Books Books Books!

You have to say this title like the “Boats boats boats!” girl says it in How I Met Your Mother.

Recently, I asked for book recommendations on Twitter, since I’ve also recently decided that I want to try and read 24 books this year – two a month. The finishing of two books in a month shouldn’t be too difficult for me, since I read relatively quickly, but instead the difficulty comes in picking books to read and actually having motivation to pick out new books rather than re-read old ones. I should clarify my goal: 24 new books in a year. I re-read a lot of books, because I get bored and pick out old favorites from bookshelves and burn through those again.

On the recommended list are:

When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
The Revenant, Michael Punke
Room, Emma Donoghue
I Was Told There’d Be Cake, Sloane Crosley
Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne

So far, my favorite book of 2016 has been The Kite Runner. Yes, I know I’m like 10 years behind on this book, but this was my first time reading it and it blew me away. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy the ending that much because it felt rushed compared to the amazing narrative that was set up through the first two-thirds of the book – but I think I often feel like the endings are the worst parts of books, especially books that I’ve enjoyed reading so much that I don’t want them to end.

I should go and pick up some of these books before I leave for Taiwan in a week – I am (only very slightly) ashamed to admit that I picked up Redwall again and am reading about small mice fighting big rats for the umpteenth time…