The Reading Room

Q: Fiction book recommendations?

I just started leisure reading and I recently read my first book ever- The Alchemist. I really enjoyed it and finished it one day. Now, I want to read more books that offer wisdom and/or thought provoking ideas and are written for advanced readers (i.e college students). I am not really intereste...

1:32 AM

I see much confusion about what a trope is. Have a thread: In context of storytelling "trope" does not mean cliched. A trope is a theme that occurs often in a genre. Two ill-matched people falling in love = romance trope. It can be done in a fresh way. All tropes can.

Tweeted by JustineLavaworm on January 21, 2018 at 12:47 AM

1/ THREAD. Paul Moon’s latest book “Killing Te Reo Māori” has caused quite a stir this week. I decided to find out what the book actually says. So, to save you all the expense, time, trouble and frustration of reading this book I’ve read and digested it. #paulmoon

Tweeted by jeanetteking on January 21, 2018 at 7:52 AM

35/ As an aside, if you’re interested in language myths I’d recommend the book “Language Myths” by Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill.

Tweeted by jeanetteking on January 21, 2018 at 8:10 AM in reply to jeanetteking

this kid came to the Black Bolt signing yesterday - he couldn't have been past junior high - and he NOTICED the fact that my BB captions are in 3rd person rather than the usual 1st person and he GOT why I made that choice. I was so impressed.

Tweeted by saladinahmed on January 20, 2018 at 11:30 PM

Case study: Book 23, the moment when Penelope tells the slave woman to pull out the bed from the bedroom so the guest, Odysseus, can sleep. She hasn't yet acknowledged him as husband. It's a test, because O. built the bed from an olive tree that grows all through the house.

Tweeted by EmilyRCWilson on January 20, 2018 at 9:18 PM

Napoleon Wilson

Tweetsplosion.

2 hours later…

3:41 AM

NO, I WILL NOT THANK YOU FOR YOUR INVASION. @clairegcoleman kicks off our series of articles from Black writers in the lead-up to #InvasionDay2018 👊🏾 #IndigenousX https://indigenousx.com.au/claire-g-coleman-no-i-will-not-thank-you-for-your-invasion/#.WmI4A5P1XOQ

Tweeted by IndigenousXLtd on January 19, 2018 at 11:00 PM

3 hours later…

6:40 AM

I just got the scripts for two Harold Pinter plays, which I'll be designing posters for in the coming months.

2 hours later…

8:20 AM

I'm thinking maybe a hard-edge painting style?

9:14 AM

HELLO ALL,
I just started leisure reading and I recently read my first book ever- The Alchemist. I really enjoyed it and finished it one day. Now, I want to read more books that offer wisdom and/or thought provoking ideas and are written for advanced readers (i.e college students). I am not really interested in romantic books. I want to read books that would help me enhance my vocabulary and writing skills.

Hi. Which book called The Alchemist did you read?

Wise, Millward, Bacigalupi, Estleman, Boyd, Lovecraft, Gravel, Harness, Whitten, Jonson, Goddard, Archer, Baum...? It's kind of a generic title and a lot of people have used it.

By Paulo Coehlo

What led you to that particular novel?

9:50 AM

It was a gift by a friend.

I had always known the importance of leisure reading, but never actually had the patience to sit down and read until last week.

Is there anything that you specifically liked about that book?

I liked the book because it had some thought provoking ideas and it was relevant, i.e a boy who believed in his dreams and was persistent.

7 hours later…

Q: Book about what book characters do when no one is reading

5:09 PM

I'm trying to recall the name of a book which follows the cast of a fantasy story when no one is reading. The characters in the book act out the story much like actors on a stage, and when someone is reading the story the characters can look up and see them. When the book is closed everyone is 'o...

story-identification

4 hours later…

Q: Meaning of an extract from the book 'The fault in our stars"

8:46 PM

What does 'Pre-Miracle' refer to? I didn't get this extract. Please explain.

untagged

@Bookworm That could use a transcript.

Q: Radetzkymarsch (Joseph Roth)

9:21 PM

I am looking for the answer to the following questions concerning Radetzkymarsch. What is the picture of Austria Emperor in the novel? Which austrian motives are important in the novel? Is the picture of the military life in Austria judged positive or negative? Why? I have just read the book ...

german-literature

Hamlet

9:45 PM

@Bookworm that's just rude. If you're going to migrate something, the very least you could do is make sure it's properly formatted.

@Hamlet I mentioned something to the mod who migrated; they acknowledged that it would have been better to send it with a transcript.

And it seems a reasonable question to me... we don't require that people have read the work before asking about it.

skullpatrol

...people are known to be rude sometimes...

Ooh, new profile pic @Fabjaja? :)

Napoleon Wilson

10:01 PM

@Mithrandir Maybe before answering it, though. ;-)

Meh. I've answered questions about stuff I haven't read.

Rand al'Thor

10:19 PM

@Hamlet Easy enough to fix.

@Mithrandir It's certainly possible to provide a good answer about something you haven't read (though I may be biased in this regard ... ;-) ) But neither of the downvoted answers on that question are particularly good, IMO.