I’ve said for awhile that I want to go to a literary festival AT SOME POINT. I still haven’t.
I’ve been reading about this year’s festival and it makes me want to go even more. I didn’t know it was on the USC campus and I didn’t know how ginormous it is.
Have you been to any type of literary festival? Or nah?
Have you ever asked yourself why you do something? I asked myself why the heck I read and this video is part of that answer! Even if you don’t feel like watching, I want to know why you read!
I’ve been really open about my reading slumps. I always know one is lurking just around the corner. It doesn’t matter how much or how little I’m reading. There will always be periods during which I simply will not read. I’m in the midst of my first one of 2019 right now.
I’ve finished one book in the last month. Even knowing this I just haven’t had the desire to read recently. My current book is on my coffee table. A few nights ago I started it and only read about 30 pages before deciding to sleep. I haven’t picked it up since.
I don’t have a plan or something specific I do when this happens. And y’all know that sometimes one of my reading slumps can spread out over multiple years. I don’t think that’ll be the case this time around. Here’s to hoping it isn’t.
What do you do when you experience a reading slumps?
I know there are going to be some strong thoughts on this topic. I think it’s difficult to say there is too much of something we really like, BUT I obviously think it’s a valid question if I took the time to make a video out of it! Now watch or don’t and just tell me what you think!
Guys, I’m fast approaching the time to buy a new bookshelf. But I’m facing a serious dilemma. A few, actually.
In my apartment all of my furniture outside of my room is black or grey or silver. I did that on purpose. This includes everything except my bookshelves. They’re brown, only because I had them already when I moved in.
I know I need a new one because I’m on the bottom shelf of one and on the second to last shelf on my other. I’m debating if I should just get three black shelves to finally match the rest of my furniture or just get the one brown one. And I’m so indecisive when it comes to this stuff that I have pictures and postcards I haven’t put up in 16 months of being here. 😂
And the cost isn’t a big deal. I get cheap ones because the books are important to me, not the shelves.
So tell me what to do! Get the one brown shelf or the three black ones to match everything else?
Goodreads makes it extremely easy to track one’s reading. But it’s mostly just titles and ratings. Sure you can do a little more, but I go above and beyond on my own. I have a spreadsheet for my reading. I track all kinds of things:
I guess it seems like way more in the document, but that’s still a lot! I didn’t even realize it until I opened an old document and saw everything.
What do you track for your reading!?
I got a new computer late last year. But I’m barely starting to actually use it. I work on two monitors 40 hours a week, so when I’m home I’m not dying for more screen time.
Anyway, over the weekend I started organizing some of my reading-related documents I have (I’m writing a full post on them for tomorrow). One of which counts the number of books I own by author. I’ll have to do some checking, but I now know I have *at least* 270 books. That’s not surprising. What surprised me was that I have books written by *at least* 109 authors! Like, holy cow! That’s a lot of authors!
When I think of the hours I’ve spent reading my books compared to the hours spent writing them, it’s insane.
My favorite authors obviously carry much of the load in my little library, which I imagine is true for most people. Michael Connelly, Robert B. Parker, T. Jefferson Parker, Steve Hamilton, Robert Crais, and James Patterson (ugh) account for 107(!) of the books. And I have several single title authors.
Do you have any idea how many authors you own?
When I wrote recently about a book that somehow managed to become one of my personal top 5 reads ever, I came up with the idea to create a page here to keep an up-to-the-minute list of the best books I’ve ever read. It took me a bit longer to figure out exactly how I wanted to do it, but I ultimately settled on a list of the top 15 books I’ve started and finished. When I look at my list there are a couple of things that surprise me. 1) How far down Harper Lee’s masterpiece is (she’s barely hanging on for a spot!) and 2) Michael Connelly DOES NOT WRITE METIOCRE BOOKS.
I thought of just sharing the list in this post, but the page has links to everything I said about some of those books immediately after I read them. Now go and take a look for yourself and tell me what you think! Or, tell me some of the best books you’ve read? Maybe we have some in common!
I’m probably the only person who has read just *one* of his books. Outliers. It was assigned by my university to all incoming freshman when I started there and there was a bit of a discussion afterward.
Now he’s releasing a book titled Talking to Strangers and I’ve just read a little about it. It sounds excellent. Because who of us really has any idea what to do when we’re talking with or interacting with someone we don’t know at all? Not me!
Have you read any of his previous books?
I’m about to finish my 5th book of the year (matching my 2018) and I want your help to pick my next read!
They’re both by one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly. The first is The Late Show, which introduces Detective Renee Ballard to the world. The second is The Lincoln Lawyer, which is the first in the Mickey Haller series. I’ve gotten some exposure to him because he’s related to Harry Bosch, but I haven’t read anything with Renee Ballard yet. She was featured in another book last year.
Tell me, tell me!
Johnny Reads 