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Post by Crouton on Apr 28, 2014 4:49:14 GMT -6
I've been noticing the last few years that the amount I read has been getting smaller and smaller. When I was a child I read constantly, and went through books very fast. But now that I'm older and in Uni my reading time just gets smaller and smaller. So this year I set myself a goal to read 20 books. It's not a huge goal but more than what I have been reading recently.
As of now in April I have finished 5 books.
Does anyone else set reading goals?
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Post by Taliesin on Apr 28, 2014 5:39:29 GMT -6
Nope, but I should, so I'm going to set myself the goal of finishing five books this year. I've already finished two so far. 1) Prophecy by S.J. Faerlind  2) Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami  I'm on my third now. It's also by Haruki Murakami, and it's called The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I really like his writing style. It's straightforward, yet layered with all kinds of interesting themes and metaphysical ponderings.  |
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Post by Crouton on Apr 28, 2014 5:47:32 GMT -6
These are the five I have finished so far, and the months that I finished them.
1. The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett (January)
2. The Fault in Our Stars – John Green (February)
3. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone – J.K. Rowling (February) re-read
4. Last Man in Tower – Aravind Adiga (April)
5. Dragonkeeper – Carole Wilkinson (April) re-read
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Post by Taliesin on Apr 28, 2014 5:58:29 GMT -6
I've never heard of the second and fourth books. Were they any good, and what were they about?
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Post by Firiath on Apr 28, 2014 15:42:49 GMT -6
I've set myself the goal to read at least 30 books this year, and I keep track of what I've read and what I want to read on Goodreads. I've read 15 books so far, which is much more than I had expected, considering how much I'm supposed to read for university/work.
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Post by Crouton on Apr 28, 2014 16:14:18 GMT -6
I've never heard of the second and fourth books. Were they any good, and what were they about? The second is a romance novel centred on two teenagers who both have cancer. It's pretty sad, but I didn't love it to be honest. I just couldn't get into that authors writing style. There's a movie version of it coming out soon. The fourth is based in India and is about the construction industry. I liked this one, I read it because I read another book by this author a couple of years ago, also set in India which was great. |
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Post by Crouton on Apr 28, 2014 16:15:14 GMT -6
I've set myself the goal to read at least 30 books this year, and I keep track of what I've read and what I want to read on Goodreads. I've read 15 books so far, which is much more than I had expected, considering how much I'm supposed to read for university/work. 30 is an awesome goal. That's the type of goal I'd like to set myself next year if I can reach my 20 this year. |
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Post by Liadan on Apr 28, 2014 20:57:03 GMT -6
Nope, but I should, so I'm going to set myself the goal of finishing five books this year. I've already finished two so far. 1) Prophecy by S.J. Faerlind 2) Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami I'm on my third now. It's also by Haruki Murakami, and it's called The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I really like his writing style. It's straightforward, yet layered with all kinds of interesting themes and metaphysical ponderings. Well, you really ought to keep in mind that all of his books in English are translated? So it's not like you're really reading Murakami's original words. IIRC Sputnik Sweetheart was done by Phil Gabriel (an old professor of mine, actually) and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was done by Jay Rubin, his primary translator. I enjoyed the first book but immensely disliked the second, but if you like Murakami so much, you might enjoy "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," as it has quite a few genre elements (mainly hard-boiled detective fiction and fantasy). (I took a seminar class on him, so I've read most of his work.) |
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Post by Taliesin on Apr 28, 2014 23:55:46 GMT -6
That's a fair point, Liadan.
Still, I have to say that I quite enjoyed Sputnik Sweetheart, and I'm loving The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle just as much. So, yeah, I'll check out your recommendation next. Thanks for bringing that one to my attention. I thought I'd heard of all Murakami's books so far, but I clearly haven't if that one's news to me.
Loving your avatar by the way. Hayao Miyazaki is my favourite director.
