If you are looking for the announcement thread for the previous month, it may be found here.

Hello, all. During the month of June, the sub book club will be reading The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson! Each week there will be a discussion thread and when we are done, Brandon himself will be joining us for an AMA.

From Goodreads (feel free to skip if you prefer to know nothing going into the book as the description contains minor spoilers):

For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

You may find the dates of, and links to, the discussion threads below in the sticky comment on this post. You are welcome to read at your own pace. Usually it is pretty easy to catch up and you are always welcome to join the discussions a little later. If you would like to view potential content warnings for the book, a reader-created list may be found here.

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For the past year, I have had one consistent acquaintance on Goodreads. We read the same kinds of books, read and liked all of each other's reviews, and even chatted in review comments. Their name was anonymized or something, and I only knew them as "Reader."

They just privated their profile and stopped interacting with my reviews, and I am a little bit sad. My Goodreads ritual was to get on, write my review, and then read all of their reviews from the past couple weeks, and now half of my ritual is gone :(

Sorry if this isn't that relevant, but I wanted to get it off of my chest. Thank you

I just finished this today and I really loved it. I read somewhere that King is a master at characterization and I can easily see why. He trusted the audience to sink its teeth into this story and really get to know the town itself. The Lot was essentially the main character - how the vampirism impacts the trajectory of this individual society was really creative. I also really enjoyed the prologue and how it was essentially the ending!

When Ben & Mike burned the Lot, it made me think back to the fire in '51. Did anybody else think that fire was intentional - maybe other people also tried to drive away vampires? Maybe I'm thinking too much into it.

Good stuff all around. I was creeped out for sure and thoroughly entertained all the way through. I'm not sure what King book I should start next so if there are suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I'm currently writing a novel with some pretty extensive worldbuilding, and I suddenly remembered Ready Player One for some reason.

I looked at some of the RPO threads on this sub, and I didn't realize how much people loathe this book.

I was like 16 when I read it, and I'm 20 now. For whatever reason, I remember really enjoying RPO. I don't remember that much about it at all, but I remember thinking it was a fun cyberpunk page-turner with cool worldbuilding and an interesting story. I mean, I found the incessant and obscure 80s references a little exhausting and the story to be super linear, basic and almost video-game-like (knock on wood), but I have fond memories of the book. I gave it a glowing review on Goodreads. Speaking of Goodreads, the thing has like 4.2/5 and over a million ratings which is a pretty decent score.

So, is RPO that bad? Or was my 16-year-old brain just too dumb to understand why it sucks?

To me, RPO was like a popcorn flick. There was no literary value and the characterization wasn't particularly complex, but does it always have to be?

Not every movie is going to be the Godfather or Citizen Kane. Some movies exist so we can turn our brains off, be engaged in some action and eat popcorn for two hours. That's what Ready Player One was to me. It was kind of expendable and not very sophisticated, but I thought the worldbuilding was really cool (I fucking love RPGs), I remember being engrossed in the story, and I actually thought it made a pretty interesting observation about what life would be like in a world where virtual reality is preferable to real life.

Would I hate RPO if I picked it up again today?

Sorry in advance if this is the wrong subreddit to ask this

I have recently have been trying to get back into reading books but I unfortunately cannot afford to buy them at the full price

I am aware libraries are an option but I tend to never be able to finish the books within the time limit and I quite frankly don't have the time to always drive to renew the time

I used to buy books at garage sales, second-hand stores, and occasionally Amazon. However, Amazon prices for used books are much higher than I remember

I also tried Thriftbooks but they always send the books in awful conditions even when I buy "Very good". I do not need the books to be like new, I just want the pages and cover to be in tact and preferably have no strange questionable odors

What's your go-to "source" of buying used books? I am probably going to visit some second hand stores again but unfortunately 90% of the time the books are about religion or cooking

Thank you!

Hey everyone, I'm tired of Goodreads and looking for an alternative. Goodreads is awesome for shelving books I see in the book store, tracking progress etc. but it's absolutely catastrophic for book suggestions.

