JK Rowling used it correctly in one of the HP books. Ron does it, in fact. She knew full well to use it with a boy, though, she knew what she was doing.

Maybe try reading some classics. I re-read The Three Musketeers recently and (unabridged, trans. by William Robson) and it was such a ding-dang blast. Every chapter is just easy to let the imagery roll through your mind: bucolic countrysides, brilliant sunshine or black as coal thunderstorms, medieval villages, castles, ornate palaces, silvery blades, beautiful women, mysterious night-time candle-lit scenes, the sound of footsteps on wood floors, the smell of wine and cheese, and the wittiest dialogues.

It reminded me what books could be when done well.

I’m pretty much like the OP, I don’t care for King. But after seeing Part 1 of the IT movies (and part 2 hadn’t been released yet), I couldn’t just not know the ending.

So, it took a while, but I patiently made my way through the book. It was awesome.

It led me to re-read Pet Sematary, which was nice and atmospheric but otherwise King constantly ruined the mood with his ridiculous interruptions—he is the only author I know that interrupts himself and takes you right out of every scary scene.

So I was done with him again lol. (Though I did read The Institute … just in case I preferred his newer stuff, and it was tedious.)

Can I say the Harry Potter books? I mean, I don’t know how she did it, but the translation from the books to the screen kind of proves how absolutely spot on all of us were picturing that world. Arguably the school might be larger or darker or more mysterious in the movies, and in subsequent reads, I tried picturing the school as far more massive with more halls and windows and more of a cathedral appearance, and it made a lot of scenes a lot of fun to re-read — there’s also a few weird things were you’re like, “wait, how did the lake connect to the school again?”

but aside from a few silly things that make no sense (a brick wall separating the back of a magic inn to the whole magic world??? that serves no purpose other than a “reveal”), I feel like those books are 100% beamed right into my head.

Don’t even know what DNF means

The TV series is debatably good or bad, depending on the person, but the last episode, “The End,” apparently Lemony (forgot his real name) was happy to have a chance to fix the ending of the series. and it blew me away. While I have no plans on re-reading the books, if I did, I would take the ending of the tv show over the book.

Isn’t 0 stars the equivalent of just not writing a review? Back when I would write reviews, there’s some stuff I just wouldn’t even bother. I’d rather not have the title in my history of any kind. Kind of like downvoting on Reddit. Once I realized that was actually a way of being recorded (which makes sense), I stopped. No one needs to know what I hate, much less me stumbling across the ol’ downvote arrow, reminding me that whatever I hated exists.

I’d rather just not remember.

That’s my 0 star 😂

Isn’t 0 stars the equivalent of just not writing a review? Back when I would write reviews, there’s some stuff I just wouldn’t even bother. I’d rather not have the title in my history of any kind. Kind of like downvoting on Reddit. Once I realized that was actually a way of being recorded (which makes sense), I stopped. No one needs to know what I hate, much less me stumbling across the ol’ downvote arrow, reminding me that whatever I hated exists.

I’d rather just not remember.

That’s my 0 star 😂

I found out in college that some professors love allegory, symbolism, conceptualism, figurative correlations, and when I started incorporating it into papers, I started getting the As I’d never gotten before. It blew my mind. The second magic elixir was “sources” and throwing in quotes (albeit very good ones).

It changed my game completely. But it also taught me how to write. To this day, I sometimes take night classes or something to keep improving myself and I end up writing a paper that I"m actually proud of, all because I thought I had figured out how to play the game, when in reality, maybe critical thinking actually clicked haha

I understand the sentiment that teachers need to be paid more, but so many teachers are not really teachers, they’re just people with a job, like the one you had, who are actually dangerous to the health and wellbeing of the students. I despise that kind of teaching. It’s the kind of teaching that turns you off of education. Some people are just toxic.

I don’t remember that book at all, but I do remember reading the last page, closing the book, and being like “wow… I want to reread this when i’m older.”

I don’t know what made me think that. I think watching Dead Poets’ Society a billion times filled those shoes and I have no desire to read the book again lol (even though the movie and the book have nothing in common except boys’ school)

I grew up on the cute little movie (Gene Wilder plays the Fox!) and it’s harmless enough. The book is a bit weird, and honestly, there’s too much else to read that I would say you’re not missing anything by not reading it haha

Can I point out the sexism in my 6th grade English (I think) class? The entire class was offered two books to choose from to read: Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, and Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt.

The latter was 312 pages with small print, a thick book by 6th grade standards, and kind of depressing. Hatchet was 180 some pages, large print, easy chapters.

All boys chose one, all girls chose the other. I was the only boy to choose Homecoming because I wanted to feel like an adult reading such a book. (Big mistake. I was bored after the first chapter and was miserable.)

School consistently made me feel like I had to pick the harder path—that’s on me, I’m sure. But this example carried through other choices in my schooling.

Later, as an adult and free from social anxieties 😂 I decided to read Hatchet because these two books were so ingrained in my memory. The book was a breeze to read, I instantly had regrets, no wonder every boy got away with an easy A.