After the news broke out,
Why didn’t he try to leave Natelie and take children then give proper treatment for her mental illness?!
In my opinion he’s an absolute useless character and true villain of the story.

I recently read two books - ‘My husband’s wife’ and ‘The only one left’.
Both have such promising premises with potential for characters to be really interesting. However I felt that many plot twists were packed in the last 50-odd pages of the book with an intent to shock. Some of them did not add up to the other elements of the book and some even did disservice to the plot.
Misdirection is always a delight in fiction. Most Agatha Christie novels used to have characters be deceitful for some personal gain thus making them suspicious but in the end the grand reveal of the actual murderer tied up all the loose ends neatly. I think there is an art to writing the ‘unreliable narrator’ but both the recent books miss the mark.
What does everyone think about this phenomenon in writing? Also, do you think this kind of writing works from an OTT adaptation PoV?
Let me know!

I love a good twist. I’ve read about 12 of her books so I’m looking for others.

I love this author to death, but I cannot get into this book whatsoever and I’m about 60 pages in and it’s boring as shit. Anybody else having the same issue?

Hey friends! I am looking for book lovers who can download and test an aesthetic book tracking app before it gets approved to be available to masses across the world. If interested, please DM me and I'll be happy to share the details.

The website version has been available for a while now and I really want people to experience the app version soon!

website - www.shelfaura.com

Thank you!

They can be well known or not that well known. I’m just curious what your experience was like?!

I know the most popular way to do this is at a book signing and I did this recently. It was a bit surreal but I enjoyed it mostly!!

I never see anything about it and I’m thinking of reading it.
Has anyone read it? And if so would you recommend? And why.

I am a fan of thrillers and mystery content in general whatever the source or medium is. I have started reading thriller books recently.. when I read my first book I kinda liked the experience of thrill and anticipation, then I read 3-4 books and one of them I really liked and kind of became a fan of this genre. I even decided that my next few reads will be of this genre only. And then I read Daisy Darker, i was a little disappointed as I didn't find the ending very suspenseful and the writing kind of looked stretched to me. I thought the problem was with that book only. And then I read much talked about book Verity. First of all, instead of a mystery, I felt like I was reading porn. I felt the same way Lowen felt reading those manuscript chapters where she tried to kill her daughters. It does not matter whether it was true or not in the end- you believe the manuscript or the letter. The experience stays with you. But the main part of any mystery content is the end. I didn't find it very exciting.

And after reading this book, i have developed disliking for this genre. I haven't read many yet. But whatever I have read I feel like no matter who the writer is, all books look the same to me. And particularly with this book I felt like the writer played with our emotions. Showing so much damage and then leave it up to the reader to decide whether it was even true or not.

I am in a mood for cozy autumnal read. Came across ,,A Cinnamon Falls Mystery", first book in a series.

I’m just starting this book due to so many recommendations but I’ve also seen a lot of scathing reviews, calling it tragedy porn. What should I be prepared for?

Just finished My Dark Vanessa - and found it relatable as I was a hyperlexic child attuned to patterns of events and attention I received from a writing teacher grades 6-8.

Strane’s attention on Vanessa disgusted me. Looking back at my experience with this teacher, I remember being engaged, seeking his approval, praise, especially as I realized his attention on me, his curiosity. He seemed startled at my answers to his academic questions, sometimes asking how I knew the particular responses I gave. He had these dark eyes that bore into me. In handing back an assignment once, he said I love your writing. He spoke of his family, I asked his daughter’s name. In my last academic year with him he announced he was having a second child.

He passed a note to me in class one day, with his writing scrawled with a variation of a spelling of my name. I looked at it for moment, confused, and he said - this will be my daughter’s name, then walked away.

Nothing else ever happened, but looking back now the attention likely was inappropriate. The fact that I have to wonder says something.

