You guys read the same book this year 
You think you’ll continue the series?
I’ve been seeing bad reviews of this book. Have you seen the movie?
On my TBR now 
1 Like
I have this in my TBR. What did you think about it?
1 Like
I actually really lilke it so far! It’s definitely not the same as the original Hunger Games trilogy, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless 
1 Like
MASTERPIECE. It’s not often that I read a book and continuously think “this is a work of genius,” and reading The Book Thief made me think just that 
1 Like
That was my reaction to A Thousand Splendid Suns 
Must be awesome then.
1 Like
Lmao absolutely f&!king not. It’s the worst book I’ve ever laid my eyes upon.
I overheard a bookseller at Waterstones recommend it to some poor teenager who wanted ‘something emotional’. I got curious, and I’d seen it make the rounds of TikTok and it was free on Apple Books. So I picked it up. I knew it was going to be bad, I just didn’t know to what extent.
Here are just a few lines I highlighted:
His eyes are 2 buckets of rainwater: crisp, fresh, clear
I’m in the air. I’m a bag of feathers in his arms…
My throat is a reptile, covered in scales
[insert the infamous raindrop passage]
“They going to destroy the English language,” he says, his voice careful, quiet.
To this last line I noted: No girl, you are.
I can’t express the disdain I have for this book. It makes Sarah J Maas (my previous worst book laureate) look like a writing genius.
My sister and I have bargain to read at least one book a year by the worst book laureate. It’s been SJM so far. SJM is our queen now, we love her. Let the kids read the faerie porn, I say! I really don’t wanna read Tahereh Mafi 
Not yet. I think Khaled Hosseini is an interesting writer with a lot of important stuff to say. But I thought Kite Runner read very much like a debut novel. It was just okay, in my opinion.
I would read A Thousand Splendid to see how he’s improved, and of course his Afghanistan.
1 Like
Books on writing fiction (I recommend all of these!)
Sin and Syntax by Constance Hale
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland
Hooked by Les Edgerton
Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
The Heart of a Writer by Joyce Carol Oates
On Writing and World Building Volumes I and II by Timothy Hickson
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
Revision and Editing for Publication by James Scott Bell
The East of Eden Letters by John Steinbeck
Nonfiction
A Moveable Feast by Hemingway (5/5)
The Stonewall Reader (5/5) If you are in the LBGTQ community or have experienced any persecution for being in the LGBTQ community, I would really recommend this book
Fiction
The Girl with All the Gifts by Mike Carey 3/5
Fire and Blood by GRRM 3/5 It’s good but the history book writing is difficult to connect with
The Stand by Stephen King 3/5 there’s like 400 pages of this that could’ve been cut out
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub 4/5 great Stephen King novel if you are getting into his work for the first time.
The Gunslinger by Stephen King 1/5 this book is extremely boring, nothing happens, and I didn’t care about the story or the characters enough to give the rest of the series a chance
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 5/5
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler 5/5 fantastic story, but definitely a downer, most of the events are very sad
The Sandman Volumes I and II by Neil Gaiman 1.000.000/5 I cannot recommend these comics (or the Netflix series) enough. The story telling is next level and oh my god the artwork is so, so good
Nyxia by Scott Reintgen 5/5 great YA sci-fi book if you like that sort of thing, also I had the pleasure of meeting the author in real life and he’s just an incredible person and he is so kind.
Grendel by John Gardner 5/5 this book is perfect and it will stay with you forever. Perhaps has the most resonant endings I’ve ever read in a work of fiction.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 1/5 it’s a fine book I just really didn’t like it the jokes got on my nerves as well as the unfocused plot
Serpent Game by S.M. Burgess 5/5 Check out this Wattpad author when you get a chance
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer 1/5 I hated this book. It gives you blue balls. It’s so obviously written just to impress critics that it’s genuinely difficult to read. SPOILER: if you’ve seen the movie then you know the main character dies and in the book, I couldn’t wait for her to eat it she was absolutely insufferable watch the movie instead
The Martian by Andy Weir 5/5 this was a fantastic book! I love Andy Weir! I’d recommend Project Hail Mary as well if you love true science science fiction
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke 5/5 the ending will absolutely blow your mind and make you develop a genuine fear of outer space
3 Likes
Just to let you know, it deals with DV towards women. But it was a flawless book in my opinion.
1 Like
Sounds like she tried too hard to be creative Why’s it have to be 2 buckets? Why so much moisture? XD
1 Like
Listened to the audiobook. It was fantastic!
