this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
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My kiddo and I are having a fruit and vegetable challenge. Each month we'll seek out a fruit or vegetable we've never tried and taste it. My BFF is trying to walk all the greenways in our county (that is county not country, low stakes! Attainabl!). How about you?

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[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 87 points 11 months ago (7 children)

I used to read all the time, now I almost never read anything.

So this year I'm resolving to read one book, any book, then I'll move foward from there.

[–] runjun@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago (3 children)

After Reddit shut off 3rd party apps, I came here and resolved to read more. In the previous decade I had read maybe 2 books. I think your resolution is achievable but i would make it ridiculously achievable of reading like 1 min a day.

The habit of reading is what you want and the books will come after that and chances are you will read much longer. Don’t read anything you “should” be reading. Get a “popcorn flick” equivalent that you interests you and isn’t challenging.

Here is what I have read since June.

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Shogun by James Clavell

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Wool by Hugh Howey

Shift by Hugh Howey

Dust by Hugh Howey

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge

(Reading) A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

[–] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'd recommend getting into Asimov's Foundation series. I, Robot is kind of a meh book from him, Imo (I've read all his fiction work)

Also take a look at Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) and Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey).

I'd also recommend Heinlein, but his books do get pretty "pervy misogynistic old man harem fantasies" in his later years.

[–] runjun@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Great recommendations. I want to read the foundation series, I’m enjoying the show, but the wait time on Libby is really long. Michael Crichton is one of my favorite authors. I do need to read some of Clarke’s books but it almost suffers from “classical” must read avoidance I have lol

[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If Asimov's Robots series has a shorter/no wait I think they're worth reading. Maybe not as exciting as the Empire and Foundation series, but it's interesting background- the evolution of robots, positronic brains, robot/human relations, jump ships, space colonization, human clones. Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun and Robots of Dawn are murder mystery detective stories that advance the robot plot.

Asimov recommended reading his books in this order:

The Complete Robot (1982) and/or I, Robot (1950)

Caves of Steel (1954)

The Naked Sun (1957)

The Robots of Dawn (1983)

Robots and Empire (1985)

The Currents of Space (1952)

The Stars, Like Dust (1951)

Pebble in the Sky (1950)

Prelude to Foundation (1988)

Note: Forward the Foundation (1993) was then unpublished, but would have followed Prelude.

Foundation (1951)

Foundation and Empire (1952)

Second Foundation (1953)

Foundation's Edge (1982)

Foundation and Earth (1986)

https://more.bibliocommons.com/list/share/1584219139/1735833849

[–] runjun@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

I appreciate the recommendation and listing them out! That is actually helpful as I don’t like searching up which book is next.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

If you aren't already in it, it sounds like you belong in the sci-fi community on Lemmy.world, some of those were books of the month recently.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

You betcha, friend.

[–] CommunityLinkFixer@lemmings.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !sciencefiction@lemmy.world

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

That's helpful. Good bot.

[–] runjun@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

I am and that’s why I read the books. I do need to get better about going into particular communities to help drive their growth.

[–] randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 2 points 11 months ago

The Wool trio by Hugh Howey is a banger! I actually just finished Shift yesterday, and I'm gonna borrow Dust from a library tomorrow.

[–] KestrelAlex@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

If you are in Canada or the US I can't recommend the Libby app highly enough - books, audiobooks and magazines borrowed to your devices from your local Library. Looking at the last 5 years of borrowing it has saved me (pirating probably) thousands of dollars of audiobooks, and having an endless supply of audiobooks with zero cost really encourages reading.

[–] DarkPhysix@lemmings.world 11 points 11 months ago

I did this in 2021. This year I consumed 13 books (7 audio, 6 paper). Wishing you and your love for reading the best!

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I recommend finding a movie you love that was a book first and reading it. I’m an extremely picky reader and I did this with Dune and LOVED it. Hasn’t gotten me much further but this may help kickstart your love of reading again.

[–] criticon@lemmy.ca 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I recommend The Martian as a book that fits your criteria

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Definitely read that one before the movie came out. Excellent read. Great suggestion anyway!

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's what happened with The Hunt for Red October. Got me into Tom Clancy.

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Ohhh, I haven’t tackled that one yet. My father loves Clancy (too bad Clancy was a douchebag).

[–] dumples@kbin.social 8 points 11 months ago

I recommend starting with young adult novels. There are a lot of great ones and they are easy to get into. Large fonts makes fast reading. They generally have an interesting theme and simple plot. Great way to get started. Trying to go from nothing to something complex like Infinite Jest is a recipe to fail.

They aren't all love triangles anymore

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

I suggest the Wheel of Time Omnibus edition. Available on Kindle for $148, 14k+ pages, great one book solution to your re-solution.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

I don’t know if you’ve ever read Stephen King but he’s pretty good