r/books • u/XBreaksYFocusGroup • Feb 21 '23
The /r/books Book Club Selection + AMA for April is " Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel
If you are looking for the announcement thread for the previous month, it may be found here.
Hello, all. During the month of April, the sub book club will be reading Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel! Each week, there will be a discussion thread and when we are done, Emily herself 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):
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core.
Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.
When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.
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.
For those of you that are viewing reddit on the redesigned desktop version you will see an option on this post to 'follow'. If you 'follow' the book club post you will receive a notification when a new post, a discussion thread for book club, is added to the collection.
r/books • u/AutoModerator • 1d ago
WeeklyThread Weekly Recommendation Thread: March 31, 2023
Welcome to our weekly recommendation thread! A few years ago now the mod team decided to condense the many "suggest some books" threads into one big mega-thread, in order to consolidate the subreddit and diversify the front page a little. Since then, we have removed suggestion threads and directed their posters to this thread instead. This tradition continues, so let's jump right in!
The Rules
Every comment in reply to this self-post must be a request for suggestions.
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All unrelated comments will be deleted in the interest of cleanliness.
How to get the best recommendations
The most successful recommendation requests include a description of the kind of book being sought. This might be a particular kind of protagonist, setting, plot, atmosphere, theme, or subject matter. You may be looking for something similar to another book (or film, TV show, game, etc), and examples are great! Just be sure to explain what you liked about them too. Other helpful things to think about are genre, length and reading level.
All Weekly Recommendation Threads are linked below the header throughout the week to guarantee that this thread remains active day-to-day. For those bursting with books that you are hungry to suggest, we've set the suggested sort to new; you may need to set this manually if your app or settings ignores suggested sort.
If this thread has not slaked your desire for tasty book suggestions, we propose that you head on over to the aptly named subreddit /r/suggestmeabook.
- The Management
r/books • u/cowboy_mouth • 5h ago
Judge orders books removed from Texas public libraries due to LGBTQ and racial content must be returned within 24 hours.
r/books • u/zsreport • 11h ago
Children’s books publisher Peter Usborne dies at 85
r/books
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u/BitterStatus9
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1d ago
Adults reading to each other out loud?
My spouse and I sometimes will read a book together. I read aloud, she listens. She doesn't like reading aloud, but likes listening, and says reading to herself (silently) is "slow going." So she likes me to read to her.
I like reading aloud, because it enables me to dramatize the tiniest bit when dialog (for example) calls for it.
We read entire books this way (generally fiction). I have never heard any of my friends or family members say they do this (maybe they do and it never came up).
Do others read entire books aloud with a partner or friend?
r/books • u/87penguinstapdancing • 5h ago
What’s a book you can read over and over?
I just finished re-reading Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin for the 5th time and each time I’ve read it I take something new away from it. It amazes me that such a short book has so much to say for itself…. And I cry at the end every time lol. What’s a book that’s like that for you, a book that you re-read often and still find new things to love every time?
r/books • u/muhammedmusthafa1729 • 8h ago
What are your favorite book dedications?
Would love to know any dedications that got your attention and still remember in your reading experience.
I loved the dedication in The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin. - “For all those that have to fight for the respect that everyone else is given without question.” A major theme of the book was communicated to the reader in this dedication itself.
r/books • u/lookslike-turntables • 1d ago
I disagree with Jerry Seinfeld about the value of keeping books
In one Seinfeld episode, Jerry says: "What is this obsession people have with books? They put them in their houses - like they're trophies. What do you need it for after you read it?"
He later adds, in a conversation with George who wants to retrieve his books, "Have you re-read those books yet, by the way? You know the great thing? When you read Moby Dick the second time, Ahab and the whale become good friends."
I know it's a comedy but part of why it's funny is because some viewers really identify with what he is saying. It's observational comedy, after all.
There are two issues here, one I agree with partly but not the other.
One is the idea that displaying fancy books that you have not read (and don't intend to read) is kind of a flex. I mean why do people do it? Perhaps they're trying to come across as someone who is highly educated and intelligent. It's sort of like filling your house with expensive paintings, even if you don't care for arts and have no idea what makes them special. So, yeah, I get it, that can be pretentious.
