Great Middle Grade Reads discussion
GENERAL DISCUSSIONS
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How many books do you read a month?
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Like you, I read a lot of MG and I get double justification: not only do I write kids' books, but I work at the library, so I need to know the books, right?
I do most of my reading during the summer. During the school year (I'm a school librarian), I don't have as much time.
I always keep a book in my purse and read whenever there is a free moment during the evenings or on the weekends. I also keep three to four different reading list with the goal to tackle and read as many on those list as I can each year. The list are Kansas William Allen White Award List - YALSA Best Fiction List - YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers List - and ALA Teens Top Ten Nominations.
As for how many I read a week, that depends. During school, I am lucky if I get one YA book read a week. During summer, I average one YA book a day.
I always keep a book in my purse and read whenever there is a free moment during the evenings or on the weekends. I also keep three to four different reading list with the goal to tackle and read as many on those list as I can each year. The list are Kansas William Allen White Award List - YALSA Best Fiction List - YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers List - and ALA Teens Top Ten Nominations.
As for how many I read a week, that depends. During school, I am lucky if I get one YA book read a week. During summer, I average one YA book a day.
Me too, about ten to twelve, maybe more (I write also) but I read more YA, fantasy and Adult books. Yes, I loved The Martian too. Check out H is for Hawk, super, super books.For MG I loved PAX and The War that saved my Life.
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For MG I loved PAX an..."
I just finished H is for Hawk and am still trying to decide what I think of it. It was very highly recommended by a friend whose opinions I respect a lot, but in some ways I didn't like it at all.
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No, a real-life friend (a flesh-creature?). And it IS a good book. I'm just not sure what I think about it.
Bella said'Last year I read a little over 38 a month (465 books for the whole year). If I had added rereads, it would have been 40 a month.'
How!? I wish I could read at that rate, but then I wouldn't get any writing done. I'd say 1 MG to 4 adult fiction per month, plus dipping into lots of non-fiction.
It really depends on many things, time available, mood and the types of books I am reading, so each month tends to be different.
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*hides..."
I am always in awe of book bloggers who seem to read a book a day - and those who review films as well! Where do they find them time? (That's rhetorical, Lilyn!)
Last year and this year I've thought a lot about my reading habits through actually logging books and reflecting. I read morning and night. Probably about an hour a day. Sometimes less sometimes way more if I'm getting to the end of a book and I want to finish. I've learned that for me, it's enough to make a large goal like I'll read 100 books in a year--no other structure needed. I never used to log books because I just really want to read, but I started logging per month. If I don't log, I lose sight of the books I read. This summer I can tell you I read about 11 each month--some months were 9 some were 16. This month I've got 8 done as of this posting. I may finish one more.
As others have posted, I also generally have several books going at a time, usually 4 or 5. At least one is middle grade, one to three are YA or adult, one is normally nonfiction and school based or a DIY type book. Some books take a long time to read and some take only a few days. With my choices, I can read what I'm in the mood for. I almost never abandon books. They just sit a little longer. If I've lost interest because it's been awhile or I'm not that into it, I don't worry about it. I give it a summary read versus a close read and move on.
Like most of us, I read more than one book at a time. I enjoyed the A-Z Challenge but now that I've finished, I'm on an easy reader binge. For BOTM I read pirate picture books instead. I almost never read adult fiction but I have four nonfiction going right now. I'm a book fair mom and it's coming, so I'll be back to MG in a week or two.
I set my 2017 goal to 30 books, and I'm currently at 33. Though some of those were picture books I reviewed to support self-published authors - something that can be read in under an hour. So, about 2 to 3 a month, and a mix of indie and mainstream titles. I also do some beta reading to help people in my critique groups.
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On average I'd say I read about ten books or so a month, but that can be inflated a little on the months I read comic collections (ie: Lumberjanes), or months with a lot of DNF (Did Not Finish). If I don't mark my DNF as read then I'd forever keep circling back to them over and over. It helps that I can listen to audiobooks and read a separate book at the same time, otherwise I don't think I'd read as much.
