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Rest in Peace, Sir Terry. It’s been 11 years and we miss you!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/14/revisting-terry-pratchett-discworld-taught-me-love-of-reading
https://redd.it/1rryy0b
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I wrote a book about theft and deception – and now AI scams are flooding my inbox
https://www.theguardian.com/books/commentisfree/2026/mar/12/book-author-email-ai-scams
https://redd.it/1rrvwps
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Article: ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead’ is actually not just about death
https://theconversation.com/the-tibetan-book-of-the-dead-is-actually-not-just-about-death-247174
https://redd.it/1rrr8tf
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Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
Just finished Heretics of Dune and I’ve got mixed feelings, but mostly good ones.
First off, it was really interesting seeing how the universe has evolved after the death of the Tyrant, Leto II Atreides. There’s this huge sense of historical distance from everything that happened earlier in the saga. Empires have shifted, new factions are running around, and the ripple effects of the Golden Path are still shaping everything. It honestly feels like you’re exploring the ruins of the old Dune universe while something new is trying to grow out of it.
The worldbuilding is still classic Frank Herbert — dense, philosophical, and sometimes a little overwhelming. Herbert drops into this changed galaxy and expects to keep up while the Bene Gesserit scheme, new powers rise, and strange cultural shifts start showing up everywhere. It’s the kind of book where half the fun is piecing together what the happened in the thousands of years since the earlier books.
That said… this one is weirdly sexual. Like, noticeably more than the previous books. I had been warned about it before going in, but it was still awkward at times. Herbert leans hard into the Bene Gesserit’s manipulation through sexuality, and the introduction of the Honored Matres pushes that theme even further. Some of it feels thematically intentional — power, control, domination — but other parts had me shifting uncomfortably lol.
Still, the characters are compelling and the political tension is great. The book feels like it’s setting up a massive conflict that’s bigger than the older Imperium structure ever was. You can really feel the universe stretching beyond the familiar sandworm-and-Atreides focus of the earlier novels.
Overall:
• Fascinating to see the post–God Emperor galaxy
• Classic Herbert-level ideas and worldbuilding
• Definitely the strangest and most sexually charged book in the series so far
It’s not my favorite in the series, but it’s one of the most interesting. It feels like the moment where the Dune saga fully transforms into something new.
Curious how other people felt about this one — especially compared to God Emperor of Dune and the final book, Chapterhouse: Dune.
https://redd.it/1rrq2kd
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A question for the romantasy readers
I've been trying to read a bit more (If you want to write, read, and all), so I've been looking into recent releases instead of just the old goldens on my backlog, since they're always be there for me later and never relevant to a query letter.
Anyhow, there is one recent fantasy book that caught my eye because of a blurb I saw on the Reactor website. Reactor does have a dedicated "new romantasy releases section," which I avoid. But I believe I've stumbled into romantasy anyway, between the instant attraction between the two leads and the fact that the page I left off on this morning was >!her feeling the urge to both stab him and get fingered by him, possibly at the same time.!<
A few things have felt a tad off, but not enough to drop it for me, so I took a look at Goodreads, and there is a quote from one review that brought me here, since it's more or less my current perception of romantasy:
>This also touches on a broader issue I’ve been noticing within the genre. Many adult romantasy novels seem to rely heavily on YA-style character archetypes and themes, simply aged up without the additional nuance, depth, and emotional complexity that adult storytelling really benefits from.
Since I went out of my way to try and find fantasy, not romantasy, I'm clearly not a reader of the genre, and based on what I've seen of the internet, it is more or less "YA fantasy, but the characters are adults so you can put in sex," and that's the end of it. The "fantasy" part that might demand more complex, intricate worldbuilding and character writing is simply not the priority.
Could also just be a consequence of publishing being an industry and what gets sold gets bought by publishers, and what gets sold is what makes people feel things, even if the worldbuilding, plot, and characters crumble into a fine dust under any semblance of scrutiny.
So I wanted to ask people who do read romantasy regularly if that feels about right to them. If, compared to adult fantasy that's adult for non-sexual reasons, romantasy can feel imamture or more like it would fit right in with YA if the characters were aged down a handful of years.
https://redd.it/1rqw1n4
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If you've been reading for several years, how has your reading evolved over the years?
If you want to go year by year and do a short summary of each year, maybe a favorite book from each year, or a rating, I would love to see it. You can also include 2026 and how your evolution affects your current reading habits.
