Yes, it is that easy: The top answer is Reading ( anything from books, news, pamphlets, online, offline, whatever, etc.). Just read man. I read on my way to and from work while I am on the train or bus. 30 minutes on my way to work and 30 minutes on my way back 5 days per week.
He later got a PhD in Physics from MIT, and died in 1986, one of the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger. The library that refused to lend him books is now named after him.
I will be listing the books that I read on this page, starting with the most recent ones.
2000+ Books Quiz Trivia and Brain Teaser
Web: https://awscloudpractitionerexamprep.com/quizandbrainteaser/
iOs: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/all-subjects-quiz-brain-teaser/id1603487636
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quizandbrainteaserfree.app
Windows/Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9PML05P5X85B
Amazon Web: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09RCW3F5J
Amazon Android: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09RCQKHYG
#books #booksquiz #bookstrivia #trivia
By Dr. Paul Kalanithi
| This book brought me to tear. Dr Paul Kalanithi was one of the top resident neurosurgeon in the universe and as he was about to finish his residency, he was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 36. He later died 2 years later. He found the courage and strength to write this book while being terminally ill, and oh boy he wrote it beautifully. He described his life, his battle with cancer, his near death experience, his success and failure as Neurosurgeon resident and husband in an elegant and beautiful way. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE who wants a real life description of the intersection of sciences, medicine, literature, near death experience, critical illness, cancer, etc.
Order it on Amazon books |
| If you love technology and pro sports, you will love this book. This is one of my favourite autobiographies. Paul Allen describe how he grew up in Seattle area, meeting Bill Gates at LakeSide private school, hacking and coding for extremely long hours in their teenage days using time sharing terminals back in the day; he then pivots to his Microsoft days from the beginning with MS DOS until he left the company. He then talks about his sports team (Blazers, Seahawks, Sounders) on a fan and owner standpoint. He also talks about his passion for music, and his ongoing support for scientific research. Fascinating… Read it now. |
By Walter Isaacson
| The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014) is a nonfiction book written by Walter Isaacson. The book details the history of the digital revolution through several pivotal innovators who created early computer breakthroughs and later larger systems like the Internet. The author also asserts that many innovators’ successes throughout history happen often with the help of other contributors via teamwork. This book also delves into the topic of artificial intelligence, the founder being British computer science pioneer Alan Turing.[1][2]The Innovators is an overview from the beginning of computer science to the present, and seeks to understand the results of human-machine symbiosis.[3] Innovators covered in the book include these: Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, Grace Hopper, John Mauchly, John von Neumann, J.C.R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Robert Noyce of Intel, Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs of Apple, Tim Berners-Lee, Larry Page of Google, Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia, and Lee Felsenstein of Osborne.
Order it on Amazon books |
by Benjamin Graham
| The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949, is a widely acclaimed book on value investing, an investment approach Graham began teaching at Columbia Business School in 1928 and subsequently refined with David Dodd.[1] This sentiment was echoed by other Graham disciples such as Irving Kahn and Walter Schloss. |
By Eric Weiner
| Travel the world with Eric Weiner, the New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss, as he journeys from Athens to Silicon Valley—and throughout history, too—to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times. |
| INSIDE APPLE reveals the secret systems, tactics and leadership strategies that allowed Steve Jobs and his company to churn out hit after hit and inspire a cult-like following for its products. |
The rules for success in the Internet Century.
By Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg, with Alan Eagle
| HOW GOOGLE WORKS is an entertaining, page-turning primer containing lessons that Google Executive Chairman and ex-CEO Eric Schmidt and former SVP of Products Jonathan Rosenberg learned as they helped build the company. |
Steve Jobs in his own words.
edited by George Beahm
| Full-color series-six bios in one! It takes more than one person to bring about change and innovation. Explore the lives of the people who have had a huge impact on technology today |
by Walter Isaacson
| Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. |
Steve Jobs in his own words.
edited by George Beahm
| Drawn from more than three decades of media coverage—print, electronic, and online—this tribute serves up the best, most thought-provoking insights ever spoken by Steve Jobs: more than 200 quotations that are essential reading for everyone who seeks innovative solutions and inspirations applicable to their business, regardless of size. |
| In the spirit of Steve Jobs and Moneyball, Elon Musk is both an illuminating and authorized look at the extraordinary life of one of Silicon Valley’s most exciting, unpredictable, and ambitious entrepreneurs—a real-life Tony Stark—and a fascinating exploration of the renewal of American invention and its new “makers.” |
by Robert G. Hagstrom
| Investment Strategies of the World’s Greatest Investor |
| Investing isn’t a man’s world anymore—and the provocative and enlightening Warren Buffett Invests Like a Girl shows why that’s a good thing for Wall Street,the global financial system, and your own personal portfolio |
by Barack Obama (Author)
| Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is a memoir by Barack Obama, who would later be elected U.S. President, that chronicles the events of his early years up until his entry into law school in 1988. Dreams from My Father was first published in 1995 as Obama was preparing to launch his political career in a campaign for Illinois Senate,[1] five years after being elected as the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review in 1990.[2]
Order it on Amazon books |
by Colin Powell (Author)
| “A GREAT AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY . . . AN ENDEARING AND WELL-WRITTEN BOOK.” –The New York Times Book Review Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history–Vietnam, the Pentagon, Panama, Desert Storm–but a history that until now has been known only on the surface. Here, for the first time, Colin Powell himself tells us how it happened, in a memoir distinguished by a heartfelt love of country and family, warm good humor, and a soldier’s directness. MY AMERICAN JOURNEY is the powerful story of a life well lived and well told. It is also a view from the mountaintop of the political landscape of America. At a time when Americans feel disenchanted with their leaders, General Powell’s passionate views on family, personal responsibility, and, in his own words, “the greatness of America and the opportunities it offers” inspire hope and present a blueprint for the future. An utterly absorbing account, it is history with a vision. “The stirring, only-in-America story of one determined man’s journey from the South Bronx to directing the mightiest of military forces . . . Fascinating.”–The Washington Post Book World “Eloquent.” |
| Tap Dancing to Work compiles six decades of writing on legendary investor Warren Buffett, from Carol Loomis, the reporter who knows him best.Warren Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway into something remarkable – and Fortune journalist Carol Loomis had a front-row seat.When Carol Loomis first mentioned a little known Omaha hedge fund manager in a 1966 Fortune article, she didn’t dream that Warren Buffett would one day be considered the world’s greatest investor – nor that she and Buffett would quickly become close personal friends.As Buffett’s fortune and reputation grew, Loomis used her unique insight into Buffett’s thinking to chronicle his work for Fortune, writing and proposing scores of stories that tracked his many accomplishments – and his occasional mistakes.Now Loomis has collected and updated the best Buffett articles Fortune published between 1966 and 2012, including thirteen cover stories and a dozen pieces authored by Buffett himself. Readers will gain fresh insights into Buffett’s investment strategies and his thinking on management, philanthropy, public policy, and even parenting.Scores of Buffett books have been written, but none can claim this combination of trust between two friends, the writer’s deep understanding of Buffett’s world, and a long-term perspective.Carol Loomis, 82, is at Editor-At-Large at Fortune magazine, where she has worked since 1954. She has written extensively on Warren Buffett since 1966 and is well known as the business journalist on closest terms with him. For the past 35 years she has edited Buffett’s famous and eagerly-awaited annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire-Hathaway. Loomis’ many honours include the Gerald Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award for business journalism and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. |
| Spanning five generations, sweeping across a century and a half of almost unknown history, this acclaimed and unexpectedly funny novel is the story of a man seeking himself in the mirror of his family’s past. Rich in historical detail and gracefully flowing from the slave trade of nineteenth-century Virginia to the present, Any Known Blood gives life to a story never before told, a story of five generations of a black Canadian family whose tragedies and victories merge with the American experience. |
Inside the doomsday machine.
