Literary Classics & Library

I read The Rebel and the Final Blood War by K.A. Linde and I just hated everything about it! I don't know if the other two books in the series were this atrociously written and I somehow overlooked it, or if this was ghostwritten by a middle schooler. The author has no concept of sentence structure, and every other sentence is a partial/incomplete thing like "A woman who had delivered a death sentence with a candy bar."

This is an actual paragraph in the book:

"Reyna's eyes darted to her friends. Meghan and Jodie gave her an encouraging nod. Gabe winked. Tye smiled. They were all counting on her."

The ending was rushed and unsatisfying too. Spoiler: >!the villain of this whole trilogy gets de-vamped (turned back into a human) and just decides to stab himself to death immediately.!< This deus ex machina occurs on page 307 of the 320-page book.

What have you read recently that made you genuinely angry like this?

My recent favorite genre is “unhinged women who may or may not realize they are unhinged”. I’ve really enjoyed “Best Offer Wins” (Marisa Kashino), “Boring Asian Female” (Canwen Xu), “A Good Person” (Kirsten King), and “Make Me Famous” (Maud Ventura). What should be my next delightfully disturbing read?

We're doing a big international trip with our two small kids, and we're going to TRY to set an example for our kids by not just being glued to our phones for hours at a time while we're on planes and trains.

He loved the TV series Station Eleven, Silo, and The Expanse. I've thought about just choosing the book of one of these.

As an edgy teen boy, he read a lot of Kurt Vonnegut.

He read Piranesi on a plane a few years ago and liked it.

He's snobby and hard to impress, but I need something very easy to read, as it will be hard to focus under the circumstances.

I am looking for near-future political or institutional fiction that feels too close instead of too big.

Not laser-gun dystopia. More like bureaucracy, money, media, universities, agencies, committees, and polite public language covering up ugly incentives.

Satire is welcome if it still has real narrative stakes. Thriller pace is a plus.

What books fit that lane?

Looking for non fiction that reads like a mystery or other deep dives into lesser known history. Really loved how killers of the flower moon reads and I plan on checking out the rest of David Grann’s work.

Edit:

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I'll be adding the ones you suggested as I'd like her to have a massive library. I also will be adding libby and maybe kindle unlimited so I can remotely add more books for her!!!

Hi everyone!

I recently bought my 79yo grandmother a kindle and I'm looking for books to add to it. She likes mysteries and thrillers. However, she doesn't mind any other genres either. I've added a few to her kindle such as:

• Verity
• The Housemaid
• Where the Crawdads Sing
• Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Thank you so much in advance.

I stayed up until after five in the morning here in Taipei to watch the announcement of the prize and could not be happier for 双子 and Lin. This is so huge for Taiwanese literature and for Taiwan as a whole.

[Just a quick disclaimer because I know Reddit can be a very sensitive. This is obviously going to be a controversial, difficult topic; so please keep it relatively light in the comments because I am genuinely interested and would prefer that the post not be taken down by moderators]

What do you think of blackface in productions?

Not out of mockery like minstrel shows, but moreso for accuracy of the character like in Sir Laurence Olivier's Othello.

Just trying to gauge what people think, so I appreciate any knowledge/opinions whatsoever.

I've been on a biography kick this year and this one is worth mentioning. It's interesting for a number of reasons, the first being that that it was written at three distinct points in his life and really has three distinct voices and narrative styles.

The first part, written in 1771 explicitly for his son to read is absolutely the most interesting and compelling. It covers his misadventures as a young adult and his struggles with his family who he seemed to think underestimated him at every turn. It's pretty interesting as it details the evolution of the printing and newspaper industry in the 18th century. It also gets into his love life which is pretty interesting too. He developes his own moral philosophy and gets involved with another printer who tries starting his own Christian sect, honestly fascinating.

