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Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 18:25
by Sanssouci
I think I might set my goal at 20 for next year.
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 18:57
by AliceON
@Akili: ah I suspect that the number of books I read was strongly influenced by how many Russian books there were! it's just faster to read in a native language, what can I say XD
but Hobbit is in itself not an easy read from what I've heard. no wonder it's taking you long
@Sanssouci: you can also change the goal during the year if it's too low
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 19:02
by jacobgrey
I only read books in my native tongue all year. I do have a couple of books in French on my reading pile but I didn't get there haha. Actually I think the pile has grown throughout the year rather than shrunk >>
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 19:23
by Akili Li
Yeah, reading-wise I haven't stretched myself too much this year. I did in other areas instead.
There's a book on 1700s theater in Spanish that I've been meaning to get to, but no way would I finish it by the end of the year; I already know it's the sort of book where I'll read a bit and then have to stop and look up a bunch of stuff. Maybe if I say, one chapter a month?
That I could do, probably.
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 19:26
by AliceON
I checked my challenge on goodreads, and there were not many 5-star books this year. how do I make sure that what I read by the end of the year are awesome books? XD
@Akili: do you mean look up historical stuff on theater?
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 19:29
by Akili Li
Yes, mostly. And costumes and what was happening with the dye trade and trying to see if the religious politics would have affected things, and checking which major plagues/illnesses came through where, when.
History is sort of... horizontal? broad/interconnected, and I like to figure out how things interrelate.
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 19:39
by AliceON
I wish I was reading that way too!
recently I read "Out of Time" by Monique Martin, which is a time-travel romance with paranormal elements. the plotlines were rather weak but if I wanted to be honest in my opinion, I had to check at least the mythology relevant for the book, which was Egyptian vampires. I'm not familiar with Egyptian vampire lore at all and it was at the center of one of the plot points. instead, I rushed through the book without giving it a chance to stand out in this aspect. it wouldn't have changed a lot because the romance was still not what I enjoy and time-travel aspect was only a setting. but it might have been something to give the author credit for, and I didn't do my part of the job as a reader.
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 20:08
by Akili Li
well, but if you wanted a book you *could* just rush through and enjoy the story for, then it didn't work for you! So all you had to do was say, "this is what I was looking for, and this book was not it." and you were being perfectly fair. Although if it's billed as a romance book and you don't tend to enjoy those, I'm impressed you gave it enough of a shot that you finished it. Why were you reading it? Was it for a paper, or just because?
Oh, bother, the crows are fighting again. They are so LOUD!
Okay, I have to take off, two family members are showing up in.... seven minutes, and I want to meet them.
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 20:26
by AliceON
I like romance, it just was the specific kind of romance that I don't care about. I picked it up because the premise was incredible: a professor who's spent his life trying to prove that vampires were real is transported to Manhattan of 1929 with his assistant where they end up in the middle of vampire-gangster wars and have to survive and get back, and their feeling bloom.
it ended up being not what I expected, and I was frustrated with most of the book. now I want to write about a professor and his assistant who deal with the supernatural but in the right way (how dare I)
have fun!
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Oct 12th, '18, 21:46
by jacobgrey
That book kind of sounds amazing. What a shame it wasn't executed right!