Oh my gosh me too... haha glad to hear I wasnt the only one.

I was wondering what you thought about Utopia Avenue? I have not read it yet and was curious on what others thought, as well as if it shares some similarities with Bone clocks and/or ghostwritten?

I listened to the audiobook and enjoying the writing style. It was so different and great listening to with a full cast. I had high hopes for it, but I agree with you that it was disappointing. It was definitely anticlimactic. I was hoping for a better ending.

I loved the magical aspect of slade house but I'm not much into the horrifying aspects (I'm in a bit of a "comfort" reading phase).

I love how he writes characters and scenery and world-building and everything. Just how the heck can one author do it all!!

You might enjoy Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse or Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.

thank you!!

Number9dream I did in general enjoy (I loved the descriptions of Japan, and I've been to Japan like you and I'm very connected to the location) however I struggled about with a certain graphic scene (if I remember correctly).

I also really enjoyed the descriptions of England (I love and miss England) in Blackswangreen. However, I prefer the books with more magical elements so I wasnt crazy about this one either. Likewise with thousand autumns. All beautifully written books of course, but not suited for my very specific and picky "comfort" list haha.

I have not read Stardust, but I do enjoy Neil Gaiman's work. If you are a fan of fantasy, you may also enjoy Coraline, The Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, and American Gods.

Yes I love how he connects those things!! Its so satisfying when you recognize a reference and when you re-read a book and notice little things you missed before.

I personally didn't enjoy that book much, but maybe I'll try it again. I struggled to focus on it a bit and I read for escapism so I do enjoy some more magical elements. It definitely speaks more to me as a reader than the book itself, I just struggle with focus issues. It was very well-written in my opinion!

Please join me with the re-read (if you want, no pressure of course haha)!

You start with the one with the best hats.*

​

*Go Dog Go by PD Eastman

You might like Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo.

started strong but i didn’t love where it went. i appreciated its ambition though.

You might enjoy Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes!

I love to read. Sometimes I read three books in one week. Sometimes I don‘t touch a book for months. Don‘t pressure yourself. It is okay if reading is not your thing. Or maybe, like others suggested you haven‘t found your genre yet.

When I was 16 I really thought I should read more classics. I bought Robinson Crusoe, Dracula, Pride and Prejudice… because others consider them great but I hated them. I think they were so boring, they didn‘t speak to me, I didn‘t feel a connection to any of the characters. And decluttered all of them 😅 My advice for you would be: go to a library or a book store and just pick the first book that speaks to you. If it is a romance book or children’s book doesn’t matter just go for it. Or maybe ask yourself what you like to watch. For example if you really love Fantasy or dragons or horror movies, you could go to a store and let a employe suggest you a book in that category.

And if you netherless you want to have a few specific suggestions from different genres, here are a few of my favourites. Maybe you can try some of them out, if it’s too overwhelming for you to just walk in to a store a library and choose a book.

Fantasy: Harry Potter is amazing, or maybe you like A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Historical Fiction: I really enjoyed The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley. Or if you really interested in life in 1665 London you could read At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper.

Classics: the closest to classics I enjoyed were the Sherlock Holmes books (my favourite is The Hound of Baskerville), and Journey To the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Romance: If you want to read a good romance book I suggest Every Summer After by Carley Fortune. Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid was amazing too. Or Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston.

Maybe you love to read a good book about traveling. My favourite ones are all in German, so I don’t want to assume you speak German. So maybe look for a country or a region you find fascinating and look if there are any travel books about it. I just started Walking The Americas by Levison Wood and so far I like it.

If you are into Horror maybe try Stephen King.

If you enjoy Military Science Fiction try the Gaunts Ghost Series by Dan Abnett.

Some of the other books I really love but don’t know to put in a category: Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid I‘m glad my mom died by Jenette McCurdy (Biography) The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben Life without Limits by Nick Vujicic. (Biography)

These were books I really enjoyed. If you don‘t like them it is totally fine. They are just my cup of tea. And I know you said you wanted to read to learn something new. I learned much from biography as well as from romance novels.

Great neo-noir that took the characters and a few plot points from the book and made its own thing. But man, the book is sprawling and craaazy, daddy-o!

I did a big re-read of the books recently and it's jarring how conventional his prose style was in the beginning, including the Black Dahlia.

That’s high praise and makes me hyped to read LA Confidential. The movie is fantastic.

For reasons you described that is why I’m picky about magical realism. So far the only series that I think have addressed the issue well have been The Dresden Files and the Harry Potter series.

What ruins my suspension of belief is when authors do such terrible research into widely accessible information. Like first aid, basic emergency medicine, basic firearm safety, fundamental urban combat movement, etc… all of these are easy to find and easy to portray correctly. But too many times authors just phone things like that in. The example that comes to mind of some of the most egregious lack of research in those regards is “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch.

I think they are technically YA, ursula definitely started writing them for young adults, but she is such a top notch writer that I would definitely suggest them to adults. Especially Tehanu, i have seen a ton of people say they didn’t grasp it when they were younger.

I think I thought these were YA? Would I enjoy these if I don't like most YA novels?

I'll never forget the part in 4 where the two young sisters were raped killed and tortured in the rich mans house and the scene where the young girl went to the hospital and before she died was sad about never seeing her brother and sister again. I cried while reading those parts.

Maybe you are reading the wrong books for you. I suggest trying different genres rather than classics. Find something that's really fun.

Please cite the statements that are lesbophobic & homophobic.

Damn, this post got homophobic FAST.

It's a legal disclaimer there for legal reasons.

Please, I am begging homophobes to READ BOOKS.