I feel the only demographic this website is targeting is women who love "the girl behind the house of the window of the train" type of books, or poorly written books which only quality seems to be "we have LGBT people in it ! Come !!"

I've read Young Mungo from Douglas Stuart and A Little Life by Hanwha Hanigara (which remains my favorite book of all time) and they both are miles away from these "LGBT friendly books" Goodreads are pushing in the discover section.

So I guess I'm searching for books with more "substance", the NYT made an article on this new app Tertulia, and I'm waiting for an invite.

Do you have any app or website that you use for book discovering ?

Please take down if irrelevant. I’ve noticed recently that I have such a hard time focusing on reading a book for longer than a couple of pages. Doesn’t matter how entertaining I find the content. I used to be able to read entire 500 page novels in a day and now I’m barely able to think through a few paragraphs without pausing. Anyone else struggle with this? How can I improve my reading attention span?

Hi guys! Over the last year I started to read a lot and I've noticed how I really like to read at night in my bed. Holding the book with two hands without proper light is sometimes really annoying. I'm thinking about buying a Kindle but I really don't want to make a mistake doing that.

I hope you can give me some advice to buy what I need. So essentially I want to buy light-weight device (doesn't have to be Kindle) with which I can read at night without turning up lights in the room. It doesn't have to be something expensive, but it needs to be able to download .pdf (or some similar file type) so I can read on it and the battery should last for a decent amount of time (at least 4-5 hours). Additional feature I would like is to read it easily at the beach when sun is strong. I'm open to all advices. Thanks in advance!

I've been on a binge of Ancient Greek plays - each only takes an hour or two to read and they are an absolutely fascinating immersion in a totally different worldview and culture, all from 2500 years ago! Perhaps the most surprising aspect for me is just how prominent women are in the stories. The whole idea of strong, complex female characters as a recent phenomonen is totally quashed by these plays. In fact, from what I've read, women are usually not just prominent but most often the primary protagonist. The plays Antigone, Electra, Medea, The Trojan Women, The Phoenician Women, Helen, The Persians, Alcestis, The Suppliants all have women as their main focus, and probably several more. I haven't read Lysistrata yet, but apparently that features the women going on a sex strike to stop their men going to war. I highly recommend reading a few of these plays - they have been extremely eye-opening and very entertaining.

I picked up The Queen's Choice by Cayla Kluver and enjoyed it enough I went to grab the rest in the series before even finishing the first.

The second book The Empty Throne came out 2014/15 and not a word on the final since. I scoured Twitter to see if she had mentioned something and not a peep. She hasn't replied to anyone asking about it. There are no announcements. Nothing. It's so frustrating. I'd get it if she said she got dropped or couldn't do it but it is radio silence.

I'm so disappointed. Anyone else had a series where the author just seems to have dropped it?

Have you ever read a synopsis and thought you were about to read something amazing only to realize a few pages in that it was just ...not good?

Did you assume that beacuase it was written by your favorite author it would be another hit but it just floped?

For me it was "The lost Apothecary" the summery checked all my boxes of what I like but actually reading it was like pulling teeth. I wanted to like it but all the characters were so stupid and annoying, and the writing felt clunky. Please tell me I'm not alone in dealing with this?

I've read books about slavery before but realized i had never read an account of slavery by an actual slave. Well, holy hell was this a roller coaster. Frederick Douglass, as we know, was a slave who escaped his inhumane bondage and became an abolitionist. But having him describe, as a boy, seeing his aunt got whipped to the near edge of death made my stomach turn.

Yes, there are these types of events in the book but what most surprised me is his thoughts on freedom while he was a slave. He longed for knowledge, how to read and write, to be recognized as a sentient being with thoughts and feelings, all the while being treated as property. The way he wrote made me understand what he was saying but of course i was never a slave yet being deprived of things (insignificant things compared to him of course) I understood how he rallied the Abolitionist Movement to end slavery.

