a lot more]

Fondle? A strangely intimate reading style you’ve got there. xD

r/Fantasy’s bingo! I’m at 19/25 right now, and am looking forward to wrapping it up before the new bingo comes out in April. The system of each square having a specific theme really does wonders for making me read more broadly (even if, ultimately, it’s restricted to speculative fiction).

Maybe this sub could try making something like that. Would be cool!

I was reading Pillars of the Earth and in my head Prior Phillip had small wire glasses. Unfortunately the book takes place about 100 years before glasses were invented. Didn’t stop my image of him that way though!

Same with voices or sometimes even physical characteristics. I do try to stay true to the book’s description though. Sometimes the actors work just as well for books too. When I read Song of Ice and Fire having the Games of Thrones actors in my mind actually helped in some ways I think. Totally depends!

Talk about a self limiting attitude. I’m trying to imagine a life being a prisoner of the moment in history when you happened to be born, unable to venture outside it because the culture of other eras is “boring” and “tedious” and “archaic”. Seems like a pretty menial existence. You do you, I guess.