Books and Reading

How to Read Really Big Books

Shutterstock 60593683

I’ve had both my spouse and my friends tease me mercilessly when I pull out (or should I say ‘drag out’) one of my super thick books. For instance, the book I’m currently reading, “Rhythm of War” by Brandon Sanderson, comes in at 1,2109 pages. And that’s not the only one — there are many books on my shelves over 1,000 pages long. And it’s not that I go out of my way to specifically look for enormous books. I quite enjoy skinny novels. But because I love reading epic fantasy stories, I end up consuming these massive stonkers. For some reason, a lot of fantasy writers adore writing long books.

Now, I’ve heard many people comment that reading books of this size is intimidating and overwhelming. They’ve convinced themselves that it would take years to get through a 1,200-page book. Okay, maybe not for years. But at least several months.

But I have found a method of working my way through these massive books where I end up completing them in only about a month and a half, frequently even less. You’ve heard of the adage: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Well, I apply that motto to the reading of giant books.

Many folks are surprised when I tell them that I reserve my thickest books as my bedtime novels, which I have sitting on my bedside nightstand. Each night before going to sleep, I read 30 pages. Reading only 30 pages a night amounts to 900 pages in a month, so conceivably, I could read a 1,200-page book in about a month and a half. But, to be truthful, I often end up reading more than 30 pages. For instance, if my 30th page is in the middle of a chapter, I will finish that chapter, which might be an additional ten pages or more. The key here is that I read no less than 30 pages — that is the absolute minimum. So if I’m on my 28th page and the chapter ends, I have to read the next chapter. So in this way, I can often finish an enormous book in a little over a month.

Oh, and there’s another added benefit to this method as well. After spending so much time with the characters and the story, these long books stay in my mind long after having read them. I can recall the details from a giant book that I’ve spent over a month reading much more easily than a short book that only took me an afternoon to get through.

So if you have an enormous book on your bookshelf that you’ve been wanting to tackle, give this method a try. You’ll be flying through it in no time.

Camping with a ghost 2 twitter

How to Read Really Big Books Read Post »

A Return to Physical Books (for the moment)

Last year, the majority of books that I read were ebooks. This isn’t anything unusual for me. Ever since I purchased my first Kindle many years back, I’ve been reading books in this format. I read a few Apple Books here and there on my iPad, but mostly, I use Amazon’s device to consume novels.

However, this year things may change a bit. As I mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I’m doing the PopSugar and the 52 Book Club reading challenges. One of the main reasons I decided to take on the challenges was to get through some of the books on my bookshelves that I’ve purchased. Like many of you, there are a lot of unread books on my shelves that I keep meaning to get to. So with only a few exceptions, all of the books that I’ll be reading for the challenges this year are actual physical books that I own.

Now, this isn’t to say that I never read physical books as I do get quite a few of them from the library throughout the year. But they account for only about 20% of my overall reading. Historically, almost all my reading consists of ebooks.

This is funny because I constantly extol the virtues of paper books and talk about how much I love them, how there’s nothing like the feel/smell of an actual book, etc. Yet, when I examine my reading habits, I see that physical books make up only a tiny portion of my reading and the main reason for that is convenience. For instance, rather than carrying around a heavy book with me whenever I go to the doctor’s or another appointment, it’s easier to tuck my Kindle in my jacket pocket, and I have my entire library with me. I also don’t have to lug 15 books with me when I go on vacation, which is especially an issue given that I take a lot of vacations on my motorcycle. This all makes me think that perhaps I’ll write up a future post on paper books vs. ebooks. But that isn’t the purpose of this post, however. Today, I just wanted to mention that I’ll be making a massive change to my reading habits which will entail mainly reading paper books in the coming year.

I’m curious how I’ll take to it again. No doubt I’ll miss the convenience of my Kindle as well as the ability to quickly lookup words on the fly. But I will say that whenever I do read a physical book, I tend almost always to enjoy the experience of it. I love the feel of the book in my hands, the subtle noise of a page turn, and the immediate physical representation of how much of the book is remaining.