But the second issue is the one I just can't agree with him: The idea that keeping a book after you read it is problematic. If you really believe that, then you might as well not buy a movie that you've already seen or not purchase a CD you've already listened to. Basically, you keep the book because you enjoyed the experience of reading it, an experience that you want to have access to again.
Of course, it is not pleasure only that makes keeping a book useful. Perhaps the book really opened your mind and heart and develop new appreciation for things, taught you how to do something important, helped you make sense of life or see how people from other times or cultures have made sense of it, allowed to sympathize with other people's difficulties, whatever.
The point I'm trying to make is that a book's value is not one thing and that it does not necessarily disappear after you read a book once.
I am reminded of a line from a Simpsons episode now and might as well end this long post with that. I think it was the comedian Steven Wright standing in front of an audience, and says:
"I finally got around to reading the dictionary. Turns out the zebra did it."
r/books • u/RealisticHamster7945 • 16h ago
I am halfway through Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” and I’m not okay.
I wanna know the end but I also don’t want spoilers. But I also want them. I have cried so many times already I’m a little tired but I’m so hookedddddd AHHHHHH 😩🥺
Hosseini’s writing style is so simple and clear yet he uses it to induce SUCH EMOTIONS Ah. Idk how to feel anymore 🥲 I have to study for upcoming finals but…i can’t put this book down.
r/books • u/TheTidyTornado • 3h ago
Display-Worthy Book Covers
We all know that age-old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." But, let's be honest, sometimes we just can't help it! We all have those books that we're proud to display on our shelves.
Which book cover is your favorite to showcase in your personal library and why it stands out to you.
I go first: Great Gatsby by Francis Cugat
The cover's bold, vibrant colors and surreal imagery evoke the opulence and extravagance of the Jazz Age, while the melancholic eyes and lips floating in the sky symbolize the disillusionment and longing that pervade the narrative. The lights and fireworks in the background not only represent the lavish parties hosted by Jay Gatsby, but also hint at the fleeting nature of wealth and the characters' pursuit of the American Dream. By visually capturing these complex elements, Cugat's cover brilliantly sets the tone for F. Scott Fitzgerald's timeless masterpiece.
r/books • u/Delicious_Maize9656 • 17h ago
Rereading a book that you loved in your youth when you have grown up can be a fascinating experience.
Rereading a book that you loved in your youth when you have grown up can be a fascinating experience. While the words on the page may be the same, you are no longer the same person you were when you first read the book. The act of rereading can reveal new layers and subtleties that you might have missed before, and it can be an opportunity to reflect on your own personal growth and development.
Rereading the Harry Potter series as an adult was a completely different experience than I remembered as a child. I discovered a rich and complex world with shades of gray, noticing subtleties in characters like Snape and Dumbledore that I had never seen before. The character development in the series is truly remarkable, as we see Harry, Ron , and Hermione grow and mature over the course of seven books.
As a reader, I found myself reflecting on my own personal growth and development, and how the lessons that the characters learned could be applied to my own life.
Here is my Top 15 Re Read Books of All Time
r/books • u/QueenFluffington • 14h ago
Shuggie Bain
I just finished this book and it was such a sad but beautiful story at the same time, I think I've never read anything similar before. The scene where Leek and Shuggie find out Agnes has broken her sobriety is just so heartbreaking, same goes for the scene where Agnes died. But at the same time I love how the author incorporated humour and lightness into very heavy scenes. I also loved the ending, I was afraid Shuggie would end up all alone so I was so glad that he found Leanne and that they kept in touch.
r/books • u/sacrificial_banjo • 1d ago
A huge THANK YOU to the user that suggested Lonesome Dove.
I can’t find the original post but someone posted a stack of books to read for the year (not bear, haha), including Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. A fellow reader commented saying that Lonesome Dove had changed their life.
I only really knew about Lonesome Dove from the mini series my mom taped (over my childhood cartoons, no less) off TV in the 90s, but figured what the hell….I’d try it. At first glance it looks like a western, but it’s so much more. Action, adventure, betrayal, romance, friendship, struggles & survival. Plus ponies!
