-
Find more reddit channels over at @r_channels join @blarkhive for free audiobooks
How does everyone feel about bookplates and stamps?
For Christmas I was given a personalized embossing stamp for my books, it was very thoughtful but I'm a little put off. I'm one of those people who hates marking in a book, just in case. I prefer not to write in the margins or highlight, instead I'll use post-it arrows.
In my mind the reason I have physical books instead of digital is because I want them to continue to live on after I die. It's not "My Book" it's only on loan till it gets to the next reader. However, that might just be how I justify the expense in my head. I'm sure many of them will probably just end up in the trash or at Goodwill but I can pretend for the time being.
Do any of you use a customized plate or stamp for your library? What's the thought process for you?
https://redd.it/1hqbyef
@r_books
Do you prefer to read as many authors as possible, or complete an authors bibliography?
I fell back in love with reading during the pandemic, and initially I was guilty of just reading the same authors over and over again - sticking to what I knew I suppose. Over the last couple of years I had a goal of stretching my horizons and reading as many new authors as I could. For January (with the aim of stretching it for the whole year if successful), I’m going to swap it around. So I’ll read one book from a new author, then read from an existing author. On a quick scour of my Goodreads account, I haven’t completed an authors bibliography - but there are some I’ve read the majority of.
What’s your preference? Do you like to spend a lot of time with one author, or do you like to keep things fresh?
https://redd.it/1hq6xpb
@r_books
Catch-22: Joseph Heller
First off, I read a lot of reviews and people seemed to despise reading it. Or it took them quite a while to get done with it. On the contrary, I read it in 7 days, and could not put it down. I think it also took me 6-7 days because some of the vocabulary was so… prolix? Trust me, I’m a literature major and reading classics is what I do all the time but the usage of some words had me completely stumped. I ended up building a giant vocabulary list but I’m musing whether I’ll end up using them anywhere. But yes, I am glad this was my last read of the year. I loved it, I loved Yossarian, I loved the tautology present at the centre of the text and the critique of the bureaucratic system as well as war, the military and organised religion.
When did you first read the work? How did it impact you, and what’s your takeaway?
https://redd.it/1hpougg
@r_books
3 of Jane Austen’s 6 brothers engaged in antislavery activism − new research offers more clues about her own views
https://theconversation.com/3-of-jane-austens-6-brothers-engaged-in-antislavery-activism-new-research-offers-more-clues-about-her-own-views-230176
https://redd.it/1hpqahf
@r_books
Looking back on the time I gave Anne of Green Gables a try mild spoilers
Been working though the classics, and about a year ago, picked up Anne. My experience started something like this:
Book opened with a really long run-on sentence, then spent a while describing Anne's potential step-father journeying to pick her up. Poor first impression; this is going to be a slog. Anne gets picked up and driven home. She blathers nonsense for the duration of the journey. They get home.
Stepmum: I ordered a boy. Send this girl back to the shop.
Stepfather: :(
Anne: :'(
Me: :'(
Couldn't put the damn thing down after that. New top ten favorite. Anne is an adorable little weirdo.
https://redd.it/1hpnfcc
@r_books
2024 was the year I finally read the classics - and the amazement of how many books a slow reader like me finished
The count of monte cristo
Alice in wonderland
The wizard of oz
Robinson crosue
Around the world in 80 days
This year I went for classic, and even some classic children books. They were all good in their own manner, especially alice and Oz, had me baffled for words, how could children books be so so deep and get me into thinking loops.
Reading classics always come with set expectations for them to hold up, lot of them being mentioned in the sub all the time, they appear in other books, tv shows and random quotes. And for me I was still almost spoiler free from all of them, even Robinson Crusoe I thought is completely different story.
All of them I read in physical form, preferably second hand finding, the older, the better, except for Robinson Crusoe that was too difficult English, but with each of them I felt there’s a dusty story behind and lot of history, and all of them I passed on to different people, overall I would recommend all of them, maybe except for around the world which didn’t live to my expectations.
All also hold very well to the test of time, still felt relevant and except for some historical events were still pretty modern as most of them take place in imaginary settings that are mostly timeless, and since they focus a lot on characters and not scenery, only the language like I mentioned was difficult sometimes and some curse words like N word appeared often, and lot of mentions of god that relate more to different times.
I also I realized I’ve read 12 books this year, which might not sound like a lot to some, especially in this sub, and with some being short, but that’s still a lot for me, a slow reader.
