Which books do you plan to read in 2020?

[Orwell20]

Are there are any books you plan to read in the coming year? Or any you intend to re-read? Any big challenges? Books you've always wanted to read but never got round to?

[Beep]

Well obviously everyone here has my book on their list :D
Right?...
Erm...



Oh.

[Moksha]

God, so many. I spent xmas in Cambridge, and wandering around the bookshops was heaven. Actually, I imagine heaven would be like walking into a bookshop in Oxford or Cambridge on a cold, sunny winter's day.

My plan is to read more science and non-fiction this year. On my list:

Carl Sagan: Cosmos
Brian Cox: Wonders of the Universe
Richard Feynman: Collected Quotations
Yuval Harari: Sapiens
Harold Bloom: Shakespeare, Invention of the Human
Alan Watts: Tao, The Watercourse Way
Dickens: Nicholas Nickleby
The Sherlock Holmes novels on audiobook read by Stephen Fry (xmas present)


I also want to re-read Eliot's Four Quartets, but more carefully (with a guide by my side), and Alan Watts' Way of Zen.

I doubt I'll read them all. It will take me forever just to get through the Dickens (I'm a slow reader). I love him, but jesus I wish his novels weren't so long. Top of my list is Sagan's Cosmos, which I have already dipped into and loved - he writes like a poet. I'd also like to try the travel writer Bruce Chatwin, read some more Patrick Leigh Fermor, oh, and William Styron's book Darkness Visible, about his recovery from depression...ugghh, too many books, not enough time.

[genovese]

Originally Posted by Moksha

The Sherlock Holmes novels on audiobook read by Stephen Fry (xmas present)

Nice one

The whole Holmes stephen fry audio series is available on my local library's catalogue.
Really handy to be able to download em legally and for nowt.
I borrowed the lot couple of weeks before Christmas and have been slowly going through them every night.
I prefer Stephen Fry reading Holmes stories out of all the other narrators I've listened to.
And I'm quite partial to Patrick Stewart reading Dickens.

2020 books.....There's a new one due by Dr Gabor Mate I believe and a new one by Ruby Wax.
So those two are on my radar

[Dougella]

Rabbit by Ms Pat. She is a stand up comedian who had a very abusive upbringing, had her first baby at 13 and became a drug dealer. This is her autobiography.


^ Oh, a new book by Gabor Mate, I'll have to add that to my list!

[Jen.]

Nothing specific in mind yet, but I plan to read more African fiction next year.

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by genovese

Nice one

The whole Holmes stephen fry audio series is available on my local library's catalogue.
Really handy to be able to download em legally and for nowt.
I borrowed the lot couple of weeks before Christmas and have been slowly going through them every night.
I prefer Stephen Fry reading Holmes stories out of all the other narrators I've listened to.
And I'm quite partial to Patrick Stewart reading Dickens.

My sister bought me the CD box set of Stephen Fry reading the Holmes novels, and it’s wonderful. I couldn’t sleep one night, so I got up, made a hot chocolate, laid on the sofa and put them on. Bliss. The Holmes novels are like P G Wodehouse - a world you can escape into. I envy children who grew up listening to Fry reading the Harry Potter books.

Actually, I am a massive fan of audiobooks. I ought to listen to more of them in the car, especially Dickens (I might try the Patrick Stewart versions - any you would recommend genovese ?)

[Orwell20]

Originally Posted by Moksha

My sister bought me the CD box set of Stephen Fry reading the Holmes novels, and it’s wonderful. I couldn’t sleep one night, so I got up, made a hot chocolate, laid on the sofa and put them on. Bliss. The Holmes novels are like P G Wodehouse - a world you can escape into. I envy children who grew up listening to Fry reading the Harry Potter books.

Actually, I am a massive fan of audiobooks. I ought to listen to more of them in the car, especially Dickens (I might try the Patrick Stewart versions - any you would recommend genovese ?)

I am also a fan of audiobooks. I keep meaning to listen to Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials (someone said the audiobook is brilliant). I think Stephen Fry has recorded himself reading his autobiographies as well, which I want to try.

