I'm late but I finally started the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time since I was about 9.

The stories themselves are good. I enjoy the world that C.S. Lewis built, it's fantastical and nonsensical and fun. I'm currently on "the silver chair" so still working my way through the books.

I don't like Aslan. But then again I also don't have any love for the Christian god. When people said he was basically Lion Jesus I thought it was an exaggeration. NOPE. He is omniscient, brings people from the brink of death, dies for the sins of Edmond, comes back to life, TURNS WATER TO WINE (that was such a random throw away I almost said 'oh come on' out loud). Then he flat out tells Lucy and Ed that he is known by another name in their world and they'll find him there.

It's so heavy handed any time Asland is brought around it's hard for me not to be dragged out of the story. I actually love books that have religious allegory, symbolism, undertones, you name it. I love His Dark Materials, I believe Weaveworld had a lot of religious references, and in general anything that takes God's and religious stories and makes them into something new and interesting is fun to me. Aslan is not. He's a mouthpiece for religion and he's boring.

Edit: few corrections, I only read the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as a kid. And I was not 9, I was in maybe first grade so closer to 6. As a kid I had no clue about the Jesus imagery in that book and all I remembered was the Fawn, the salt water taffy, and the white witch being a daughter of Lilith. I have done zero research on CS Lewis (not a scholar, not into theology casually, I just wanted to read a series I didn't finish as a kid). I don't hate the series, I just don't like Aslan.

Not comparing them to the action/fight scenes in movies; rather, I'm just curious as to whether or not people enjoy reading about them. I'm not sure whether I'm alone in this, but I've never found them engaging. Although I enjoy the drama and the exchanges that take place throughout the fight, I didn't feel any suspense or thrills when reading them.

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.

• All unrelated comments will be deleted in the interest of cleanliness.

How to get the best recommendations

The most successful recommendation requests include a description of the kind of book being sought. This might be a particular kind of protagonist, setting, plot, atmosphere, theme, or subject matter. You may be looking for something similar to another book (or film, TV show, game, etc), and examples are great! Just be sure to explain what you liked about them too. Other helpful things to think about are genre, length and reading level.

All Weekly Recommendation Threads are linked below the header throughout the week to guarantee that this thread remains active day-to-day. For those bursting with books that you are hungry to suggest, we've set the suggested sort to new; you may need to set this manually if your app or settings ignores suggested sort.

If this thread has not slaked your desire for tasty book suggestions, we propose that you head on over to the aptly named subreddit /r/suggestmeabook.

• The Management

I haven't heard of Enid Blyton until almost a week ago, and I began developing interest in her work after briefly researching her history. As someone who aspires to write a children's book someday, I'll be reading her books regularly moving forward for inspiration and continuous learning of different writing styles.

The book I read is called "Amelia Jane Again!". Published in 1946. It's about a naughty doll who does naughty things to the other toys in a nursery. It reminds me a bit of "Toy Story", what with the idea of toys coming to life and doing their thing.

As an adult reading, I found the book shallow and inconsistent. It's a collection of small stories of hit-and-miss quality. Some are simple but well-written - good setup and payoff, an amusing main character, and a consistent moral conveying that saying sorry doesn't mean you genuinely are. Others played off more as silly gags that don't have much of a payoff, making for some unsatisfying reading. Also, because every story follows the same formulaic structure, it got repetitive reading three or four stories in a row.

Overall, I didn't find much entertainment out of "Amelia Jane Again!". But I understand that this book isn't for my age group. As a children's book, it's solid. The repetitive storytelling does drive home the consistent moral, and children generally crave repetition. While most of the characters are bland, the contrast makes Amelia Jane stand out as an engaging enough character, and the comeuppances are amusing to witness. Finally, the easy and straightforward writing means the stories are always moving, which prevents children from getting bored. And because not much is going on, the target audience won't get confused either. It's a good balance that invests young children, thus the book succeeds enough at what it's going for.

Aesthetics: 7/11 (Not much colourful description, but the appealing illustrations fill the blanks)

Storytelling: 5/11 (Quality fluctuation hurts, but the best stories are decent and leave something of an impression)

Imagination: 8/11 (The book flows well from page to page, even though there's not a lot of substance)

Emotions: 4/11 (I found some stories amusing and others boring. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I'm not a kid anymore)

58% - SATISFACTORY

EDIT: The copy I read is a recent edition. The first edition has different illustrations. Are there any differences between the first and recent editions?