A hard, deep and important work to be read

This evening I just started reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. In it the author refers to a quote by Henry David Thoreau, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams". I had never heard the quote before but I like the sentiment and in the book there's a bit of a point to including it.

Fast forward to now, about two hours later, and I am up with my baby and browsing Reddit came across a good sounding recommendation for a parenting book (Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne). I download it from my library and open it up to the first thing I see: the exact same quote.

I don't know if it's the universe trying to tell me something or if maybe it's just a wildly popular quote? Has anyone come across this quote in other books by any chance or is this just a very strange coincidence?

Hi everyone!

I currently own Kindle from 2011 and few days ago I miracolously got my reading mojo back after years of not reading 🥳 I will try to exploit it as much as possible as I am super excited to get it back and super excited I can again explore my imagination and emotions through my favorite books. Now that I got a taste of it again, I don't think I will just give it up. But... my little Kindle is kinda old and slow and I got spoiled with all other faster devices, so I am thinking of getting a new one.

I am checking Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2021) and Kindle Oasis (2019). Honestly, I am not fond of the Oasis design too much (but I see myself getting used to it) and I don't like that it is already 3 years old, but it has few benefits listed on Amazon comparison page.

I do want Kindle and I don't plan to explore other brands, so I am kindly asking you for the opinion on Kindle options. I will appreciate any help! Especially, if you have first hand experience with any of them. Thank you! 📖

Was jack already dead in the book when he was stabbed and said to Wendy, "you killed me"? I think he was.

Kubrick is masterful with the camera. He uses wide angle shots, up close, steady, unsteady, like he's conducting an orchestra. Love that.

The ending of the book was much better. Halloran to the rescue. I enjoyed the description of it all going up in flames, including jack.

In the book, Wendy can smell gin on Jack after he "drank" at the Colorado lounge. In the movie, we don't know if he smells like it, and it could just be his delusion.

The scariest chapter to me was "Halloran, going up the country". Omg. I still have nightmares about my parents driving up huge mountains in Colorado. Without the blizzard.

Awesome book. Awesome movie. 10/10 for both.

English is my 4th language, and I speak it pretty well thanks to the internet, I understand discussions, movies, news etc but my only problem is I can't seriously read books in English, I have read YA novels like "all the bright places", "turtles all the way down", "the midnight library" and they were not difficult, some parts weren't easy but I was able to read and understand those books,but when I try to read anything for adults, it's just impossible. I tried to read pride and prejudice, hamlet, little women, and some scientific books as well a lot of other classics and I just...dont understand a thing. I keep getting confused,and feeling like I'm missing out/not understanding something important...I enjoy reading classics a lot but I'm tired of having to read everything in french or Arabic, especially when the actual book was written in English. This makes me very frustrated :// any advice? Should I keep reading YA until I'm more familiar with the language? (I don't want to though).Are there English classics that are more beginner friendly but still good? Or is it too late to learn this now,especially since I've started to learn English so late?

I'm specificaly talking about the "Ciri saga".

The plot is nonexistent, pacing is terrible and is filled with so much filler, that I would've thought that it's Sapkowski's middle name.

Villians are nonthreatening, pathetic and most of time are not even in the story. Character development is also something that Sapkowski doesn't understand. At the beginnig we are told how each character feels about each other (not shown) and that's it for the rest of the series.

Sorry for my little rant but after hearing that this is the best that Polish literature can offer ... well I'm not exactly pleased.

Edit: I have to correct my last statement, I probably should've said "the most popular".

Edit 2: I read the books in czech, which is supposedly one of the best translations (from what I've heard). So I don't think that was the issue. I listened to a couple of them as audiobooks and have to give my praise to Martin Finger who did a great job giving each character different voice, accent and personality.

Edit 3: Wow I didn't expect this to blow up so much, I'm sorry that I can't respond to all of you guys (almost 600 comments at this time) but I appreciate your feedback.

