Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
Archived Chit Chat & All That
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What are your secret weapons for reading? Update!
I have been following this tread with great interest and marveled at how different we are. I guess I don’t read a lot compared to many of you. (I am at around 13,000 pages/year in books).I would not read a book while doing something else that requires attention - like cooking. (Gardening and walking with an audiobook is my max level of multitasking).
First of all I cannot remember very well (or at all) things I did not concentrate on, secondly I feel bad about not paying 100% attention to a really good book. Like for instance I am currently listening to Veronika Decides to Die as audiobook, and there is a lot to digest and many really nice paragraphs. If I multitask too much I fear one of those wow-moments in the story will be more like hearing but not understanding it fully “.... wait, what did just happen?” rather than “wow!!”
I don't do audio books for the reason you just mentioned, BlueFlower. Unless I am actually reading a book with my eyes, whether paper or ebook, my mind has a tendency to wander.
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I would ..."
I also cannot read with only an audiobook. It helps me to see the names of characters in print to keep them straight. That's one reason I read print with audio going, or sometimes I just read.
I also have trouble digesting complex material as an audiobook, so my audiobooks tend to be light pop nonfiction or humor.
Carrie wrote: "Michigan has MEL, which means I can get a book from any library across the state through interlibrary loan. I just need to be patient and wait.However, I have a bad habit of buying books on sale ..."
Not to worry -- if you're reading, you're winning!! ;)
Carrie wrote: "Michigan has MEL, which means I can get a book from any library across the state through interlibrary loan. I just need to be patient and wait.However, I have a bad habit of buying books on sale ..."
I love the MEL program!!
I also have an ever-growing TBR and a million books from charity shops and library sales. I'm trying to pare down my inventory by reading them all, but it's a huge project. :/ So, no winning strategies here, either.
I've never been comfortable with audiobooks either. There's just something about printed words which puts me at ease.I also routinely search for my friends' TBR or favourite shelfs to add to my own. Quite often the book I am reading mentions atleast a few more.
I don't do audiobooks either - it's a completely different thing from "reading" as far as I'm concerned
Beach + sunshineMy rate of reading accelerates greatly
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However, I have a bad habit of buying..."
"Not to worry. If you are reading you're a winner" So true!!!
I don't use audiobooks, but I have friends who wouldn't be able to read books otherwise without using them, so I deeply appreciate their existence.
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Audiobooks are also good for people with vision problems.
Sara wrote: "I think the type of book and the narrator might make all the difference in listening to..."It does!! Big time!
I was an “audiobooks are never going to work for me” type gal but I listened to some with narrators with voices like silk and now I’m a devotee :)
But if an audiobook has a terrible or just so so voice, I pass and find another one off my tbr list.
Audiobooks are also wonderful for people with dyslexia. My sister has a mild form and she reads along in a hard copy with a sped-up audiobook - the combination lets her read at a pretty decent rate that she can't manage otherwise.
I absolutely agree that the type of book that you listen to makes a difference. I like listening to non-fiction, memoirs, and genre books (mystery, horror, etc.). But I like to read the more literary books. Although, audiobooks have helped me read more classics also. Just recently I have listened to Dracula, Heidi, and The Prince.
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In my classroom, we sometimes read along with an audiobook. For the special ed population audiobooks are really a wonderful aid. In fact, I make a special point of showing all my students how to find the audiobook and tell them that they can be a great study tool. I suggest listening to the audiobook (for short stories they read in class) again the night before a test to help with studying.
Lynn wrote: "Aprilleigh wrote: "Audiobooks are also wonderful for people with dyslexia. My sister has a mild form and she reads along in a hard copy with a sped-up audiobook - the combination lets her read at a..."What a great idea!
Milena wrote: "I absolutely agree that the type of book that you listen to makes a difference. I like listening to non-fiction, memoirs, and genre books (mystery, horror, etc.). But I like to read the more litera..."I used LibriVox to listen to _Pamela_. I don't think I ever would have made it through otherwise. The plot was not that complicated, so it worked for that book. :)
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That sounds lovely. It's like a bedtime story. What hardware device do you use that has a sleep timer on it?
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I don't use overdrive or LIbby, but that sounds like a nice feature. It would be worth looking into. Lit2go lets you download a chapter of a book at a time, so essentially that is a timer as well. Since I learned about Lit2go I have been downloading chapters onto my phone for my commute, rather than just streaming. This thread has been really informative.
first is switching over to kindle (aside from notes and highlights, and the kindle reader (app works differently) has xray and (my fav bit) I can do a search on a word or string of words on all my books dowloaded to that device. second is reading several books at a time, this way I can continue reading and have the space that I need to think about the other book.
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Lynn wrote: "Many of you mentioned using using ebooks or audiobooks from your libraries. I occasionally go to my local library, mostly to purchase books from their book sale room. Today I went to find out how t..."It's the best. I borrow from my library constantly, and I maybe step foot in it twice a year.