This isn’t to say that I won’t be reading ebooks this year, as I’m sure a few electronic ARCs will cross my path (though I plan on not requesting as many ARCs as usual). But my main focus will be on clearing out some of those titles from my physical TBR on my groaning shelves. I think it will be kind of fun to watch the number of books on my shelves dwindle as the year progresses.

A Return to Physical Books (for the moment) Read Post »

The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge

Shutterstock 397015858

I mentioned in a previous post that I was doing the 2022 PopSugar reading challenge, one that I typically do every year. While I was impatiently waiting for the prompt list to be released, I came across another similar challenge entitled “The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge.” This one has 52 prompts and like PopSugar, runs from January 1 to December 31st; that is to say, you read 52 books in 52 weeks. I found a few books that meet both the PopSugar and the 52 Book Club challenges but I’m mostly going to try to read unique books for each challenge. I tend to read about 140 books a year so I should be able to pull it off (though I do read a lot of ARCs and New Releases).

There is also a Goodreads Group for the challenge so you can find ideas for books to fit the prompts as well as discuss books and share your progress with others. There is also a Facebook Group as well, if that’s your bag.

I’ll post the prompts below and if you like what you see, then feel free to join in on the fun!

Reading Challenge Prompts:

  1. A Second-Person Narrative
  2. Featuring A Library Or Bookstore
  3. Title Starting With The Letter “E”
  4. Title Starting With The Letter “F”
  5. Chapters Have Titles
  6. Household Object On The Cover
  7. A Non-Fiction Best Seller
  8. Involving The Art World
  9. A Book That Sparks Joy
  10. A Book Based On A Real Person
  11. A Book With Less Than 2022 Goodreads Ratings
  12. Set On At Least Two Continents
  13. Includes A Club
  14. A Character With Superhuman Ability
  15. A Five-Syllable Title
  16. A Book You’ve Seen Someone Reading In A Public Place
  17. A Book Picked Based On Its Spine
  18. Jane Austen-Inspired
  19. A Book That Has An Alternate Title
  20. Related To The Word “Gold”
  21. Published By Simon & Schuster
  22. An Unlikely Detective
  23. Author With An X, Y, Or Z In Their Name
  24. Addresses A Specific Topic
  25. A Wealthy Character
  26. Has An “Author’s Note”
  27. Includes A Map
  28. Award-Winning Book From Your Country
  29. Over 500 Pages Long
  30. Audiobook Is Narrated By The Author
  31. Technology Themed
  32. A Book That Intimidates You
  33. A Bilingual Character
  34. Author’s Photo On The Back Cover
  35. From The Villain’s Perspective
  36. Recommended By A Favorite Author
  37. Set In A Rural Area
  38. Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover!
  39. A Middle-Grade Novel
  40. A Book With Photographs Inside
  41. Involves A Second Chance
  42. An Indie Read
  43. Author Who’s Published In More Than One Genre
  44. An Anthology
  45. A Book With Illustrated People On Cover
  46. Job Title In The Title
  47. Read During The Month Of November
  48. Redo One Of This Year’s Prompts But With A Different Genre
  49. Book Title Starts With The Same Letter As Your First Name
  50. A Person Of Color As The Main Character
  51. The Word “Game” In The Title
  52. Published In 2022

In case you missed it, here’s a link to my post on the PopSugar Challenge.

The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge Read Post »

The PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge

Man reading a book

Yesterday, the PopSugar people dropped the list for their annual reading challenge, which I try to do every year. What is is, is 40 prompts (with 10 optional “Advanced” prompts”) for which you choose appropriate books. The goal is to help you broaden your reading horizons and perhaps read books you normally wouldn’t. It’s a fantastic way to diversify your reading. An example of this year’s prompts include “Read a book that takes place in the 1980s” and “Read a Hugo Award Winner.” You may consider me strange, but I get super excited every year when the challenge is announced. I then run to my bookshelves and begin choosing the books that I plan on reading for it.

