Oh I love Fahrenheit 451 <3. Color me jealous, lol!

This is definitely hard then. I don't personally collect special editions because I am running exceptionally low on real estate for my books. However, I love and admire special editions, especially when you have the space to properly display them. I wonder if you could get a few special editions, and then splurge a little on a smaller number of new books to add to your collection so you get the best of both worlds.

I'm part of a club that reads a chapter every week and meets to discuss. Our club is small, and most of us are well read in this particular genre. We start by discussing general impressions, things we liked/disliked, before we move into discussing specific passages and the implications of them on the larger picture. Because most of us have read around quite extensively in the genre, the tail end of our conversations is almost always a comparison between our current book and how it measures up to other titles.

It's great you took notes, because this gives you something to bring up or talk about. If you ever find you don't know what you should be taking notes on, you can Google around and look for discussion questions for your book. A lot of popular titles have blogs where they have a few questions, or honestly if it's a classic, Sparknotes has a few discussion starters or entries on symbolism that may get you thinking.

Since it's a larger group, I bet they likely have someone who is going to start and steer the discussion. This might make it easier for you to contribute if it's more structured, and the amount of people is great because you'll get a lot of varied viewpoints that make it interesting. Don't panic if you don't immediately feel like you fit right in with the book club. Sometimes you have to go to a few meetings before you hit your stride and feel comfortable with the process and group.

This is tough. I feel like special editions are something you invest in when you are collecting and want to to keep the books in pristine condition for display. If you're going to read them, I would say buy regular copies so if anything happens to them you're not destroying a coveted first edition on accident.

Before you invest in a huge haul, I'd think about what you actually want out of this library. If it's purely aesthetic, or whether or not you actually want to read all of these titles. If you are planning on reading them all, I'd suggest maybe only buying a few at a time, so you're motivated to read through every title so you can increase your collection. This is also a better way to go about it if your list changes over time. i.e., if you buy a big haul now and you lose interest in some of these books because you get hooked on another genre before you finish reading through your collection, you may find you end up never reading some of the titles at all.

If you purchase and read one or two books at a time, you can really tailor your collection to suit your tastes and interests as it changes over time.

If I have more than one or two TBRs at home, I won't buy or check out another book until I've read them. Around the holidays I always get tons of books as gifts, so during the first part of the year my TBR pile can be pretty big. I won't step foot into a bookstore until I've finished the books I have at home. I totally get the pull to do so though, so I understand how you have a large TBR pile. I love roaming Barnes and Noble, but I don't have the space for books, so I'm usually able to curb my desire to buy too many books outright.

Since your TBR pile is so big, I would recommend working through it before buying more books. You could maybe let yourself buy one more book for every five books you read from the TBR pile, or something like that. You could also try reading in coffee shops, since you like browsing for books with a coffee, maybe you'll enjoy reading with a coffee.

I appreciate aesthetics as long as they are done in moderation and don't impact the readability of the book. I read because I love to read, and so I don't feel like I need the book itself to be embellished to keep or hold my interest. I'm going to read the book either way. I do get wary when I see books that have a lot of artsy touches on the pages, because I feel like I want the writing to speak for itself and not rely on these types of things to create the aesthetic or mood of the story.

That being said, minor things like small designs around the chapter titles, the font choice, even the font color, etc., are things I do appreciate in novels when done in moderation. Even beautiful jackets on hardcovers, or engraved designs on the hardcover itself are great. They aren't on every page, and don't impact readability. I think more gratuitous artistic choices are great in poetry, and one of my favorite collections has artwork all up and down the pages and worked through the poems themselves.

It sounds like in your friend's case, the aesthetic aspect might be a little overdone for the average reader. I think it's great you have come to like it and can see how it reflects who they are, but I'm not sure if this message will be communicated as well to the average reader who hasn't met your friend and doesn't know them. To them, the style might come off as confusing or distracting and they might miss how the style is a reflection of the author's personality.

I just read starting from the exact sentence I left off on, even if I stopped in the middle of a chapter.

>BUT… if I were to whip out a book and start casually absorbing it there’d be uproar!!

Have you actually tried it? I don't read at events with my boyfriend's family because I feel like it can be construed as rude, but I read at nearly every event with my own family and no one really remarks on it. Even when I read at things with my extended family, I get more compliments on the fact that I'm reading instead of scrolling, or people come over to talk about what I'm reading and we actually have a nice conversation.

The only time I've ever had someone remark on my reading as being inappropriate is when I was working as a cashier in high school, and the place where I worked was completely dead. I was reading at my register which is something I did often since my manager didn't mind, and this customer walked up and said something snide like, "are we reading or working here?"

There's only one "self-help" book I ever found useful. Not that I read a ton of these to begin with, but I got this one as a gift in my twenties, and I swear by some of the stuff included in it:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15791144-adulting

It's really easy to read and digest, and what I love the most about it is that it gives you concrete things you can do to improve your life instead of rambling on about how you should view the world and yourself within it. There's no preaching here, it's a straight list of shit you can do right now to make your life better. Like buying a handheld steamer to get the wrinkles out of your clothes. That shit changed my life.

Thank you for asking this, there are so many great responses!

And you're only on Chapter 3, lol! I'd love to see how you feel about the book when you finish it. Their Eyes Were Watching God has always been one of my favorite classics.

This post made me realize how long it's been since I've read a well paced book. I think the genre determines pacing a lot of times. YA/Children for example have a tendency to be faster paced to keep the attention of their readers. Slow burns are more common in Fantasy/Sci Fi, and you'll get some slower paced books in really angsty romances sometimes too.

Out of curiosity, what genre do you read in?

I use Goodreads to track books I want to read. It works on computer or my phone, so I can pull it up just about anywhere and flag a book I want to read. This has the added benefit of having ratings and reviews attached, so when you double back to look over your suggested books, you can do a little investigating to find out if the book is really something you'll be interested in.

Reading in any form is going to be more conducive to critical thinking than consuming media via the internet, social media, etc. Even if you read Colleen Hoover, you're reading. This is far more engaging than staring at a screen.

It's definitely true when it comes to writing there are different levels of skill, and while Hoover might not be a particularly strong writer when it comes to prose or intricate plots, it doesn't devalue the act of reading itself. A lot of people like to flaunt the classics as if having read them is evidence of their superior intellect, but the truth is to appreciate books like Fahrenheit 451, you have to have read around enough to know what makes Fahrenheit exceptional in the first place.

I don't think people who love Hoover are wrong for their opinion. Personally, I love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels, and I've even read Twilight and ACOTAR and liked them. Are they strong examples of well written books? No, but they're entertaining, and because I've read them, I further appreciate every book I read that has stronger prose and solid character development.

I don't think people are superior for having read the classics. I think they're classics for a reason, and worth reading in their own right. But having read them doesn't imbue you with some sort of higher knowledge or prowess in reading. Classics alone don't make you think, and you can read just about anything—even something by Colleen Hoover—and come away with a meaningful interpretation.

If you want to get better at your own critical thinking, spend more time thinking about what you read. Pause after every chapter and ask yourself what the chapter revealed about each character. How did this chapter work to move the story forward? What do you think this is building up to? If you're interested in the writing style itself, reflect on things like the sentence length, the amount of description versus action that takes place in the chapter. Thinking about these things will help you not only figure out what you admire about the books you read, but it will also help you further develop your critical thinking skills in regards to reading.

Maze Runner. I wasn't head over heels for the first book, but I enjoyed it for what it was. The sequels were terrible.