Hi !
I read between 70 and 100 books a year (more back when I was a student) and I’ve been trying to create a consistent enough reading list for a while buuuut I go through it too quickly and I don’t have time to investigate more.
So here’s the issue : I’m French and my list of French books is sufficient enough. But it’s my mother tongue, I don’t have any sort of issue finding anything more on the list.
And yet. I teach English as a Foreign Language and to be fair I’m just so nervous if I don’t immerse myself in reading in English at least one hour a day. And ay here’s the rub : I don’t have any English bookshop near me to actually scrutinise any new entry. (To be fair I have one… which is specialised in YA aka really not my thing)
I think I’ve read a good deal of classics – if not most (every time I go to a Waterstones I try to find something I don’t know, which… is growingly difficult) I hate YA and romance. I’d really rather go for something heavy so it’s not read too quickly. I love magical realism (Carpentaria by Alexis Wright as a perfect example, Cien Años de Soledad as another). Even more books written in a highly poetic language. I also like it when it’s related to nature in a way – but not too into transcendentalism. Also rather fancy naturalism.
I think at that point as long as it’s not romance or YA I’ll take it and read it anyway – I’ll just stress heavily the importance of the language quality for obvious reasons.
If anyone has anything… 🫶🏻
by Ichthyodel