Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

This may not specifically be book related, and I realize we have discussed similar topics before, but do you have technological tricks that aid you when you read or write about reading?

In the past we have discussed online electronic sources for books, and even discussed nightlight use on physical books, but it feels to me as if the reading landscape is changing so quickly that things we said even a couple of years ago in the chats aren't really applying anymore.

For instance, I still rely heavily on Kindle purchases or pdf downloads, but I primarily read on my laptop now. I probably own more physical books than the average person, but the instant gratification from locating a download keeps me reading electronic sources.

My second answer is specifically about using assistive technologies. Although I have known that the speech to text dictation existed on my laptop, I've only started using it in the last couple of weeks due to difficulties with my hands. I find speaking to make a post very helpful, and I will try to use this feature to help me at school as well.

Lynn wrote: "I probably own more physical books than the average person,"

A worthy monthly question. Though not much discussion. Maybe, ahem, expect for some of us: How did you arrive on that number?

I do about 2/3 of my reading from my tablet (mostly using Moon+Reader). I have almost stopped reading physical books in bed.

I can read from my tablet at night without turning on the light. This both avoids waking my husband and attracting mosquitoes.

Moon+Reader allows almost complete control over the screen and light. I do not have any problem falling a sleep after reading from it. And the instant dictionary.

I have tried different versions to Moon+Readers text to speech to generate audiobooks, but did not like the result. It worked, but just that. I read somewhere that the future of artificial audiobook generation is near.

A few night back I decided to getting started on Lady Windermere's Fan. I have Oscar Wilde’s complete works as physical book. But having to get up, and dust it off, and.... and on Project Gutenberg it was right there. I ended reading the full thing on my tablet.

I'm still hanging on to some physical book reading, just for the "old time" feeling I get that reminds me how I felt when I read books in high school (and I love using bookmarks!). BUT I agree completely with J_BlueFlower -- I always keep a book or two going on my iPad. I love to read in bed at night, and it is SO much easier on e-book. I enjoy that I don't have to mess with turning a lamp off and on, and I keep the dark screen (white letters) on all the time. It it so much better on my vision as I age.

I am also addicted to audio books and will continue to listen since they at least double the number of books I am able to read per year!
I listened to my first audio book on cassette in 1989 (The Shell Seekers -- so good!). I got it from our library -- one of the only audio books they had at that time! When I finished I told the librarian that they needed to get a lot more of those! I loved listening to a book so much! And, yes, I went through the whole listening on CDs era, downloading onto my computer and transferring to my iPod (until I dropped that in the toilet and lost over 20 downloaded books!). And now I am constantly excited to "click" to instantly get an audio book or e-book (same as you, Lynn!) anytime of the day or night. No more complaints of "I don't have anything to read!" I have a whole library with me everywhere I go!

One other thing that has increased my reading technology-wise (besides retirement and having more time available!) is the access to book information such as here on Goodreads and all the sites that tell us about new books coming out. Or during our GR conversation threads when reading friends tell us about "old" books that we didn't know about and now must read!

So, my love for reading has not changed over the years, but the way I access the books and get my book information has changed a lot, and I love it! :)

I have increased my reading a lot by listening to audiobooks while commuting. This amounts to 1.5 hours everyday, as long as I am listening. While I will occasionally read in the Kindle app on my iPad, I really dislike doing it. For actual reading, I still prefer a non-tech solution, an actual book, either paperback or hardcover, as long as the format is large enough dimensionally. I very much dislike tiny paperbacks, and actually love the books I get with large type.

I started increasing my bookish life by doing several things other things. The first was I started listening to a podcast, What Should I Read Next. I know some of my Goodreads friends have done this too. This exposed me to a larger number of books than I might otherwise have known. I am not still a regular listener, but I do pop in from time to time. Snd enjoy listening to what readers have to say about book, and what Anne Bogel has to recommend.

The second thing was joining Goodreads and keeping track of my reading. And from there, I started reading more reviews. I started to challenge myself to read more books. Then, I made a commitment to myself to write a review of every book I read. The review can be long or short, but I have to say something. I have mostly followed through with this pledge, with perhaps a few exceptions in the last few years.

Then I joined 2 Goodreads groups and started interacting with others. All of these actions increased the number of books I am reading, the quality of the books consumed and the enjoyment and understanding of that I am reading.

Lastly, I will mention that I know some readers use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of their reading, although I do not.

J_BlueFlower wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I probably own more physical books than the average person,"

A worthy monthly question. Though not much discussion. Maybe, ahem, expect for some of us: How did you arrive on that number?"

Within my personal experience with the people I have known I own more books than them. It was not meant to be a universal statement. I should have qualified it more fully.