| The Big Short describes several of the main players in the creation of the credit default swap market that sought to bet against the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) bubble and thus ended up profiting from the financial crisis of 2007–08. The book also highlights the eccentric nature of the type of person who bets against the market or goes against the grain. |
Become stronger in your current role or prepare to step into a new one by continuing to build the cloud Solutions Architecture skills companies are begging for right now. Demand for cloud solutions architect proficiency is only set to increase, so you can expect to see enormous ROI on any cloud learning efforts you embark on. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA, SAA-C02, SAA-C03) exam is intended for individuals who perform in a solutions architect role.
The exam validates a candidate’s ability to use AWS technologies to design solutions based on the AWS Well-Architected Framework including:
Design solutions that incorporate AWS services to meet current business requirements and future projected needs.
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Review existing solutions and determine improvements
What will you learn in this book?
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Design Cost-Optimized Architectures
Log in to your Google account which has purchased ebooks associated with it.
From the My Books tab, click on the Kebab menu associated with the book that you want to download and select Download EPUB.
E-book pricing in both the Kindle store and the iBook store is a result of each company’s respective/preferred distribution model: wholesale vs. agency.
Amazon has historically offered large discounts on Kindle e-book editions to draw in readers and build the Kindle market. With Kindle sales, Amazon took the ‘loss leader‘ route, wherein a product is sold at or below cost to stimulate other sales or build unbeatable market share [1]. Throughout most of the early days of the Kindle store, Amazon purchased e-book rights from publishing companies at wholesale value (e.g., the same as a print edition) and then sold the Kindle edition at a steep discount.
Publishers worried that once Amazon controlled both the content distribution (Kindle edition) and content devices (Kindle), the company would be able to dictate e-book prices. Thus, publishers were desperate for a viable alternative to the Kindle store, as Amazon had quite successfully shaped public perception of how much an eBook should cost: around $9.99. Enter: Apple, Inc. When whispers of an iTunes for books started circulating, members of the publishing industry referenced the iPad as the ‘Jesus Tablet’ for ‘saving’ the publishing industry. The specific mechanism of salvation was to be the ‘agency model’ for e-books, where publishers set the price, with distribution handled by arguably the world’s most successful company at the time (2009 – 2011).
At its outset, the iBook store selection was slightly more expensive mainly due to Apple’s use of the agency model for content distribution. Publishers made the prices more expensive, for the following reasons (I’m speculating):
In 2010, Amazon struck deals with the major publishing houses to adopt the agency model, so price differences in both stores will be largely negligible for major titles put out by the big publishing houses. For any publishing house that doesn’t have an agency model deal with Amazon, though, the Kindle titles will probably be cheaper than the iBook version.
Caveats:
Source:
[1] Publisher’s Weekly
Google Play eBooks are typically protected with Adobe DRM using what is called vendorID to encrypt them (that is, they are using your Google ID instead of asking you to create a separate Adobe ID as other vendors do). That is simpler for you since you don’t need to create such additional ID, but locks you into using the Google Books app (strictly speaking it is actually possible to use other reading apps which support vendorID, but that would get a bit too technical and out of the scope of this answer).
The Apple iBooks app can open ePUB and PDF files but does not support Adobe’s DRM encryption in any way, so it will import the file but won’t be able to open it (you won’t even be able to see the cover).
You must install the Google Books app and jump from one app to the other in order to read the books you might have acquired from each vendor (Google or Apple). If you also buy from Amazon, that mean you’ll have to install a third app (Kindle), and a fourth for Kobo, and so on. Absurd, I know. I’m afraid that most publishers and eBook retailers don’t give a damm about interoperability and customer convenience, which is the reason we started Nimbooks.
You’ll see some answers with “advice” about removing DRM and thus being able to transfer the eBook files with ease. While such is technically feasible, please be aware that just owning the tools to do so (even more if you use them) is fundamentally a felony in most countries. Take your decision but be informed about the fact.
Google Play Books is ranked 11th while Amazon Kindle is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose Google Play Books is: Google Play Books offers many options while reading such as bookmarks, highlights and notes.
Amazon Kindle has a far greater range of titles but Apple Books look better. That’s it. We tend to prefer the look of Apple’s Books enough that we check out Apple’s store before we go to Amazon’s — but the range of Kindle books is unmatched.
Quite interestingly, the question’s title and the question’s summary are actually two different questions:
As for the first, my advice is that you should undoubtedly buy “Kindle” books. When you buy a “Kindle” book you’re actually buying an eBook from Amazon, i.e. a company that has built its own business starting as an (“the”) online bookstore. Apple has overbearingly entered in the eBook business with the iBook, not so differently from what Microsoft did with the Internet Explorer in 1995, but the core business of Apple is primarily based on devices (hardware), whilst Amazon is primarily e-commerce (software and delivery). Sure, both have extended their business far beyond that, both offers a great services and both sells devices and media contents. With iTunes, Apple have a solid anchorage on the Music (and now Movies and TV) market, and the Kindle offers an incomparably more comfortable experience than an iPad (more on this subject: Which is better for reading ebooks: Kindle or iPad? Which overall reading experience is better? How do the experiences compare?); but as Apple will never stop improving the device experience, Amazon will never stop improving reading experience.
The Kindle app is free and available for most major smartphones, tablets (both iOS and Android) and computers (both Mac and Windows). That means you can buy a Kindle book once and read it on any device, keeping in sync your furthest page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across all your devices. Amazon will do its best to make this reading experience always not bound to a specific device, because the Kindle device is for Amazon what the iBook app is for Apple. iBook is available only on Apple devices, and that says it all. Once you buy a book on the Apple Store, you’ll stay forever handcuffed to Apple devices. Don’t make this mistake!
