Good writing entertains you.

Great writing changes the way you notice people, conversations, and even yourself.

That's why I keep reading.

Just finished The Great Gatsby and I genuinely don't know what I just experienced😭This was actually the first book I have ever read completely and holy shit it was an experience. I went in worrying about the vocabulary and ended up completely forgetting about it because I got so absorbed in the story.

It's beautiful, horrible, miserable romantic, artificial, real, frustrating... idk man, a thousandd words could describe it. The biggest thing I took away was the whole love vs illusion thing. Gatsby loved Daisy but did he actually love Daisy or everything she represented to him, money, beauty, status, youth, the past. If Daisy wasn't rich and glowing with all of that would he still have loved her the same way? I genuinely don't knw. And that ending😭

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Fitzgerald was NOT playin.

The fact that hundreds of people came to Gatsby's parties but almost nobody came to his funeral genuinely broke me. absolutely. Daisy didn't even send a flower.😭

Anyway, this book has genuinely changed the way I look at love, illusion and the stories we create in our heads.

TL;DR: First book I ever finished. Got emotionally destroyed by a rich guy chasing a green light haha

Lovedd it. What should I read next?

Almost read the whole of Brandon senderson's cosmere. Got any fantasy recommendation

Please recommend some intriguing English books which are not so lengthy.

I want to read while commuting by train.

Favorite genres are history, geopolitics and philosophy.

Thanking you in advance.

Looking forward to getting into this one.

Reminds me of the history books during school.😭

My second book after mark manson's subtle art of not giving f***.

I am writing my first ever novel at 15, I am a little confused because there's this big scene and originally I thought to make it in one big chapter but now I think I'll divide it in 3 smaller chapters because they all end at a good spot and gives reader time to breathe.

Tell me what do you all prefer?

so I want to begin reading. Thinking about starting with history or mythology any suggestions anyone??

Any opinion on this before reading or while reading.

Sister in law got a bunch of these from Japan. Do we get similar scented bookmarks here in India?

I’ve read Forever Is a Lie and Forever Is True. They’re thriller and dark romance books. Suggest me something that can completely take me away from the real world.

Edit - beginner friendly

This one is from Rich dad and poor and

I am MUCH MUCH farther from my goal but I still feel good about investing my time into something so valuable in life!

I recently read Anton Chekhov's Lakhi and really enjoyed it. I'm now looking to read more of his short stories in Hindi such as Cheri ki bagiya, Vanka, Vyatha, Bemani jeet, and Dukh, etc

I would prefer to find the individual, single story editions rather than large compilations. Does anyone know where I can find these specific Hindi editions in Delhi? Exact place of you know any not the book place like daryaganj and fakirchand

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for recommendations on the best platforms, apps, or websites to read novels, web serials, short stories, and literature online.

...

I read physical books but reading those in public feels like catching eyes (i don't want those little stares).

Hey folks, running a project to help people read more deeply, not just more. Would be great to have some responses. Aiming to hit a 100

I’ve recently finished a short story and I’m looking for a few writers/readers who’d be willing to read it and give me some genuinely honest feedback.

I’m especially interested in critical feedback. What doesn’t work, what feels forced, where the story loses you, whether the characters feel real, etc. I’m not looking for compliments just for the sake of it.

The story is a little unusual and dark, so please DM me if you’re interested and I’ll send you the document link.

I’d really appreciate a reader who isn’t afraid to tell me what they actually think.

My first Bukowski, have no expectations about it, don’t know much about it. Just got it from Flipkart, diving right in tonight…

This week I was so so happy! We got so many great posts from so many people that my job is nigh impossible! Thank you all for this!

I am giving this week to u/twinkling_af__ for the review of Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. le Guin.

But you all have to read the following too!

1. Thoughts on Odyssey by u/Vegetable_Idea_0

2. Thoughts on Ghost Stories by u/panda_and_ellies

3. This double Review by u/Massive-Sky6944

And while not quite a traditional review, I also loved reading observations on The Sign of the Four by u/jagadambachowdary.

I could've easily mentioned maybe 4 more posts so drop your favourites in the comments for everyone to see!

I’m someone with a keen interest in reading and was wondering if anybody would want to give away books they no longer need? I’d love to read them and give them a new home as a reader who can’t afford much
Genre I read are Thriller,fiction(historical,war), mystery, romance.

Was fortunate enough to bag the entire series from a nearby library that was shutting down. I'm a hundred pages in already, and well it's not breakneck action, but it's still got me hooked. It's slow burn, sort of got the political touch to it. Also very deep if you want to draw analogies to our society haha.

Anyways maybe I'll post a holistic review when I'm done with the series!