Terry wrote: "I have increased my reading a lot by listening to audiobooks while commuting. This amounts to 1.5 hours everyday, as long as I am listening. While I will occasionally read in the Kindle app on my i..."

About the Excel sheet... I used composition books to keep a Book Journal. This year I retired doing that and am now only using by Google Sheet. I particularly like the Google Sheet for planning and keeping a To Be Read inventory list.

Terry wrote: "I have increased my reading a lot by listening to audiobooks while commuting. This amounts to 1.5 hours everyday, as long as I am listening. While I will occasionally read in the Kindle app on my i..."

I do keep a spreadsheet. A few years ago I tried to put in all the books I think I've ever read! I've always been a list keeper. and I typed in the books and dates I read them. I know I don't have every book I ever read, but I think I have the majority of them going back to 1966! I like to look back and see when I read certain books. It's kind of like a diary and I can remember where I was when I read certain books. I like the memories :)

I, too, am a natural list maker, and use a spreadsheet to keep track of my reading. I like to be able to see how many books I've read each year, and whether I'm reading more newer or older books. And I like having somewhere to write down my favourite quotes from books I've read.

Most of my reading I do with physical books. I'll use gutenberg if I can't find a copy of an old book, or if the only copy I can find has tiny type, but I prefer paper. I listen to audiobooks only occasionally.

The change that's made the biggest difference in my reading life is joining a couple of Goodreads groups, including this one, and taking on their reading challenges. I too have spent some time with the What Should I Read Next podcast/website. After a while, though, I found it was mostly only introducing me to newly published books. It's here, both with the group reads and by following other people's challenges, that I've found out about more classics that I hadn't heard of or hadn't read, and that's made a big difference for me.

Lynn wrote: "Within my personal experience with the people I have known I own more books than them. It was not meant to be a universal statement. I should have qualified it more fully.."

I understood the ”average”. Given you have had more years to accumulate them, you likely have more than I. But I have no idea, if I have many compared to another who is a hungry reader and very active on goodreads. I think, my husband and I have in the neighbourhood of 900 books. A lot of shelves are double layer. If I should make a better estimate, I would measure shelves by the meter.

Terris wrote: " I don't have every book I ever read, but I think I have the majority of them going back to 1966!"

Well done! I thought I was weird for keeping a paper record. Mine goes back to 1988.

I'm really enjoying this conversation!

I know I'm a dying breed, but I prefer paper books--not just a little, almost exclusively. I've tried for many years now to take advantage of audio books, but I feel at sea when I'm listening. I like to stop frequently and to go back when I'm reading, so multi-tasking and reading don't go together for me. I'm grateful for books available online, and will read them when no paper book is available, but don't want an ereader.

I do appreciate the technology that helps us keep track of books. I too have a spreadsheet, for the memories as Terris says, and for ease in sorting. Pre-Goodreads I didn't keep track (love that some of you have!), and usually wait to re-read the very long ago ones before I mark them as read here.

I listen to some podcasts and Youtube reviews, but most regularly I follow Literary Hub and they keep me appraised of new books, fun historical stuff, and author interviews, and I love having this info coming to me on a regular basis.

Like many others have already said, I prefer physical books. I have a hard time with reading on a computer screen. I will probably eventually get a small tablet and use it as an e-reader but I'm holding off as long as I can. Anyway, I've got a few hundred paper books stacked all over the place that need reading.

Funny, with my paper books I've gotten picky about which edition I read. For classics, I like the Oxford World Classics edition (with lots of great footnotes) or the Norton Critical Edition with contextual and analytic essays and other supporting material.

Back to technology. I used to use a spreadsheet to track all the books I wanted to find and read, but one day my hard drive melted down and I lost the spreadsheet. I switched over to using Goodreads to track things and that's what I've used since. I created a shelf for my "Wish List" to keep track of books I want to get while my Want To Read shelf is strictly for books I own that I want to read.

I tried using Library Thing but just can't get into it. Maybe someday...

I have started listening to audiobooks but I usually listen to them while I'm driving and my mind wanders at times, so I usually don't use them for my serious reads. I use audio to re-visit books that I've already read or for non-fiction books. I also like podcasts, but mostly about my sports teams (Dodgers, LA Kings, Lakers, if you're wondering). I haven't found any book podcasts or BookTubers that I like. Book podcasts seem to be all over the place - usually reviewing or discussing books I have no interest in. Same for BookTubers, with a lot of "ums" and "uhs" thrown in. Both podcasts and YouTube channels are rated on how long they keep you listening so unfortunately they have no incentive to get to the point. I listened to one well known Sci-Fi podcast and they spent the first 10 minutes of the show talking about Canada and their Discord server. It was unlistenable. Never again.