As for the second question, much depends on which device you are actually reading, on the kind of books you’re reading, on what are your reading needs and, last but non least where and when do you read. So this answer may be very articulate. I’ll give you only some inklings hoping you’ll grasp the idea. If you read for an hour or more, the weight and size of the device is one of the more important feature of the device, and in this case a Kindle Paperwhite is better than an iPad mini, which in turns is better than an iPad Air. But if you read sitting on a desk, the weight is irrelevant and a large screen is better, I would prefer reading on a Mac Retina than on a Kindle. When reading a magazine or a book with many photos, a Kindle is very poor choice, because you need to tap and scroll the illustrations instead of using the pinch and pan gestures. The same holds true for book with large and complex illustrations, unless you’re reading on a beach or in the dark. Even if the iPad retina definition is unsurpassed, you simply cannot read a book under direct sunlight, but with surely will with a Kindle Paperwhite.
One last consideration is about your annotations and highlighting needs: on a Kindle Paperwhite highlighting text is very annoying (and monochromatic), it certainly works better on the Kindle for iPad, but I would prefer to use iBook or even better a PDF content on the Acrobat Reader, which has very good tools for this purpose.
In short I would prefer DRM-free content whenever is available, otherwise I’ll buy eBooks from Amazon or directly from the publisher website in Kindle format — many publishers have the option to link to your Amazon account and to upload the book directly on all your Kindle and Kindle apps — but I still prefer PDFs for any technical or scientific content or anything I need to study, and I’ll use the Acrobat Reader app on iPad for studying and highlighting, and the Mac if I need to make frequent annotations.
And, oh, I don’t even remember what stuff do I have on my iBook.
Depends. Do you mean fiction author, or author generally?
If you mean fiction author, that probably goes to William Shakespeare, though apparently Agatha Christie’s heirs claim she’s the best-selling author of all time.
If you mean any work, fiction or nonfiction, say hello to Chairman Mao:
The leader of China’s Communist party was incredibly prolific, and his books have sold billions—with a B—of copies.
Kind of like the signs on McDonalds, the numbers eventually just got so stupidly big they don’t bother to keep track any more.
What does “most published” mean? Do you mean “published the highest number of different books,” or do you mean “published the largest number of copies of their books”?
If you mean “most published” in the sense of “has the most copies in circulation,” that honor belongs to Chairman Mao, whose little red book has sold literally billions (yes, with a B) of copies.
I usually tell people about agentquery.com It’s a great resource for authors.
You can search agents by genre and the site gives you all sorts of useful information like the agent’s submission guidelines and what sort of chocolate to send in order to bribe them.
Okay, the website doesn’t really tell you about agents’ favorite chocolate, but it should. If I was an agent, that’s the first thing I’d have listed there.
Anyway, here is the checklist I should give people before they submit anything.
1) Have you read any books on writing? If the answer is no, you’re not ready to submit. If the answer is yes, but you’ve only read one or two, you’re also probably not ready to submit. Writing is like playing the piano. Most people who are self-taught are not going to be all that good at it.
Here are some great writing books for novelists:
Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King
Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain
Scene & Structure by Jack Bickham (Actually anything by Jack Bickham)
GMC Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Deborah Dixon (You need to go to the publisher’s website for this one.)
Anything by Gary Provost
Character and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
If you write non-fiction or picture books, get and read the books that pertain to those genres. Ditto for romance books, westerns, whatever. Blogs on writing are also very helpful. For example, if you need to write an action scene involving angry grapefruit, you’ll want to read my last blog.
2) How many times have you gone over the manuscript yourself?
If the answer is twice, you’re not ready to submit. For first time novels, you need to send that baby out to lots of readers for critiques. Don’t just send it to your mom or friends. They’ll tell you that it’s great–and they might even believe it. After all, they love you. You need to have a network of fellow writers or well-read friends that can give you tough love. If you don’t have that, pay for it. Revising is the difference between selling and not selling.
3) How long have you let the manuscript sit, unread?
If it’s only a few days or a couple of weeks, you’re not ready to submit. One of the truly weird things about writing is that you can’t see your own mistakes when you write them. This goes for missing words but it also applies to unclear dialogue, bad description, etc. The story works beautifully in our minds, and so that’s what we see on the paper. Let your manuscript sit for a month. Two or three months is better. (Which is why it’s great to send a manuscript to an editor and then not get the revision letter for a couple of months. By that time you can look at it with fresh eyes.)
4) Have you ever gone to a writers’ workshop or conference?
If not, why not? If you want to publish you probably should go to a conference that addresses your genre. You’ll meet people who know about the industry. You’ll get advice from pros, and you’ll get tips about what’s selling and what’s not. If paranormal is a hard sell (which it is right now, by the way) and you’re pitching your paranormal romance, you may run into problems. Not knowing why something is rejected is one of the most frustrating things about this business. Stay up to date about what’s going on.
Besides, a good writers’ conference will energize you. That’s why people go back year after year.
Often you’ll be able to meet agents and get a feel if they would be a good fit for you.
After you’ve done these things, start researching agents. When you find some you think would work, look at their submission guidelines. This is a good time to learn how to write a query letter. (You can find how-tos and examples online.)
You’ll need to submit to a lot of agents. Some won’t even bother answering you. Don’t take it personally. A lot will also reject you right off because they’re not looking for new clients or they’re looking for a certain type of book and yours doesn’t fit that mold. Again, don’t take it personally. Hopefully, you’ll get some requests for pages, and then an offer of representation.
Agents send your manuscript to publishers.
Choose wisely. I tell new authors to keep in mind that the advance the publisher offers may be the only money they see. If you worked on your book for a thousand hours (and yes, some of my books have taken me that long) and you receive a 2,000 advance (and yes, some publishers will offer this little—or less) then you may only get paid 2.00 an hour for your work.
Don’t take that deal.
Happy submitting!
Source: https://qr.ae/pvPsL5
First, find publishers who are publishing the kind of book you just wrote.
Find the ones accepting unsolicited manuscripts.
Find their Submissions Guidelines on their website. Follow them to the letter. This is your first test. If you can’t be arsed to follow a simple set of instructions, the last thing they need to do is waste their time trying to work with you. Editors do not swan around an office drinking cups of tea and eating bonbons. Editors work 12 hour days, trying to cram everything they need to do into their day.
Send your manuscript. Do not send it to more than one publisher at a time. You will be rejected automatically if the publisher discovers you have done this, even if they want to buy the book. Why? Because no editor wants to get into a bidding war over some unknown writer when there are twelve more just as good he can offer the standard contract to. The only person who can submit a manuscript to more than one publisher is an agent, because agents are acknowledged as experts at being able to recognize a hot property.
So, you have sent it in. Let me explain the process here.
