English Books & Friends

FlakiM

Hi everyone! Happy Sunday ☀

Even though we have English Read-Alongs on Bookcircle, I do think that there is way more in the “English” book world than what we are offered here so I figured I’d start this conversation with you guys! Although I was born and raised in Switzerland, I prefer reading in english way more - I don’t know why… The only times I read in German is when the author is German or Swiss but that’s about it. 🤔

Most trends are followed from TikTok (or so called “BookTok”) 🎵📱which inspires a lot of us to dive in to reading more international/english authors which in turn could lead to reading more english books (but not always! Of course a lot of times the readers wait for German translations of those books.)

Anyways, my recent and current reads: Just last month I have read my first book by Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast) and now I am reading “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell - What are you guys reading at the moment?

ALSO my friends and I keep up to date with our reading goals and stats through Goodreads and some through StoryGraph - how do you guys keep track of your books? Do you also use these websites/apps or a completely different approach?

I’m looking forward to a great conversation with everyone!😊

stephiesheena

FlakiM
Hii 🙂

So cool to read that you enjoy English literature aswell 🙂

At the moment, I’m reading “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J. K. Rowling, though I don’t have as much time as I used to because of studying 🙁 - Hamnet is a book I’d like to read soon too.

To keep track of what I read I also use goodreads and StoryGraph and I made my own book journal which is my pride and joy ;P

Annina58

FlakiM

like you I read (and listen) mostly in english. Except for german originals. I‘m native swiss, but was born and lived for the first eight years in Africa. When my family returned to Switzerland I refused to speak english anymore.

It was only when our son was grown up, that I started reading english books. With some difficulties at first. Now I often dream in english and when I search for a word, mostly the english term comes in mind first.

I‘m fond of Cozy Mysteries, family books, historical fiction and much more. No Thrillers or Fantasy, but I liked Harry Potter and Tintenherz-Trilogy

The best audiobook I listened to lately was ,Die Bibliothek der Hoffnung‘ - The little wartime library by Kate Thompson. For once in German because it was on skoobe

I list all my books in Excel, here (Annina58) and on goodreads (Annina)

I’m not good in writing reviews and mostly just rate a book

currently I‘m reading:

Pudding up with murder by Julia Buckley (on kindle)

A soufflé of suspicion by Daryl Wood Gerber (Hardcover)

Verstrickt nochmal - Mordversuch mit Tücken vom Mirjam Wiesemann (Tolino)

Lost books and old bones by Paige Shelton (audible)

Corina94

FlakiM

I read both German and english books. I work in childcare and it‘s useful for English speaking familys. I learn a lot from the English books.

I like crimes, thriller and novels.

I liked the me before you, after you by jojo mojes

Nora Roberts is a great author

The wonder by Emma donoghue

Nicholas sparks did write a lot of interesting books: the notebook, the longest ride, see me

John grisham: gray mountain, rogue lawyer

Corina94

Annina58

FlakiM

I keep track of my books here. I have a handwritten folder at home where I take not of author and name of the book.

FlakiM

stephiesheena

Classics! Are you Re-reading HP or is it your first time?? This year is Harry Potter’s 25th Anniversary! A great opportunity to read the books tbh!

I was thinking of starting a reading journal but I feel like it’s “double the work” since I add it to goodreads anyways 😂

Annina58

stephiesheena

I loved Little woman 😁

Anne of Green Gables

And authors like James Herriot and Gervace Phinn

stephiesheena

FlakiM
Harry Potter is my #1 book series, so I re-read them each year 🙂

Yes, it’s definitely “double the work”, but I really enjoy it ^^

stephiesheena

Annina58

Anne of Green Gables is something I’d like to read soon too 🙂

FlakiM

Annina58

That sounds amazing! It’s nice to know you have found yourself back to English in form of reading books as well! I am really curious on how you keep track on your books through an Excel Sheet? Author - Book - Rating?

I’m going to make sure to add everyone on GoodReads! Your book recs so far sound great 🙂

@Corina94

Jojo Moyes and Nicholas Sparks have been one of the first authors where I read multiple books from! I loved their stories and even today when I see a new book from Jojo Moyes specifically I cannot hold back and need to buy it but I did find myself less interested in their books lately - maybe a phase? None the less they are both amazing authors!

Annina58

FlakiM

I write my excel sheet by author, serial number and year, Title, Series, format and where from I bought or got it

Lor

FlakiM Hey I read english as well german books. Recently I had a reading slump, but just with english books. I really love to read in english, bc some translations are not that good as the original and the books are mostly thinner and cheaper. Also I can improve my skills and learn new words.

My CR is the botanist by M.W. Craven and the gild series. Autumn leads me back to thriller, but I also read fantasy, dark romance, new adult and I try some horror/ science fiction stuff.

I track my reading with the reado app, I like it more than goodreads, bc of it’s statistics and it lookes more visibly attractive I think.

FlakiM

Lor

Gosh I had a slump just until recently because of my school! Slowly getting back into it so I’m hoping it’ll stick haha and you also made a fantastic point: English book do tend to be cheaper than the German edition! Of course, considering that the book had to be translated at first but as we all are aware: Books rom Swiss Authors can get crazy expensive sometimes!

I definetly need to check out the Reado App because I am trying to let go of Goodreads slowly since it hasn’t improved at all! Same layout, same works - everything stayed the same and it just is so dated! I am pretty sure it has something to do with Amazon buying GoodReads…. what a shame.