I finished this masterpiece in 2 days. Couldn’t put it down. Absolutely my favourite book.
Pick up a copy. You can thank me later.
r/books • u/paperscrawls • 12h ago
Best "Praise for Book" quotes you've come across
I've just started reading "THE ACCOMPLICE" by Steve Cavanagh and in praise for book section this quote is listed - "If you read another thriller as good as this this year, it's only because you've read this one twice".
I don't know if the book holds up to that. But have you come across any other book endorsements which aren't cliched like... If Stephen King wrote Harry Potter set in 2500s England during robot uprisal it would be this novel.
r/books • u/eieireddit • 12h ago
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, a former columnist for The Wall Street Journal
This is a heavy summary of the book, the psychology of money. let's discuss it!
- Motivational introductory quote: “Ordinary folks with no financial education can be wealthy if they have a handful of behavioral skills that have nothing to do with formal measures of intelligence.”
- Different experiences shape different money usage: “If you happened to grow up when the stock market was strong, you invested more of your money in stocks later in life compared to those who grew up when stocks were weak.”
- Luck plays a big role, esp in extreme outcomes: “Bill Gates went to one of the only high schools in the world that had a computer.”
- Environment affects a lot to your financial success: “Economist Bhashkar Mazumder has shown that incomes among brothers are more correlated than height or weight”
- Knowing enough is key to happiness: “the only way to win is to not fight to begin with—to accept that you might have enough, even if it’s less than those around you.”
- You don’t need to earn a lot of money for luxury to be happy.: (survey to people) “No one—not a single person out of a thousand—said that to be happy you should try to work as hard as you can to make money to buy the things you want. No one—not a single person—said it’s important to be at least as wealthy as the people around you, and if you have more than they do it’s a real success. No one—not a single person—said you should choose your work based on your desired future earning power. What they did value were things like quality friendships, being part of something bigger than themselves, and spending quality, unstructured time with their children.”
- People want admiration and respect from others.: “The letter I wrote after my son was born said, You might think you want an expensive car, a fancy watch, and a huge house. But I’m telling you, you don’t. What you want is respect and admiration from other people, and you think having expensive stuff will bring it. It rarely does—especially from the people you want to respect and admire you.” “Humility, kindness, and empathy will bring you more respect than horsepower ever will.”
- The key to successful investing is to take time and have endurance
- having passion over one investment makes you stick to the investment, so you don’t have to have a lack of emotions.
- saving money and making room for error to endure the hardship of a mental side and an investment side as Warren Buffett and Bill Gates did.
- “thinking of market volatility as a fee rather than a fine is an important part of developing the kind of mindset that lets you stick around long enough for investment gains to work in your favor.”
- How to stay wealthy is a combination of frugality and paranoia which is a fear that what you’ve made can be taken away from you.
- Wealth is what you don’t see.: “Wealth is the nice cars not purchased. The diamonds were not bought. The watches were not worn, the clothes were forgone and the first-class upgrade declined. Wealth is financial assets that haven’t yet been converted into what you see.” “When most people say they want to be a millionaire, what they might mean is “I’d like to spend a million dollars.” And that is the opposite of being a millionaire.”
- Key traits for personal finance success: “People with enduring personal finance success—not necessarily those with high incomes—tend to have a propensity to not give a damn what others think about them. Savings can be created by spending less. You can spend less if you desire less. And you will desire less if you care less about what others think of you”
- The author’s recommendation is to SAVE money
- it gives you to be flexible in that you can wait for good opportunities in your career and investments and you can learn a new skill at your own pace and you can have more control over your time.
- Intelligent people are everywhere, so “Intelligence is not a reliable advantage in a world that’s become as connected as ours has.”
- Past and future were and will sometimes be unpredictable, not understandable, and can’t be analyzed to find causes.
- “Daniel Kahneman once told me about the stories people tell themselves to make sense of the past. He said Hindsight, the ability to explain the past, gives us the illusion that the world is understandable. It gives us the illusion that the world makes sense, even when it doesn’t make sense. That’s a big deal in producing mistakes in many fields.”
