i powered through the audiobook without understanding everything, had your same issues to the point where I didn't even notice a lot of the infamous gore, then went on to watch explaining videos and I'll probably need to reread the book but honestly maybe in like 10 years when I'm wiser... currently not for me.

Strangely enough, smell is a big part of it.

I did the audiobook and absolutely loved it from the start. Stayed up late to listen, had no tv/other distractions and worked a puzzle while listening and laughing.

She’s a talented writer. This is the only book I’ve read by her, but I would like to read her other ones, too.

I absolutely love that book. I found myself looking up all sorts of the vocabulary all throughout. Though I don't think I had the same experience of not understanding parts as you mentioned. To me it kind of reads like some sort of twisted epic poem. It's worth powering through even if you think you're not getting. It remains among my favorites.

The smell of old books

I’d picture the dude he’s talking about as sort of self-important with a lot of ideas that he thinks are genius but are really more like “I’m 18 and the system is dumb!” But they’re in their 20s or 30s and never got over that.

*none of that is a statement on JK, just the kind of guys who would choose him as their favorite poet

It reminds me of my Father, he used to bring me to Bookstores when i'm still little boy lol
We're not rich, and Books are expensif stuff at least for us at that times

The moment of joy in my life, is visiting used Bookstores, it's cheap, and every books have it's own mysteries

My favorite passage I’ve ever read

Where is this Holy Grail of bookstores?

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Wondering about those who read the books before, what they thought of it, what they were going through at the time, how the book impacted them, why they decided not to keep it, etc.

Also, I love the smell of old books!

It's quiet and it smells like old paper.

I like those two things a lot.

I use Goodreads and reddit for reccs. On this sub and /52books there's usually a weekly thread called "what are you reading?" It's either called that or has a similar name I forget. There I just see what other people are reading. Sometimes they write a short description of the book and I'll see what sounds interesting to me. Then I add them to my TBR list on Goodreads. When I go to the library I just pick a random few from the list and see if they're available.

Ask them to read The Wasp Factory and classify it. It will yield lots of opinions, and you should know who is who.

First you segregate them, then you remove them. It's a pretty transparent tactic.

For me, I feel as if he’s saying less about Kerouac, and more about the guys who name-drop Kerouac as a way of making themselves look smarter and more literary than they actually are.

When you've published as many books as Asimov, come back and let us know.

I love foundation the inaction is the best part and it’s very original. I’m also a writer and hope I can some day be that creative.

My mom lived into her 60's and her brother and sister never called her anything but Sissy.

Yep. That’s exactly it. It has a chilling effect. People who need the books and can’t or don’t want to read them publicly will just not be able to check them out.

There’s really nothing profound to analyze, I forced my way through all but the last book just to see what happens in the end but the last book is just an add on to the first. Nothing happens in about half of the books and the only mildly interesting story just abruptly ends.

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The organization that I volunteer with, a friends of the library group, has a storage building that’s old and not in good repair. it holds a lot of donated books which we have sorted out and we open the building for book sales (and people pay whatever sum they want to donate so it’s really a bargain and get books back in the hands of people !).

We had an insect problem, so we called local pest control, they said it was termites, and did extermination. . But they also offered a service where they put baited traps around the outside perimeter of the building, and check them every three months or so for traces of termites. Then if they see any, they would know to come inside and look thoroughly. It cost extra but for us with thousands of books inside it was definitely worth it. I hope this might be helpful. Good luck!

Wednesdays at my local Salvation Army is half off books. 50 cents for a hardcover, 25 for soft.