I was listening to this playlist: You attended a Festival in your Village (A Playlist) - YouTube
And nostalgy hit me hard. I have noticed that before this enormous flow of Grimdark books I actually wanted to live in the worlds that were described by the authors… Do you have any suggestions of what books I might like (possibly translated in Italian) ?
I think I have been pretty clear: deep bonds between the characters, travelling, magical/enchanted forests and the good old “Taverns” feeling… Don’t get me wrong, I’m not searching for a “feel good” book, I just got tired of the grimdark tropes and miss the old ambience, the REAL fantasy genre.
I think it’s safe to say that Terry Pratchett is almost universally loved and is a bright spot in our world today. However, I’ve been completely bummed out that it’s been impossible to get most of the Discworld series on Audible in the USA for at least a couple of years - although it feels like it’s been even longer than that. I know I can get them in print or electronically, but man does listening to audiobooks make it so much easier and more enjoyable for me to read since I have dyslexia.
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At this point, it feels like my white whale - I keep going to Audible every month and searching for Discworld, but keep crapping out. Well surprise on me when I went to do my check today and found out that nearly all of them are available.
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I just thought I would pass the info along to anyone else who might be a Discworld fan in the USA who’s been hoping that the Audible versions would appear someday. You might want to move fast, before they …
The science fiction and fantasy community heard today from Neil Clarke, editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, Forever Magazine, The Best Science Fiction of the Year, and various anthologies (and reddit user /u/NeilClarke), that Amazon is ending its magazine subscription service in an apparent attempt to strong-arm publications into Kindle Unlimited, where there will no longer be the clear, stable guarantee of revenue regular subscriptions supply:
In an absolutely devastating announcement (right before the holidays) Amazon has informed us that they are ending their Kindle Subscription program in 2023 and trying to get magazines to switch to Kindle Unlimited. Asking for more details, but this is bad.
Magazine subscriptions are currently guaranteed revenue from each subscriber. KU is not like that. It’s not like the subscriptions can be converted either (unless your subscriber is already in KU), so it will effectively cancel thousands of subscriptions.
Michael Damian …
Some life lessons I have learned from fantasy books that have sadly turned out to be incorrect
-Skill and practice are not necessary. All you need is willpower and determination
-Good guys always win
-Pretty much everyone of the opposite gender is super attractive and they will mostly be instantly attracted to you as well
-Any non fatal injury will heal in a matter of minutes. In fact you can probably fight a bunch of minions while being gravely injured
-Forest animals are always helpful aside from rats and crows who are minions of evil
-Kings and Queens are either noble, selfless paragons or corrupt, despicable dark lords. There is no in between
-Uncles and Step-parents are evil
-You can get away with a lot of evil activities as long as you pick the correct moment to swap sides
-Thieves and Assassins are good people.
-Guards are incompetent and evil people. Furthermore you can kill them without any concern but when it comes time to face the villain you suddenly question if …
My boyfriend is quite a fast reader and very passionate about it too. He’ll tell me cool moments as he’s reading, and sometimes we’ll cuddle up together while he’s reading. He’s currently reading a bunch of Terry Pratchett stuff.
I used to love reading as a kid and have always wanted to get back into it. This week I started reading the first Harry Potter book -I bought the whole series, I’ve always wanted to read them as I’m a fan of the movies- while he’s reading and it’s been amazing. While I’m with him, I’m very motivated to keep reading, and it feels like I’m accomplishing something each time I finish a chapter. He’s also really supportive which is super cute, it feels like we have another hobby together.
I’m trying to build a healthy habit while I’m away from him too, so starting tomorrow, I’m going to try and read a chapter each morning :D
Edit: Thank you so much for all the …
It’s okay if you don’t meet your yearly reading goal. You don’t have to rush to meet it. You don’t need to add extra pressure to your already chaotic life for a number. Read because you enjoy it. Read because you are curious about different worlds, stories, loves, and characters. Don’t feel like you need to ‘cheat the system’ by reading short books you don’t actually want to read. If you want to work hard to meet your goal that’s great. I hope you do! Just don’t be hard on yourself if don’t or can’t. You can change your goal to be more realistic. You don’t have to meet your past self’s expectations.
I just finished reading The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow. It was an absolutely fantastic book but towards the end 2 characters have a sex scene.
It made sense for them to have a sex scene but the wording he used like licking sweat off her lips and neck and “gently rubs her bud” just felt cringey to me. All I could think about it Don sitting there writing out this sex secene.
I really hate the current trend to shit on classic books. Like the Great Gatsby for instance. No matter how you feel about the book, it provides a sharp critique of the bourgeoisie and provides a clear analysis on class.
Don’t get me wrong. People are allowed to not like a book, they are allowed to critique the flaws of a popular book, but sometimes the hatred is uncalled for.
System Collapse will be the 7th Murderbot book.
Hello,
I’m sure i’m probably one person among a sea of others who have asked a similar question. I’ve recently finished Carbon and Silicon, and a kind of scifi i’ve been trying to find more recently is that which is near-future but isn’t necessarily retro (i.e. cyberpunk, 80s) - something that feels genuinely modern.
After taking a break from scifi and reading some Graham Greene, I’m starting to get that itch for the genre again, though my preferences have changed. I liked the expanse, though I heavily preferred the initial tone of the books which felt more like a conspiracy thriller rather than its systems-and-aliens space opera tone it took late on
Generally the criteria I’m looking for is:
-‘Modern’ Scifi (extrapolating from current trends, not just those from the 80s)
-Discusses AI in a more up-to-date way than cyberpunk
-The political/social structure is fairly realistic, not really looking for the Supreme Galactic Empire …
(Crossposting from a previous r/books post as it may be more appropriate here)
I saw the cover to Christopher Beuhlman’s “Between Two Fires” on Amazon and was immediately drawn to it, a minimal medieval skeleton design with gothic text on a bright red background. I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, blah blah blah, but I did, and seeing it had good reviews I picked it up even though it was $18 for the paperback.
When I got it though it was pretty clear at first glance it was independently published; if you read enough print books it’s pretty obvious. That’s not to say it wasn’t quality materials, etc., it just wasn’t as polished necessarily as your average publishing company book (the text is slightly closer to the margins of the page, the title page and table of contents are formatted less formally, etc.).
Anyway, I was extremely pleasantly surprised by the book. It grabbed me immediately with the quality of …
Nor Crystal Tears by Foster is one of my favorite first contact stories. I’m looking for more like that, where contact is not tragic or incomprehensible or overpoweringly one sided in terms of power, knowledge and technology. What can you suggest?
I hadn’t seen it mentioned here yet but qntm has released an anthology of short fiction: https://qntm.org/vhitaos
I first heard of qntm through this subreddit and I read this anthology in one sitting. There are some exceptionally strong and thought-provoking stories here. My personal favourites were ‘Lena’, ‘cripes does anybody remember Google People’, ‘The Frame-by-Frame’, and ‘I Don’t Know, Timmy, Being God is a Big Responsibility’. Many of these are available for free at the link above as well.
Has anyone else read this? Highly recommended!
I personally think Cavill would be a great obvious choice for the next James Bond but what do you guys think?
He seems to embody the suave Bond energy more than any other candidate I’ve seen so far. He’s still in his 30’s, taller than most actors of his generation, and has all the looks, acting chops and athleticism needed for the role.
On top of this he’s very likable and down to earth, you can see how much people like him by the response to his Superman news even though the films he played Superman in were mediocre, he deserved much better for sure.
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