Right, everyone on here goes on about how they love supporting local bookstores by not purchasing from the local bookstore

Yes!

This is particularly problematic with audiobooks. My partner reads them exclusively and even with the library, has not been able to successfully avoid Audible. A ton of audiobooks are exclusive.

Reminder: Libby is still OverDrive on the backend. Libby is just the new frontend user app to replace their previous app that was named OverDrive. It's all a part of their marketing to make it "friendly".

It was: OverDrive the app to use OverDrive the service provided by OverDrive the company

It's now: Libby the app to use OverDrive the service provided by OverDrive the company

EDIT: I'm not saying it's bad at all! Sorry. I'm pointing it out because a lot of people think Libby is its own service and get confused about how it's a part of OverDrive.

I buy as I get to each book in the series.

Except for Discworld. If I'm reading a series that's 40 books long and I've enjoyed 10 of them, I'll buy them up quickly to make sure they all match on my shelves. Usually when there's a big sale.

I tend to prefer ebooks now though. Cheap/free and doesn't require effort to move. If I LOVE a series I might purchase the print copies after (did this with The Witcher).

It’s called suspension of disbelief or as Tolkien argued a “secondary belief” — meaning it must ring true within the “secondary” reality of the fictional world but not necessarily our reality.

Usually if a question begins “Am I the only one who…” the answer is no, you are not the only one

Also bookshop.org always does a great job packing the books so they arrive in good condition! I had so many books from Amazon arrived all bent up from sliding around in the box during transit.

Literature is to be enjoyed, not always to be studied. Stories such as Alice's are a pleasure to read for their peculiar yet still unique demonstration. I remember reading it for the first time and just enjoying imagining the incidents and creating wonderland as I have interpreted it in my head. You might be able to interpret a meaning to the story if you revisit it again, but it's totally fine if you don't reach a conclusion. Just read for joy when you need or want to. It's always a good boost for imagination ☁️

I read or listen to this every now and then and the ending gets me every time.

I think it's great that you liked it! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy people have different tastes in books.

It just feels strange that I rarely hear negative comments from people who have read through it. Maybe because it's a bit of a brick.

I find the book interesting in the historical sense, and as a view to the time and society it was written, but that's about it.

It’s satirical of upper English culture so it’s basically just taking a piss at how serious adults take themselves. They try so hard to be proper and follow social etiquette but it’s all nonsense despite how somber they get sometimes. I think my critique in understanding with your point was that the book just “ends” all of a sudden and there’s not necessarily a meaningful conclusion or narrative knot that ties itself at the end.

I think the books success and popularity grew at the right time. This was like the first book in a long time where people wanted that VR game brought to life outside of sword art. And it really took off. I read it around the time it came out and loved it read it again last year and didn't feel the same. I think if rpo came out now it wouldn't have the same success it did before. I still like the first book but the second was a disaster and don't recommend.

I think that vast majority of people read for enjoyment. If you look at the best selling books, they're almost universally "light" literature. Even the books from "serious" authors that sell well are usually their most conventional ones.

It really doesn't matter. You read what you want to and, if you enjoy it, it's great.

I just want to say, not all books are how you described literature. There are books out there that are "more true" than most non-fiction or scientific books.

Most local bookstores will also order books for you and then they get 100% of the profit. But Bookshop.org is a great alternative if you don't actually visit your local bookstores often. Our closest bookstore just links to their bookshop.org page as their online store!

But other times a story is a vessel for more meaning the author tries to convey. Source: also have literature degree.

The trick I suppose is to know which ones are just stories and which ones are telling you more through that story. In some cases you can see through the story to the deeper meaning, other times you need the author’s words about that story, and other times you don’t have their words, but their lives and context.

It’s ok to look for a deeper meaning and it’s cool if you don’t see anything else there. I find life is a lot more enjoyable when I don’t lion down on other people, be they simple readers or professors over-analyzing.

No, this seems like a very normal thing

When I read it for a Victorian fiction class in uni, we talked a lot about the motif of scientific advancement and Darwin, and how Victorian society was struggling to come to terms with some of those ideas. But never in a million years would I have picked that up on my own.

Addressing your secondary point about judging a book by its realism...some people's enjoyment of fiction depends on how believable the plot is and if the character's choices are at least justified by the rest of the story/characterisation/character development. People's thresholds are different. And when a plot/character choice and action is too way out there it just takes them out of the book; prevents the proper suspension of disbelief.

So it's not so much about enjoyment vs education, but rather how strictly plot and character development needs to justify the events in the story.

Why were you downvoted? I literally don't get it.

You read Absalom twice?

I think you're confusing plausibility and believability with "real,", "factual", and "educational". Your story still needs a degree of believability for readers to buy into it. Even if you have wizards slinging magical spells at each other.

Anyone know anything equivalent but for EU?

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Also for older works, which are in the public domain, you have Project Gutenberg.

Ok I will add it to my Amazon wish list thanks