My reading list for 2020:

Carlo Rovelli: Reality is Not What it Seems
D H Lawrence: Sons and Lovers (been on my ‘to read’ list for 10 years)
Yuval Harari: Homo Deus (sequel to Sapiens, which I loved)
The final part of Lord of the Rings (probably listen to it on audiobook)
Saul Bellow: Herzog
Oliver Sacks: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Graham Greene: The Heart of the Matter
Matt Haig: Notes on a Nervous Planet
Dickens: Hard Times

I am going to try to alternate fiction and non-fiction this year, reading a novel, then a science book, then a novel, etc.

[edbander]

honestly I've found books can be hit or miss for me, there are a few I've started but haven't finished. Ben Elton is a favourite author but I've read most of his books. I have about 300 films to watch though

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Jimmy77

Matt Haig: Notes on a Nervous Planet

A must read for anyone on this forum. Haig's other book, the one on depression (can't remember the title), is good as well. There is something comforting in reading about other people's struggles. It's not that I take pleasure in their pain, but knowing other people suffer (and survive) mental illness makes you feel less alone.

[Unnecessarily Long Username_1]

I dont read books, there for nerds

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Tonkin

I want to read Simon Schama - A History of Britain

Can anyone recommend any easy reads about the Brain and how it works etc?

Schama’s TV series is brilliant - definitely worth having on boxset.

It isn’t a simple, step by step guide to how the brain works, but Oliver Sacks’ book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is worth a look. He was fascinated by the brain and the ways it can malfunction and mislead (by hallucinations, bouts of madness, etc). Sacks was a psychiatrist who based the book on some of the cases he’d dealt with. He is a superb writer, as well as being polymathically brilliant and humane.

[Orwell20]

Originally Posted by Tonkin

Can anyone recommend any easy reads about the Brain and how it works etc?

David Eagleman The Brain. Or just print off the Wikipedia entry on the brain and go through it with a highlighter pen. Oliver Sacks is a wonderful writer, but his book isn’t a simple guide to the brain, which is what Tonkin wants. I have glanced through it, and it’s more a collection of case studies.

[genovese]

Originally Posted by Moksha

Actually, I am a massive fan of audiobooks. I ought to listen to more of them in the car, especially Dickens (I might try the Patrick Stewart versions - any you would recommend genovese ?)

Christmas Carol is the one I had
It's every bit as good as you think it is

[Orwell20]

I must read some Kurt Vonnegut this year. I also want to listen to more audiobooks. My new year resolution is to stop spending so much time on social media, especially arguing with people, and instead to lie in a hot bubble bath listening to audiobooks. Some authors are better on audio than others. Dickens is great, because a good reader can bring the characters alive. I will also try some Thomas Hardy and P G Wodehouse. Apparently, there is a great recording of Pullman’s Dark Materials.

[Franz of Franzylvania]

Looking forward to the The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel. Will have to somehow re-read Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies before it comes out though, as I've mostly forgotten them due to sieve brain.

Got a few books for Christmas that look good: The Cockroach by Ian McEwan and the Usborne book of Ghosts in particular .

Also started Underland by Robert McFarlane and enjoying it so far, so hoping to actually finish that. I'd also like to read some more of Jeff Vandermeer's stuff. And maybe even get around to Sense and Sensibility.

Audiobooks wise, there are a few good playlists on Spotify of short stories that have gone into the public domain. Loads of H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, M R James etc. Good spooky stuff, and read by some great voices like Basil Rathbone.

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Franz of Franzylvania

Looking forward to the The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel. Will have to somehow re-read Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies before it comes out though, as I've mostly forgotten them due to sieve brain.

My sister was going on about this over Xmas. Apparently, Mantel said she’s put more effort into this final volume than anything she’s ever done.

Got a few books for Christmas that look good: The Cockroach by Ian McEwan and the Usborne book of Ghosts in particular .

Also started Underland by Robert McFarlane and enjoying it so far, so hoping to actually finish that. I'd also like to read some more of Jeff Vandermeer's stuff. And maybe even get around to Sense and Sensibility.

Audiobooks wise, there are a few good playlists on Spotify of short stories that have gone into the public domain. Loads of H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, M R James etc. Good spooky stuff, and read by some great voices like Basil Rathbone.