I actually really enjoyed this book! I was a bit skeptical at first when I was getting into it, but when the perspective changes the first time it hooked me all over again.

The ending shocked me to the very last word. How damn clever! It’s as if this entire time the author was telling her very own story. It made it feel real, creepy. I loved it. I loved how the last chapter is called chapter one. It’s so cool that you already know the ending to the story she’s about to write, and yet just realized how it all began.

I wanna know what other readers felt about this book, I couldn’t find a ton of reviews for it online. This is the only Fisher book I’ve read! Please recommend me others of hers if they are just as good.

Seriously, this guy is operating at a level so far beyond. All his Slough House books, the novellas, the stand alones (including Secret Hours, which I'm currently reading) are so so so good.

To me his work is the perfect example of genre meeting voice. Spy novels abound, all with the same tropes of shady characters, betrayal, obsession, etc etc. But no one can write the like Herron. How his sense of humour interacts with character and story is just astounding. When I read Slow Horses, I actually took a little bit of time to "get it", because I wasn't sure if it was a comedy or a drama. But then I realised it was something else: a Mick Herron novel.

Every time he appears to be capturing lightning in a bottle, but he keeps doing it, over and over.

This is kind of an incoherent ramble but I just remain astounded at what he can do.

I'm only about 75% of the way through the third book in the series, so please no major plot spoilers. Little stuff I'll definitely forget.

I feel like the worst thing about these books is the power scaling. There's basically the equivalent of fairy gods that Feyre is able to win battles against or outright kill. In the third book it says it's only been months since she was taken by Tamlin. And so if each leader of the different courts gave her only a single drop of their power, how is she strong after only months?

It just really bothers me lol

What is your favorite last line in a book? It would be fun to say only the line, and to let people guess the book title.

I just finished >!Broken Angels!<, the sequel to >!Altered Carbon!<, by >!Richard K Morgan!<.

The last line of the book is: >!“This afterlife shit is overrated.”!< In the context of what is going on in that world, it’s such a cool line and I was like, “This is the best one ever!!!”

Out of context, it’s just ok I think.

So hit me with your favorite last sentences in a book, whether it’s great in or out of context.

Maybe share what you like about the line, whether you liked the book. You don’t have to do the “guess the title” game if you don’t want to.

Maybe use spoiler tags for the line / book titles if it is an actual spoiler.

I’d rate the first book 5/5, it’s excellent and I love the author’s writing style. It’s straight up futuristic sci-fi, which I’m a fan of if the writing is good. I’d give a 4/5 to the second book (the one with the last line above).

I read Never Lie by Freida, and it’s genuinely on the higher end of my book ratings. I really like her writing style so I read The Teacher.

I’ll start off by saying no matter how it goes, the Teacher/Student trope is always uncomfortable to read. If that kinda thing is triggering to you maybe don’t read this haha.

I caught onto a few of the twists along the way, such as Mackenzie also being a victim of Nate (When she so obviously recognized the poem.), as well as the fact that Eve was the one tormenting Nate towards the end.

However, I did not catch onto the fact that Jay and Hudson were the same person!! When that reveal happened I had to go back and reread the previous encounters between Eve and Jay because I had sworn it said he had a wife and a baby. But it doesn’t, it could be interpreted as his baby brother and mom as well. Super clever! But not clever that Eve was also fucking a teenager….

I also didn’t see Eve also being one of Nate’s victims many years earlier. That was super saddening, and probably the reason she was just as crazy and manipulative as him. It was a nice full circle ending.

I wouldn’t say I liked it better than Never Lie, but I did enjoy it! Kept my attention the whole time. I’m reading The Housemaid by her next, I’m excited? What are your favorite McFadden books? And any recs?

I really enjoyed it. Books rarely frighten me but this one truly freaked me out. I was waking up in the night at small noises. And despite few of the characters being particularly likeable (apart from Betty and Caroline, who I have a soft spot for) all the characters are incredibly interesting. I loved the ending. My only critique would be that it's quite slow, but I suppose that adds to the suspense, and let's us explore the characters in a depth that a lot of horror books don't. What are other people's thoughts?

I've never really sat down to think about what my favorite book of all time is, but I think that (right after the Bible of course) Pride and Prejudice really takes the cake.

The way Jane Austen is able to protray such varied characters with their own goals and ambitions, all perfectly logical and consistent from their own point of view and thus not forcing any awkward plot lines is just spectacular. When Lydia runs off with Wickham, you really feel "that is just like something Lydia would do, silly child".