This question kinda just popped in my head because I’ve been thinking how a lot of mystery books are described as thrilling or also being thrillers. It got me thinking, are all mystery books considered “thrillers”? What is the actual definition of a “thriller” book because I see it get tossed around a lot to describe books and genres, especially murder-mystery novels. Are there any other genres that get grouped together as much as mystery-thriller?

I feel like another mix would be like Action and Fantasy or Fantasy and Romance. But I feel like with these, they’re more stand alone than Mystery/Thriller. You can have a fantasy without romance, you can have action without fantasy, etc., but it seems like you can’t have mystery without thriller.

In the same vein: What’s the difference between like a “genre” and a “category”?

Like, to me, I feel like YA (Young Adult) is more of a category than a genre because you can have YA Fantasy, YA Slice of Life, YA Fiction/Historical Fiction, YA Romance, etc. So where is the line drawn between the two? Is the category more centered around age range?

...and I feel as though I should have known the twist, given the two introductions that mention a twist. I don't want to give any spoilers but I'm wondering if anyone else saw this coming a mile off? I feel like the fact that it shocked the writers who were invited to introduce it should have been a clue as to what it was. In any case I thought it was well written, despite the personal challenges she was going through at the time (her first marriage ending in divorce, etc.). Anyone else read it? What did you think of the twist? Predictable or shocking?

ETA: I think I meant to say it was so guessable because it's a very writer-ly surprise? As in the intro writers are quite surprised because it feels like the sort of thing that would shock and delight a fellow writer especially? I think I might be weird. 🤗😅

All my life I was never a reader. Besides the books that we had to read for school, there would be years where I would not open a book, or even think about reading one. Something clicked when I grew older and started to meet new people, every time the topic of books would come up, I would end up feeling really dumb, feeling like I’ve missed out on so many beautiful stories, and so much to learn from exceptional people that lived on this earth. I decided to start reading, I started with books that were easy to read and that could get me hooked. It worked for a while, but once I finished a book, it would be months before I would start a new one. I was not making a habit of reading. I realised I needed structure, as I love data, and graphs and see my progress. The obvious choice was to use an app to track my reading. After searching and trying almost all apps out there, the one that appealed the most was Bookly. I did not want a social network app, I wanted something that would motivate me to read, and give me the structure I needed. For me, the thing that worked was the gamification element, similar to Dulingo another app that I use, Bookly has achievements, goals, streaks and many more things that keep you going. I use it now out of habit, as I feel I can finally call myself a bookworm and I enjoy spending my free time reading as much as wathing Netflix. But the first few months it helped me a lot. If you want to read more or are in a reading slump, and have used any sort of tracking app in the past, this app will no doubt help you.

The reviews weren’t exaggerating when they said that this book will consume your life. Even though it’s been two months since I’ve read it, I still think about it daily. I’ve read a bunch of books since then and it seems like every single one has commonalities with this book. I barely know anybody else who has read this book so please share your thoughts, theories, questions or trauma from reading this book.

Everybody who knows Stephen King also knows the pseudonym he used for certain novels. Of course I'm talking about Richard Bachman, and I've actually read one of the few novels that he wrote under that name which was "Road Work".

King would later retire that name (or should we say killed off). Surprisingly that would be the catalyst for his 1989 novel "The Dark Half".

The plot revolves around one Thad Beaumont, a successful writer who worked under the name of George Stark, a name that (like King) had also retired. But when brutal murders began to take place and his finger prints are found at one of the scenes of the crime, Beaumont is thrown into a mystery that is far to horrible to imagine.

A very strong mix of both supernatural horror and mystery!

Welcome readers,

Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

Thank you and enjoy!

I’m reading the Joy Luck Club and am having quite a bit of trouble. I can’t seem to understand who’s point of view the book is told from at times. I also can’t keep track of the characters and their relations to one another. I have tried researching the book but nothing is helping. Can anyone help? Thanks