Comments on: What I learned from reading an 1124 page book

By: Asha

Asha — Sat, 02 May 2020 15:26:08 +0000

Dear Laura,
I thought about this post as I started to read The CRUSADES: CONFLICT BETWEEN CHRISTENDOM AND ISLAM by Matti Moosa. It has 1164 pages. It is the first long book I have read since my twenties after War and Peace. After two weeks, I finally finished it! It was a great read and now its time to write a review! I have such an appreciation for what happened back then!

Thanks for the inspiration!

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 03:16:09 +0000

In reply to Marie.

@Marie – I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I wasn’t worried about recommending it because, hey, it won the Nobel Prize! So even if someone didn’t like it, they probably would recognize that it was important literature. But so much the better to *enjoy* the literature as well!

By: Marie

Marie — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 14:22:46 +0000

Wow… thank you for posting about this book! After one month of toting Kristin Lavransdatter to every doctor’s appointment, business trip, and family vacation, I finished it this morning, entirely enchanted. Thanks for the recommendation and the encouragement to dive in to such a long novel. Did you read the intro to it? I love the last few paragraphs, about the poignancy and enchantment of a long novel you may never return to, and that experience inducing you to approach a stranger to say “I once read that book.”

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 13:02:27 +0000

In reply to Hardik.

@Hardik- I do! If you look back through my archives, I write a post called “Books read in July” or “Books read in June” back through January, I think. Also, I have a running list in my planner/notebook.

I will share the article on digital distractions when it runs. But it’s going to run ONLINE, which is of course a wee bit ironic 🙂

By: Hardik

Hardik — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 09:24:57 +0000

I just wanted to know if you keep track of the books that you’ve read (or any other documentation).
Also, do share your tips on curbing digital distractions. Everyone needs it (don’t just write an article, write a whole new book on it :P)

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 20:14:14 +0000

In reply to Tana. @Tana- that is impressive! 142 books as a homeschooling mom is no joke. But yep, if you're reading 2 hours a day plus doing audio books, it's a lot of time, and a lot of pages, and it will add up.

By: Tana

Tana — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 17:13:52 +0000

I am at home with kids all day which makes it impossible to do much deep thinking during the day. So when the kids are around (and I am only supervising indirectly) I allow myself to be online or do piddly tasks. When they are not around, I am NOT online nor am I on Facebook. I get up early and read for an hour before anyone else is up, and then I read an hour at night after the kids are in bed. Audiobooks get sprinkled in here and there during the day (car, walks, chores, cooking, etc.). I average about 40 hours of audiobooks per month plus 20 hours of early morning reading (weekdays) and at least 20 hours of reading weekend mornings and not-so-abundant evenings at home. Audiobooks take twice as long as reading a book, so all together, thats 60 hours equivalent of reading a month. At 50 pages an hour, thats 3000 pages. I used to spend my evenings surfing the web but now that I track my reading (since last November), I’ve become far more aware of my “best times” for reading and now put them to good use. My Goodreads tally at the moment is 142 books so far for 2017.

By: Aimee

Aimee — Sun, 27 Aug 2017 22:32:23 +0000

I’m really looking forward to your article about how to reduce digital distractions! Earlier this summer, I needed to free up space on my iPhone to download an update and ended up deleting the Facebook app. It was incredibly liberating! I ended up having to redownload it because I use it for my part-time job (with an au pair agency). Now that I’ve discovered they all use WhatsApp (and prefer it), I may go delete Facebook again.

One strategy I’ve backed into is turning off cellular data for some apps, so I can’t just browse Facebook in the grocery store line. I also use a different browser for work on my laptop (chrome) and I don’t have my Facebook credentials saved in that browser, so I have to launch a new browser (Safari) to log into Facebook. This is occasionally annoying (when I “need” to get on for au pair stuff), but is mostly curbs the social media use.

By: AIme

AIme — Sun, 27 Aug 2017 22:23:08 +0000

In reply to ARC. Omg, yes, on the notifications! I honestly don't know how people who have notifications on are sane. And also, why does the CVS app need to send me notifications??

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Sun, 27 Aug 2017 12:10:27 +0000

In reply to lauravanderkam. I've recently restarted using my audible account for this reason, I find between driving or walking to the office on days I'm there & odd household chores I've been able to read about a book a week without any real effort.