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Dec. 14th, 2013 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsFor December 14th, luzula asked how I choose what books to read and what my reccing sources are.
Right now, it's sort of a mishmash! I'm not at all organized about it. I get a lot of it from you guys, to be honest; either people who blog about books (EVERYONE SHOULD BLOG ABOUT BOOKS ALL THE TIME) or people directly reccing me things. And sometimes I ask for specific recs for the kind of things I'm looking for, and you guys are great about that! If I see a mention on the internet that looks interesting, I'll usually go straight out and put it on a library pull list so I don't forget about it. The drawback of this system is that sometimes things are mentioned that aren't in my library system, and then I usually never get around to reading them until something else happens to make me remember them again. Sometimes I try to work my way through rec lists, and I always earnestly mean to do it, but usually I get distracted halfway through.
I try to maintain momentum on stuff -- like, if I start reading a series, I want to keep reading it with a fair amount of frequency (if all the books are out) before I forget what happened in the earlier books. But I also try to diversify what I read a bit, so if I notice I haven't read a nonfiction book in a while, I'll try to grab one, or if I notice I've only been reading white authors or dudes for a while (although "only dudes" is pretty rare for me) I'll try to switch that up.
(I used to have a much more concrete system before grad school, when I was working a boring job and wasn't using my brain and wanted to use it more in my free-time reading -- there was some complex math involved, like, one in every three books I read had to be by an author who wasn't white, and one in every five had to be nonfiction. I actually really liked that! I read a lot of stuff I might not have otherwise, and it also meant that I was always aware of what I was going to be reading next, and didn't have to agonize over which book to pick up. But of course it was also restricting in certain ways, and then I started grad school and was using my brain a LOT and wanted comfort reading much of the time, so the system fell by the wayside.)
For ages I had too much of a rec/known authors/series continuations/etc. backlog to do much random browsing, but now I have worked through enough of my backlog -- at last! -- that I've started doing some browsing again, like just wandering through stores and seeing what looks interesting and making a note of it to check stuff out later. I usually won't buy a book without knowing anything about it, but I will check books out of the library now as exciting surprises.
I also have this problem where if somebody physically puts a book into my hands, as a loan or a gift, I will feel INCREDIBLY GUILTY about it until I read it. Somebody made an effort to provide me that book! Somebody wants me to read that book! I should obviously prioritize it over other things! This guilt reflex of mine makes me an extremely easy mark for people who want me to, for example, read AWFUL THINGS AND BLOG ABOUT THEM, not that I'm pointing at any of you or anything (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.)
Tell me about your reading habits, guys! How do you decide what goes on your to-read lists? And what is something that you've read recently that should go on mine?
luzula asked how I choose what books to read and what my reccing sources are.Right now, it's sort of a mishmash! I'm not at all organized about it. I get a lot of it from you guys, to be honest; either people who blog about books (EVERYONE SHOULD BLOG ABOUT BOOKS ALL THE TIME) or people directly reccing me things. And sometimes I ask for specific recs for the kind of things I'm looking for, and you guys are great about that! If I see a mention on the internet that looks interesting, I'll usually go straight out and put it on a library pull list so I don't forget about it. The drawback of this system is that sometimes things are mentioned that aren't in my library system, and then I usually never get around to reading them until something else happens to make me remember them again. Sometimes I try to work my way through rec lists, and I always earnestly mean to do it, but usually I get distracted halfway through.
I try to maintain momentum on stuff -- like, if I start reading a series, I want to keep reading it with a fair amount of frequency (if all the books are out) before I forget what happened in the earlier books. But I also try to diversify what I read a bit, so if I notice I haven't read a nonfiction book in a while, I'll try to grab one, or if I notice I've only been reading white authors or dudes for a while (although "only dudes" is pretty rare for me) I'll try to switch that up.
(I used to have a much more concrete system before grad school, when I was working a boring job and wasn't using my brain and wanted to use it more in my free-time reading -- there was some complex math involved, like, one in every three books I read had to be by an author who wasn't white, and one in every five had to be nonfiction. I actually really liked that! I read a lot of stuff I might not have otherwise, and it also meant that I was always aware of what I was going to be reading next, and didn't have to agonize over which book to pick up. But of course it was also restricting in certain ways, and then I started grad school and was using my brain a LOT and wanted comfort reading much of the time, so the system fell by the wayside.)
For ages I had too much of a rec/known authors/series continuations/etc. backlog to do much random browsing, but now I have worked through enough of my backlog -- at last! -- that I've started doing some browsing again, like just wandering through stores and seeing what looks interesting and making a note of it to check stuff out later. I usually won't buy a book without knowing anything about it, but I will check books out of the library now as exciting surprises.
