Joe Abercrombie fans...

His writing sucks. Fans defend him vehemently.

No worries, I think we just disagree. Maybe I'm on Reddit more or something, but I find the same stale discussions on any subreddit that is about a very specific topic.

At that age, my classmates and I were into V.C. Andrews books back in the day.

I wonder what the statistics fro Broward County and Las Vegas are - because those have at least up to now - been open to anyone - I think even outside of the United States. You just need to sign up.

Do you know if there are statistics for the most checked-out libraries and books in the US and the world?

One thing Reddit taught me, or at least dedicated subreddits, every fanbase is toxic af. You think it’s gunna be this nice place of people uniting over a common love, but it’s just miserable dweebs getting inexplicably mad at every little detail. That’s when I unfollowed most of em and just keep to myself. I think that’s why I prefer Instagram these days; you don’t have to deal with as much trolls

Downvoting you for using “hive mind”

People are individuals regardless of which platforms they use. If you got a lot of down votes, it isn’t the fault of a “hive mind” lol you just likely have shit takes and shit opinions

I don't see how one would get that conclusion from what OP wrote.

Fandoms often contain people who are genuinely fanatical and the structure of social media platforms like TikTok fosters a lack of reasoned debate with people of different opinions. So you get the so-called "echo chamber" effect. And mental illness causes particularly strong feelings for a variety of reasons, many of them very valid. So, if you combine those things you have a recipe for toxic elements to magnify their worst traits exponentially. Especially when it comes to people with a dissenting view.

I've struggled with moderate to severe mental illness for over 20 years and more than once I've had to catch myself from falling into that automatically defensive stance whenever someone disagrees. And I didn't get into social media until my mid-20s. Like you said, people who are constantly online from a young age can easily find aggressive defensiveness being their default/only coping mechanism. Even people suggesting a more moderate response to disagreements can get torn to pieces for supposedly implying they're "making light" of the severity of people's lived experiences. Social media is amazing, but we're still very much in our infancy as an "online species" and it really fucking shows whenever you toss a little dissenting chum in the waters!

How are those not fresh discussions? Each one is going to be different than the last based off the individuals reading preferences and history. It’s very different than “look I found a detail I didn’t notice before” post that’s just repeated over and over and won’t spark anything new to be said other than “yeah found that too”. A suggestion post allows people to express the different things they enjoy about the different books an author has written which are going to differ person to person and no last post will ever be able to capture all those different reasons

I tend to use the Goodreads ratings system. Most of my books are 3 stars, occasionally 4 stars. I have rated a couple of books 1 star but I also leave a review on those ones to explain why.

I wish Goodreads did half stars because I reckon quite a few of my 3 star reviews would lean towards 3.5 stars.

Why does Reddit hate TikTok so much? Genuinely curious.

I've gotten this same sort of vitriol from Twilight fans when I first got into the book series. Since I've always an eye for critical thinking on literature, large aspects of the story were either nonsensical or outright disturbing to me and when I brought this up, I got so viciously attacked that I ended up having to delete my social medias. For a then 16-year-old in year 11, that was pretty devastating for me.

Well, there is no "right way" to be mentally ill. Basicly the concensus is that something is wrong with you. Where as sane people got it right.

I got several writers who are considered very good I simply don't like. Best example may be Salinger. Ex loves him, I just don't feel all that moved. I can see he writes well, very well even. The topics and ideas are fine, good even, and I am simply not moved or all that interested. He on his side don't like Gene Wolfe, I don't hold it against him. He tried to snatch my GOULD'S BOOK of FISH when he left. Guess we agree on some books. He had to buy his own copy.

Ignore those toxic people as well as you can, and read stuff you like. Talk to people who can discuss the books without toxicity.

I think what’s different now though is that parents have to be intentional about getting their kids to read. Mine are also readers but I still help them pick out books (at 9 and 11), I take them to the library every week, I set limits on screen time, still read aloud to them sometimesd, etc. when i was a kid I would just devour anything. A love for reading just “happened” more so than it does today I think

Felix Castor series by Mike Carey

Fresh discussions are fine, sure. You mentioned book suggestion posts within the subreddit about one specific author, so I was commenting on instances like that. There's no reason to have multiple posts like that.

I would guess that part of the problem is due to the relative needs of subject matter. Science and math are perceived as more important than they used to be. Partly parents don’t read as much, too, and kids mimic their parents.

It’s not like a “look what I discovered” that’s been discovered before and shared a billion times. It’s a fresh discussion over the authors books and each person’s personal preferences as to their different stories and each one is gonna be different based off each persons reading history/preferences

It happens on Reddit too, in fact I would say here it is worse because the hivemind downvotes any dissenting opinion so it can't even be seen. At least on other places you have to actually type out a response.

I think it's kind of a wonderful thing about stories, that they can affect us like this, even though it hurts.

I think at longest I felt acutely sad for a couple hours, and had a vague cloud hanging over me for a few days. How long ago did you finish the book?

No kidding. ENOUGH with the entire "royal" family! They bleed red like the rest of us. Why so many Americans are fascinated with them blows my mind.

I will say...it's super annoying when the same posts come up over and over again on any sub. A quick search would produce the info. they need without flooding the sub with the exact same post.

Misery

Is The Alchemist still popular? It's a classic I guess, but I recall everyone hating it back in high school.

Reading is so subjective. I’m never bothered in the least when someone’s opinion on a book differs from mine. It’s like fighting over chocolate ice cream being the best flavor. Pointless!