Generally someone like a secretary goes through them and rejects certain things automatically. (Believe me, I am not making this up) Things like manuscripts with illustrations, manuscripts handwritten, written in crayon, written on a yellow legal pad, written on one long continuous scroll, or basically manuscripts that don’t conform to the formatting. Also automatically rejected are books based on someone else’s creation, whether that be a movie, a comic, a TV series, or another book or book series. No one will ever buy your book based on someone else’s creation.
Then they sit there until the First Reader gets to them. There may be more than one First Reader. They are generally someone the editor trusts, who shares the editor’s taste. This, by the way, is not a job you can apply for. The First Readers are all salaried people who look at manuscripts in their downtime. The First Reader reads the synopsis and the first page. That weeds out a lot. Then he reads the first chapter. That weeds out more. Then he reads the first three chapters and the last chapter. If the manuscript passes all that, he takes it home and reads the whole thing. If it still passes muster it goes to an assistant editor where it goes through the whole process, and finally to the editor.
Always remember this mantra: Publishers are not in the business to publish books; like any other business, they are in this business to make money. Thirty or forty years ago, editors could publish niche books they really believed in, knowing that the others would make up for the losses on the oddball books. Not any more. Publishing companies are now owned by media conglomerates, and editors are under incredible pressure to make every book pay off.
You have two options here if you get a rejection letter. You can rewrite your book, or you can try somewhere else. If you keep getting the same reaction, then your only option is going to be a rewrite or self-publishing.
But I can absolutely guarantee you that if your writing is any good it will always take about a year for you to get an answer.
And never, ever say “I’ll never submit to X again!” That’s just cutting off your own foot. Admit gracefully that you didn’t write a book that fit what they were looking for at the time and move on. They didn’t insult your firstborn child. The book just wasn’t what they were looking for and they had the courtesy to give you a short answer why.
Source: https://qr.ae/pvP2XT
There are ghostwriting service agencies, such as Ghost Writer, Inc., that do everything you need: ghostwrite, edit, publish and market. But there are several of these you can easily find online.
And so I suggest you research as many of them as you see fit to explore. Find the services and pricing you need to fulfill your publishing and marketing needs. I also suggest premarketing your book manuscript before it is finished.
Build up a ready audience for your published book. Then, complete it through professional ghostwriting services and have it either self or commercially published. To secure commercial publication success, you can have the ghostwriting service prepare a nonfiction book proposal or a fiction package of documents, including a query letter. Then you send these out to a list of legitimate literary agents or agencies, until you land one of them. It is their job to in turn land you a proper book publisher.
However, it is a good idea, before you actually finish preparing your book manuscript, to do plenty of pre-marketing. You can hire a service such as a ghostwriting services agency or company to do this for you, for a decent price. This is to build up your audience for the book.
You want to have lots of potential readers waiting, and to pre-order copies of your book, before it is published and sold. This is a great modern strategy to vastly increase your audience potential, and to increase book sales too. Another couple of things: create a book sales website. You will sell copies of your book directly (through the publisher, of course) to your adoring public with your own book sales website. Be sure to keep a fan page with a button to your Amazon site for book sales. Have an ebook and a print book version of your book, preferably also a hardback and a softcover edition.
And go to various free sites online, such as Authors Den, Goodreads, Wattpad and others, and list your book there. You can pay for some services, but many of them are for free. Another good place to advertise your book is Where the Writers Go to Write (Poetry, Stories, Contests and more!) – there are lots of things you can do on your own to promote your book sales. Source: https://qr.ae/pvP270
Yes, the Kindle e-reader is worth buying if you love reading in general. The following can be perks of using a Kindle.
This is an older picture from A Game of Thrones
A:
B:
C:
D:
E:
F:
GRR Martin uses a different word to denote each of the above animals. I would have been less happy if he had used just the word HORSE for each of them. Yes all of them are horses. But their special names are as follows.
A: Garron – A Highland Pony
B: Palfrey – A Horse used usually by women for ordinary riding.
C: Gelding – A castrated male horse
D: Destrier – A war horse
E: Mare – A female horse
F: Stallion – A male horse which has not been castrated.
I would have never looked up the Dictionary for the first four words (I’m a lazy reader) , but Kindle gives me the definition at the tap of the screen.
Cheers!!!
To appear in the bestseller list of the New York Times, you need to sell at least 5,000 copies in a one week period. Better to sell 10,000, just to be on the safe side.
For the Wall Street Journal’s list which is a little bit less prestigious, you need 3,000 to 5,000 sales in the same time period.[1]
Earlier this month, the Albanian language version of my book, “The Smell of War” was No.2 on Amazon Germany in the “Biographies of military leaders” category. I didn’t sell thousands of books on that day to achieve this, but “only” 98 copies.[2]
Amazon’s bestseller lists, on the other hand, are much “easier”. They are a lot like Quora’s “Most viewed writer” lists.
If you are competing in a very narrow category (what on Quora would be called a topic), you can appear in one of the many bestseller lists without that many sales.
On the other hand, when you want to hit the No. 1 spot in one of the more prestigious categories on Amazon, for example, “Mysteries” or even “Top 100 in Kindle store” you need to sell thousand of books-in a day!
Footnotes
Source: https://qr.ae/pvP2Iw
You don’t.
Cheap paper contains the seeds of its own destruction. Common paper pulp is made with hydrochloric acid, and some of the acid stays in the paper after it’s manufactured. Acid-bearing paper will turn yellow, then eventually crumble, no matter what you do, and there’s little you can do to stop it (short of extremely expensive treatments to remove or neutralize the acid). Even if you keep the paper in perfect storage environments, this happens.
The treatments that remove the acid are called “deacidification,” and they’re done in machines that look like this, using special chemicals:
You can buy special sprays you can spray onto each page of a book that will supposedly prevent acid damage, but I’m not sure how well they work. I’m frankly a little skeptical; the chemicals used in the machines are pretty potent, not things you’d want to be spraying about.
So the simple solution is “buy books printed on acid-free paper.” Acid-free paper is more expensive, though, so publishers don’t generally use it except for high-end editions, and sometimes not even then. Source: https://qr.ae/pvP2NG
There are tons of authors who have sold over a million copies. You can check out some list of the most popular best selling fiction authors of all time ranked by how well their books have sold here : The Best Selling Fiction Authors of all Time
Here are top thirteen best selling authors
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare has sold more fiction than anybody else in history, with over two million books sold. Though it would be difficult to classify Shakespeare as a novelist, he is obviously an enormously gifted, unprecedented playwright and poet.
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is estimated to have sold a maximum total of two billion books. She wrote a total of 85 over the course of her lifetime. Known for her novels of murder, mystery, and the crime thriller genre, English novelist Agatha Christie has sold an astronomical number of books.
Barbara Cartland
Novelist Barbara Cartland has sold an estimated maximum of one billion books. Cartland is one of the most prolific authors of all time, having written 723 books. She is known for writing romance novels.