Hope you all will have nice readings this year, currently I’m looking to read Peter Pan next, once I manage to find it, and I would love to get more classics recommendations!
https://redd.it/1hpl5gm
@r_books
Midnight Library is the biggest deception of my year
Started with amazing couple of lines. THe premise looked amazing with those starting chapters. ANd then, by 35-40% of the book it turned into the most corny and pretentious self help book closer to Paulo Coelho or The Knight in Rusty Armour.
How this book ended up in many lists of good books? I will never know. But hey, we're in a time where Emilia Perez is nominated for something other than the Razzie of the Century, so shouldn't be a surprising bad taste.
https://redd.it/1hpf20h
@r_books
The Virgin Suicides vs. Lolita
I read The Virgin Suicides for the first time recently and something about it was really bugging me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The prose is really good, I understand and resonate with many of the themes it explores, but something about it just ticked me off, and I think I finally understand why.
The story is largely a critique and exploration of how girls are fetishized, and how their perspectives are often missing from their own stories.
Having the POV of a story with these themes be from the voyeur themselves is a high risk high reward choice. If it works it can be extremely impactful. If it doesn't, it risks making your entire story come across as hypocritical.
Lolita is one of my favorite books, and it also completely centers the perspective of the voyeur.The Virgin Suicides is clearly influenced by it. So why does Lolita succeed where The Virgin Suicides fail when their narrative framing is so similar?
In Lolita, we never see from Dolores’s perspective, and Humbert Humbert is constantly trying to paint a very specific picture of her. However, we do get hints of what her real personality is like through small moments that challenge and contradict Humbert’s manipulative narration. There’s only a few moments like that and they are brief, but they are very effective.
The Virgin Suicides was trying to do something similar. Just like with Dolores in Lolita, we never get the direct perspective of any of the Lisbon girls. We have brief moments peppered throughout the story that are meant to give us a tiny window into inner world of the girls, and challenge the main narrative.
The problem is that those brief glimpses into the Libson Girls’ inner world don’t contrast all that much with the fetishized, and idealized perspective the anonymous group of neighborhood boys have of them, it's never really challenged that much.
I know the vagueness surrounding the personalities and motivations of the Lisbon girls was intentional, but we should still have at least a vague idea of what they're actually like. The personality of Dolores was also vague and heavily obfuscated, but as a character she has far more depth than any of the Libson girls.
What Humbert Humbert DOESN'T say is just as meaningful as what he actually says, and all the implications made by what information he chooses to leave out, what he focuses on, and those brief moments where we actually have dialogue from Dolores, all of that ends up giving the reader an obfuscated but coherent picture of what Dolores might actually be like.
In The Virgin Suicides, the picture painted of the Libson girls is incoherent in a way that doesn't feel purposeful. Nothing adds up the way it does in Lolita. All the little details we learn about them feel random. There's a lot of time spent describing Lux but never in a way that comes across as like, unintentionally revealing.
This makes the messaging of the book come across a bit shallow and hypocritical to me. It doesn't feel like it's actually saying anything meaningful about the voyeurism it's clearly trying to deconstruct. I think it's also really weird that Lux is the only sister that the reader gets to learn anything about, and the others are just like, one single entity.
I admire what The Virgin Suicides was trying to do and it has some truly beautiful lines. There are some moments that do feel meaningful, and I get why it stuck with people. But overall I found it really frustrating. Am I being too harsh? This is a rare case for me where I didn't like this book but I really wish I did bc it has merit in some ways. Idk
https://redd.it/1hpcb60
@r_books
"Wilder Girls" was such a disappointment (This is a rant, I'm sorry)
About 10, maybe even 15 years ago, in Italy there was a very popular blog, amongst the readers: it was called "Fantasy Shrimp," and in it they used to post, as you may guess, reviews of fantasy (and sometimes sci-fi) novels.
One of the critiques the reviewers brought up the most was that, even if something's set in a magical/surreal/whimsical world, it still has to abide to some level of internal logic and offer explanations as to why that thing makes sense. Otherwise, everything would be a "fantasy shrimp," something that makes no sense within the world but that the readers are supposed to accept without question because "it's fantasy."
This is what I felt the entire time it took me to read Wilder Girls: it was a pile of fantasy shrimp the size of Mount Everest.
