When I was younger (say 12-13 years old) I had read "A Boy called Christmas" by Matt Haig. Since then it has become one of my most beloved books and I have read it many times. One year ago I noticed that another book by the same author was gaining more popularity and that was none other than The Midnight Library. I was intrigued by the plot and the mixed reviews and I decided to keep an eye on it for the future. Last Christmas my sister gifted it to me but due to high school exams, I wasn't able to read it - until now.

I'll start by saying that although the book did not meet all of my expectations, I was not disappointed. Truth be said, I expected to like it more than I did but it didn't leave a bad taste on me once I was done reading it. Is it overhyped. Most likely yes? Did I enjoy it? Also yes. I think that it's good that I read it now, because had I read it sooner, when my excitement over it was higher, I would be more disappointed.

From the very first pages, I was hooked by the plot. We get to see Nora's life, how miserable she feels and how she has given up on life. Once Nora enters the midnight library after she attempts to kill herself, we witness her journey to find the perfect life for her. She is not alone. In the library she finds Mrs Elm, the old librarian from her old school. With her help she tries to navigate through the millions possible lives she could live in. But what is the best way to live?

I found the concept of the book very imaginative. I haven't read any books like this before and the system was very unique too. Just imagine how interesting it would be if we had the opportunity to travel to all of the different lives we might have lived! How different our path would be if we did even the smallest change in our life. Matt Haig did a good job crafting this magic system and for the most part, I enjoyed following Nora in her different paths.

The book did a good job exploring Nora's regrets and sadness. At the beginning it's clear that Nora is suffocated by her guilt and desperation. She regrets the things she did and the things she didn't do. She feels like she has wasted her life and isolated by almost everyone, she doesn't find a reason to live anymore. Her past haunts her continuously and in the library, she finds the chance to undo her mistakes and live her life differently. However, she quickly realises that what sounded so wonderful in her head was not what she made it out to be. Most of her biggest regrets were because she didn't get to fullfil other people's wishes. Her father's dream to see her become a great competitive swimmer. Her ex-fiance's dream to open a pub in the country. Her brother's dream to become a famous musician. And the list goes on.

Throughout her life, Nora was focused on trying to please the people around her. The dreams she didn't get to fullfil were never her own. Of course she found enjoyment in some things, like studying philosophy, playing music or swimming. But most of her goals were guided by others' desires. She never got to have her own ambitions. Instead of following her own path, she tries to live up to the expectations of others - and ultimately fail. But that changes as she travels in her other lives. She accepts that she can't undo her past. She accepts her own regrets. And she finally finds enjoyment in living. She doesn't seek death and she wants to live instead. But there is one question: what could her best possible live be?

For the most part, I enjoyed reading about the different lives of Nora. It was interesting to see how different the outcome would be had she made different decisions. Although I didn't fully connect with Nora, I felt sympathy for her, especially at the beginning. I could understand her frustation and worries and I really wanted her to find the best life. I also enjoyed seeing her growth and how she came to appreciate herself and value.

The writing was good. It was simple and at times, it was quite lyrical. Some parts made me laugh, some made me angry and some others made me sad. There were many quotes that resonated with me and made me pause and rethink about my choices and life. In some parts, the book felt bittersweet and overall, it brought me comfort while reading it. It was cheesy, I know. But I still enjoyed it.

I appreciated the theme around the "meaning" of life and how we define success. By pursuing success and by being driven by egoistical motives, we start to lose ourselves. We are trying to give a meaning to our lives, to find our purpose in this world and by doing so, we're starting to stop appreciating life for what it is. We are not able to see the forest for the trees and we underestimate the importance of the little things that are making as feel happy and content. And as the book says:

Never underestimate the importance of small things.

There have been times in my life when I too have felt remorse for some of the things I have or haven't done. I have felt remorse for getting a bad grade when I knew I could study more and do better. I have felt remorse for fighting with my sister over something insignificant. I have felt remorse for saying bad things to my mom during a heated argument. True, compared to Nora or other people's regrets, mine may seem unimportant. But at the time, they still made me feel bad and I wished I could change them. However, as time went on, I have come to accept that I can't change the past. What I should do instead is try to develop more as a person and live my life in the fullest. It sounds cliche. I know. But it's something which is worth to remember. It's pointless to try and change our past decisions, no matter how we feel about them. What we can do is learn from our mistakes and try to fix them. Yes life can be bleak. And it's not going to be easy to just get over our hardships. But there is a possibility of a better future, if we manage to take matters in our own hands. To seize our own day.