Her humor and wit is amazing and having spoken to friends about the book it seems that much of her sarcasm is lost on people.

The opening line, one of the best in literature; "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife", is clearly a jab at female expectations of men. Why on earth should Mrs. Bennet assume that Mr. Bingley automatically wanted a wife and didn't want the bachelor lifestyle? Because he was single and had money. Throughout the story, why was it that Jane never said: "Perhaps he doesn't want me because he wants to remain single?" Because he was single and had money. There was always someone else that he must have wanted instead, whether Ms. Georgiana or someone else, because: it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

I also think that Elizabeth is the most amazing character ever created. I think her growth throughout the book perfectly mirrors that of Darcy and how she evolves from this young and headstrong woman into a more mature and reasonable character, just like Darcy evolves from a young and headstrong man into a more mature and reasonable character, both in their own ways; he by being challenged by her, her by being aided by him. A match made in heaven.

I also think it shows its timelessness by evoking some of the same discussions we might have today. One of my favorite scenes from the book is rather early on, when Jane is sick and staying with Mr. Bingley. Elizabeth goes to visit them and ends up in a discussion with Mr. Darcy and Ms. Bingley about "an accomplished woman". Mr. Darcy and Ms. Bingley lists the requirements for an accomplished woman, including a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages. Furthermore a certain something in her air and manner of walking... (what a fantastic sentence. Austen's vocabulary is just... wow! I love her!).

Anyways, Elizabeth opposes this "accomplished woman" as pure fiction, impossible to find: "I never saw such a woman. I never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance, as you describe united." I actually remember hearing my mother say something like: "See! Men have too high expectations of women [yada yada yada]." In other words, Austen was speaking straight to my mothers heart.

Well, Ms. Bingley actually comments the following after Elizabeth leaves the room: "Elizabeth Bennet is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I dare say, it succeeds." Something you can definitely hear today as well!

This is the greatness of Jane Austen: she is able to have two character speak their minds with such ease and recognizability that it feels like you're in 2024.

I know it sounds like clickbait and made for debate (and in a sense it is). But a few days ago I finished the last volume of land of the lustrous and it us really really good. Quite possibly a masterpiece.

If you want try it out without synopsis spoilers it is free on kindle unlimited and the kmanga app but onto the synopsis

Land of the Lustrous is a story of Phos and their sisters 'The Lustrous' a species that live on a desolate earth that are made of crystals that are naturally occurring on earth. They are led by a Lustrous named 'Sensei' and are protecting themselves and earth from the alien race 'the lunarians' that want to steal the Lustrous and use them as weapons

Phos thought useless wants to find a job among the lustrous and is told to learn everything she can about earth.

This is where the story starts and where I have to stop talking about it but it deals with themes and ideas of the 'Ship of theseus', the pain of immortality, and a kind of asexual experience.

Please at least read the first volume or binge the entire 12 volume series (there is a volume 13 epilouge coming at somepoint) this is proof that there is a need of manga/comics/graphic novels. In the literary space.

Welcome readers,

April 14 was Black Day and, to celebrate, we're discussing our favorite books with "black" in the title!

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!

This is the kind of stellar book that makes your heart swell up with emotion, empathy, sadness, and love. My heart can't take it anymore it's so beautiful.

My God was this good. As a nonbinary person, reading about Claude's journey in becoming Poppy was overwhelmingly moving — a very bittersweet story — but at the end of the day, love wins.

The prose is also engaging, humorous and evocative. Laurie Frankel deserves all the awards.

I think everyone should read this book. It provides so many perspectives and promotes openmindedness.

ANYONE WHO HAS READ IT, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! WOULD LOVE TO TALK ABOUT IT WITH YOU.

"This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess." - Goodreads

I ordered this one on a whim or something like that. 12 sisters 4 dead, villagers say the family is cursed and I find it interesting and reviews were good as well so I did. I am not into fairy tale so much it's kinda boring and irritating to me everything so beautiful and glittering and all and this book was something like this to me it bored me in between the chapters but the author kept the thriller mystery story telling in the mind and after few boring pages for people like me who doesn't like fairy tales she threw something interesting to keep us on the edge something like murder, disappearance,visions, and it was because of this I finished this book in two days. I liked the plot very much and the introduction of god's and demons but hate the fact she didn't do much more with them they were just introduced and that's it but I still like the read very much. I will give this a 8/10 and for fairy tale readers it's 10/10