Many people choose their books as they go but I always like to do mine ahead of time. I derive enjoyment from planning out my reading for the coming year so I know in which direction I’m heading. Now this isn’t necessarily restricting my reading as I read a lot of Advance Reader Copies that come my way during the year as well. I also can’t resist reading new LGBTQ books that come to my attention.

You can get involved as much or as little as you like. If you’d like to reach out to others who are also doing the challenge, there is a Goodreads group where people post their reading lists, track their progress and chat about the books they’re reading. If you’re stuck on ideas for a particular prompt, there are also lists of ideas for each prompt, which I often find incredibly helpful. There’s also a quite popular PopSugar Book Club on Facebook which is a fantastic place to hang out. You’ll find me in both places, chatting about the prompts and posting my progress. If you’re more of a Twitter user, you can follow the progress of others by using the hashtag #popsugarreadingchallenge.

This year, I made the challenge especially challenging for myself by limiting it to books that I already own. I really want to work through my physical TBR in the coming year so this is the perfect excuse to do so. I was able to find books for almost all of the prompts so that made me quite happy. Additionally, I’m doing a second reading challenge, which I’ll mention in another post.

I’ll post all of the prompts below for those of you might be interested in doing it this year. Check out the Goodreads group for a lot more information on the challenge. Good luck!

PopSugar Book Challenge Prompts

  1. Book published in 2022
  2. A book set on a plane, train or cruise ship
  3. A book about or set in a non-patriarchal society
  4. A book with a tiger on the cover or “tiger” in the title
  5. A sapphic book
  6. A book by a Latinx author
  7. A book with an onomatopoeia in its title
  8. A book with a protagonist who uses a mobility aid
  9. A book about “found family”
  10. An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winnder
  11. A #BookTok recommendation
  12. A book about the afterlife
  13. A book set in the 1980s
  14. A book with cutlery on the cover or in the title
  15. A book by a pacific Islander author
  16. A book about witches
  17. A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2022
  18. A romance novel by a BIPOC author
  19. A book that takes place during your favorite season
  20. A book whose title begins with the last letter of our previous read
  21. A book about a band or musical group
  22. A book with a character on the ACE spectrum
  23. A book with a recipe in it
  24. A book you can read in one sitting
  25. A book about a secret
  26. A book with a misleading title
  27. A Hugo Award winner
  28. A book set during a holiday
  29. A different book by an author you read in 2021
  30. A book with the name of a board game in the title
  31. A book featuring a man-made disaster
  32. A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page
  33. A social-horror book
  34. A book set in Victorian times
  35. A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title
  36. A book you know nothing about
  37. A book about gender identity
  38. A book featuring a party
  39. An #OwnVoices SFF book
  40. A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR challenge

Advanced

  1. A book with a reflected image on the cover or “mirror” in the title
  2. A book that features two languages
  3. A book with a palindromic title
  4. A duology (1)
  5. A duology (2)
  6. A book about someone leading a double life
  7. A book featuring a parallel reality
  8. A book with two POVs
  9. Two books set in twin towns, aka “sister cities” (1)
  10. Two books set in twin towns, aka “sister cities” (1)

The PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge Read Post »

A Chat about Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Under the Whispering Door book coverThe first time you share tea, you are a stranger. The second time you share tea, you are an honored guest. And the third time you share tea, you become family.

I like to share with you books that I’ve especially enjoyed, and I recently read one that fits into that category: “Under the Whispering Door” by TJ Klune. TJ Klune, who almost always features gay protagonists in his novels, is one of my favorite authors, so I was super excited when this book came to my attention. Once again, he did not disappoint.

Under the Whispering Door is an otherworldly, heartwarming contemporary fantasy about finding yourself. It follows an unlikable, ruthless and driven lawyer named Wallace Price, who is more than a bit dismayed to find himself at his own funeral. Apparently, Wallace has died, and he is none too happy about it. His suspicions are confirmed when a reaper named Mei shows up to take Wallace to the next stage of his journey.

