Stepping it Up

I’ve been telling more people around the office about all my book stuff. I work for a large company with a few hundred people in my building. I don’t know anything about most of them and the opposite is also true.

But lately I’ve been telling more of them about this or my channel or even my IG. I was talking to someone yesterday about trying to expand my channel and guess what he tells me? He reads about 4 books a week! 😂 I’m excited about my 9 through the first two months and then he gives me a kick to the head and puts me in my rightful place. Ha!

I already knew he reads a bit. I didn’t know it was so much. So I need to step it up!

Another New To Me Author

I started my 10th book of the year last night and it’s by another new to me author. It’s the 4th one so far this year. There’s no way I can stay on that kind of pace of reading new authors. Can I?

I get in my head a bit because when I start a new book I’m excited, no matter what. But when it’s written by someone I’m not familiar with there’s an extra level of intrigue. But there’s also the thought of “what if I don’t like something everyone else seems to love”. I know it’s silly, but I’m not the only one thinking it. I mean, there are plenty of titles coming to mind as I write this I simply did not enjoy.

How often do you start reading a new author for the first time?

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New Video! Why You Should Never Lend Out Your Books

I know I disappeared last week. I had something come up and it basically took over my thoughts for the week. I didn’t even read. But it’s okay. We’re all still here, right?

Even with other things consuming my thoughts I decided I would not let it stop me from uploading a new video. I know no one really watches, but I enjoy the process of creating something not entirely written. So, take a look and tell me what you think!

New Video! February 2019 Book Haul

I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t I JUST post one of these videos recently? Well, yes. But everyone knows one can never have too many books! Right? RIGHT? Anyway, I picked up a few more books recently from my local HPB because they gave me a bed in back where I sleep now. Ha.

Also, special shoutout to Die a Stranger by Steve Hamilton, The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler, and You by Caroline Kepnes. I bought all of these over the weekend and I already had the video edited and uploaded. Whoops.

Now watch and tell me which books you’ve picked up recently!

I Need a New Shelf (and your help)

Guys, I’m fast approaching the time to buy a new bookshelf. But I’m facing a serious dilemma. A few, actually.

In my apartment all of my furniture outside of my room is black or grey or silver. I did that on purpose. This includes everything except my bookshelves. They’re brown, only because I had them already when I moved in.

I know I need a new one because I’m on the bottom shelf of one and on the second to last shelf on my other. I’m debating if I should just get three black shelves to finally match the rest of my furniture or just get the one brown one. And I’m so indecisive when it comes to this stuff that I have pictures and postcards I haven’t put up in 16 months of being here. 😂

And the cost isn’t a big deal. I get cheap ones because the books are important to me, not the shelves.

So tell me what to do! Get the one brown shelf or the three black ones to match everything else?

Tracking My Reading

Goodreads makes it extremely easy to track one’s reading. But it’s mostly just titles and ratings. Sure you can do a little more, but I go above and beyond on my own. I have a spreadsheet for my reading. I track all kinds of things:

• Author
• Series
• Reading time
• Page count
• How long it was on my TBR pile
• Rating
• Ranking for the year
• Ranking all-time

I guess it seems like way more in the document, but that’s still a lot! I didn’t even realize it until I opened an old document and saw everything.

What do you track for your reading!?

New Video! Book vs Movie: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

Look who’s back with another video for a second week in a row EXACTLY like I said I’d be! This guy!

And I already have next week’s video edited and ready for release. Look at me go!

Now watch and tell me if we have any of the same thoughts!

The Secret’s Out!

I’ve been at my current employer for almost exactly 2 years. I’m not really open with people at work. Last year one person knew everything that I was dealing with. Now it’s 3. Still not very many. And I don’t expect that number to grow. I think it’s actually shrinking. And that’s okay.

But last week I said something about writing a book. And today it seemed to snowball into this big thing.

I don’t tell anyone about it. Don’t ask me why. I don’t have an answer. It was a long time ago. And maybe one day I’ll write something new. But I don’t think I’d ever continue what I started. I’d start anew.

I want to create. To hold something in my hands that no one else had a hand in. I remember the first time I held my book in my hands. I cried. I want that again. But it’s been nearly 6 years. The time still isn’t right. And maybe it never will be. And that’s also okay.

And please don’t tell me that I should try writing everyday or something similar. I’m focused on my reading, work, and travel. That’s it.

Fun fact: most of you are recent here. When I started this blog it was called Write me a Book, John!. That was an amazing blog name. And I did. But things are different now.

How Many Authors Do I Own!?

I got a new computer late last year. But I’m barely starting to actually use it. I work on two monitors 40 hours a week, so when I’m home I’m not dying for more screen time.

Anyway, over the weekend I started organizing some of my reading-related documents I have (I’m writing a full post on them for tomorrow). One of which counts the number of books I own by author. I’ll have to do some checking, but I now know I have *at least* 270 books. That’s not surprising. What surprised me was that I have books written by *at least* 109 authors! Like, holy cow! That’s a lot of authors!

When I think of the hours I’ve spent reading my books compared to the hours spent writing them, it’s insane.

My favorite authors obviously carry much of the load in my little library, which I imagine is true for most people. Michael Connelly, Robert B. Parker, T. Jefferson Parker, Steve Hamilton, Robert Crais, and James Patterson (ugh) account for 107(!) of the books. And I have several single title authors.

Do you have any idea how many authors you own?

New Page For My All-Time Top Reads!

When I wrote recently about a book that somehow managed to become one of my personal top 5 reads ever, I came up with the idea to create a page here to keep an up-to-the-minute list of the best books I’ve ever read. It took me a bit longer to figure out exactly how I wanted to do it, but I ultimately settled on a list of the top 15 books I’ve started and finished. When I look at my list there are a couple of things that surprise me. 1) How far down Harper Lee’s masterpiece is (she’s barely hanging on for a spot!) and 2) Michael Connelly DOES NOT WRITE METIOCRE BOOKS.

I thought of just sharing the list in this post, but the page has links to everything I said about some of those books immediately after I read them. Now go and take a look for yourself and tell me what you think! Or, tell me some of the best books you’ve read? Maybe we have some in common!