📗How did you choose your current read?

How do you choose your current read?



For me, this has changed overtime. When I first got into books and reading I was with Goodreads, and my current read would be the group read lined-up, and this helped to keep me reading but then after a while, there were books that I wanted to read that weren’t group reads, so nowadays I tend to have a very rough plan of what I’ll be reading the following year. I don’t stick to this stringently but it just gives me an idea of what I’ll be reading.
One of the books I am currently reading is Bang: The Complete History of the Universe, why I chose this is a bit long-winded, but here goes:

One of my mini long term goals is to read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, a book that looks like a seriously difficult read for me, so to help me get there I’m starting with this one, which feels more friendly (and a fun read) with one of the co-writers being Brian May, the musician from the rock band Queen.

Bang: The Complete History of the Universe I'm getting a lot out of reading this, and as I continue I am also reading The Outsider (AKA: The Stranger), one I've been wanting to read for some time, and I wasn't sure what to expect, it's quite a read - I've got to the end of part 1.

With Heat 2 (by Meg Gardner and Michael Mann) it was curiosoity to know more of the backstory having seen the movie Heat several times.

That's easy, A Briefer History of Time is a book I've wanting to read for a few years, so it's brilliant I am finally doing it.

My bookshelves are full of books I want to read and it's hard to remember why or how I exactly came to want to read them and then bought them to read. I did a big buying year when I thought I was going to retire the next year. Turns out, I didn't retire then. But now, a mere 5 years later, I have submitted my retirement letter and date to my employer. July 3rd is my last day. I still have plenty of books on my shelves to read in retirement. After that, if I can't afford to buy books, there is the public library and the public domain.

Generally, it's been mostly recommendations from fellow LT or GR readers that fill my TBR.

I totally picked up my most recent book because of the cover. 😆

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach is on ebook promo right now, and I saw a post on bsky about it. Time travel to Mesopotamia? ok... and featuring a grumpy 83yo and a perky grandchild? hmm... But why does the woman on the cover have octopus legs????

My library has an ebook copy, so I figured why not, I'll give it a try, at least to find out how that cover fits with the tweet description. (I misread the description by the way! Kiki is not Minh's grandson, though it almost feels that way.)

I don't usually go by the covers, but recommendations from trusted people are the best. I have plans to work through last year's Le Guin Prize nominees, because the shortlist summaries sound so appealing, even though I'd passed on most of them earlier in the year. Finding people (or award committees!) that value similar things about books as me is the best.

But I'm also reading 19th century girls' books, and there is no one to do recommending, lol. Those I'm finding through collectors' lists, similar libraries here on LT, and publisher lists in the back of their books. It's very hit or miss if they're any good, but I'm not reading them purely for entertainment.

Oh, that reminds me - I had too many bad encounters with history non-fiction written by journalists when I wanted more of a historian's perspective. So no more journalist penned non-fiction for me. It's funny - they're both professions that dig into archives and look at patterns to tell stories about what happened! I can't really explain why I notice and dislike the difference, but it may be the goals of the professions, and wanting something more scholarly than pop-history.