But instead of taking him to the afterlife, the Reaper brings him to a small tea shop in a remote village called Charon’s Crossing, where he meets a charming man named Hugo, the proprietor, who also happens to be the “Ferryman of Souls.” Hugo’s job is to help souls get ready for crossing over, which turns out not to be such an easy chore for the angry and bitter Wallace Price.

But, of course, anger and denial like Wallace’s isn’t anything new for Hugo — he’s seen it all before. But — he definitely has his work cut out for him as he attempts to lead Wallace out of the darkness and into a more gentle understanding of the mysteries of life.

So with Hugo’s gentle guidance — as well as that from Mei (the Reaper) and Hugo’s ghostly and mischievous grandad Nelson, Wallace begins to understand all that he missed from life, and his outlook slowly begins to change — especially once he learns that it’s never too late to start anew.

It was so delightful to see Wallace’s heart begin to warm as the other charming and quirky characters slowly got under his skin. I loved seeing him grow as a person, and as he did, the more likable and relatable he became. I was stunned by how much I grew to actually care about this formerly cruel and despicable character. My heart warmed to see him begin to form meaningful relationships (for the first time in his life) with the other characters in the book (including Apollo, the lovable ghost dog) and witness him making a genuine effort to become a better person.

The author deals with some pretty tough topics in the story, such as death, PTSD, suicide, and grief, all of which were handled compassionately and delicately. But additionally, the author’s familiar wit, humor, and charm shine through, resulting in a beautiful heartfelt story that is both moving and thought-provoking. While this is a hard-hitting story that’s at times sad and raw, it does teach some valuable lessons as the plot unfolds.

This is the kind of story that causes you to laugh out loud in some places and brings a tear to your eyes in others (at least, it did me), and I still find myself ruminating and contemplating it many days later. I love a good story about hope, redemption, and second chances, and that’s what we get here with this gentle tale. But, of course, I also love stories about the afterlife, so this one also ticked a box.

Now, I did read an advanced review copy of this book, so at the time of this post, the book has not yet been released. It is scheduled to be published on September 21 but is available now for preorder from online retailers.

A Chat about Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune Read Post »

My Top 5 Quarter 1 Books

At the end of each quarter, I go through the list of books I’ve read over the past three months and compile a list of 5 of my favorites. This is the list of my favorite books that I read during the first quarter of the year (I’ll be sharing the second quarter list soon).

Last Night at the Telegraph Club book cover1. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

This is an amazing book that takes place in Chinatown in 1954 is about two women, Lily and Kath who fall in love with each other.” This is a dangerous time to fall in love with Red-Scare paranoia threatening their existence, especially Lilly who is Chinese American. So the story kind of revolves around The Telegraph Club, which is a Lesbian bar – a place where Lily and Kat hang out together, after sneaking out of the house. Well, a pivotal event occurs at the bar which changes and shakes up both of their lives. A moving story about discovering where you belong.

Dead Sea Book Cover2. Dead Sea by Mia Kerrick

The story follows Lenny, a seventeen-year-old talented creative kid who loves to sew and dress up in costumes. After an upsetting event during which all of his secrets risk exposure, Lenny, unable to face the potential humiliation, decides to walk into the ocean and never return. Caught in a riptide, he begins to drown but is rescued by the unlikeliest of heroes: one of the school’s biggest and meanest bullies, Kyle. What follows is a transformation of our two characters, especially of Kyle, after the event. Though the book is layered with complexities of identity and societal expectations, ultimately, Dead Sea ends being a beautifully written story about friendship, redemption, and first love.

Echo Wife Book Cover3. The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

I’ve read a couple of other books by this author: Magic for Liars and When We Were Magic and enjoyed both of them. But I’d say that this book is my favorite one of the three.

This book asks the question: How far would you go in the pursuit of perfection?

