I read these books like 20 years ago. I was a dumb teenager with no political awareness and just liked that it was edgy fantasy. But now that I’m older, I think back to the series, and I remember the insane Ayn Rand speeches that went on for entire chapters. I remember the villains in… book 5 I think, had the same initials as Bill and Hillary Clinton who kill each other with STDs as they let the communists take over. I remember GRATUITOUS rape and sexual slavery. I remember the main character having to play football to beat communism. I remember Richard never ever being wrong about anything, and experiencing no character growth whatsoever. But it’s a really long series - far too long to hate-read. What are some of the most batshit crazy things people remember from this series?
I really liked The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett, but I feel like he really went sideways with his plot decisions in the sequels. I was so disgusted that I quit before the last book.
I just started reading fantasy books last year - started with mistborn era 1, then sword of Kaigen, mistborn era 2, stormlight archive, and I’m currently reading the the last argument of kings - it’s like 15 books and every book was sooo good (its mostly 5 stars across the board except a few books). Everytime I’m starting a new series - my favourite book and my favourite author becomes the series that I’m reading.
I don’t really have anything to say - just wanted to gush about the genre - so many unique stories, so many great authors. I wish someone introduced me to these books when I was youbg
Pearl dust or chagga from the First Law World? Shade of the evening or milk of the poppy from ASoIaF? Maybe one of the weird future drugs that Tactus takes in Red Rising?
This is totally in a vacuum - no risk of addiction or death, just a cheeky exercise. So what type of rocket would you prefer to blast off in?
Kvothe is such an unlikeable narcissistic twat. I want to throw the book across the room every time he opens his mouth. I love the writing style but the protagonist absolutely kills it for me.
Do fans of the series agree? Are you supposed to feel this way or are narcassists just really cool for some folk?
I just saw that Scholastic Book Fairs put all of their “diverse” books into a single book fair case and have given school libraries the option to exclude those books from a school’s book fair. This seem like they are capitulating to ultra-conservative groups that want to ban books about immigrants or racial, neurologic, or family diversity.
My school’s librarian was upset that Scholastic has effectively created a “bigot button” to exclude these beautiful inclusive books because some conservative districts don’t want their kids to see them. This has her so upset she is contemplating ending the school’s long relationship with Scholastic.
Many of these books are award winners or by award winning authors. Examples include “Rez Dogs” by Joseph Bruchac about a girl who is visiting her grandparent’s Wabanaki reservation when COVID lockdowns require her to extend her visit. “Alma and How She Got Her Name” by Juana Martinez-Neal, a Caldecott Honor Book about the origins of a Latina girl’s …
Are there any (fictional) books that you’ve read that seem unintionally revealing about the author?
I’ve been reading Keith Ablow’s crime series and when I found out he was a psychiatrist himself, I was like “Hmmm…” This series is about a handsome, genius psychiatrist who solves crimes. He’s phenomenal with women and is able to accurately read people’s psyches within minutes of meeting them, plus people are always going on about how he is the best psychiatrist ever, the guy who can get to the bottom of things that no one else can, and several characters talk about how he’s a “healer”, he “saves” people, he’s a “shaman”, a “priest”… Reading these books made me want to be like “Hey Keith, you feeling a little insecure? Unappreciated? Somebody doubting the validity of psychiatry or something?” (But also, his main character is weirdly judgmental… like he …
I first found out about this book from TikTok (manic Pixie E-Girl by Nate Lemcke). I had seen the drama and wanted to come to a conclusion for myself. I did not trust what people were saying from only reading the sample, and I thought I would hear Nate Lemcke out on his commentary on “the damaging world of hypersexualized online environments.”
Oh my god, I shouldn’t have. The way he marketed this was very disingenuous.
In the first half of the book, I remained optimistic. Most of the gross stuff could be justified. His main character is aware of and actively working on not having sex or relationships and watching porn. The explicit sexual fantasy of a young girl who is described in a very childlike way (she has a small body, she says “pretty please” and “daddy,” she stomps her foot and pouts, etc.) is jarring, but if this is supposed to be a commentary on how hypersexual online spaces affects us, then I guess it makes sense.
I do think the …
(this post was intended to be a Goodreads review, but since they’re currently not accepting reviews of this book I’ve decided to post it here instead for now.)
The author of this book has made a big stink on Tiktok about how none of the people reviewing this book have actually read it.
Here is me actually reading his book.
Do bear in mind that I’ve never written a book review before– this is less of a proper review and more just a list of the things I found notable while reading. That being said, I hope you find this review to be helpful/entertaining/insert positive adjective here.
[Disclaimer: This review contains some NSFW language. Also it’s hella long. Sorry in advance.]
-The title of this book is absolutely terrible. I don’t think this needs to be said. The author claims that it’s meant to be satirical, but that still doesn’t change the fact that it only appeals(?) to the chronically online. This isn’t a book anyone wants on their shelf. This isn’t a book anyone …
Personally, I consider “1984”, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” & “Where I Left My Soul” to be among the most luxurious books I have read, especially the first…they all literally blew my mind.
