>Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Non-fiction. Reads like Indiana Jones with a 007 booster pack.

Mmmm. Unreliable narrator.

Have you read Lawrence: The Uncrowned King of Arabia?

I really enjoyed that one. Especially where the author went in to prove it was doable only to find out otherwise. Because that also tells you something about TE Lawrence.

To learn. Currently most of my non-fiction reading is in the area of natural science (I'll read any book for the layman written by a field biologist that comes into my hands) or memoirs about animals. I'll read a few books about contemporary politics and a sprinkling of other things that catch my fancy. But you can track the topics I've been interested in by looking at my bookcases: Old West history, Japan, herb gardening, etc.

Now, that's not to say that you can't learn from reading fiction. I've learned a lot about different eras by reading books either written in that era or about that era. My knowledge of 20th century Britain is shaped by Agatha Christie who (with one exception) set her books in the time they were written, so they show the change from WWI up to the late 60s/early 70s.

I read the Cadfael books and learned a lot about "The Anarchy" (which was a period I'd never even heard of) and life in a monastery. I finally understand the difference between monks and priests because I had thought that all monks were priests.

When Kerry Greenwood writes a Phryne Fisher book, she chooses some topic to study up on in order to include it in the book.

So even in my fiction reading, I prefer stories that I learn from.

>Was this the ending Daniel Keyes wanted but thought would be too dark?

How would that be too dark? I'd consider that to be a happy ending.

Instead I've been so traumatized by the book that it's on my "Great, but read only once" list. And I'm not the only one.

The great thing about books (or movies or TV shows) is that you can always go back. And the characters will always live for you again.

Disney and Sonny Bono. (Yes, that Sonny Bono of Sonny & Cher. Also US Congress Representative.)

>The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act – also known as the Copyright Term Extension Act, Sonny Bono Act, or (derisively) the Mickey Mouse Protection Act[1] – extended copyright terms in the United States in 1998.

The Hunter from The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip.

You want to appreciate it in a whole other level?

Read it alongside The Atlas of Middle-earth by the amazing Karen Wynn Fonstad who died too soon. But she left a remarkable legacy for fandom.

Tolkien didn't just have a firm grasp of mythology, he understood a lot about geology. Perhaps because he based the lands of Middle-earth on real places that he'd been.

After mind-enriching and mind-blowing experience of reading LotR with the Atlas, I would never want to read LotR without the Atlas.

I agree with you, but others do not. I posted this:

>Cry Wolf by Tami Hoag Is the Worst Dreck of a Mystery Novel That I've Ever Read

>First, it's far more romance novel than it was mystery. For the first 400 pages (out of 528 pages) she spent far more pages on describing her characters having sex than she did the mystery.

Is the beginning of my review of it.

It's got a 0 rating and 0 comments.

As someone who camped, that would give me nightmares.

Though something like this wasn't the reason that I had an air horn, knife, bear spray and a 9mm within reach when I did solo camping as a female.

Both. I check it out of the library first and if I love it enough, then I'll buy it.

Christie's mysteries are literally the "cozy mystery" category. And I love the light feeling she has in most of them. I also love how accurately she portrays characters. It was Christie who introduced me to sociopaths...those oh so charming, without morals killers of hers. (Though I was a lot older than 13 when I finally realized that's what she had done.) I don't think the term "sociopath" had even been invented when she portrayed one back in the 1920s. I love Christie's mysteries. I've read them all. Novels and short stories. The older I get, the more I appreciate Christie's insight into human nature.

But when you say this...

>I can rely on Christie to give me a mystery where all the pieces are there.

No, you can't.

You want that? Read the early Ellery Queen novels and short stories. The ones with the "challenge to the reader" where you have to turn the page to get to the solution.

King's not always great on continuity. He's also bad at scientific explanations.

The temperature properties of basements is one thing that is very good about them. Cool in the summer. Warm in the winter. Earth is a great insulator.

I freaking hate this book. This book and The Songs of Distant Earth permanently turned me off reading Clarke. (That's Clarke with an "e," OP.)

What a depressing view Clarke has of us. Still the same selfish, self-centered bastards that we are now with no respect for other species that share our living space. We just kill and take.

Pity in this book that the physical evolution wasn't accompanied by any evolution of morality or conscience.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dune

Very active.

I'm sure there are. But they were very pretty to drive through and their settings were breathtaking.

I don't expect them to be like that. I expect the mountains to be like that. Tall, snow covered mountains with green pastures filled with wildflowers.

Though when I was in the Alps in the late 20th century, I was delighted by the sight of villages with all these traditional homes with white walls and shutters and low, dark sloping roofs and piles of cut wood almost reaching the eaves. Some of the places had murals / designs painted on the walls. It was like driving in a storybook.

Yes, even as a child, I noticed an undercurrent of violence in the attitude of Goat Peter. (Primary reason I never located the sequel -- which, it turns out wasn't written by Spyri but by her translator -- was because it has Heidi marrying Goat Peter. And I thought that she was way too good for him.)

Heidi very much fills a traditionally female role. That of caretaker.

> Heidi's Children

Heidi's Children is a 1939 novel, the second of four sequel novels to Johanna Spyri's original Heidi series, written by Spyri's French and English translator, Charles Tritten.

So Johanna Spyri only wrote Heidi. Guess I'm glad that I never tracked down Heidi Grows Up when I first learned of its existence.

In retrospect, it is odd that the grandfather --- who collected herbs for the goats --- wasn't putting together some nice herb and greens salads for their meals to go with toasted bread & cheese, sausage and goat milk.

Series?

AFAIK, there's just Heidi and its sequel when Heidi is grown up. Are you saying there's more?

To this day when I'm in a high mountain meadow, I feel like I'm walking in Heidi.

I always hear the words and if the text is descriptive enough then I see flashes of imagery.

The strangest experience I had with my inner voice was the process of learning Spanish. Naturally at first, it was stop and think and translate everything. Then it reached a point where my inner voice provided a fast English translation as I read. (Presuming I was familiar with the words / usage.) I remember thinking just how weird that was. Seeing Spanish words, but they came out in English in my inner voice.

Now I read Spanish and only hear in Spanish unless it's something I have to stop and figure out. That's always in English then gets translated to Spanish.

Even my public library which isn't in a big city charges $50 a year for non-residents. So I think you should be thinking about in terms of at least $50 a year.

Then go pick some large city and sign up.