Harold Robbins
Harold Robins has sold an estimated maximum of 750 million books. Known for the adventure genre, Robins has published 23 books.
Georges Simenon
Georges Simenon has sold an estimated maximum of 700 million books. Simenon is known for his detective novels. An almost unprecedentedly prolific author, Simenon has had 570 books published.
Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel has sold an estimated maximum of 560 million books. Steel has mastered the genre of romance. Steel is currently the best selling fiction writer alive.
Gilbert Patten
Gilbert Patten has sold a maximum estimated number of 500 million books. Patten is known for his adolescent adventure novels.
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy has sold an estimated maximum of 413 million books.
J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling has sold a maximum estimate of about 400 million books. Maybe you’ve heard of them? They are about some boy wizard named Harry Potter.
Jackie Collins
Jackie Collins has sold a maximum estimated amount of 400 million books. Known for her romance novels, Collins has had all 25 of her novels become best sellers.
Horatio Alger
Horatio Alger has sold a maximum estimated amount of 400 million books. Known for dime novels, Alger has had 135 books published.
Stephen King
Stephen King has sold an estimated maximum of 350 million books. Known for horror and fantasy, with over 70 books, King has become synonymous for modern tales of the macabre.
Dean Koontz
Dean Koontz has sold a maximum estimate of 325 million thriller books. Koontz has had over 60 books published.
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The Kindle app is just fine if you are a casual reader.
The Kindle device is useful for people who spend hours reading. The e-ink display ensures that the device doesn’t strain your eyes the way a smartphone or tablet does.
Also, when you’re reading on your Kindle device there will be no notifications from the ten different apps you have on your phone for email, messaging, and social networking. You can immerse yourself in the book and forget about the world outside.
Others have already mentioned that the device is much more ergonomic from the point of view of reading (and not watching videos/typing). So that’s that.
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2000+ Books Quiz Trivia and Brain Teaser
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My review of the book Intensity Inside Liverpool FC by Assistant Manager Pep Ljinders.Continue reading on Medium »
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Welcome readers, May 7 was Teacher Appreciation Day and, to celebrate, we're discussing our favorite books about teachers! If you'd like to read our previous weekly discussions of fiction and nonfiction please visit the suggested reading section of our wiki. Thank you and enjoy! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]
“”Normal People” by Sally Rooney follows the intricate relationship between Connell and Marianne as they navigate through adolescence into adulthood. Connell is a popular athlete while Marianne is an aloof and intelligent loner. Despite their differences, they form a deep connection that persists through various stages of their lives. Set in Ireland, the novel explores themes of love, class, power dynamics, and the complexities of human relationships. Rooney’s insightful prose delves into the intricacies of emotional intimacy, making “Normal People” a compelling and deeply affecting read.” The characters are the highlight of the novel, which one would hope for when a word like “people” is used in the title. Marianne started out as my favorite; she was not a perfect character, and the flaws of the characters do seem to be a main part of the novel. Marianne was what I thought of myself or wished that I was in high school. Connell had some red flags for me, but nothing too serious. Throughout the course of the book, my thoughts on characters would take a 180-degree turn, seeing how someone can change at different stages in their life. That being said, the characters did develop in this story. I loved exploring the dynamics of the relationship of our two main characters but also how they interacted with other people in their lives like parents, siblings, lovers, or friends. It was a shock that the atmosphere did not play a huge part in the novel. I say this as most Irish authors or books that I have read really take advantage of that setting. I cannot say that it completely did nothing for me as there were some paragraphs that really hit the nail on the head with descriptive writing on the atmosphere in which the scene was taking place. The prose itself was great. I have seen some people having an issue with the lack of quotation marks, but with this book itself, that did not bother me. The story did move at a fast pace even if there were long chapters and paragraphs. I usually hate those things, but the fast pace made it a better reading experience. However, I do think this could have been condensed a lot, even though the paperback copy is less than 300 pages in length. This was obviously a character-driven book. The plot was a quiet one as we were mainly exploring the relationship of Connell and Marianne. After the first quarter of the book, the plot did start to go into circles of repetitiveness. Again, this would not have happened if the story had been condensed. I will say, ‘Normal People’, did do something that no book has done to me before. I was reading a chapter and expecting to turn the page to the next chapter. The next page was the acknowledgements. That had me shocked. Take that as you will. The characters are the highlight of the novel, which one would hope for when a word like “people” is used in the title. I loved exploring the dynamics of the relationship between our two main characters and also how they interacted with other people in their lives like parents, siblings, lovers, or friends. It was a shock that the atmosphere did not play a huge part in the novel. I cannot say that it completely did nothing for me as there were some paragraphs that really hit the nail on the head with descriptive writing on the atmosphere in which the scene was taking place. The prose itself was great. However, I do think this could have been condensed a lot, even though the paperback copy is less than 300 pages in length. This was obviously a character-driven book. After the first quarter of the book, the plot did start to go into circles of repetitiveness. This was a great book and I would recommend it to others, but it is not an all-time favorite. 4 out of 5 stars. submitted by /u/beaniebaby729 [link] [comments]
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Just wrapped up another really good Peter Straub novel today, and another of best known, "Ghost Story". In the small town of Milburn, New York, four elderly men gather around to tell each other stories. Some of these are true, some are made up and all of them are truly terrifying. A very simple pastime that they enjoy to divert themselves from their quiet lives. But there is one story that is returning to haunt them and the town itself. This was a tale that concerned about something that they did so long ago. One wicked mistake. A terrifying accident. Soon these men will learn that nothing and no one can truly bury the past forever. Ah, do I really love me a good ghost story, pun intended! With Peter Straub's novel I get those eerie atmospheric vibes that you always get with such stories. With "Ghost Story" those vibes are more like the kind you get from reading an Edgar Allan Poe story. And well it certainly feels that way given the weirdness on display. Plus with some influence of folklore added to whole thing as well. When I started reading the prologue I knew this was going to be another weird one. But I love weird, and can never get enough of it! And if it's reminiscent of Poe? Well that makes all the more appealing! submitted by /u/i-the-muso-1968 [link] [comments]