At the moment I am reading “ The Cave of Ideas” by José Carlos Somoza.The events of the story take place in two timelines. The first is in ancient Athens, where the body of a young man (studying at Plato’s Academy) is found on the slopes of Mount Lycabettus. It is believed that the cause of death was wolves, but his tutor at the academy has doubts about the truth of this matter, and therefore he turns to detective Heracles Pontor to solve this mystery. The other timeline is about a translator in our contemporary time who realizes that there is a hidden message in the literary images used in the narrative, and the more he advances in his translation, the more and more the keys to revealing the shocking truth become clear to him. A fact that is strangely similar to his life
I always knew my TBR pile was huge, but I didn’t know it was so bad. I like to collect books since I was a child and this is the result after more than 20 years doing so. The only thing that comforts me is knowing I read more than 830 books in my life, but I don’t see myself finishing this TBR pile in less than 3 or 4 years - and that’s being very optimistic about it. And yet I keep wanting to get new books. I can’t see myself spending 3 to 4 years without buying any new books. But all that makes me feel ashamed and somewhat stupid. Did anyone go through something similar and could tell me how you dealt with that? Maybe I should just accept the fact that I’ll never really read all these books?
EDIT: I’ve gotten a lot of really helpful replies here, thank you! one thing that reading all these replies made me realize is that there is a part of me who have always wanted to have a library of some sort. I love being able to lend books to people and to …
For those who haven’t read or heard of it, it’s a quick novella-length adventure story by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time) told from the perspective of two compelling characters with incredibly clever world building. Try not to even look at the synopsis. If you can go in blind, you’re in for some real trippy treats in the first few chapters.
For those who have read… wow, what did you think? I simply adored how >!this book told both a fantasy and science fiction story simultaneously based on the character perspective, really ringing home the old “Magic is just science we don’t understand yet” Clarke quote. !<Children of Time was excellent, but Elder Race was the more fun, more clever adventure told in far fewer pages.
No wonder why so many people praised and recommended it to me, wow. I must say I am greatful.
It just starts packed and never loses speed, save for some parts of human storyline. That, literally is the only complaint I could think of there.
The “alien” perspective and how they evolved was a very intruging read, it must be the strongest aspect of the book.
It also offers you lots of horror elements and is very grim on human parts of the story.
Combine all of that, and the ending is one you definitely do not expect. I think I have read the last quarter of the book in a complete trance.
I definitely do recommend Children of Time. Looking forward to Children of Ruin, but I am gonna have a detour and read Blindsight first I think.
Edit: Fabian is the GOAT.
It isn’t very often that I find technical style hard science fiction book filled with such moving characters. The end of the first part of the book almost had me in tears. I won’t Say any spoilers or anything but I cannot believe how good this fucking book is. I’m having a blast reading it. Not really sure why I am posting but I wanted to tell everyone how good this book is.
I’ve been reading too much and immersing myself in too many different universes, characters, and scenarios - to the point where I didn’t have much fun hanging out with friends or going on dates with my girlfriend, I just wanted to read.
Unhealthy as it may sound, I don’t want it to stop just yet. Do you guys have any recommendations for similar books? I like space operas with mystery, especially related to mysterious artifacts, the alieness of xenological life, but still grounded somewhat in the realm of mid to hard sci fi (Dune and A Fire Upon the Deep reminded me more of Fantasy than Sci-Fi).
“Way Station” by Clifford D. Simak
https://www.amazon.com/Way-Station-Clifford-D-Simak/dp/1504013212/
A standalone science fiction book, no prequel or sequel. I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback that was published by Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy in 2015 that I purchased new on Amazon. The original book was published in 1963.
Enoch Wallace lives on his parent’s farm in the 1960s in a remote area of the state of Wisconsin. Enoch never leaves his farm but people still know of him even though his only daily contact is the mailman. But nobody remembers that he fought in the American Civil War, for you see, Enoch was born in 1840. And he appears to be 30 years old, maybe even younger. But now the USA government has found about Enoch and they are watching him.
Enoch has been the caretaker of a Way Station for a friend for most of Enoch’s life. His friend came along one day soon after the Civil War ended and …
Understandably most books or series will have standard elements like conflict, climax, i.e., but are there any great books you have read that completely buck these trends and are still great? Would love to hear!
Mine is The Big Lebowski. Not because it’s not a good movie; on the contrary, I really enjoyed it. But I just don’t think I understand it on the level that many others seem to do. And while I find it entertaining, it still surprises me how popular and fiercely defended it is to this day, with some even claiming it’s the best Cohen brothers movie ever. Am I crazy? What are some of yours?
EDIT: For the record, no, I am not a golfer.
The way this movie completely deconstructs the man of action/lone hero genre that was so popular in the 80’s is downright fucking sublime. And the fact that they got Arnold, mister 80’s action hero himself to play the leading role in this is just…oh it’s such beautiful irony i love it so much.
Time and time again the burly manly men get outsmarted, tricked, confused, panicked, paranoid and so on as this hunter picks them off one by one without barely any effort and it takes Arnold to, both figuratively and literally, let go of his macho bravado and rely on his wits, tactics and stealth to outsmart and finally defeat the Predator. it’s deconstruction done right without making the characters themselves look like morons. Almost every thing the group of soldiers do in the movie, even if it’s a mistake makes complete sense. They’re not morons. They’re pretty smart people, it’s just that the Predator’s smarter
And one last thing …
I’ve watched quite a few interviews / chat show appearances with Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson and they always trash the Fifty Shades films in fairly benign / humorous ways - they’re not mad, they just don’t hide that they think the films are garbage. What other instances are there of actors biting the hand that feeds?