club The Great Reading Thread of 2024

[Sea-to-sky]

If anyone wants a free book they are giving away fixed on you by laurelin paige on amazon at the moment. 
very good book with very twisty plot, but read the triggers as it will not be for everyone. 

[Scaly Freak]

Dracula Daily starts in two weeks. The project describes itself like this, on their website:

 

Quote

 

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is an epistolary novel - it’s made up of letters, diaries, telegrams, newspaper clippings - and every part of it has a date. The whole story happens between May 3 and November 7. So: Dracula Daily will post a newsletter each day that something happens to the characters, in the same timeline that it happens to them.

 

Now you can read the book via email, in small digestible chunks - as it happens to the characters.

 

 

Sign-up available here: https://draculadaily.substack.com/about

[ViperN7]

11 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Dracula Daily starts in two weeks. The project describes itself like this, on their website:

What a cool concept!

[MaeradCase]

16 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Dracula Daily starts in two weeks. The project describes itself like this, on their website:

 

 

Sign-up available here: https://draculadaily.substack.com/about

I have so many unread emails from last year's... ?

[ViperN7]

On 1/2/2024 at 10:15 AM, Artemis Prime said:

On that topic, my dad likes historical fiction, but he prefers it to be very light on the fiction and very heavy on the historical accuracy. If anyone has recommendations that fit that criteria, send them my way, please!

 

Thank you @Artemis Prime for giving me the push I needed to finally undertake a quest that has been simmering in the back of my mind for a couple years. 

You see, I used to keep a list of all the books I'd read. I started the list in my early teenage years (backfilled everything I could remember) and continued until college. It was 10 handwritten pages. 

In college I abruptly stopped reading other things as suddenly I was overflowing with class reading. 

 

One of the changes I made during lockdown was reading more again--it started as getting ebooks out of my library, because that was something I could access when everything was shut down. I've been thinking for a few years about restarting the Books Read list----but I no longer know where the original is, and the thought of trying to recreate it all was daunting. 

 

When I saw this question ⬆️ I started trying to remember the historical fiction books I've read, and once I started dredging up the past, the floodgates opened and I've been working on my Books Read list for 3 months. It's on to the 15th typed page and still going. 

 

What kind of stories does your dad like to read? Topics/age of protagonist? War stories? Social critique stories? Something more like realistic fiction, just in the past? Does it matter if it's suuuuuuper depressing? How does he feel about nonfiction? 

It really depends on the kind of story your dad likes to read, but here are some options that might fit your dad's criteria: 

 

+The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain 

+To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 

+The Devil's Arithmatic by Jane Yolen 

 

+Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (contemporary to the time it was written) 

+The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (contemporary to the time it was written)

+Pygmalion  by George Bernard Shaw (contemporary to the time it was written)

 

+When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka (novelization based on true events) 

+Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (novelization based on true events)

 

+The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien  (more of a novelized memoir, based on the author's experience in the Vietnam War)

 

+Night by Elie Wiesel (memoir; Holocaust)

+The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig (memoir; WWII)

[sarakingdom]

On 4/20/2024 at 11:59 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Dracula Daily starts in two weeks. The project describes itself like this, on their website:

 

How much does it reorder the book from narrative order to chronological order? I have in fact not read the book itself yet, but this may not be the ideal way to start.

[MaeradCase]

25 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

 

How much does it reorder the book from narrative order to chronological order? I have in fact not read the book itself yet, but this may not be the ideal way to start.

I believe the reason they came up with the concept is that the book is presented as a series of events with timetables and journal entries and newspaper clippings. So I believe it's a fully linear timeline, and not squiggly. (I only made it in a handful of entries before I started ignoring the emails... ? Oops)

[Artemis Prime]

34 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

 

How much does it reorder the book from narrative order to chronological order? I have in fact not read the book itself yet, but this may not be the ideal way to start.

