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Weekly FAQ Thread December 15, 2024: What are some non-English classics?
Hello readers and welcome to our Weekly FAQ thread! Our topic this week is: What are some non-English classics? Please use this thread to discuss classics originally written in other languages.
You can view previous FAQ threads here in our wiki.
Thank you and enjoy!
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which book made you DNF at page 1?
not out of boredom, but something that makes you go nope!
i was really looking forward to reading the brief and wondrous life of oscar wao, because I saw so many vague reviews claiming it's the best book they have ever read.
on page 1, while describing the (real) dictator and his crimes against women - as something trivial or worse a flex,
even humourously by a man.
instant nope!
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How to step outside your book comfort zone more?
So I’ll step outside it a little but not usually and while obviously if it’s my comfort zone that means I love it but still I need to branch out I feel.
My book comfort zone is Romantsy, found family trope, and enemies to lovers.
It’s to the point where like every book I open has the same layout of young woman who is strong but deep down is broken by her traumatic past and there’s magic and a training arc and oh wow she has magic now and the guy who seemed so tough on the outside who she hated but now theres some feelings there. And ofc a whole found family that is just like her with traumatic passes and magic and are so badass and hot and cool in a laid back way and would do anything for each other. I mean I just eat it up every time!
It’s the adult version of the type of books I devoured as a child. It’s magic but also there’s sex and trauma and the stakes are way higher lol.
Oh and how can I forget I also love Gods and different mythology elements and just all that.
But I do think it’s time to maybe branch out a little bit more than I do. I think I could be convinced to take a leap into horror, probably not regular romance, and I’m ok with historical fiction (it’s still better with magic though). We can’t scare me away here though ok nothing too modern and calm ok no romcoms.
You know I just how do y’all stop reading practically the same book every time?
Not every book needs to be 500+ pages of magic and fighting and love and break my heart! I say as I just ordered another of that exact type…
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Portrait of the Artist as a People’s Historian - a review of Refaat Alareer’s book “If I Must Die” by Karthik Puru
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/refaats-book-cracked-the-top-50read
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@r_books
Paradise Lost (John Milton, 1608-1674)
So, I have been reading Paradise Lost by John Milton again for a while now, and I can fully say that I am enamored with this book. Ever since reading Milton a couple of years ago I have been captivated by his sheer prose and poetic works. Two years ago I bought Paradise Lost, a Poem that I've grown to love and to place in the literary Parnassus along with Dante, Virgil, Ovid, Shakespeare and other major works of ancient and modern literature.
Paradise Lost was written during a time of political and literary upheval in Britain (Civil War, execution of Charles I, rule of Lord Protector Cromwell over Britain until his death in 1658, the Restoration of King Charles II), and so many themes about Monarchy and Republicanism can be found in it. Milton composed this work when he was already blind (he became blind in 1652) with the help of friends and amanuenses, and he sold the rights of the poem in 1667 for only 10£ (Milton was severely impoverished by the time he concluded the poem in 1665). Either way, this Poem placed him in the Parnassus of English poets and went on to place him on the pedestal of many romantic writers in the 1800's (most notably William Blake, Lord Byron, John Keats, etc...).
Paradise Lost describes the struggle of Satan (show in comparison with Achilles, Aeneas, Odysseus, etc.), following the Epic tradition of Homer and other Greek Poets. The Poem begins with an invocation to a muse (but Milton skilfully puts Urania, the Muse of Astronomy and Divine Wisdom, instead of the classical muses), and the poem begins with the fall of Satan and all of the other rebel angels after the angelic war in Heaven. Satan resolves to cause chaos on God's new creation (Earth) and on God's newfound race: Humanity. He sneaks inside the Garden of Eden and whispers into Eve's ear when she is sleeping, but he gets caught by Michael and other celestial angels.
