edit 1: wow. To say that I am floored by the responses here is an understatement. Thank you all so much for your very kind words and responses. Overall, I am okay, sad but okay. He passed a month ago so I gave myself some time to process things before posting. Some moments are hard, but I know those moment will turn into fond memories as time passes. I can’t stress enough how much this community meant to him, we didn’t trust a lot of people to tell us what to read… but we trusted you.
mods, I hope this is ok. My bud was an active follower of the sub. I don’t know how often he posted here, but we shared posts with each other all the time. As you can see, the books we all post about, and the active authors in this community were a big part of his life. While not related to any single piece of literature or author, I thought this was an appropriate thing to share with our community.
A few weeks ago I lost a very close friend. I don’t feel comfortable sharing his …
I love it. The mental anguish of having the weight of the world on their shoulders? Top tier.
Cracking from the pressure and becoming apathetic before finding themselves again? Excellent.
Of course if other elements in the story aren’t working then the whole thing falls apart but in general, I love this trope.
I wanted to write a short appreciative post about one of Lewis’ lesser discussed books.
For better or worse, some scenes in The Magician’s Nephew have stuck with me since childhood. When the protagonists explored Charn, Lewis’ descriptions were burned into my mind.
There’s something so eerie about walking through a world which has been completely devoid of life for millions of years. The empty buildings and descriptions of where people should be is scary on an existential level. The city was illuminated by a deep red light from Charn’s ancient sun which, as I recall, was described as foreign and terrifying. The hall of statues, the bell, and Jadis’ chase through the rings will always stay with me.
I enjoyed the other Narnia books, but this one really stuck with me.
As a Polish fantasy fan I’m very happy to see Geralt’s character get so much love and praise - by both readers, gamers and viewers.
The reason why I like him is because he’s a simple, down-to-earth guy, who’s not some white knight, but has his moral code and sensitivity beneath his cynical mask. He’s not a stereotype action-movie-silent-badass type but a guy you’d want to share a beer with. He’s very loyal to people who actually appreciate him, which are uneasy to find in the world that he lives in. And despite the fact, that gets shit from the world and is being used for politics, he still has a strong sense of dignity that doesn’t need to be expressed as arrogance. In many ways he’s a realistic example on how to be human in an inhumane world. How to be knightly in a world where chivalry is more rare than dragons. Extremely relatable hero.
What are your thoughts?
Coming from a theatre background, I knew that many of the skilled actors I trained with wouldn’t make it in the industry. Even if they were dedicated, there’s too much supply for too little demand, not to mention a host of other factors. However, for books, I always believed that the best would eventually rise to the top because books persist and people enjoy sharing when they read something they love. Even when self publishing came around and the market was flooded, I still held onto this belief.
Recently though, something changed. A book from an indie publisher, a book I loved, released, and suddenly I realized that in order for my maxim to be true, it was on me now. It was my turn to let people know about this hidden gem on its way to inevitable greatness. So, I rolled up my sleeves, jumped on Reddit and made a post. A post that promptly sunk. Not a problem. I knew that it was common for people to ask for recommendations with solid characters, or an epic feel, or good …
As the title says. So annoying to pick up a book, read the intro and have the whole thing ruined.
I understand things pass into common knowledge and old things get ruined on the internet but the book itself shouldn’t be ruining it.
Sometimes the novels aren’t even over a hundred years old and they just straight up tell you what happens. I love analysis but put it AFTER the novel not before.
The literary canon is absolutely enormous. There is literally no reason to assume everyone who’s reading has done so before. There’s always going to be first time readers.
Sorry about the rant but just had Brothers Kamarazov ruined by such an intro.
Edit: Some interesting discussion raised here but one thing I’ve responded and I want to point out about comment on how plot doesn’t matter.
No novel was intended to have the foreknowledge of it being being a classic when first published. If the author had wanted it to be spoiled, they would deliberately have …
Hello everyone - ah, my first post on r/books and it’s a rant!
So I just read ‘The Paper Magician’. It was a good idea, not amazingly well written, but honestly the gripe is with the 19 year old, fresh out of school, girl, “falling in love” with her 30+ year old mentor, the end of the book and teaser for the second book implying it would be reciprocated. And I remembered reading a “Newbury and Hobbes” book a friend lent me and running into more or less the same trope and being skeeved out by it then too - the whole ‘bright young woman falls for older mentor’ business.
Why is this such a prevalent theme, especially, it seems, in fantasy? Maybe I’m just reading the wrong books. I appreciate these are relatively pulpy titles. You almost-never seem to find either genuine teacher/pupil relationships, M/F friendships or heck, an old(er) woman having an adventure in general, without some weird age-mismatched romance being …
I’ve bought UK versions of American books before, and usually the only thing different is the punctuation. This one though, the actual content of the book is different. It’s Good Girl, Bad Blood which is the sequel to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. I first noticed “mum” instead of “mom”, but then also “999”, “solicitor”, “A-levels”, etc. So finally I caved and bought an American copy from Target and it’s even more different than I thought. Whole paragraphs replaced! The name of the town changed!
