another day, another “what’s the worst book…” /r/books thread

This thread is pretty depressing. I read a couple a month, so I guess like 20-30 a year

My routine was a little different in the details, but yeah that tracks

I actually recently got that game and I haven’t played very far but yeah, I’d agree with that

Rather than ramble about my own pet peeves, I’ll comment on yours because it gets me too.

If anyone else here has struggled with alcoholism, you know it’s not just "i woke up after downing an entire bottle of whiskey but was able to shower, down a cup of coffee, and solve a murder. "

I quit drinking a little more than 2 years ago but yeah. For a solid decade I was totally useless to everyone, for anything.

Not even talking about my bizarre, extreme mood swings. I mean, between binges I was too fucking nauseated and weak to do anything but hang on by my fingernails until my next drink. I routinely felt so extremely sick in the morning- until the early evening, really, and sometimes for days if I couldn’t get any booze- that just getting out of bed to gulp water out of the bathroom faucet was a serious challenge. I would have to psych myself up for it and then recover from it, gasping on my back in bed, heart pounding… at my worst I weighed about 105 lbs (skeletal, for my height) and most of my hair had fallen out (it has since grown back, with minoxidil)… And all that’s without going into how I completely lost my mind.

So yes. I also have difficulty suspending my disbelief for the cool, grizzled alcoholic characters who drink like I did but the worst effect they feel is being misunderstood.

The prevailing opinion is that all books are equally valid and the only thing that matters is that you enjoy yourself, and of course it’s the internet so people are always ready to fly into a psychotic defense of whatever children’s media franchise they’ve been fixated on for 20 years. That’s the answer you will see over and over and over and over again on reddit: Harry Potter is just as good as Moby Dick!

I get it- who cares what other people think? Read what you want.

BUT, that said, there are more reasons to read than just shallow entertainment, and I think people do themselves a grave disservice going their whole lives avoiding Serious Books.

I grew up devouring genre fiction but at some point I forced myself to start reading “real” books and my only regret is not starting sooner. Of course, I still read low brow stuff too- currently, the Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps is my bedside book- but diving into challenging literature, taking it seriously, and really making an effort to grok it can be one of the most rewarding things a human being can do in our short lives.