Rob’s Comments (group member since May 16, 2010)

Rob’s comments from the Metafilter group.

Heh that's ok Catherine. It allowed me to score another badge in Metafilter life of posting to the grey.

Heh, I meant it as a general "I'd" but I was brave and made the post (my first to the gray). Let me know if I did it wrong or anything. May 7th is good for me.

I'm in. Tho I've never done a book discussion group before so probably won't have much to say. I'd stick a post on the grey and see if people there are up for it. I don't think others are checking here as frequently as I tend to do.

I read about 80/20 nonfiction to fiction these days. I'm finding very few fiction books that capture my interest.

I tend to have 2-3 on the go. Mostly non-fiction but if I find myself getting bored to it I switch to whatever fiction peaks my interest.

With the kindle I find myself having a lot more on the go than previously. So easy to switch to another book when the reading gets boring. I have a lot more unfinished books since having a Kindle.

Is anyone up for a non-fiction read? I have no idea of what but just shooting the idea out there.

Yeah, I hear you. I ended up cleaning my house instead of reading it. I've also bought it multiple times as I gave away copies to interested people and kept thinking everyone says it is good so I should try again.

I'm kanata on MF. I mainly stick to the green. Friend me if you wish. Don't judge me for my poor taste in books though.

Count me in for the Dragon Tattoo. I've attempted to read that one four or five times. I even got past the dreaded first 100 pages that people warned me about. I just couldn't bring myself to care.

I know a book doesn't interest me when I end up cleaning my house 10 minutes after I opened it.

I joined one night when I was house sitting years ago and added a ton of books I remember reading. Then I stopped using it for awhile. Now I mainly use it to track books I read according to year read and books related to therapy. I did have a vast tagging system in place but it kept getting confused so I got rid of it.

I need to start reviewing books more but right now most of my reviews are just notes to myself about how the book helped me.

I also use it a lot to read reviews on books before I buy them.

I have never been able to get through Jonathan Strange. I know I should like it but something about it just makes me get distracted. I think I've tried 3-4 times.

I'm listening to Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case which is a tad slow going and being all high brow and reading Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego.

I'm slowly working my way through the latest G.R.R. Martin book "A Dance With Dragons". I devoured the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire series in like three weeks but seem to find this one slow going.

So now that 2010 is over what would you say was the best book you read last year? New or old.

I really enjoyed The Passage, Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, and Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone.

For nonfiction I go by topic usually and then usually search out what is considered the best book on that topic written. Sometimes I'm lucky and a topic spurs and interest in another and then I'm off over to that one and so on and so on. I love these little reading streaks and wish they'd happen more often.

For fiction I find it sort of a crap shoot. I have a few authors that I automatically get whatever they write. These are usually genre series with characters I really enjoy. Otherwise it is pure luck to find something interesting. I'll go into my library and browse and grab what cover looks interesting or randomly read past Askme's to get recommendations. I subscribe to a bunch of book feeds as well that sometimes spin off into good picks.

I'm reading Paul Is Undead. The British music invasion if John Lennon became a zombie shortly after birth and the resulting consequences.

Charles, that is exactly where I stopped on the Dragon Tattoo. Lots of talk about Swedish finances just lulled me to sleep. You aren't the first who has told me it gets better. I may just come back to it and struggle through. Especially since I foolishly bought the first and second one at the same time and I hate to have not even tried the second.

Latest book I gave up on is Tell-All by Chuck Palahniuk. Even though I won it and it is only 170 pages or so I've stashed it on my abandoned shelf. Chuck only has gimmicks now and doesn't seem to be able to write a good novel around them anymore (though a lot argue he never did in the first place). He's been put on my authors I give up on list.

I abandoned Blindness after about 50 pages. It was another book (like House of Leaves) that I should've loved based on the concept but the style just put me off so much. I think I'm learning that if I pick up a book based on people saying I should love it I need to walk away instead.

I just won the latest Chuck Palahniuk book off the giveaways here which I *should* love since I've liked some of his past stuff. I'll probably abandon it too.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson for me. I really only picked it up because it is *everywhere* and I wanted to see what the fuss is about.

It seems like something I would really enjoy as I'm a big thriller/mystery fan but I've tried to plough through the first 100 pages two times now and just can't do it. All the financial talk just numbs my brain. I've put it aside it hopes that I'll get in the mindset someday.