Lynn wrote: "Many of you mentioned using using ebooks or audiobooks from your libraries. I occasionally go to my local library, mostly to purchase books from their book sale room. Today I went to find out how t..."🙌🏻
Lynn wrote: "Many of you mentioned using using ebooks or audiobooks from your libraries. I occasionally go to my local library, mostly to purchase books from their book sale room. Today I went to find out how t..."You are going to love having all those books at your fingertips!! Enjoy :)
I try to keep various novels around my house in different rooms. That way, whenever I find a couple minutes to spare I can read a few pages.
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Late to the party but I really enjoyed reading this thread! I laughed out loud at many of the posts. I kept thinking "these are definitely my people!" :DLike many of you, I feel that life encroaches on my reading time. I often wonder how I have time to work with so many books waiting to be read. ;)
I love reading in all different formats. I always have multiple books going at once - audio, physical, and ebooks. I like having many going at once because then I can choose what I'm in the mood for. I always have certain books that I read slowly, for instance, I've been reading War and Peace over the entire year.
I listen to audiobooks all day long - when I'm cleaning, getting ready, exercising, in the car and even somethings when I'm working on mindless things. (When I'm working, though, I can only listen to rereads, because I can't focus enough on new books.)
I take my Kindle everywhere with me. I LOVE Disneyland and I don't even mind waiting in line because I'm just reading my Kindle.
I never really understand when people tell me they're bored because I can honestly say when I'm on my own, I'm never bored. If I have a book, I'm 100% good to go. I only get bored when I'm forced to listen to other people prattle on in meetings and such. Lol.
Thanks for this fun thread, Lynn!
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I thought I would tell a couple of stories as a thank you. The shared knowledge of this group really bore fruit last year.
1. I work as as school teacher. Last year my students were 13 or 14 years old. When the school went to distance learning those few dedicated bookworms really mourned the loss of the school library. I learned about Libby here. I showed the school librarian. Several students were taught to use it and were able to access books during lockdown via their phones and chrome books from our public library Libby system.
2. I actually used Lit2go for an assignment in the classroom.
3. One of my personal joys is wandering around library stacks until something strikes my fancy. Same thing with used book stores. That browsing for books activity was stopped during quarantines. I really, really appreciate J_Blueflower mentioning manybooks.net. I browsed there to my heart's content. I have downloaded so many pdfs to my laptop.
Looking at the texts I read last year, I have read 98 texts in 2021 - a combination of short stories, novels, and children's books.
My sources were 43 physical books/short stories , 2 lit2go, 15 kindle purchases, and 30 texts from manybooks.net
I read 30 free download pdfs from manybooks.net last year and have probably another 50 downloaded for the future! That one suggestion really bore fruit for me!!
I read 10 pages at breakfast, lunch and supper to let my food settle and 10 pages at night before I go to sleep. At 40 pages a day, I read a lot of books and reading that much gives you a better feel for the intrigue of the novel as opposed to reading only 10 pages a day.
ᒪIᔕTEᑎ👂🏻TO ᗰᑌᔕIᑕ🎵🎧 TO ᕼEᒪᑭ ᗰE ᑕOᑎᑕEᑎTᖇᗩTE
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Alexx you sound very disciplined. I do not have a set reading schedule. I will sometime take an entire Saturday or a weekday evening to do nothing but read.
I love that Lynn! Our school district added online libraries a couple years ago and it’s such a great tool for kids. They can login through Sora or Overdrive. I always tell people to get online with their local public libraries. That’s definitely where I get most of my books from.I just discovered Open Library this year but I haven’t heard of Manybooks! Thanks for that tip everyone!
I’m on a mission to read all the Newbery medal and honor books and Open Library has been a GREAT resource for those. Many of the older books are extremely hard to find and I’m not willing to spend more then a couple dollars. I’m excited to check out Manybooks and see what they’ve got!
One of my other favorite sources is the Audible Plus catalog. I love Audible and use it everyday. When I first signed up my plan was to only stay on long enough to get all the LOTR and Harry Potter audiobooks but that was over three years ago. 😂 Now I’m happily stuck for life. I love when they do $5 sales or 2-for-1 sales.
Reed wrote: "ᒪIᔕTEᑎ👂🏻TO ᗰᑌᔕIᑕ🎵🎧 TO ᕼEᒪᑭ ᗰE ᑕOᑎᑕEᑎTᖇᗩTE"Yes, this is my secret weapon as well. I especially love to listen to Youtube "focus" music, binaural beats, classical for reading or studying. There are hundreds to choose from.
What a lovely idea for a thread! I'll keep reading your comments (thank you for all the good ideas!) and I'll put in my two cents:
- Reading in the sun during the afternoon, under a blanket at night, cross-legged on the bed/floor, sipping at a drink, eating snacks... reading is fun.
- Talking for hours with my mum about books and characters we loved (or hated), winding each other up when one of us is not finished yet (no spoilers). It's especially amusing when it comes to Agatha Christie novels.
