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Wait, I was literally just talking about this. Those thriller, chick-lit type of books were pure entertainment and comfort for me, but lately I’ve found them to be insufferably bad. The last straw for me was “wrong place, wrong time” which I did not finish with only about 30% of the audiobook left - it was truly one of the worst listening/reading experiences I’ve ever had. I genuinely hated the book, but it has high reviews, and now I think it’s just me who has grown out of the genre!

read this book in school. It was a pleasant read, couldn't tell you why though.

It's my understanding (I may be wrong, and I can't check this because I'm not in Ukraine!) that the Reading Club app (Android and Apple Store) is making its library of stories practically free (5 cents for unlimited membership) for people in Ukraine. I have heard that they would make it completely free but can't seem to do so when it's not free in other countries. Some kind of technicality with the store settings.

Bazaar is one I haven't got yet, but will be on the lookout. Thanks!

Those willing to pay more for hardbacks get first dibs. Seems reasonable.

Oh, if only I could get all those hours of my life back!

Why is this a necessary discussion? Reading is a low-stakes solo endeavor and the rewards are all internal to the individual. STG people will turn anything into a toxic fandom.

Careful, you'll awaken the luddites.

I’m a big King fan and enjoy both his giant novels and his short story collections. For the intro to one of them he compares a story to dating. A novel is a serious relationship. Maybe it’s a good one, maybe it’s a bad one but it’s deep and there’s commitment involved. A short story is a kiss in the dark. Maybe it’s amazing and meaningful, but it’s also fleeting.

Soo, his writing style has changed plenty over the years, and personally I think his newer books are amazing. 11/22/63 is top notch, and I just finished his most recent book Fairy Tale. Very different, but I really enjoyed it.

If It Bleeds is so damn good.

You didn't mention Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which is my favorite book of shirt stories by him. I'd recommend that

One important thing about being a reader is understanding the meaning of the words one reads. And it looks like Daniel Pennac -- along with so many others -- might not have understood the word "inalienable".

People think it means that the right cannot be taken from you. That is not what it means. It means the right cannot be contracted away. And I don't like that. By calling the right not to read inalienable, Mr. Pennac is saying that I cannot make an agreement with someone: "I'll read every day if you pay me."

So, sure, they're rights. I'm fine with that. But let's not call them "inalienable".

I would like to replace the right to read out loud with that one.

Nothing to add to the conversation, but I just want to recommend King's Different Seasons collection! Every story is amazing.

Outside of 5 and 7, none of those need to be said. That's just reading.

6 sounds like something you should see a mental therapist about.

He's the Girl Talk of modernism bro don't hate on him 🔥

You're contradicting what they said, and talking about stuff outside the context of Rights Theory. I just meant to point out that rights as "limited freedoms [...] guaranteed by governments" is sort of silly, since the whole point of rights are to push back on perceived violation of those rights.

I imagine her to appear around 15 or 16 since she estimated Josie to be 14 and a half and she said that Josie was shorter (until the last chapter where Josie was a little taller than Klara).

Then again Klara might not be as heavy as a real person, making it easy for Rick to carry her. She was supposed to ‘continue’ Josie but she was going to get uploaded to the body that Mr. Capaldi was creating so her physical appearance didn’t really matter.

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I think around 16 makes the most sense but it’s hard to confirm

Thanks for the well thought out response. I've heard of 'Seasons', but haven't read it yet. Will pick it up for sure now.

I read a lot (most) King voraciously for a long long time. I found I really enjoyed the way a lot of them were interrelated, particularly (maybe almost exclusively) the Dark Tower tie ins - for me, there were many "a-ha" moments where characters or concepts return (Everything's Eventual is a great example).

There's this obsessive sort of branching that gives me the feeling the DT story has been gnawing at his consciousness just about forever.

With that in mind, the short works feel more like a pressure relief valve.

"Yes, yes, yes DT, my master, my muse, I will write more about you soon, but let me scratch a couple itches and take a breath once in a while, 'kay?"

(PS - Needful Things is great, and a lot of it is short-storyish feeling, as the individual characters' backstories are sketched out)

11 - The right to not endlessly document every word on goodreads.

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Does he use a lot of intertextual references, I.e, copying multiple lines of someone else’s work, like he does in The Waste Land? Allusions are allusions but, dude, lifting like, line after line….

What about the right not have your reading surveilled? I'd add that to the list. 30 years after 1992, seems kind of important, especially with all the reading tech keeping tabs on you.

*finished