Good afternoon, everyone. I have just finished East of Eden and I somewhat struggle with words. It has been intense, delicate and violent. Which is something really rare to find. But that is not what I'd like to write few lines about here. I was just reflecting on how East of Eden and American Pastoral are two very distant and simultaneuosly incredibly close books.
I find the comparison between the two of them very interesting. I would disagree that American Pastoral is the other great american novel after East of Eden, somewhat implying the narrative is centred on the same ideas and characters: a self-made protagonist, a not-so-caring (let's go with this euphemism) beautiful wife, and devastated children. Whilst I can see why this a strong line of argument, I however focus more on what the books are about. And here I find fascinating to the utmost extent the fact that they hinge on two incredibly distant, yet close subjects: guilt and determinism v fallibility and inevitability of life. I do think there is a hidden (almost sacral) beauty in the approach to the books: if they are, indeed, two perfect books in and by themselves individually considered, they however actually eat into each other missing points, somewhat elevating East of Eden and American Pastoral even higher, considered together. Isn't this wonderful?
Eventually I just can't feel nothing but the solitude and intimate pain of the 'Swede' in each of the nights Cal wanders around the streets of the Valley, finding comfort in the brutal and carnal situations of everyman's life. Or Merry's desires and urgencies as a human being in Aron's warm and soft presence in the world. With the war(s) hovering in the background as the ultimate story of life and death.
It's just... that powerful: isn't it?

The question about a book you wish you could read again for the first time gets posted here once a week or so, but I've never seen anyone ask about a book you genuinely liked but don't wish to read it again for the first time.

For example, I maintain that The Magicians by Lev Grossman is one of the best books I've ever read, probably my favorite fantasy book of all time. A lot of that is based off of concrete things like the prose or the themes, but mostly it comes down to how I connect to the book. I read the Magicians years ago when I was 16, and the candid way it treats with depression and themes related to it opened my eyes in a lot of ways and challenged me in ways that helped me mature. If I were to erase those memories and read the book for the first time, either it wouldn't have the same impact on me because I've already done the hard, grueling, personal work to come to terms with my illness and my life, or I'd revert back to the person I was before. Like Quentin at the beginning of The Magicians, I would once again be "in very real danger of learning to seriously dislike myself."

What about you? Any books that come to mind?

Yes, today I've read and completed another Shirley Jackson, of which I haven't read in a long while. And this recent book is her 1954 novel "The Bird's Nest".

In this one we are introduced to 23 year old Elizabeth Richmond, an ordinary and demure woman who works at a dull job in a museum, and lives with her neurotic aunt and also living off the inheritance left by her dead mother.

However when she begins to suffer migraines and backaches her aunt decides to take her to a psychologist with unorthodox techniques named Victor Wright. And this is where we slowly begin to see that Elizabeth is just one person, but four separate personalities who are competing for control in a self destructive way.

Yeah, as I've said, it's been a long while since I've read anything by Jackson, but the wait is worth it. "The Bird's Nest" is a really interesting slice of psychological horror with a little gothic twist that Jackson always adds. Here I'm given a dark and disturbing view of the human mind, and what can often times go wrong with it.

Using the concept of the split personality is obviously nothing new for fans of horror, though it depends on well the author utilizes it. And Jackson really does it well here. We also get a mystery here too that, once revealed, is quit disturbing. Plus as a bonus it is also funny too along with being tense and frightening as well. It's great to read Jackson again and enjoy her brand of horror!

I have not seen the show and will be avoiding it until I have finished the book.

I am listening to the Ralph Lister narration, which was recently made available in two parts on Spotify, and for free to Spotify Premium listeners.

Tag your spoilers, please!

I am about 5 hours in on the audiobook, so roughly 20% of the way through Part One.

Just a few thoughts/first impressions.

1. Clavell is a master of the third-person-omniscient narrative. The switches between each character’s voice and point of view are seamless.

2. Lister’s narration is the perfect pace and his character voices are so immersive to an already utterly immersive text. I started listening whilst doing some mindless hand-intensive crafting and I could immediately see the story play out in my mind. Clavell’s descriptors are fucking succulent.

3. I have heard, for only being about 10% through the entire tale, a delightful amount of narrative concerning penises, feces and urine. I say that jokingly, but it really does paint a raw, gritty and matter-of-fact picture about the in-world conditions and clashing cultures.

