Possibly; however, nothing prepared me for Marius' unbelievable badass arrival at the barricade! Here's this boy, moping, unable to make a decision about anything, upon arriving at the barricade sees Enjolras about to get bayonetted at one end of the barricade and Gavroche similarly at the other end. In one motion Marius pulls out two duelling pistols (fisticuffs) Javert(!) gave him 100 pages ago for something completely different and, guns akimbo, kills the two soldiers threatening his friends.

I loved it, it just comes completely out of nowhere and is almost anachronistic in that I'd expect that out of an 80s action movie. If a remake included it, it would be ridiculed as making Marius an action hero.

I find writing a review does that for me.

I don’t think it will, at least not in our lifetimes. AI will become better and used more, but artists need to create. The responsibility is on corporations to not rely and replace creatives with AI, which is what I don’t trust.

Depends how much they use it. Some writers will use it as a sort of foundation or skeleton for a story and then write over it.

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Misogyny sells. (Cough The Expanse cough)

Ok, I hope this is this is the last fucking time I have to see this in this subreddit. It irks me to no end. It’s called “Les Misérables”, not “Les Miserables” or whatever, you fucking philistine.

This sounds cool! I'm gonna try that.

It's called tunnel vision. I'm a 41 year old life long voracious reader and I've never read a book that featured notable violence against women.

I bet if I tried, I could read nothing but books that feature violence against women, or heinous racism or people who owned dogs though. And then pretend like it's a defining trend for books.

People tend to take note of the things they want to take note of.

That's just really sad. The reason AI exists in the first place and is able to 'write' at all is because of centuries of human endeavour and creativity. Creativity and the ability to bring something into the world that didn't exist before is a core part of being human and you're just so casual about throwing that away as though AI is better in some way. You also said in one of your comments that most writers struggle with writing, which is such a gross generalisation, I love writing and it can be hard sometimes but it's good to challenge ourselves. This type of post is terrifying because it makes me wonder if the general population feels the same way and if we'll lose the human element of our creative output.

If we count, burnt out light bulbs, and lost pets as book banning too, we can really pump those numbers up. Since counting books that have been banned doesn't seem to have anything to do with books that are banned.

I preferred her 'To be taught if fortunate' personally, but in terms of passing the 'please can we stop making women victims for 5 fucking minutes?' Vibe check: Goblin Emperor, The night circus, the girl King, she and her cat were all good. In terms of 'violence but with some genuine meaning behind it, Christina Henry writes strong but ultimately human women overcoming issues through a variety of different traits, and whilst some if the suffer domestic violence, the story centers on how it is overcome (and it's only 2 of hers thus far).

Yeah that was my point, hope it came across like that

We can have stories without being damaged............

Unless women are victims we aren't real and can't be sympathized with, duh. </s >

Just finished the book, it took me about two and a half months, so it was a slog, but was worth it. I thought it was a good story, it kept me interested. I read some Gogol and Chekov in between and it does seem the Russians always called each other by their full names. In Brothers Karamazov, you also have nicknames or family pet names. In the beginning it frustrated me to have what seemed like a three page answer with a lot of drama to every question, but I finally fell into the rhythm of the book. I think once you get going things will drop into place and you will start to understand things better especially with Dostoyevsky’s views on religion and bureaucracy.

It's good that you're not into dark fantasy, especially pre-2010s.

I really liked Crawdads but I refuse to read Colleen Hoover

If writers are using it to write then they aren't writers. They aren't doing any writing. They aren't doing any work.

If writers hate the struggle of writing then they are free to do something else with their life.

This isn't a solution.

Something extra:

I went from reading up to 30-40 books a year to a declining 3-10 starting 2017. Different situations for me to read presented. I was reading while commuting, now I had a more dynamic commute with almost no time, I was reading during lunch and now I was more engaged with my colleagues during lunch.

It all changed in 2021. That year I read 40 books again!! Last year I reached 55! This year I already have 12 done.

And books actually helped me get into that. “Atomic Habits” (if you read it, my only advice is to skip the chapter 1) and “The art of not giving a f*ck” practically helped me finding what is important to me and why, remove what I don’t find helpful in the life I want and find time for the things I enjoy.

I have at the moment a huge list of “Want to Read” in my Goodreads that might never go to 0 as it keeps growing. And I try to read different topics simultaneously (one chapter a day from one or the other, or few pages a day from few). I separated them in: mental health, work related, fantasy, people (biographies), hobby, fiction and such. And I try to have 1 from each category in my “Currently Reading”. That way I keep my brain challenged and interested by learning from different topics. If I want something lighter, or if I feel like crying or so. I am a curious person by nature and I love learning, I am thirsty for information always, so that also helps, but with today’s media-driven society, your brain might get a bit updated.

Only remember: your brain is yours and you are the driver. You can make it do ANYTHING you want. I know sometimes we need the help of externals like meds or docs, but in general, it is yours to command. Be open to question it and try new things and hack it :)

I don’t really mind it so long as writers get the credit and get paid accordingly.

This is a negotiable with the Screenwriters Guild at the moment. They’re worried Studios may be able to slither their way out of paying screenwriters their dues for scripts whose foundations come from AI. A genuine concern.

Then we also have issues arises from artists vs AI generated book covers. No doubt once the tech becomes good enough (which isn’t that far off) publishing houses will take advantage and artist drawn book covers will become a novelty.

For books, my personal opinion is if a writer uses AI they should disclose it, but that’s just me.

Sounds like anxiety. And today’s world is only created for short-spans. To hook you with one phrase. To sell you with one look. Meditating can help tons. But do not expect results soon, it’s a life-long practice.

I love TV series. Not movies that much. As I want the story to develop longer, like in a book. So I think in a sense I also read my books as if they were a TV show, “in parts”, and I enjoy the cliffhangers I leave myself with.

Just with anything in life, it is about the journey, not the destination. Try to focus on the journey instead. Not to mark the book as read but to enjoy everything that comes with reading it, maybe even learn something from it.

Maybe ask yourself: why do I read? What do I gain from reading?

Because it sells. All the books you mentioned have been big sellers. I’m not so weirded out by the authors who are obviously writing to market, but the readers who make them best sellers.

Violence against women has been a common problem for millennia, much like war and politics. It stands to reason it would be a common topic to write about.

It’s happens to me too, I’m a very anxious person and even when I’m watching a movie or a video I will constantly check the time left but it’s not to a degree that bothers me, I’ve even learnt to skim carefully to just see the page number and avoid spoilers in books lol.