Brent’s Books of 2019

Does one need to be an avid reader or an organized reader to love books and reading? What about listening to audio books – it is reading? Brent and I have chatted about many of these questions over the course of our friendship, and today, I’m sharing some of our conversations below as we talk about his 2019 books.

Like other posts in this series (see archive), remember that Brent’s words are in italics and all book links open in a new tab so that you can refer to them afterwards.

Welcome to Armed with A Book, Brent. 🙂 Tell me a little bit about your love for books.

Books are a fantastic way to communicate, it gives the writer time to really think about what they want to say and how they want to say it while still leaving the reader with room to interpret what they read. This results in some pretty great interpretations. I prefer listening to books rather than reading them because I like being able to listen while I run/walk or do simple chores. 

I have noticed that some avid readers do not view book, “listeners,” with a lot of respect. What’s your take on listening to books compared to reading them?

I love listening to books whenever I can get them through the library. As much as it is possible to multitask like shop for groceries or fold the laundry while I listen to an audio book, they can still have the same effect on imagination. If I am standing glassy eyed with my headphones on, chances are I’m in story-land. Hence, it is not a lesser form of reading in my mind. I personally love physical books and use audiobooks as a weeding mechanism to choose books that I should find physical copies of. It’s about preference at the end of the day.

Do you participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge or set reading goals for yourself?

I am a pretty casual reader and don’t really track my reading or set goals per se. When I am “feeling” the urge, I will go through a bunch of books, one after the other and when the feeling fades, I head back to podcasts.  🙂 

I tend to listen to more audio books when I am doing more physical activity (especially running). Is there a particular activity or setting that you find more conducive to reading?

Curling up in a blanket always makes me pick up a book!

As a casual reader, do you still spend sometime thinking about what you will read next? How do you choose which books to read?

🙂 Not very well. Mostly inspiration really; whatever tickles my fancy at the moment and it’s mostly based on what people recommend.  There have been some occasions where I wanted to read something that was assigned to me in school but I didn’t read. There are some really incredible reads that I was not “ready” for or could not really appreciate when I was younger.

There are some works like that for me as well which I want to pick up now. In India, where I grew up, the canon that is taught in schools is very different from the Canadian canon. I did not grow up reading How to kill a mocking bird or Catcher of Rye or Lord of flies and I wonder about reading them now.

About the books this year

Were there any books this year that challenged your thinking or you learned a lot from?

Not so much, I remember, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, really twisting my brain at certain points (i.e. dark matter – whatever that is 😉 ). 

Did you read any books that had practical strategies to apply to life?

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Why We Get Fat, were pretty good at altering my perceptions/preconceived notions regarding my issues with weight and anxiety. I like returning to these from time to time to realign and check in on how I am doing and if the info/advice still works for me.

If you had to choose a couple books from all you have read this year, tell me why I should check them out.

To be honest and in comparison to you, I have not read, or rather, listened to a lot of books this year but there are books that I like going back to. My all time favorite book is, Ready Player One. It’s a fun, nostalgic adventure that I love to escape into.  Another great read/listen is, Neuromancer. Nothing quite like William Gibson’s OG cyberpunk.

I read Ready Player One this year because you recommended it! It was so good! I agree, I would go back and read it again.

How much do your preferences affect your reviews and book recommendations? Do you have any strategies to account for personal preferences/biases when doing book reviews?

Talk about loaded questions, Brent! My preferences definitely play a role in reviews and book recommendations, though as a reviewer, I am finding that I am more open to reading books that I would not have tried out myself. I am more willing (occasionally) to experiment into genres and topics I would not choose otherwise. You’ve heard me talk about some of these books and I’ll be posting about them on my blog in the coming year. 

Often, when I am struggling with a book – a book has to have some serious spelling errors and horrible descriptions for me to give it up – I ask myself whether I would like it at another time? Is something going on in my life right now that is affecting how I am perceiving the story or the information? It happens, and I always mention these biases and observations when I share the book with my readers.

I have been researching with my friend Ariel in the past week about having a better ‘reading experience’. This involves thinking deeply about our reading habits, likes and dislikes. I’m hoping that this exercise will expose at least some of my preferences going into a book, and later writing the review. I’ll keep you posted. 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this short-and-sweet conversation with Brent! Be sure to share with your circles, especially the people who like audio books! There are some great recommendations here.

Next up, on the 25th, I’ll have another of my instagram friends, Mae, over to learn about his year in books.

Thanks for reading! ❤️