- When you look back in history, look for general things, such as people’s psychological traits like greed and fear, how they behave under stress, etc.
- One psychological truth: people change their desire, goals, hobby, etc.
- Don’t take advice from whom have different goals and who don’t know your situation like saving.: “When a commentator on CNBC says, “You should buy this stock,” keep in mind that they do not know who you are”
- Be not pessimistic and be optimistic because we can see improvements in long-term history.: “Stocks rising 1% might be briefly mentioned in the evening news. But a 1% fall will be reported in bold, all-caps letters usually written in blood red. The asymmetry is hard to avoid.”
Thanks for reading! Let me know your opinion below!
r/books • u/trekbette • 8h ago
I'm reading The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires and I keep having to put it down because it is make me too tense. No spoilers.
This is the fourth Grady Hendrix book I've read.
- Final Girl's Club
- My Best Friend's Exorcism
- Horrorstor
- The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
They are all good, engrossing books. The characters seem like normal people caught up in extraordinary situations, and they react like a normal person would... Fear, stress, freezing up, avoidance... Maybe it is the ordinary reactions that are just causing my shoulders to tense up and the back of my neck to ache.
I have to finish this book though!
What books have caused you to have (minor) physical reactions? And what light and fluffy book did you read after as a palate cleanser?
r/books • u/TalhaAhmad • 3h ago
I finally read something recommended by a billionaire: Business Adventures by John Brook
I have always been averse to reading books recommended by the richest people on the planet, mostly because I don't believe that their wealth is built on some foundation of knowledge and understanding of the world gained by reading books. Broadly, the books recommended by these people are of two types: investing tips and guides and self-help / motivational books. The former ones I still believe could be helpful while the latter are all more or less the same.
In any case, among the numerous books recommended by Bill Gates, Business Adventures by John Brook is just one of them. Published in 1969, it is comprised of 12 short stories / incidents which are:
- The stock market crash of 1963
- A tale of the Edsel car manufactured by Ford
- The success and faults of the US Federal Income Tax
- The first indictment of Insider Trading in the case of Texas Gulf Sulpher Company in 1963
- The invention and triumph of the Xerox machines
- The bailing out of customers of a bankrupt brokerage firm called Haupt by the US Stock Exchange in 1963-64
- The indictment of multiple US firms including General Electric on crime of engagement in collusion in 1960, which resulted due to miscommunication among company employees
- The last happening of "cutting a corner" by Clarence Saunders in the 1920s
- Post-retirement life of David Eli Lilenthal, called the most controversial man after WWII
- Impact of Stockholders on Company's Annual Meetings, more specifically during the 1966 meetings
- The case of Donald Wulgemuth whose employer filed a case against him to forbid him to switch jobs in fear of disclosing of trade secrets
- The defense of the pound sterling by the US Federal Reserve Bank in the 1960s
So, this book offers something most other recommendations don't: an engaging story that doesn't contain sermons or advices. All of these short stories were fascinating from a non-American point of view and really give sone insight into post WWII business expansion in US. Since the book is published in 1969, it mostly contains stories from the 1960s which is really an interesting time for the US as it fully embraced capitalism while businesses flourished and new complexities related to private companies arose.
I doubt anyone will learn some financial management skills by reading it but it will provide you with an intriguing reading material while you are travelling in the bus or waiting at your doctor's office.
r/books • u/Heisenberg2567 • 57m ago
Did you ever have a "friendship" with an author or a bond?
I just reread Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell, and I had this strange feeling.
It was, as if I accopanied him, first through spain, two months ago, and now through Paris and London.
I feels like I just haven't read his thoughts, but rather had a conversation with him. I wasn't critically questioning his texts, I rather argued with him, like in a discussion (though I agree with him on most political topics, atleast).
My breaking point was, when he wrote about his experience in the gastronomy, because I share similar experiences (it's funny, how less this branch has changed over 90 years). It all felt real to me at that point, truly tangible.