The plan is slowly set in motion: Eve, frightened, searchs for comfort in Adam's arms; Raphael, one of God's Archangels, describes the dangers of Satan to Adam and the celestial war that was fought in Heaven to save Heaven from the yoke of the terrible apostate angel. Eve, meanwhile, is approached by Satan (in the guise of a snake) and is tempted into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge, causing the original sin and the fall of man from Eden. Adam, seeing Eve eat the fruit, decides to share the guilt of the sin togheter with his wife (which he himself had requested as a "consort"), ultimately getting condemned by God to work the fields, for they will never give Adam the fruits that he had freely enjoyed in the Garden of Eden; Eve is condemened to suffer through the pains of childbirth. The poem ends on a soft note though, as Adam can find a "Paradise within thee, happier far".
This is honestly one of the best works in English literature that I have ever read, and I want to know more from people who live in the United Kingdom themselves. What do you think about this Epic Poem? Is it good? Is it bad?
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Public Domain Day 2025 is Coming: Here’s What to Know
https://copyrightlately.com/public-domain-2025/
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Best Books of 2024 MEGATHREAD
Welcome readers!
This is the Best Books of 2024 **MEGATHREAD**. Here, you will find links to the voting threads for this year's categories. Instructions on how to make nominations and vote will be found in the linked thread. Voting will stay open until Sunday January 19; on that day the threads will be locked, votes will be counted, and winners will be announced!
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**NOTE: You cannot vote or make nominations in this thread! Please use the links below to go to the relevant voting thread!**
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# Voting Threads
* [Best Debut](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dm7/best_debut_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Literary Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dmf/best_literary_fiction_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Mystery or Thriller](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dmk/best_mystery_or_thriller_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Short Story Collection/Graphic Novel/Essay/Poetry](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dmo/best_short_story_collectiongraphic/)
* [Best Science Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dmr/best_science_fiction_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dn1/best_fantasy_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Non-English Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dn5/best_nonenglish_fiction_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best YA](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dng/best_young_adult_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Romance](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dnm/best_romance_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Horror](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2dnv/best_horror_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Nonfiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he2do3/best_nonfiction_of_2024_voting_thread/)
* [Best Book Cover](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1he3w3a/best_book_cover_of_2024_voting_thread/)
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To remind you of some of the great books that were published this year, here's a collection of [Best of 2024 lists](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1h3c3sx/collection_of_best_books_of_2024_and_2024/).
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# Previous Year's "Best of" Contests
* [Best Books of 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/19bhk8d/the_best_books_of_2023_winners/)
* [Best Books of 2022](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/10ct38f/the_best_books_of_2022_winners/)
* [Best Books of 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/s5mmd8/the_best_books_of_2021_winners/)
* [Best Books of 2020](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/kz8q2w/the_best_books_of_2020_winners/)
* [Best Books of 2019](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/epyz3y/the_rbooks_best_books_of_2019_results/)
* [Best Books of 2018](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/afm49v/best_books_of_2018_results/)
* [Best Books of 2017](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/7qcxw9/best_books_of_2017_results/)
* [Best Books of 2016](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/5nzahg/best_books_of_2016_results/)
* [Best Books of 2015](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/40cl3w/announcement_winners_of_the_best_books_of_2015/)
* [Best Books of 2014](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2uc9jo/meta_the_results_for_the_best_books_of_2014_are_in/)
* [Best Books of 2013](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1thpon/rbooks_best_of_2013_winners_announcement/)
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Best Science Fiction of 2024 - Voting Thread
Welcome readers!
This is the voting thread for the best Science Fiction of 2024! From here you can make nominations, vote, and discuss the best Science Fiction of 2024. Here are the rules:
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#Nominations
* Nominations are made by posting a parent comment.
* Parent comments will only be nominations. If you're not making a nomination you must reply to another comment or your comment will be removed.
* All nominations must have been originally published in 2024.
* Please search the thread before making your own nomination. Duplicate nominations will be removed.
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#Voting
* Voting will be done using upvotes.
* You can vote for as many books as you'd like.
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#Other Stuff
* Nominations will be left open until Sunday January 19 at which point they will be locked, votes counted, and winners announced.
* These threads will be left in contest mode until voting is finished.
* Most importantly, have fun!
