I’m really struggling to get into this book. After hearing so many people say they couldn’t put it down, I expected to be completely captivated, but that hasn’t been my experience so far. I’m going to stick with it until the end—but please tell me I’m not the only one feeling this way?

Okay, does this pick up pace wise at all?

I've been told a few times by my coworkers, friends and family that they way I pick books is horrid but I must know if there is another like me!😔

So, I pick up a book if it's interesting, read the blurb, go to the first page, skim like a sentence in the middle ish to check if there's rising action and check the ending... Now, bare with me, I did this a lot in my early teens but much less now(except when I was working at a bookstore, I did it a few times) , although it's still been a good method since I haven't picked "bad books".

Does anyone else do this or am I just a crazy person who spoils my books? 😂

So, my friends' kid brought home a list of the books (and movies?) they'll be studying in English class this term. This is what they have listed:

• Lord of the Flies: William Golding (novel)
• Cast Away: Robert Zemeckis (film)
• Macbeth: Shakespeare (drama)
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Ben Stiller (film)
• The Veldt: Ray Bradbury (short story)
• Harrison Bergeron: Kurt Vonnegut (short story)
• Robot Dreams: Isaac Asimov (short story)

If you read this list and thought "wow there's a shocking lack of female writers and even characters!", then we're on the same page. We're all mad about the same thing. I'm pretty sure they're all white Americans too (we're Canadian) 🙄 EDIT: skipped over Shakespeare, he's def not American lol same with William Golding, but British isn't better.

ANYWAYS, as we were raging about the horrible list, I thought of what I would include instead, to up the diversity by about 1000 times.

Here's the new list of most diverse books that I came up with (and this was just scrolling through my recently finished books) I was aiming for diversity plus good discussion points:

• What Moves the Dead + The Fall of the House of Usher: compare and contrast and all that (short novel & short story)
• The Empress of Salt & Fortune: feminist high fantasy short novel and the whole series is great (short novel)
• Open Throat - short story of a queer mountain lion debating if it should eat people or not (that's a VERY brief summary lol) (short novel)
• Long Way Down - an alternate to a play maybe? It's written in verse and about teenage gun violence (novel in verse)
• OR The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill: a book of coming of age poetry exploring Hindu mythology (novel in verse)
• Princess Mononoke: Ghibli is great at writing strong female characters and the added environmentalism is a plus! (film)
• Greta Gerwig's Little Women: I know, this is a typical answer but I still think it's a great movie. (film)

What would you guys switch these out with?

cant believe ive reached 30%... not to exaggerate but reading this wasnt even in my wildest dreams but bcs its a new year so i thought i should tackle reading classic!! (and a thick one at that 😳)

I am revisiting the original Hunger Games trilogy. I had very mixed feelings about it, but have always recognized its importance in YA lit. I am excited to reread as an adult. Is there a series you read as a kid, teen or young adult that you would revisit as an adult?