I had really fallen into a reading rut - having a half a dozen or so authors that I followed and relying on their new work to get me through the year. I didn't have time to search out new work or new authors and all of my MG recommendations came from my husband (who manages to get through 2-3 books a week). That was, until I discovered Goodreads and this discussion group - I have a feeling that I will never be stuck for inspiration again.
Who knows - by this time next year I may have increased my half a dozen books a year to half a dozen each month - or more!
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Nice to know we’ve been useful!
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I'm frustrated with that for DNF too. I can delete books entirely, but if I want to give up and leave it on my record so I know I gave up, I have to mark it as read. For the most part, I just delete them. Unless a book is really egregious, and/or everyone says its wonderful and I thought it was awful, I don't figure anyone needs their book marked that way.
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If I just got bored I usually delete it - 'not my cup of tea' is not fair to rate for authors, IMHO.
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Good tip! Yeah, I agree. That's why I've mostly deleted books I lost interest in, or let expire from the library and wasn't into enough to get them back.
Jemima wrote: "If you mark a Goodreads book 'read', but don't put in a finish date, it doesn't show on things like your Goodreads Reading Challenge. I now do that, and also shelve it on my unfinished shelf, with ..."I like to get credit for "trying" to read books. This has helped me read books I normally wouldn't approach like classics and longer fantasy titles.
I read 5 or 6 mg books a month and maybe 15-20 picture books. I read adult fiction when we go on breaks.
I read about 20 books a month as of this year before it’s been more like 10 a month
It varies greatly, from one per month (usually something I've read before when I'm doing a lot of writing) to one per day if I'm on a reading binge.
I read about 15-30 manly MG but YA if there is no cussing or anything. I can read a 300 page book in about 4-5 hours sometimes less if i really like it. I did re-read The girl who fell beneath fairyland recently
I don't know how much I read each month. I can't count all the books.
I average about 10-11, but its really all over the place each month. I may read as few as 3-5 or upwards of 15-18.
I typically read between 4 to 10 books a month. It depends on how much time I have to read each month. I don't really keep track of how many middle grade books I read in a month, although I don't often read adult books.
Does anyone else read the OP's question, get really engaged reading all of the replies, and then have to go back to the top to remember what the actual question was? Or is it just me and my little friend Unmedicated ADHD?I read 3-4 books a month on average, primarily adult fiction in the horror or thriller category. I buy middle-grade for my youngest and then read it when she's done if it's something I like (Gordon Korman, for example). I don't usually buy MG titles for myself, but I admit to steering her toward titles I want to read. Recently we both read The Whispers, it was excellent.
I don't read much YA. I admit the YA section at the bookstore is largely alien territory to me. I did manage to find one copy of a Robert Cormier book I wanted to get for my teenagers buried among all the glass slippers, and we all read that one.
I used to read a ton of non-fiction, now that's dwindled down to about 2-3 a year. I have so little time to read, don't wanna waste it on reality, right!
Between the full-time gig and the family and the farm and my own writing hobby I don't have a lot of time to read so it takes me about a week to read a standard length adult fiction title. MG I can usually read in one sitting in front of the fire (or at the beach during New England's ten second long summer season).
I think most of us wish we had more time to read. I'm super-impressed with the voracious readers posting here, dayum! You are my kind of people.
What an interesting question. Some of you read so much a month. I usually have three books going on at a time. One is a audio book I listen to while I am cleaning or driving. This is usually nonfiction or adult fiction. I also like to read an adult book either romance or historical fiction.
I am always reading a middle grade book--usually upper middle grade. Right now I am reading Nevermoor: The Trails of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend.
Also I sprinkle in many comics, fan fictions and other news reading. So because of this I don't complete entire books throughout the month--even when I am reading an average of three hours a day.
Join the gang, Sarah. I'm always glad of some light relief reading MG books after some of the 500 page tomes I've been handed lately (and I've just DNF'd another best-seller!)