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5 Big Books I’ve Read or Reread Recently

It’s been a while since I wrote about my love for Big Books (tomes of 500 or more pages). Here are the five most recent ones I’ve read. A Column of Fire by Ken Follett, 928 pages This is the final entry in Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge trilogy. (The first two are Pillars of the Earth, […]

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The 15 Best Books I Read in 2017

Since I’m choosy about what I read and mostly read only books I’m interested in, it’s often difficult to choose the titles that belong on my year-end “best books I read this year” list. And this year the task was particularly difficult. After much adding and subtracting, I’ve finally hit on this list of the

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Thanks to Goodreads for the following statistics: I read 16,335 pages across 48 books. SHORTEST BOOK: 135 pages. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell LONGEST BOOK: 894 pages. Dune by Frank Herbert AVERAGE LENGTH: 340 pages MY AVERAGE RATING FOR 2017: really liked it: 4.0 stars © 2017 by Mary Daniels Brown

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My Top 5 Novels of All Time

Every December 31st I sit down with the list of books I read that year and choose the best ones. I usually end up with 10 bests plus 5 honorable mentions. I include this many because I’m fortunate enough to be in the time of life when I can choose to read whatever I want,

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Why I’m Content to Read 40 Books Rather Than 100 a Year

Whenever I come across someone’s claim to have read 80, 90, or even 100 or more books in a year, I have to wonder how much they comprehended, appreciated, and now remember of those books. With so much current emphasis on productivity and life hacks, it’s easy to get caught up in the notion that

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Why I Don’t Need to Like Fictional Characters

At a book group gathering a few months back a man opened the discussion with the comment, “I didn’t like this book because I just couldn’t like any of the characters.” I don’t even remember what that month’s book was because my mind took off with that comment. That was certainly not the first time

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When picking up my next book, it’s always hard for me to resist reaching for another juicy novel. Even though I often buy nonfiction books that I want to read, I usually give in to the urge to read more fiction. And even though I concentrate on fiction, I read mostly traditional novels. I’d like

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