YES. I think that’s a huge problem with some of the writers out there who write like a single book (or two), get published, get big, and don’t actually try to improve their writing because they might think they’re good enough. Like… whyyy? I’d love to read the Cellar but this is the reason why I’ve been super hesitant. Same with a few other authors like John Green… The first book I read from him was so crappy (even though I love the movie—the Fault in Our Stars) to a point where even though I want to read his other books, I’m afraid to. xD
I have. 
I grew up watching the movie and it was like one of my guilty-pleasure ones where whenever it came on, I was like, “Oooh! I’ll watch it!” But I found the book at a library book sale, bought it, and decided to read it because of how much I liked the movie. The book was even more problematic than the movie, though. 
Ah. Well that’s good, though!
I wasn’t a big fan, to be honest. Kind of disappointing, but I can’t wait for the movie. xD
2 Likes
lol i’m a completionist so yes, i finished re-reading the sequel this morning. but not the novellas. as a rule, i don’t include the novellas of any series in my completionism. it keeps my head from imploding.
booo, i love Jeff VanderMeer he writes like an acid trip 
although i haven’t read this particular book of his, so, i can’t actually judge ur opinion of it. It’s super hard to find as an individual book around here, it’s always included as a bundle with the other 2 books in the trilogy. which is maybe why you got the blue balls vibe? because there are two other books after Annihilation?
r.i.p. in peace to all the authors out there who’s Potential simultaneously vaulted them into a writing career and killed their skill.
read it for the meme i had a lot of fun annotating the stupid parts and imagining rant reviews of the book. Of course this fun was interspersed with pauses to thousand-yard stare not joking i did that, unironically, several times so read at your own risk
i’ve read all his fiction books and imo TFIOS and Turtles All The Way Down are the best ones. I think people take John Green a little too seriously and it ruins the reading experience a bit. 90% of the time you’re reading fluffy/quirky contemporary YA. It’s dumb teenagers doing dumb teenager stuff and handling difficult situations in dumb teenager ways 
i liked it when i was a dumb teenager and i’m sure i wouldn’t like it as much now but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.
Turtles All The Way Down was decent though, as far as the portrayal of ocd went. a lot of the plot was dumb teenager stuff, again, because it’s contemporary ya and that’s what a lot of contemporary ya is.
2 Likes
I just might. xD I’ve also wanted to read crappy books (like really overrated ones that get lots of love but I know would suck) just to make fun of it. Haha
I read TFIOS a few years after I saw the movie. I loved the movie and, just like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I found the book at a thrift sale (I got it for like 25 cents—cheapest book I’ve ever bought lol) and eventually read it a few years back. Now, I’m both a YA reader and writer, even within the contemporary genres, so I know a lot of YA has teens doing dumb stuff or whatnot, but I mostly just hated TFIOS just because Hazel sounded like she was a depressed middle-aged philosopher. The movie didn’t portray her like so (at least, not as bad—there were moments). But I mean, I’ve read quite a bit of YA that doesn’t seem like dumb teenager stuff and even if they sound mature for their age, they still feel like teens in a way.
Ah. Yeah, I haven’t picked up the book (despite its raving reviews) not only because I’m afraid to see what’s next but also… I hate the title. xD
1 Like
eheheheh an excellent passtime.
that’s fair. i didn’t mind that too much, i think it fit her character.
I think it’s cute! but i just like the word turtle. The title is a reference to folklore about the Earth (or the universe?) being carried on the back of a turtle. i can’t quite remember but i think the conversation that happens around it is like ’ what’s carrying the turtle’ another turtle, obviously, and another turtle, and another turtle ad inifitum.
and it maybe might be reference to the mc’s anxiety spirals? it’s been a while since i read it but i vaguely remember (maybe misremember) something about the obsession-anxiety spiral going down and down and getting tighter and tighter infinitely like the turtles.
1 Like
oh sorry I f*cked up his name lol! I just really didn’t like that particular book by him, but its the only one I’ve read by him so don’t take my judgement seriously whatsoever! Maybe the other Southern Reach books are good, but I didn’t care enough about the first one to continue reading
1 Like
Vanderbeek kinda fits, to be fair lol. He seems to like birds, the first book i bought of his had a note in it about sales proceeds going towards a bird sanctuary.
I get him confused with James Van Der Beek and that’s super embarrassing haha
1 Like
shaaaaaame shaaaaaaame
i do not even know who that is and had to google him so probably more shame on mee toooo