Okay so I didn’t miss anything. That’s what I thought. Thanks!

I watched the Netflix series before reading the book. I loved the show so couldn’t wait for the book. Big let down. The show gave the characters, plus more (ex the brother), SO much depth and personality and meaning to their individual stories as people and the book has none of that for me. And the sequel was even worse! I forced myself to finish it but it was so boring. No story to it. No meaning.

Super disappointing.

I agree too. Either way the author/publisher won't get any money. At least they get free advertisment if you speak about the downloaded books. You could also look into books which are in public domain. These are legal to download and to read.

I enjoy learning things. I enjoy learning about particular topics. I also have aphantasia and nonfiction is way easier for me than fiction (though I do read mostly fiction and I do love it to).

I suppose, though I usually don't partake in classics (unless scifi like Frankenstein or fantasy-esque like Dracula) because they don't peek my interest too much.

I think its mainly for me, I'm surface level when it comes to reading because I want an escape and only have my mind working on creative ideas for other works. I've never really felt drawn for deeper meaning or connection to like the outside world or philosophies or such and deep analysis to get to those always felt like homework to me. Something which is a minor stressor for me because of high absence as a child in school, I would end up with piles of homework when I got back.

I mean, I do enjoy researching (specific topics) but breaking things down was never one of the activities I enjoyed, even pre-absence issue

For all the numbskulls posting about some version other than the BOOK, the point OP is making is that the book is a work of genius. Hugo's novels changed laws in France. That, imo, is the test of greatness--does your work affect the future constructively.

I love the part about the boy, the mudlark, who lives in the elephant. The whole book is so f-ing amazing if you don't read it, you're a deadbeat.

I’m big into non-fiction and to me it can be similar to reading good fiction. Good writing is good writing regardless of the genre. As readers, isn’t that what we are after? For example, dry history can be extremely dull, but when written well can be extremely addictive. A few good titles that come to mind are The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson and Rubicon by Tom Holland. Same with science. I read The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson and found it one of my favorite reads. It helps to have some interest in a topic, but for the most part good writing in most forms is a pleasure to read.

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Maybe you can start small if you haven't read that much. A professor used to tell us that; that you don't run a marthon on the first go, you start training little by little. Same with literature, if you grab the Quxiote as your first book you'll feel bored, defeated and won't really want to read anymore. But maybe you can start with "easier" stuff.

If you can tell us a tad about your interests so we can better pinpoint to a book you'll really be intersted in, that'd be great.

Some books I feel that you'll love coud be:

• The Strain: I feel this is a really good option since it's an easy read, really interesting and falls under a lot of the genres you're interested in. Just dive in without reading anything about it.
• The Shadow of the Wind: One of my favourite reads.
• PenPals: Scared the blyat out of me.
• Tales From the Gridsquare: Same as the above.
• A Wizard of Earthsea
• The Caves of Steel
• A Song of Ice and Fire
• Wheel of Time
• The Hobbit: If you want to get into Tolkien, start with this. It's pretty easy and fun.

I'll try thinking of more.

Thank you for this information, it's been very difficult for me to find several obscure and/or out of print reference books as of late. I tried through my local bookstore, but it's unfortunately owned by an asshat who went "Why would you even want that?" when I put in the request.

Personally, I like the complete rewrite for the movie script better than the book. I’d never re-read Ready Player One. And Ready Player Two needs to go die in a fire. That was awful.

Quick recommendation: One of the more interesting non-fiction books I've read is called The Brenner Assignment. It touches on the fledgling CIA (OSS) during WWII. It specifically deals with one particular mission in northern Italy. An American was dropped into the Italian Alps to set up a partisan resistance of sabotage and subterfuge. It was a wild story.

To learn.

Don't rule non-fiction out. "Truth is stranger than fiction." Look for literary non-fiction; many read as a novel. The Glass Castle, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, to name a couple.

Best way to learn about the American Civil War is to read histories of the American Civil War. Fiction about the Civil War won't tell you a lot about who actually did what, when, how, and with what result. It might give you snippets here and there, but will mostly go off on tangents about some fictional story set during the American Civil War. On the other hand, a good history of the war will give you lots of really good context and background for any Civil War fiction you read afterwards, and give you good insights into what that fictional story has to add to (or subtract from) the story of what actually happened.

The same is true for any history about any subject. Similar things are true for biographies. Even textbooks can be enlightening.

I read philosophy and fiction and I like fiction with philosophical content or leanings. Also keep in mind that many writers of good fiction read a lot of non-fiction to underpin/inspire their work. I think there is much overlap.

Oh wow thanks for pointing that out!! I got the reference from school and have used it since. I'll defs be checking out other recommendations here thanks fam

Oh, yeah… I guess that can depend on the professor. My literature professors were pretty awesome! And so were my high school English teachers. I enjoyed them… probably why I do what I do now.

I don't believe there was a deeper meaning. There were superficial private jokes, based on the children's names being worked into the story as animals (real life Alice's sisters). But basically, it's a witty nonsense story invented to amuse a group of children on a day out and then it was written down and expanded later.

This.

I believe getting books from illegal sources in such situations is justified.

If you are financially able to buy books, then you should do it. If you are not, and your community is not helping neither (censored or poorly equiped libraries), then it's OK.

True. And some books definitely are better that way. I think my issue was the Profs tried to push political views into the analysis.

Per Rule 3.6: No distribution or solicitation of pirated books.

We aren't telling you not to discuss piracy (it is an important topic), but we do not allow anyone to share links and info on where to find pirated copies. This rule comes from no personal opinion of the mods' regarding piracy, but because /r/books is an open, community-driven forum and it is important for us to abide the wishes of the publishing industry.

As a bookseller, my shop supports my community and a portion of profits go back into making our city a better place. I don’t “deserve money” from anyone but when people make the choice to support our shop it stays local, funds free programs, book giveaways and more, and helps our local economy. We work with local authors, nonprofits, and vendors as well giving them a platform.

I love going to bookstores!!

Talk to your parents, maybe they will agree to buy you some books if not everyone... some books is better than none.
Maybe instead of asking money for specific books, ask for something more generic, like a service like kindle unlimited?