Recent comments in /f/books
gort32 t1_jeg29ez wrote
Reply to Fahrenheit 451 Co-opted? by ViolinistFamiliar187
Do not try to apply logical thought to this - none was used to get there.
[deleted] t1_jeg1yp3 wrote
Reply to Fahrenheit 451 Co-opted? by ViolinistFamiliar187
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HoneyBadgerFYouUp t1_jeg1nmu wrote
Hey there fellow bookworms!
I am an avid reader of all kind of book genres, with my main being sci-if/fantasy. However I admit, rather sheepishly, I have never read any of Terry Pratchett books. Where do I start? Or what series is the best way to dive in?
Current_Argument4876 t1_jeg1j6b wrote
Reply to comment by the_honest_liar in Making a transition from Non-fiction to Fiction reading. by Icy-Chard9519
I agree with this! My husband was an exclusively non-fiction reader, history and political science books. So when we started reading fiction, he enjoyed A Game of Thrones (based off War of the Roses) and Dune (tons of political intrigue) and that helped him start the journey and he’s branched out from there.
[deleted] t1_jeg0uj6 wrote
Reply to I love this sub by tommy_the_bat
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[deleted] t1_jeg04fk wrote
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Choice_Mistake759 t1_jefzzbw wrote
>can get through it without having to think or visualize a lot.
You do not actually have to visualize fiction. I think it is a bit weird you can read non fiction without thinking, if anything I would think non fiction requires even more thinking than fiction. some non fiction actually requires visualizing to understand properly.
Can you give some examples of that non fiction which worked for you and the fiction which did not?
UnspentTx t1_jefzt0n wrote
Reply to comment by Sumtimesagr8notion in I love this sub by tommy_the_bat
Honest question: Any suggestions for better subs for people who love to read? I'm here and in r/52book...
Tea_4_thee t1_jefzk01 wrote
Purple prose doesn’t just mean prose that is very descriptive and verbose, purple prose is when the prose is so verbose and flowery that it becomes impossible to actually understand what’s being said. The example you listed isn’t purple prose because it is not impossible to understand the story.
littlebrowncat999 t1_jefza90 wrote
When I read books with a ton of detail, I constantly flip back to pages I have read and reread them. Especially if seems like there is a discrepancy in what I am reading and what I have read.
the_honest_liar t1_jefz652 wrote
Maybe try fiction books that are in a similar subject area to non-fiction books you enjoy. If you like history read historical fiction, if you like travel books read a book set in a place you've read about. If you're sort of familiar with the setting/background that could be less you have to visualize.
It's sort of backwards from my usual suggestion, but if there's a movie try watching that first. Then read the book and your brain will probably automatically think about the movie descriptions and characters, so it might be easier to get in to.
MorriganJade t1_jefyngw wrote
When I read fiction I'm deeply focused and absorbed in the text and visualizing what I read, so it's quite different for me. My advice would be to read something straightforward and short, like the Murderbot diaries novellas for example, which I love
usernamedunbeentaken t1_jefyl4k wrote
Reply to Gulag Archipelago Volume 2 - Thoughts by Squiby123
Never read Gulag Archipelago but highly recommend August 1914.
InvisibleSpaceVamp t1_jefy5bq wrote
Why is it a problem that different authors decide to portray fictional beings in different ways? Reminds me of the "real vampires don't sparkle" comments from the good old Twilight days. Sure, it was silly, but real vampires don't exist and you can take all the liberties you want when writing them. Same goes for zombies.
I think all the problems you mentioned are not specific to zombie novels, I have come across unrealistic behavior (in my opinion, based on my personal experience) in pretty much every genre I read. It's not a zombie problem, it's a bad writing problem.
The same can be said about not explaining how a zombie outbreak really happened. That's only an issue when the writing is bad. With good writing, the lack of knowledge might be chosen on purpose. Like, by having a narrator who is not an all knowing scientist but a regular person who has to go by whatever the government chose to leak to the media.
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> Even though zombie fiction has become more and more popular over the years,
Really? I was under the impression that the zombie trend has slowed down significantly. Is there anything new I should read? I think The girl with all the gifts was the last one I read in the genre.
fleshybit t1_jefy234 wrote
Reply to comment by UnspentTx in I love this sub by tommy_the_bat
A Wizards's Guide to Defensive Baking for Surviving Medieval England
CalvinSays t1_jefxzto wrote
Reply to comment by emisneko in Gulag Archipelago Volume 2 - Thoughts by Squiby123
Why believe the wife's testimony is more reliable than the books?
yeehaweconomics t1_jefxavk wrote
Hi everyone! New member, looking for good historical non-fiction books. I’ve probably read most of the books on World War 2 out there- I’m interested in books about regional histories or cool events!
Exploding_Antelope t1_jefx7fb wrote
Reply to comment by lydiardbell in Pendragon by DJ MacHale is one of the best series I've ever read. by nucleartaco130
I didn’t mind because Third Earth was my favourite territory. A proper optimistic future is rare to see, and the fleshing out of it made it all the more impactful when it began to crumble. I liked the scariness of how failure on First Earth could ripple through time as well.
twenty-six-sixty-six t1_jefx5z5 wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in I love this sub by tommy_the_bat
truelit is a bunch of people pretending classic fiction is more complicated than it is to make themselves feel superior
it's enough for me to simply enjoy it
4851205 t1_jefx4ob wrote
Reply to comment by hobokobo in What book did you go into thinking you were going to dislike, but ended up loving? (And vice versa) by keep_it_trillani
I didn’t love it either and this is the book I use as an example for falling short of expectations. I HATED the way the main character was written. Even on the first page I was immediately rolling my eyes. It’s an unpopular opinion since the book gets so much praise but it just didn’t do it for me
Darth_Shredder t1_jefx076 wrote
[deleted] t1_jefwv3t wrote
Reply to comment by twenty-six-sixty-six in I love this sub by tommy_the_bat
Hard to believe anything is too snobby for someone who would write that but ok.
Constant-Stick2915 t1_jefwszz wrote
Reply to comment by SillyPuttyGizmo in What crime / thriller book has the most frustrating ending in your opinion? by FormerFruit
Yep. Was supposed to be a murder mystery but wasn’t at all.
[deleted] t1_jefwsx5 wrote
Reply to comment by King_Allant in I love this sub by tommy_the_bat
It's pretentious baloney for young men who have time on their hands, lol.
orincoro t1_jeg2ncr wrote
Reply to Fahrenheit 451 Co-opted? by ViolinistFamiliar187
F-451 is not specifically anti-fascist (though it does take place in an authoritarian future world) and probably a lot like 1984, it is often cited by far right propagandists who would co-opt the message of anti-censorship and make the case that the post-literary future it presents is the product of some derivation of Marxism. There may be some further ammunition in the book for this take, given that the “firemen” of this future are, according to the legend they subscribe to, eliminating all non-mainstream culture as a means of explicitly of ending class-conflict. This may lead some unimaginative people to conclude that it’s really a tract against socialism, which it isn’t.
However, it’s worth noting that the form of censorship against which the book was implicitly reacting was McCarthyism, and it bears further noting that while the book is of course about censorship on its face, its more animating motivation is probably as a criticism of all mass consumer culture, particularly television and advertising.
I imagine somebody is co-opting it for the same reason anything is co-opted in this way. Young people are told this is an important book.
Fuck neo Nazis indeed sir.