No reordering at all, just divided up into smaller chunks. It goes based on the date of the epistolary content, so if a diary entry covers multiple days, it sends it to you on the date that the entry was written, which is the same way the novel is organized, so nothing needs moved around. I love Dracula Daily, but didn't get very far with it last year because I don't check my email all the time, so this year I have the coffee table book version which I'm very excited about.

[Scaly Freak]

12 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

How much does it reorder the book from narrative order to chronological order? I have in fact not read the book itself yet, but this may not be the ideal way to start.

 

What Artemis and Maerad said.  

 

The original novel is presented as a series of letters and diary entries, all clearly dated. Almost all of them are presented by Bram Stoker in the order of events/dates, but there is a flashback of several weeks half-way through, that the Dracula Daily project break out from Stoker's edited timeline and insert in the order the events take place chronologically. Singing up for the mailing list means the date of every letter or dairy entry, we get an email with that content. I really enjoyed it last year, however, due to being laid off and everything that came from that I was distracted and lost track of the story and emails. I'm looking forward to picking up the story again this year.

[ViperN7]

I finally finished the Chinese language kids' book I was reading! It took way longer than I expected, but I did it! I think I'll be practicing the new vocab for a while before I pick another project. 

[Sea-to-sky]

There is a humungous book and ebook sale on amazon today, just incase anyone is watching pennies but still wants new books. Some good titles on there for 0.99p

[Sea-to-sky]

Stuff your kindle day is up today. Lots of free books in the fantasy and romance genre. Only on for 24 hrs sadly, but ive found some good stuff in there before

 

https://www.romancebookworms.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

[ViperN7]

I'm still halfway through a book that I started two and a half months ago. Reading has been hard as when I have the time, I usually don't have the concentration to take in information. I'm really hoping to finish this book in the next three weeks because after that I'll be spending quite be a bit of time outside--and the next book in my lineup is physical and this one's an ebook which would be challenging in the sunlight. It's a weird feeling for me to have trouble reading--I used to be the teenager who would read a book while walking. But, baby steps for now I guess. This book is a reread, and the fact that I remember the end probably reduces the forward momentum.
Have you guys felt your reading change over time? 

[Heidi]

38 minutes ago, ViperN7 said:

I'm still halfway through a book that I started two and a half months ago. Reading has been hard as when I have the time, I usually don't have the concentration to take in information.

I have been in this space for a long time.

Solidarity. Re-reading was my best path back in, and yes, baby steps all the way, friend.

 

I haven't read much non-phd stuff since 2020, and back then myh list was crammed with a lot of MFA stuff. All of these are great things, of course, but personal reading has taken a bit of a nosedive, and I'm finding my way back into the habit.

 

This last week, something opened, a doorway if you will, and I reread Firebreak  over the course of a week, then read the companion Flight and Anchor over a couple evenings, and the companion story Pathfing! in an evening. I'm not certain this pattern will hold, since I have to go back to PhD things this evening, but I do have a The Institute (Stephen King) queued up on my kindle, and Archivist Wasp and Latchkey as well.

 

Obviously I highly recommend anything by Nicole Kornher-Stace.  

[Sea-to-sky]

42 minutes ago, ViperN7 said:

I'm still halfway through a book that I started two and a half months ago. Reading has been hard as when I have the time, I usually don't have the concentration to take in information. I'm really hoping to finish this book in the next three weeks because after that I'll be spending quite be a bit of time outside--and the next book in my lineup is physical and this one's an ebook which would be challenging in the sunlight. It's a weird feeling for me to have trouble reading--I used to be the teenager who would read a book while walking. But, baby steps for now I guess. This book is a reread, and the fact that I remember the end probably reduces the forward momentum.
Have you guys felt your reading change over time?

