Reading journeys?
November 12, 2023 5:16 PM Subscribe
I really like reading about what people are reading, specifically recurring book lists that outline a smart/funny/interesting person's reads that month. I find this relaxing and a really fun way to add stuff to my to-read list. Help me find more!
Here are examples:
- Jo Walton's Reading List: A monthly column on Tor.com where Jo Walton shares what she read that month and what she thinks about each book.
- Things I Read That I Love: A regular column on Autostraddle sharing interesting articles/essays.
- Lazy Readers Book Club: Just found this one recently in a Metafilter post. Monthly recommendations for short reads. I don't know as much about this person, but it fits the format!
What I really like about these:
- Instead of being a one-time set of recommendations, there's a ton of old posts for me to look through.
- I get a sense of the reader's interests over time. For instance, Jo Walton's been reading a lot of books about Italy. Riese from the Autostraddle column loves articles about themed entertainment. It makes it feel more interesting and personally-driven than, say, "What We're Reading" columns on other websites, which feel more trend-driven or catered to giving specific recommendations. I prefer summaries of what the person actually read, whether they'd recommend it or not.
- Love especially if they are bringing me on a journey of researching/learning about things, telling me stuff they learned, etc. instead of just saying whether the book (or article) was good or not.
I tried to get into BookTube for another source of this kind of content, but it wasn't hitting the same way for me. I find BookTube more useful for keeping up with new releases.
Do you read any blogs/columns/etc. like this? Please share! I'm interested in all genres. If you want, please also tell me why you like that person's blog/column in particular.
Here are examples:
- Jo Walton's Reading List: A monthly column on Tor.com where Jo Walton shares what she read that month and what she thinks about each book.
- Things I Read That I Love: A regular column on Autostraddle sharing interesting articles/essays.
- Lazy Readers Book Club: Just found this one recently in a Metafilter post. Monthly recommendations for short reads. I don't know as much about this person, but it fits the format!
What I really like about these:
- Instead of being a one-time set of recommendations, there's a ton of old posts for me to look through.
- I get a sense of the reader's interests over time. For instance, Jo Walton's been reading a lot of books about Italy. Riese from the Autostraddle column loves articles about themed entertainment. It makes it feel more interesting and personally-driven than, say, "What We're Reading" columns on other websites, which feel more trend-driven or catered to giving specific recommendations. I prefer summaries of what the person actually read, whether they'd recommend it or not.
- Love especially if they are bringing me on a journey of researching/learning about things, telling me stuff they learned, etc. instead of just saying whether the book (or article) was good or not.
I tried to get into BookTube for another source of this kind of content, but it wasn't hitting the same way for me. I find BookTube more useful for keeping up with new releases.
Do you read any blogs/columns/etc. like this? Please share! I'm interested in all genres. If you want, please also tell me why you like that person's blog/column in particular.
Oh, that we were in the good old days of Livejournal!
Most of my favorite bloggers from those good old days are no longer as active, but I definitely recommend:
Rachel Manija Brown's Dreamwidth (filtered for book reviews).
Why I like it: Rachel reads incredibly widely, but there are enough common threads that it doesn't feel random. (Classic YA/middle-grade, especially YA/middle-grade speculative fiction; memoirs; surviving dangerous situations.) The books reviewed are not new or trendy or highly-buzzed-about. Thoroughly unpretentious, which I realize might sound like a backhanded compliment, but it's not; not everybody can appreciate old pulp fiction for what it is rather than taking marks off for what it isn't. She's very funny when reviewing bad books. A lively and interesting comments section.
Asking the Wrong Questions by Abigail Nussbaum
Mostly recent SF/fantasy, especially at the "literary" end of the spectrum. TV/movies as well, but mostly books.
Why I like it: Nussbaum is interested in one of the corners of the book world that I'm also very interested in - the politics of contemporary science fiction and fantasy - and I think she's awfully good at reading the politics of contemporary sf/f in a way that's thoughtful, nuanced, and complex.
posted by Jeanne at 5:43 PM on November 12, 2023
Most of my favorite bloggers from those good old days are no longer as active, but I definitely recommend:
Rachel Manija Brown's Dreamwidth (filtered for book reviews).
Why I like it: Rachel reads incredibly widely, but there are enough common threads that it doesn't feel random. (Classic YA/middle-grade, especially YA/middle-grade speculative fiction; memoirs; surviving dangerous situations.) The books reviewed are not new or trendy or highly-buzzed-about. Thoroughly unpretentious, which I realize might sound like a backhanded compliment, but it's not; not everybody can appreciate old pulp fiction for what it is rather than taking marks off for what it isn't. She's very funny when reviewing bad books. A lively and interesting comments section.
Asking the Wrong Questions by Abigail Nussbaum
Mostly recent SF/fantasy, especially at the "literary" end of the spectrum. TV/movies as well, but mostly books.
Why I like it: Nussbaum is interested in one of the corners of the book world that I'm also very interested in - the politics of contemporary science fiction and fantasy - and I think she's awfully good at reading the politics of contemporary sf/f in a way that's thoughtful, nuanced, and complex.
posted by Jeanne at 5:43 PM on November 12, 2023
Nick Hornby has a longstanding intermittent column for the Believer that is this, though the archives are behind a McSweenys paywall now. There are also multiple book length collections of the columns - The Polysyllabic Spree, More Baths Less Talking, etc. He’s an entertaining writer with a wide ranging taste that only sometimes overlaps mine, which is a good setup for hearing about things I wouldn’t have come across otherwise.
posted by yarrow at 7:09 PM on November 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by yarrow at 7:09 PM on November 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Derek Sivers has maintained a book list with commentary and ratings for a very long time. The default sorting order is highest-rated, but if you click on Newest and work your way down, you'll go on a journey in reverse chronological order.
posted by third word on a random page at 8:15 PM on November 12, 2023
posted by third word on a random page at 8:15 PM on November 12, 2023
Molly Young has a column called Read Like The Wind, which was a substack, and then moved over to NYMag, and now is a subscribers only (boo!) newsletter at the NYT, but she is SO great at recommending books.
