I'm halfway through and maybe it's my translation, but I find the prose difficult. Or rather, so dull and lifeless that I'm constantly zoning out and missing what's happened.

Kinda annoying because I looked up the most recommended translation and this is the one people seemed to recommend the most.

Yeah, that's pretty much the best way to approach any "novel" that either began as serial fiction, or is structured like serial fiction. Great Expectations, Catch-22, Outlaws of the Marsh, Taiko, etc.

The thing to keep in mind is that this is a format where the presumed reader would only be getting one chapter every month or so. Binging can be... unpleasant.

I've been keeping track since October 2003! I do it old school and use the same Moleskine notebook I've had since 2005. I first got the idea from a family friend when I was a kid. She told me she'd been keeping track since she was a little girl, and I just thought it was so cool to have a record like that. Every time I finish a book, I look back through my notebook and see what I was reading on the same day in previous years. It also helps me read more because I get that extra satisfaction of making a new record.

Can you share the print out? Looking for some motivation for one

I feel the same way. I recommend that book all the time to people of all ages. I didn't feel the same way about her next book Form and Emptiness. I also really like Murakami. Currently I am reading fifty words for Rain which takes place inJapan in the 50s.

Oh, man, I definitely need to try this the next time I read some Tolkien. Howard Shore's score is phenomenal.

>The Postmortal

Sweet ... I've added to my queue. Thanks!

While you're listening to classical music and reading, please consider also trying to do that with a 80lbs golden retriever sleeping in your lap.

It is the very height of decadent luxury.

It also really doesn't have to be books per say. It can be web novels, audio books, Manga etc that's all reading homie, good for your brain. Fantasy novels often imagine humans in far more extreme circumstances and moral conundrums than real life, a good author will be able to inject incredible depth into their work.

Cool thanks for the tip ... I'll pick it up!

I haven’t thought about speeding an audible book up.

It’s clunky and hard to use.

Goodreads is a hot mess.

Thank you. I'm having so much fun now that I have more time to read and don't have to read for work.

I agree too. I understand it was originally a serial published in pieces but I was always waiting for more as I read the first book. I even bought the second book in anticipation of continuing the series, but always seem to find a reason to read something else next.

Point being, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but there tends to be a lot of pretentious opinions around classics and if you don’t like them, then you “just don’t understand” how great the work is, blah, blah, blah. As evidenced by the comments on this post.

I do enjoy the apple + series, if you’re looking for more of a fleshed out narrative. But I’m “low class” and don’t mind the source material being changed.

Nah. Amazon has added video game achievements to their Kindle app for iOS (and, presumably, Android, too) and it tracks a fair number of things... but it seems like such a banal thing to me.

I value more how many pages I can get through than how many hours I spend -- and perhaps more importantly, what stays with me after I'm done, as time erodes my memories of the fine details. God knows there are plenty of books out there I've invested far, far too many minutes of my life into that I'd forgotten entirely the subsequent week.

Is it worth reading?

Cover is the first thing you know about a book and it is a genre-definer. More books are sold because of a well-made cover than because the book is good.

That being said, nowadays few books/authors live up to their initial hype or survive the best-selling lists for a long time. Reading in a certain genre feels like burning matches one after another, and it's making me disillusioned on the industry, to be honest.

>Naturally, just to confirm, that's the novelist, not the star of Peep Show and other UK comedies.

Well, that's a shame.

Yeah, totally, for ages. And books owned, bought, discarded also. Started with an excel file, still on going.

Started just with books ordered, or books I wanted to order, and more and more it is useful to me to keep track of what I own and have read. I am bad at titles and author names, and it is helps me remember books I only remember vague things about.

I also keep track on goodreads and calibre (many many extra columns, and empty book records also).

I do not keep track of how much or stats or that sort of stuff, just list of what I read and when.

Chance would be a fine thing

Nice, thanks for sharing! Got to love some spreadsheet magic, pretty neat they update that on a regular basis to incorporate new functionality.

Yeah, I think what you've described can be really helpful for a lot of people... I like the idea of being able to put books into a queue sort of, because I'm forever finding things I'd like to read and then forgetting!

I have a very pretty journal a friend gave me that I keep a running list in. Title, year, author. I really don't know why. I've just always kept a list. I have another journal I copy quotes and lyrics into if they're especially meaningful to me.

I just casually skim the text while zoning out to my favourite music to make it go by quicker.