As much as I enjoyed reading the book, as I already mentioned above, it wasn't exactly what I expected. This is one of the cases when the author has a good idea but the execution is lackluster. The concept of the book was very good and unique. It could be better, though. At one point, the plot became quite repetitive. Nora's lives followed the same structure and during the middle of the novel, they became quite predictable and monotonous. I still had fun while reading them but I was quite close at skimming some parts. I think that it would have been nice if we had more chapters like the first ones, before Nora entered the library. There was much telling and not showing when it came to her past and the relationship with her family and while that was not necessarily bad, it would have been more effective if they were presented in a different way.

The plot would have definitely benefitted from more action, especially during the middle. Although the book was fast-paced, at one point I stopped caring a little because I knew that nothing remarkable would happen. The plot twists in Nora's lives lost their charm and the story was going around in circles. I would have prefered it if the book had focused in fewer lives and if some themes had been explored more.

The characterisation in this book was quite bland. The only character I got to know better was of course Nora but even she wasn't that fleshed out. Of course the book describes her worries, her struggles with her mental health, her developement. I sympathised with her, I felt proud of her developement but overall, I didn't have strong feelings about her as a person. She was read like a shell of a person at times. She would live a different life, realize that she didn't like it, have a short conversation with Mrs Elm and conclude that she had been wrong about what would be the best for her. Her journey to self reflection could have been handled better and she could have. As for the rest of the characters...well, they were kinda forgettable. Mrs. Elm was the typical type of character who is there to give advices to the main characters and be a mentor to them. And I couldn't bring myself to care for the rest of the others.

When it came to the writing, although it was good, it became kinda corny with all of these deep and intellectual quotes. I understand what Haig's goal was and as I already said, many of them made me think a lot. But they could have been toned out. At one point, I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again and despite the warm feelings it caused me, it was quite boring and surface-level.

Despite my criticism of the novel, I sitll found it enjoyable and thought-provoking. The ending made me cry a little and I finished the book with a smile on my face. Granted, it was not the best book I've ever read but it was okay and I by no means regret reaidgn it. It was a very cozy autumn read and I could see myself revisiting it in the future if I wanted to read something light-hearted and easy-going. I wouldn't recommend it as a life-changing read but I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it. After all, books are unpredictable. You don't know what you will like unless you'll try it. Just like most of the things we're doing in our life.

So, The Midnight Library didn't change my mindset. But it made me re-value my life and it encouraged me to continue to live in the best way I can. I might not now what is going to happen tomorrow, in one week or in a few years. But one thing is certain:

I'm going to try and live every minute of it.

Just finished All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami and feel so puzzled by Hijiri's character.

Initially I found her to be a likable, bubbly character and thought she was a real friend to Fuyuko. Then I started thinking she might be a little manipulative and wasn't sure about her motives. And that scene near the end, where she waited in front of Fuyuko's apartment, really creeped me out.

I didn’t see it coming at all and found her questions and attitude so intrusive, her just demanding an explanation from Fuyuko felt extremely uncomfortable. Then in the last chapter, they were "besties" again. What are everyone's thoughts on her or on this scene in particular?

I'd love to hear other thoughts on the book as well!

I just finished ‘Hello Beautiful’ by Ann Napolitano, and whereas I found this book exceptionally beautiful and well-written (and myself sobbing endlessly throughout the last 30 pages), I couldn’t help but wonder: why there is death everywhere nowadays when it comes to fiction? I mean, I know death is inevitable part of our existence but it feels like sudden death of a character is a thing often used in contemporary fiction. I mean, from some point at the beginning I already knew one of the sisters would die unexpectedly (once again, I KNOW it’s an homage to Little Women and it was mentioned in the book), but it’s not the first time I’m encountering this.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it’s made just for the sake of making readers ‘feel more’? Maybe happy endings are a cliche nowadays already?