The book tells the story of Hetty, a 16-something-year-old girl that has spent the better part of the past two years stuck on Raxter Island, a small piece of land off the coast of Maine and that used to host a private boarding school for girls. All the students, a teacher, and the principal are forbidden from leaving it because a sickness called Tox has been ravaging the place and all the people that inhabit it, either killing them or causing them to mutate.
The idea is very cool, and as someone who's constantly on the lookout for more Ellie Williams type characters, I was so excited when I found a copy of it at my local library. But then I read it. Suddenly, I grew an appreciation for the fact that I'm not allergic to shrimp.
Nothing in this book is explained. Nothing! The author throws bits and pieces of knowledge towards her readers and expects them to understand them even without explanations.
>!Why is it important for us to know that Byatt and Hetty's fathers are in the military, when then nothing comes of it? Was Raxter always the home of the Tox or was it introduced later on to study its effects? What would've happened if the girls ate the expired food they were sent (and was this part of the experiment too?)? If the Tox is actually a worm-like parasite, how is it able to infect everything and cause it to change so radically? Parasites take, they don't give.!<
>!The way the Tox itself works makes no sense at all either: we are later on told that the Tox's main goal is to help the survival of its host, so how does losing one eye help Hetty? How does having glow-in-the-dark hair help Reese? How does growing gills help Mona? If the parasite's whole deal is that it wants to help, it would've made a lot more sense if all the girls developed the same characteristics.!<
>!The actions of the characters were questionable through the course of the entire story, with Hetty's logic being based on hunches and Reese getting pissed at everything for no reason but to show that she's the badass lesbian, but the worst were the final 40 pages, which were nothing but a continuous info-dump. It was just one thing after the other, with the few characters who actually did know something talking like they were in a soap opera ("Oh, I know the answer to your question. But I just cannot tell you! I shall now die in the most convoluted way a human being could ever die, as I deserve it!") and the final scene is just the cherry on top.!<
>!For the entire book Hetty kept repeating that the other girls, especially the younger ones, must be kept safe, fights to keep them safe from the toxxed-up bear that tries to break in, but the moment she hears there are jets armed with bombs coming to destroy the island, she grabs Reese and leaves the others behind to die.!<
>!When they start rowing away from the island, they see the jets flying in, but we're never told what happens with those afterwards. Do the girls feel the bombs drop? Do they see them fly back to base? Who knows! Hetty doesn't even care that all the girls they left behind have died because they couldn't be bothered to take them along!!<
Somehow, the readers aren't supposed to question any of this. It's fantasy! You shouldn't ask
Just finished 11/22/63 and I can’t stop thinking about it
This was my first Stephen King book and I went into it completely blind. I picked it up as I loved the idea of a time slip into the past and changing history through it.
All the small details about the 50s/60s made it so incredibly immersive. The world around Jake/George felt so real throughout the whole book. The time spent in Jodie was so enjoyable to take in, and I feel SK did a great job of making you feel the contrast of the town with Dallas.
But the absolute highlight for me was Sadie and Jake’s life in Jodie. I’ve found myself going back to those initial pages where they first meet, go to the football game and dance at the Sadie Hawkins. Every time the story returned to them after days of spying on Oswald I felt so much more at ease (which I guess was the intention). Call me selfish or a hopeless romantic, but I was really hoping that Jake would stay with her, whether it was in the 60s or 2011, and keep thinking what that would’ve been like.
And so that ending… I’ve never cried when watching movies or reading anything emotional. I’ve since regrettably poked fun at my girlfriend a few times when she cried at the ending of her favourite romance books, but now the joke is on me. The ending of the scene at the School Book Depository and the final page of the book had me welling up and blubbering like nothing else had before. Such a great ending but made me feel… empty? I guess I just really wanted a cliché ending to this amazing story, despite knowing how impossible/unethical it would be to stay behind.
I’ve probably hit a lot of the 11/22/63 Reddit post bingo card but really wanted to get my thoughts out to someone lol. I’ve never felt like this after reading a book, someone on here coined the feeling as an ‘emotional hangover’ and I think that’s exactly what it is. To anyone that has had this how do you get over it? This book definitely helped get me back into reading but I feel it has also put me in a slump. I’d love to hear some more opinions on this book as well!! Thank you guys :)
https://redd.it/1hp5xq4
@r_books
The Most Popular Books in US Public Libraries 2024
https://bookriot.com/the-most-popular-books-in-us-public-libraries-2024/
"# lists" indicates how many library most checked out book lists the book was on out of over 40 US libraries, accounting for both physical and digital.
