Writer friend M strikes again, sending a friendly text reminder that I have a blog that hasn't been blogged for almost two weeks. To which I texted "Humph." However, I do have something new I've been up to in the world of reading and writing...what better way to start the year?
I've recently found myself following a new blog, "The Paperback Princess." According to her profile on goodreads.com (where she is also The Paperback Princess, and yes, I follow her there as well), she is about my age and seems to read as much as I do (well, before I had three kids anyway). Her blog is full of reviews and discussion about nothing but books! I love it.
For the end of 2012, she posted her reading year in review, which was a total of 82 books read. Her goal was 50, same as mine, although because of reading Les Mis I only landed at the 43 book mark for 2012. (If anyone wants to count Les Mis's 1463 pages as three or four books, then I did much better!)
Anyway, her year in review was filled with both familiar and new titles and authors, judging them in ways that a reader and book lover would totally understand. She talks about giving a new genre (murder mystery) a chance and being pleasantly surprised. And, to be fair, she didn't read just one, but a wide range, from loving Agatha Christie to the more recent and popular Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl).
She also mentions giving certain authors and books "a chance...despite the awful cover." We all know we shouldn't figuratively judge a book by its cover, but you better believe we do it literally! She spent time with historical fiction as well and a touch of nonfiction works, including Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, which has been pushed back on my reading list, but now will definitely be read this year! (She is actually the second person in a couple days who mentioned that author and book on a blog...I don't believe in coincidences!)
Her other year of 2012 post was her top ten. As any true reader would understand, picking a limited number of favorites is hard, but she manages to give a nice selection of books. We share a number of reads (Room, The Book Thief), authors (Wally Lamb, Markus Zusak), and what I call my prospects - books or authors I've been considering (Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex). The reassuring and exciting aspect about all of this is that I've likely found a new "book buddy," because it seems we have some overlapping reads, authors, and interests. And she knows what she's talking about - a reader can recognize another reader's passion. (My book buddy list is really only two people of all the readers I know. People I "talk shop" with often and know their take on the world of reading, writing, and words...so big deal for me to gain another!)
And to seal the deal, she has a post just about Les Mis and talks about always trying to read the book before the movie. What more can I ask for in a reader? If you like to read, check out The Paperback Princess.
Are there any reading/book/writing blogs you would highly recommend?
Excellent...Will have to check her out! And I have Outliers if you want to borrow it...it will be worth your while.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's why you are on the book buddy list Roshni ;)
DeleteI can't! I'm terrified of reading book blogs, because what happens is that I end up with an enormous stack I can never get through. It makes me sad, because I used to read like a maniac, but since I started writing it's all gone sideways.
ReplyDeleteI understand. The proof that reading is my first love shows through my slacking in writing...I've got the opposite problem I guess. Can't win.
DeleteHmmm, well like Averil said, no, to answer your question, and mainly because of the same darn thing! (my TBR is way too high as it is)
ReplyDeleteI'm on Goodreads too, but I have a hard time remembering to go out there and update my list. And today, yet again, I've been busy reading blogs, writing in my own blog and have yet to do any REAL writing! I was planning to start writing in my blog 2-3 times a week, vs the once a week, but now, unless I become more disciplined with writing in the latest WIP, I don't know if that's such a hot idea. The lost time vortex has sucked me in again today!
I know! I just wrote about the reading vs writing thing in a comment on Carolynn with 2 n's recent post! A rock and a hard place for me. It's so hard to sacrifice reading time for me!
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