So many books, so little time
r/books
A few months ago, there was a horror book series that kept coming up in the 'recommended' section on my kindle. I downloaded a sample of the first, second and third book and wow, quite possibly the worst writing I've ever read. Kudos to the author for creating the books, this always takes effort no doubt. However, the sentence structure, the grammar, changing of past to present tense within the same sentence, npc characters - all these things were very bad. No editor for sure. You'd almost have to see it to believe how it is.
I still see the same series coming up in 'recommended' on Goodreads and Amazon. I recently checked it on Goodreads, and almost every day, around ten accounts with generic usernames, no pictures, will rate his books 5 stars. Occasionally they leave a brief, glowing review. Now his previously low overall scores/5, from ostensibly genuine reviewers early on, are now likely some of the highest ones on the site. Similar on Amazon too, but to a lesser extent.
Just seems that a lot of people could buy these due to the inflated ratings. I guess it's partially the buyer's fault in that case too, but still the author is misleading people. It's very likely to be him rating his own books of course. It could also be other users, I'm not 100% sure.
Is there anything Goodreads does about these issues? If anyone wants to know the name of the series, DM me if you want.
Edit: The name of the first book in the series is 'Call of the Crocodile', it's by F. Gardner.
TLDR: author seems to be blatantly pumping up his books with 5 star reviews on Goodreads, anything that the site can do?
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My wife, who has struggled with anxiety and depression, recently said โIve been in a reading slump, can you recommend a book?โ This is probably my favorite question. But especially when it comes from someone I know very well. After considering what I know about my wife; what gets her excited, what bores her, what inspires her, what makes her want to discuss somethingโฆ I landed on the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. I had read them in med school and I just couldnt get past the fact that the story actually kept getting better with each book. I felt like she needed an immersive page-turner with a strong female protagonist. Gripe as people mag about Vin as a protagonist, she was exactly the hero my wife needed at this time. So I got to take a dusty box-set of books of the shelf, blow on them and slap them with a satisfying thud on the table with a โhere ya go, enjoy!โ And in this case, I just got lucky. This was it- exactly what she needed. She started blowing through chapters. And I felt this incredible satisfaction and joy that she was reading the same physical copy that I had read some years ago, and which had helped me through hard times. Books are just awesome. The End.
I've recently finished a few books by Erich Maria Remarque, and they are all fantastic. From "All Quiet on the Western Front" to "The Black Obelisk", Remarque displays so many topics that are still relatable to this day and ideas that will most likely resonate with everyone.
Although his stories take place in the first half of 20th century and mainly in Germany, there is a LOT that can be learned from them. With another major military conflict happening in Europe now, getting a glimpse into the past of a country that started the biggest war in history is at least an educating experience. Life of ordinary people, inflation, war, bureaucracy, exile, loss of innocence and camaraderie are all intricately shown within his stories.
I highly recommend checking out these and other books including "The Arch of Triumph" and my favorite "Three Comrades".
Note: I am new to reddit, but I really wanted to bring some attention to this author and his works as they don't seem to be as well-known as they should.
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