---
# Best of 2024 Lists
To remind you of some of the great books that were published this year, here's the [/r/Books' Megalist of Best of 2024 Lists](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1h3c3sx/collection_of_best_books_of_2024_and_2024/)
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Simple Questions: December 14, 2024
Welcome readers,
Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread.
Thank you and enjoy!
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A Year of Reading to a 5 Year Old
My son turned 6 this fall and this is the first really consistent year I've spent reading chapter books with him. I've looked at posts/comments from other parents about what good books are for the age group so I thought I'd look back at my Goodreads and give a review informed by a 5/6 year old's perspective.
The BFG by Roald Dahl - The kid loved this. I found it unpleasant for reading aloud just for how many made up words there are, but it's fun.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl - This was probably the biggest hit. We've been chasing this high all year. As an adult, you know if you are reading a book called "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" that Charlie Bucket is going to get one of those golden tickets. The joy and excitement on my kids face when he finally gets the ticket was a top 10 parenting moment. (Gene Wilder movie afterwards was also a hit.)
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl - A lot shorter than I was expecting and probably my kid's least favorite Dahl.
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl - Kid liked it fine, it was my least favorite Dahl and there are a lot of voices to do if you do that.
The Wild Robot Trilogy by Peter Brown - We finished the 3rd one about a week before the movie came out by coincidence. The first 2 are really good and my son was constantly asking if we could read just one more chapter since the chapters are short. The 3rd one is fine but it's not as connected as the first 2 are. It felt more like an afterthought.
Stuart Little by E.B. White - I thought this was a pleasure to read as an adult. The kid enjoyed it although he was startled by the abrupt ending.
The Horse and His Boy and The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis - This concluded Narnia for us, I think. We've read everything but The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle. I loved Narnia as a kid but it's rough for this age. There are some very talky and slow parts that my kid just didn't get. He really like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe which we read last year but otherwise, Narnia is maybe better left for an older kid.
The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum - This seems like a perfect book for this age group. It's very episodic in it's structure. The language was a little old fashioned (which isn't surprising), but the kid really liked it. The tornado scene was very memorable and he really liked the color coding that happens in the book. The biggest surprise here was that the movie was likewise a huge hit.
We're currently reading Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and while I don't dislike it, I wish we weren't. There is a lot of word play that is missed by reading out loud (witch vs. which, weather vs. whether). But he seems to be enjoying it.
For this age, what is working for us is shorter chapters, not too talky, some pictures, and a touch of silliness. I don't think we need all those ticked off for a successful "read aloud to a 5/6 year old but it helps. Reading a lot of older books means explaining somethings that just aren't a part of my kid's life like porcelain and corporal punishment.
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Polygamy, by Paulina Chiziane (2002)
This author is from Mozambique (SE coast of Africa, bordering Tanzania in the north and South Africa in the south). The book is basically a story of the struggle of one woman to keep her man, who is apparently irresistible to women and has no interest in monogamy.
I thought it was hilarious and poetic and also representative of a culture so different from ours that if you were to make a list of books representing cultures by how different they are, this one would have to go at the top. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales was not about a more different society. Snow, by Orhan Pamuk, which is (at least to me) basically a machine for turning an American into a Turk, is less dramatically different, by about half.
In fact, the way the author thinks of her life, the way the people she tells us about think of their lives, they approach society and themselves so differently that I think the book must be an education even to a psychologist. It seems to reveal a new dimension of perception of humanity. If properly considered. I did not know people could behave like this. I didn't know it was possible to think this way. The poetry I'm used to, by comparison, seems to me now to hammer down along the path across its images (Frost said a poem is a tune or a ground of images, across which we may choose to strike a path) as though it were laying rail. The poetry she tells flies like a bird. Like a flock of birds, actually.
It's different. I won't forget it. I hope not, anyway!! At one point our heroine was "well and truly kutchingered," and you'll have to read the book to learn more about THAT, but I'm sure the search will be worth while lol...
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An observation after a year only reading books written by women.
I thought I’d share a little unscientific observation I made after a year spent only reading books written by women (across all genres) in order to correct for the preponderance of male authors on my bookshelf. On the whole, I found very little difference between male and female authors except for one thing:
Male authors tend to have their protagonists explicitly written as taking action, for good or ill. This applies to male and female protagonists.