I listened to the audiobook of it - which was recorded in the 70s, which I found interesting as I thought audiobooks were a newer development and William Golding died in 1993. He clarified that the only interpretation of the book that matters is your own, not his and not others. He also stated that he didn’t make the story about young girls as he feels the events that unfolded in the book wouldn’t happen if it was girls stranded on an island, and that it wasn’t both boys and girls as he didn’t want sex to be involved in the story since that wasn’t the purpose. He mentioned the idea he had behind it was how evil comes about when there is no law and order, and how kids may view being on a coral island as a fun adventure at first but reality would greatly change that impression. One aspect that made me sad was how two characters (Simon and Piggy) who were the voice of reason and really tried to be logical and hold the fort were killed - I’d assume that was an intentional choice as Jack ended up getting most of the boys to join his tribe and they all started acting like savages so they were overpowered. I believe most of the boys joined Jack’s side and started to ignore what Ralph had to say as Ralph had rules in place to ensure there is structure and that they were all working towards the goal of being saved. The rules Ralph tried to enforce felt like too much for the kids - especially the little kids, and Jack’s focus on hunting more than flagging down rescue efforts felt more enjoyable for the boys especially since that ensured they’d have food. The paranoia about the imaginary beast is something I kinda had a hard time wrapping my head around. I believe it might’ve been a representation of the fear the boys had being alone and it manifested for Jack’s tribe as something that united them. Additionally, when Simon was killed after being mistaken as the beast when it was really a dead pilot they thought to be the beast, Piggy and Ralph likely joined in because the majority of the boys believed there was a beast while they had their doubts so in away they were gaslighted into believing it. Well specifically Ralph was the most uncertain about the beast, while Piggy maintained there wasn’t one, so Ralph worried about how his stance on the matter would impact how the rest of the boys view him. Personally, I believe LotF is a good example of what can happen when there are no rules or structure in a society - it can bring out the worst in people. While Ralph tried to establish rules, because these were all boys who were close in age, it was hard for the boys to view him as an authoritative figure while adults are easily seen as such. I agree with William Golding when he said the events of the book wouldn’t make sense with a group of young girls as savagery and violence would be less likely to occur in that scenario. The ending where the boys are saved by the Navy served as their reality check as the adult perspective made them realize that they allowed themselves to get too far out of hand. submitted by /u/InfiniteCalendar1 [link] [comments]
Hoşgeldiniz readers, This is our monthly discussion of the literature of the world! Every Wednesday, we'll post a new country or culture for you to recommend literature from, with the caveat that it must have been written by someone from that there (i.e. Shogun by James Clavell is a great book but wouldn't be included in Japanese literature). May 19 is the Commemoration of Atatürk which honors the life of Turkish hero Kemal Atatürk and to celebrate we're discussing Turkish literature! Please use this thread to discuss your favorite Turkish literature and authors. If you'd like to read our previous discussions of the literature of the world please visit the literature of the world section of our wiki. Teşekkür ederim and enjoy! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]
Read from April 29 – May 04, 2024 1/5 stars I HATED THIS NOTE: I started out with an open mind read the first chapter, and then this turned into a hate-read. That being said, no hate to anyone who enjoyed this book, I would love to hear what your opinions are, both on the book and this review 🙂 Let’s start with my ‘favourite’ quote: “but it is impossible for someone who was not abused to become an abuser.” Theo Faber, Psychotherapist I genuinely do not understand what the hype around this book is. To be fair, the second I read the words ‘TikTok sensation’ in the advertising, I should have known better. The thing that struck me is that Michaelides is a SCREENWRITER, and this very much reads like a script, it felt like it was written solely for the purpose of selling the movie rights. TLDR: This book wants to be Gone Girl so bad. So, save yourself, if this is on your TBR, forget about it, read something else, ANYTHING else, read a newspaper, just don’t read this. Longer rant Review, including the writing, characters, setting, and my main issues with this novel. The Writing: Is mediocre, at best. It’s very much in the style of ‘he said, she said’. The best way I can describe it is that it reminds me of a middle-grade novel, where everything is stated clear cut and there isn’t much effort needed on the reader’s part. There’s nothing wrong with that, for a KID’S book, but this is NOT written for a 10-year-old. There’s long swaths of exposition, the chapters are between 2-5 pages long, we are constantly told who’s speaking, points are stated and then re-stated kind of like: “Alicia Berenson has not spoken in 6 years” Diomedes said. That’s right, from what I remember, she has not spoken since her husband was killed, 6 years ago. So much needless repetition. The reason I said that it reads like a script is because there is a lot of useless dialogue + endless descriptions. Each character and setting is described in such needless detail, going on for entire paragraphs, for example: Barbie was a Californian blonde in her mid-sixties, possibly older. She was drenched in Chanel No 5, and she’d had a considerable amount of plastic surgery. Her name suited her – she looked like a startled Barbie doll. She was obviously the kind of woman who was used to getting what she wanted – hence her loud protestations at the reception desk when she discovered she needed to make an appointment to visit a patient. This character has been mentioned once or twice previously but she is relevant for MAYBE 15 pages out of 336. Majority of the side characters are introduced like this, however, Theo isn’t really described in much detail beyond the ‘tall, dark and brooding’ trope and neither is Alicia, so the 2 protagonists are essentially blank slates. The dialogue is so cringey, almost every chapter mentions the weather [this is set in the UK], like the weather is used as filler relentlessly. There’s a bunch of continuity errors, the main one that comes to mind is that at the start of the book when Theo first enters The Grove [don’t even get me started on the name of the hospital, it sounds like the name of a cartoon villain’s layer, not a psych hospital] he is asked to give up his lighter and any other objects that could be used as weapons, yet he and majority of the side characters smoke CONSTANTLY INSIDE THE HOSPITAL. The writing also reminded me A LOT of Colleen Hoover’s writing, and if that women has no haters, then I’m dead. The Diary Entries: Like I said, this book wants to be Gone Girl so bad. The diary entries are written very weirdly, they don’t read like a journal, where you might get more of a stream of consciousness sort of style, they read like POV switches from 6 years in the past. They don’t flow and amble like you would expect. Examples: Tears collected in my eyes as I walked up the hill. I wasn’t crying for my mother – or myself – or even that poor homeless man. I was crying for all of us. There’s so much pain everywhere, and we just close our eyes to it. But I ruined the mood, stupidly, clumsily – by asking if he would sit for me. ‘I want to paint you,’ I said. ‘Again? You already did.’ ‘That was four years ago. I want to paint you again.’ ‘Uh-huh.’ He didn’t look enthusiastic. ‘What kind of thing do you have in mind?’ I hesitated – and then said it was for the Jesus picture. Gabriel sat up and gave a kind of strangled laugh. ‘Oh, come on, Alicia.’ The diary entries are not diary entries, they are memories. People don’t write down entire conversations word for word like this when they journal, like “’ I had lunch with Martha’ he said”, you write it like “Gabriel had lunch with Martha today.” I know why the diary entries feel so weird, they read like movie scenes, like a flashback. Like the memory/subject of the diary entry should be playing in the background while someone narrates. Again, this was a script, not a novel, I stand by this point. The Characters: Character development is frankly non-existent, the characters don’t exists as themselves, they exist to serve the plot. They have no depth, and their motivations are lacking. Theo faber: he was abused as a kid and is therefore damaged. Chapter 3 was literally just an exposition dump of his entire childhood, just straight out of the blue. It was like Chapter one: a report of the murder, chapter 2 further recollection, chapter 3: so my father beat throughout my childhood, I don’t know why. Theo’s father was verbally and physically abuse, Theo attempted suicide when he was at uni, because the things his dad said made him feel like a failure. But we are never told WHAT has been said, and therefore, we don’t see why exactly Theo would have doubts about himself. Abuse shapes you as a person, if we got to hear his inner thoughts about what his father said, it would give greater insight into Theo’s identity as a character. Besides that, Theo has a RAGING saviour complex, “Unable to come to terms with what she had done, Alicia stuttered and came to a halt, like a broken car. I wanted to help start her up again – help Alicia tell her story, to heal and get well. I wanted to fix her.” The book is filled with passages like that. And besides that, it’s just filled with loads of nonsense psychobabble. Theo is also OBSESSED with Alicia, the book tells us it’s out of guilt, but I contest and say that he’s just a creep who very much treats Alicia like a failed version of a manic pixie dream girl. Alicia Berenson: Alicia is a walking contradiction. We are told that she is beautiful, charming, sophisticated, but she instead comes across as an anti-social, paranoid shut in with serious co-dependency issues. She has no friends, no relationships outside of her husband Gabriel, no hobbies, or interests outside of painting and having sex with her husband. All she does in her chapters is paint, have arguments with people, have sex, and walk around. Side characters: only exist to serve the plot. Professor Lazarus Diomedes: the name alone makes me cringe. He’s Greek, he has a lot of instruments in his office including a piano and a harp [which are never brought up after the initial chapters he’s introduced and he never plays any of them], he’s “unorthodox” and shunned, and he basically exists to be Theo Faber’s ‘yes man’. Christian: stereotypical work rival who has a habit of calling all the patients bitches. Yuri: He’s a psych nurse who takes Theo to bar and tell him that he and his wife divorced, and he fell in love with someone else. Fine fair enough, but does he approach this woman like a normal person? No, he pulls a Joe from YOU and stalks and harasses her. Yet later on THEO SAYS THAT HE IS A GOOD MAN AND THAT HE IS SORRY DOUBTING YURI. DESPITE INITIALLY BEING UNCOMFORTABLE WITH HIS BEHAVIOUR. Then again Theo himself is a stalker so go figure. The Setting: The Grove is supposed to be a mental hospital used to detain mentally ill criminals. Firstly, all the patients are female. It is never stated that the hospital is an all-female facility. Second, we never get an idea of the scope of this place, there’s only one therapy room for EVERYONE to use, only 2 psychiatrists on payroll, Diomedes and Christian, 2 therapists, Theo and a side character named Indira, one psychiatric nurse, Yuri and an admin assistant, Stephanie. The layout and descriptions are confusing, one area is referred to as the ‘Fishbowl’ throughout the novel. Racism: I don’t know if Michaelides has some internalized racism going on but every single foreign character has a habit of erasing their cultural identity. Examples: Yuri, the psych nurse who is Latvian – Yuri was good-looking, well built, and in his late thirties. He had dark hair and a tribal tattoo creeping up his neck, above his collar. He smelled of tobacco and too much sweet aftershave. And although he spoke with an accent, his English was perfect. This sort of backhanded compliment is considered racist, as someone who is POC myself, I’ve gotten this plenty of times and it always gives me the ick. Jean-Felix, the gallerist – He spoke with an accent. I asked if he was French. ‘Originally – from Paris. But I’ve been here since I was a student – oh, twenty years at least. I think of myself more as British these days.’ There were more examples, but these are the main ones I found in my notes. Misogyny: Firstly, the patients are all female, like I said earlier, it is never stated that it is an all-female facility. This book is dripping with it, every single female character is either described as a manic pixie dream girl, a maternal figure, or a psychotic bitch. The DOCTORS refer to their patients as bitches multiple times. Example: “She was entirely consumed with herself and her art. All the empathy you have for her, all the kindness – she isn’t capable of giving it back. She’s a lost cause. A total bitch.’ Christian said this with a scornful expression-“ Rowena gave a derisive snort. ‘Because Alicia’s the least responsive, most uncommunicative bitch I’ve ever worked with.’ Besides that, they are often compared to birds: “I remember Mum and those colourful tops she’d wear, with the yellow stringy straps, so flimsy and delicate – just like her. She was so thin, like a little bird.” “Alicia was sitting alone, I noticed, at the back of the room. She was picking at a meagre bit of fish like an anorexic bird;” Alicia is also very much painted as a manic pixie dream girl in her diary entries, almost every page of her POV mentions sex, and it has no effect on the plot. It was mentioned so often that I ended up keeping track out of boredom [I should have also tracked how often the weather was mentioned]. I think I have 15 tabs in 300 pages by the end of it for just sex scenes. I don't have an issue with sex, but just like in movies when it gets thrown in for no reason, that's when it irritates me. And of course the mentally ill woman with possible psychosis and BPD has to be shown as hot and a nymphomaniac. Every one of her POVs reads like: “Gabriel and I had an argument and then we had sex.” “I went for a walk and fantasized about Gabriel.” “I was trying to paint Gabriel but then we had sex.” “I had an argument with someone and came home to wake up Gabriel and we had sex.” I can see why this atrocity is a BookTok favourite. Oh, and this line: [Warning NSFW] “It’s still populated by sixteen-year-olds, embracing the sunshine, sprawled on either side of the canal, a jumble of bodies – boys in rolled-up shorts with bare chests, girls in bikinis or bras – skin everywhere, burning, reddening flesh. The sexual energy was palpable – their hungry, impatient thirst for life. I felt a sudden desire for Gabriel – for his body and his strong legs, his thick thighs lain over mine. When we have sex, I always feel an insatiable hunger for him – for a kind of union between us – something that’s bigger than me, bigger than us, beyond words – something holy.” She’s out on a walk and salivating over 16-year-olds. Enough said. Medical Malpractice: Not only is a lot of the psychology in this book outdated, but in general, there is so much misinformation. The psychology is so outdated, and it's mostly centered around Freud. The biggest example I can think of is Alicia’s initial treatment, she has been put on Risperidone, which is an anti-psychotic prescribed to schizophrenic patients [Also prescribed for autism, BPD, etc. but that's on a case by case basis] In the book, Alicia is shown to be completely out if it, she’s drooling on the floor, and practically comatose. Risperidone is NOT a sedative [it can have sedative EFFECTS, but sedation is not the function] it acts on dopamine