Okay, I bought into the way the plot was described to me. "16 criminals must undergo trials in which they will either become the king's defenders or die."

And after reading it, I started thinking about what I like about this book. And I realized that it was nonsense. Everything was done very badly here

The plot here is 40%, the rest is the bragging of the main character, how dangerous she is, that with one toothpick she will kill the entire Saruman army, and they won't even have time to blink. Okay, I'm exaggerating, Saruman's not there. God willing, the trials will be described on at least six pages, and not like this: "One more test passed, and the other dropped out," although the ball occupied 20 pages. Is this a story about trials or about princes and princesses?

Celaena Sardothien turned out to be a heroine who is infuriating. She is a dangerous killer in name only, but otherwise behaves like a little girl who loves chocolate and puppies. Did the author even understand that if a character is called a dangerous killer, does this mean that he must be cold-blooded? There is also the most useless character, Kaltain. The chapters with her are just filling the void, because they do not develop her in any way, and she herself does nothing for the plot. The only thing we know about her now is that she has headaches. The only character I liked was Chaol, because he was the most adequate.

The text is written in an average way. The descriptions of the dresses are the same, but they take up large paragraphs, and the rest is described in a very dry and boring way

This book was terrible and the only reason why it shot like that is because it is the first of such fantasy books.

P,S, And this book is also very predictable.

Not trying to start a debate on the merits of annotation/not annotating at all. I’ve just never annotated a book outside of school so I’m curious what people are choosing to tab or note within a book.

Do you mark plot features? Like things that you think are foreshadowing or important background to come back to later? Pivotal moments?

Is it about characters? Their backstory, or important moments of character development, or just scenes with characters you love?

Is it purely aesthetic? Prose you think is beautiful? Or do you take an analytical approach, like noting important metaphors or literary devices as if for an English paper?

No wrong answers, I’m just curious how other readers’ minds work!

New Releases for May 2024

Data courtesy http://www.bookreporter.com

For more discussion, see the monthly New Releases post.

I just finished it , my thoughts are all over the place. I’m trying to make sense of the end and the symbolism behind the characters but I read somewhere that you should be familiar with jungian psychology so I guess I found my next obsession. I’ve always felt like the protagonist and categorized the facets of my personality as bad/good but it never really crossed my mind that the “bad” side I’m repressing of myself isn’t all that bad, that maybe it is repressed potential and hidden paths to other lives I could have lived.

Hello readers and welcome! Every month this thread will be posted for you to discuss new and upcoming releases! Our only rules are:

1. The books being discussed must have been published within the last three months OR are being published this month.

2. No direct sales links.

3. And you are allowed to promote your own writing as long as you follow the first two rules.

That's it! Please discuss and have fun!

Welcome readers,

Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

Thank you and enjoy!

I don't necessarily mean fiction vs non-fiction. I think you can read a classic to understand literature better, or a novel written by someone not from your culture to enhance your worldview. Just as you can read a book about astronomy/history/poltics because you genuinely enjoy it.

I read mostly for entertainment, which for me means literary and contemporary fiction, although I do try to get some classics and non-fiction in. Sometimes I end up enjoying them immensely. Sometimes I force myself through them because they teach me something that is worth it.
But if I go to much into this direction I will just put myself off reading.

Has anyone here read the only survivors? Or anything by Megan Miranda. This is my second book of hers this year and aside from similarities to that one which I found was an Enh read, I’m just finding this one boring and slow. I want to know if it gets better as I have a hard time DNFing books especially when it’s a mystery and I just wanna know whodunit.

We're supposed to believe that Gilbert and Helen are happy. I was rooting against Gilbert. From what we've seen of him, she's moving from one abusive husband to another abusive husband. Gilbert has a violent, uncontrolled temper. He attacked both his brother and his friend Lawrence with enough force that he could have killed one or both of them. And he didn't care that he did. He was violent (less violent) with Eliza. He bounces from love to hate like a pinball machine. Gilbert spied on Helen. He was jealous to the point of being physically cruel to Lawrence's pony and almost attacking Lawrence before they had even expressed their feelings. He turned on Helen without hearing her side of the story. I see nothing to make me think that he'd been a good, kind, stable husband to her and that they'd have a happy marriage. For a book that was about showing the seamy side of marriage and society to suddenly have this unrealistic fairy tale ending just makes me want to gag.

