Since AP Lit in high school, I’ve wanted to get into reading. Recently I started making a list of things I want to read (both fiction and non, fantasy and sci fi, bios and commentary), but am not making the slightest dent in it. Im able to read magazine writing and online publications throughout the day, so what do y’all do to read more books?

And why is it Ravenclaw?

I figure we might as well get a thread going about the Harry Potter series of books, show that it is popular and that ~HarryPotter needs to be a thing.

Which Hogwarts house are you? Find some like-minded friends and start the seeds of a community here.

What book are you reading currently? What's your favourite book of all time? Suggest books for us to read this month and maybe a short blurb as to why we should read it.

I'm currently reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, a book that is widely regarded as one of the best recently-released motivational tools for cleaning up and sorting your life and living areas. Ms Kondo puts forward a method of sorting possessions to keep vs ones to discard, one that appears to work for a decent number of people based on discussions I've seen.

I'm a big fan of Peter Watts (Blindsight, Echopraxia) and Greg Egan (Schild's Ladder, Diaspora) and always looking for more to read. That said I find myself a little bit difficult sometimes as I'm not really a fan of massive scope stuff like operas or anything too dated. Granted I really haven't given either of the latter much of a chance as I think I just prefer tight, focused stories with a small cast of characters.

I recently started The Quantum Thief and am liking certain aspects of it but you're really thrown into a blizzard with that one.

I don't mind reading a fast book with lots of action or a twisting plot, but over the years have discovered authors that seem to have a style unique to them apart from what's going on:

Richard Powers seems to play with the sounds and meanings of words strung together like pearls on a necklace(The Echo Maker, Orfeo).

John Banville (Athena) creates descriptions that sound poetic and deep while remaining clear and visual.

Donna Tartt (The Goldfinch) puts you into a scene so that you feel the emotion of being there.

Don Delillo (The Names) makes a continental paradise seem like a dense forest of scholars and bright sunlight all at the same time.

Those are a few of mine, what are your favorites?

Norse Mythology by Niel Gaiman is really well narrated and just sucked me into the world and myths. But now that I've finished that; I wanna give some other ones a chance before diving into any other Gaiman or Harari stuff.

Sapiens by Yuval Harari is a book I was really interested in reading after seeing a TED talk online by this guy. But even though my library had it, I just couldn't digest any of it without re-reading the page eleventy times over. Then I used the free audible book on it and I'm so glad that I did. If you've ever wanted to feel both insignificant and special at the same time, then this is the (audio)book for you!