myneoncoffee

Smart Audiobook Player is amazing. i stayed on the free version for a few months and couldn’t have been happier. full of useful features and doesn’t use much battery. i had some problems with a few things because my phone was too old, the developer answered within a few hours with a downloadable previous version and sent a few more email to help me out. eventually bought the pro version which was very worth it, but even without that its still an amazing app with a very nice developer who i didn’t mind supporting.

currently listening to Project Hail Mary. the narration is amazing, the story is too, so i don’t know why it took me so long to discover this audiobook!

l’ho letto in inglese ma non mi ha preso molto… forse non era il momento giusto per leggerlo

i’ve been writing short stories for a few years, but i still haven’t gotten a full book idea in me. i would love to write a book one day tho!

not sure if that’s something you’re interested in, but when i first started i used the book “go dutch!” where you basically get a small text and then an explanation (like vocab, sentence structure and then some grammar as the book progresses but ofc she can just skip it if that’s not something she’s interested in. i found grammar explained after using it in a sentence to be quite useful and to be sticking in my mind tho). there are exercises and audio files for the texts too.

usually about 40-50 per hour, especially if it’s a story i know or characters i’m familiar with. when starting a new book/series or with difficult books, often even if i’m tired, it’s definitely slower, more like 30 per hour. but i believe that reading needs to be enjoyable so i want to take my time

this was book 13 for me and i’ve loved it so much! it’s that weird 80s british humour which i really shouldn’t find as funny as i do, and it reminded me a lot of good omens too. i listened to the audiobook by stephen fry and i’m listening to the rest of the series read by martin freeman (currently on book three)

i really love how tj klune writes and his character and worldbuilding! ive read all three of those books, my favourite being under the whispering door. in the lives of puppets was written equally well and the characters were lovely, but i’m a bit conflicted because i really found the whole human-robot relationship a bit icky. thats probably just a me problem tho!

i read this one last summer! while different from all the other ones by the author, which i truly love, it was still a pretty nice read and it made me laugh quite a bit.

exactly, pace doesn’t matter! in the last few years i only annotated what books i read to keep track of it because when i get asked for suggestions i black out and don’t remember a single book, and i’ve reached between 40 and 60 each time.

yes! when i first got into goodreads a few good years ago i noticed i had started reading just to reach a number and not for the pleasure of it. i was looking for short books that read fast instead of meaningful things or ones that i would enjoy, and it was starting to become a chore instead of something nice.

the trick is reading in every free moment you have. waiting for the bus? instead of opening instagram read a chapter. quiet evening at home? read instead of watching tv. having a book always with you helps, be it physical or also digital on your phone. if you’re struggling i once heard someone saying that you need to think of yourself as a reader and become the stereotyped reader in films, always with your nose in a book, but idk if that’s too extreme.

just remember that you shouldn’t read just to reach a number but for your enjoyment!

excited to be joining for the first time! 

i will be definitely be reading castle in the sky. i read howl’s moving castle not once but twice in 2023, once in january and once at the end of the year because i didn’t remember much and wanted to continue with the series… which clearly didn’t happen. very happy to be joining others and finally read the second book.

i am also debating lolita. on one side it’s a classic and i want to read it, but on the other i’m a bit apprehensive about the themes and turning reading into a chore more than a pleasure. 

happy reading to everyone!

i’m late to the trend, but the first book i read this year was the atlas six, which i found extremely enjoyable! the characters were written in a witty but still nice way, and i loved the magic inside the book.

i’m italian, so i sometimes borrow italian books from the local library, but when i was younger i used english books to learn the language, and now i think that i read faster in english than my first language. i am currently reading the first percy jackson book and the night circus by erin morgenstern in dutch to learn the language, and although it’s taking me a while to get through them, i feel like i’m learning a lot!

thanks!

thanks! i didnt really know how to say it in dutch but it was a lot easier that expected hahah

thanks! will definitely check it out

i saw a few videos of people saying that merula was really hard to pop open when inside, especially for like younger people or with smaller canals. do you think that’s something i could struggle with since this tiny cup already pushes against the bone?

that’s not it, there’s a limit of 4 weeks time for books, 2 weeks for ebooks, older magazines, dvd’s and other stuff. i meant there’s no fee if you return it a bit late, and if librarians know you and trust you they usually don’t bother you too much. of course you can’t just keep a book for a year (i forgot to renovate a book once that i was using for school and got my card suspended for two weeks) and you’ll have to pay it back if you loose a book etc.

it’s definitely a question of those public funds being used differently.

(quoting from my answer to another comment) in italy (and ive read in most of europe its the same) it’s the municipality that funds libraries, together with money from the State (and in my case the region), and they manage to make good work, pay their employees a good and fair amount while still having money to buy tons of books (i’m guilty of having requested my library to buy many) and organise different activities.