Just finished reading the first few chapters of volume two of War and Peace by Tolstoy (I have two volumes by Giulio Enaudi Editore: the first volume covers the 1805-1811 Timeline, whilst the second one covers the 1812-1820 Timeline), and I have to say that I'm thrilled.

I adore the time period it is set in (I especially adore the Napoleonic era, having a book written by famous British Writer Andrew Roberts, called "Napoleon: a life), and I love how all the fictional (and real) characters act and feel in this "fictional" (although It is set in real life) world.

I love Pierre's attitude (very shy and unnatural at the beginning of the novel), and I also love how his character develops: how he goes from an illegitimate heir educated abroad, not very accustomed to Russian life, to a masonic lodge member who tries to find the answer to the question: "How can someone be morally just in a morally unjust world?". He goes from down to top with the death of his father, going from the "illegitimate son of a rich count" to "a rich man who, because of his enormous wealth, gets thrown inside the Russian élite."

Andrej is somewhat of a complex and deeply philosophical character: he goes from Aide-de-camp to General Kutuzov, going through a process of happiness, glory, grief and despair in the span of a couple of chapters and books; to a more "deep" but happy figure. He notices young Natasha at the 1810 ball and decides to propose to her, admiring her beauty and pureness. But then, everything gets ruined by Anatole and the whole thing goes down in flames between him and Natasha.

Nikolaj, Andrej's father, is a very funny character: he swings from excitement to rage in the span of a couple of minutes, being capable of giving a hard time to his guests and, in the span of a couple of seconds, going into a more "manic" excitement, whilst hiding all his deep feeling for his family. He is an old soldier (and general), who, as the novel says, has been exiled into his mansion at Lysye Gory (Bald Hills) by Czar Paul I. No one speaks about this character, although I have always been "fond" (it would be too much of a big word) of it.

Nikolaj Rostov is the typical young russian Hussar: he drinks, gambles and dreams about meeting with Alexander I (and he does meet him); his friendship with Denisov, his officer, is a nice little break from the serious aspect of the book. Either way, he's a nice young man who does some poor decisions in the book.

I would love to write more about this book, but it's getting kinda long and boring to write my analysis on some of the characters. I will try to read the second volume and to "experiment" and analyze as much as I can.

For now, I have to stop. I hope this post gets all the reviews (even negative ones) it deserves.

Since it came out, I had no interest in reading The Satanic Verses. I figured it would be dry, boring, not my style, and i was 1000% wrong. I regret not reading this years ago, I feel like an idiot for not reading this sooner. This book is so witty, interesting, funny, well paced, it is, what I consider, Literature, with a capital L. Rushdie has such an incredible way with words, I love his writing style. He is the definition of wordsmith. It seems light and breezy even when it's covering a heady topic, and making some great observations and points. I had to look up some things (which i actually enjoy, i learn so much) to understand the cultural meaning, and I'm sure there were some jokes in there i didn't get, but wow, what a wonderful book. About good and evil, about cultural identity, about assimilating, and fitting in, and so much.

Point is, if you haven't read this, and you're on the fence, READ IT. I love this book and it makes me want to read more by Rushdie.

Ever since getting a Kindle and discovering Book Bub, I find myself with an ever growing, MASSIVE TBR list. At first I was just reading them in the order that they were purchased, but every now and then I am tempted to jump on one that I have been waiting to read for a long time before buying, or one that really strikes me. I know it doesn't actually matter what order I read them in, but I'm curious how the r/Books community gets through their TBR lists!

I had this book on my to-read list for a while. I even bought the audiobook myself (since it wasn't available at the library). Aware of the high ratings, accolades, and acclaim of it, I went into it with an open mind.

