East of Eden is one of my favorite books. It's amazing.

I see. It makes so much sense.

Thank you so much. I get it now.

Thank you.

>After all, isn't the point of the story HOW they get to the crucial moments?

The point of reading can be whatever people want it to. The point when I read is to be entertained, and I am greatly entertained by subversion of expections, which necessarily goes against being spoiled in most cases.

Luckily for me my friend's ask before starting a conversation with me about literature, so I just ask them not to spoil me and they respect my wishes. If someone takes issue with that...well how weird of them to have strong opinions on me not wanting to be spoiled? Sounds like I'd have a hard time if my friends were like the people on this sub

I just finished grapes of wrath on audiobook and I thought it was phenomenal. It was only my second Steinbeck after mice and men. The narrator (Dylan baker) was also excellent.

I tried reading IT twice. Never made it past 100 pages...

I would say all stories (or almost all stories) have recurring elements or archetypes, however I wouldn't say all of them are derivative. Many of the greatest stories written have an amalgamation of more than one such archetype or said element is shown from different angle.

I was fascinated by how visceral I felt for the characters when they were talking about nothing but ketchup and lennie getting angry at imaginary people harming imaginary rabbits.

I don't know what it is in the writing. But I was for a few moments completely immersed.

So far its my only Steinbeck because I'm kind of afraid to read another one. They sound emotionally exhausting.

>you really cannot expect all of society to just stop discussing pretty widely disseminated stories just because you haven't gotten there yet.

I didn't mention all of society in my comment, so I'm not sure how they all got involved here? I don't enjoy being spoiled in conversation with other individuals, and I also don't like it when people "defend" their spoiling me just because the story is old...I never said I expected anything of anyone, rather stated my preference for not being spoiled, and frustration at people dismissing my feelings about it just because a book is old.

The right to say you read a book when you listened to the audiobook without getting an "Actually..."

Well, that's Stephen King for you. Some people really like that about him, and I'm one of them, and some just don't. I'm reading Christine right now and there's a chapter dedicated to the weather and describing things like the stop light. Could it have been cut and the story would have been fine? Sure, I guess. But it adds to the ambiance and feel of the story, and one of the things that keeps me reading his books is how he describes things, not just the plot of the story itself.

Rofl 'normal size'?! What has become of r/books?

Even when you can, you really need the human hand in there or it goes haywire bonkers.

A few posts back on my profile I have some samples where I asked a novel writing AI to write Watership Down as a few different authors. Little to no additional guidance. It's entertaining but it will be a long time before it's making anything worth publishing.

I feel the same way because a huge amount of thrillers use the same tropes and that makes them predictable. But they’re just so easy to read and just entertaining enough that I consume so many…reminds me of the addictiveness of social media now that I think about it.

Now that said, I want to recommend a few thrillers that I didn’t find predictable :D

• Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

• Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

• Don’t Believe It by Charlie Donlea

-In My Dreams I Hold A Knife by Ashley Winstead

• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

• Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

• The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

Isn't all art derivative in some form or fashion?

Emily Hale specified in her will that her letters from T.S. Eliot, written from 1930 to 1956 be donated to Princeton and only unsealed 50 years after her death. They've only been available to read in person at Princeton until now.

Some posthumous relationship drama: Eliot gave a sealed statement to the Eliot Collection at Harvard with instructions that it be made public at the same time as the Princeton letters.

Number 0: the right to read as fast or as slow as suits you without being told to change.

I can't count the number of times fast readers who are struggling with a book are told to "just slow down". Fast readers, contrary to popular opinion, are not missing nuances or failing to comprehend. Slow readers are not falling behind or spending too long on a book.

A reader is never too fast or too slow; they are reading at precisely the correct speed for themselves.

Also I forgot to .mention that I'm still a teenager so pls recommend accordingly

I appreciate that, mate. It's something I struggled with on my 20's and early 30's. I always felt compelled to be out in the world with people, socializing and stuff, but most of the time I really only wanted to be immersed in a good book. Now that I'm married and a little older it doesn't bother me as much. Reading is so much more rewarding than getting drunk or whatever with people. Reading is certainly more challenging on an intellectual level and much more enjoyable!

The right not to HAVE to skip a bit because some moron editor has chosen italic font for whole chapters and you can’t read it. I gave the offending book (by Tim Weaver) away to someone else and they chucked it as well!

Please add, the right to consume books as the reader likes, e-reader, audiobook, on paper, being read to, and whatever other technology comes along to assist readers to consume the books they want!

My reading friends and I agree that there is a 'statute of limitations' on spoilers. I still insist on secrecy for books 100 years old or younger, but many of them are much more relaxed about it. After all, isn't the point of the story HOW they get to the crucial moments? And how their lives are affected afterward?

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The right to listen to an audiobook