lirazel | (no subject)

I hit my GoodReads goal of 75 books the other day. I've done the goal-setting for the last few years, but I've decided I'm not going to do it in 2023.

It actually helped me get back on the reading track--after I graduated from undergrad, I had a few years where I just didn't read much (except fanfic). For a while, I was really scared that I would never get back into reading again. I think keeping track of what I read and setting a goal for myself was part of the process of getting back into reading voraciously again.

But now I have, and I don't need that anymore.

I'm still going to keep track of which books I read, but I am not going to worry about how many. I'm hoping that this will inspire me to read more longer books. There are a bunch of books that are just so long that I've put them off for a long time. But if I only read, like, 30 books this next year because I'm reading longer ones? That's fine.

I don't know that the Year of the Long Books will actually happen. But hopefully I'll at least read one or two of the door-stoppers that I've felt intimidated by before.

Maybe 2023 will be the year I finally read War and Peace? (Speaking of which--which translation is best?)

Feel free to tell me about your reading habits, about how you keep up with which books you've read, about whether you keep count of how many you read in a year, etc. in the comments!

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I've heard good things about the Pevear-Volokhonsky translation of war and peace (readable and accurate!) and bad things (their narrative voice is the same for everything they translate!). That's the translation I was trying before I gave up on war and peace due to my abiding hatred for Pierre every time the narrative focused on him, lol.

I'm glad that your reading goal has been helpful for the last few years though, and also that it's not something that you feel bound to continue if it's not helping anymore! There are some really worthwhile doorstoppers out there.

Good to keep in mind! Thank you!

Thank you very much!

Also! Bird-watching friend of mine! This made me think of you, as did this lovely volume I was processing today.

ahhhhhh thank you, what delightful birdy things! :)

I would also suggest the Pevear-Volokhonsky. . .when I did my reread, I did it on audio and was stuck with the Garnett (the same one I read 15 years ago) which is fine but a bit stodgy.

So read the more contemporary one for me and talk to me about it!!

I will seek that one out then! Thank you!

Also I recommend the cast album for 'Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812' if you don't want to go in cold (and don't mind spoilers.) Though on rereading, I realized some of the omissions/changes from the book to the musical were inadveryently hilarious.

I have enjoyed some songs from that before, but I will seek out more of them, thank you!