Just finished Dune, the first book. I have had it on my list of "to read" since a long time ago. I had seen the movies, not the series, so somewhat of a spoiler there.

I thought it was mostly an easy read, with a bit of over explaining on some points and others just throws you into the scene with no advanced warning (beginning fo chapters).

I enjoyed the book overall, although I found the ending of the first book somewhat of a letdown. I think there should have been a bit more to it. My opinion only, but wanted to share it, as I've been getting into reading again in my old age from when I was a teenager.

I went back and forth about it before I went on a trip last month. I didn't want to lose it or risk damaging it. But I was in the middle of the book and didn't want to have to wait so long before continuing it.

I grabbed the book at the last minute and I'm glad I did. I wound up reading some of it several evenings and it made a nice memory. Nothing bad happened to the book, and on the contrary, it came in handy. I pressed a leaf in it and brought it home as a souvenir!

Has anyone else taken a walk on the wild side and brought a library book on vacation with you?

I have a theory that books fall on a spectrum of magical realism instead of just being an either or situation. I’ve been very interested in this genre of books for a while now but I’ve only been able to read just one or two books in that category. This is because of how challenging it is to truly grasp books with magical realism. It’s such a unique art form to be able bridge the normal and abnormal and I will always appreciate that. I realised that it can be so ambiguous to define magical realism though. For example, while many people view Babel as fantasy, I think it’s magical realism (having that perspective made me enjoy the book more tbh). I have always thought of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka as magical realism as well as Before The Coffee gets cold. Even The Secret History had hints of magical realism. i think my idea of magical realism is quite broad. But that’s why I want to know, when does a book leave the sci-fi and fantasy realm and become magical realism? Of course I can google this, but I also want to have a discussion on this, plus google’s answers aren’t very satisfactory

edit: typos

edit: Babel isn’t magical realism

I’m only 19 percent into this book, but I’m already having a total brain orgasm! The research and detail in this book are something I’ve never encountered before. Well, granted, I haven’t been reading much until this year, but damn, this book is so good!

I started with Yellowface, which was seriously addictive. The pacing is on point, and getting into the villain’s head is just so satisfying. Plus, the discussions it brings up are fantastic.

But Babel? Wow, it’s even better. The way it delves into language and translation really shows off her academic background. I have to admit, I kind of simp for her—especially after seeing her interviews about Yellowface. She’s so articulate, but Babel has really blown me away even more. The details, the imagery, the characters—they’re all so interesting!

I can’t wait to jump into her Poppy War series after this and her new book coming next year(?)!

Hello readers and welcome to our Weekly FAQ thread! Our topic this week: How to find the best version/translation of a book?

You can view previous FAQ threads here in our wiki.

Thank you and enjoy!

Personally, I have mixed emotions about them. In some cases, the author can make it work. For example: Gone Girl by Jillian Flynn. The diary entries were a great way to pull it off. She meant for the diary to be found, which is why she was pretending to be something she wasn’t. If it’s something like that, it tends to work well. Letters to another person, or if something happened to make the narrator unreliable. A mental illness or a head injury for instance. What I don’t like, however, is when they are unreliable for absolutely no reason at all. Like, when the ending comes, and it’s completely unbelievable because the narrator has been one person throughout the entire book all the way up until the end and then they have a complete personality switch out of nowhere. It doesn’t make sense to me. One book that does this is You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Geneva Rose. It’s written in the style of Gone Girl. The book switches back-and-forth between the perspectives of two different narrators, male/female. We are put into the minds of both individuals throughout the book, then at the end, the unexpected twist comes, and suddenly they are no longer who we thought they were at all. But there’s no reason for the random personality shift whatsoever. it comes totally out of nowhere and is just extremely unbelievable/unrealistic. It’s almost as if the author were in a hurry to finish the book, and just completely changed her characters into totally different people and scribble down some random ending for the sake of finishing the book. There’s no foreshadowing or any type of clues leading up to the twist at all. I don’t like this. It left me with a lot of confusion and unanswered questions. How do you guys feel about unreliable narrators? In your opinion, when do they work and when do they not? Feel free to provide examples for both. Books where the author makes it work, and books where they don’t.