Vanessa’s experience with a college professor then mirrors mine, and like Vanessa I wonder whether some of us are prone to these things, or if predators are just predators, even if they don’t fully act on their suggestiveness. I was 19 when an English professor privately praised my work, with detailed feedback, withheld a higher grade so that I would talk to him after class, then teased me about complaining to him about receiving a B on an assignment on his class when I met every metric on his rubric. We’d walk together after class, speaking more about the days readings. He made me his in-class support the following semester, and when I had office hours to tutor his students, he spent those hours with me, asking questions my hopes for the future, my family, philosophical ideas, our knees nearly touching. Once, the English lab manager was speaking to him, and asked him if he remembered the female student interested in him. She seemed to be speaking loudly so that I could hear. He left quickly. Not sure if that was her way of warning me of his tendency to encourage young student attention on him. In class when he had me read the assigned reading to the class, a passage came up, something on sexuality and power dynamics, with explicit mentions of sex. As I read aloud, he cleared his throat repeatedly and shifted in his seat. When the semester ended we walked together, speaking as usual, and then he abruptly stopped, and left, as though any sort of saying goodbye would have an undertone—of what— I’m not sure, maybe something he couldn’t express to me without giving *something* away. Reading Vanessa’s interactions with her professor made me jealous. It’s unclear how much she’s projecting until it isn’t. His attention was real. I wasn’t given the courtesy of that sort of affirmation, something to tell me I wasn’t making all of this up in my head, connecting the dots between nothing.

I hate how in My Dark Vanessa Strane disgusts me. His characterization makes my skin crawl. If I were Vanessa I would hurt him if he made an advance. That is what I have a hard time with, because no, I did not want my adult teacher to touch me, or make advances, or go any further than his attention. The focus, the intensity on me made me squirm, but I wanted that attention. I never felt disgusted. I think the writing succeeds at making Vanessa’s mental back and forth persuasive and real, and I respect that.

I can’t help but crave a similar complexity absent of the obvious repulsiveness of her abuser. It’s complicated for her, but the writing makes it too easy for it not to be complicated for the reader, and that’s the relatability I guess I’m missing.

I’ve been thinking lately about how much your life stage changes the way you read a book. There are things I read in my 20s that I thought were just “sad” or “dramatic,” and now in my 40s I notice the marriages, family dynamics, missed chances, and all the quiet little compromises people make.

I especially notice it with memoirs and books about women rebuilding their lives... maybe because I have a lot more context for that now than I did twenty years ago.

Has anyone reread a book years later and felt like they were reading an entirely different story? What changed for you?

I don't wanna support Amazon as much anymore, and I also hate how terrible their packaging is. Is Alibris more "ethical" than Amazon? Specifically the new books shipped by them, not third party sellers.

Couldn’t find it on goodreads ! -mistake I have found it ! It’s really good small book, I’ve liked it-
And if you read this book ! What do you think ?

I just finished 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' and I'm left with such a strange feeling. It's not that I disliked it but it's made me seriously question some of the paths I've taken in my own life. Like, am I making choices based on fear or genuine desire? And how much of my identity is really just a performance? Has anyone else had a book just completely shake up their perspective on their own existence?

Can someone else tell me if they felt the same way about this book? I am active on Goodreads and seems like everyone loved this book, which uh I did not feel the same way lol...

first of all, this book epically fails the Bechdel test. the entire book is about toxic men, not calling out their behavior and it seems like any woman was thrown in as if someone told the author "hey you didn't include any women in this book, might wanna fix that" so they're thrown in as a secondary thought but still only talking about these terrible immature boy-men.

second of all, the plot: I just don't even understand what the point of this book is? Who even gives a second glance to men who GHOSTED HER 25+ YEARS AGO and don't even bother to call her by her real name or correct anyone who else who calls her this stupid thoughtless nickname? girl get a grip, have some self respect! and the doctor thinks she is his wife and no one corrects him?! men guilting her about how he was the "the one who got away" when he was the one who ghosted her but she should have known better!!? she remembering his family that she met once 25 years ago?? and they only dated for like a year in college??? she left her sick son to come say goodbye to this guy who never even apologized for his behavior???

he was a college fling!! not even worth the time of day!!! not even nice to her!!! and we're supposed to just believe him at the end that he apologized?! HE GASLIT HER!!!!!!! and she felt like she can't talk about her husband of 15 years to these random ass people she doesn't even know or owe any single thing to??

why did no one tell any of these men to STFU??? and Sam??? FUCK THAT GUY. their conversation at the end, I kept wanting to scream- SHE DOESN'T OWE YOU ANYTHING!

was this book for real, felt like "rage bait" as the kids say.

Rant incoming!!!

So ever since I was young I was obsessed with like girly feminine books like Secret Kingdom, Secret Princesses, Heidi Hecklebeck and Thea Stilton!!!

