That's a very homophobic way of saying that heterosexual people feared being perceived in any way as gay and have spent decades sexualizing same-sex affection as a way to further stigmatize gay people.

I thought it was pretty good, but I think my enjoyability was impacted a bit by the fact that I was in a reading slump at the time. Although I thought the ending dragged on a bit, I liked the mythological elements. Not my favourite, but it was still a fun read.

It wasn't just affection between men or people of the same sex that wasn't sexualized. Affection in general is much more sexualized today. People showed a lot more affection towards children, for instance, without being viewed as pedophiles.

Maybe some of the bits where the ghost of Zaphod Beeblebrox IV is talking to the crew while the Vogons attack.

And condolences on the loss of your father.

I read that book as a parent of young kids. It made me realize I was doing FINE as a parent. A lot of us worry so much about every little thing. But if you put your kids first and do your best, you are a good parent. Even the worst parents ever (Glass Castle parents) raised a kid who wrote a great novel and seems pretty well-adjusted, considering. The scene when the kids were in the back of the (open!) moving truck, while the parents sat in the front, has always stuck with me as unbelievably shocking.

I had to force my way through Gardens of the Moon, but I'm so glad I did. Going back through Malazan the 2nd time was a delight, and the 3rd trip through made it all feel great, and complete. It might not be that way for the series you're reading, but you'll never find out unless you try 😉

"Oh, freddled gruntbuggly..."

Not 18th century but Holmes referred to Watson as his “intimate friend” so persistently that I started shipping them (but I’m not the first).

If I’m browsing a bookstore or alike, the cover is huge for me. I rarely look at title names, rather the cover and colours. If a cover strikes my interest, I’ll read the back and very rarely the first page. I often confirm my feelings on the book by a quick goodreads check to view the star rating and see whether any of my friends have rated the book.

I also use goodreads a lot to create a list of To-Read which includes real-life recommendations and those I come across on goodreads.

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Hello, I feel your pain. My dad died just this past August. We had a quiet grave side memorial for him but I still miss him every day. At 13 he read me the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and by the end these 18 years later I probably knew it and was a bigger dork for it than he was.

In the Restaurant at the End of the Universe we have the Ruler of the Universe. He turns out to be an old man who just wants to be left alone with his cat and is not sure if anything actually exists, but he is the most peaceful character.

I hope whatever passage you read gives you peace and if you want to talk then stick this fish in your ear and send me a message. Life is complicated. Grieving is difficult.

It is!

Also no conflicts are solved by punching their way through them and it is very agile. I hope you enjoy it and, if possible and you do read it, let me know some time what you thought about it.

Yes.

Any books about first contact with aliens? Most of the stories I find about first contact just devolve into fighting. I want to read a story where it focuses more on how our world would react and change. What different groups would form for and against the aliens. Maybe there is something about the aliens that causes a major change in normal society.

I like romance books but honestly it doesnt need to be one. If there is romance please nothing spicy.

So you're saying it serves the same purpose as Kevin Spacey naming Rolo Tomasi in L.A. Confidential?

Diskworld is one of my go to rereads. I almost always go to it when I need a dose of absurdity, satire, or humor. I usually cycle through The Watch books, Susan, Moist, and the stand alones.

I read it in my teen and thought he was insufferable. I did not enjoy reading that. I felt like the book was trying to envoke sympathy or whatever but it had the opposite effect.

I was in hugh school when i read it and i hated it.

Earlier i used to agonise over which book to read, and i loved planning my reading schedule months in advance.

Now, however, i just pick up books at random. Whatever i am feeling like, i just pick up.

As for how to pick my next book, i let anything at all decide it for me...an attractive cover, heard a song which reminded me of a series, time of the year, some random readalong on Reddit or Insta, just anything.

Just pick up one and try to persist with it. In fact, put the others completely away from you so that you don't get distracted.

And then just read and read and read.

Never thought that quote, or any quote from hitchhiker guide to the galaxy would make me emotional.

Trust me - just do it. Don't worry about what to do with the books in the long term - just put the book down and go on and pick out your next book, just like you would've done if you'd finished it.

Do that a time or two and it actually gets surprisingly easy. And it's a wonderful sense of freedom to just walk away from a book you're not enjoying.

I dislike the movie and that's not reality because it's ridiculously easy to escape? There is one barbed wire string and then a forest, no dogs, no guards, no fences, no electricity, a kid digs a hole under it (the prisoner kid would have been killed on entrance to the camp). Even as a child it made me angry that they didn't escape, no one would have died in those conditions. It's not realistic and it's disrespectful. Having said so of course the Holocaust is sad

Another should-I-finish-this-book-I-don't-enjoy post. Unless your teacher assigned it, feel free to put it aside.

I have in the past DNFed book 3 in a 4 book series.

Life is far too short to waste time on books which don't manage to hold our interest.

Moreover, you think that you might not be interested in the genre at all, so of course, you should not persist with it!

Dump it, and pick up something else! Happy reading!

And same!