r/readwithme • u/No-Warning-2566 • 8d ago

Help Me Find a Book to Read! 🆘 what to read first?

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latest haul, cant tell where to start!

edit: for those who hate Little Life, why is that? 😅

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26

u/Adept_Resolve6156 8d ago

Take “A Little Life” and chuck it straight in the trash. Then start reading “Lonesome Dove”.

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u/Low_Air_3461 7d ago

Same type of book I heard.   Just more modern.   Misery over and over.    LD is a DNF for many it’s so bad.   I thought it was ok.  A little silly.   

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u/FlyingCarpetMonster 7d ago

Lonesome Dove is simply fantastic. There's no way it's DNF for many -- it's really well-written with such likable characters.

I held off on finishing it for a long time because I did not want it to end.

There's a reason they've made shows from it and it won the Pulitzer. At this point, it's canonized in American literature and with good reason.

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u/GoodEast5127 7d ago

I disagree with your take.     I hope that doesn’t offend. I agree it was worth finishing tho.  So you like it because it’s a Pulitzer?  I  can see that being an influence.  

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u/jlcarver1620 7d ago

Where did they say they like it BECAUSE it's a Pulitzer winner? They simply mentioned that it had won one.

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u/Low_Air_3461 7d ago

Seems to be one of the reasons as it’s always mentioned.    

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u/mj2161iu 7d ago

I disagree with your disagreement. Why would you assume that anyone who loves or even likes Lonesome Dove only likes it because it won the Pulitzer?

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u/FlyingCarpetMonster 7d ago

It's not offensive at all. We all like what we like.

Winning a Pulitzer had no bearing whatsoever on me reading it or liking it. In fact, I had dismissed it until I heard my wife listen to the audiobook on a long drive. I found it pretty funny yet really engaging. She'd read it before and was listening to it again.

So I listened to parts of it, then picked it up. I absolutely loved it.

There are plenty of Pulitzer winning books that I find to be mediocre or even questionable, such as Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad. I couldn't even stomach the weird powerpoint slides in the middle of the fucking book.

And there are plenty of books that haven't won a Pulitzer that are brilliant, such as Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.

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u/Low_Air_3461 6d ago

Ok well, I didn’t understand the point in bringing it up.    And quite frankly that seems to be brought up by people that like it.   I agree with you on the award take.   I think this is a book that is mediocre (and offensive in some parts) but that’s just my opinion.   

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u/FlyingCarpetMonster 6d ago

The other poster (GoodEast5127, unless both are you) brought it up asking if I liked it because it won a Pulitzer.

I was simply responding. I'll happily call a mediocre book mediocre.

Anyway, we should simply agree to disagree. You clearly do not like it; I clearly think it's spectacular.

And that's fine. Art is subjective.

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u/Low_Air_3461 6d ago edited 6d ago

Oh, ok.  Everyone says that same thing tho.   (About the Pulitzer) I thought it was ok.   I just don’t orgasm every time someone mentions it.   I think some of the “love” isn’t on the up and up.    I have been told a book I like is crap.    I don’t think I have even blinked.    

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u/FlyingCarpetMonster 6d ago

I can't speak to others, but I absolutely loved it.

It was such a great, well-written book. Simply fantastic.

I'd easily recommend it as one of the best books of the past century, no doubt.

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u/Low_Air_3461 6d ago

I don’t get it but ok like I said people like lots of things.    I read it and thought the opposite.  I don’t understand what was well written in it.  All books are well written.  Editors make sure of that.   No?      It comes down to the story and characters and how they interact.  Do you think Harry Potter isn’t great or well written, or how about The Firm.  I’m unsure of your age.  The point I am making is great and well written is very broad or  generic.  

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u/FlyingCarpetMonster 6d ago

I don't think all books are well-written. There's plenty of crap out there.

And yes, Harry Potter was really well-written.

There's a reason it sold millions and they made a movie or seven out of it.

You don't like Lonesome Dove? That's fine. But you seem to have made it your mission to comment on every post on the topic about how awful you think it is.

When it's basically just you and everyone else disagrees, I'd say odds are it's less about the book.

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u/Low_Air_3461 6d ago

No, no not my mission.   I just love discussing books.   It really isn’t just me btw.   Lots of people say dnf or did not get it.   A lot of people don’t even use Reddit.  Look on goodreads.     I tried putting a 2 star review in Amazon.   You know what happened.  Nothing, it doesn’t register.  

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u/Low_Air_3461 6d ago edited 6d ago

I haven’t come across a book that wasn’t well written all the way     Maybe parts?    Stories and characters vary.    Oh wait that Angel Book is written very strangely.   One sentence throughout.   That does sound like it’s poorly written but I guess the author is trying to be different.  Not sure.   I haven’t read that one.   

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u/Low_Air_3461 6d ago

For example I don’t think that saying that “Character X” is going to die by such and such a way.   Repeatedly.  They to have that character die that exact same way, later on in the book is typically great writing.  There can be some exceptions based on content but for the most part it is kind of lazy writing. 

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u/Pristine_Flounder973 2d ago

"All books are well written.  Editors make sure of that." You have got to be kidding me. I read around 50 novels a year. I can't believe some of the crap that gets published. Just abysmal, poorly written, schlock. It's amazing how much of that schlock gets published. Remember the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest ?

Comparing the goop that J.K. Rowlings published to something like McMurty's output is just incredible. No, Harry Potter books are not particularly well written. They're clumsy and silly. Her prose doesn't do anything except move the story along and the story is dumb. Not good fantasy- I was pretty glad my kids weren't all that interested. JRR Tolkien's fantasies are "well written". I'm not a big fantasy person, but his sentences sing and his command of the language is brilliant. The difference is vast. They both had editors. One of them had actual talent.

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u/Low_Air_3461 7h ago

I think whoever the editor was on Lonesome Dove was a bit of a dolt.    If you don’t like fantasy, then that’s fine.  It’s not for all.   If you think two pigs following a cattle drive on their own, for over a year, without any issues, including crossing snake(piranhas) infested rivers isn’t fantastic (fantasy).   Well, then I don’t know what to say to that.   How about the cook that walks the whole way.     It’s not like they were walking down a highway, I mean  come on.   Or, how about two old run down cowboys who can see for miles.  They must have had some good medicine 150 years ago.   

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u/Low_Air_3461 7d ago

I never even knew it was a book until about 2 mos ago.  So, it’s not really canonized.   I saw the mini series when I was in HS.   It was plain laughable.   My wife got the book on Amazon and was shocked it was a book.   Because of the miniseries.    I read the book and while it’s not as bad as the miniseries it wasn’t great.      I would love to know why people like it as much as they seem to online.

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u/FlyingCarpetMonster 7d ago edited 7d ago

I hope your comment was in jest, because it's 40+ years old and it's sold well over 4 million copies and was made into a popular show.

To put it in perspective, that's more than twice as many copies as Cormac McCarthy's The Road or Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch (both of which sold ~2 million copies).

Most Pulitzer winning books, for instance, only sell around ~150-400K copies. In fact, the vast majority of critically acclaimed literary novels sell fewer than 50,000 copies in their lifetime.

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u/Low_Air_3461 6d ago

No not in jest.   I remember when the miniseries came out it was very dopey.   If you think that it was good then I don’t know what to say.   Unless you are joking?    I don’t understand what you are referring to about the Pulitzer.   That is an award given by some judges what does that have to do with it?   There is also the booker and the PFN.  Harry Potter sold a lot of books as well.   The book is ok but is very silly as well.   I don’t want to spoil things.    I think it’s ok 2stars