Some people like different things than you! They’re not faking it because they want to be part of a trend, they just have different preferences and interests.

I always think it’s funny that people on r/books like to feel so superior to people on booktok, because they’re really very similar: communities that are largely but not entirely homogenous, with the same few books put on a pedestal but other books often discussed as well, using social media to find and discuss literature.

If you like the concept but aren’t enjoying the book itself, I’ve heard good things about the show! I only watched scenes here and there while my roommate was watching but it seemed to express the tension and horror a lot better.

I’m definitely in the minority here, but I hated The Terror. The idea of a fantasy/horror historical fiction about the Franklin expedition is so cool, but it just didn’t work for me. I felt like the characters are all flat and barely seem afraid of the thing that’s stalking them, which diminishes the psychological horror that should be the book’s centerpiece, and there’s no suspense because the narrative constantly skips ahead, states the outcome of an event, and then tells about it through the character’s memory instead of letting the reader experience the action. I also thought the dialogue seemed kind of stilted and like the author just wanted to show off the research he’d done.

And I really hated the constant sexual descriptions of naked teenage girls, most of whom have no narrative reason to be nude (yet every time a girl appears, she at least takes off her shirt, even if it’s –100 degrees and they’re outside) and there are no narrative reasons for so many children to be having sex with 50 year old men.

I prefer to focus on qualitative goals, choosing different categories like one year I focused on reading more books by women, one year on books in translation, etc. I find it more motivating just having a framework to use to narrow down what books I’d be interested in, without sticking to it exclusively or getting worried about falling behind.

If quantitative goals are what work for you, maybe set a goal slightly below what you normally read, so you still have a number to work towards, but with less pressure? Tracking by page number also makes sense—I think Goodreads can do that.

Put your phone out of reach! Leave it in another room or even just far enough that you would have to get up to grab it. It makes putting down your book for your phone something you have to intentionally do instead of an autopilot thing.

Also, make sure you’re reading books that really excite you; once you’re into the habit I think it’s easier to push through challenging or slow but rewarding books, but while you’re establishing it, I’d choose books that are fast-paced and engaging.

Love these! I have a bunch of random vintage Penguin pocket-sized books from used bookstores; since I find them based on format, I end up choosing books I’d never have thought of otherwise. Some favorites are Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford and The Third Wedding by Costas Tsaksis.

“Livres de poche” also seem to be super popular in French publishing, not sure why they don’t make that size more in the American industry!

Excited to see more replies, I feel like Greek literature in English can be hard to find!

Recently I enjoyed Amanda Michelopoulou’s Why I Killed My Best Friend, a novel following two girls with a complicated friendship from their childhood in the 70s as the grow up. I think I also liked a book of short stories by the same author.

I would also recommend Ioanna Karystiani—so far I’ve read The Jasmine Isle, about the family of a sea captain living on an island as he roams the world and eventually settles down, and Back to Delphi, about a mother taking her imprisoned son on a weekend excursion. Her books have a dreamlike feel to me.

This may be just because I’m a sucker for interesting memoirs, but I also liked Melina Mercouri’s I Was Born Greek, which covers her childhood, live as a movie star, and eventual exile from her country.