Several times over the last few years I have seen issues in this subreddit and in other media subreddits people make statements like this:
No one needs representation
Or some variant of that statement. Often it is over the depiction of a character (a person of colour being cast over that of a white person), over the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters, or even how likely a fantasy city is or is not diverse and I think it is time that we take a bit of a moment and try to see this from a different position. In this case, I am stating my own opinion on representation in media and what the representation means to me. For complete disclosure, I am a gay white male so I don’t claim to know all sides of this story but I understand a bit of why representation matters because it matters to me.
First off, I want to state a few things: let us all remember RULE 1 Be Kind. I won’t bother responding to arguments that do not fall within this rule. A response that would fall on the wrong side of this …
I’m currently reading the first Dresden Files book, about 80% through it and I have to say I am really enjoying it. This book has rejuvinated my will to read - I’ve been doing tome after tome, first four Wheel of Time books which I enjoyed, but only just enough to keep going followed by Under the Dome by SK, an extremely long, drawn out and tiring read (although very quality, don’t get me wrong.)
This Dresden Files book is such a nice change of pace. I forgot what it’s like for a book to kick into gear and get going in the first 50 pages. It’s nothing crazy deep or anything but it takes me back to when I was young reading other urban fantasies like Harry Potter and Skulduggery Pleasant. Looking forward to see what the future of the series brings, apparently it’s only up from here.
I’m currently reading The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, and I’m really enjoying it. I just absolutely hate the fact that I have to keep switching mental gears each chapter. Thing is, I am really enjoying each story, but I feel like I can’t really care about anyone because I’m not given the time to. I feel like there are so few books today (especially fantasy) where the story follows just one or two characters. I can appreciate that this book is wonderfully crafted and it’s grand in scope…but if you put too many perspectives I feel as though I end up not caring about any of them. Maybe this is done to make the world the focal point, or the story?? I don’t know, but I’m sick of it.
Edit: I always intended to finish The Fifth Season. But all of your comments have made me want to finish it by tonight. When I wrote this post this morning I was about 1⁄3 of the way through, I’m now at the halfway mark. Stay tuned! Will update this …
and it was Amazing!!!! yes I really mean my first book, even the ones in highschool I would just Spark Notes to get through the assignments. Sure I’ve tried and failed but this time it was different. The book is called Eragon and I couldn’t get enough of it so much so that I’ve already checked out the second book in the series from the library. I’ve never had a book grip me like this, feeling like I was missing out when I wasn’t reading it, grabbing it whenever I had just a second of free time, and getting excited to jump back into the world and lore to check up on Eragon and Saphira. Truly an amazing feeling.
Stats:
Age: 21
Height: 5’10
Hobby’s: Gaming / Running / Cinema
Days it took to read Eragon: 8
My daughter has never had any interest in books. She’s never let me read to her, regardless of time of day. I read every night and have a small library for both of us so she’s around books quite a bit. For a long time I tried reading to her daily and she just wouldn’t sit still or have any interest in them. The most she’s ever done is play with them. We go to the library once a week, but she always plays.
Yesterday at the library we saw a woman reading to her kids. They were enamored with the book, and afterwards they left. My daughter watched them the entire time, then brought a book to me, climbed in my lap, and we read it together twice. She was asking ‘what’s next?’ at every page turn and instead of going and playing afterwards, she went in search of a ‘spooky book’ to read. We came home with nine books and we’ve already read three of them. At bedtime she picked two books off of her bookshelf and we read them at least 8 …
A lot of time I have seen a friend praising a movie a lot and then immediately saying the movie is average after checking the IMDB rating.
I was amazed to see that same thing happens with books as well. I have seen many people who hate certain writers not because they have read them but just because they’re not loved by the typical reading community.
I don’t mean that you need to read the whole 50 shades of grey to understand why that book is horrible but you can know just by reading some lines or synopsis (thanks to Honest trailers to pick some really great ones from the book in their trailer for the movie). But there might be some authors you might enjoy or have enjoyed but they are loathed by the reading community (some of them because they got too famous).
So stick with your original and personal opinion about a book/author you just read rather than getting influenced by others.(Unless it’s something like Boy in Striped Pajamas, where the issue is with …
I am in love with this character and some of the more subtle world building in this series. I am going through a lonely misanthropic period so Murderbot feels familiar and homey to me.
The breadth of characters, well written women, a non-binary person, it’s just so good. I am very happy I found this series, feels super refreshing.
I think my favorite thing is the weird kind of omnipresence of love in a pretty harsh universe. No matter where this fucker goes they manage to have love within them and find loving people around them. It’s beautiful and it’s a very warm and charming cold corporation controlled- oddly totalitarian- world Martha Wells has built.
It’s a real treat, go and read them or listen to the audiobooks if you like the kind of character driven noir adjacent sci-fi with cabernet savignon dry humor.
Side note: would recommend the penumbra podcast to folks who like Murderbot Diaries. Specifically the Juno Steel story but Second Citadel is fantastic as well.
I set out to read the classics so i could speak more intelligently about Sci-Fi and i found this list:
I added a few along the way but i finished Cities in Flight last night and i am done. Which “classics” did i miss?
I’m looking for space operas where even if our heroes succeed the history of all of humanity isn’t fundamentally changed, so no aliens vs humans story nor any fighting for or against a galactic empire.
Can be anything from golden age of the solar clipper, to Vorkosican saga, to the early Honor Harington novels
What a great book. Philosophical, some body horror, asks the hard questions and the sense of discovery is amazing. I’ve learned I really, really like the “We have to figure things out.” tone of sci-fi I read.