I myself started off my reading journey with a bang, had some amazing years, then fast forward to now I'm in the worst reading slump. Going through year by year makes it obvious where everything kind of fell apart.
Here's mine:
2021: Start of my reading journey. I was trying to figure out what I liked, and read a mix of the highest regarded classics and niche subgenre of weird fiction.
Rating: 24 read with 83% of books rated 4 or higher
2022: Great and pivotal year. Read even more high regarded classics, mixed with even more niche weird fiction.
Rating: 50 read with 84% rated 4 or higher
2023: After having read the top "greatest hits" of classics, for some reason I stopped reading classics for the most part. Pivoted to genre fiction and some popular books which I did not end up liking.
Rating: 53 read with 64% rated 4 or higher
2024: Almost complete pivot to genre fiction and popular books, thrillers, horror. I don't know why I did this because I should have known from the previous year that I was not enjoying genre fiction. The most books I ever read in a year, but most of them were not worth reading.
Rating: 65 read with 40% rated 4 or higher.
2025: After a bad year, this year I was super unmotivated and in a huge slump. I had gotten so far away from my original reason for reading. I think I was reading just to keep my numbers up but I was not connecting with the books.
Rating: 25 read with 40% rated 4 or higher
2026: Still in a massive slump, trying to realign myself and who I am as a reader and read fewer books but pick them more intentionally. Trying to find the common thread between books I tend to like, and avoid the ones that I don't.
https://redd.it/1rr63hh
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would have been rude of me to say that there is a circle of Hell reserved for teachers like Miss Smith.'!< Thief of Time
11. Offers to write a retraction for his previous work: >!"Your lies have already poisoned the world’ ‘Then I shall write another book’, said Didactylos calmly. ‘Think how it will look – proud Didactylos swayed by the arguments of the Omnians. A full retraction. Hmm? In fact, with your permission, lord – I know you have much to do, looting and burning and so on – I will retire to my barrel right away and start work on it. A universe of spheres. Balls spinning through space. Hmm. Yes. With your permission, lord, I will write you more balls that you can imagine…"!< Small Gods
https://redd.it/1rrd74m
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Readers Are Embracing a Shift in Perspective in Books. It Could Reshape Literary Culture.
https://slate.com/culture/2026/03/romance-books-novels-fantasy-romantasy-booktok-pov-first-person-third-person.html
https://redd.it/1rqx46n
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Finished A Thousand Splendid Suns and I can’t stop thinking about Mariam and society’s judgment.
I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns and it was an incredible but emotionally difficult read. Not because the book was bad, but because there is so much suffering in it that I couldn’t finish it in one sitting.
The character I became most attached to was Mariam. From the moment she is born she is labeled a harami, something she never chose. She never asked to be born that way, never wanted to harm anyone, and never asked for much in life. All she really wanted was love and acknowledgment from Jalil, the one person she believed cared about her.
What struck me most is that Mariam’s suffering begins long before the war or the later oppression in the story. It begins with society’s judgment. She is punished for something that wasn’t her fault.
When Laila and Aziza come into her life, it’s the first time Mariam begins to realize that she isn’t just a burden or a mistake. Through them she finally experiences love and understands that she has value as a person.
Even Rasheed made me think. He is clearly a cruel and vile man, but the story hints that he might also be carrying trauma from his past, like the loss of his son. That doesn’t excuse his actions, but it adds another layer to the character.
One small moment that stuck with me was when Mariam sees the picture of Rasheed with his first wife and notices a hint of hardness in her face. It made me wonder if life with Rasheed had already hardened someone before Mariam ever arrived.
Overall, the novel felt less like just a story about oppression and more like a judgment of society—how easily people condemn the innocent for things they never chose.
It’s a painful book, but also a very powerful one.
https://redd.it/1rp2gru
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I want mass market paperbacks back!
Why cant they produce high quality mass market paperbacks? They don't have to be bad quality. I'm tired of these 200 page tall wide books, so uneccessary, I'm tired. There is no goddamn space for those hardbacks. Just minimize the books I beg of you. eBooks be damned. The new paperbacks are tearing me apart.
https://redd.it/1rp1lec
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Ten Sleep’s library awarded National Medal, the highest honor for libraries and museums
https://www.ypradio.org/regional-news/2026-03-06/ten-sleeps-library-awarded-national-medal-the-highest-honor-for-libraries-and-museums
https://redd.it/1roxoxy
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What Books did You Start or Finish Reading this Week?: March 09, 2026
Hi everyone!