The next voice, being written in 1780-81, seems quite a bit more circumspect and self assured. He talks about advertising contracts for the English army, financial concerns and a bit (really not enough) about the American revolution. At this point his voice seems thoroughly self aware, he is no longer willing to admit any mistakes or defects or character. He developes a system for perfecting his morality, and his only flaw is that he is disorganized. Certainly starts to seem like an unreliable narrator in my opinion. This is the point in his life that others claim to be characterized by his whore mongering and general unseriousness. He doesn't hint at it at all.

The last voice, parts 3 and 4 in the book were written in 1788-89. He basically ceased being a character altogether in my opinion, this section attempts to use his lifetime as a textbook in civics and public administration. The narrative is completely absent. Others claim he's infected with syphilis at this point in his life. He never admits a single sexual act in the entire book, let alone with a prostitute, but the cognitive decline is evident.

He dies in 1790, book is published in 1793. Pretty interesting book in my opinion. Anyone else read this? Any other autobiographies has similar discrepancies in voice?

My dad passed away a week ago unexpectedly and I’m feeling pretty flat. On the go at the moment are Things In Nature Merely Grow, One Of Us: The story of Anders Breivik, and The Hundred Years’ War On Palestine - so as you can see I could use some balancing humour…

I don’t mind fiction or non fiction.

Ones that have made me laugh before:
- A Walk In The Woods
- Sorrow And Bliss (also made me cry)
- Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things
- Anne Of Green Gables
- All Creatures Great And Small

… apparently not many. Send me your funniest! 🙏🏻

Alright people, prepare for a rant.

I am quite a fan of the modern American playwrights. I have read multiple Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Eugene O‘Neill plays.

Nothing could have prepared me for this.

Jocasta complex, incest, non-consensual solicitation, passing mention of pedophilia, colonial segregation, cannibalism, and forced lobotomies - all packaged within 50 pages.

I could not have predicted 24h prior that I would be saying that „cannibalism was the least fucked up theme in there“.

Excuse me, while I spend the rest of my evening browsing r/cats to cleanse myself.

I’m about to work a 12 and a half hour shift and I need something to listen to. All genres welcome! I like a little bit of everything. Scary, mystery, thriller, romance, fantasy etc. it helps me stay awake for a long shift. My only preference is that it’s fiction. Please and thank you!

Jack Kerouac - On The Road
Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club

anyone who’s familiar with all 3 might suspect a running theme

thank you !

I am taking a trip to the Cape soon, and I would love to have some reading material that fits the scenery (think coastal, lighthouses, beaches, or sea voyages located around the northeast or even Europe). Any genre is welcome but I prefer fiction, contemporary or classic, romance, thriller, maybe horror. Definitely like a moody story focused on the complexities of the human condition.

For reference, authors I like:
Sally Rooney
Margaret Atwood
Albert Camus
Stephen King
Barbara Kingsolver

Books I like:
Intermezzo
Normal People
The Edible Woman
Pride and Prejudice
MadAddam Series
Alas, Babylon
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Silo Series
The Plague
Dandelion Wine
Library at Mount Char
Lost in the Garden
Frankenstein
House of Leaves

Hi I am tryna find some good YA book recs. The genre does not matter to me i read everything from Deep Psychological thrillers to romance my only request is no spice, little to no innuendos, no strong language (no F word used more than once or B word) I have already read/own all of the hunger games, maze runner, just friends, the giver, my favorite color is your something blue, the count of monte cristo, hatchet, out of my mind, and then there were none, murder on the orient express, the death and life of superman. (sorry for the typos thanks for the help!)

Howdy gang, my wife got me a kindle for my birthday and I've been getting back into reading.

I'm a fan of like divergent, hunger games, the uglies Scott Westerfield, the selection Kiera Cass. Recently, the forgotten return CC Dietrich and delirium Lauren Oliver.

If anyone has any other suggestions I appreciate it

so i’m not that big of a reader at all, but i’m extremely interested in philosophy and i would like to deepen my knowledge in it through books. i just bought thus spoke zarathustra by Nietzsche and im only three pages in and its very confusing — but very interesting. i think i went to ahead into the more complex books and i would like to keep reading this one but i feel like i should get my basics down before diving into ones like these. do you guys have any recommendations?