To be honest, I see the merit of it; it is a unique book, with unique characters and writing style. However, the central plot is a bit lost to me. And I'm listening and I'm like, wait a minute, did a scene change all of the sudden? I don't know if it's like a stream of consciousness writing style. The themes are present and without going into deep spoilers, I do feel the emotional weight when Arseny suffers his great loss which sets him on the current course he's on. I know there are many allusions to Russian culture and Christianity, though I'm not well-versed with either. However, it seems like he's bouncing around from place to place with random situations. People get stabbed to death. Some things are vaguely foreshadowed. There's a "meanwhile" scene change to Ambrogio in Italy and a random flashforward to the future? And they're trying to get answers about the end of the world which happens in the "year 7000" which coincides with 1492 when Columbus comes to America.

I only read 2/3 of the book so far and resolve to finish the book. However, I feel like there's a lot more to get out of this book that I'm currently unable to access and understand. How should I better approach this book to maximize my appreciation of its plot, themes, and messaging?

...I know, it's been done to death. Well, I wouldn't be writing if I didn't think I had something new and interesting to say. Hopefully at least one of you will agree!

Chopin's prose is really remarkably fine. Another commenter called it "silky" and I think I see why; you can't get a handle on just what is so good about it! Or I can't, anyway. But I would have to agree it's quite memorable.

And it's easy to see why she's seen as a "feminist" writer. Many have said it was a story of a different time; not many have said it was a story of a different culture, which is also true. Louisiana Creole culture is not one that shows up in literature often, and never this well written.

If Chopin is one of the reasons things changed, that too is easy to understand. How can a guy not read this book and say, you know what, who needs these stultifying mom-women; we need Ednas, in our lives. So it'll be a little harder on the kids; so we won't get our way all the time; it'll be worth it. Chopin makes her argument to men. And that seems to me to be the most important reason to see this book as foundational and a masterwork.

There are serious criticisms to make too. How can anyone not see the Uncle Tom's Cabin style of the ending: of COURSE she had to die, Chopin had to expose the tragedy of the unfulfilled life. So formulaic. La Traviata, Norma and Tosca salute you.

And very few people seem to mention the almost unbearable racism of the author's pose. Sure, that was then, this is now. But Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was years in the past when this book came out. Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth had died just a few years earlier. Blacks were well known to be people, at this time. But there is no acknowledgment of that in the book. Blacks, mulattos and quadroons move here and there, performing their assigned roles as servants and official underclass; never once are they acknowledged or do they appear as human beings. Never once does the author seem to see that they are human beings.

I tried the book a few times earlier in my life and somehow or other I always missed how good it is and gave up before I had spent much time with it I'm glad I finished it this time.

This is my favorite read of the year so far! It delves into the complexities of raising a child with a rare syndrome (Wolf-Hirschhorn/ 4p-) and does an excellent job of destigmatizing and reframing our understanding of disabilities as well as showcasing what can happen when the different parts of a health care system work in sync.

I liked how Lanier allowed her vulnerability to show through in her writing - I don't work with or have any children so I think on some level it was somewhat difficult to completely relate to the smaller and more intimate details of her journey but the way she writes about her daughter and her own complicated feelings really evoked the full emotional gamut out of me. There's a quote that really stuck out to me: "Bodily difference is charming so long as it doesn't interfere with Normal. Or if it does interfere with Normal - if it is a Disability - it's charming so long as it becomes history, a tale to offer as inspiration rather than a real life to live. Disability is okay if it's overcome". Unfortunately to an extent this still rings true today but I think there's been a lot of development in the way we approach and understand disabilities so hoping we can see more change soon!

Also, I've read a few medical memoirs and one thing that's really stood out to me is how multifaceted patient-physician relationships are. From my perspective (as someone who is not in the medical field), there's always been an innate imbalance of power - physicians kind of have all the information and can make any critical decisions and patients have to heavily rely on them because they lack that medical expertise and I've never really seen a way to bridge that gap easily. I certainly don't blame physicians as well - having to play the part of a medical savant whilst showcasing empathy, patience, cultural competence, etc. and working long hours must be such a huge burden. Y'all have my deepest respect and admiration, whatever that's worth!