I also have this problem where if somebody physically puts a book into my hands, as a loan or a gift, I will feel INCREDIBLY GUILTY about it until I read it. Somebody made an effort to provide me that book! Somebody wants me to read that book! I should obviously prioritize it over other things! This guilt reflex of mine makes me an extremely easy mark for people who want me to, for example, read AWFUL THINGS AND BLOG ABOUT THEM, not that I'm pointing at any of you or anything (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.)
Tell me about your reading habits, guys! How do you decide what goes on your to-read lists? And what is something that you've read recently that should go on mine?
no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 08:19 pm (UTC)Clearly we are kindred spirits and must now be bosom friends! /Anne Shirley
I make SO MANY reading lists for myself.
now I have worked through enough of my backlog -- at last! --
Follow-up question: OMG HOW? TELL ME YOUR SECRETS.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 09:41 pm (UTC)Hahah, well, my secret is using the library as my de facto list! So the stuff that comes in HAS TO BE READ within a certain timeframe, or the LIBRARY HAS DEFEATED ME and that cannot be borne. And the stuff that does not come in ... falls off the list. >.>
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Date: 2013-12-14 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 10:05 pm (UTC)Then there's what I spot wandering in the library, at the moment most of my reading is mainly comfort. I know I need to branch out and read a greater selection and I'm still working through the books I picked up at the ALA conference. There needs to more time in the day to read.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 11:18 pm (UTC)So basically there are a handful of authors whose work I actively seek out promptly upon its release, and otherwise I tend to read whatever has recently unsuspended itself at the library (I automatically suspend 99% of my library requests for the maximum of two years when I place the hold) and turned up. Usually by then I have no idea anymore who recced it or why. ^^;
no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 12:18 am (UTC)For nonfiction I mostly get interesting-sounding things from my university librarian, who sends out lists of biology books to the biology students, etc. Sadly I am terrible at reading them in a timely fashion, because the university library lets you keep things basically forever...
For fiction, the internet provides LJ/DW posts, and the new-stuff shelves at the library are my friend. The library in the gay neighborhood has especially good YA. Individual recommendations happen, too: I'm reading the new Karen Joy Fowler because of
All that said, what I am mainly reading right now are comfort books, because of life.
If you would like a soap opera with cranky dragons and a small amount of magic-geeking, Robin Hobb's Rain Wilds Chronicles have reached a reasonable conclusion with book 4, so a person could read the whole thing. It's about as good as I expected, not stellar or anything, but who doesn't like dragon bitchiness?
no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 02:05 am (UTC)I was so mad when my university library membership expired over the summer! Like, okay, yeah, it's fair, I am actually no longer a student ... but still, SO MAD, I used that library.
I've never actually read any Karen Joy Fowler except for a short story or so, which I liked. Should I? I loved Robin Hobb's books when I was thirteen, but her early epic fantasy is some of the stuff I'm a little afraid to read now in case the glamor has dimmed . . .
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Date: 2013-12-15 07:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 12:41 am (UTC)And then occasionally there will be a time when I come across a book review someone's posted and the book sounds awesome enough that I will actually go out of my way to get my hands on it and read it - but usually I just paste the author name and title and the link to the review into my to-read list. And I pretty much NEVER actually get around to reading books from my to-read list.
(I go through my to-read list every now and then and delete the books that I have since read, simply by accident without remembering they were on the list. This is very nearly the only way the list ever shrinks.)
In answer to your second question - hmm. Have you read any Rosemary Sutcliff or Eva Ibbotson? They both write very good children's books and I would recommend them. (I can give specific titles if you want!)
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Date: 2013-12-15 02:08 am (UTC)I have read lots of Eva Ibbotson and super enjoyed it, but I would be curious which you would recommend! I tried reading Sutcliff as a kid and bounced off it, though I might do better with her now.
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Date: 2013-12-15 02:11 am (UTC)If you do decide to try Sutcliff again, I would recommend Frontier Wolf as a good starting place, because it is JUST SO GOOD. SO GOOD. I love it a lot.
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Date: 2013-12-15 02:14 am (UTC)I will definitely take that into consideration! :D
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Date: 2013-12-15 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-18 04:27 pm (UTC)Anyway, I have no idea what a library pull list is? I used to keep my to-read list in a gmail draft, but then I accidentally deleted it and found out the hard way that it couldn't be gotten back. Now I keep it as a doc file in my dropbox.
I get my recs from my LJ/DW circle, from RL friends, from Jo Walton's blog at tor.com, and from the Tiptree awards website. And from random other places, I guess. Then there are also the authors I already know and trust and follow.
Recs, hmm. Two of my favorite books ever are: Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness. I can't find Le Guin among your tags, so I guess those are my top recs!
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Date: 2013-12-23 04:45 am (UTC)I actually am supposed to be reading The Dispossessed this month for a book club! Which means I need to actually find a copy when I go home . . . but I'm excited for it!