What are you reading? What have you recently finished reading? What do you think of it? We want to know!
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Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and From the New World by Yusuke Kishi
In Crime and Punishment, the protagonist >!murders a woman believing that:!<
1. >!He is superior to other humans, so it is acceptable for him (and other extraordinary people) to decide others' fate—like Napoleon Bonaparte.!<
2. >!Murdering the woman would benefit society.!<
>!Needless to say, he cannot handle his conscience and guilt afterward, and eventually turns himself in. !<It was really interesting to see >!how his guilt works on him psychologically.!<
Reading this reminded me of From the New World by Yusuke Kishi.
In From the New World, human beings have effectively evolved into two groups: superhumans and ordinary humans. Instead of having superhumans fighting evil like in superhero movies, the superhumans (especially superpowered teenagers) in that world almost destroyed human civilization.
>!To control them and prevent such a catastrophic future, the adult superhumans develop an elaborate ritual and educational system designed to make teenagers strongly feel guilt. If any of the teenagers were to murder another superhuman, their overwhelming guilt would ultimately destroy them.!<
I won’t share more details, but it’s a really unique sci-fi story.
https://redd.it/1roh8cf
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Lost in Space: a former astronaut child talks family, betrayal, and redemption in a new memoir
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/03/08/bookshelf-astronaut-children-dunbar-street-wiley-wei-chiun-ho/
https://redd.it/1roehx2
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Cannibalism seems to be a weirdly popular plot point in older sci fi
There are at least 3 novels by 2 different "major" classic sci fi authors ( >!Farnham's Freehold!< and >! Stranger in a Strange Land!< by Robert Heinlein, and >!Helstrom's Hive!< by Frank Herbert, in which routine cannibalism is a relatively major plot point.
It also comes up at least briefly in, among other books, >!Babel 17!<, by Samuel Delaney.
That seems... oddly specific. And these aren't fringe authors no one has heard of or something, and the books didn't really come across as an attempt at horror or anything. Particularly the second one. So... what's up with that?
Edit:
Part of what I'm finding noteworthy in those 3 examples (and others that I'm only vaguely recalling) is that it's not survival cannibalism (eating people to avoid starving), and it's not ritual cannibalism (eating people as part of a ceremony), it's just "What's for dinner tonight?" "People." That feels like... more of a deliberate choice, if you get my drift.
https://redd.it/1ro5reh
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1Q84 feels like Haruki Murakami devolving into self-parody
I'm not a Murakami hater like a lot of people in online reading spaces. I fully acknowledge his flaws and occasionally find a lot of his writing tics and habits annoying. Murakami is still one of my most-read authors because I found him at the right time when I was a disenchanted, lonely university student - maybe not my favourite author or one I'd consider among the best I've read but for pure comfort and a very specific kind of story, he scratches an itch very few others do.
With that being said, 1Q84...Murakami bro, what in the world? Someone really needs to tell this guy no. 1Q84 is what happens when an author becomes too famous for his own good and ends up impervious to editing.
This book really feels like Murakami at his most Murakami, completely unfiltered and unedited, and it's not for the better. His inability to write female characters that are more than just a vessel for the male protagonist to live through is well-documented but it's at its worst here in 1Q84. All the female characters seem to exist only to be written into tedious, often creepy, cringeworthy sex scenes - even moreso than usual. Tengo is also a boring, paper-thin protagonist, again even more than usual when it comes to the blank canvas male MCs Murakami typically creates. Tough subjects like rape and sexual abuse of minors are treated with an indifferent casualness
And I really don't think this book justifies its length, not even close. Just page after page of repetition and meandering. This is why I keep harping on about this book being a reflection of Murakami's worst excesses - his books have always been about vibes and atmosphere. That's kind of their thing. But in 1Q84 it veers into tedium and boredom. The juice is just not worth the squeeze. Yes, there are 2 moons, I get it! No, we don't need any more pages of descriptions of tits and dicks, Haruki, thank you.
