First of all, I hope this is the right place to post this. Second of all, I might have an opinion to which y’all disagree, that’s fine. Let us have a discussion, maybe y’all can change my mind. I am trying to understand what has happened to my large, decently rated, Houston (Tx) suburb school…
I know that most books have poor film adaptation, however there are some movies that not only do not do justice to the books but also do the opposite of publicity by changing the story, skipping important events, introducing really unnecessary parts or just being bad.
I know this is dumb, but for the longest time I put off reading The Lord of the Rings, simply because I figured "Well the movies are great, so the books must just be like the movies." But after reading the books, and having other examples like 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' and…
We all have favourite authors who revolutionised literature with their master works from Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" to J.D Salinger's "The Catcher In The Rye". But if there's one author you'd choose to come back to life and write one more masterpiece who would you choose!? I'd personally choose…
After binge reading for 2 days, I finally completed the house in the cerulean sea and it's one of the most heart warming books I've ever read! Though it's extremely predictable and sticks to classic pattern, what makes the book amazing is the characters. It's great how TJ Klune was able to write…
I never expected myself to be such a book lover, growing up reading books was a punishment which put me off them for a long while. I've picked up the foundation series of Asiimov and yesterday I was reading the last part, Forward the Foundation. I woke up, started reading and got so invested (was…
I assume it's had a substantial influence on your writing (which subsumes thinking to be fair) but I'm curious whether it's altered the way you speak w/ friends, colleagues etc? Do you find yourself using more obscure words or poetic phrasing or (unnecessary) analogies and rhetoric and stuff? Has…
It’s happening again, I finally found another fantasy book with a world so rich, diverse and fantastical that I touch it with my very own fingertips. I just finished reading ‘the hating game’ which killed me (and not in a good way, I do not want to read about a 5’0 female protagonist ever again,…
Afterwords are always a reflection of the author at the time the book is finished. I think my two favourite afterwords are one from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in one of the Sherlock Holmes anthologies I read, and one by Boris Strugatsky in Roadside Picnic. In the Sherlock Holmes afterword Sir Arthur…
The last couple of years, I've gotten in the habit of reaching out to authors to let them know I really enjoyed their work and they wrote something that really stuck with me. I'm sure the Stephen King's and the JK Rowling's of the world get a lot of mail, but I've actually gotten responses from…
I am a left leaning person, but want to read about the perspective of the right, only issue is most right leaning authors are "Liberals stupid and bad". Any person that can just summarize their beliefs without insulting. Like a rosa luxemburg but on the right. I don't mind if they're solely…
I've catalogued most of the books she has here but not sure how to go about getting rid of them. My mom always wanted to sell them but always found it difficult, particularly with passable but not amazing computer skills and restrictions in her mobility, to make that happen. I've asked friends to…
Incredible character arcs and development. Consistently hilarious dialogue, with intermittent profound insight. McMurtry was sublty clever when it came to philosophizing, and inserting profundity, often without dialogue. I won't spoil anything, but will say that the conclusion left some wanting…
This is a general tip as well. If you want a certain keyword to be excluded in any of your search results when looking up on google, just add a hyphen and then that keyword. This will tell google that you're looking for a specific thing but 'this' word should not appear in any links or paragraphs I…
Maybe it's just me but it really saps the joy out of reading for me. I'm in full time education and in part time work and for me reading is an escape from that. The moment I start putting goals and numbers on it, it stops being fun and just becomes another deadline and stresser in my life. I've…
Can someone recommend some apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic books are for adults and have more mature themes that those found in the young adult genre? Thank you. Edit: Butchered the title. I meant not in the Young Adult genre*
I have to be in the right mood to even pick up the book. I've read Danielewski's novel a few times over the years, though most people I know that have tried to read it gave up before finishing. Is it a spoiler to say it gets weird? The book has always stuck with me, hard, and to this day I imagine…
For my first book I decided to read Northanger Abbey. I know it is not her most popular book but I picked it because of the length. My expectation initially was that it was going to be a boring and tedious read but when finished I was pleasantly surprised. Being educated in America, I have a little…
Earlier today I went to the local bookstore (one I go to kinda frequently). I grabbed a couple of books and as I was preparing to pay them, I see there's an October promotion where they give away a book if you buy for more than 25$. Sure, why not! So I pay for my books and the lady gives me a book,…
I absolutely adored the book Circe by Madeleine Miller. As awesome as Greek mythology is, I like Norse mythology more. Any books out there similar to Circe, but with Norse gods? (Odin, Freya, Thor, Loki, etc)
I don't know what else to say, but that the story writing was insanely well done. I've always held off reading this because I've never really gotten the time to, but growing up I've been watching and catching up to the manga series "Detective Conan" and it features many aspects of Sherlock Holmes.…
Just finished reading this one - wow! Had zero expectations and it blew me away. Very inventive and confident work and also very poignant. Highly recommend. I still can’t get over the style of the two narrators parts - they speak of events as they are happening in the past tense. The “judgment”…
Like all the best non-fiction, this book gave me a lot to think about. I usually avoid true crime because so many TV shows, podcasts and books are heavily sensationalised and rarely victim focused. In the case of media focused on the Ripper specifically, there's a tendency to mythologise the killer…
The trippier the better. Fine with gore, psychological thriller, etc.