Note: I only ask to provide examples so that I can see what your idea of a good unreliable narrator is versus a bad one. That is not a recommendation/suggestion request. Examples are not necessary. I would just like to know how y’all feel about unreliable narrators in general. I hope this post doesn’t get removed because of the last sentence!!

Edit: after another person mentioned it in the comments below, I would like to add that another type of unreliable narrator I happen to enjoy is one that has a distorted view of reality for some reason. For instance: they are extremely immature or self-centered, they are paranoid, they are being gaslighted by someone important to them, etc. One major example I can think of is My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. The teenage protagonist, Vanessa, is being gaslighted by her teacher who is 27 years older than her. She is so traumatized and blinded by his gaslighting that she thinks they are in love. She doesn’t realize that he is a predator who has groomed her to fall in love with him. she is so unreliable, in fact, that we as the reader actually believe it’s love as well until we start to see the truth about midway through the book. Sadly, though, Vanessa doesn’t realize it until the end.

I'm using the word political very loosely so don't look for books that are strictly about politics. It's fine as long as it has something to do with government, social power and status (e.g., racism, sexism), distribution of money or other resources (e.g., poverty), war and terror, and things like that.

You can mention nonfiction too but here's a list of political thrillers:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/609.Political_Thrillers_

And a Wiki page on political fiction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_fiction

For me, I'll go with nonfiction. A favorite of mine is The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Didn't really know much about him at all before a friend urged me to a read it. Reading the book you get to know him and watch his gradual transformation. You get to see how this contentious figure came to be who he is. The narration is so fascinating and well-written. Recommended for the curious.

So one of my secret interests is mermaids and I recently stumbled upon a long running mermaid romance series of books called "Merman's Kiss" on Kindle. (Just for clarity since there are two books with the same name, I'm talking about the series by Dee. J Stone)

It's a pretty long series. The first book came out in 2014 and from what I can tell, it's still going on to this day, with multiple spin offs and the latest book in the series released last January.

So I decided, wanting a nice mermaid book to read to try going into the series.

The first book was mostly what I expected. A nice simple romance piece with the conflict coming from mostly character drama. It's pretty cliché but in that endearing way you can't help but like.

Then I read the second book. The stakes escalated a bit, especially with a major moment of mood whiplash, but other than that it seemed pretty standard.

And then the third book happened. And that's the point where the story went off the rails. In a good way.

I don't wanna spoil it but there's a major plot twist during the third book involving the main girl's father and MAN things get intense and crazy after that. Complete with heartbreaking results in the fourth book.

I know I'm being very unspecific here, but that's just because I don't wanna risk spoiling it. Because it really is best if you go in blind. Maybe it was just me but the whole book kept me so on the edge of my seat, that I couldn't stay in. I was walking and pacing while reading from my kindle the whole time. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

I'm aware paranormal romance isn't everyone thing, and it does get a little sickening sweethearts at times (It doesn't get explicit but there's a lot of focus on the two leads make out sessions when they can) but if you don't mind a little spice and thriller in your romance, maybe give this series a shot.

I'll preface by saying I'm a guy nearing 40, but I just finished listening to Under the Dome. I enjoyed it for the most part, but throughout I became more and more convinced King just can't write relatable kid/teen characters anymore. Some might argue that he's always had trouble (infamous IT scene as a glaring example), but after so many 1930-50s-type references coming from kids' mouths I just started rolling my eyes.

One kid makes a "this is another nice mess you got me in," jab at another like it's something people do every day, which is from 1930s Laurel and Hardy. Another instance has a teen casually saying something like, "like Lon Chaney dancing with the Queen," either from the 1941 The Wolf Man movie or more likely the 1970s Werewolves of London song.

Maybe I'm wrong, but do kids and teens know Laurel and Hardy references? Was The Wolf Man or Waren Zevon still on some people's radar like it's second nature when Obama was president (which is when the book takes place)?

Just wanted to rant, because it's the biggest thing that kept taking me out of the story to Google references to understand where these kids got their lingo.

Well I just finished CS Lewis’ Space Trilogy and I’m gonna post my review here.