That sense of surreal dreaminess and atmosphere he does so well is still present here. Everything else is just a big bust for me.
https://redd.it/1rrxy9w
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“Giant” Takes on Roald Dahl and His Antisemitism: Mark Rosenblatt’s début play brings light, shadow, and humor to its portrait of a troubled writer.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/03/16/mark-rosenblatt-profile-theatre
https://redd.it/1rrutcn
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Do you prefer a book that wraps up quickly after the climax or one that has a long epilogue?
I read 50-60 books a year and something that I've noticed about many of the books that I've read which have been written in the last 5-10 years are the increasing occurrence of and length of epilogues and it's starting to drive me crazy. Like, just end the book already!
I can't count how many times I've been reading a book and have reached the crescendo moment, only to look and see that there are 30 or 50 or even more pages left to go in the epilogue.
Why?!
Do authors think we cannot handle a story in which the MC has the big event happen and then the book ends right after they catch the Uber to go home? Do we need to now what happens during the next 5 generations of their family to get some sort of satisfaction from the story?
Be more like the original Matrix movie! Leave me wondering about the characters and details after it ends? Whoa?! Is he actually the One? Are we in a simulation too? I don't need to know the whole backstory of the Architect. If you want to write a follow-up, that's cool. But leave me something to chew on or think about, please!
Do you prefer a story with a long epilogue and every last detail all wrapped with a red bow? Are you ok with a quip and "the end"?
https://redd.it/1rrr8y7
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Just finished Ubik - PKD never fails to mess with my head
Been diving back into Philip K. Dick's stuff lately and just wrapped up Ubik from 1969. What a wild ride that was!
The story follows Glen Runciter who runs this company that sends out teams of people with anti-psychic abilities to help corporations protect themselves from telepathic industrial espionage. Things go sideways when Runciter and his crew get attacked by competitors, leaving him badly hurt and stuck in this weird "half-life" state that's basically like being in a coma but still somewhat conscious.
The rest of his team starts noticing really bizarre stuff happening around them - Runciter's face showing up on currency, the whole world seeming to regress technologically, food spoiling instantly, that kind of thing. They're trying to figure out what's causing all this chaos and how this mysterious product called Ubik fits into everything.
Each chapter kicks off with these fake advertisments for Ubik, but they're all describing completely different products - sometimes it's a spray, sometimes it's something else entirely. Really adds to the confusion in the best possible way.
This one definitely falls into that same category as Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Scanner Darkly - the kind of book that starts normal enough then just spirals into complete mind-bending territory. There's this creepy undertone throughout that keeps you on edge without going full horror mode.
Really enjoying getting back into his longer works after reading some of his short fiction recently. Got a couple more from the late 50s sitting on my shelf that I'm excited to tackle next, plus I should probably grab some of his short story collections at some point.
https://redd.it/1rr05de
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Durango withdraws bookshop records request after lawsuit filed over First Amendment concerns
https://www.ksut.org/news/2026-03-11/durango-withdraws-bookshop-records-request-after-lawsuit-filed-over-first-amendment-concerns
https://redd.it/1rrme7w
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Can we talk about Jorge Luis Borges?
I just started reading collected fictions from penguins and have only read The Library of Babel and The Garden of Forking Paths. I am delightfully disoriented. I am reminded of a quote from The Last Samurai: “There is so much here I will never understand. And though it may forever be obscure to me, I cannot but be aware of its power.” Borges seems like he’s in a league of his own. I feel like he’s too smart for me, like I’m in the presence of a giant. I hope as I read more, learn more, grow more, and live more I will start to see some of this mystery explained.. or at least that I can articulate it better. I also love the mystery and believe it is intended and probably would lose some of its power if it was completely “solved”. I have not read many stories like these that seem less about plot and more about an underlying idea. I think that is just the tip of the iceberg but the The Garden of the Forking Paths seem more about concepts of time than the plot. Writing a story centered on a concept/idea is such a clever and interesting way to discuss an idea. All in all I am loving this little adventure into Borges’ mind. Would love to hear y’all’s excitement and insights!
https://redd.it/1rr5ypb
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Eleven Discworld relationships between characters and books for the 11th anniversary of Sir Terry Pratchett's walk with Death
1. Punished by restricted access to books: >!"They'll tell my father I've [Malicia\] been telling stories and I'll get locked out of my room again."
"You get locked out of your room as a punishment?"
