Tag: memes

#TopTenTuesday How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time #TuesdayBookBlog

whatcathyreadnext30 Comments

Top Ten TuesdayTop Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

  • Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
  • Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
  • Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
  • Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

book stack book pileThis week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time. 

Some of my reading habits definitely haven’t changed: historical fiction is still my favourite genre and makes up the majority of my reading. But, with the help of my blog and Goodreads, here are a few changes I’ve noticed.

  1. I read eight books I’d define as ‘classics’ (books written over 40 years before) in 2017, twelve in 2018 and thirteen in 2019 but I’ve read none this year.  
  2. I read 188 books in 2018. I’ve never read that many since. How did I find the time?
  3. I used to read a lot of review copies sent to me directly by authors, often self-published books. Too many, in fact. It put me under pressure and I felt bad if I didn’t enjoy them. I rarely accept review copies direct from authors now unless I’ve worked with them before.
  4. I take part in fewer blog tours these days. As a newbie blogger anxious to make her mark in the book community, I found myself taking a bit too much of a gamble with books just for the sake of being part of a tour. 
  5. I’ve joined a couple of book clubs so no longer only read books I’ve chosen myself. That’s a bit of a gamble too.
  6. Having less NetGalley requesting sprees. I’ve managed to get my ratio up to 97% by only requesting books I’m pretty sure I’m going to love – favourite authors, favourite genres – and that I know I’ll have time to read.
  7.  I’ve rediscovered a love of physical books, especially hardbacks, whereas I used to read mostly on my Kindle. It has meant more bookshelves…
  8. I’ve not borrowed a book from a library for many years now. Not sure this is a good thing…
  9. I think I’ve become tougher to please – or maybe just meaner! I gave 24 books five-star ratings last year but I’ve awarded less than half that number so far this year. 
  10. I read more books listed for literary prizes – the Booker Prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction, for example  – which, on occasions, means being a bit more adventurous.

What hasn’t changed is that I have a massive TBR pile but cannot resist adding new books to it, I continue to rely on the lovely book blogging community for book recommendations, and I have a peculiar aversion to books being described as ‘unputdownable’. 

Have your reading habits changed much?

#WWWWednesday – 16th October 2024

whatcathyreadnext4 Comments

WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

The Land in WinterThe Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (eARC, Sceptre via NetGalley)

December 1962, the West Country. In the darkness of an old asylum, a young man unscrews the lid from a bottle of sleeping pills.

In the nearby village, two couples begin their day. Local doctor, Eric Parry, mulling secrets, sets out on his rounds, while his pregnant wife sleeps on in the warmth of their cottage.

Across the field, in a farmhouse impossible to heat, funny, troubled Rita Simmons is also asleep, her head full of images of a past life her husband prefers to ignore. He’s been up for hours, tending to the needs of the small dairy farm he bought, a place where he hoped to create a new version of himself, a project that’s already faltering.

There is affection – if not always love – in both homes: these are marriages that still hold some promise. But when the ordinary cold of an English December gives way to violent blizzards – a true winter, the harshest in living memory – the two couples find their lives beginning to unravel.

Where do you hide when you can’t leave home? And where, in a frozen world, could you run to?

Recently finished

The Map of BonesThe Map of Bones (The Joubert Family Chronicles #4) by Kate Mosse (Mantle)

Olifantshoek, Southern Africa, 1688. When the violent Cape wind blows from the south-east, they say the voices of the unquiet dead can be heard whispering through the deserted valley. Suzanne Joubert, a Huguenot refugee from war-torn France, is here to walk in her cousin’s footsteps. Louise Reydon-Joubert, the notorious she-captain and pirate commander, landed at the Cape of Good Hope more than sixty years ago, then disappeared from the record as if she had never existed. Suzanne has come to find her – to lay the stories to rest. But all is not as it seems . . .

Franschhoek, Southern Africa, 1862. Nearly one hundred and eighty years after Suzanne’s perilous journey, another intrepid and courageous woman of the Joubert family – Isabelle Lepard – has journeyed to the small frontier town once known as Oliftantshoek in search of her long-lost relations. A journalist and travel writer, intent on putting the women of her family back into the history books, she quickly discovers that the tragedies and crimes of the past are far from over. Isabelle faces a race against time if she is not only going to discover the truth but escape with her life . . . (Review to follow)

What Cathy Will Read Next

The DraughtsmanThe Draughtsman by Robert Lautner (The Borough Press) 

1944, Germany. Ernst Beck’s new job marks an end to months of unemployment. Working for Erfurt’s most prestigious engineering firm, Topf Sons, means he can finally make a contribution to the war effort, provide for his beautiful wife, Etta, and make his parents proud. But there is a price.

Ernst is assigned to the firm’s smallest team – the Special Ovens Department. Reporting directly to Berlin his role is to annotate plans for new crematoria that are deliberately designed to burn day and night. Their destination: the concentration camps. Topf’s new client: the SS.

As the true nature of his work dawns on him, Ernst has a terrible choice to make: turning a blind eye will keep him and Etta safe, but that’s little comfort if staying silent amounts to collusion in the death of thousands