I must say it's absolutely phenomenal, I don't know how but it lived up to the glowing praise it recieved in every aspect, a genuine masterpiece. I must've read through the scene where Dantes returns to If and prays at the Abbe's bed a fair few times, the whole book was absolutely remarkable - I…
Today I ordered 5 books from Amazon. 4 of them arrived damaged and 3 of them were collector's items. It's so frustrating. All 5 were just tossed into a box without any bubble wrap or anything to protect it. What the fuck do you expect to happen? At this point, I'm no longer ordering my books from…
Hi Reddit, I'm Karen M. McManus, author of young adult thrillers including the One of Us Is Lying series, Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, and You'll Be the Death of Me. One of Us Is Lying has been turned into a television series that starts streaming on Peacock on October 7, 2021. My books have…
I’m at the airport and wanted to buy a new book for the trip (not like I didn’t bring one already lol) and while picking one out I started talking to this guy who’s never really been much of a reader but has a 9 hour flight so wanted to get something. After a minute or so of talking we found one he…
Most of you readers have definitely read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. despite having many classics and modern thrillers, none excites me as much as this book. The plot, the language, the intrigue, the twists and turns in the book will always entertain me. Apart from Edmond Dantes…
I feel like many books with women as protagonists in the comedy fiction genre either are about a burned out mother or someone trying to make it in Manhattan. I would love to find a series that is easy and fun to read with women being more than mother/fashion guru.
Hello! I recently started reading Cosmos by Car Sagan and the dedication page left me crying because he worded his love for his wife marvelously. Just wanted to share with anyone who might never read it. :) For Ann Druyan In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share…
I was lucky enough to know my Grandpa for my entire childhood. Despite living quite a ways away from him and my Grandma, I always saw them multiple times a year for days at a time. I never saw my grampa read a book. I saw him use a thick magnifying glass to pore, slowly, over a newspaper, sure. But…
Personally for me it would have to be the chronicles of the imaginarium geographica, I know not many have read this series, I would highly recommend you to read these gems. There just something very nostoglic about the ships, the keep of time, the dragons, the caretakers of the imaginarium…
I know some people might say that those ingredients are the salt and pepper of a fiction book but I do not find that. It takes a great amount of talent to captivate the reader with pure and common events, with style and humour. I can give you some examples: Measuring the world by Daniel Kehlmann…
I’m a former CIA analyst and former consultant at McKinsey ＆ Company. While at the CIA, I wrote regularly for the President’s Daily Brief, delivered classified testimony to Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, Ambassadors, military officials, and Arab…
I have read Kindred, and Bloodchild and Other Short Stories, but I wanted to know what are the best Octavia Butler books?
I recently finished the whole southern reach trilogy, and I felt that the movie was better than both its namesake and the trilogy as a whole. It felt like Alex Garland had a better grasp on how to best convey his vision for the story. The book was great too, just think the movie is a tad bit…
After I laughed in his face, I realized it was an earnest question. A sincere version of Bill Hicks' "What you readin' for?" bit. I kind of bounced all over the place because I'm 31 and have never been asked something like that. Upon elaboration, I gathered that he mostly meant novels. I essentially…
I’ve just watched Squid Game and I have some movies/shows to watch but I’d love any books with similar themes or stories. Namely the idea of people having to make these big moral decisions, life or death, and weighing up pragmatism vs emotions.
I’m reading All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. It’s the best goddamn book I’ve ever read in my life. Usually when I’m super into a book, I won’t put it down. But this one, I’ve been savoring 20-30 pages at a time. I hate the idea of finishing it because then I won’t be able to read it…
For the longest time I've kinda just put off reading Brandon Sanderson works, even though everyone mentioned him! I guess I thought his work was "over-hyped" So I finally got around to reading the the first 3 books and was just blown away but them. The world building, the storylines, the character…
Title says a lot - sign up for free monthly ebooks. Caveat, Tor publishes science fiction and fantasy, so that is generally what you will have access to. Gideon the Ninth is a glorious (and also kind of pulpy) book. I would recommend it to anyone with a fondness for a good murder mystery, that…
Inspired by the #FacebookDown I tried to imagine a world where the internet would just stop and we would reinvent ourselves. Is there a book about this kind of thing? (I realize that it's a very specific question).