"Yes. It means I can't get at my books."!< The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
2. Care for their books as ants do for their eggs: >!"The library was full of wizards, who care about their books in the same way that ants care about their eggs and in time of difficulty carry them around in much the same way."!< Equal Rites
3. Knows practical uses for books: >!"Bonfires of books?’ ‘Yes. Horrible, isn’t it?’ ‘Right,’ said Cohen. He thought it was appalling. Someone who spent his life living rough under the sky knew the value of a good thick book, which ought to outlast at least a season of cooking fires if you were careful how you tore the pages out. Many a life had been saved on a snowy night by a handful of sodden kindling and a really dry book. If you felt like a smoke and couldn’t find a pipe, a book was your man every time. Cohen realized people wrote things in books. It had always seemed to him to be a frivolous waste of paper."!< The Light Fantastic
4. Brings along a book to while away the time while waiting: >!"YOU ARE HAVING A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE, WHICH INESCAPABLY MEANS THAT I MUST UNDERGO A NEAR-VIMES EXPERIENCE. DON’T MIND ME. CARRY ON WITH WHATEVER YOU WERE DOING. I HAVE A BOOK."!< Thud
5. Respects those who love and respect books: >!"The Librarian considered matters for a while. So…a dwarf and a troll. He preferred both species to humans. For one thing, neither of them were great readers. The Librarian was, of course, very much in favor of reading in general, but readers in particular got on his nerves. There was something, well, sacrilegious about the way they kept taking books off the shelves and wearing out the words by reading them. He liked people who loved and respected books, and the best way to do that, in the Librarian’s opinion, was to leave them on the shelves where Nature intended them to be."!< Men at Arms
6. Always ready to learn new information from a book: >!"The Patrician watched him for a while, and then took a book off the little shelf beside him. Since the rats couldn't read the library he'd been able to assemble was a little baroque, but he was not a man to ignore fresh knowledge. He found his bookmark in the pages of Lacemaking Through the Ages, and read a few pages."!< Guards! Guards!
7. Distrusts someone who reads books: >!"I dinna trust him," said Slightly Mad Angus. "He [Roland\] reads books an' such."!< Wintersmith
8. Reads heroically to his sons: >!“An’ is that a big heroic book to read?” said Rob, running on the spot. “Aye. Probably, but—” Rob Anybody held up a hand for silence and looked across at Jeannie, who had a crowd of little Feegles surrounding her. She was smiling at him, and his sons were staring at their father in silent astonishment. One day, Rob thought, they’ll be able to walk up to even the longest words and give them a good kicking. Not even commas and those tricksie semicolonses will stop them! He had to be a hero. “Ah’m feelin’ guid about this readin’,” said Rob Anybody. “Bring it on!” And he read Principles of Modern Accountancy all morning, but just to make it interesting, he put lots of dragons in it.!< Wintersmith
9. A cottage which is inhabited by bookish witches: >!"All witches who'd lived in her [Agnes'\] cottage were bookish types. They thought you could see life through books but you couldn't, the reason being that the words got in the way."!< Carpe Jugulum
10. Teaches her students to expect plots from books: >!'Miss Smith thinks a good book is about a boy and his dog chasing a big red ball,' said Miss Susan. 'My children have learned to expect a plot. No wonder they get impatient. We're reading Grim Fairy Tales at the moment.'
'That is rather rude of you, Susan.'
'No, madam. That is rather polite of me. It
A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is George RR Martin's best writing
Most people are probably familiar with the show at this point but this book is absolutely worth reading and in some aspects may even exceed the main Song Of Ice And Fire series. While the main series is renowned for its grandeur, it's scope, it's endless amount of characters....A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms excels in the opposite regard. It is three relatively short novels, succinctly told that add amazingly to the world building of Wesreros. The book is broken down into three novellas about 130 pages each. Each novella tells the tale of The Hedge Knight Dunk and Prince Aegon Targaryen who is squire and is set 90 years before the main Song Of Ice and Fire series. The three novellas are as follows:
The Hedge Knight: This begins the tale of the wandering Hedge Knight Dunk after the knight Ser Arlan Pennytree dies and Dunk inherits his armor and equipment. Really an excellent table setter and love the world building/and Martin's ability to make his plots flow without any convolusion or typical story tropes. I really never knew exactly where things were going and there are dozens of tiny moments that just make his world feel full and real
The Sworn Sword: Excellent examples of how the feudal system works in Westeros. Love the stories of The Blackfyre Rebellion. Without giving too much away The Black Widow is a highlight.
