1. Hey there!

    All Login/Cache/Session Token issues should now be resolved. Please praise Glaive for fixing this.

    Welcome to Cwcki Club!

    Before posting, please check out the General Rules

    Join the Cwcki Club Discord!

Books Thread

Discussion in 'Books' started by Hellblazer, Mar 12, 2016.

  1. Cyan

    Cyan #00FFFF Staff Member B& AF, Fam Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    4,989
    Likes Received:
    13,964
    On topic though, I never actually liked Harry Potter (making it required reading in elementary school will do that to a kid) and half of the books in that display are already on my to-read list. I hope Harry Potter getting cancelled means fresh blood will be picking up other fantasy books.
     
  2. Anya

    Anya Heh Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2016
    Messages:
    1,993
    Likes Received:
    6,199
    I'm on the fence about "cancelling" the Harry Potter books. For what they are, they're good for young adult readers and I think fantasy, in general, is good for children and YA readers in order to nurture creativity. That being said, I think that HP is a good introduction to fantasy, with the Hobbit being like, the next step up from that.

    Yeah, JK Rowling is a human garbage and deserves to be cancelled, but I don't think it's fair to deny decent reading material because of that. HOWEVER, I do see that it'd be giving positive attention and income to human garbage.

    Like, Walt Disney was a bigot and Nazi sympathizer and Walt Disney Co. is a hair's width away from being a global monopoly, but people still eat up Pixar/Star Wars/Marvel stuff. Same with Microsoft. Microsoft is also on its way to becoming a huge-ass tech monopoly, but I'm guessing a majority of you are using Windows-based PC's or do for work.

    Then again, I guess the best way I can put it is - when you see a child with a mullet, who do you punish - the child or the parent?
     
  3. Cyan

    Cyan #00FFFF Staff Member B& AF, Fam Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    4,989
    Likes Received:
    13,964
    I'm completely indifferent to people trying to cancel Harry Potter. I personally never cared for the series, there are other books equally or more engaging that young readers can pick up, and the series itself isn't actually going anywhere. JK Rowling didn't really do anything new or groundbreaking with Harry Potter, she just had some really lucky timing publishing when all of her competition were little scholastic pulp serials.

    I don't think the Harry Potter series itself is doing any damage either, although a lot of people who get into reading starting with Harry Potter do unfortunately tend to stay there. I rarely see them move on to other series and it's sad.
     
    Anya likes this.
  4. Congratulations

    Congratulations You like? Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    1,142
    Likes Received:
    3,510
    I've never liked harry potter. The worldbuilding makes 0 sense, the characters are equal parts annoying and boring, the villain is lame and it felt way to self inserty for me to ever get into it. I always prefered Terry Prattchett
    Earthsea?
     
  5. Cyan

    Cyan #00FFFF Staff Member B& AF, Fam Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    4,989
    Likes Received:
    13,964
    Nah that's still on my to read list. I picked it up but it's like, third in line right now.
     
  6. Congratulations

    Congratulations You like? Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    1,142
    Likes Received:
    3,510
    It's alright, i preferred it as a kid then when i re-read it a year ago. Still very readable though and broke a lot of the past cliche's for fantasy
     
  7. Cyan

    Cyan #00FFFF Staff Member B& AF, Fam Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    4,989
    Likes Received:
    13,964
    I just read Skyward which is weird for me since I normally don't care for YA or Sci-fi. But it was written by Brandon Sanderson so it was good anyways.
     
  8. Congratulations

    Congratulations You like? Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    1,142
    Likes Received:
    3,510
    I've always considered Skyward a solid 5/10. It's ok but it's not really great either. I think Spensa has a good character arc but besides her nobody else really feels like a real character besides maybe Cobb.
    I'd trade that whole series for the last W&W book.
     
  9. Cyan

    Cyan #00FFFF Staff Member B& AF, Fam Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    4,989
    Likes Received:
    13,964
    IDK, a lot of YA novels I've read or at least tried to read are incredibly shitty. This one definitely feels a lot less substantial than his other novels but it also feels intentional, like this was supposed to be a light and easy read.

    This reminds me, I have Throne of Glass sitting on my shelf and I've heard it gets better but the main character was an obnoxious shit in the first chapter.
     
  10. ToroidalBoat

    ToroidalBoat ¿qué?

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    29,905
    Likes Received:
    57,273
    One series I read when I was younger was some of the "My Teacher is an Alien" by Bruce Coville.

    In the series, it turns out the reason why Earthlings are so psychotic is because they're meant to be a hivemind species, and being separate results in the crazy like wars.

    So I guess Colville subscribed to the New Age-y idea that "we are all one"?
     
  11. Congratulations

    Congratulations You like? Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    1,142
    Likes Received:
    3,510
    Throne of glass is alright but it hasn't aged all that well. It's a bit like Truthwitch where you either can or can't enjoy it and you find out very early
     
  12. Cyan

    Cyan #00FFFF Staff Member B& AF, Fam Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    4,989
    Likes Received:
    13,964
    I thought Bruce Coville wrote kid's novels, not YA? I read his Unicorn Chronicles series when I was a kid.
     
    ToroidalBoat likes this.
  13. ToroidalBoat

    ToroidalBoat ¿qué?

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    29,905
    Likes Received:
    57,273
    I found a physics book from 1922 today on Pi Day. :cool:
     
    ICanFeelTheCosmos0704 likes this.
  14. ICanFeelTheCosmos0704

    ICanFeelTheCosmos0704 friend of Tiger (little cat) and Abby (tiny cat)

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2017
    Messages:
    23,815
    Likes Received:
    42,703
    what's cool about that was they needed to figure out ways to build machines to solve the math problems for physics
    that led to modern computers and eventually ways to network those computers
     
    ToroidalBoat likes this.
  15. Congratulations

    Congratulations You like? Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    1,142
    Likes Received:
    3,510
  16. Congratulations

    Congratulations You like? Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    1,142
    Likes Received:
    3,510
  17. Crysocyan

    Crysocyan Packus

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2022
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    14
    I've just finished reading Robinson Crusoe, and it has become one of my favorite novels. It's explicitly religious, and details the protagonist's conversion to Christianity after being the sole survivor of a shipwreck.

    These are some of my favorite motifs from the book.
    Psalm 50:15
    Genesis 32:28
    GL_GM_438-001 (2).jpg
     
    Congratulations likes this.
  18. Congratulations

    Congratulations You like? Staff Member Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    1,142
    Likes Received:
    3,510
    I have heard good things about the book. But i refuse to read it because it was written by Danial Defoe.
    What else did you like about the book despite the religious aspects?
     
  19. ToroidalBoat

    ToroidalBoat ¿qué?

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Messages:
    29,905
    Likes Received:
    57,273
    Remember when The South Beach Diet and The Da Vinci Code were popular books in physical bookstores?
     
  20. Fialovy

    Fialovy Skeleman Warrior

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2022
    Messages:
    9,913
    Likes Received:
    17,823
    Yeah, my mom was big on the South Beach Diet when I was in middle school, I ate some of the food she made from it since she would always make extra.

    One that I remember vividly was for dessert she would often make this ice cream substitute that was featured in the book which was ricotta cheese, stevia, and cocoa powder mixed together. It wasn't bad, it was just a weird concept.
     
    ToroidalBoat likes this.