I don’t have any “must read authors” with thrillers - anyone you can recommend me?

@Annina58 That’s AMAZING I love it! What a wonderful way of keeping track of your books. I saw a funny video/reel/tiktok (I don’t remember) of someone using a barcode-scanner for their books and those pop up on an excel sheet as well!

Lor

FlakiM Oh yeah the slump is real! And books can get so expensive here, so I‘m happy if I can safe a bit money on that😂 As a student I‘m broke.

I didn‘t like the layout of goodreads too. I like easy overviews and probably it is bc of amazon buying it. I think they don‘t invest in updating much bc they have a lot other stuff to do and aren‘t interested enough in keeping up. Sad but I really recommend reado. It‘s my guide for buying books now, my dairy, my journal and discovery for new books.

Uuh I loooove Simon Becketts Dr Hunter Series, also Fitzek and Tsokos are good. What I heard is Joe Nesbo should be good too, but haven‘t read one of him yet. Then for a nice crime story M.W. Craven - my CR read of him, I absolutely love it. Also John Katzenbach, Karin Slaughter and a favorite of a friend of mine is Lucinda Berry. ✨

Kessy

Thanks for the Reado-Tip!! I just registered and imported my Goodreads data. I looks muuuuch better and more modern! I also have an excel sheet with my book and reading data 🙈, including some graphs and charts showing favourite genres, formats, etc.

I’m also reading most books in English (if it is the original language), especially the humour is not ideally conveyed when translated. ¨Only for non-fiction I sometimes prefer the German version. For biographies its ok, but science topics are a bit harder to grasp fully when not in your native language.

FlakiM

Kessy I did the same! instant download, although I do have trouble getting used to it since I’ve used goodreads for so many years 🙈😂

FlakiM

Lor I have noted the authors and will definitely check them out!! I did hear of course from Fitzek and Lucinda Berry! Might start with those two for the beginning 😊

Rafiniert

hi everyone!

i am very similar to most of you guys: i like to read the english versions of books most of the time but sometimes (depending on my mood and what the book is about) i read the german version.

my current read is “under the whispering door” by t.j. klune.

i was struggeling to find the perfect app to track my books and i started using storygraph a little time ago. i like how easy it is to use, that you can set your starting date or the date you finished on it` s own too (if you forgot when you started for example) and that you can import books by ISBN (german books as well) so i don`t have to use different apps to keep track.

are you guys already looking forward to your next read and if yes, which book will it be? 🙂

FlakiM

Rafiniert

Oh that’s great! I tried using dtorygraph a little but it felt like almost too much for me? Maybe it was some sort of culture shock having so many options suddenly in comparison to barely any options like on GoodReads 😂

I am very much a mood reader but even more do a “destination” reader, like: I have a Car-Book, a Train-book, A Home-Book and so on lol

My Car Book atm: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrel

My Home Book: Just finished the last Inkworld book that came out last week! “Die Farbe der Rache” by Cornelia Funke so I still haven’t decided on the next one

My Train Book: “My Dark Vanessa” by Kate Elizabeth Russel - my friend pretty much harassed me to read it and I am enjoying it so far (well, as much as you can with a heavy topic like that)

☺️ are you guy mood readers?

Lor

@FlakiM Rafiniert I am also a mood reader but because I read a book in a bookclub monthly, one book with another group of girls and one book as a buddyread currently.

BookClub read: „Schau mich an“ by elif shafak
Group read: the gild series by raven kennedy
Buddyread: the botanist by m w craven

and I plan another book for reading myself but can‘t decide which one. And if I plan it I end up with another book mostly.

@Raikaslover I wanna read Holly too and I also like crime, thriller etc. but also (dark) romance, fantasy and I wanna try out horror.

If you like crime I recommend the botanist, I love it so far 😍 can you recommend a good horror book?

Audiobooks are so relaxing. I like to listen to it while travelling. My current audiobook is westwell 3. I like to listen to books I am interested in, but wouldn‘t buy the books itself like cozy romances or fantasy which I‘m not sure I‘d like it☺️

ah and my first english book was the love hypothesis by ali hazelwood

Rafiniert

FlakiM i am a mood reader and i also have books that are for reading on public transportation or at home. my at home books are the more emotional ones or fantasy books where i have to have a little time to get immersed in the world. my train books are short story collections or books, that are not as painful to stop mid-page if i have to get out of the vehicle :p

i could never read my dark vanessa on the train, from what i heard it` d probably destroy me way too much to be in public reading it! you are very brave!

FlakiM

Rafiniert I think the only books that touched me so much they made me cry were “The Bookthief” and just recently “A little life” but I’m only 100 pages in in “My Dark Vanessa” so hopefully I can manage that 😂

Rafiniert

FlakiM oh wow, you read „a little life“! you really must like sad books :p

Raikaslover

FlakiM

Interesting title for a book, especially when it has my first name in it😀 Can you tell me more about this book, your impressions, and genre?

Mizzo_Murphy

FlakiM Interesting! I really did not like the bookthief. Did you read it in English? Besides the story being very repetitive and “death” not making any sense to me, I thought it was also very badly researched and, thus, written. Particularly place names really bugged me.

FlakiM

Rafiniert hahaha i think I was just way too curious about it - especially when everyone was warning me not to read it!

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