Female authors have their protagonists watch as actions happen around them, even in cases where the protagonist is driving the plot. The protagonists’ key actions are done "off the page".
I’m sure I am over-generalising and I am fully expecting my case to fall apart under scrutiny, but I thought it would warrant some discussion !
Some examples:
In Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell - the ultimate arch-manipulator and man of destiny - is never shown actually making a decision. It is implied he is, because others react to him, and he is always in the room when things are being decided, but he is never actually shown ordering someone to be executed. In contrast, authors like CJ Samson and Patrick O’Brien have their characters perform their actions on the page.
Likewise, if we compare books in another genre: Agatha Christie's protagonists don't actually physically investigate. They mostly seem to appear in the right place to listen and watch. Lee Child's characters on the other hand will be shown to explore, interrogate and take proactive acyion.
In YA literature, Harry Potter is famously passive, despite being the chosen one, etc, etc. Anthony Horowitz's leads on the other hand are always explicitly doing things off their own decision-making. I'd be interested to know if Katniss Everdeen is actually shown taking action explicitly off her own back.
In fantasy, I can't think of an instance in Ursula K LeGuin's Earthsea series where the protagonist isn't acted upon and therefore has to react, rather than decide for themselves. E.g. Ged is the protagonist of the first book. He is reactive to the chase by the shadow and in the end chooses to accept what is happening to him. However, when he appears in the Tombs of Atuan, he is no longer the protagonist, so he is now shown to take active decisions which the protagonist Tenar has to live with. Same goes for his role in the Farthest Shore.
Terry Pratchett's female protagonists (e.g. Susan, Tiffany) are very proactive, to the point that some have felt they are too "male".
In sci fi, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake has the main character as an observer to Crake's actions, rather than having Crake as the main character. Mary Shelley never actually shows Frankenstein giving life to the Creature, but rather sort of brushes over it. Then he's reacting to the Creature who is the character driving the plot with his actions until the pov switches to the Creature who never describes himself doing anything. His actions happen "off-screen". On the flip side: Iain M Banks' The Player of Games has a very proactive protagonist, despite the character being manipulated the whole way through. George Orwell's Winston takes subversive actions explicitly on the page, even though he is shown to be ultimately powerless.
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Weekly Recommendation Thread: December 13, 2024
Welcome to our weekly recommendation thread! A few years ago now the mod team decided to condense the many "suggest some books" threads into one big mega-thread, in order to consolidate the subreddit and diversify the front page a little. Since then, we have removed suggestion threads and directed their posters to this thread instead. This tradition continues, so let's jump right in!
**The Rules**
* Every comment in reply to this self-post must be a request for suggestions.
* All suggestions made in this thread must be direct replies to other people's requests. Do not post suggestions in reply to this self-post.
* All unrelated comments will be deleted in the interest of cleanliness.
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**How to get the best recommendations**
The most successful recommendation requests include a description of the kind of book being sought. This might be a particular kind of protagonist, setting, plot, atmosphere, theme, or subject matter. You may be looking for something similar to another book (or film, TV show, game, etc), and examples are great! Just be sure to explain *what* you liked about them too. Other helpful things to think about are genre, length and reading level.
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All Weekly Recommendation Threads are linked below the header throughout the week to guarantee that this thread remains active day-to-day. For those bursting with books that you are hungry to suggest, we've set the suggested sort to new; you may need to set this manually if your app or settings ignores suggested sort.
If this thread has not slaked your desire for tasty book suggestions, we propose that you head on over to the aptly named subreddit /r/suggestmeabook.
- The Management
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truth, freedom, family, faith, and goodness. While our webs may look different, most of us can find common ground with those underlying pillars.
Collins spends the next chapter discussing his own experiences in the scientific field as a doctor, a geneticist, and an administrator. He discusses how he got involved with the Human Genome Project and the achievements it made, including finding the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, and Huntington's Disease. He shares why scientific research is reliable and accurate when it comes to the treatment of diseases, and why rigorous testing is required. He warns that "the plural of anecdote is not data", and shares an example where treatments were advanced without sufficiently rigorous testing, and people suffered and died because of it (specifically women with a certain type of metastatic breast cancer).
