Over the weekend I finished Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, all 861 pages of it, with only two days to go in my three-week borrowing period from my local library.
There were times when I wasn’t sure I would be done in time, but taking vacation last week made it possible. (That’s not why I took vacation, but it had this wonderful benefit.) The first third was spectacular, and the rest struggled to keep up with the standard the author set early on. Overall it was a good read.
Although I am still slightly behind my reading goal for the year, I have found some fabulous new inspiration to keep my book queue full. First is a magazine. I love reading magazines, and I made the decision at the beginning of the year to find some new-to-me publications. My Bookmarks subscription was a pleasant result.
Its subtitle had me at hello, “For everyone who hasn’t read everything.” It features a subgroup of the kinds of books that I love – nominees for major book awards and the more literary of the best sellers. It creates compilations of reviews and gives excellent synopses of the books. I’ve already found a few gems in its pages.
My second new form of inspiration is a podcast. A woman cannot survive exclusively on 1950’s sci-fi radio show rebroadcasts, so I have branched out and discovered BookRiot.
They have a much broader discussion on books, looking at everything from popular fiction, to romance, to ancient historical works. I enjoy the breadth of the types of books they explore. There are times when I crave some good brain candy, and this will definitely help steer me clear of the major duds. In the last episode I listened to there was an interesting discussion as to which will sell more copies – the latest 50 Shades book or Harper Lee’s second novel.
The best part of discovering an established podcast is binge listening to past episodes. I have a lot of catching up to do, and I will enjoy every moment.
What was the last book you finished? or Where do you find out about books that interest you?
Grown Up, Now What? 