bhbhbhhh
bhbhbhhh t1_jecnfwd wrote
Reply to comment by SeriousQuestions111 in Finally reading Tolkien by jdbrew
> Or try writing about our world and capture all of its intricacies. Wouldn't be easy, right?
When I think about fantasy books that capture all the intricacies of their world, I don't think about The Lord of the Rings. I would say the saga really skimmed across the surface of the world. I never came away with a particularly meaningful image of what Gondor and Rohan are like as societies, what cultural quirks they have.
bhbhbhhh t1_jecmupc wrote
Reply to comment by phiwong in Finally reading Tolkien by jdbrew
When I was reading it I felt the language was too modern for the story it was telling. The narration, not the dialogue. "Yep, this is a book of the twentieth century." They say that his writing gets more and more antiquated as the story goes on, but I can't say I perceived any of that.
bhbhbhhh t1_jecmi3f wrote
Reply to Stoner by John Williams blew me away by BroncoAccountant
I read Truman by David McCullough around the same time. It was an odd contrast, seeing the other path in life a Missouri farm boy could take.
bhbhbhhh t1_jdzh1o1 wrote
Reply to Generally, drug addicts are usually seen as bad. My question is, are book addicts usually seen as good? by Delicious_Maize9656
I believe Madame Bovary and Northanger Abbey are said to be critical of the effects of being too fond of novels.
bhbhbhhh t1_jc54bep wrote
Reply to Thoughts on self-help books? by Artsyshoelace
Want to develop your character? Read some Russian literature lmao
bhbhbhhh t1_jawxbio wrote
The Mirror of the Sea is Joseph Conrad's major nonfiction work, in which he says everything he has to say about what it means to be a sailor and struggle with the wind and waves, visiting adventurous ports.
bhbhbhhh t1_jawx3dm wrote
Reply to comment by tauntonlake in What would you say are some underated books by well-kown authors? by [deleted]
I really want to read A Russian Journal, his recollection of visiting the Soviet Union. In his fiction, I'm curious to see if The Wayward Bus is good.
bhbhbhhh t1_jaa1jc4 wrote
Reply to Just read Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott and it may just be the single most eye opening book I’ve ever read by sashanktungu
Look for The Planiverse. I was very happy to see it ask what it would mean for flatlanders to have biology and gravity and all that.
bhbhbhhh t1_ja91cij wrote
Reply to comment by RobertoBologna in What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful? by zsreport
I said “only have a sliver of the,” not “only have a small portion of the shelves be dedicated to the”
bhbhbhhh t1_ja0ob2m wrote
Reply to comment by RobertoBologna in What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful? by zsreport
> I’d guess only 20 or 30% of the store is new releases.
80% of a regular-sized store is maybe a small percentage of the size of the building you'd need to gather up every book in the language that's been through multiple print runs. You need a warehouse.
bhbhbhhh t1_ja0dwtw wrote
Reply to comment by RobertoBologna in What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful? by zsreport
I'm not talking about the quality of individual books. I'm talking about the selection. Your Barnes and Noble will only have a sliver of the books that have "been through a few printings," while carrying a much higher percentage of the books that have recently been released.
bhbhbhhh t1_ja02h24 wrote
Reply to comment by RobertoBologna in What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful? by zsreport
A regular bookstore's selection of books published more than a few years ago will range from okay to abysmal.
bhbhbhhh t1_ja0285y wrote
It's the likelihood of finding books that no one in the world has read or even thought about in the past 20 years. An intimate feeling, between the author and me. "I'm the only one who knows who you are."
bhbhbhhh t1_j9yoe66 wrote
Reply to comment by DrCurtains in Asimov's Foundation Is Bad Literature by Kryptin
> I guess my observation is that given the number of people and serious writers who disagree with you, you might be lacking the self awareness to measure the difference between "I don't like" and "is bad".
As with Philip K. Dick's work, it seems very common to be highly critical of Foundation's technical quality.
bhbhbhhh t1_j9ynvpz wrote
Reply to comment by wongie in Asimov's Foundation Is Bad Literature by Kryptin
> generation were the first to reflect on this post war political climate where technology was being seeing as the driving force of societal development and prosperity so became key milestone works within the genre.
I would say this is highly inaccurate, given that the same could be said of Verne and Wells.
bhbhbhhh t1_j9ym8dd wrote
Before Lovecraft, there were Algernon Blackwood and Robert Chambers, of King in Yellow fame.
bhbhbhhh t1_j9dba0i wrote
Reply to Buying books in mass bad? by kornychris2016
I'm moving between continents next month. It's definitely not great for the luggage situation that I bought so many books over the last few years.
bhbhbhhh t1_j6p6wcr wrote
It struck me as a markedly inferior version of what China Mieville would write given the same basic premise, though I haven't gotten far into his book Kraken yet.
bhbhbhhh t1_j6nbj6x wrote
Reply to Which sequel are you thirstiest for? by Bookanista
There are a lot of incomplete history book trilogies that have been started in the past 20 years. I'm waiting on part 2 of Rick Atkinson's American Revolution trilogy, which should get past the Battle of Saratoga.
bhbhbhhh t1_j6nb0b9 wrote
What kind of practical things?
bhbhbhhh t1_j6nag42 wrote
Reply to What subject matter is so ghastly / triggering that you won’t read a book that delves into it? by jenna_grows
I don't like reading about heretics being killed in pre-Reformation Europe very much.
bhbhbhhh t1_j6f7lmx wrote
Reply to comment by nxspam in Confused about the various titles in the Gene Wolfe, Book of the New Sun series.. by nxspam
Yes, as happened with a quite a few novel series that are in total shorter than War and Peace. And also as one volume, with a silly-looking cover.
bhbhbhhh t1_j6f74lw wrote
Reply to comment by UnderwoodsNipple in What is a plot/world-building issue that breaks your suspension of disbelief? by JonathanCue
Across the past sixty or so years, there have been quite a many fantasy series that think harder about how magic would change human societies. I've heard particular buzz about the Commonweal books by Graydon Saunders.
bhbhbhhh t1_jecoi6e wrote
Reply to comment by SeriousQuestions111 in Finally reading Tolkien by jdbrew
Within regular literature, Emile Zola and Honore de Balzac set out to write epic cycles exploring through every section of French society. Such can also describe the project James Joyce set out on with Ulysses. In fantasy too I've read enough books that really set out to put their alternate realities on the page.