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Post by Liadan on Apr 29, 2014 0:40:57 GMT -6
I also really liked After Dark, and the short story collections The Elephant Vanishes and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. I have iffy feelings on Kafka on the Shore, absolutely hated Norwegian Wood (probably his biggest hit) and South of the Border, West of the Sun, and plan on avoiding 1Q84 despite buying it (trigger warnings for rape and child abuse, which could probably actually apply to a bunch of his books), after hearing mixed reviews from people I trust. Although, again, if you like Murakami, you may enjoy all of them. It's just that there's a tedious amount of repetitive elements to the point that there's a bingo card for his work (http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/06/03/books/review/Snider-sub/Snider-sub-custom1.jpg The three cat cards are necessary. Trust me.) But honestly, I started finding his "thirty-something shy man finds mysterious woman with insatiable sexual appetites that fulfill his 'needs' " to not only be tedious but sleazy after a while. So yeah.  I grew up with Miyazaki, as I'm a second generation Japanese immigrant. EDIT: Also, on a translating note, I'm clearly not biased here or anything (heh), but I did tend to prefer Gabriel's style over either Rubin's or Birnbaum's. The former was a bit too strict for me, and the latter a bit too liberal. |
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Post by Taliesin on Apr 29, 2014 0:54:47 GMT -6
I also really liked After Dark, and the short story collections The Elephant Vanishes and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. I have iffy feelings on Kafka on the Shore, absolutely hated Norwegian Wood (probably his biggest hit) and South of the Border, West of the Sun, and plan on avoiding 1Q84 despite buying it (trigger warnings for rape and child abuse, which could probably actually apply to a bunch of his books), after hearing mixed reviews from people I trust. Although, again, if you like Murakami, you may enjoy all of them. It's just that there's a tedious amount of repetitive elements to the point that there's a bingo card for his work (http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/06/03/books/review/Snider-sub/Snider-sub-custom1.jpg The three cat cards are necessary. Trust me.) But honestly, I started finding his "thirty-something shy man finds mysterious woman with insatiable sexual appetites that fulfill his 'needs' " to not only be tedious but sleazy after a while. So yeah. I grew up with Miyazaki, as I'm a second generation Japanese immigrant. EDIT: Also, on a translating note, I'm clearly not biased here or anything (heh), but I did tend to prefer Gabriel's style over either Rubin's or Birnbaum's. The former was a bit too strict for me, and the latter a bit too liberal. Hm, the rape and child abuse themes sound a bit worrying. That makes me not want to check out 1Q84 after all. And it's kind of disappointing to find out that the "thirty-something shy man finds mysterious woman with insatiable sexual appetites that fulfill his 'needs' " thing is a... well, thing for Murakami. I guess I'll just have to check out a few more of his titles to see if that's something I can overlook or stomach. Oh, and I may have to start a thread on Miyazaki. I know there's one or two other fans of him on here, so maybe we could get an interesting discussion going. |
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Post by Midnattblod on Apr 29, 2014 13:28:14 GMT -6
well to the best of my knowledge I havn't read any book this year so far but I did just rent the second Wheel of Time book from the local library so I'm hoping I can start reading a bit more. Most of my reading is during the summer when the gaming industry dries up a bit and usually I just end up re-reading LotR or Harry Potter. I have so many books that I have to read though so yea. I think I'll set a goal for 5 books this year and see where that takes me.
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Post by Taliesin on Apr 29, 2014 17:36:43 GMT -6
Yup, it's never a bad idea to start off with a conservative number. That way, if you reach that before the year's out, you can always add more, then feel especially chuffed that you exceeded your expectations.
I need to get a move on though. I haven't read my latest in nearly two weeks. It's not gonna get done if I keep pulling crap like that.
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Post by Liadan on May 1, 2014 22:08:28 GMT -6
I also really liked After Dark, and the short story collections The Elephant Vanishes and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. I have iffy feelings on Kafka on the Shore, absolutely hated Norwegian Wood (probably his biggest hit) and South of the Border, West of the Sun, and plan on avoiding 1Q84 despite buying it (trigger warnings for rape and child abuse, which could probably actually apply to a bunch of his books), after hearing mixed reviews from people I trust. Although, again, if you like Murakami, you may enjoy all of them. It's just that there's a tedious amount of repetitive elements to the point that there's a bingo card for his work (http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/06/03/books/review/Snider-sub/Snider-sub-custom1.jpg The three cat cards are necessary. Trust me.) But honestly, I started finding his "thirty-something shy man finds mysterious woman with insatiable sexual appetites that fulfill his 'needs' " to not only be tedious but sleazy after a while. So yeah. I grew up with Miyazaki, as I'm a second generation Japanese immigrant. EDIT: Also, on a translating note, I'm clearly not biased here or anything (heh), but I did tend to prefer Gabriel's style over either Rubin's or Birnbaum's. The former was a bit too strict for me, and the latter a bit too liberal. Hm, the rape and child abuse themes sound a bit worrying. That makes me not want to check out 1Q84 after all. And it's kind of disappointing to find out that the "thirty-something shy man finds mysterious woman with insatiable sexual appetites that fulfill his 'needs' " thing is a... well, thing for Murakami. I guess I'll just have to check out a few more of his titles to see if that's something I can overlook or stomach. Oh, and I may have to start a thread on Miyazaki. I know there's one or two other fans of him on here, so maybe we could get an interesting discussion going. Yeah, I'd still look into Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, though. There were a lot of whimsical elements that were pretty cool. After Dark also hits less of the "typical Murakami themes," which may explain why I enjoyed it. Let me know if you end up reading any of them and what you thought! |
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Post by Taliesin on May 1, 2014 23:01:25 GMT -6
Yeah, I'd still look into Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, though. There were a lot of whimsical elements that were pretty cool. After Dark also hits less of the "typical Murakami themes," which may explain why I enjoyed it. Let me know if you end up reading any of them and what you thought! I certainly shall. I've got more Murakami lined up along with the next Faerlind book, so I'll definitely be reading those ones. Thanks very much for the recommendations! |
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I grew up with Miyazaki, as I'm a second generation Japanese immigrant.
