When Was the Last Time You Read a Really Good Book?
On New Year’s Day 2012, I made a pretty vague resolution to “read more books this year.”
I guess the universe noticed that I could use a push, so I stumbled upon the Fiftyfifty.me challenge. The goal is to read 50 books and watch 50 movies in 2012. That sounded like a resolution I could keep!
I watch a ton of movies, but it’s been years since I’ve regularly read books for my own enjoyment and not because I had to for school or work. As a kid, I devoured books about fantasy worlds like The Phantom Tollbooth, and as a teen, I read all kinds of horror stories like R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series.
When I became an adult, books took a back seat to movies. But sometimes the movies would make me want to read the books (as was the case for the Twilight series). I also started choosing self-help books (like Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?) and memoirs (like Eat Pray Love) to assist me in improving my real life rather than escaping to fantasy worlds. I also have a special place in my heart for dog books (like You Had Me at Woof).
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My favorite couple of books from the past year have been Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, The Secret Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot and Room by Emma Donoghue. If you need a break from anything heavy, Bossypants by Tina Fey was laugh out loud good 🙂
This post came at the perfect time- I have been searching high and low for an addictive book- one of those that you just can’t put down but no success as of yet. The 50/50 challenge sounds interesting, but that’s a lot of reading in 12 monts- good for you! Off to check out your good reads 🙂
I don’t read nearly enough 🙁 I don’t have a lot of time to actually sit down and read a good book. When I read I like to get totally into the book so I like to devote a lot of time rather than start and stop. I read cookbooks like novels. I don’t know if that is weird or not lol.
What kind of movies do you like? I may be more qualified to suggest a movie?
My latest great read was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. It’s a tear-jerker, but beautiful. I always have two or three books going at any point, plus tons of minor free fiction/amateur writers I’m following. I love reading, and read millions of words a day.
“The Fault in Our Stars” is on my to-read list. I cry all the time (even during TV commercials!), so I’ll probably love it. I’m glad that I’m getting back into reading again–I missed it.
My favorite movie of last year was “Midnight In Paris”. If you haven’t seen it yet, go. Enchanting.
I read tons of non-fiction and very little fiction. The last novel I loved was “Bonfire Of The Vanities” by Tom Wolfe. It depicts New York in the 1980s as accurately as journalism.
Thanks for the movie suggestion. I’ll have to see “Midnight In Paris” before the Oscars. I haven’t read “Bonfire Of The Vanities” but wasn’t it made into a movie too? I’ll have to check out the book.
OMG, please don’t see the movie version! I use it as the prime example of how turning a book into a movie sometimes doesn’t work. It was one of the worst movies of all time.
The best part of the book was the inner-monologues of the characters which brought you into their minds and let you see how they think. The movie depicted none of that and, by merely showing the surface story of the plot, ignored the very reason the book succeeds so well.
If you have the time, the book is worth reading; once you get into it, you can’t stop.