The story takes place in the not-so-distant future and follows a brilliant and driven award-winning scientist named Evelyn Caldwell whose work involves Clone technology, in which she is able to perfectly replicate human beings using their DNA. Unbeknownst to Evelyn, her husband Nathan has stolen her research and created a genetic clone of her…of Evelyn, named it Martine. The husband made Martine with only the qualities that HE wanted in a woman: more patient, loving, pliable, meek, even-tempered, more focused on him rather than her work, and especially more obedient. So, snake that he is, he leaves Evelyn, moves in with Martine to live life with his wife’s clone, and files for divorce. Things get really crazy when the cheating bastard ends up dead in Martine’s Kitchen and the two “Mrs. Caldwells” end up having to work together to fix the mess.

What you Never Knew book cover4. What You Never Knew by Jessica Hamilton

This is a haunting story told from the point of view of two sisters, one dead and one alive. After the death of her mother and of sister May, June finds out that she is now the owner of Avril Island, a place she hasn’t been to since her father’s sudden disappearance when they were children. Her mother told her that she’d sold the island years ago, so June was more than surprised that it was still in the family and now belonged to her.

Unaware that her dead sister’s ghost accompanies her, June returns to the isolated family island cottage for the first time in decades to find out why her mother lied to her about selling the cabin and perhaps why their father left them one night, never to be heard from again. She begins digging through decades worth of clues and uncovering all sorts of creepy family secrets in the process. What we have here is a wonderfully crafted and thrilling tale about loss, grief, love, lies, betrayal, and dark family secrets that I absolutely loved.

when the stars go dark book cover5. When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain

I read The Paris Wife by this author, which I loved, so I thought I’d give this one a go as well. Set in the early 1990s, “When the Stars Go Dark” follows Anna Hart, an emotionally damaged detective specializing in searching for and finding missing children. After a horrendous tragedy in her life, Anna escapes to her hometown of Mendocino to try and figure out her next move and find herself. Once there, however, she’s asked by an old friend who is now the Sheriff to assist in the case of a missing 15-year-old girl named Cameron. Alternating between the past and present, Anna not only uncovers similar disappearances in other nearby towns but also unearths information about a missing child case that occurred while she lived in Mendocino years ago. This is a gritty and gripping mystery with many unexpected twists and turns that illustrates the extent of how trauma can affect someone’s life. Because of its dark subject matter — the kidnapping, abuse, and murder of children — the book is heartbreaking and tough to read. I knew this subject will be a gut puncher- but was woefully ill-prepared for how much. It kinda destroyed me for a few days, truth be told.

My 2nd quarter list will be forthcoming. How about you? Read anything good lately?

My Top 5 Quarter 1 Books Read Post »

A book chat about The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Golem and the Jinni book coverI just finished a book entitled “The Hidden Palace,” which is a sequel to The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. This was a book I read a while ago and loved so much that I would check every couple of months to see if the sequel was available.

But I’m not going to talk about the sequel today, but about the first book in this duology: The Golem and the Jinni. I’m not planning on doing a lot of book reviews here, but when there’s a book that I especially like and stands out for me, I want to share it with others.

THE STORY

In the Golem and the Jinni, we have a blend of Arab and Jewish mythology and folklore, resulting in a mesmerizing historical fantasy. The characters of the Golem and the Jinni in this story are some of the most unique that I’ve encountered.

Our story begins when a golem, a creature of Jewish folklore made of clay, is created using Kabbalistic magic by a former rabbi, now turned dark magician. Not yet awakened, she (it’s a female Golem) and her new master head from Poland to America to begin a new life. The plan was to awaken his Golem once they arrived in America, but the man could wait no longer. So he excitedly opens this Golem’s crate and awakens her. But she barely has a chance to get to know her master when he suddenly dies on the ship from a burst appendix.

Now masterless, confused and frightened, she finds herself in New York in 1899. Luckily, a local Rabbi recognizes her for what she is and offers to help her integrate into this strange new society. New for her, that is, as she’s only been alive for a couple of days. Given that he can’t simply refer to her as “The Golem,” the Rabbi names her “Chava.”