The Mystery Knight: Dunk and Egg set out north towards the wall. They get caught up with knights traveling towards a tourney for the wedding to a Frey. Again really excellent writing by Martin through out by keeping these stories plotless in the best way, making them feel like serial adventures and self contained stories that illuminate the world of Westeros.
Sadly the last tale of Dunk and Egg was published in 2010. Since then we have had no continuation, which is a real shame because this is some of the best fantasy writing I've ever read. Martin's ability to weave plots, scaffold stories to create pay offs, and eliminate tropes entirely is really commendable. I love the main Song Of Ice And Fire series, but its scope is almost too large at times...A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms does the opposite...it's succinct, focused and are just wonderfully told stories.
https://redd.it/1rp9u6t
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He Wrote Judy Blume’s Life Story. She Won’t Talk About It. (Gift Article)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/books/review/judy-blume-biography-mark-oppenheimer.html?unlocked_article_code=1.R1A.Sc8p.jUUjjeL7Aa-W&smid=nytcore-ios-share
https://redd.it/1rp1yl7
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Weekly Calendar - March 09, 2026
Hello readers!
Every Monday, we will post a calendar with the date and topic of that week's threads and we will update it to include links as those threads go live. All times are Eastern US.
---
Day|Date|Time(ET)|Topic|
-|-|-|-
^Monday|^(March 09)||^(What are you Reading?)
^Wednesday|^(March 11)||^(LOTW)
^Thursday|^(March 12)||^(Favorite Books)
^Friday|^(March 13)||^(Weekly Recommendation Thread)
^Sunday|^(March 15)||^(Weekly FAQ: Best way to choose a translation or version of a book?)
https://redd.it/1row2jc
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Mr Cadmus by Peter Ackroyd
I’ve just finished this book and it’s the first book in long time that I’ve actually disliked. I’m so annoyed with it I need to see if anyone has interpretations because I honestly can’t tell if it makes no sense and is completely inconsistent or if I’m just not bright enough to understand it.
First off I’m not convinced that the author is clear which of his two female main characters is which at any given time. Maud Finch is introduced as the older of the two and has ‘firm opinions and a firm manner of expressing them’. Millicent Swallow is younger and ‘a little vague around the edges.’ Later though when their younger years are talked about it becomes that Maud is the younger one and Millicent is much more dominating.
Then there’s Mr Cadmus himself, he has turned up in the tiny English village as part of a revenge plan/treasure hunt. But also he may be some kind of spiritual leader/personification of a curse from his home island of Caldera? He randomly marries Maud for no particular reason I can work out. When the police questioned Mr Cadmus and Millicent about Maud’s suspicious death they both turn on each other but are then perfectly friendly and travel together back to Caldera.
The mystical bird of Caldera is described as purple, then green, then purple again before finally being green the last time it’s mentioned. Is it a mistake? Meant to reflect the amethysts? Representing unreliable narrative?
The ending with Maud as a ghost! Not to mention all the Chekov’s guns that weren’t fired.
https://redd.it/1rovvwn
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Weird tales of reassurance: T.E.D. Klein's "Reassuring Tales".
So read myself a new author in the form of T.E.D Klein with a small collection of some of his short stories, and a bit of poetry and some articles to boot, "Reassuring Tales".
This was originally published in the mid 2000s in a very, very, limited run. I've got the 2021 reprint from Pickman's Press, with a few illustrations in it. Really nice looking, with the cover art looking like a very ratty looking pulp magazine (and I think the original publication also had pulpy looking cover also).
The stories that are in this collection are really good; cosmic horror that is very much like the stories of Lovecraft, Machen, Chambers ect. There are three stories that I really love from this collection. His first ever story "The Events at Poroth Farm", which is something that is very much influenced by Machen (a favorite of Klein's) as well as by Lovecraft, and is also the first story in the collection.
Then there's the other story, and a pretty funny one, called "One Size Eats All". A pretty odd one to be sure! And then there is "Imagining Things" which is also a pretty good cosmic horror story.
It's not a particularly long collection, but it's certainly a treat to read for sure! Klein didn't publish a whole lot of books, so far he's got three published, and that included this one. There a couple of others that I still need to get my mits on, another collections called "Dark Gods" and his only novel "The Ceremonies". His bibliography might be slim but I certainly like what I've read from him so far!
https://redd.it/1rop3tr
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Is it worth continuing with Neal Stephenson after Seveneves?