He adds that science has made terrific contributions to human health and longevity. He says, "At the beginning of the twentieth century, the average person in the United States lived just to age forty-seven. One out of four children died in childhood. Now our average lifespan is seventy-nine, and only one out of 150 children die in childhood. Vaccines are a major reason; diseases like pertussis, measles, diphtheria, and polio that used to take the lives of tens of thousands of children every year are now rare." He goes on to discuss major culprits for vaccine distrust - men like Andrew Wakefield who claimed that the MMR vaccine caused autism - without revealing that he was being paid by lawyers who were suing the vaccine manufacturers, and that he had falsified the data in his study to fit his conclusions. He also names Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has no medical training but whose connection to JFK lends him credibility. Kennedy claims that childhood vaccines are dangerous, while he himself profits from snake oil cures he sells instead. That last part is my assertion, not Dr. Collins'.
Collins also admits that scientists don't always get it right. Sometimes important details are missed, sometimes researchers act unethically. But science is a self-correcting process in that if a single research study draws an incorrect conclusion, other studies will be able to figure that out and correct the inaccuracies, which is exactly what happened with Wakefield's study - there's now more evidence than ever that vaccines do not cause autism.
If I'm not careful, I'm going to summarize the whole book, and I don't have time or energy for that. I was predominantly interested in Collins' discussions on truth and science. I learned a lot from it, including several studies I hadn't been aware of before. He spends the latter half of the book discussing faith, including his own experience of faith, how faith and science interact, and his experiences interacting with people who profoundly disagreed with him about science. He also gives several strategies for dealing with conflict and beliefs in our own lives, which were good. All in all, I highly recommend this book for anyone who is struggling with ideas about faith, science, and truth, or is struggling to have difficult conversations about science, faith, and politics in our world today.
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My review of "The Road to Wisdom" by Dr. Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institute of Health for the last three presidents, and the director of the Human Genome Project before that. He's also a Christian. The book discusses truth, science, faith, and trust.
I've been following Dr. Francis Collins for quite a while since he's the founder of BioLogos, a foundation dedicated to helping Christians understand faith and science. He was also the director of the National Institute of Health under Presidents Biden, Trump, and Obama, and prior to that he was the director of the Human Genome Project, discovering what each one of the genes in our bodies does. He's also the author of The Language of God, a memoir about how he went from atheism to faith in medical school, and why he believes there is reasonable evidence to have faith in a Creator.
The Road to Wisdom is a different kind of book. It's more his reflection on truth, science, faith, and trust, different kinds of truth, where we find truth, how we determine what is true, and most importantly - how we have difficult conversations about what is true and what isn't. As part of that, he discusses his experiences with Braver Angels, an organization dedicated to helping depolarize America by bringing people of opposing viewpoints together for dialogue. As one of the major figures who devised America's response to the Covid pandemic (he was Dr. Fauci's boss), he also discusses what he got right, what he got wrong, and what he wished he'd done better.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I've always been interested in things like metacognition - thinking about how we think - and he spends a fair chunk of the book breaking that down in a very accessible way, although he doesn't use that term. He writes,
>The premise of this book is that by reclaiming the solid ground of truth, science, faith, and trust, we can find ourselves back on the road to wisdom - that ability to bring together experience, knowledge, and good judgment to allow wise personal and professional decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society.
He discusses some of the philosophical underpinnings of truth, as well as different areas of knowledge, arranged in concentric circles outward:
Necessary truth - 2+2=4, the value of pi, etc.
Firmly established facts - (DNA is the hereditary material of humans, HIV causes AIDS, the earth is a slightly elliptical spheroid, gravity is related to mass, the accelerating rate of warming on the Earth, Germany and France share a border, and so on.) He differentiates these two categories by saying, "These statements are all essentially settled scientific facts. Unlike 2+2=4, these firmly established truths might have turned out otherwise in a different universe (hence, philosophers call these contingent truths) but in this one we have compelling evidence they are correct."
