do guys also get the absolute ick when theres lots of grammar/spelling/punctuation errors in books? and do u continue reading or not🙈

Ha s anyone seen the recent R.F. Kuang controversy? I'm not extensively informed but I do know she introduced an Israeli character in her most recent book Taipei story, I'm not sure how to feel about the author and wether or not to support her, or if it's even her fault at all, would love to hear some opinions on the matter

Sorry, it got a little bit longer than planned 😅 I can't keep it short apparently. I promise there are questions at the end of it for a discussion.

When I was in my mid-teens I watched the film Ever After, which is a non-fantasy retelling of the Cinderella story. At that point I had been reading a lot of dystopian classics (Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid's Tale...) and was very into the genre. So, when the main character Danielle mentioned Utopia and was gushing throughout the film that it was her favourite and most reread book, it made me prick up my ears. I was already familiar with the term "utopian", but when I found out that Thomas More coined the term with his 1516 publication, I was even more intrigued to check out the book. So I went to the library and borrowed Utopia, read it very interestedly, even though some of the references in it were lost on me due to my lack of knowledge regarding the relevant historical era and politics. I was still very happy to have read the book. There was something very satisfying about reading something a fictional character that I liked enjoyed as well.

A similar thing happened to me a few years earlier, when I was about 12 years old. Baz Luhrman's Romeo+Juliet had come out and back then I was a huge fan of Leonardo di Caprio and I also really liked Claire Danes (because I loved the tv show My So-called Life back then). So, of course I had to watch it...and I loved it, so much that I rewatched it several times afterwards. I loved not only the artistry of the cinematography and soundtrack, but also the language. At that point I had of course heard the name Shakespeare before, but I had never read any of his works. So, off I went to the library, with the intention of reading Romeo and Juliet. Unfortunately someone had already borrowed it. In my determined desire to read Shakespeare and not to leave empty-handed, I picked up one of the available Shakespeare works, choosing the title that sounded the most appealing to me. So I took home Othello and read it. First adult book that made me cry.

I also read Catcher in the Rye when I was about 13 just because I read in a magazine an interview with Winona Ryder where she mentioned it was her favourite book. She had been one of my favourite actresses for a few years by then, and I was so curious to see what made her choose that book and what it was about. Naturally, I went to the library and picked it up and read it 😂 You see a pattern here?

I was oftentimes inspired by other people or characters mentioning books. I always read the foreword and afterword of a book, and everytime someone quoted or described a book in an interesting way, I would go get it and read it. But I feel like during my teenage years, I was inspired a lot by books mentioned in films or tv shows. I just couldn't help myself. I needed to satisfy my curiosity.

Have you ever been influenced by characters in film or other media to read a certain book? And what's your favourite memory of discovering a book through film or sth similar? Or what is an unusual way that made you discover certain works of literature?