I waited years to read them because the cover and title of the first one made me think it was generic YA. I've never been more wrong.

Yeah, I was thinking that was the case. Les Miserables is actually a really good example, because there are older translations that are in the public domain. You can read the original French text or an English translation from the 19th century on Project Gutenberg, but not any of the translations that are still under copyright. I believe there's even a copyrighted translation that is essentially a more modernized/easy-to-read version of an older public domain one, although I can't remember the translators' names off the top of my head. In any case, I assume these edited re-releases will work the same way.

Like the penguin UK cover by David Pelham when it was called Tyger Tyger

I've gotten myself into the habit of reading every night in bed before I sleep...to the point where I can't sleep well unless I read first. The only downside to this is that if I'm reading a really good book I may be up till 2-3am.

You have a reader on your hands.

I used to put a towel at the crack in my door so my parents couldn't see the light was on while I read late into the night.

As a criticism of your criticism, wanting subtext does not make you a "snob". People read for all different reasons and wanting to hear a deeper story is a valid one. Quite a few readers here and everywhere else would agree with you.

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>All the sex gets a bit heavy-handed and detracts from the book after a
while. It starts to feel less like a spicy romance thriller and more
like cheap erotica for horny women.

You really hit the nail on the head. In defense of Hoover, she intimately knows her market.

Not relevant in this case, but yes.

Yup, and tons of not very good writers become successful and wealthy. The point being, whilst piracy might affect direct sales of a particular book, there's good evidence to suggest it leads to people going and buying more books by that author. This in turn leads me to believe that piracy might piss off the publishing industry when they heavily market a particular book(s) but there's probably a net financial gain for individual authors across all their work.

Please nurture this and don't let other people ruin it for him.

Had a similar feeling, checked the comments straight after, something doesn’t feel right about it.

[removed]

what happened to the AMA with Abi Daré?

Addendum to other's posts: Published work that entertains people is not the most informative, correct, or even truthful. You see this phenomenon on YouTube with finance "influencers". They'll peddle all these wild investments, crypto scams, and personal seminars to make money. Don't confuse popular entertainment with information.

The sad reality is that a Get Rich title with the words "Make more, spend less, invest the difference" would be one boring, mostly empty page. A Gain Weight book would have no market and a "Lose Weight" book would be "Calories in, calories out, take care of eating disorders."

Quite a good hack is to look at the first year reading lists on uni courses. Generally, these are online on the course descriptions and are at the level it sounds like you're looking for with the added bonus of being vetted by the respective uni. Some of it might be textbooks but most also have shorter summaries or other types of materials. One of my courses had a small detective novel.

Also, don't get too intimidated by journals; they're just structured in a specific way and with academic language but at the core, there's a question, a bit of research and data, then a summary. Read the intro and the summary and you'll get all the info you need.

I'd also suggest you look into some basic stats to help understand what the results of a study actually mean. Probably a YT video on it somewhere, but it'll help in comparing research and in understanding how certain (significant, in stats terminology) a result is.

I liked it too. I often find myself relating it to new books I read or just to events in my life.

Man, I have a 11 month daughter and I really want her to like to read as much as me. But people keep telling me that children today don't like books. Your story just gimme hope for the future!

It also helps to keep a list of books that you want to read (or requests at the library) so you know you have to finish your current book to start another book that you're looking forward to.

Yep. In two semesters I've bought one single textbook, used the archive for all the rest. Will be terribly devastated if the archive's forced to stop, don't want to pirate but also can't afford 6 text books per semester (at minumum) for the next 6 semesters. Judging from the article though, the case is against what they did during Covid, so maybe they can keep at a limited lending schedule.

Tons of good writers don't reach the level of success he has and he is my favorite author.

Physical library books are unlikely to be loaned as much as 50 times before being withdrawn from the shelves. Both age and wear and tear will cause them to be withdrawn long before that number is reached.

I'd say step one is to be a good writer, like Neil Gaiman.

Step one be incredibly successful and wealthy like Neil Gaiman.

This was me, I remember being about 10 and burning my bedlinen because I was desperate to keep on reading but didn’t want my sister (who I shared a room with) to wake up and rat me out. Good times.

I specifically ordered a copy of I Am Legend without Will Smith on the cover. Guess who was on the cover of the copy I received.

Not really. Many libraries work that way. And the ones that don't, you're paying for through taxes. The books are paid for.