I suspect most of the people who claim they had reading ruined for them by school did not enjoy reading in the first place.

Depends how you look at it. Some think it’s satire, and I tend to lean that way as well given that in his Discourses on Livy, he presents much stronger and more thought-out arguments as to why a republican form of government is best for the state and keeps the country more stable than being guided by the whims of a monarch. Even in the Discourses he has a very Realpolitik way of thinking, but imo it reveals his true opinions much better than The Prince does.

I read Chernow’s Hamilton in three days. Was a bit of a drag

Using characters to push a point doesn’t make a book bad, it just means that the primary purpose of the book is to show an argument through analogy and story rather than to develop unique characters.

Because the people saying that are people who think that showing/talking about immorality = encouraging immorality

Les Misérables. I read it in 7th grade and I picked it because I read the back and thought Jean Valjean was a really funny name.

For audiobooks, what speed do you listen to them on? I’m neurodivergent too and my mind wanders if they’re on normal speed, but if I speed it up to 2x or more then it forces me to keep paying attention to understand what they’re saying.

It absolutely helps with comprehension, at least for me. Plenty of books I can read without out, but I need to subvocalize for more ‘difficult’ books or I’ll come to the end of a page and realise I haven’t understood much.