Uncertainty - claims that are potentially true but there is insufficient evidence to move them towards firmly established facts. For instance, cosmologists believe that there is something missing in the composition of the universe, but we don't have enough evidence yet to identify what they are. Currently we call them things like "dark matter" and "dark energy". Another uncertain claim would be life on other planets. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't, but we don't have enough data to say yet.
Opinion - areas where facts and evidence are scanty, or irrelevant. Dogs are better than cats, tattoos are cool or not cool, the Red Sox are the best baseball team, Taylor Swift is the best artist, etc.
He spends a little bit of time decrying postmodernism and its claims of nothing being really true, but I had to quibble with that, since I've not really (personally, at least) seen that postmodernism is interested in tearing down scientific claims - it's much more about deconstructing social, cultural, and personal ideas, and examining them
The new modern classics — the UK’s favourite 20th century novels (Times newspaper-paywall)
https://www.thetimes.com/article/54b96c00-5d6c-45bf-8a50-3fe652c2c93d
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which is the best English translation of The Mahabharata and Bhagavat Geeta?
The Mahabharata & Bhagavat Geeta
I know its hard to have accurate translation of anything but atleast makes it a lot better or close to accuracy compared to other publishers or translations. because sometimes the translator deliberately makes something translates for his/her own interests - it might be small or a major part of the book(or the whole story) so folks who've read these two, please feel free to provide your suggestions etc.,
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How did you get into your favorite genre?
I read a lot of fantasy. I was just thinking about how I got into fantasy. Some 30 years ago in my early high school years I was reading Stephen King. I read Tommyknockers and Needful Things, then I stumbled across The Eyes of the Dragon and LOVED it. While reading it, my uncle bought me the first book in the Dragon King trilogy by Stephen R. Law Lawhead which I devoured and then followed it with his Pendragon Cycle. Taliesin (Pendragon book 1) was the first books that really evoked an emotional response from me. And I've been hooked on the genre ever sense.
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Missed connection with “blind date book”
Local book store had a wrapped book with a summary on it that read: “A student uncovers a 30 year old cold case when doing a school assignment” with a “satisfying ending”.
I read the general plot summary, and didn’t grab it. But I have been thinking about it and when I went back it was gone. Does this book ring a bell?
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The Long Walk by Stephen King
Now, first I want to say the book is pretty good BUT I have one major, glaring issue with the book. The whole premise of the book is that these boys are walking for miles and miles and if they drop below a certain pace they get a warning. After three warnings the boy is shot and killed. Okay, that’s a great premise and I loved the execution of the story! Here’s my one issue….the walking pace is set to 4mph. For anyone who has been on a treadmill would soon find out, four miles per hour is a breakneck walk. In the book I am often picturing boys just barely shuffling along at the minimum speed, and some boys end up crawling for a time at the right speed!! I’m on a treadmill as I write this walking at a reasonable 3mph and the guy next to me is jogging at 4mph. I just remembered this main plot point in that book and how much it bothered me and apparently still bothers me. Unless Stephen King has an amazing walking pace, I don’t think he ever stepped on a treadmill to see if his main plot point even made sense…
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Gift The Poisonwood Bible for super conservative parent?
I always like to gift my parents a book for Christmas but it can be a challenge finding something they will enjoy that isn’t right wing propaganda. For reference they are very religious and conservative. They do like history. I gifted All the Light We Cannot See last year and they seemed to enjoy that. The Poisonwood Bible sounded interesting but I wanted to ask people who have read it, is it politically heavy handed? I only read the brief summary and I want to make sure I’m getting something that they will enjoy. Thanks!
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How do you feel about bits of music in audiobooks?
Currently listening to the latest Michael Connelly, The Waiting.
On the one hand, I like that they got Titus Welliver, the actor from the Bosch TV series, to narrate his parts. I believe the daughter's from the show as well, and the main narrator, Christine Lakin, is excellent.
But they occasionally interject snippets of music, and for some reason I just can't get into that. Every time I hear music in an audiobook, it kind of takes me right out of it. Is that just me?
