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So, what have you been reading/listening to this past week? September 29 (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by to c/books@lemmy.world
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Sneaky weekly post, as I didn't see a new sticky post for the week. :3

Check out the community bingo post for 2026, it's a genuinely fun way to navigate your reading, and it's accompanying recommendations post. Happy reading and spooky season! 🎃👻📖

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[–] 4 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Working my way through the Booker Prize longlist

Title Author List Star Rating
The Shadow of the Object Chloe Aridjis Longlist 3.5
Switzy Emma Cline Longlist
Helen of Nowhere Makenna Goodman Longlist 4.5
The End of Everything M. John Harrison Shortlist 2
The Disappearers Marlon James Shortlist
Black Bag Luke Kennard Shortlist 4.5
The Renovation Kenan Orhan Longlist
May We Feed the King Rebecca Perry Shortlist
The Palm House Gwendoline Riley Longlist 3.5
The Things We Never Say Elizabeth Strout Shortlist 4.5
John of John Douglas Stuart Shortlist
All Them Dogs Djamel White Longlist 4
The Vivisectors Missouri Williams Longlist 4

My secret goal is to read at least one longlisted book before they’re announced. I successfully picked up The Things We Never Say this year and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Disappearers was on my TBR but I hadn’t gotten to it yet… oh well, be faster next time.

I’ve done this three years in a row and I rarely have a book I hate. It’s a nice look at literary fiction and “good” writing.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 days ago (4 children)

    Whoa that's awesome! Do you have a vested interest in the literary world/"good writing" by chance -- i.e., do you write? Or more so out of enjoyment?

    Also, how do you gage which books will be longlisted? I've not followed literary awards much.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

    I just read a lot. On pace for 130 books this year.

    Discovery is hard… I was tinkering with an app

    A personalized book radar that continuously surfaces new and forthcoming books from publishers, critics, awards, and reader communities before they become obvious or popular. It helps you filter that broad stream into books worth investigating without trapping you in a taste bubble or relying on generic bestseller lists.

    Unfortunately, publishers really don’t make their catalogues readily available to the public. You have to be a bookshop or library or known reviewer. Huge pain. Edelweiss does have some data you can use that’s cross-publisher, but it’s not an API.

    I just want a place that is not the most popular books. Like, I really enjoyed the Dungeon Crawler Carl series… but it’s been top of the lists for over a year. Sigh

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

    Ah I see, that is an incredible reading volume -- putting my number to shame haha. What's your secrets? ಠ_ಠ

    Huh that's fascinating, thanks for elucidating that part of the book world for me. I can only imagine being the first to discover titles, being bit of a skill combined with access to certain resources (like most things).

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    Audiobooks on 2x and Always Be Reading haha.

    If I crack the secret to book discovery, I’ll let you know. There’s a real opportunity there, I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 day ago*

    Damn, when do you make the time to doom scroll then?! /s

    I look forward to hearing about any new insights you uncover about it, never something I've thought about as a potential problem space. I think that app idea might be the start of something, most solutions are usually things that you had troubles with yourself, clearly your in the mud of the space haha.

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