So I was talking to my boyfriend about reading and mentioned that when I read, I see everything in my head, almost like a movie — the characters, the scenery, the action, all playing out visually. It’s immersive, like I’m watching it rather than reading it.

He looked at me like I had three heads and said he can’t do that at all. He doesn’t visualize anything when he reads, it’s just words and meaning… no “mental movie.” And he said, “If I could do that, I think I’d actually enjoy reading a lot more.” 😅

We were both shocked because we had no idea the other person experienced reading so differently. I genuinely thought everyone visualized scenes when they read, and he thought no one did.

Now I’m curious — is this a common difference?

Do you “see” what you read like a movie? Or do you process it in another way (like just understanding the info or hearing the narration in your head)?

Would love to hear what other people experience because now I’m fascinated by how different our brains …

I went through around 20 different posts on this subreddit asking for the most underrated books or a similar question, and compiled a top 30 with the total number of upvotes received for each comment featuring them. Here is the list:

|Rank|Fantasy|Upvotes| |:-|:-|:-| |1|The Acts of Caine Series by Matthew Woodring Stover|291| |2|Shadows of the Apt Series by Adrian Tchaikovsky|276| |3|Vlad Taltos Series by Steven Brust|232| |4|The Dagger and the Coin Series by Daniel Abraham|172| |5|The Divine Cities Series by Robert Jackson Bennett|169| |6|Deverry Cycle Series by Katharine Kerr|129| |7|Abhorsen Series by Garth Nix|110| |8|Otherland Series by Tad Williams|102| |9|The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe|99| |10|The Chronicles of Prydain Series by Lloyd Alexander|98| |11|The Edge Chronicles Series by Paul Stewart|96| |12|The Books of the Raksura Series by Martha Wells|93| |13|The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford|89| |14|Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock|81| |15|The Death Gate Cycle Series by …

Please forgive me. It’s been a journey reading The Lord of the Rings. I’ve tried many times in my life, dropping it because I was just bored. And now, I finally finished the whole thing. And WOW!

The payoff is in Return of the King. It’s the best of the three, even though it really is a single book. Beautiful story. Beautifully written. Chef’s kiss ending.

I watched the movies as they came out as a kid. I love them to this day. I could just not get into the books. Tolkien will writes paragraphs of the scenery or the history or the world or characters, down to their lineage. Once you get used to it, it’s fine. But I really had to push through at times. Yet, Tolkien knows how to write a badass scene or characters.

If you’re someone who has also tried but struggled, I recommend the audiobooks. The ones by Andy Serkis are phenomenal. I did a mix of reading and the audiobooks, as they helped whenever I reached a slow part. If you have only watched the movies, there’s enough there that …

I have been trying to figure out where I want to put the Wheel of time on my TBR. Before doing that I wanted to figure out the general consciousness (here at least) of how people view the series nowadays. I still see a ton of people praise it, especially the ending, but I’m wondering how it holds up to the other great series. I know a lot of people mention the slog part of this series. I also know people criticize the female characters.

So for those who have read it do you think it’s really still as great? How does it hold up against the likes of ROTE, ASOIAF and Malazan? Or even something recent like Stormlight.

The Wheel of Time is definitely something I want to read but with some of the more mixed things I hear about it I wanted to find out more about how people feel about it. Still a few series I will have above it on my TBR (Suneater, memory of sorrow and thorn) but after that I may be open to diving into WOT.

Thanks for your guys’ help!

UPDATE

Wow everyone! Thank you so much for the responses! I’m reading every single comment even if I haven’t responded. I’ve learned a lot of interesting things from all of you. It’s made Frankenstein an even richer tale to me than it was before I wrote this post. Many of you suggested I read “Romantic Outlaws” so I’ll definitely be checking that out.

I also want to sincerely thank everyone who shared their stories of loss and grief with me. I feel honored that my post resonated with your experiences and helped you in some way.

Many commenters asked me to update with my thoughts on the movie after I watched it. Well I watched it and I definitely have some thoughts lol. If you haven’t seen it, then maybe stop reading here before I spoil something. Overall, I enjoyed it. It’s a visually stunning movie. The acting was incredible from the main characters, Jacob Elordi in particular really knocked it out of the park for me. But whoever told me it was faithful to the source material was …

I was looking at my reading list for this year and noticed something weird - almost every book is 350+ pages. I think I’ve developed this bias where shorter books feel “less serious” or “not worth the time investment,” which is absolutely ridiculous

I’m missing out on novellas, shorter literary fiction, poetry collections, and probably some incredible tight storytelling. It’s like I’ve convinced myself that length equals quality

Has anyone else noticed similar weird biases creeping into their reading habits? Maybe avoiding certain genres, publishers, cover styles, or page counts without even realizing it? How did you break out of it?

I am genuinely curious if this is a common thing or if I’m just overthinking my reading patterns

I live in an apartment downtown with paper thin walls. If its not noise outside, its my neighbour upstairs TV or my neighbour downstairs partying. I’d love to sit on the couch and read in evenings but I find it impossible to focus with so much going around me.

Does anyone have secrets on how to read in these situations? We don’t all live in quiet suburbs sadly.

I was wondering if anyone had suggestions (standalone books, series, or authors in general) that my collection is missing and desperately needs based on what I currently have.

I’m mostly into hard Sci-Fi, especially first contact/BDO/speculative fiction/philosophical Sci-Fi.

Lately I’ve been really into Adrian Tchaikovsky, Arthur C. Clarke, Greg Bear.

I’ve also been doing a lot of trips to my local used book stores and love older Sci-Fi authors to keep on the lookout for.

I know the year isn’t over yet, but I’m looking for recos!

Hi everyone, I wanted to get your thoughts on some of the more interesting spins on the time travel genre. Ill list a few of my favourites below: Timeline by Michael Crichton is a standard time travel story where archaeologists travel into the past only to find that it’s not quite what they expected, It’s quite traditional I would say but also has a lot of action and adventure. The Gone world by Tom Swetterlich has a unique take On Time travel, it has a very existential horror feel which I particularly loved. Another one is version control by Dexter Palmer, this is what Id describe as literary sci-fi, even though I don’t like to use that term very often, but it felt like there was a lot I just wasn’t getting with that one which I’m sure someone more educated would Appreciate.

I do think my enjoyment of the story would have exponentially higher had I known Dick Seaton was in tropical print when he was firing machine gun bullets into space or fleeing from Carboniferous-era monsters on the surface of an exoplanet.

Ken Liu didn’t scratch the same itch, not quite. That may be just me,

I am not exclusively looking for short story format, any format is fine.

Hi reddit. Edgar Wright here to answer your questions.

You might know me as the director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The World’s End, Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho, and more. My newest film, The Running Man, is out in theaters worldwide this weekend via Paramount.

It stars Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Katy O’Brian, Daniel Ezra, and Karl Glusman.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD18ddeFuyM

Synopsis:

In the near future, “The Running Man” is the top-rated show on television, a deadly competition where contestants must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins. Desperate for money to save his sick daughter, Ben Richards is convinced by the show’s ruthless producer to enter the game as a last resort. Ratings soon skyrocket as Ben’s defiance, instincts and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favorite, as well as a threat …