Since the books section is a fairly important part of this site, I decided to explain a bit about how I choose which books to read, where I find recommendations, and why I enjoy reading in the first place.
Why do I read?
Books are full of new ideas waiting to be explored.
Someone’s way of thinking is expressed in writing, captured in a permanent form, arranged and curated for presentation to the world. I find the process fascinating, especially how some authors manage to convey complex ideas, actions, worlds, or even entire universes so clearly.
In books, I want to find new ways to look at various problems and situations, a different way to imagine the world or at least a small part of it. I want them to spark my interest so much that they keep my mind occupied even when I’m not reading.
I enjoy being intrigued by an idea.
And this can come from any type of book: from self-improvement, sci-fi, or horror. Most often, it comes from where you least expect it, and it stays in your mind for a long time or forever.
I try to read around 20 books a year; that’s my goal.
Does it count as cheating if I include certain comics or manga in this count? 😅
And over the last two years, I’ve been trying to read as many books in Romanian as possible, but I also want to read more Romanian authors—not just books translated into Romanian.
I’ve realized that over 50% are directly in English, and as unlikely as it seems, I sometimes end up not finding a certain word in Romanian right away.
How I choose the books I read
There are several sources through which I find books that end up on my Want to Read list:
- Goodreads
- Recommendations from a YouTube video, interview, or show
- Books mentioned in the ones I’m currently reading (these are the most interesting to me because you end up making connections between different books and authors)
- Articles read on various personal websites that have a similar books section to mine
- Physical bookstores
One thing I try to do is not add everything I find to the list, because it will just keep growing and I’ll never realistically finish it.
I want to have quality reads. I don’t want to waste time on books that would frustrate me with how bad they are.
There’s a line between bad books and those that make you uncomfortable or frustrate you with a certain perspective. If a book is just bad, it’s not worth finishing.
Newly released books
Even though I don’t go to physical bookstores that often, probably once every few months, I find them a good source for discovering newly released books, especially in Romanian.
When I’m there, I browse through the shelves, and for the ones that catch my attention, I take a picture so I can remember them at home and look into them a bit more.
Another source is Goodreads, with its end-of-year voting list (Reader’s Favorite Books of the Year). If I haven’t heard of certain books during the year, I always check the voting list at the end of the year and pick some from there.
Goodreads
I think it’s the main place where I choose what to read next.
I don’t usually look at lists created by other users or what my friends have as favorites, but I do enjoy the posts published by Goodreads’ editorial team.
Two great things about Goodreads:
- The recommendation articles (summer reads, horror reads, top books in the want to read list, etc.). The selection is always varied enough that I can find something interesting.
- The large community on the platform. I don’t always go by the ratings books have there, but they’re often a good indicator of what to expect. And honestly, I don’t really like wasting time reading something that might be disappointing.
Preferred format
Ebook or physical book
In recent years, I’ve preferred ebooks, especially since I switched from Kindle to Kobo, and because more and more Romanian books are also available in electronic format.
I still get physical books if they have graphic content inside or an interesting cover.
However, it’s much more comfortable to read on an ebook reader, to highlight a piece of text, add a comment, and then be able to find it later when I’m writing a short review for that book.
Other books that I think are easier to read in physical format are programming books. If they explain concepts with pages of code or pseudocode, it’s much easier to follow in physical format compared to digital.
Audiobook
It’s not my preferred way to “read” a book, but there are exceptions for which I choose audiobooks.
The problem with audiobooks is that you can very easily lose the thread of the story and get distracted by something else. Since you listen to them while doing other things to maximize your time, there’s a high chance you’ll miss a lot of details.
There are probably some books where you just want to grasp the main idea, so you listen at 1.25x speed to skip over the filler parts, but I don’t think that’s for me.
I would listen to an audiobook if it’s narrated by the author and I really want to hear them (for example, Serj Tankian with ‘Down with the System’, Rick Rubin with ‘The Creative Act: A Way of Being’), or if there are multiple actors voicing the characters (for example, ‘World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War’).