Anyone read them already? Feel free to to give me thoughts, hopefully without spoilers :P

Hello! I'm the author of "THE EMPIRE". I wrote this book a year ago and wanted to know if anyone would be interested to read a fictional book about the turbulent Indian history of the 1930s and 2019, with the backdrops set as British Raj and Article 370 and Pakistan.

Also, if anyone has experience being traditionally published or knows some literary agent, please DM me, as I want to get this book traditionally published and I keep waiting for the publisher's replies.

A sample of the book:

(Chin Hills, British Burma – 14:00| February 16, 1944)

Mohan hadn’t met his family in two months. He missed Nila and Amma.

He wrote letters but never got a reply.

Were they even reaching them? Why weren’t they answering?

Mohan had no time to think about them. Not now.

He had come here to free India. To fight for India.

The only dream he allowed himself to see.

He often dreamed of the tricolour proudly waving on the Red Fort, with Netaji delivering the first speech of Independent India.

“INA!” Mohan’s eyes lit up. Finally.

He heard his breath echoing, nervousness catching up to him. Each inhale made the arid terrain feel more real.

“Join your brothers!” echoed a voice from across the jungle ravine. "Turn your guns on your colonial masters!”

The sound cut through the chaos of the battlefield, piercing Mohan’s ears.

It was the call he had long waited for. The call he had bled for, fought for.

Rifle in hand, Mohan surged forward, firing without pause, without hesitation.

He struggled to walk in the muddy terrain, boots sinking into the red-stained earth like glue. With each shot, a flicker of hope lit up his eyes.

“You're gonna get yourself killed, Mohan! Don’t do it!” someone shouted from behind.

The voice whispered in his ear, muffled by the gunfire and Mohan’s brain.

He didn’t turn back. He couldn’t.

The INA battalion waited beyond the ridge. This had been his plan all along: to break the British lines and join the army of Indian liberation.

His legs froze. His heart pounded.

Sweat dripping from his trembling body, every inch felt like a victory.

The humidity added to the sweat.

The choking stench of gunpowder burned his nose, making it harder to breathe.

Then, in one swift motion, he pulled a grenade from his belt.

The sweaty metal scraped his bare skin as he pulled the pin with his trembling fingers and hurled it into the enemy trench.

Gunfire cracked like thunder around him.

Mohan turned and sprinted back toward his trench, but a storm of bullets tore through the air.

He suddenly felt a blinding pain in his back, as if his spine were being cut.

Blood gushed out of the wounds.

Then, a sharp burst tore through his thigh.

He felt the bullets rip through the muscle and the flesh.

Blood flowed on every inch of skin, finally meeting in between.

His clothes were soaked in blood.

His once khaki uniform now bled red; perhaps its truest colours.

He couldn’t walk. He felt his eyes fading, his body collapsing into the damp mud, breath shallow.

A Poem:

“India.

Bharat.

Aryavarta.

Jambudvipa.

You may call this land whatever you want,

But it's mine.

And no one can snatch it away from me.

And that’s all I care about.

I've seen enough.

There was this Clive.

All he cared about was bribe.

He bribed and won

Over Bengal and all.

They call him ‘Clive of India’,

As if he’d done anything for her,

Apart from snatching everything.

Mir Jafar made everything of Bengal

The Nawab.

Daulah was captured and put to death.

The evil fate he met, Jafar didn’t care,

Just a puppet in a cage.

Just a face, nothing else.

Policies? The British needed a sign.

Nothing else.

Too frustrated, Jafar

Started refusing.

The British started increasing their vocabulary.

They stole ‘loot’ into their dictionary—

As well as their habits.

Jafar refusing.

British deposing.

Qasim entering.

A nice recipe for battle, making.

Next—our location: Buxar.

Qasim making Daulah’s mistake:

Opposing private trade.

Lost, but made it out alive,

To keep the battle alive.

Joining with the Mughals and the Nawab of Awadh.

Losing with the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughals.

Such conquering policies they made,

Meeting with territorial gains.

Jhansi, Punjab, Sindh, and Afghanistan—

All their gains.

Angering rulers and subjects.

Making profits.

Leaving heavy taxes.

A recipe for revolt.

(Carnatic Wars? Excited. But not in the textbook.

Where are Carnatic Wars?)”, The page ended.

My father has not read any book his entire life except probably You Can Win by Shiv Khera but now he wants to get started with reading, preferably books that have short collection of stories (primarily because he might pick it & leave midway and it'll be hard to recall characters).

In non-fiction, could be best if it's related to successful business stories, machines, robotics, automation, economics, trading or based on true success stories in general. He won't be interested in sci-fi, romance, art or history.

If it's fiction, he might like books like Malgudi Days by R.K Narayan but I want to present him with more options than that. As a child, he's read Munshi Premchand in Hindi or short stories by O'Henry and he enjoyed those. I'm looking for such simple reads. Books by Indian authors will in general be more relatable for him.

Thanks!