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I forget the books after I read them, and it makes me a bit frustrated
When someone brings this matter up, usually the following quote is posted:
>I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.
While I understand how perfectly natural and reasonable this phenomenon is, it still irks me from time to time. Isn't it quite irritable that, say, eight month after finishing a novel, I can recall only some vague details and general atmosphere, maybe one or two motifs?
For example, the books I read about 2 years ago, that captivated me for weeks after I had finished them - Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, The Idiot by Dostoyevsky or Solaris by Stanislaw Lem - are now almost vanished from my memory, for I recount only their outline, some random impressions. I bet I couldn't speak about them for more than ten minutes if I were forbidden to make vague statements like 'the writing was amazing', 'the characters were multi-dimensional', etc. Theoretically I even lack the proof that I ever opened them.
And the matter is worse! This summer I have read, among others, two magnificent novels that produced on me the most profound impression - East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Joke by Milan Kundera. I was so excited that I hastened to write some (flawed) reviews here on Reddit. And now I feel that they are fading away from my memory, the same novels that I reckoned the height of literature, among the finest masterpieces I have ever read!
This week I finished two novellas of Steinbeck that held me engrossed from first page to last, and I can't help thinking that in six months time, I won't even remember the characters' names.
Once again, I perfectly understand that this all natural and intrinsical. I can only hope that in the end there is something indefinite that persists from every book, remaining somewhere in my subconsciousness.
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Sofia Coppola Launches Book Imprint Important Flowers
https://people.com/sofia-coppola-launches-book-imprint-important-flowers-8761124
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What's next?
I am about to finish Infinite Jest, and I'm thinking about what to read next. I think I've narrowed it down to:
1) Count of Monte Cristo (I've heard it's amazing, and, after IJ, I feel i have a tolerance and patience for another long book);
2) Stoner (I've seen it mentioned here a lot lately);
3) Timequake (I've been reading KV's novels in order along with the Unstuck in Time book, so this would be my last one, killing both books in one fell swoop);
4) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (I've been reading Eldridge Cleaver and George Jackson and wanted to do a full study into this area of literature, so I thought I'd start with the earliest stuff)
Thoughts?
Thanks!
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Self-Publishing and the Black American Narrative: Bryan Sinche’s Published by the Author explores the resourcefulness of Black writers of the nineteenth century.
https://daily.jstor.org/self-publishing-black-american-narrative/
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People who are good at reading have different brains
https://theconversation.com/people-who-are-good-at-reading-have-different-brains-244786
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Fjordensaga: Saga of the Champions. A top-notch fantasy that's ideal for gifting and exploration.
I was really impressed by the amazing attention to detail in Fjordensaga, both in terms of world-building and character development. The world is well thought-through, with lots of detail that makes it really engaging. Every element of the setting is the result of careful consideration, creating an immersive experience that draws you deeper into the story. The descriptions are detailed and sweeping, which makes the world feel alive and epic. It's as though it could exist beyond the page.
One of the main ideas in the book is a competition to choose the next leader (or female leader), which made me think of The Hunger Games at first. I was a bit skeptical at first, wondering if the concept might feel a bit derivative and lose the uniqueness that originally intrigued me. However, I was really pleased to find that, although there are some similarities at first glance, Fjordensaga quickly establishes its own identity. The contest's dynamics, the stakes, and the interplay between the characters feel fresh and original, carving out a distinctive space for the story. It held my attention all the way through and even managed to subvert my expectations in several places.
I was really impressed by how well the characters were developed, especially given the relatively short length of the story. Each character feels like they have a clear purpose and are complex in their way, and their actions are driven by the plot in a way that makes sense. The author deserves credit for balancing detailed character work with a fast-moving narrative. The story is always focused on the action, but the characters are fully realized, so their choices and struggles resonate.
If you're looking for a story with a big, epic feel, and a fresh take on familiar themes and characters that feel real and grounded, then Fjordensaga is definitely worth a look. It's a book that stays with you long after reading.
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individually.
He also discusses six categories of untruth:
Ignorance - not having relevant information about a particular topic. This is not the same as stupidity - very smart people are also usually ignorant about areas of knowledge outside their fields of expertise.