and serotine receptors and is used to reduce symptoms of schizophrenia, i.e. prevent hallucinations and help stabilize mood. It should not be causing Alicia to be unresponsive. [Disclaimer, this is just coming from my basic knowledge as a med student and a few quick google searches, if I'm wrong, please correct me.] Moving on, Theo wants to treat Alicia but she’s on 16 mg of Risperidone, which is the highest safe dose possible. He asks Christian to lower the dose, what does Christian do? He stops giving Alicia 16 mg and switches her to 5 mg. An 11 mg decrease. IN ONE DAY. There is no gradual decrease, no safety precautions, NOTHING. For context, Risperidone is prescribed in 0.5 – 1 mg increments. This means that an 11 mg decrease is incredibly dramatic and DANGEROUS, it can send a patient into a psychotic episode, cause them to relapse and lead to withdrawal. Christian being a psychiatrist should know this. Patients are allowed access to a pool table without supervision, all the doctors smoke and offer their patients cigarettes, Yuri deals drugs, Theo seemingly does no ither work besides talk to Alicia and play detective. Depiction of mentally ill patients: Throughout the book the patients are often referred to as animals, monstrous or zombies. Examples: “Her [Elif, a patient] face was pressed up against it, squashing her nose, distorting her features, making her almost monstrous.” “It took four nurses to hold Alicia down. She writhed and kicked and fought like a creature possessed. She didn’t seem human, more like a wild animal; something monstrous.” [Alicia is painting, Theo is watching] “I felt like I was present at an intimate moment, watching a wild animal give birth. And although Alicia was aware of my presence, she didn’t seem to mind.” On top of that, the word borderline gets thrown out A LOT, but it is never explained and is often derogatory. Example: [This is Christian the psychiatrist speaking, warning Theo about Alicia] ‘I’m just saying. Borderlines are seductive. That’s what’s going on here. I don’t think you fully get that.’ I am not against problematic writing, as long as it serves a purpose, but Michaelides is not talented enough to do something like this intentionally, and showing patients in this light serves no purpose. Theo makes it very clear that he thinks that Elif, a Turkish woman, is ugly and rude, it is mentioned every time she is on the page. This sort of depiction is harmful, mental health gets a bad enough rep as it is, again, I take no issue with problematic writing, but this is not problematic or controversial, this is ignorance. The depiction of mental illness, coupled with the use of Risperidone, indicates, to me, that Michaelides did not do his research whatsoever. He just thought of a cool idea and ran with it. Oh, and lastly, let’s not forget: “but it is impossible for someone who was not abused to become an abuser.” No, just no. ANYONE can be abusive. Correlation does not equal causation. This is blatant misinformation and a very harmful message to send and I was actually so angry when I read that. The Twist [spoilers] The twist is the most ridiculous thing, and it hangs on by a thread. I had already guessed that Gabriel was the one who Kathy’s affair partner was, and the entire thing falls apart when you realize that if any of Theo’s chapters were dated, you would figure it out immediately. That’s a very loose basis for a dramatic reveal. Yes, Theo is an unreliable narrator and I usually enjoy such stories, but this was just lazy. I’m sorry, Theo followed Gabriel all over London and never ONCE saw his face, never heard Kathy moan his name when he was spying on them, not ONCE. It’s poor when your twist relies on my suspension of disbelief. Conclusion - Poorly written, reads like a middle-grade novel. Michaelides is a screenwriter, and this very much reads like a script, designed to be easy to follow and direct. - Horrible depiction mental health, both as a patient and in practice. - Hollow, 2D characters. - Misogynistic. - Overall waste of time, save yourself. submitted by /u/Hale-117 [link] [comments]
It’s dragged out and vague “after what happened” heavy, a lot of tell not show, the main character makes ridiculously poor decisions just to move the plot along, and its graphic-yet-cliché depictions of child abuse are making it unbearable to me. Can someone just spoil the ending for me? I can’t do it / can’t get through it because of the graphic child abuse and poor dragged out writing. I got halfway through it before I came to this conclusion. Has anyone else felt this way about this supposedly great thriller? submitted by /u/Hlangel [link] [comments]
T.W: Some extremely sensitive themes are going to be discussed here, including r@pe, abuse, torture and murder, CSA. So when I finished Less Than Zero and posted about it, I got a multitude of comments recommending me to read its sequel, Imperial Bedrooms. Honestly? I wasn't up for it. I felt like it sounded like a pointless sequel that only served mostly as a cash grab. Now, you're still welcome to believe it is, but it is my honest opinion that after reading it, this book feels essential. LTZ just suddenly feels pointless without this edition. IB really feels like the missing piece to a puzzle I thought was finished. I actually can't imagine that LTZ would work without it. Let's start with the basic things that I liked: Clay. Clay is a great great character in IB. He wasn't that much of a character in LTZ but here he's much more engaging in the plot. Psychologically, he's fascinating. He's a brutal, piece of shit narcissistic sociopath who doesn't care about anyone. The fact that he previously beat up a pregnant woman for no reason whatsoever shows this. He's spontaneous. Yet I also get the sense that he's deeply traumatised. When he rapes Rain (which was honestly the most upsetting scene of the novel because of how realistic it was, fuck you Ellis) he forces her mouth to smile because I believe he wants to convince himself that she's enjoying it and she does love him. Towards the end, he laments about how dead inside he is and he says he doesn't care about anyone, but more importantly, "I'm afraid of people." He's afraid of opening up and caring for other people. It's a thought that terrifies the shit out of him because he doesn't want to get hurt. I don't feel bad for Clay, which is weird because I happen to feel bad for Patrick Bateman lmao. I feel more pity on Clay, like watching a rat try and escape a trap. Honestly when he had Julian killed, I had nothing but contempt for the asshole. The other characters were interesting as well. Rip was such an effective sociopath that he actually had me think he was a good dude. Honestly, he made me for get for a second that he had kidnapped, tortured and raped and presumably killed a 12 year old girl in the first book because he was THAT smooth talking. I found the meta bits at the beginning really cool because of how it was written. I like how Clay literally has no idea who wrote about him. Like Bret Easton Ellis is some God in this universe lol. Things I didn't like were a few actually. I didn't like Trent. Not at all. He gets one (?) scene and it's him suddenly being this moral voice of the book. This is the only bit where I felt like it was forgetting the previous events of other books. Trent paid for a snuff film in LTZ and Trent raped a 12 year old girl in LTZ. Now he's suddenly all, "DO YOU REMEMBER THAT ONE PREGNANT WOMAN?" Idk, Trent could've been replaced with anyone. I just legitimately couldn't take it seriously. The "boy/girl" segment was purely shock value with the exception of the small paragraph where the girl talks about how the Devil lives in the mountains. That could have been one paragraph. I get it. Clay did fucked up shit to some people. The book is fucked up. Whoop-tee-doo. That's about it for my review. I think this book is incredibly well written and IMO, superior to LTZ. It digs much deeper into the themes of the previous book and leaves you like Clay towards the end-- Hollow. 9.3/10. submitted by /u/EmilyIsNotALesbian [link] [comments]
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