yes. the “Ikea Nesting Instinct.”

Wier's The Martian.

One of my favourites. Although whenever I reread it, the beginning of the novel still makes me angry.

I'm not shocked to learn the same duo wrote The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. I loved that book when I was a kid.

No no, see TV is visual, not litteral

Jon Sciezka! I read a bunch of his books as a kid. Stinky Cheese Man, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, and several Time Warp Trio books. I loved his bizarre, somewhat creepy illustrations.

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In my opinion the entire book is utter drivel, I read it decades ago out of curiosity and it's just the ravings of a deluded fool. More over it's so poorly written, as you noticed "babbling and rambling", that it's a real chore to actually read and there's very little of any substance or literary merit to reading outside of an academic context.

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. One of many things they taught me was that people can be incredibly absurd.

I see what you did there 😂 this was a serious post though.

>I have never read a non-fiction before

You still haven't.

Try Mcarthy’s The Road next - it might fit your taste.

Then probably no on Poppy Wars. I found all the war stuff really heavy handed, and seemed copy-pasted from Wikipedia page on the Rape of Nanking

Wow this took me back. Just ordered it for my nephew

Thanks for the suggestions!

Well I'm not sure how you're currently choosing books, so I don't know how helpful this will be, but here is how I do it:

Step 1) I don't read reviews. These days I barely read the back blurb. I follow a lot of indie/well-curated bookstores and get news letters about new releases, author talks, etc. I don't read them in depth, but rather scan, keeping my eye open for anything at all that sounds remotely interesting. Bonus points if the same book gets showcased a lot. Then I will usually, eventually go take a look at it.

2. When I look at the book, I look at the cover and the endorsement blurbs. I will skim the summary a little, if I'm like, IN the bookstore looking at a book that hasn't been on my radar at all. They don't always determine whether I will read a book (or enjoy it if I do), I'm just telling you what I do. I look to see if it's won any awards or been shortlisted for any. I don't tend to like Booker winners, and I do tend to like Pulitzer winners... If you notice any trends like this among the books you enjoy, take them into account.

Step 3) This used to be the main way I chose books but as I gained more understanding about what I liked, I relied on it less-- Open to a random page and read it. If it is interesting to you the whole time, even without context, you will probably like the book. Don't read the first page, it has to be random. Usually a lot of effort has been put into the opener even if the rest of the book isn't great.

Step 4) Over time, find people who share your reading tastes. I only really have two, and one of them I'm not really in touch with right now. But either of those people could recommend me anything and I know I will read it and enjoy it.

But I think maybe if I had to give any advice, it's this: If you aren't liking a book as much as you want to be liking it, then put it down right away. At page 50 instead of page 90. Put it down before it makes you mad. The more you do that, the faster you'll calibrate your tastes and be able to put my above advice into action (if you want). Happy reading!

I think that mediocre authors tend to get famous because their books are written simply and non readers tend to be drawn to that so they blow up. Tik Tok helps that for sure, and when an author becomes so good they develop a huge cult following, who tend to be very very protective of said authors, which in turn starts to really grate on people, so more people become vocal about this dislike and it becomes more about the annoying fans then the actual authors.

In the end I do not understand why anyone would judge a person based on a book they are reading.

I don't know if I get anything out of it really other then happiness. It connects me to people, it gives me a place to imagine and loss myself in, it relaxes me anytime I sink in. And when I do go for a non fiction book it fills me with knowledge.

Really? I don’t think the foundational text of the western world and its philosophy, history, literature, etc. is “just nonsense”. The Bible seems like nonsense in isolate and from the viewpoints of extremists, but as a whole it well encapsulates the world views of various schools of thought in Hebrew society. Even if you’re a hardcore atheist, the Bible does portray a cohesive view into the peoples of this time, and is largely consistent to its own logic system. Saying the Bible is just nonsense is like saying The Odyssey, Beowulf, and the Veda are worthless drivel just because their worldview seems silly

Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong checks your boxes of a female disabled person of color!

Edit: Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig is also a highly rated book on my to read list!

I remember making a Stinky cheese man musical performance as a child for some sort of extracurricular. I was the stinky cheese man.

This book was so incredible to me as a kid. My brothers and I were obsessed.

Tell me how you didn't understand anything about caste system without telling me you didn't understand anything about caste system.

That professor is saving themselves of a headache by not responding.

P.S. before you come at me, I'm a Hindu, from India. I live this reality.

I want to have a good time too, and I do my best to be careful.

Honestly, sometimes, I think authors just want characters to have fixations that they can derive character out of if they are obsessive and the obsession probably has more to do with the Authors actual brand of personal knowledge.

Like, William Gibson made his character in Pattern Recognition know clothing dramatically well....but I just think he personally had that specific obsession and used it because it didn't cost him time for research.