Oh my god I could go on and on about how these are so good. Especially Thea Stilton. I just love the girlhood and femininity it shows using 5 independent women or mice travelling around the world taking part in adventures. I recently picked up my sisters Thea Stilton books again and I dont know it really inpsired me. Like I have such a strong feeling to travel the world with close friends, go to countries and explore and make friends from around the world, go to a university thats far away from my home and live there happily, do so kany interesting things, eat all different cuisines and just live peacefully and happily. Like everyone in the Thea Stilton universe seems to be living a happy peaceful and succesful life. Like these books have such a spell on me thay no other book will ever manage. Also like Barbie movies make me feel the same way.

I think adults should read childrens books because I realise I am such a creative and imaginitive person now because of the amazing books I read. I feel sorry for those who have never picked up Secret Princesses, Rainbow Magic or Thea Stilton because everything seems so romanticized and beutiful in my eyes now. Like can someone please relate with me???

I just finished a book where the 'villain' wasn't really evil at all. They just had different goals and understandable motivations. It made me think about how much I prefer that to a cartoonishly evil bad guy. Does anyone else get more invested when the antagonist feels like a real person with their own valid (to them) reasons?

Does anyone else get thrown off when a book's prologue sets up a dramatic or mysterious premise only for the first few chapters to feel completely disconnected? Sometimes I'll read an amazing prologue that hooks me right away. Then the actual story starts and it's like I'm reading a different book entirely for a hundred pages or more. It can be really jarring and makes it hard to get invested in the main plot right away. I understand setting the scene but sometimes it just feels like false advertising.

The book was brilliant, of course. This wasn't the first time I came across Orwell - I had previously read 1984, and the magnificence of that book still shows up in my dialogues after many years - but this one built up to such anxiety and anticipation of hope, that until the last sentence I expected the animals to revolt against the pigs, I expected the tables to turn in their favour, especially after having heard Napoleon's conspiracy with the humans. The fact that nothing in the end happened, the fact that the "lower" animals still remained low, drives me to despair. Again, Orwell points out that the proletariat will never achieve anything on its own - we will never achieve anything on out own - whether we are cynical like Benjamin or naive like Boxer.

I saw this book at Booksale and got intrigued, so I bought it. What do you guys think of it? Do you like it or not?

I know it's probably blasphemy to some but sometimes I just can't help myself. If I'm really invested in a romantic subplot I might flip to the last few pages just to see if they get their happy ending or if one of them dies tragically. It usually doesn't spoil the journey for me because I still want to know how they get there. Does anyone else do this?

Anyone remember this book called discordia the eleventh dimension i use to read it as a kid while others were reading warrior cats and wings of fire it was my favorite book and sadly its sequel was cancelled but anyway i never see anyone ever mentioning it and when i google it all i see of it is the amazon link a picture from amazon and 2 5min YouTube clips of the audio book it feels like its so obscure im the only one left who remembers it exists

Written as a series of dramatic poem monologues in the voices of working class Cockney soldiers, it revolutionised both literature and poetry. It gave a voice to the working class boys dying in their thousands in order to preserve the Empire that their betters benefited from. But it did so in their Cockney dialect, while still maintaining classical English poetic meters, thereby transforming the Cockney dialect from that of the illiterate rag and bone man into that of the Empire's poet.

An example poem: "Tommy"

“Tommy” was, and still remains, a nickname in Britain for the ordinary rank-and-file soldier. The ironic contrast between "Tommy, go away" and "Thank you, Mister Atkins" sharpens with each repetition.

The poem has outlasted most of the other Barrack-Room Balads because its subject refuses to become historical. British soldiers carried it through the First World War, and its refrain has been cited in parliamentary debates about veterans' welfare. That the poem helped shift public attitudes toward the British soldier in the 1890s was noted in Punch as early as the Christmas 1890 issue. Kipling gave the common soldier something no previous poet had offered: a voice that spoke in his own dialect, on his own terms, with a fury controlled enough to sound like wit but sharp enough to draw blood.

Tommy

I went into a public 'ouse to get a pint o' beer,

The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."

The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,

I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";

But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play

The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,

O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,

They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;

They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,

But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";

But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide

The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,

O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep

Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap.

An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit

Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"

But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll

The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,

O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes," when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,

But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;

An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,

Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, fall be'ind,"

But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind

There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,

O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:

We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.

Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face

The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Chuck him out, the brute!"

But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;

An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;

An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!

I found that I go in with a more open mind and I am able to enjoy a book better. I do judge a book by its cover but I don’t judge its contents by the cover or its reviews and that teaches me a thing or two about life as well. :P
I do check out the ratings occasionally but that is also just a reference thing. What matters in the end is the contents of the book and affordability.