First of all, out of the silent planet was a fantastic book. Lewis truly is a master at being able to paint an image in your head as far as his description goes. I am still fascinated at the moment “man meets foreign creature”. Not only that, but the way that these creatures lived. I legit laughed during this book as one of the antagonists tried to talk to a complex and superior being like he was a threat and superior himself. If I could sum up the book in one word, “providence”.

Secondly, we have Perelandraz. Again, Lewis paints a whole new world that I got to experience. This one isn’t as much about discovery as it is action. This one mirrors the serpent in the garden, an attempt on another destruction of Eden. This books makes you want to go out and punch a demon.

Lastly and my favorite, That hideous strength. What a fantastic read. This one wasn’t in a foreign planet, it is based on Earth. A battle of good and evil. It parallels a lot of what happens today as far as what happens inside of education institutions. The tones of Gnosticism in here aren’t easy to miss. The head sputtering like an engine was absolutely terrifying to me. The scene where ransom and Merlin speak I with angels was my favorite! And the dinner scene was pure chaos.

I highly recommend this. Lewis was a genius. I’ve been looking for a light hearted read in between my serious studies, and this one is exactly the cozy one I was looking for. It is advertised as a fairy tale for grownups, and it absolutely is.

I’m not generally a political reader, but Woodward really did a great job here. I was most impressed with his simple wording when describing complex topics. And the characters felt real and well-rounded, even though they are obviously real people.

Overall, I was so impressed that I may start reading some of his other works. War did not feel academic at all; it was just a page-turner.

Would love to hear the thoughts of others on this one.

Really enjoying the novel so far, but just struggled with pages 30 through 34. Understand the broad strokes of what is happening (ie Klara is still learning to interpret the world around her) but I cannot for the life of me understand what Ishiguro is describing with regards to the following:

We were then facing the store, and I could see all the way to the Glass Table at the back, but the space had become partitioned into ten boxes, so that I no longer had a single unified picture of the view before me. The front alcove was in the box furthest to my right, as might be expected; and yet the magazines table, which was nearest the front alcove, had become divided between various boxes, so that one section of the table could even be seen in the box furthest to my left. By now the lights had been dimmed, and I spotted the other AFs in the backgrounds of several boxes, lining the walls mid-store, preparing for their sleep. But my attention was drawn to the three center boxes, at that moment containing aspects of Manager in the act of turning towards us. In one box she was visible only from her waist to the upper part of her neck, while the box immediately beside it was almost entirely taken up by her eyes. The eye closest to us was much larger than the other, but both were filled with kindness and sadness. And yet a third box showed a part of her jaw and most of her mouth, and I detected there anger and frustration. Then she had turned fully and was coming towards us, and the store became once more a single picture.

and

When I next looked, the street outside had become partitioned into several vertical panels - from my position I could see three of them quite clearly without leaning forward. The amount of dark smoke appeared to vary from panel to panel, so that it was almost as if contrasting shades of gray were being displayed for selection. But even where the smoke was at its most dense, I could still pick out many details. In one panel, for instance, there was a section of the overhaul men's wooden barrier, and seemingly now attached to it, the front part of a taxi. In the neighboring panel, diagonally cutting off its top corner, was a metal bar which I recognized as belonging to one of the high traffic signals.

Any help would be appreciated. Is this explained later on, am I missing a fairly basic idea, or is it just a description of her 'machine' eyes? Presumably these boxes or partitions aren't real?

I miss writing on this subreddit about the books I have recently finished, I used to do it so much a few years back, and discussing these books with other people always made me happy

So, That Title isn't very commonly known unless you're part of the Warhammer 40k Lore Community.

Titanicus is a book from the Black Library, written by Dan Abnett (a famous 40k writer), about the Collegia Titanica, specifically the Legio Invicta. They're, in the simplest most crude terms, Giant War Machines that wage wars for the imperium of mankind. The book is split between different POVs from the simple inexperienced army officer to the captain of a task force, and from the leader of the forge world under attack, to my favorite character in the entire book, Lord Gearheart: The Red Fury, and the main Princeps (Driver/ CPU) of the main war machine (yes, they fuse humans with war machines).

