Read it years ago and don't remember much from it. I see I rated it 3 stars on Goodreads, so I considered it nothing special at the time. I feel that is about accurate for a book that evokes nothing from me years later.

ME TOO! 🫣

Have a madeleine

I really like Tolkien but I am far from being an expert or the biggest enthusiastic... I get what you are saying. I really dont like the poems and music sections of the LotR books.

Can’t say much about that, because mine are all dead :(

I did this. Recently got into fantasy romance and alot of them the writing wasnt….the calibre I was used to - they are what they are and still alot are vastly entertaining. I started a new series and was really, really pleasantly surprised. She didnt have alot of followers and wasnt a name I had seen around alot so I sent her a message on insta just saying how much I enjoyed her books etc. Kinda had anxiety after I sent it because she didnt reply for a couple days but when she did she was so grateful that I reached out! I think it’s great in general but especially important when its newer authors. You’re just putting good vibes out there and the world definitely needs more of that!

Send your love to any writer you enjoy, they will love it, especially if they are not super-famous.

nooo don't remind me 😅

then it turned out those litter boxes were used so children could use the bathroom during school shootings, the very thing they couldn't care less about preventing

Crappy books make good movies and great books make crappy movies

I’ve connected with many of the authors I enjoy through their social media platforms. Maybe write an insta post about them and tag them in it

You picked up a book which sounded interesting, started to read it, did not like it because there was a sex scene. OK.

I am a bit confused here, you want validation to feeling disappointed a book turned out to not be something you liked?

>Am i judging it to hard

There is no too hard or too soft, or objective judgment. You did not like what you were reading, that is fine.

Time for John Dickson Carr!

I'd need a shovel, sadly.

You could always let us mods know who your favorite authors are and we can reach out to them about their appearing for an event with the sub where you can ask them questions or just express your appreciation.

No way I could plan that far ahead. I choose my next book whilly nilly

It's always OK to send nice comments to them. Smaller authors will usually appreciate it, and bigger names will probably have somebody to read their fan mail and pass on some of the good ones to them. If the author has a web site, it will usually have a way to contact them. If not, you can contact their publisher and ask.

I read it last year over 3-4 months, I absolutely loved it. It has some of the most distinct and fully formed characters ever shown in fiction. It's also one of the funniest books I've ever read.

Typically you can write to the publisher and they will try to pass it on, I think. Also, I think a handwritten letter is more personable and would make a better impression than an email.

Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books of all time. I'd put Agnes Grey second; it's just so ahead of its time. I've stopped and started Wuthering Heights on several occasions at this point, sigh.

If you're a Bronte fan I highly recommend the Juliet Barker biography of them; it's long but full of amazing detail.

Yes you can definitely do it! I love when people reach out regarding my book. I even put a support email (not my personal email) for others to email! (Anonymously) I think it's wholesome when you reach out to an author, especially if their work impacted your life in any meaningful way.

Could be, especially with older voters a key demographic of supporters. But then pointing out that digital is frequently an effective replacement might let said older voters in on the fact that the kids can look up all the inclusive sex education material they want online (and that just for starters), and then there'd be more of a push for internet regulation too.

I’ve never done it myself but met someone who does so all the time.

He starts by buying a hardback book. Looks up an address for the author. Then mails the book to the the author with a polite letter requesting an autograph. He includes the return postage so all the author has to do is sign it and send it back.

He has a house full of signed books. He said that authors by and large are very gracious and he has an almost 100% return rate.

Are you familiar with Greek tragedies? They are plays...

>"...in which the protagonist, usually a person of importance and outstanding personal qualities, falls to disaster through the combination of a personal failing and circumstances with which he or she cannot deal."

The purpose of these plays are to provide people with emotional experiences to draw from in their own lives. They often instruct on things such as how to navigate and find value in hardships or accept that one's fate may be outside of one's control. This is often intended to envoke "catharsis" or a release from strong negative or repressed emotions through empathy, excising metaphorical hypotheticals in a safe context, and other devices of story. Not a literary scholar so that may be off but the gist is right.

To provide a personal example in modern literature, I am fond of the novel A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. The thesis of the novel is >!trauma is not something you "overcome" or "resolve" in a traditional sense; it is either something you learn to live with...or you don't. Which is made apparent in 800+ excruciating pages of a character enduring some of the most awful acts of humanity imaginable. But there were some passages in particular about self harm that resonated with me because of how they reminded me of friends and lovers I have had with a history with self harm. It connected with me on a visceral level how, paradoxically, this destructive act could be a lamentable but necessary coping mechanism for these people in my life, just as it was for this character. I feel I had known that intellectually but had not felt it so vividly. Nothing before had made this make sense in the same way this book did for me. Indeed, it was partly because the tragedies were so exaggerated - almost cartoonish morose - that I feel this was an effective instruction.!<

To your question about what to do about this - at the risk of stating the obvious, you have two options. You either continue with these novels or else you read other stories. If you persist, I think having this recontexualization about why people read such stories and what is to be gained from them is a good start. May help to connect with other people to read along with (see r/bookclub or r/reading_buddies, perhaps) to hear their opinions and how it affects them. You could look up analysis of them as well to form a clearer picture of what the author meant to illustrate or how different parts contribute to a grander whole which you may otherwise miss. Or, you could take a break from such heavier arcs. Perhaps return to them at a later point when you have the emotional bandwidth to enjoy them. Or not. That is fine as well. When we consume art, we are satisfying an emotional diet. These tragedies afford audiences certain experiences which you may not be in need of or ready for at present. That doesn't make the stories wrong or you wrong for not wanting to partake in them. You are just reacting to different needs. In the same way someone who lives off carbohydrates might find themselves craving vegetables for the vitamins. Your reading experience is totally your own, for your own enjoyment. No right way to do it.

That's a great point, I usually forget I'm reading a translated story, which is an amazing feat for the translator. But I would definitely love to read it in the original language.

Local libraries or used book stores. At my local library they do a bag of books for $2 occasionally, and then at my local used book store it’s $1-3 a book.