Ian McEwan is another name on my to read list. I am becoming more and more interested in science, and McEwan is famous for his love of science (The Child in Time is good). M R James on audiobook is a good one. I’d also like to listen to Doyle’s Lost World. I wonder if you can get H G Wells on audiobook? I keep meaning to listen to The Time Machine

[Jen.]

I was going to listen to more audiobooks this year since I'm getting a bit tired of podcasts, so I checked to see what's available online from my library and found out that their audiobooks are spread over three different apps and you can't search what they've got until you've downloaded them and signed up to each one Terrible service.

[Jen.]

Yeah, even looking through all three library apps the choice doesn't seem great. They're either very popular mainstream books that are all checked out for the next several months, or they're available but they that look like the kind of thing someone's grandma has sold two copies of on Kindle. One of them even has magazines, which seems weird... I don't know if they get someone to sit down and read aloud whole issues of BBC Good Food, Top Gear and Chat every month or if it's a computer voice reading everything.

I don't think I would need something unlimited, and I looked at Audible but £7.99 seems a bit steep when I'd realistically only listen to probably one a month. They seem to promote it based on being able to "keep" them... but I wonder how often people actually re-listen to audiobooks? I know I never would.

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Jimmy77

I must read some Kurt Vonnegut this year. I also want to listen to more audiobooks. My new year resolution is to stop spending so much time on social media, especially arguing with people, and instead to lie in a hot bubble bath listening to audiobooks. Some authors are better on audio than others. Dickens is great, because a good reader can bring the characters alive. I will also try some Thomas Hardy and P G Wodehouse. Apparently, there is a great recording of Pullman’s Dark Materials.

It’s also great to listen to audiobooks while hiking in the countryside. I know someone who swears this saved him from suicidal depression. Evelyn Waugh is another writer who is great to listen to. It’s a good point actually, I mean that some authors are better on audio than others. The best tend to be those with big characters in their novels, like Dickens. Tolkien is also good. Mind you, I once listened to George Orwell’s essays, and they were great, so I guess there isn’t any hard rule.

[Orwell20]

Originally Posted by Franz of Franzylvania

Audiobooks wise, there are a few good playlists on Spotify of short stories that have gone into the public domain. Loads of H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, M R James etc. Good spooky stuff, and read by some great voices like Basil Rathbone.

There is an audiobook out there read by Basil Rathbone??!! Why was I not informed??!! Which ones does he read? Man, I would looove to hear him read M R James. I often wish I was eight or nine so I could listen to Stephen Fry read all the Harry Potter books.

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Jimmy77

. I often wish I was eight or nine so I could listen to Stephen Fry read all the Harry Potter books.

Haha, me too. He has recorded loads of adult audiobooks though - Sherlock Holmes, for example, plus his own stuff.

[genovese]

Just an addition to my Christmas Carol audiobook hunt

Came across this in my library's catalogue
It's a right humdinger

[Orwell20]

Originally Posted by ;2470371

genoveseJust an addition to my Christmas Carol audiobook hunt

Came across this in my library's catalogue
It's a right humdinger

If ever someone was made for reading audiobooks it was Tom Baker!! And Dickens is one of those writers, like P G Wodehouse, H G Wells, Conan Doyle, Roald Dahl, etc, who are perfectly suited to being read aloud.

[Appear]

Originally Posted by Jimmy77

I must read some Kurt Vonnegut this year. I also want to listen to more audiobooks. My new year resolution is to stop spending so much time on social media, especially arguing with people, and instead to lie in a hot bubble bath listening to audiobooks. Some authors are better on audio than others. Dickens is great, because a good reader can bring the characters alive. I will also try some Thomas Hardy and P G Wodehouse. Apparently, there is a great recording of Pullman’s Dark Materials.

I love Kurt Vonnegut - definitely worth a read.

[Bluebear]

Too many to list here (and for now I’m keeping that between me and my inner circle)

Xoxo

[Orwell20]

Originally Posted by Appear

I love Kurt Vonnegut - definitely worth a read.

I loved Slaughterhouse Five (think that was the title).