Fiction
The Women by Kristin Hannah–34 lists
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride–18 lists
Funny Story by Emily Henry–16 lists
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett–15 lists
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus–14 lists
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros–14 lists
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt–12 lists
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver–12 lists
Happy Place by Emily Henry–11 lists
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston–10 lists
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin–8 lists
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese–8 lists
Nonfiction
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt–10 lists
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears–9 lists
Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney–8 lists
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy–7 lists
The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson–6 lists
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann–6 lists
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann–5 lists
Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia–5 lists
I haven't read any of these but have one on my reading list. Curious if anyone has read any of these and any thoughts you have? General thoughts and comments welcome as well.
https://redd.it/1hp4sv1
@r_books
What’s your final read of the year? Or what book will bridge into the new year?
I’ll have Snakehead finished by the new year—non fiction by Patrick Radden Keafe (Say Nothing, Empire of Pain) about human smugglers and Chinese gangs in NYC. Excellent read.
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart will definitely carry on to the new year. A satire about America becoming a Russian oligarchy beholden to the Chinese won, written about ten ago and cuts an about as close to the bone as I can handle!
https://redd.it/1hp17my
@r_books
Weekly FAQ Thread December 29 2024: What is your favorite quote from a book?
Hello readers and welcome to our Weekly FAQ thread! Our topic this week is: What is your favorite quote from a book? Please post your favorites here.
You can view previous FAQ threads here in our wiki.
Thank you and enjoy!
https://redd.it/1howjwl
@r_books
Anyone else believed Jess's denial in Bridge to Terabithia ending?
Surprisingly, not many people talk about it online. But in Bridge to Terabithia, Jess refuses to believe that Leslie actually died and thinks of it as just a dream. He even starts thinking of all the things he would do with her the next day (like running over the hills). Even started imagining conversations he would have with Leslie later.
As a kid, I actually fell for it. The writing kind of distracted me from the fact she was really dead. Like Jess, even I started believing that it was perhaps a nightmare. That just made it sad all over again.
Was I the only one who didn't realize that it was just Jess refusing to accept the reality?
https://redd.it/1horxs4
@r_books
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena has probably the worst prose in any book I have read.
I consider myself a thriller book enthusiast and so when I read the premise of An Unwanted Guest, I immediately picked it up. On the surface, the book has a fantastic concept. A bunch of strangers get trapped in an isolated hotel during a snowstorm and a killer lurks among them. Very Agatha Christie esque (whose work I absolutely adore).
Unfortunately, that's where the similarities with Christie end. The major problem with the book is the prose. It is written in the present tense which I found a bit disconcerting but the real deal breaker was how bland the sentences were. The exposition feels too in the face and spoon fed to the reader. This is literally how every paragraph goes:
X sees that they are heading to the hotel. X is hopeful this would be a good weekend. X knows her friend Y is trying to make her happy. But. X is not happy.
Prose is very important to the book for me and such style of writing just ruins any mystery/intrigue. Coming to the mystery itself, unlike an Agatha Christie book (or any good thriller/murder mystery), the author does not leave any clues for the reader to find. The reveal of the murderer is probably the worst murderer reveal I have read in any book. It just happens out of the blue and is written in the same god awful prose. There is no build up, no excitement, nothing.
The most important of a thriller/mystery is the author drops little hints as to who the killer is throughout the book allowing readers to make their own guesses which is half the fun for me (even if I am wrong most of the time). But when reading An Unwanted Guest, I was given nothing to work with. I was just as clueless as most of the characters (who by the way, are very one dimensional).
I did finish the book, just out of curiosity or maybe blind hope that it would get better. It didn't. But at least it was a quick read which is a positive I suppose.
I guess I am in the minority here since the book has good reviews but I'd strongly advise anyone interested in this book to read a sample first to see if they can live with the prose. It's a shame, it has great potential but awful execution.
1.5/5.
https://redd.it/1horc4k
@r_books
What have been your favorite Speculative Fiction Reads ?
Speculative Fiction encompasses fantasy, horror, sci-fi etc (there are too many genres post-apocalyptic fiction ? and what not).
What have been your best reads in this genre ?