4. The way Clavell writes women is refreshingly simple, respectful and to-the-point. I myself am female, and even when sexual themes do arise it does not seem like the women are objectified much, if at all, from the narrator’s point of view. The events simply occur, and that’s how I wish all men wrote sexual material, especially involving women.

5. I am somewhat familiar, though not a scholar of Japanese history or culture, but it seems that Clavell did a lot of research. The way he explains certain customs, objects or important events in the Japanese canon is really succinct and he does a perfect job integrating the information into the story flow.

That’s basically it for now. I’m listening to it every chance I get and I cannot get enough.

I just wanted to throw some appreciation up for this book.

A couple months ago a friend of mine gave me a full box of second hand books from authors I’d requested. Inside that box was A Certain Justice by John Lescroart- I’m assuming it was included as a mistaken John Le Carré book because I’d never heard of this author before.

I checked out some reviews online and although most of them were quite positive, there were others that claimed it to be boring, slow, too complicated, etc. I always read the positive and negative reviews before reading an unknown and I wasn’t quite sure where I’d stand with this one.

I am very glad I gave it a chance! I’m still only about half way through, but I have loved every minute of it! Sometimes shorter chapters make the book feel too broken up or that it takes too long to get through (in my opinion) but Lescroart seems to have struck that balance perfectly. Yes, there are a lot of names to keep track of in the beginning, but I caught on quite quickly. I think the writing is expertly crafted, so much information given and yet there is much more between the lines. It sounds cliche perhaps but I really feel like I am getting to know these people - from what they say / do and from what they don’t.

I’m surprised to never have heard of John Lescroart up until now. I’ll definitely be looking into more of his work!

Hello all!! Currently thinking about books I've read and loved. What books were so amazing you wish you could read them again for the first time? What do you love about this book? Does it remind you or a certain time in your life? (For example, Twilight reminds me of a carefree summer when I was 12. Oh to experience this again! I just flew through The Cruel Prince books and they were so good I wish I could read them again.

Mauya readers,

This is our weekly discussion of the literature of the world! Every Wednesday, we'll post a new country or culture for you to recommend literature from, with the caveat that it must have been written by someone from that country (i.e. Shogun by James Clavell is a great book but wouldn't be included in Japanese literature).

April 18 is Independence Day in Zimbabwe and, to celebrate, we're discussing Zimbabwean literature! Please use this thread to discuss your favorite Zimbabwean books and authors.

If you'd like to read our previous discussions of the literature of the world please visit the literature of the world section of our wiki.

Ndatenda and enjoy!

Does your company make a product which makes a profit? Or does your company make a profit full stop. Are you about extracting gains from stakeholders or working together to make a product?

The story of the Boieng MAX is known. Boeing needed to make profit targets and anything else was secondary. Well written and a good cautionary tale for anyone how cultural drivers effect everything.

In detail the author shows the march towards tragedy. Especially jarring was the ease in which safety went out the window for profits. Incremental, step by step and it ends with dead people.

So I picked up a signed copy of this book from a bookshop in my home town. They did some publicity for it and it caught my attention. I didn't know anything about the author and only had a brief description of the story, but I took the dive and purchased it.

I started it Sunday evening and I'd finished by yesterday evening. It's about 400 pages, shortish chapters and the mystery kept me intrigued. The story isn't water tight but it's the plot that struck me and I was determined to see where it went.

Essentially the premise is that to combat a stalker, sometimes you need to become a stalker. The story follows a group of 5 victims of stalking. When one is murdered and a threat that another of them will die in 10 days time, the victims decide to take matters into their own hands. And so follows their story of looking out for one another and trying to save their lives.

I've been doing a ton of reading lately and within the first few chapters, I'd sussed out what I thought might end up happening. It actually ended up going in a direction that I didn't fully expect and it was pretty dark towards the end. Overall, if you're looking for a quick read that keeps you hooked then I'd recommend this book. The author has written quite a few books in the last decade, so at some point I plan to go back and pick up another of her books. See if it keeps me as hooked.

The book is very attmospheric. Don't know why but it reminded me of all the post-apocalyptic and dystopian stuff I've been reading where populations have been decimated and there are like 12 people left and whatnot.
The characters seemed so isolated from the rest of the world. They died so inexplicably.
Maybe it's just me.

I've recently finished reading Great Expectations by Dickens with a friend and, as usual, we disagree about almost everything in the book. If you've read it, which character did you think made the best of life? I say that Wemmick and Jaggers are the winners since they adapt to the new way the world works the best. My friend says it's characters like Biddy and Joe because they find happiness in their private life.