📚 Books Book-it!

[Althena]

After reading Random Encounter's into post, it reminded me that I had wanted to start a thread about books! Books, reading, and the free pizza you get by doing it! 🍕

What are some of your favorite books? Books that made you who you are, books you want others to read, perhaps even a new book/series that has you excited.

I have some I want to start out with, but I think I want to give these posts the writing they deserve, and it's late. I look forward to seeing some other people's responses!

[Althena]

My first post here will be about The Dark is Rising Sequence, by Susan Cooper.
To say this series changed my life would be a gross understatement. Cooper's writing evolved from a fun, entertaining YA style to a very mature and engrossing read for people of all ages. Her touching upon Arthurian legend and English and Celtic mythology really engrained a lifelong fascination of the subject in me that persists to this day. I seriously cannot recommend is enough, and it is the first thing that I will answer when someone asks "What should I read?". It has a very compelling age-old altruistic message of Light vs. Dark with a realistic view of the shades of grey that exist between them.

Every year, the community of fans will do a "Dark Is Rising" chronological reading. The second book in the series, "The Dark Is Rising" takes place over the Christmas season, and fans will read along in real time. Sometimes that means going a few days without reading anything. Sometimes that's hard 😄but it is an immersive way to get into the holiday spirit. Honestly, I didn't get into the spirit much this last year, and I think the fact that I didn't do my yearly readathon was a big part of it! If anyone wants to learn more about this series I could talk about it all days, so feel free to ask!

https://tdirreadathon.blogspot.com/

[Sarthis]

I've been reading a whole lot of self-published or independent authors lately on Kindle Unlimited, but one that really struck was Will Wright. He writes a lot of progressive fantasy/sci-fi, but Cradle is probably the most well rounded series out of the ones he's written so far, although The Last Horizon is shaping up to be pretty good itself. There's 12 books in the Cradle series, and I don't remember finishing a single one and having a complaint or question that wasn't answered either later on, or by the appendices at the end. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30558257-unsouled

[Random Encounter]

Historically, I've been more of a paper book kind of guy over eBooks. But I can't recommend Anna's Archive enough (https://annas-archive.gs/) for those who read a lot on devices. I encourage you to support authors and publishers where you can, but there is a treasure trove of older, out-of-print books here that can't be ignored. There's also Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/), a site that's been around for years as a valuable resource for books in the public domain.

[The Grimace]

I'll have to refer to this thread in the future in case I need some good reading material!

I feel a little silly saying this, but I don't read books frequently. My friend recently wrote a novel and gave me a first draft to proof read, but it's really really hard for me to spend my free time doing anything but playing video games because the most effective way for me to immerse myself is to book-end story with gameplay.

When I was in college, I had the pleasure of reading "the Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. The title takes place around ~1985 Pittsburgh and the book and movie (also directed by Chbosky) are enthralling while also being a huge love-letter to the southwestern PA area. It's an intense storyline- the book is largely a first person "journal" of the main character's life, a coming-of-age story. The book also hits close to home for me because, aside from the story's location, I relate with the main character a lot. The titular "Wallflower," Charlie is soft spoken and lacking confidence and experience, but is the nicest person around and the tale is largely a story of his growth.

I'm an extremely talkative person in real life now, but that's through literal years of forced exposure. I have agoraphobia and do not like to be away from home for long, and despite being so verbal now, my social battery drains very easily and I need plenty of time to recuperate. It's very exhausting. I think therr are lots of people who can relate.

I would absolutely recommend people atleast watch the movie if they do not have time for the book. I'm sad because Ezra Miller is a side character in the movie and did a great job, but since the Flash came out and so many negative things have come to light regarding their person, I'm hesitant to recommend people to the movie at first. I would recommend people look past Miller and watch the film for its other merits.

... Otherwise, Paul Rudd and Emma Watson are also in the movie, and I have a crush on Emma Watson so I'm once again biased.

Anyway, good book and movie. I recommend!

[Random Encounter]

Made a thread earlier today, totally forgetting about this one! I started listening to/reading The Death of Expertise by Tom Nichols. So far, good stuff.