Reading

Jan 3 2012

My Favorite Reads of 2011

I wasn’t able to post thoughts on the books I read in 2011 by the end of the year so I am doing it this week.  I noted the general statistics yesterday and today want to tackle my favorite reads.  Like last year, I am going to break in out into categories.

Young Adult Fiction

A large chunk of my reading this year was YA (30 of 79 books were roughly in this category) so I had a lot of books to chose from in 2011. So here are ten of my favorites in no particular order:

  1. Cover of "The Wednesday Wars"

    Cover of The Wednesday Wars

    I am going to cheat a little and put two books by Gary D. Schmidt on the list, Okay or Now and The Wednesday Wars.  ”Great stories, great characters, imaginative settings and clear writing make these two books great reads. I highly recommend them.”

  2. I am also going to put N.D. Wilson here because I can’t choose just one of his wonderful books I read this year: The Dragon’s Tooth (start of the new Ashtown Burials series) and the entire 100 Cupboards series)  ”… if you like large, complex and imaginative fantasy series this one is a must read.”
  3. Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby “Kirby weaves a great tale. There is historical detail, psychological insight, mystery, intrigue and more.”
  4. Skellig by David Almond “It is a simple and yet powerful story of friendship, family, compassion and faith.”
  5. The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi “The world DiTerlizzi has created is captivating and mysterious enough that you want to keep reading; not just to see the next illustration but to dig a little deeper into the mystery.”

Keep Reading

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jan 2 2012

2011 Books Read Statistics

I intended to do some wraping up of 2011 before the year actually ended but some technical difficulties prevented that from happening. So I will instead look back this week.

For the first time since I have been tracking them, I read 75 books in a year – 79 actually.  That is six more than I read in both 2008 and 2009 but I actually read 19,672 pages in 2009. Must have been reading longer books (a couple of Kindle Singles I counted as book too).

Goodreads has the details. Here is the raw data I have compiled

Total books read: 79
Total Pages: 19,135
Young Adult Fiction: 30
“Adult” Fiction: 14
Non-Fiction: 25
Faith/Theology: 12

I guess I knew this, but what really jumped out to me is how much YA fiction I read. Combine this with a theological focus and you have a lot less “adult” fiction.

In another post I will try to sort out my favorites from 2011.

By Kevin Holtsberry • News • 0 • Tags: , , , , ,

Jun 19 2011

More on Kindle and the joy of reading

Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...

Cover via Amazon

Miljenko Williams ruminates on Kindle and being engrossed in a good read:

But what I most like about the whole Kindle experience is that in some intangible and inexplicable way it has managed to use digital technologies to turn me away from hypertextuality.

I love the Internet – always will do, of course.  But Amazon’s Kindle has reminded me of the simple pleasure of burying oneself in a text – a pleasure I had lost in an online maze of endless restless clicking.

A simple pleasure indeed.

That wondrous permission we readers sometimes choose to offer up to those deserving writers who with their wisdom regale us and reward us.

That beautiful moment when we choose to allow an author the time and space to lead us through their world.

That is why Amazon’s Kindle is worth so very much more than its technology.

All I can says is, yup. I offered my thoughts along similar lines a few days ago.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Views • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Jun 16 2011

The joys of reading in a hyper-inter-active world

I realized again today why I enjoy reading so much; or one of the many reasons. It is because it is easy for me to focus and lose myself in the book.

In much of my life I can’t seem to focus and really engage one thing and one thing only. At work there is email, phone, coworkers, even staring out the window. And of course, it takes discipline not to constantly glance at your smartphone to check personal email or twitter or one of a zillion other things.

The smartphone distraction remains at home and you add in TV, kids, computers (with more social media and more distractions), etc. 

This makes it very easy to flit from one thing to the other and never really slow down and concentrate. Reading seems to help me do that. Whether with a book or with my Kindle when I am reading I am reading – nothing more, nothing less.

This is why I don’t want to read on an iPad or tablet (that and the backlighting and eye strain). I want to read, not check email or Twitter or Facebook or sports scores or whatever.

Reading is one of the few things in my life that seems to allow me to connect and focus – to devote long chunks of time to one thing and accomplish something.

Now of course I need to get better at focusing and staying on task at work and other important efforts, but reading still brings a unique satisfaction that few if any other thing I do can.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Views • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Feb 16 2010

When it snows, it’s a blizzard

Bookshelves
Image by balise42 via Flickr

I tried to adjust the title to account for snowmageddon but I am not sure it works …

The reference is to a phenomenon some of you bookish types might experience.  I was in one of those moods where I can’t decide what to read. Despite a mountain of ARCs/review copies and shelves of unread books I was having a hard time figuring out just what I was in the mood for.

Well, I got onto a bit of a Young Adult run, and found some authors whose backlist I wanted to read, and so I got out of my rut and left my melancholy behind. But at the expense of the never ending – and always growing – TBR pile.

Whilst this was going on I had some publishers sending me emails and is their wont – and their profession – they made these books seem like must reads. So I said: “Oh, sure. Send that one along.”  And “Yes, please.” Etc. Etc.

So here I sit with a growing backlog of fascinating books that I have promised to read.

But at least I will have no trouble figuring out what I want to read for awhile …

By Kevin Holtsberry • Views • 0 • Tags:

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