Has anyone else seen this before? I thought this was so bizarre.
Edit: I have since learned that the UK version takes place in the UK whereas the US version literally takes place in the US. Which makes all the “translations” make sense. I read the US version of the first book (which takes place in Fairview, Connecticut) and then bought the UK version of the sequel (which takes place in Little Kilton, England). Hence, confusion. I’m loving all these anecdotes about weird …
I don’t cry over books, but my god this book made me cry a river. Everything was just PERFECT! From the clever vengeance of the Count, the amazing narration and analogies, the VAST but nail biting storyline, the moral dilemmas and beautiful themes including but not limited to providence, everything was just fascinating!
Some people might find the HUGE number of characters an annoyance, but imo this is what made the narrative so interesting. Even though all the characters were really well written, I enjoyed the character of The count himself, Eugenie, Valentine and Maximilian the most. YA writers, take notes from the wholesome sub plot of Valentine and Morrel’s love story! These love birds were the deal maker for me!! Gonna miss them the most after the Count himself.
And don’t get me started on the ending. Let me just quote it directly because Dumas does a wizardly job at giving this breathtaking story a heartwarming closure
“There is neither happiness nor …
We were assigned “Farenheiht 451” by Ray Bradbury in my 10th grade English class. I remember not enjoying it all. (I also did not enjoy reading “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding that year either)
I’m 30 now. I decided to reread it to see if I still did not enjoy it, or if it was a case of me being 16. I just finished it, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I do not think that 16 year old me appreciated it, but 30 year old me who’s working on her PhD in history definitely does. I am really glad that I took a chance on it and reread it.
Have you ever reread books from high school that you did not like and ended up enjoying the second time?
From the 50s onwards! Let’s see those lists.
After some thoughts. I haven’t read everything. I think mine are:
50s - More Than Human - by Theodore Sturgeon
60s - The Left Hand of Darkness - by Ursula Le Guin
70s - Kindred - by Octavia Butler
80s - Player of Games - by Iain Banks
90s - Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack
00s - Light - by M. John Harrison
10s - All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Science Fiction as a genre contains an unimaginable number of concepts and ideas. Some have had real world impacts, such as the invention of robots and the submarine. Other concepts, such as sword wielding space wizards, time travel and FTL are so embedded in the cultural zeitgeist that it would be strange to imagine sci-fi without them. Whilst story is the most important part of a story, the ideas that you find within science fiction are why it is my favourite genre. It is also why I spend my time writing up new ideas for r/scificoncepts. My question is what are the best science fiction concepts that you have come across.
My all time favourite is the infinite improbability drive from the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. ‘As soon as the drive reaches infinite Improbability, it passes through every conceivable point in every conceivable universe simultaneously. An incredible range of highly improbable things can happen due to these effects.’ I also really enjoy the locations in the …
Looking for space opera books with a dreamlike, surreal feeling. Something like The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath by Lovecraft in tone and style of worldbuilding. Soft science, hard science and fantasy elements are all good though idk how you’d combine this style of storytelling with hard science.
Cosmic horror elements are cool too but the key is the oneiricism. I want something truly strange and otherworldly, not just Honor Harrington with some tentacles.
I’ve had a tough time of it recently finding good space space opera that blends character development, action, and political intrigue. I’m a Dune series fan to my core, and for me, Herbert is hard to match.
That being said, A Memory Called Empire and the sequel, A Desolation Called Peace have both been a delight. I’m just as wrapped up in the inner turmoil of her characters as I am with the turbulent politics and world building of her universe. If anyone else is looking for good sci fi in the tradition of Herbert, Gibson and Asimov, give her books a read.
So, im not good at laying out why, but just rest assured that there are great hard SF concepts and stories of wonder to be found.
Im going to particularly recommend the paradox series. His biggest work is the Transport series but im just starting on that. Also vakuum is pretty good (standalon book) but it seems to not be available in english yet.
Paradox Series is one of my favourite SF works, so give it a go guys, its fresh air. Its a series that starts in the near future and goes until the end of time and back. It really amazed me!
tags would propably be AI, First Contact, megastructures and downright mindblowieness
Have fun!
What weird things come after humanity? How are they enhanced or altered? I am particularly fascinated by blends of organism and machine. Body horror welcome! Thanks!
Cameron on his approach to Jurassic Park: “But when I saw the film, I realised that I was not the right person to make the film, he was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn’t have been fair.“Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film, I’d have gone further, nastier, much nastier.”
What other movies would be totally different or would you liked to have seen with a new director?
Classic movies like Jurassic Park or Star Wars should get released in theaters more often, it would bring back memories for those people who saw those movies in their original run, and it would offer a new experience for those who only saw them on TV.
And I also think if those movies were given a full run in theaters Luke a regular movie, a theater re-release could be financially successful as well.
Plus, let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to see a movie like Jaws or Terminator 2 in theaters?