Shlub's Book Club (General Literature Discussion)

[ShlubCustoms]

I'm just gonna go on a limb here and probably ruin someone's day somewhere, inevitably...

I used to read a ton... I stopped a few years because everything just read the same and felt like it was just the same story with a reskin, no matter what genre I read.

My point is, don't tire yourself out on books too quickly like I did. Take your time.

While I do have to respectfully disagree with you about one thing: not every new book feels like a rehash of an old story; and sometimes a good rehash can be better and more engaging than the original. And some story tropes are as old as the Iliad (like the Hero's Journey story arc) and for good reason. They just work, and if done right can make for an engaging story

I do agree that a lot of modern books are lacking that certain oomph that pulls on your heartstrings in the same way that the older books written by the masters (London, Dickens, Bradbury, Wells, Kipling, etc.) had in spades. I think it's due to the topics that writers can safely cover these days. Older writers had more liberty to express controversial ideas and to delve into topics that modern writers can't/won't explore (Collins and racial injustice: To Kill a Mockingbird, London and the duality of Mankind by showing simultaneous senseless brutality and high moral philosophy from the same character: The Sea Wolf, Bradbury and the hubris of Man: The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, Wells and Humanity's tendency to change with things we have no right to mess with: The Food of the Gods).

[Survivor11]

I mean, if you look hard enough, everything is always the same, I guess.

I've just so many books that it feels like they're just all, "Protagonist goes on an adventure and defeats the villain."

Like, it's always done differently but my brain is just wired to read it all the same.

[nigelninja11]

I mean, if you look hard enough, everything is always the same, I guess.

I've just so many books that it feels like they're just all, "Protagonist goes on an adventure and defeats the villain."

Like, it's always done differently but my brain is just wired to read it all the same.

I’m sorry then. It must be really sad to see all the books as the same.

[TheMegaContruxtors]

Percy Jackson, Beyonders, Animorphs, Five Kingdoms, Fablehaven

[Survivor11]

I mean, if you look hard enough, everything is always the same, I guess.

I've just read so many books that it feels like they're just all, "Protagonist goes on an adventure and defeats the villain."

Like, it's always done differently but my brain is just wired to read it all the same.

I’m sorry then. It must be really sad to see all the books as the same.

Yeah it is...

Gosh I wish it was the villain who went on an adventure and defeated the hero.

Worry no more, I have the perfect story for yo-


NO PRODUCT PLACEMENT HERE!!

[kingcastlesieger]

Percy Jackson, Beyonders, Animorphs, Five Kingdoms, Fablehaven

Have you read the Magnus Chase books? Those books are my favorite. I also really enjoyed a book called "The Search for
Wondla", has anyone read that one?

[81Ceta_Deta]

I recently finished Lost Tribe of the Sith - 1, and Thrawn Treason.

[ShlubCustoms]

Have any of you all ever read The Food of the Gods by H. G. Wells? It's quite an interesting predictive text on genetic modification (although written way before we had theorized that GMO might be possible) and has quite an interesting take on the subject. While not as popular as War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, or The Time Machine, it's still one of his best books.

[Spartanz19]

Have any of you all ever read The Food of the Gods by H. G. Wells? It's quite an interesting predictive text on genetic modification (although written way before we had theorized that GMO might be possible) and has quite an interesting take on the subject. While not as popular as War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, or The Time Machine, it's still one of his best books.

I love genetics. I might check it out.

[ShlubCustoms]

Have any of you all ever read The Food of the Gods by H. G. Wells? It's quite an interesting predictive text on genetic modification (although written way before we had theorized that GMO might be possible) and has quite an interesting take on the subject. While not as popular as War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, or The Time Machine, it's still one of his best books.

I love genetics. I might check it out.

It doesn't actually mention GMO or gene editing due to the fact that it was published in 1904. You can however draw direct similarities to the spoiler alert created by the scientists (which is vastly different from how IRL gene editing works) in the book and the effects that it has on the spoiler alert and spoiler alert that they test it on. Most predictive science fiction is like that, where the thing it predicts hasn't been discovered or even theorized yet so there are no ways to actually describe the IRL thing that the fiction predicts.