hi friends! i remember seeing a post recently about how different readers visualize books while reading, and it got me thinking.

i'm pretty sure i fall into the category of those with aphantasia, as i have an extremely difficult time visualizing things in my mind as i read. i get the gist of what an author is describing, but i don't SEE it. i just have the idea/concept of it!

i'm wondering for those who of you who have the same "issue" if you will, are there any books in particular that you feel did a great job in being descriptive, making it easier to "picture" or immerse yourself? (could be the author wrote beautifully about the environment, or maybe described scents or textures so well you felt it was REAL.)

and if you're the opposite and have hyperphantasia, what are some books that really made you feel as though you had a picture book in your hands rather than pages full of words?

Ouyang dipped a piece of jellied pork cheek in black vinegar and said neutrally, "Your wives?" "Oh, Ouyang. Women are terrible! The politics." He groaned. "Consider yourself lucky you'll never have to suffer this kind of torment."

so when does he get blown up? or trampled by horses? no one gaf if ur gay don’t start bashing the wives that were prob forced to marry u😭😭 simultaneously putting salt in the wound for Ouyang by reminding him he’ll never get the chance to have a family in that sense because of what Esens father took from him💀💀💀 no wonder he finds women terrible because they use more than 1 brain cell…

i just finished "the long way to a small, angry planet" and now i need more cozy sci fi in my life! does anyone have other suggestions? or is the rest of the series good? thx in advance! :)

I wonder if you’ve ever encountered people who say they never read fiction because it has no application in life. Twice in my life I met such people. Their reasoning simply is that fiction is not real, made-up, so they won’t be able to use it in their lives. Therefore, they are not spending their time reading it. At the same time, they both like to read, one of them is a lawyer, another — an academic. They just only read books containing facts. I think it’s a very peculiar type of thinking. As someone who sees so much value in reading fiction, I think they are missing out on so much.

Then, projected against the illuminated window-paper, shadows appeared. People, gliding in succession down the corridor. Their hair hung long and tangled, and Zhu could hear their voices as they passed: a lonely, unintelligible murmur that was familiar even as it made her shudder.

a haunted monastery with PAPER WINDOWS? nuh uh, get me out

the choice to begin the first chapter by talking about the drought the village has been suffering through is so weighted if you think about how water is heavily associated with a ruler’s beneficence in classical chinese texts. rainfall was seen to be the generosity of the heavens, which grant the emperor his right to rule by way of the mandate of heaven, so an ongoing drought already implies heavenly displeasure with the current ruler.

also, this might be reaching, but i feel like her dreaming about "a bowl of millet porridge" might be a sly reference to 黄粱梦, a story in which a man falls asleep and dreams of himself attaining endless glory and honour, only to lose it all in great tragedy at the end of the dream. and then he wakes up and realises that all that happened in the time it took for a bowl of millet to be cooked.