Day 3: Beyond Books and Blogs
If you had asked me ten years ago if the format of approximately 95% of my reading would be in digital format, I’d probably have called you crazy. I find that reading digitally is easier on my eyes and, amazingly, easier with chronic migraine headaches. I also seem to read much faster digitally than I do in print. Go figure?!
I’d probably have provided the same “you’re crazy” response if you had asked me if I’d ever read graphic novels or listen to audiobooks. However, I’ve read quite a few graphic novels over the past few years and thoroughly enjoyed them. I’m still acclimating to audiobooks, primarily because I don’t like the amount of time involved in listening to a book (12+ hours) when I could read it in less than half that time.
Here are a few of my favorite reads in the graphic novel genre:
I hope to incorporate more graphic novels into my reading over the next few years. The illustrations definitely add another dimension and seem to enhance the overall reading experience. I’ll also have to give audiobooks another chance, perhaps on my next road trip.
Outside of my blog, I try to keep up my Goodreads as well as my LibraryThing profiles. These are excellent sites for keeping track of my reading and TBR lists. For some reason, I’m better at maintaining my profile on Goodreads than I am on LibraryThing, I don’t know why. I also use a spreadsheet for keeping track of my reading and note the author’s gender, nationality, and ethnicity, year the book was published, number of pages, format read [ebook vs. print], dates read, where I obtained the book [publisher, NetGalley, Edelweiss, public library, personal stash, etc.], and my rating [0-5 stars].
To add to my overall reading pleasure, I’m in several IRL book clubs. Three of these meet on a monthly basis and the fourth is rather hit-or-miss but usually meets at least four times each year. Two of these groups are through my local library system (thank you Kanawha County Public Library), one is a local women’s only group via Meetup, and the fourth is via my apartment building (a tenant’s book group). I’m also in several online book groups (okay, it’s three online book groups). I’m good about reading the books and participating in nearly all of my IRL book clubs but only participate about half of the time with the online book groups. I either need to get better at managing my reading time and online participation or give up the online book groups. Better time management it is!
The Book Diva's Reads 