Reading Profile
I have enjoyed reading for as long as I can remember, though I did have a long dry spell between the late 1990s and late 2000s (not coincidentally corresponding with the sudden availability of internet access and related mindless “surfing”). My absolute favorite books as a child were from the Choose Your Own Adventure series. Each time I came to a point where I had to choose an option to move forward in the story, I’d mark the page so that I could come back later and try the other option(s), until I read all possible permutations of the storyline.
Once I got back into reading as an adult – a relearned habit that really only took hold once I started working at a library and felt like a fraud for being around books all day but never reading for pleasure at home – I found myself leaning toward the fantasy, young adult, and science-related nonfiction genres. Science-related because I want to know all I can about our universe and the physics that run it, and the others because I want to lose myself in a book sometimes without anything too heavy to leave me in a funk (for very long) afterward. In mid-2015, I started a book club, and since then have grown to love suspense, mysteries, and post-apocalyptic books as well.
My Top 5 Favorite Books Since Attaining the Age of Majority (in no particular order):
Once I got back into reading as an adult – a relearned habit that really only took hold once I started working at a library and felt like a fraud for being around books all day but never reading for pleasure at home – I found myself leaning toward the fantasy, young adult, and science-related nonfiction genres. Science-related because I want to know all I can about our universe and the physics that run it, and the others because I want to lose myself in a book sometimes without anything too heavy to leave me in a funk (for very long) afterward. In mid-2015, I started a book club, and since then have grown to love suspense, mysteries, and post-apocalyptic books as well.
My Top 5 Favorite Books Since Attaining the Age of Majority (in no particular order):
- Nation by Terry Pratchett
- Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
- Wool by Hugh Howey
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
I loved the Choose your own adventure books. I use to be the one who would want the books first or be the first one to order them in the book orders. I usually ended up dead early on in the book, however, I also marked the choices pages so I could go back and make a different path. Great memories.
ReplyDeleteFor me, they always remind me of going on vacation (usually camping) with my family. During the rest of the year, we would always borrow our books from the library, but before a long trip, one of my parents would take me to the bookstore to pick out a few. Happy memories!
ReplyDeleteAnna, what a great list of genres! I'm stuck in a rut and love that this class will force me to try out other genres. My middle son loves science books [fiction and nonfiction], but, I shy away from reading those to him as I struggle to stay awake for those! Do you have any favorite YA science [fiction or nonfiction] that you can recommend? He is almost 12 and would greatly appreciate, I'm sure, my willingness to read some science with him. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
DeleteHe might like The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. I worry that it might be too mature for him; I was in my late teens when I read it, and I don't remember any sex, but there might have been some violence. I do remember it being incredibly fascinating and suspenseful. For non-fiction, I enjoyed Carl Sagan. For something in between, try the David Macaulay books - the illustrations are AMAZING.
Anna, I read the "Wool" series too! (Well, this first and second books...the third one just couldn't keep my attention.) What did you think of it? And did you read the entire series, or just the first book? I'd love to geek out over this series with someone. No one understands my ship!!
ReplyDeleteHi Emma,
DeleteI have only (so far) read Wool. I actually went out and bought #s 2 and 3 right away, but I was worried they wouldn't live up to the first one, so I haven't worked up the nerve to read them yet. (And there are so many books to read in the world! How do you choose??) I'll put number two on my high-priority to-read list and let you know :)
P.S. Getting together to study would be lovely!
DeleteGreat profile! I used to love the choose your own adventures novel for the exact same reason! I had to read every variation! I also loved Smoke Gets in Your Eyes!
ReplyDeleteHi Anna,
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever actually read a choose-your-own-adventure book. It sounds like something I would have enjoyed as a kid though. I also suffered from a bit of a dry spell in reading (book reading that is) in the 2000s. The internet is a great and terrible thing.
Indeed!!!
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