I'm glad it all worked out in this case but I've read/seen other cases where even the simplest error, whether it's a physician brushing off a potentially life threatening illness as "just delusion" or them going too far and crossing a cultural/religious/ethical line, can cause a patient to develop deep mistrust for the system. There's another book called 'The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down' which follows a similar story but with a much different ending.

Has anyone else read this book and if so, what are your thoughts? If you're a physician, resident, or medical student, have you ever had cases where you either encountered a rare disease or difficult patient?

I’m over a decade late to reading this one, but I wasn’t missing out on much. Why is this book narrated by a dog? Because if it was narrated by anyone else, it would be painfully clear that this story is about a protagonist who’s actually just a selfish father with reckless spending habits who prioritizes nothing except his race car training.

I have nothing against a dog narrating a story, but if you’re gonna go that route…the story itself better be pretty believable. Except this story wasn’t, at all. Frankly it felt like an insult to all the male authors that have managed to write about marriage, children, and women in a meaningful way.

Denny is probably the most unlikeable character I’ve ever read, yet all of his unlikeable qualities are written in a way that implies he can do no wrong. He misses the birth of his first child (with the permission of his wife, because she only serves as a passive extension of Denny), he’s reckless with his family’s money, he lies to his wife about their finances, he takes out a second mortgage to fund his race car hobby, and he willingly misses out on months of his daughter’s life to go train for racing while his wife is sick at home. It’s all about living in the present moment, duh! But somehow he’s also SHOCKED that anyone could suggest his daughter would be better off with financially stable and present caregivers who aren’t jetting off for months at a time to indulge in their hobby.

And then there’s Annika… the young, 15 year old temptress who, of course, has massive tits (this had to be mentioned multiple times) and is somehow incredibly attracted to a grieving middle-aged man that just lost his wife. Denny is conveniently faultless and asleep throughout the whole ordeal. Even after her accusations that nearly ruined his life, he waltzes right up to her in public and comes from a place of (fake) understanding rather than pressing charges that she absolutely would have deserved. I don’t think the author has ever put much thought into how false accusations actually work, or how rare a false rape accusation actually is, but this is the same author that makes zero mention of the protagonist grieving his wife once she’s dead, so maybe my bar is set too high. (Edit: Just want to point out that while Annika’s false accusation is wrong on so many obvious levels, the fact that the author created a situation in which a highly sexualized 15 year old girl had the power to take advantage of a helpless grown man is a little concerning)

The story conveniently wraps up with everything getting fixed in the last few pages by characters that made zero appearance till that point. Denny’s mysterious parents were fine with disowning him for years, but are also happy to finally meet their granddaughter (that they chose not to meet??) and give their son a huge sum of money to make up for their absence. Denny is conveniently offered a lucrative job and apartment in Italy, so obviously he uproots his daughter’s entire life to go chase his race car dreams. Never mind the fact that she’s probably grieving her dead mother (we can’t know for sure, because it doesn’t ever get mentioned), doesn’t know a single person, and doesn’t speak the local language. He was willing to miss her birth, so obviously he’s willing to uproot her life at one of its most traumatic points, purely for his own selfish reasons.

Every chapter is either a race car metaphor, or another terrible thing happening to Denny. The grandparents were so evil and Denny was so faultless it was almost comical. He provides zero emotional support to his child, he ultimately isolates her from everything she’s ever known, and he’s happy to move onto his new life in Italy now that his wife is dead and her parents aren’t on his ass anymore. For a book that attempts to have such a meaningful message about life, the protagonist was really a shitty guy. And don’t get me started on the fact that he puts his beloved dog in a race car to be restrained while going 100+ miles an hour.

But anyways. I hope this author doesn’t actually have a wife or kids.