From what I have read I loved
* The Road - Cornac McCarthy
* Return of The King - JRR Tolkien
* A Storm of Swords - GRR Martin
* Pet Semetary - Stephen King
* Demon in White - Christopher Ruocchio (this is something I read very recently and imo is super underrated)
These are some of the books in this genre that I will keep revisiting. (Although I haven't read many books so the list may change)
Curious to know your favorite reads! :)
https://redd.it/1hqabgj
@r_books
Do people enjoy their reading statistics?
I just feel so burnt out on all the stats that get sent your way, for everything. I don't need goals or achievements or my daily stats. I'm reading to get away from the grind of life, not so that it becomes another obsessive habit. Every app seems to have a goal list or a stats thing.
I'm not sure if it's just me.
https://redd.it/1hpxk75
@r_books
2025 Year-Long Classic Book Club Subreddits
With 2025 just upon us, I thought it would be a nice idea to share some reddit reading groups that focus on reading the classics. (Apologies if this post is not allowed, but as the main mod over at [r/ayearofbookhub](https://www.reddit.com/r/ayearofbookhub/) I just wanted to highlight these groups)
If you are interested in reading more classics in 2025 and would like to join a book club that specializes in that, then please check out these wonderful bookish communities below. These are fun, mostly casual communities that host these book clubs for the joy of reading, so anyone with any type of background knowledge is welcome to join.
Most of the groups read a chapter or two per week for most of the year, while some go further and read a chapter a day. Most of the groups also post regular discussion posts to talk about the texts in-depth.
Confirmed Readings/Book Clubs:
* r/yearofannakarenina - schedule [here ](https://www.reddit.com/r/yearofannakarenina/comments/1h7buai/announcing_a_year_of_anna_karenina_2025_cohort/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
* r/AYearOfMythology \- we will be reading Celtic mythology in 2025 (schedule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AYearOfMythology/comments/1hju5sv/2025_celtic_mythology_reading_schedule/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button))
* r/ClassicBookClub \- ongoing (rolling votes)
* r/lonesomeoctober2024 - held for the month of October, will be going ahead again in 2025.
* r/ayearofmiddlemarch schedule [here ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ayearofmiddlemarch/comments/1hoelsg/2025_rayearofmiddlemarch_schedule_and/)
* r/bookclub - ongoing, (rolling votes) multiple books per month.
* r/ayearoflupin - will also be continuing.
* r/AudibleBookClub - ongoing (rolling votes).
* r/yearofdonquixote - schedule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/yearofdonquixote/comments/1hlkekj/2025_don_quixote_reading_schedule/)
* r/BetterEarthReads - an environmental book club is starting in 2025. Schedule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterEarthReads/comments/1hkgt5a/2025_schedule_and_posts/)
* r/ayearofArabianNights schedule [here ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ayearofArabianNights/comments/1hnoqh9/2025_schedule/)
https://redd.it/1hppa3j
@r_books
Do you have any books that you would rate “6 stars”?
A 6 star book would be a book that is absolutely perfect, and more. Better than a perfect 5 stars. It goes above and beyond all your expectations and any standards you could imagine. Usually I see people on Tiktok post about their 6 star reads, and I would love to know if people over here have the same feelings.
Here are mine:
1. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (P&V translation). This is my all time favorite book, and I’m currently rereading it even though I only finished it back in October the first time around! Whenever I see people comment about this book, I almost always respond telling them how much I love it. Absolutely flawless.
2. The Stranger by Albert Camus (Matthew Ward translation)
3. The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (Benjamin Moser translation)
4. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
I’m always curious to hear people’s opinions, especially across different genres. I recently asked this question, and the responses I received were very similar (in the classics realm, lots of Dostoevsky and Baldwin). So, I would love to know what people on this sub think!
https://redd.it/1hpovte
@r_books
These were the most-borrowed books from public libraries in 2024
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/29/nx-s1-5234258/most-borrowed-library-books-2024
https://redd.it/1hplkjf
@r_books
What Books did You Start or Finish Reading this Week?: December 30, 2024
Hi everyone!
What are you reading? What have you recently finished reading? What do you think of it? We want to know!
We're displaying the books found in this thread in the book strip at the top of the page. If you want the books you're reading included, use the formatting below.
Formatting your book info
Post your book info in this format:
the title, by the author
For example:
The Bogus Title, by Stephen King
This formatting is voluntary but will help us include your selections in the book strip banner.