One thing I do enjoy is having a iPad nearby when I read historical books so I can look up information about the people and places and ideas mentioned in the book. Sometimes I look up words I'm unfamiliar with, or the author whose work I'm reading. A quick Google search can give you a lot of information about a book or story.

J_BlueFlower wrote: "Terris wrote: " I don't have every book I ever read, but I think I have the majority of them going back to 1966!"

Well done! I thought I was weird for keeping a paper record. Mine goes back to 1988."

J_BlueFlower wrote: "Terris wrote: " I don't have every book I ever read, but I think I have the majority of them going back to 1966!"

Well done! I thought I was weird for keeping a paper record. Mine goes back to 1988."

I'm pretty sure you are younger than me, so we may be equivalent in our accounting of books read. Isn't it fun?!

If you were born in approx 1958 and your list started in 1966. You were approximately 8. I was about 15 years old. It was at the time I started to read "real" books. The Name of the Rose, 1984, Brave New World, Hamlet (in translation), Man's Search for Meaning (we should read that some day),

I read about half and half print books and ebooks. Audio just isn't for me. I think if I had a work commute I might enjoy it, but I find my mind just wanders too much when I am listening while doing chores, etc.

I have come to prefer ebooks because highlighting makes everything easier for me. If I am reading print or from archive I find myself constantly stopping to type quotations or make notes, or I get to the end of a great book and haven't got a single note to jog my memory later.

I must be one of the few around here, but I strongly prefer audiobooks. I am able to read so much more by working it into my commute, my chores, my walks, etc. I’m closing in on 70 books this year, and without audiobooks it probably would only be a dozen or so.

If I can’t do an audiobook, I prefer an electronic version, and the biggest reason is highlighting & note-taking. I like the fact that I can edit and search my electronic notes. I started this when I was getting my MLIS, and I’ve heavily carried it over into my pleasure reading.

The one exception is graphic novels, of which I check out physical copies from a library. I do occasionally wish I could take notes on them, but for the most part I like them in the physical format.
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I also love tracking & stats. I used to keep spreadsheets, which were gradually replaced by tracking on GoodReads, which has gradually been superseded by tracking on a site called TheStoryGraph (https://thestorygraph.com/). It’s a great site, because you track more than just dates and genres/tags—when you have read a book, it prompts you to identify moods, pace, etc. And then you can see those things reflected in your stats. So I know that I tend to read books which are reflective, informative, and/or emotional, that I like slow pacing better than fast, etc. I wish the data were a little more granular (I suspect they’ll improve that over time), but it’s definitely superior to any other tracking I’ve ever done elsewhere.

RJ, great point about having your iPad nearby! I do that too and find it helps my enjoyment. I can look places up for visuals, listen to referenced songs or define a word I am not familiar with.

On the subject of highlighting, I have given up marking books or folding down corners. Like the commercial where a woman puts a post it note on her phone, I use low tech post its to mark passages and sometimes will write a comment on them. After I write a review I toss the post its or reuse them until they are no longer sticky.

Because I don’t really enjoy reading in the Kindle app, I am not very adept at highlighting there.

Then, because I consume a lot of real books, I give most of them away when I have finished. I may keep a few, but I am through collecting things in my life. The remaining ones I sell back to Half Price Books (and use the proceeds to buy another book). They go out into the world unmarked.

J_BlueFlower wrote: "If you were born in approx 1958 and your list started in 1966. You were approximately 8. I was about 15 years old. It was at the time I started to read "real" books. [book:The Name of the Rose|1190..."

You are right. My mom typed up the books I read one summer on a recipe card. I was 8 years old in the third grade! I didn't continue to write down every book at that time, but that got me started on lists.

I did start to read classics at about the same as you did (at 14 or 15). My first was Pride and Prejudice, and the rest is history! I have loved classics ever since, but enjoy many other types of books also.
I have read the first four you mentioned, but not Man's Search for Meaning. I have not had a desire to read that one, but I think I didn't know enough about it. I just looked it up. It is short, and looks like something I'd really be interested in! Thanks for recommendation through this discussion ;)

Terry wrote: "...Then, because I consume a lot of real books, I give most of them away when I have finished...."

That would be a great future topic: What do you do with your books when you finish them?

Like many others, I read ebooks quite a bit. The ease of buying, downloading and borrowing from the library plus the number and variety of books at my fingertips is irresistible. I read on my Kindle paperwhite and on my tablet using the Kindle, Libby, Hoopla, or the Moon+ apps.