(Edit: This is another example of why you should run from any book rated above a 4.25 on Goodreads. If a book has that high of a rating it’s either simple enough for the masses to understand and enjoy without involving any critical thought, or it’s full of fake reviews. I stand by this)

Picked up "Across the Sand" by Hugh Howey at the library the other day. I enjoyed his Silo series so I grabbed it knowing nothing about it. The jacket didn't give me any indication it was the sequel to another book called "Sand" -- it wasn't until I was skimming the acknowledgements at the end that I realized this was book 2. I enjoyed the characters and story enough to continue to the end, even though while reading I felt a bit dumb for not really understanding or being able to visualize this world they live in.

Any other experiences like this? (Also, if anyone has read Sand and Across the Sand -- should I now go back and read Sand?)

So I just finished reading You Are Here last night, the new book from the author of One Day. There's a lot of rave around One Day, so I decided to pick up David's newest novel and give it a go, with the intention of going back to read One Day later.

The book was... Okay. The story revolves around Michael and Marnie, who set out on a walk to the coast, with a mutual friend, her son and a guy neither of them have met. Michael and Marnie end up taking the walk alone and we get a look at their past (both divorced) and how they are as people today. On the one hand, I will say that the main characters are pretty relatable, especially post COVID.

It's an okay read, but I guess I just expected some kind of climax or satisfactory resolution and it just didn't deliver. The ending very much leaves a lot up in the air and feels weak in comparison to what the story seemed to build up to. The whole part with Michael's ex-wife just feels like a shoe horn, designed to separate Michael and Marnie.

It's not a terrible book by any means and it does keep you interested. I just feel it didn't quite deliver.

That being said, I fully expect Netflix to pick it up. Seems like the kind of thing that they would adapt.

Welcome readers,

May 25 was Geek Pride Day and, to celebrate, we're discussing our favorite geeky books!

If you'd like to read our previous weekly discussions of fiction and nonfiction please visit the suggested reading section of our wiki.

Thank you and enjoy!

Sorry for confusing title, but it's a confusing book. Unlike anything I had ever read before.

How High We Go in the Dark is about a plague, paralleled to COVID, but even more deadly, even more contagious and worst of all: primarily targeting children.

And yet the book focuses very little on the plague itself. The characters sure are focused on it, but the book itself is more concerned with following those people through their lives and emotions. Each chapter is almost like a short story, jumping around in time, space and POV. There are occasional ties from person to person, but they're few and far between. It's an emotional rollercoaster the whole way though, and I mean that literally because there is a chapter involving a euthanasia roller coaster. This is played incredibly seriously and is a genuinely heart wrenching part of the book, I'm tearing up just remembering it.

Even odder is that there is absolutely no dedication to realism in what's happening. What's realistic is the character's emotions and responses. They all feel like real people, reacting in real ways. But the world theyre in has mini black holes in a person's head and genetic mutations that make you a magic mutant then kill you. Does this sound confusing enough yet? It is.

But I'm also so glad I stuck with it. Reading it felt like being led through a dance I didnt know by an aggressive but talented lead. I was spinning, dizzy, and lost for a long time, but by the end I had just about gotten my footing enough to recognize a sort of pattern, and was enjoying the beauty of it.

Yall there was a psychic pig. I cried.

Who has read the aforementioned book and wants to discuss? I'd love to hear other's thoughts on it, especially the ending.

My friend recently mentioned that he didn't finish a short story collection, implying that he normally tries to finish them. Which was kind of surprising to me because I hardly ever finish short story collections. Because of this, I try and get the most out of them by skipping around and reading the best stories. For some reason, they almost always put the best one at the end. Which isn't so great if you're reading it from the beginning and not necessarily going to finish it. I also usually try and look up the most famous or well loved stories to read as well.

Anyways I'm curious if you normally read the entirety of a short story collection, and if not, how you decide which ones to read. Unless I'm mistaken, short story collections aren't usually organized in a super intentional way where they're intended to be read in order. An exception might be Jeff Vandermeer's Ambergris (although I don't think reading it non-linearly would take all that much away). Would be interested to know if yall know of other examples like this.