If you've never read 40k lore, this might seem very strange and incoherent, but this is the perfect chance to get into it. The world-building is immaculate, there are different POVs from various characters, the action is fierce and impeccable, and the climax leaves nothing to be desired (except for a certain person).

You will struggle a little bit in understanding what most words mean, but just google them and open "images" and it'll explain itself fairly quickly.

This is my first time reading a 40k book that doesn't have Astartes and Space Marines in it.
I didn't enjoy the multiple POVs much because I just wanted to follow Gearhart, but it was alright in the end.

Again, if you want to get into this world, either read Helsreach or Titanicus; World sieges are amazing in this universe.

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!

This year I decided to read a lot more than in the past, often finishing a book in a couple days, however there are a few books I've really taken my time with. One such book is Anna Karenina. I am slowly making my through, often only reading it one or two days out of the week, and I can honestly say I am retaining the information much better and enjoying the experience more! It has allowed me to really live in the space of the book and take my time digesting and mulling over what I am reading.

On the other hand, the books which I've sped through are often forgotten a day after I've finished. I'm now trying to actively think about and analyze the books I'm reading, especially those which I finish in a few days.

Overall, I can say that for me, reading simply to get my numbers up or reach a goal is preposterous and unneccessary, and frankly not as rewarding. Reading should be enjoyable and leisurely.

Thoughts?

The subtitle of the book is: "Slavery in the Americas and the Origins of Global Power." An awe-inspiring title, unfortunately not lived up to by the text! Well, it would have to be 800 pages long to do the job right, right? So that's not such an important complaint. Moving right along.

The thing is... you see... the book is kind of sold as a scholarly effort. That's how it's presented to browsers [people who browse, that is, not internet discovery tools lol], who pick it up wondering what to think. A sober cover, nothing too dramatic in the blurbs, and apparently the author actually works as a Professor of History, or did in 2008, when the book was published. And that's kind of misleading. The book is actually semi-scholarly slavery porn, is what it is.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course!

And parts of the book really are valuable. I feel that the author's footnotes, for example, justifying this or that statement of his, probably are actually valuable references. I've made a long list and I expect them to be scholarly works. Who knows, right? I've been wrong before.

The author really does make a fairly good case that slavery has underpinned the whole Western project since 1500 or so. He gives a lot of information that tends in that direction. He lists the industries to which slavery was important, in the expansion of their global reach, and it's a significant list. Sugar. Tobacco. Coffee. Cocoa. Dyes. Rice. Cotton. Guano. (Guano? Guano.) Lumber. Rubber. Textiles. Rum. Cowries. (Cowries? Cowries.)

He really does make a good point when he says that slavery provided a firm and lasting foundation for the ideal of civilization. It wasn't a connection any of those who worked toward this ideal noticed, but it was a real connection. Civility was something that certain people could afford. It wasn't obvious that you could have that without a certain financial base, and it wasn't obvious what that financial base rested on, in many if not most cases. So this is a good point, by the author.

And he really does make a good point when he notices that the only people who have been repaid, for slavery, were the owners of the slaves. Britain in particular invested a great deal of money in paying the owners back for the slaves of whom they had been deprived, when abolition finally lowered its political boom on the island. France did its level best to make Haiti pay for every single one of those who were liberated.

And he really does make another very good point when he points out just how many British benefited by these payments. There were many British who had a significant ownership interest in slaves. These people were compensated.

Where the book fails, most of all, is in its promise. It seems to promise history, and instead it provides peeks. Glimpses. Vignettes. What were the values of those industries that I mentioned, up above, and how did their values change over time, on a global scale? How did their values compare to the values of other industries? He doesn't seem to think the question is interesting. What was the effect of the Atlantic slave trade on Africa? He barely mentions the subject. What is the difference between what we think of as slavery, and other related labor situations, like debt bondage, sexual slavery, serfdom et cetera? Not his concern. How much of the impetus to slavery was profit, and how much was religious strife, or nationalistic competition, or war, or local or not so local politics, or status, or who knows what? Not his concern. How did the Atlantic slave trade compare to the Islamic slave trade? Who knows.

