Welcome to this week’s blog. Here’s a roundup of your comments and photos from last week.

Vogelmonade reflected on a discussion initiated recently by AggieH:

Which verb should be applied to describe the rewarding experience of reading certain books which deal with harrowing, horrible human experiences, since “enjoy” doesn’t really do the trick? I’ve often run into that problem myself.

Did I “enjoy” Red Azalea? It really is not the right word. I felt depressed while reading it, I increased the dose of my antidepressants, but I was rewarded amply, I gained valuable insights into the inner workings of a human society, into the psyche of a girl confronted with brainwashing, sexual repression and an armada of adversities. I learned something about humanity, human nature and society, and about myself. It was certainly captivating and moving, a great read, but enjoyable in any usual sense of the word: nay! We will have to continue looking for the right word for books like that.

RedBirdFlies recommended this read via GuardianWitness:

Margarita Engle writes beautifully illustrated, prose poetry for young people, often writing about true and inspirational personalities in Cuban history. Here she tells the story of the younger years of Juan Francisco Manzano, who was kept by his slave mistress as a kind of pet, having him perform recitals and punishing him for making her sad. Some of his original works were smuggled out of Cuba to England, where they were published by abolitionists anonymously. Engle’s work is a touching tribute to the talented poet and an invitation to explore the work of Juan Francisco further.

Oranje14 took strongly against one well-regarded novel:

At last. I have finally completed Roberto Bolano’s The Savage Detectives. Possibly the most boring book I have ever read. 570 odd pages and if you were to ask me to summarise the plot, I’d have to think back to decide if there actually was one. Should make for a good book group discussion this coming weekend, if anyone else has actually managed to read it. Hopes are not high. So many quotes on the jacket proclaiming it to be a masterpiece, I think I may go and look up some reviews to see what I apparently missed.

theorbys started a conversation about audiobooks:

I have one to two hours of walking to and fro, I do a lot of errands and get in exercise, and have decided to audiobook as much as I can, so I fired up my old iPod 60GB and started downloading. There is a lot available but I am focussing on short stories. [...] I only audiobook when I am doing something more or less mechanical with my body but not my mind so I am in no danger of overdoing it. I just can’t sit down and listen.

Over on Twitter, Rebecca Lewis has been enjoying Stoner:

Only a month into the new year, Brooke Sherbrooke has already made two great discoveries:

Not quite the end of January and I feel I’ve read two novels that will appear on my favourites list of 2015. Canada’s newest literary fiction genius, Michael Crummey, has written a wonderous, lyrical, dark story in Sweetland. He avoided the trap of phonetically writing dialect (a bit of a pet peeve of mine), yet has still captured the lilt and cadence of Newfoundland’s coastal population. This novel depicts a way of life which is disappearing in Canada. For that alone it must be read. But, the characters, particularly the main character Moses Sweetland, make this novel a journey of hope, bewilderment, love and pain. [...]

The second novel I finished is Descent by Tim Johnston. It takes place in the Rocky Mountains when a family of four takes a vacation there and the daughter, soon to be in her first year of college, goes missing. The book is not only about the suspenseful disappearance but also about what happens to the family as they look, and look and look for her. [...] The characters are woven together in an intricate pattern.

It was very interesting to hear about readers’ reading ratios of male to female authors and the different ways you keep track of what you read. Let’s end with a great reflection from conedison:

Why do you read? I just tried Sara Paretsky’s, Hardball and bailed out after ten pages. I’m not going to delve into any critical analysis. I simply think we read for different reasons at different times. I don’t read for entertainment. Does this put me in a decided minority? I have no idea. I also have zero interest in denigrating anyone’s reading habits. Stalin isn’t looking over our shoulders. I just can’t read something that is in essence nothing else but a way to kill time.

Interesting links about books and reading

• Writers Benjamin Moser and Dana Stevens debate whether being a writer is a job or a calling on the New York Times Bookends blog.
• I Would Do This for You: The Narrative Possibilities of Leaked Emails: a piece on The Millions on the well-documented joy of reading other people’s mail, the Sony hacks and the literary possibilities of all kinds of correspondence.
• Music, Fiction, and the Value of Attention: a New Yorker piece about the kind of attention needed to read novels, “arguably [...] very different from the drifting, out-of-time submergence in music”. Or is it? A fascinating article asking how we draw the line between attention and distraction.

If you would like to share a photo of the book you are reading, or film your own book review, please do. Click the blue button on this page to share your video or image. I’ll include some of your posts in next week’s blog.

And, as always, if you have any suggestions for topics you’d like to see us covering beyond TLS, do let us know.