She still keeps a regular substack of her own writing which is not about books, which is also great.
She's smart and funny and a little bit silly in a way that i find delightful. There are tons of old results, and she often is suggesting old books, so her columns are fairly evergreen.
posted by wowenthusiast at 9:02 PM on November 12, 2023
She still keeps a regular substack of her own writing which is not about books, which is also great.
She's smart and funny and a little bit silly in a way that i find delightful. There are tons of old results, and she often is suggesting old books, so her columns are fairly evergreen.
posted by wowenthusiast at 9:02 PM on November 12, 2023
I like heavanali's blog which has been going since 2006 - she does recurring round ups and lists her latest reads, mostly of twentieth century British women novelists (with a sub focus on Virago and Persephone Books).
Not sure if a podcast would scratch the same itch, but if so, Backlisted is very good - the books discussed are chosen by a guest, but the presenters provide continuity, so there is still that sense of getting to know someone's taste over time.
posted by Ballad of Peckham Rye at 12:05 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not sure if a podcast would scratch the same itch, but if so, Backlisted is very good - the books discussed are chosen by a guest, but the presenters provide continuity, so there is still that sense of getting to know someone's taste over time.
posted by Ballad of Peckham Rye at 12:05 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
There's this famous librarian who keeps one.
Years ago there was a thread in which someone asked for books in which the ocean featured prominently and I recommended two books. Jessamyn mentioned an intent to read every book recommended in the thread. So some time later when she mentioned keeping a list of books she read, I ran right over there hoping for the little boost you get when someone likes a book you recommended. She liked them both. Got my boost. If you ever read a book I recommend and like it, let me know. I am bizarrely invested in people liking books I recommend or books I like.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:20 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Years ago there was a thread in which someone asked for books in which the ocean featured prominently and I recommended two books. Jessamyn mentioned an intent to read every book recommended in the thread. So some time later when she mentioned keeping a list of books she read, I ran right over there hoping for the little boost you get when someone likes a book you recommended. She liked them both. Got my boost. If you ever read a book I recommend and like it, let me know. I am bizarrely invested in people liking books I recommend or books I like.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:20 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
https://lightreads.dreamwidth.org/ is mirrored on Goodreads (but only readable if you are also on Goodreads); Sarah Monette/Katherine Addison has been reading a lot of U.S. Civil Wa books for a while now, and reviewing them (and other books) at https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/36603555-katherine-addison.
posted by pollytropos at 7:24 AM on November 13, 2023
posted by pollytropos at 7:24 AM on November 13, 2023
Marissa Lingen's blog (Novel Gazing) has a mixture of short round-ups of what she's reading and longer book review posts. I particularly appreciate her links to short stories she's liked.
Lingen is an SFF and poetry writer and what she reads is a bit weighted that way, but she also loves history and sociology of lots of different cultures, and science, and "literature". She likes a lot of the same things I do but reads more new books, I think, so she very often introduces me to things I want to read.
James Nicoll is a semi-pro SFF book reviewer and recurring Hugo nominee- he isn't always writing about books he likes, but his takes are always enjoyable to read (one of his recurring series is "Because my tears are delicious to you", where he rereads things he loved as a teenager). He keeps stats on who the authors are who he reviews- for October 2023:
"22 works reviewed. 12 by women (55%), 10 by men (45%), 0 by a non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 8 by POC (36%)."
posted by Shark Hat at 11:07 AM on November 13, 2023
Lingen is an SFF and poetry writer and what she reads is a bit weighted that way, but she also loves history and sociology of lots of different cultures, and science, and "literature". She likes a lot of the same things I do but reads more new books, I think, so she very often introduces me to things I want to read.
James Nicoll is a semi-pro SFF book reviewer and recurring Hugo nominee- he isn't always writing about books he likes, but his takes are always enjoyable to read (one of his recurring series is "Because my tears are delicious to you", where he rereads things he loved as a teenager). He keeps stats on who the authors are who he reviews- for October 2023:
"22 works reviewed. 12 by women (55%), 10 by men (45%), 0 by a non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 8 by POC (36%)."
posted by Shark Hat at 11:07 AM on November 13, 2023
Nathan Shuherk, @schizophrenicreads
schizophrenic. nonfiction obsessive.“effeminate commie”
That's his Instagram link but you will find his linktree there in his profile.
I love this reviewer so much! Fantastic reviews of non fiction books. I want to read every book he reviews! We are on the same wavelength on what we think is important.
posted by cda at 11:50 AM on November 13, 2023
schizophrenic. nonfiction obsessive.“effeminate commie”
That's his Instagram link but you will find his linktree there in his profile.
I love this reviewer so much! Fantastic reviews of non fiction books. I want to read every book he reviews! We are on the same wavelength on what we think is important.
posted by cda at 11:50 AM on November 13, 2023
Response by poster: SO many great links. really enjoying these already as i read through. thank you so much!
posted by motherofdog at 11:39 PM on November 13, 2023
posted by motherofdog at 11:39 PM on November 13, 2023
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(Zach's newsletter also focuses on Tournament of Books picks and authors if you're a ToB person.)
posted by lizard music at 5:25 PM on November 12, 2023