I also listen to a lot of audiobooks. My audiobook listening has increased dramatically over the past two years. I listen in my car, while exercising, and sometimes in the evening when my eyes are too tired to read. I sometimes miss something because my mind wanders, but I usually listen to either nonfiction and missing a bit doesn't matter much or I listen to lighter fiction that I can figure out what's going on anyway. I listen to some classics but I have to pay more attention to those books.

I read paper books as well, but it gets to be less and less as the years go by. The fonts are sometimes too small and I find an ebook easier. I now am much more choosy about the editions I buy for classics since font size now matters.

I have kept a spreadsheet with the books I read since 2009. I track some stats such as fiction or nonfiction, publication date, my star rating, etc. I also keep lists of long term reading challenges. I track my books on GR, but I really see that as my way to track my tbr and my owned books and not so much the books I have read. I definitely use GR when planning my reading challenges. I tried Storygraph, but I wasn't a fan. I guess I have too much time invested in my GR shelves that didn't import correctly to Storygraph to bother with it.

Laurie wrote:


I read paper books as well, but it gets to be less and less as the years go by. The fonts are sometimes too small and I find an ebook easier. I now am much more choosy about the editions I buy for classics since font size now matters.


Lynn's response. Me too. I noticed the electronic books are finally outnumbering the paper copies, so I thought we could discuss this again. Goodreads discussions have made me aware of the importance of choosing from various editions. I never really considered that before.

When I used the title "Assistive Technologies", I was thinking about tools for helping us read or participate in Goodreads. I had to visit an orthopedic specialist for hand pain this week. Luckily it does not hurt to play piano, because that would break my heart. Typing is becoming a problem, and I need to do so much typing at work that I deliberately have been posting less here. Also, text typing on a phone is even worse than on a keyboard. Learning to use the dictation feature on my Chromebook, I think may be the solution to that problem. It really is very easy to use the dictation.

I'm curious if the dictation feature has any issues with understanding certain words based on one's accent. I've never needed to try it for anything longer than a search question, but my father did and he had a few problems. His Texas accent was apparently not always understood and the dictation would produce the occasional odd word. We could see that the issue was the way he said certain words. This was a number of years ago, so this problem may no longer exist. I know when I speak to Google search on my phone, my accent isn't a problem.

Sorry about your hand pain, Lynn. I hope your doc can help you.

I use the dictation mode to read memorable quotes into my reviews. Invariably, though, I have to make corrections. But then, again, my typing on my phone also renders plenty of mistakes.

Matt wrote: “Admittedly my mind wanders sometimes like I’ve seen a lot of people comment”

I actually find that speeding them up helps with this. It varies depending on the book, but I usually listen somewhere in the 1.7x–2.1x range. I may not retain as much (I’m honestly not sure), but I definitely don’t drift off into random thoughts as often as I do at 1x.

Matt wrote: "I’m more of a 1.25 - 1.5 audiobook speed. Anything above that for me feels too fast."

To be fair, I listen to a lot of nonfiction. Fiction, I generally keep pretty close to that 1.7x speed.

I'm usually listening at. 1.7x speed as well. On occasion I lower to 1.5x if the narrator speaks more quickly than normal or if they have an accent that I need to listen more closely to such as a Scottish accent.

well I used to read quite a lot of books by borrowing them on Internet Archive,
but that has been significantly reduced by the recent legal ruling requiring them to take down a lot of titles :o(

Laurie wrote: "I'm curious if the dictation feature has any issues with understanding certain words based on one's accent. I've never needed to try it for anything longer than a search question, but my father did..."

The problem I have with dictation is I am naturally wordy. When typing I tend to edit better. Also the punctuation usually needs to be edited after the dictation is over.

Matt wrote: "spoko wrote: "Matt wrote: “Admittedly my mind wanders sometimes like I’ve seen a lot of people comment”

I actually find that speeding them up helps with this. It varies depending on the book, but ..."

I agreement I prefer 1.5 speed usually. I also agree about the YouTube comment. I have listened to many audio books or at least portions of youTube audio books while driving.

Audio book speed: I usually stay with the natural speed. I am very bad at multitasking. If I speed up it works fine for a while, but I have to go back and re-hear some too often.

Some narrators make the reading a little art work in itself. For example in English George Guidall and in Danish Karsten Pharao. Speeding them up feels like speeding up a movie.

I never used youtube audiobooks. I though they where pirated.

J_BlueFlower wrote: "Audio book speed: I usually stay with the natural speed. I am very bad at multitasking. If I speed up it works fine for a while, but I have to go back and re-hear some too often.

Some narrators ma..."

Most youtube audios in English that I listen to are by Librivox. I believe their original source was books read by volunteers of only public domain source books. Then I also like HorrorBabble who reads just for his channel, as a money making project, but he reads public domain works.