Are there any authors you refuse to read, no matter how many time people have suggested them to you?
To me the number one author I refuse to read another word from is Elizabeth Gilbert. She tricked me, she really did with Eat, Pray, Love. The reviews I first came across were quite promising and I had high hopes. A friend of mine and I read it together as our sort of private bookclub read. There…
I read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and as much as I liked the story (making me interested in reading more of his books), the way Philip K Dick wrote women in this made me quite uncomfortable. Here's an example: " 'Welcome back, Mr. Quail', she fluttered, her melon-shaped breasts -…
Every time I read a sample it’s 20-30 pages long, but half+ of that sample is spent on book cover, the “credits” page, table of contents, acknowledgements & author notes, advertising, etc. In the end you get maybe ten pages of the actual book. Just… why? People don’t walk into a book store and read…
I just finished this book today and wanted to know what questions or thoughts it provoked in you guys and if you guys gained any insight while reading this? A few things I would like feedback on are- 1. The title of the book, 'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?', the question does Android,…
Earlier this year I read Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a Japanese short novel about a coffee shop that lets you time travel. I was so excited about it but was let down by the very repetitive writing and all of the annoying characters. I know there's a sequel, but I have no interest in it. Another…
I'm curious how you felt in school hearing the N-word being read out loud, possibly by white students or the teacher, or when the real horrors of slavery were being discussed. And if you are currently an adult, has your view changed? Did it make a difference who the author was? As a white person…
I know there are a few of these already but I have so many feelings and the raw emptiness of just having finished the book. First, I have advanced degrees in physics and engineering and I’m amazed at how well-researched the book is. I think sci fi similar to historical fiction in a way. There’s a…
Hey all! October is starting and I am planning to read a horror book...cliché, I know, but it is the first time I do it.... I have read some Edgar Alan Poe and Stephen King books, and while they are scary, I can manage to sleep at night. I'm still looking for a scary book that will haut me for the…
I love to read some dark, twisted stories, but I'm never too sure where to look. These could be horror, just plain messed up, nonfiction, or even just weird to the point it's off-putting. I'd love to see your recommendations! Quick edit: Great recommendations! I'm gonna start reading some of these,…
I'm bilingual in English and Chinese. Most people know about Wuxia genre. Wuxia is so hard to translate into another language because it is so tied to the history and culture of China. You almost need a Encyclopedia to reference all the terms. The authors already expects you to be familiar with…
Not Narnia. And i prefer if the protagonist got to be an adult in the fantástical world. Ty.
I'm kind of new to the world of reading, these are the books I've read: 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Flowers For Algernon, Lord of the Flies, The picture of Dorian Gray. I've heard that Stephen King's books are really good, so I want to read one, I hope you guys can help me decide. Thanks!
I've read a bunch of Becky Chambers books lately and they were all really good. They tend toward short, highly enjoyable, character driven books. They're highly accessible with a fair amount of depth Most recently was A Psalm for the Wild Built which largely revolved around environmental themes. It…
I live in rural North Carolina, USA, and habitually make a weekly trip to the nearest sizeable town every Friday. Last Friday I was shocked to find the local library has closed, with a sign on the door saying the problem is a lack of funding. I gather there is a an issue with Federal budget spending…
You all probably already know about Project Gutenberg. I love it too, but have you ever gotten annoyed by the myriad formatting of those ebooks? This website standardizes public domain books with good paragraph/line spacing, chapter links, etc: https://standardebooks.org/ I am not affiliated with…
I recently saw a thread polling readers how gender balanced their bookshelf is. This made me go through mine. In doing so, I noticed that there are 4 nations whose authors are disproportionately represented on my shelf: 1. Germany 2. US 3. England 4. France (In case you are wondering, yes, I'm…
I've noticed that many of the books I order recently have a matte type cover, but it feels a bit like suede. I have an aversion to cotton wool, and touching these covers gives me the same feeling. Not only that they attract dust, and fingerprints, and I haven't yet found anything that cleans…
I migrated to Storygraph not too long ago to track my reading habits and to-read book list, and am glad I did. Storygraph gives great recommendations, more data on the types of books I like to read, and it's also nice to have an alternative to Goodreads that is not owned/managed by Amazon. I thought…
I have just finished a book that dealt with several important themes and as a way of exploring these themes, the book delved into pedophilia, sexual assault, cannibalism and more such disturbing matters. Personally, I loved the book for it's brave narrative structure and for making me pause and…
I had this idea from a post by u/puncmunc [/u/puncmunc] on r/movies [/r/movies]. I was wondering if anyone has a two or more books that pair nicely together. They could be fiction or non-fiction! I recently read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, and A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes - I…
I am looking for a non-fiction book to introduce me to politics, I would like to learn what are the different political ideologies that exist, where they come from or what exactly they defend.