Entering your book data in this format will make it easy to collect the data, and the bold text will make the books titles stand out and might be a little easier to read.
Enter as many books per post as you like but only the parent comments will be included. Replies to parent comments will be ignored for data collection.
To help prevent errors in data collection, please double check your spelling of the title and author.
NEW: Would you like to ask the author you are reading (or just finished reading) a question? Type !invite in your comment and we will reach out to them to request they join us for a community Ask Me Anything event!
-Your Friendly /r/books Moderator Team
https://redd.it/1hpkve7
@r_books
For those of you that read The Help years ago how do you feel about it now?
I remember when it first came out it was lauded and so was the movie. Everyone I knew was talking about it and raving. I was in middle school when the movie came out and that's when I read the book. Reading it then was a different experience now. Now the white savior trope feels more obvious but it's really the dialect that gets me. Each chapter is written from the perspective of one of the 3 characters. Skeeter and all the while characters speak plainly. You wouldn't guess they're from the south based ofc how they speak but Minny, Aibileen, and all the black characters speak with not only a southern dialect but the spelling and grammar reflect that. Being from the south myself I feel that the white characters could have been written similarly and the fact that they aren't is a bit distracting. Some of the poorer white characters don't speak in dialect either. When I first read the book I didn't even notice it but it's very noticable now.
I don't hate the book of the movie by any means and neither does anyone in my family. As a matter of fact some of them quote it. Especially the two slices of shit scene. I still remember my mom discussing the book with her friends and comparing it to what my grandma experienced when working in a nursing home in the 60s as a Black care taker.
My mother felt it did a great job of making people think about that and how so many Black women of the time had to work outside the home (so many ppl today think women didn't work then. Completely false) and take care of other people's children. More than their own. I remember her being very loved by the book and her having discussions about it with her white coworkers who had parents that grew up with help. I remember feeling moved by the book as well. All of the characters felt real to me and I felt that they had a lot of life to them. I think my mother and sister loved having a book highlight the struggle Black women have always experienced. I think they feel similarly about books/movies like The Color Purple.
So overall I think it's great that the book got people talking about this particular part of history but there are some parts of it that definitely stand out to me now and not in a good way. I'd still recommend it to other people so they could develop their own feelings about it. How did you like it?
https://redd.it/1hpdy3h
@r_books
why the shrimp are fantasy, just know they're magical!
https://redd.it/1hpb1ix
@r_books
Paths of Lantistyne is such an underrated series
It's my favorite fantasy series next to the Bloodsworn Saga.
And I wish more people knew about it/read it! Unfortunately a lot of people are put off by the prologue and first few chapters. I was too.
My mom had bought The Empire's Ghost for me (I didn't know why, it was not my birthday nor Christmas). I tried reading the prologue, went "oh, this is boring." And shoved the book away.
But then I decided "I should give it a chance."
And I'm glad I did. The cast is colorful, the worldbuilding is fascinating, especially when more is revealed in each book, and the couples that are together, or eventually get together, are so cute.
Even the side characters or characters who appear once have a personality.
I just wish more people gave it a chance.
https://redd.it/1hp1fcz
@r_books
Go Ask Alice is awful lol
Go Ask Alice is a diary of a teenager descending into a drug addiction in the early 70s. It is less than 200 pages long and the format made it stupid quick and easy to read. Emphasis on stupid.
I knew it was a work of fiction from the beginning but what the fuck man lol. The author clearly knew absolutely nothing about addiction or the drugs the main character was using..
The emphasis on psychedelics and weed was ridiculous. >!Heroin!< was the most severe substance mentioned and it was literally only mentioned ONCE. Alcohol was mentioned maybe twice as well. She moved on from those like they were nothing..but she kept getting marijuana joints! Oh, the horror!
I had to force myself to assume that she was still drinking & using and just not mentioning it in her diary entries. That her & other characters weren't "stoned" from just cannabis. The mental gymnastics I had to put myself through to keep giving her empathy and root for her recovery is almost comical.
Aside from her blatant homophobia, the main character tried her best to stay positive and hopeful throughout her journey. Her family was overwhelmingly supportive and seemed to have little to no effect on the consequences of the main character's "addictions" - or the consequences of anything that happened in the book whatsoever. They probably ended up reacting the same way after the shitty and abrupt ending. >!she overdosed and died in her parents house 3 weeks after moving back with them heehee oopsie daisy story over!< I ended up just sitting here like ????
