Any avid readers?

Heeeey...

Just wondering if anyone here likes to read? I've been really getting back into it recently (enough to buy a Kindle Unlimited subscription) and it'd be really cool to be able to talk books with someone. Maybe get some recommendations or whatnot.

I'm trying to read at least 36 books this year (avg. 3 a month) and I'm at 5 so far.

I'm not the reader I used to be, but I do still enjoy it. It's just difficult for me to commit some days, especially since smartphones ruined my attention span

What have you read so far? I'm very open to suggestions.

I read mostly on holiday and I doubt much of what I read apart from autobiographys maybe would be of interest ( light fluffy chicklit!!).
However a few years ago I cam across a player called 'Dolgan' on RS2, we got chatting and he introduced me to Raymond E Feist, and suggested I read the Magician. I loved it , since it was so...well magical and had so many echoes for me of a game I was already playing (namely runescape !). I went on to Amazon and purchased sets of trilogies and follow on books and got absorbed in them all. I intend to read them again, I wont part with them I love them all. A good holiday read which had us all generations chuckling was Diaries of Adrian Mole, and also some Dawn French books. Years ago I enjoyed the Agatha Christie novels {I read the back first so I know who dunnit} crime on my part or not......there are darker, more scary and thought provoking books out there,I like the more light hearted. I like to choose from a best seller list sometimes. I found Memoirs of a Geisha , fascinating. Currently I have a stack of books that have been passed on ( I have a caravan by the seaside and people/ family leave them behind). I applaud your goal, I know its what I should be doing too, its such a treat and very relaxing to lose yourself in a book.

I enjoy reading but don't seem to do much of it these days. Will be following this thread in hope of some suggestions

Hey all, sorry for not replying sooner to this thread – I wanted to make sure it was okay for me to talk about Good Reads, however it appears I can't post external URLs for 7 days after making an account, so… haha

That said, I personally prefer to use Good Reads (GR) as my major source for looking at book reviews and utilizing their book suggestions. I've noticed (unfortunately!) while diving into using Kindle Unlimited, that Amazon tends to suggest books that are simply later in the same series as opposed to suggesting truly new, unfamiliar books to me. That's where, for me, Good Reads tends to come in handy.

I'm actually up to 7 books finished this year to date; I finished 2 more in downtime while waiting on my fiancé to finish up some work yesterday, haha (I was already halfway through or further in both). I've been trying to do spoiler-free book reviews on things I've read starting 2020 onward, too.

Quick snippet of what I've finished reading this year so far:


As far as suggestions go, I tend to read fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi/dystopian/apocalyptic/fiction, so I don't really have many other genres besides those. However, if you do like a genre I don't typically read, I might be able to still make a few suggestions, as I do have friends who prefer different genres than I do. Nevertheless, here's a couple of quick suggestions based on genres I typically read:

Urban fantasy/paranormal suggestions (book links included):
- "Storm Front" by Jim Butcher
This is a series that so far has 16 (soon to be 17) books, so it could definitely keep you busy awhile. I will be honest in saying that this series isn't for everyone and you may have to invest time into reading the first 2-3 books before you possibly are truly an interested fan.

A quick synopsis of the first book – Harry Dresden, the main character, is a Private Investigator who is literally in the yellow pages under wizard. Obviously he's not taken seriously by many people, given he's the only one in the yellow pages looking to assist in lost items, paranormal investigations, consulting, advice, so on and so forth… However, when something unexpected and unexplainable happens, the Chicago Police Department has taken Harry on as a consultant.

- "Hounded" by Kevin Hearne
This series has 9 books in it, therefore can also keep you busy awhile. I just finished the second book in this series (I only have the physical books, so it takes a little longer for me to read versus reading on the Kindle App), but I like that this book has a very unique perspective to the paranormal world. There aren't too many series at which there's a lead character of a Druid. Additionally, it has a lot of mythology and Irish roots to it that I find very interesting.

A quick synopsis of the first book – Atticus O'Sullivan is the last of the Druids and chooses to live peacefully running an occult bookshop in Arizona. Unsuspecting individuals around him, like his neighbors and customers, think he's a tatted-up, Irish guy around the age of twenty-one, but in actuality, he's about twenty-one centuries old. He possesses the ability to shape-shift and draws his power from the earth, not to mention he's got good swordsmanship skill with the magical sword he uses, Fragarach (meaning the Answerer).

However, a very angry Celtic god wants the sword in his possession – Fragarach – and has been hounding Atticus for literally centuries in an attempt to thwart him of that very sword. Unfortunately for him, that deity has tracked him down and is ready for a throwdown.


- "Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven" by Bella Forrest
I just found out about this series recently (through Good Reads). Additionally, I actually just finished reading the second in the series yesterday and liked it enough to begin immediately reading the third book. It has tremendous nostalgic feels for me, as it has several Harry Potter vibes sprinkled throughout, but also has some unique takes on wizards and wizardry in general.

A quick synopsis of the first book – Harley's an empath, she can strongly feel people's emotions, pinpointed like a compass. It even helped me get her first job at spotting cheaters at a casino. She hasn't got a clue how she came to possess these powers and hasn't told a soul about them, likely part in due to jumping from foster home to foster home in the system majority of her life.

Unexpectedly, she crosses paths with a terrifying, real monster, thereafter ultimately opening her eyes to a world she hadn't known existed. A super annoying, extremely arrogant young warlock named Wade Crowley steps into her life and introduces her to a hidden world of beats, magicals, and covens that riddled with secrets, as well as clues about her past. Take an adventure and uncover her past and figure out the coven life.

I'll add some suggestions for other genres later on

Haven't been reading much lately, mostly I've just been collecting books for $1-2 at thrift shops, then never getting around to actually reading them

I did make some nice bookshelves (two side by side) out of scrap tabletops that work was chucking out