It's interesting to me that his poster child for reasons people got into slavery is that some industry or other wasn't profitable without it, and yet he doesn't discuss the economic consequences of ending slavery at all. To me this is a notable failure. But among so many others, you know, it hardly stands out.

So, you know... interesting, but not really valuable. Not essential.

While reading the autobiographies of Elias Canetti, (which were some of the best books I've ever read BTW) he kept mentioning his undying devotion to Karl Kraus whom he would attend his seminars and readings in Vienna during the 20s and this was the first of Kraus's books that I've picked up to far.

From what I've looked into it, a lot of the scenes depicted in the story were documented in real time so all the dialogue and characters were inspired by the people and events Kraus himself had to go through when the 'War to end all Wars' was wrecking shop. It was fascinating to see how people put so much effort in justifying what their government was trying to do to the point of absolute terror of disobedience, as if they would rather die then see their government fail to deliver their promises, you get to see all walks of life have to go through this environment refusing to admit that things are not okay, or doing so and getting told off by someone. My favorite parts of the were the prologue and the epilogue, Kraus has a fascinating way of coming to terms that the world he was born into really let him down with out ever refusing himself his own sense of humor, and the final speech by the Grumbler was one of my favorite passages in any book, every time he and The Optimist showed up was something I looked forward to. It's sad that these conversations and these events are most likely being played out again just over 100 years later.

Anywho, if anyone else has read it then I'd love to know your opinions.

Welcome to our weekly recommendation thread! A few years ago now the mod team decided to condense the many "suggest some books" threads into one big mega-thread, in order to consolidate the subreddit and diversify the front page a little. Since then, we have removed suggestion threads and directed their posters to this thread instead. This tradition continues, so let's jump right in!

The Rules

• Every comment in reply to this self-post must be a request for suggestions.

• All suggestions made in this thread must be direct replies to other people's requests. Do not post suggestions in reply to this self-post.

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How to get the best recommendations

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• The Management

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!

I was born into the Children of God cult and I’ve read a number of books by other survivors. I recently had a recommendation for Lauren Hough’s Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing, which I hadn’t come across before.

It’s the best survivor story I’ve ever read. I read it in a single day, which is extremely rare for me as I’m a working mum with a disabled child, but I could not put it down. Superb writing, funny and devastating, and so fucking real to our shared experience of growing up in that mess and then having to learn how to be a person.

Strongly recommend.

I just woke up, went to the window and saw the first snow of the year. And I thought, what should be the winter book?

After all, in order for the book to be exactly winter, you need not just to take a winter holiday and the time of the winter action, but something more.

In the horror genre, it's mostly when people who have been skiing hide from a snowstorm in an old hut in the woods. In the thriller genre, it's always something about survival with the risk of death from the cold or about hungry wolves that come very close to homes from hunger. In romance, it's always something naive and kind where the climax is either on New Year's Eve or Valentine's Day. Detectives are usually something about a robbery/theft/murder in a mansion on New Year's Eve.

In short, there are a lot of cliche tropes, but I have bad taste and I like them. I consider such books to be valuable, but this is just my opinion and preference. What is a winter book for you?

If you’ve ever played The Stanley Parable, sort of like that. The narrator tries to keep the story on a leash but the characters go off & do unexpected things, making the narrator frustrated & try to reign things in.

Idk if there are any books of this style? I think it could either be funny or get old fast.

Last novel of the Witcher Saga really dropped in quality.

That story peaked in the penultimate book The Tower of the Swallow >!when Geralt was searching for missing Ciri, and was companions with Dandelion, Cahir, Emiel Regis and Milva. And also the set up of Emhyr var Emreis as the main villain before we know who he is. Bounty hunter Leo Bonhart and his search for Ciri was just epic as well. He was so badass and so evil.!< It was just so much fun. I couldn't wait to see how the story continued.

Then I read the final novel, The Lady of The Lake. It read like author Andre Sapkowski did everything he could to avoid a more traditional ending to a fantasy series. To the detriment of the book. >!There were just long scenes of Geralt fucking, the character given up on his quest throughout most of the book. Then it just ends in the least climactic way possible with Geralt seemingly intentionally getting himself killed. !<

What other sagas ended so badly it seemed like a fuck you letter from the author? Or it could even be sequels.