- I enjoy reading in all formats, trying to alternate so my eyes don't get tired from looking at a screen all the time (the traditional paper format remains my favourite).
I'd like to listen to more audiobooks this upcoming year. I can't recommend enough A Little Princess read by Karen Savage (available and free on different audiobook apps since it is a classic).
- I bask in the silent environment of libraries, loving to molest every other book on the shelfs, taking the time.
- I personally prefer not having several books on the go at once, since I like focusing, immersing in a story. If I feel like reading something, I better start as soon as possible 'cos my ''bookish whims'' tend to switch quite easily.
- I used to force myself to finish up almost every book I'd started. Nowadays I discard it or place it back to my tbr list for the right time (is this what we'd call ''some bookish maturity''?).
- Browsing through recommended lists and people's bookshelves here on Goodreads does help to find authors you didn't know about (or more books by those you already knew).
- I enjoy reading, if possible, in the language (or closest language) the novel was originally written. The feeling may change from a language to another. Alternating between languages is also stimulating in a way. There's always room for improvement.
I recently joined the group and I'm so happy I did ˆ_ˆ it was important for me to find people with similar tastes to mine, who enjoy classics as much as I do. Keeping this group alive and interacting with you is so inspiring.
Happy new year everyone!
Lucia wrote: "I bask in the silent environment of libraries"Wish I could, my library is rather noisy!
Lynn wrote: "Thank you for revitalizing this thread Natalie. When I started the thread in May 2019 I was really wondering about gadgets like kindles or reading lights, etc. By Spring of 2020 with quarantine loc..."I also like to "shop" at my local library by browsing the stacks and picking what strikes my fancy, too. :)
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I still read some physical books, kindle ebooks, and quite a few pdf downloads.
I just read my first book from Internet Archive. https://archive.org/
This is an interesting format for books. I was able to keep the book open in a browser tab for a couple of days and it remembered my spot, even though I turned off the computer once or twice in that time period. The book has the original look of the book and the pages actually turn. This book was fun because it was a hardback bound version of a 1909 publication. It's easy to go straight to Amazon and order an ebook, but many of them have become rather expensive. I always check Manybooks.net for PDFs downloads before ordering. Internet Archive is a good second place to search before paying Amazon.
Most of my physical books as well as ebooks (kindle) come from Amazon. My local library has a website. So many times they will not have the book I am looking for. Years ago when this thread started I was so excited about Libby - an online statewide ebook free library accessed with my library card. I read several good recent books from Libby. Now either the number of books has been reduced or the word is out. I cannot get any book in a timely manner. When I can find a book the wait is consistently 6 to 8 weeks; sometimes even longer. That is the real wait time. People don't seem to return the books early.
Free books from Project Gutenberg and manybooks.net Always start here.
And maybe sneak a look in here too: gutenberg.ca
Yes, archive.org is an excellent place. They often have scans of old books that simply does not exist as ebooks.
openlibrary.org often points to books in archive.org
May not be interesting for most people but the Norwegian National library is digitizing the most important Norwegian books, and placing them as free downloads in a nice and simple Epub format. This list is old http://www.epub.no/p/utgivelser.html
I am very happy about this. Fridtjof Nansen was a great writer and getting his original text could otherwise have been hard or expensive.
Some of the books are here in English and German: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/auth...
But seriously: It is such a luxury to not only could download the original text 1) for free and 2) in several different versions.
I have read Fram over polhavet in the 1897-version, and may someday try the 1942-version.
The 1890-version of Paa ski over Grønland became a bible for other polar explores. The 1928-version is a 100-page version of at 500+ page book: Only the adventure parts. Very different books.
I have found a lot of academic-type books in free Kindle editions. These are usually very expensive (for me, anyway). You need to use Amazon advanced search, but once you have a book on a topic, sorted by lowest price, click and see if it is part of a series from, say, Routledge, or a University press. The series link will take you to a list you can scroll down, looking for bargains, and at the end there will be links to more such series (rinse and repeat). This is time consuming, but I have found scores of books: mostly added to my TBR list, but some on topics I urgently wanted.
I mostly read on an old tablet using the Moon+ Reader Pro app. I like that I can control everything, light, size, sort of page turn,...
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I mostly use my laptop for reading. When on wifi I can use the Kindle Cloud Reader or the Internet Archive. Manybooks,net allows PDFs to download and there is no need for wifi. The downside of PDFs is you must remember your pages and everytime you restart on page 1. That may not seem like a big problem, but it can be rather time consuming for long books to search for your place each time you read.
My Kindle app for iPhone still works. For how long I don’t know. But it is very similar to the iPad version, which may keep it alive. (Not that I read much on my little SE 2 phone.)
I download the epub/mobi/pdf files and place them on my phone or tablet as files. I open them with the Moon+ Reader Pro app. No need for Wifi or remembering anything.
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
Fram over polhavet (other topics)Dracula (other topics)
Heidi (other topics)
The Prince (other topics)
Veronika Decides to Die (other topics)
More...
That is so true. Every book I read tends to lead to three more.