It’s built upon, not something that happens all at once and, you are trekking out solo! A great way to expand (that I have personally found) is reading the subject matter that is lifted from the text as well. I have been reading a lot of philosophy, I also took a Rhetorical Analysis class once upon a time, audited a free class on works of fiction, and watch free stuff online all the time (there is a surprising amount that is accessible and freeeee!) and the more I learn the more I see. Sometimes, I know something is there, but I am just not seeing it. I go to sparknotes, or lurk on what people are discussing. I haunt Goodreads a LOT. I am new here, but am finding places here to share too which has been so fun ^_^ keep at it!

“When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.”
― Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

Okay maybe not a “0” rating because they are classics for a reason and different people get different things out of them, BUT I detested:

- Of Mice and Men (soft glove hand, >!killing puppies!<)

- Catcher in the Rye (pimples, >!“alienation is just a phase”!<)

- Lord of the Flies (just … >!conch wielding little assholes!<)

I barely got through them and only did because I had to for school. I know the parallels they draw (we discussed them at length). I would prefer to draw these meanings from a different mediums of literature. I know what the artist was trying to say, so to speak, I just don’t like the artwork lol

No one can blame you for that one. I think I made it to book three and had to take a break …. 7 years ago lol. LOVE the books but it takes some mental fortitude to stay in that world.

Welp, he’s not going anywhere. I agree I am not a fan of his and I have read up to 7. I gave up on the series altogether when I realized my happy Scotland tour and historical fun was shot in the face by American civil war drama and lengthy descriptions puss etc. not a huge romance reader anyway so we parted ways lol. DNF if it bothers you that badly life is too short and those books are very long.

I just finished “What Moves the Dead” and am currently reading “Dune”, chewing my way steadily through “The Brothers Karamasov” and have my sights set on “Mexican Gothic”. I like fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, the occasional autobiography, horror, and the classics.

“Fear,” the doctor said, “is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield to it or fight it, but we cannot meet it halfway.”

Read it last year! Loved the beginning, got a little impatient halfway, then was thoroughly creeped out by the banging and giggling. Great read!

I read Annihilation last year. It was unlike anything I had previously read. It had a few problems but I really liked it! It stuck with me. Authority was harder to get through but continued the story decently. I did not have the capacity for Acceptance at the time. I want to give it another go in future and read all three. I did read “Borne” by Vandermeer this year and again it was a new experience lol. Stepping into his worlds takes some fortitude and a suspension of disbelief! You will absolutely have to “just go with it” lmao and trust you will get to the end with no idea how. 😆

Not at all. In fact I am extremely irritated when I go to see a synopsis and all I see is:

“A roller-coaster of a fantasy ride!” - Well known author

“Witty and unexpected.” - Niche author that kinda writes the same stuff

“Powerful and astonishing.” - Huge author not even in the genre

“Brilliant! It checked all the boxes.” - Someone I suspect might be them under a different pen name.

“A rare find. Up all night just to get to the next book!” - Random magazine person

Me: “… this does nothing for me. What is the book about please? o,__o, A premise, a main character trope? Anything? Give me something? Please?”

I was broken in at an early age. Books were where I went not to feel lonely. School was very tough for me, and books saw me through it. I was always reading at lunch and in class. Mostly, people saw I was reading and ignored me, which I appreciated lol (and still do).

Now, don’t come for me I don’t have no problems with people reading what ever makes them happy . . .

but I have spent far more time listening to people tell me about books (usually the same ones) they have read and loved, even when they aren’t really readers anymore. I have read hundreds and hundreds of books and I have hundreds more on my TBR list, and I still have people telling me to read Harry Potter or Twilight because they loved it in school. (I am well aware there is no age limit — that is not my point.) Or they are huge romance novel readers, which I am not. Or they love crime and ‘who dun it’ books, which I do not. Or they adore YA, which I also do not.

I am never asked for book recommendations. People find out I am a reader and happily say something along the lines of “That’s nice, not my thing!” or “I wish I read more, boo!” which is 90% of the time. Totally fine! Not everyone can stare at dead trees and hallucinate lmao.

Then … that last 8%-ish I get “OMG I loved -insert popular novel I have no interest in reading here-” (Friends do this too, and I end up reading books don’t want to and -shockingly- don’t enjoy lol) So even in the reader world there is a very small margin of other readers that read what I read, or love what I love. 2%-ish I meet that have similar tastes are peeps online, almost always.

I’m cool with that. That anyone reads at all is amazing! I am not a book snob, you don’t “have to have read” anything for it “to count”. They can read what they want and I read what I want. But my point is, I have found when it comes to book and movie recommendations, people usually suggest it because they love it not because I will. So yeah, I’m good!

I read multiple books at a time, usually. If one gets stale or I get frustrated with it, I have another to go to. They are usually different genres so there is no confusing them and I get a bit of a refresher for pacing and narrative. For instance, I was reading Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf), Borne (also by Vandermeer), and I am picking away at Brother’s Karamazov (Dostoevsky). There is no mixing those up and they are vastly different lol. Then, I randomly decided I HAD to read What Moves the Dead (Kingfisher) and finished that in a day! If the second was out, I would have immediately read it as well. It really depends. Are we talking the Wheel of Time? Because I had to tap out at book three or something and give myself a break! Then again, I devoured The Winternight Trilogy (Arden) in one go.