This was the worst book I read this year and probably one of the worst books I've ever read. This book is part of a series too! Hell no I'm not reading any more of them hahaha. Sorry, I just had to vent lol
https://redd.it/1hp5fbd
@r_books
Reading for fun after many years of just reading for school. Worrying about not absorbing/remembering enough detail from each chapter.
Probably been fifteen years since I read a book for fun. I'm used to reading for school, where I skim to get the most important points, and where things a bit easier to remember because a lot of things are directly built upon previous topics and details. So by reading a paragraph that covers something new, it is also reinforcing what was previously covered.
I started reading Dune recently. It's a great book but it is extremely dense. Every sentence is packed with details that shed light on the characters or universe, foreshadow something, and develop the book's themes all at once. So it is difficult to read. I've been having some neurological and memory issues recently, so to make sure I don't overwhelm myself, I read one chapter at a time (chapters are only 3-4 pages), wait a few days, then reread the chapter. I reread each chapter 2-3 times.
I want to get as much as I can out of the book, and make sure I understand every point of significance. Short of high school English classes that pick apart every detail, this is what I thought to do. But maybe I'm just worrying too much.
https://redd.it/1hp0rgr
@r_books
Read my first romance novel this month and the spice was actually written believably imo. How do yall tell which will be written in a believable way but not neglect the backstory?
Tl;dr: A mainly fantasy, thriller/horror and hist fiction reader, I read a romance novel that I found the spice believable with a fun backstory to give romance a shot. I'm looking to read more that are believable but don't go into erotica territory.
How do other romance readers tell the difference between say trashy airport romance/50 shades toxic romance and well written romance? Im not looking to be a big romance reader, but would like tips on finding the better written spice in the genre with a touch of fantasy or magical realism/folklore in the background story. A romance now and then will give me more palate cleansers between the other genres I juggle reading.
The romance book I read was Under Loch and Key before anyone asks in a comment.
https://redd.it/1hozo2y
@r_books
East of Eden
I've just finished reading this for the second time but it has been long enough for me to completely forget how it all ended. I'm also at a much different stage in life than the first time.
I'm not here to say how good it is as I know it's massively appreciated and discussed here already.
I'll just say one thing.... This is why I read.
This is the only Steinbeck I've ever read, where do I go next?
Timshel!
https://redd.it/1houzd3
@r_books
Ringworld is so unnecessarily sexual
I have, for the most part, been enjoying the book but as it goes on it really feels like the story has become a vehicle for Louis to have increasing sexual encounters. They dumped his previous girlfriend (with an 180 year age gap) and he immediately got a new hot alien babe who tried to control him but due to circumstances is now under his spell and can't get enough of his sexual powers.
I don't think he's a particularly good writer, the ideas are interesting and cool but I don't really get a proper picture of the worlds in my head, and the sex scenes have become so gratuitous and unnecessary I'm fed up of the whole thing.
The bit where they encountered his new sex partner was so dismissive of women, on their spaceship there was a crew of 36 and 3 were women, and it's heavily implied that they were all prostitutes and the men did everything else.
I'm 90% of the way through and I'm going to finish it, but I can't see myself picking up any of the sequels. Does anyone think that's a mistake? Am I missing out, or is it just an excuse for him to write several more books one-handed?
I didn't really know anything about it before picking it up other than it was old sci-fi but the trash level has really put me off.
https://redd.it/1hoswgr
@r_books
What are some examples of the "bad books" that girls and young women loved in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s—books that were criticized for being trashy, poorly written, or not "serious literature"? What do you think made these books so appealing despite the criticism they faced?
I’ve been reading the *ACOTAR* series (not looking to debate the series here, LOL), and it made me curious about past decades. These books are hugely popular but often criticized, and it got me thinking about what books were considered "bad" or "low-brow" for girls and women in previous generations.
For example, I was born in the late 80s and loved *Sweet Valley High* growing up in the 90s. They were so fun and dramatic, but I wasn’t allowed to read them because they were seen as trashy or not "real literature."
What books from earlier decades fit into this pattern of being beloved by young women but criticized by others? Were there certain trends or types of books that dominated during those times?
*\*This post was re-posted after not following the sub reddit requirements*
https://redd.it/1horafi
@r_books