Beaneath all the great book authors I know, he seems like the most reasonable person. Don't get me wrong. It is like you're working at a place, with very talented coulleagues, that all lost a bit of their sanity, due to their commitment to their work, and he's like the one friend you got there, with whom you go for a smoke, you know?
I'd give ten years of my life, just for one evening with this man.
r/books • u/Unusual_Writing_8421 • 1d ago
Book lover or not?
I’ve loved reading since I was a teen. Now, at the age of 35 I’ve realized I haven’t ready since becoming a mother 4 years ago (at least one that isn’t a children’s book). Recently I told an associate that I loved to read, which prompted them to ask me what book I was currently reading. I admitted I hadn’t read a book in a few years, however I’ve been finding audiobooks convenient lately. To which they responded, “then you don’t love to read.”
Does stoping a hobby or not finding the time/focus for a hobby mean you love it any less?
r/books • u/AutoModerator • 15h ago
WeeklyThread New Releases: April 2023
Hello readers and welcome! Every month this thread will be posted for you to discuss new and upcoming releases! Our only rules are:
The books being discussed must have been published within the last three months OR are being published this month.
No direct sales links.
And you are allowed to promote your own writing as long as you follow the first two rules.
That's it! Please discuss and have fun!
r/books • u/AutoModerator • 15h ago
WeeklyThread Simple Questions: April 01, 2023
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!
r/books • u/AndyOrAmy • 6h ago
Why are English books always printed on cheap rough paper and with barely any margins, while in the translations they use fancy paper, font and better margins?
I was at the bookstore here in Belgium and they have an entire section now with English only books. But I have noticed that these books are always printed on rough paper, with bad fonts and small margins. The books seem to come from the 80s. I wanted to buy some Colleen Hoover and I compared the English books to the exact same ones but in Dutch right next to it. Same price, same cover, but much better paper, crisp soft and white, pretty font easy to read, and nice margins. What is up with this?
r/books • u/MintPotatoe • 21h ago
I get immense sadness when I finish a book.
I have always been a non-fiction reader, but this last year I started getting into fiction. I am addicted to the stories and im having such a great time reading well written stories, but when I finish a book Im loving, I get such dread.
I just finished a book tonight, and it ends with two brothers going on their own ways not sure if they’ll see each other again. Find out that it’s the last book of the series and I now have to live with my imagination that the world that this book created it is now stuck with me.
I love it, it’s such a unique feeling/emotion that I don’t get from anywhere else. You invest time and care into a story, it becomes part of your life for awhile, then when the final page is read…the exchange is sealed.
Gotta love books!
r/books • u/Delicious_Maize9656 • 17h ago
"The Sculptress" by Minette Walters is a hidden gem in the world of crime fiction.
Have you ever heard of The Sculptress by Minette Walters? If not, you're missing out on a hidden gem in the world of crime fiction. One of the reasons why the sculptressis a hidden gem is because it is a masterful example of psychological suspense. Walters expertly manipulates the reader's perceptions of Olive, weaving a complex web of clues and misdirection that keeps the true nature of the crime in question until the very end. The novel is also notable for its exploration of themes such as mental illness, family dysfunction, and the power of the media to shape public opinion.
here is his top 15 books
my Top 15 Minette Walters Books of All Time
https://imgur.com/gallery/9E13wQE
r/books • u/Bookanista • 8h ago
Bryce Harper’s favorite writer
(Context: Bryce Harper is one of the best professional baseball players and plays for the adorable Philadelphia Phillies)
If you go down to the bottom of this interview, he says he loves to read and his favorite writer is romance novelist Elle Kennedy. ❤️❤️ Firstly, this is awesome and I love anybody shouting out reading and I love anybody giving a specific recommendation. I’ll have to check this writer out. 😁
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u/ShyNerd2499
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1d ago
What is one book quote you would get tattooed and why?
Mine is from Silence by Shushaku Endo: "Sin....is not to steal or tell lies. Sin is for one man to brutally walk over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind."
This one would be abbreviated but it felt right to put th whole thing. The book as a whole changed my life, and this quote in particular played a huge part in doing so.