Yes, been there. Am currently there. 
when i got CFS it completely screwed my energy levels and i just couldn't manage a decent book for many years (dyslexia is not a great mixer with it sadly)

 

my solution was to find some less chewy reads for times when i am too tired for my usual picks. (Its like comfort reads but based on energy, not emotional state.)
Basically find a writing style or genre or whatever you find relaxing and try that. 
if you like fantasy legends and lattes is worth a look. The martian by andy weir is also very good 
 

 

[Sea-to-sky]

4 minutes ago, Heidi said:

Re-reading was my best path back

Solid advice. Also works for me. 
i have a folder in my ebook library for books i can reread when im very tired. Works well.

[Heidi]

17 minutes ago, Sea-to-sky said:

The martian by andy weir is also very good 

Agreed, and just the right length, too.

Also, All Systems Red, the first in the MurderBot series, was one of the few things that I could read in 2023, and bonus: It was funny as hell.

[Sea-to-sky]

12 minutes ago, Heidi said:

Also, All Systems Red, the first in the MurderBot series, was one of the few things that I could read in 2023, and bonus: It was funny as hell

That series is amazing. I hear the bobiverse by dennis e. taylor recommended very often as well. It is on my tbr list for when i am low energy

[Scaly Freak]

7 hours ago, ViperN7 said:

Have you guys felt your reading change over time? 

 

Absolutely. For me it's very closely connected to mental  and emotional wellbeing. Books that require a lot of focus and thought become repulsive when I have no emotional energy. 

[ViperN7]

On 6/20/2024 at 12:57 PM, Heidi said:

I have been in this space for a long time.

Solidarity. Re-reading was my best path back in, and yes, baby steps all the way, friend.

Thanks. Solidarity. 

 

On 6/20/2024 at 12:57 PM, Heidi said:

This last week, something opened, a doorway if you will

Success! Enjoy it! 

 

On 6/20/2024 at 1:01 PM, Sea-to-sky said:

Yes, been there. Am currently there. 
when i got CFS it completely screwed my energy levels and i just couldn't manage a decent book for many years (dyslexia is not a great mixer with it sadly)

Yikes. Thanks for sharing. Good luck with your recovery. 

 

On 6/20/2024 at 1:01 PM, Sea-to-sky said:

The martian by andy weir is also very good 

That looks interesting.

 

On 6/20/2024 at 1:19 PM, Heidi said:

Also, All Systems Red, the first in the MurderBot series, was one of the few things that I could read in 2023, and bonus: It was funny as hell.

I keep hearing good things about that...

 

On 6/20/2024 at 7:53 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Absolutely. For me it's very closely connected to mental  and emotional wellbeing. Books that require a lot of focus and thought become repulsive when I have no emotional energy. 

Well said. But sad ?

Thanks for sharing. 

[Scaly Freak]

10 minutes ago, ViperN7 said:

Well said. But sad ?

 

I don't necessarily find it sad. I can't lift as heavy when my body is tired or unwell either, and it also just is what it is. A straight-forward fantasy novella or a low-stakes romance novel can still be very enjoyable to read. They can't all be Fahrenheit 451 or The Three Body Problem. And they don't need to be.  

[Mad Hatter]

10 hours ago, ViperN7 said:

I keep hearing good things about that...

Adding another vote for murderbot! 
 

I go through several month long phases in which I’m unable to read anything. Sometimes it’s stress/fatigue related, but sometimes it’s a mystery. I just roll with it and when I feel ready to read again I start with something easy, maybe something I’ve already read, a graphic novel, short stories or novella or a kids/YA book.

[Sea-to-sky]

On the off chance anyone js going to san deago comicon this year. Apparently they are giving out advanced readers copies of a naomi novik book at the penguin random house booth to anyone who says the right phraze. 
i am geographically challenged so decided i might as well live vicariously and shove it up here incase anyone was going

 

[Scaly Freak]

That is a really cool way to do a promotion. I am also geographically challenged when it come to this event, but I like the idea.

[Sea-to-sky]

Apparently they are giving out copies of free signed copies of a deadly education too.