Falsehood - a statement that can be convincingly be shown to be untrue, like a Facebook post saying that drinking seventeen glasses of wine a day keeps cancer away.
Lies - an intentional distortion of truth, intended to deceive.
Delusion - Common forms of delusion (not rising to the level of mental illness) are widespread. He specifically cites the study that gave rise to the Dunning-Kruger effect, wherein people who are untrained or inexperienced in an area overestimate their competence or knowledge in that area.
Bullshit - Information that has no interest in whether or not it's actually true. [Scientific American called ChatGPT a bullshitter](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chatgpt-isnt-hallucinating-its-bullshitting/) - it's not trying to be truthful, it's trying to sound human.
Propaganda - A massive scaleup of lies and distortion with political intent (i.e. Putin's justifications for invading Ukraine).
Collins goes on to talk about biases and cognitive fallacies, which I greatly enjoyed, but won't list out here. However, he brings up a model of cognitive thought that I found to be very helpful, similar to the concentric circles of truth above. Citing the work of philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine, he talks about our cognitive thought as a web of belief, like a spiderweb. Near the center of the web are nodes of fundamental beliefs - my spouse loves me, the scientific method is effective, Jesus died and rose again, etc. As the web goes outward, the nodes are rather less critical or important - GMOs are safe, I'm a good driver, my cat loves me.
He goes on to share his own personal web, as well as the web of Wilk Wilkinson, a conservative he had long discussions with through his partnership with Braver Angels. He also discusses how while these webs are not set in stone, they are resistant to change, especially the closer to the center they are. I would add to this the idea that when someone changes their mind about something important, it can also risk their relationships, connections, and social standing. If you ask a Christian to change their mind on something like LGBTQ rights or evolution, you are asking them to possibly risk their place in their church, in their family and friends, and other important relationships. It doesn't matter how strong or Biblical or factual your arguments are, if you are asking them to give up the most important relationships they have in their life.
He goes on to discuss additional factors like news media and social media that make our ability to distinguish what is true very difficult. He recommends three strategies that the individual can do:
1) Try constructing your own web of belief
2) Consider the general question of how to decide whether to accept the truth of a surprising new claim - What is the source? Is that source an expert source who knows what they're talking about? Is the claim based on an anecdote, or a larger study or set of studies? Is the language sober and accessible, or is it hyperbolic and designed to induce fear or anger? He recommends the very helpful Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart.
3) When you encounter someone who disagrees with you, approach the discussion with openness and generosity. "Resist the temptation to demonize - if you demonize them, they will probably demonize you, and then there will only be demons in the discussion." Recognize that you may have flaws or gaps in your own understanding.
Collins concludes this section by encouraging the reader that while people may have different webs, all those webs generally have a few fundamental pillars of value that they are anchored to - Love, beauty,
“Tom Sawyer” is making me realize that writing can be beautiful outside of Speculative Fiction.
Hello all.
I’m about halfway through “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and I’m absolutely adoring it. I just recently finished The Liveship Traders Trilogy by Robin Hobb and it left me with a severe case of post-book depression; online it said that in order to alleviate this feeling I should read something completely different.
Enter Mark Twain.
I thought it was witty and charming throughout the first few chapters but what really started to grow on me was the atmosphere of the book. Twain has a way of putting you right in Missouri to the point where I feel as if I’ve been there before. I’ve met Tom and Huck; Aunt Polly and Sid. I’ve been to that church or schoolhouse. I can practically smell the air wafting off the Mississippi.
The characters are simple and charming. Tom is a dramatic and mischievous kid, prone to curiosity and trouble. Sid is exactly like my own little brother — a little tattle-telling goody-two-shoes. Becky Thatcher is the girl that we all had a crush on simply cause she was pretty. It’s a very nostalgic book.
I was under the impression that only speculative fiction — specifically fantasy — could leave this much of an impression on me. I’ve only read speculative fiction…for years now. I feel like my eyes are being opened to whole new walks of reading
Have you ever had a similar experience with reading ???
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