I'm fascinated with all things codes within books. I remember when David Blaine released his book, Mysterious Stranger, he offered something like $100,000 to anyone who could crack the code and find the hidden treasure. There was a similar book released in 1979 filled with clues that led to a golden…
The title pretty much says it all. For context: if you've done a good bit of reading, particularly in romance novels, authors love to use a person's scent as a descriptor or way that another character identifies that person. For instance, I just read a book where the male character was obsessed with…
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Motar and Max Gladstone is a beautiful epistolary novella. It was a little hard to sort out at first but once I got the feel for it I was totally absorbed. It's so abstract in several ways and even had me looking up a few definitions as I read it. The…
I've really gotten into sci-fi and fantasy books lately and I'm looking for some more series (at least 3 books, preferably longer) that I can sink myself into. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed the following, so I would love some more suggestions that fit in the same realm of these series: *…
My last boss was an English teacher and I’m slowly working my way through his recommendations. This isn’t one of them… Stoner by John Williams is a desolate novel about the life of a Midwestern college professor. It’s not a book about a great man who accomplishes the impossible in the face of…
Let me start off by saying that this is my first time reading a novel outside of an academic setting and I am absolutely blown away. I’m only about 300 pages in and I feel like I just discovered gold, there are times that I have to stop reading because I’m so overwhelmed, not so much by the story…
I'm a woman in my thirties. I did a quick count of the books I've read this year, and they've been broadly 50/50 male and female authors. But when I broke it down by fiction vs non-fiction, I overwhelmingly read fiction by female authors and non-fiction by male authors, which interested me. Not…
I’m planning on buying the sailor who fell from grace today but i want some more Japanese literature, i don’t want some murakami i’ve read about his works and it’s not for me
I couldn't put this book down, but I ended up being disappointed. Not necessarily because of the ending, but because of a lack of character development. The protagonist stays painstakingly shy and self conscious for a very long time, to the point of becoming annoying. When she does gain confidence,…
I know those two are giants and arguably the greatest writers since Homer. But to my mind they differ quite a bit. Tolstoy is an outward-looking observer, a realist with acesses of philosophy, but not huge on feelings, instead he is quite content with immediate reactions and the narrative itself.…
I love Halloween and I love my somewhat childish Halloween adventure books with kids saving the world from some unknown evil. But a common theme among so many Halloween adventure books that I’ve read over the years is kids trying to get help from adults and the adults fobbing it off as their wild…
-Damn. Fucking hell this book was good. I have read Vonnegut before and appreciated his wit and storytelling ability, but this was my first go at Slaughterhouse-Five. I feel speechless. - I am in the military. I have deployed myself, but never off to something so powerful as a World War. So, I…
It took me a few tries to get into the first book over the last year. I read the same first chapter or two a couple times and just didn’t find anything that grabbed me so would go read something else. Finally I finished a book in the middle of the night while trying to read myself through a bout of…
I want a female protagonist. She should be successful in her career. Also, she should not be with men. I don’t care about her sexual orientation but I just don’t want a woman’s love story. I want more. I’m okay with both modern or classics but you should know that I’m not a native english speaker.…
Happy Spooktober! Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera. A classic that has been adapted into dozens of films and decades of stage productions. Horror beyond imaginable horror abounds at the Paris Opera House as the "O.G." Opera Ghost wreaks non-threatening havoc and plays spooky pranks on the new…
If you haven't read A Confederacy of Dunces yet, Mrgreen37 heartily recommends it. It's an absolutely hilarious novel focusing on one Ignatius J Reilly and his interactions with the inhabitants of the city of New Orleans after his mother decides he has to go to work to pay off a car the two of them…
I used to read loads. I could devour a 700 page book in a day, now I struggle with even 30 pages. I pick up a book and read for an hour, then never go back to it. I'm so tired of it. I have so many amazing books still to read but I just can't do it. I also find my ability to remember what I've read…
It seems like so many authors don't have a good grasp on how long it would take to cross a country or a continent on foot or by horse, especially in situations where there aren't decent roads. In many scenarios, you would be lucky to make it 20 miles a day (probably less if you have to stop to hunt…