The second creature in our story, a Jinni, a creature of Arabic folklore who is given the name Ahmad, is perhaps more commonly known as a Djin or a Genie. The Jinni is a creature of fire and was born in the ancient Syrian Desert over a thousand years ago. He is released accidentally from a flask by a tinsmith. When the Jinni awakens, he notices that he wears an iron wrist-cuff which means only one thing: that he was trapped in the flask by a wizard and has been inside the flask for over a thousand years. The Jinni has no memory of the wizard nor how he came to be in the flask.

So the story follows both the Golem and the Jinni as they try to fit in with their immigrant neighbors while hiding who — or should I say what — they really are. It’s a beautiful tale of two creatures trying to fit into a world they don’t understand.

One night, they haphazardly meet by chance on the streets of New York, and an unlikely friendship develops between the two. But then a dreadful incident occurs involving both of them, and because of it, the two of them retreat into their own world and stop seeing each other. In this way, their relationship is not only interesting but also quite complex.

But things change when a powerful evil — the villain of our story – arrives in town, and we learn he is someone who is a link between the two of them. His arrival threatens both the Golem’s and the Jinni’s existence, bringing them back together once again out of necessity.

I thought it was fun how this ended up being the story of opposites, with the fiery, free-spirited, womanizing Jinni on the one hand and the stoic, overly cautious, almost prudish Golem whose sole purpose is to serve a master, on the other. And even their age is miles or should I say centuries apart, with the Golem being just days old and the Jinni well over a thousand years.
Speaking of the characters, I’d have to say that the meticulous character development is profound and pretty much ongoing throughout the entire novel, making reading this all the more fun.

Though she was only recently brought to life, I love how Chava possesses an all-too-human empathy toward others. On the day of her arrival in New York, she steals food to give to a hungry boy. She is definitely the more emotional of the two creatures and extremely sensitive to the feelings of others, as we see in her caring for her Coworker Anna. This might have something to do with the Golem’s ability to hear the thoughts and know the desires of the people around her.

The Jinni, on the other hand, is wilder, passionate, and much more rash than the Golem. He’s willing to explore his new world, whereas the Golem approaches it more hesitatingly, more cautiously.

But no matter what happens to them, we always need to remember that the Golem and the Jinni are two creatures tied to their natures, no matter how much they may wish to convince themselves otherwise.

In this way, the author brings her characters to rich life, letting all of them thrive in their complexity and near-humanness. However, I did find it especially interesting how whenever these two creatures got together, they always ended up deeply discussing the human condition, an interesting topic for two non-human creatures.

Another thing that really worked for me in this story was the exquisite world-building. It’s apparent that the author did an incredible amount of research for this novel – research into setting both turn-of-the-century life in New York as well as the Syrian Desert of old, research into culture, religion, into the different groups of people represented in the story, into cultural magic as well religious mysticism. The author does an expert job integrating these details into the story while never thrusting an information dump onto us, and at times, I felt as though I really were in another place and time. We also get a riveting look into both the Jewish and the Arabic immigrant subculture communities of the late 19th century.

Verdict

This book is fabulous! It’s one of the most surprising and engrossing books I’ve read in a while, with plenty of action and drama to keep me interested in what happens next. It’s a wonderfully rich and fascinating story of mystical creatures, old magicians, and ancient cultures with a unique, well-developed plot that was all brought together into a marvelous conclusion. So in this way, it was both a plot-driven and a character-driven story.

But not only was it engaging, but it’s also a remarkable study of human nature and includes such themes as religion, diversity, duty, choice, desires, loneliness, free will and freedom, religious faith or the lack thereof, tradition, and loving our neighbors.

So if you’re in the market for a unique and compelling story and don’t mind a bit of “woo-woo,” this book might fit that bill.

A book chat about The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker Read Post »

Scroll to Top