I’ve just finished Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and I’m wondering if I’ve picked a poor entry point to his work.
I’d intended to buy Snow Crash, but the shop didn’t have a copy of that, so I thought I’d give a different one of his a go.
The book’s stilted rhythm really ruined it for me though. By that I mean way he introduces a new concept mid-action or mid-conversation, then breaks away to explain the history, etymology, and utility of that concept over the course of multiple pages before returning to the action/conversation.
In the end it feels less like a novel and more like a series of Wikipedia articles interrupted by snippets of narrative.
I’m hoping this is just another case of a successful writer putting out a bloated book because they now have the power to override their editor. Which would mean that earlier stuff like *Snow Crash* could still be worth reading.
Is that hope in vain, or is early Stephenson still worth a look?
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The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
Having just finished this book, I don't think I felt as emotionally/mentally drained as I have with any other book I've read in a while. It's one of the most tragic, disturbing, and detailed accounts of an unjust slaughter of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers in the capital city of Nanking in 1937, next to the Jewish Holocaust during WW2. Iris Chang not only goes through every little detail of events that led to the devastation before and after the Japanese entered the capital city, but also the psychological theories as to why such an event even took place. I've heard of the Nanking (or Nanjing) massacre, not from any history books in my school education, but from YouTube years ago, where I used to watch edgy dark videos of the top ten most disturbing photos ever taken of macabre subjects. And one black and white photo, heavily censored I'm sure, was a row of decapitated heads on a dirt ledge next to a pit filled with charred corpses. This exact same photo showed up in my hardcover copy of the book, uncensored, and higher resolution, and I think I got the biggest whiplash of seeing the image once again that used to haunt me as a kid. It's not something you can easily forget when seeing it. And this same mentality goes with the rest of the all the factual and detailed torture, rape, and violence the Chinese had to endure throughout the duration of that time period.
Iris Chang not only depicts a detailed all-sided view of the attack on Nanking, but also the people themselves, whether civilians, soldiers, or foreigners who made excruciating efforts in establishing safety zones to protect the people caught in the crossfire. Little bits of heroism and self-sacrifice is put on display within the massacre and provides just a small amount of reprieve or hope in humanity at such a bleak and desecrating situation. But, even these moments, are short lived as the onslaught of violence just keeps rearing its head in almost every paragraph of the book and it becomes almost numbing at a certain point. Controversies over the acknowledgement or the un-acknowledgement of the attack is also written just as vividly as the rape itself. Giving the reader a clear idea where opinions fell for certain counties at the time and the erasure of history being put through the ringer. And the witness accounts from survivors and veteran soldiers is entwined within the narrative of the crimes themselves, adding more weight to everything that happened.
This book is not an easy read and one that I wouldn't say I enjoyed reading. But it's an important one that I think should still be read just to remember the horrors of war and not allow the stories of innocent people caught in the crossfire between higher powers be forgotten through the bloodied history of humanity. I'm sure Iris Chang went through a lot physically and mentally writing this book and the subject matter it dealt with. As I was aware going into the book that she took her own life not long after publishing the book, which is just sad and tragic, and I hope she's resting in peace knowing she achieved something great and unforgettable in writing this book.
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Locked room mystery is not the same as closed circle of suspects
A pet peeve of mine: I keep seeing detective/mystery books advertised as "locked room mysteries" when they are nothing of the sort. What they mean is "closed circle of suspects".
A locked room murder mystery is an impossible crime. The murder has happened in a room locked from the inside or in some other location that no murderer could possibly access and/or leave. The mystery is not just who committed the murder, but how it was physically committed. Classic examples are The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux, or The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr.
Closed circle of suspects is a mystery where we know that the murderer must be one of a small, defined group of people. Typically, only people from that group had the opportunity to commit the crime. Alternatively, it could also be that only people from that group had the motive. The former has the advantage that the motive might not be known, making it part of the mystery. Most mysteries from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction (Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, Ellery Queen...) are like this.
A mystery story could be both, but locked room mysteries are much more unusual. Most mysteries with a closed circle of suspects are not locked room mysteries.
Another classic type of mystery story is the inverted mystery. In those, the author tells the reader from the beginning who the murderer is, and how they did it, and why. Then the mystery becomes: how will the detective catch the killer? A classic example is Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles. Each episode of the Columbo TV show was also an inverted mystery.
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