Well it's Bret Stephens, he who just said Ah yes the real New Yorkers, who spend June in Martha's Vineyard and GREECE Not his first bad take.
Well it's Bret Stephens, he who just said
Millions of Americans, including me, not only hate the parties but also hate the party for which we typically vote. That means there's a market of the dissatisfied. I hear this all the time among my friends in New York City: They can't believe they're stuck with Zohran Mamdani as mayor, and they felt the same way about Eric Adams and Bill de Blasio before him. But when you ask them if they voted in the primaries, the usual answer is: Uh, no - we were on the Vineyard or in Greece. The point is that it's on them, or us, and the remedy is some civic entrepreneurship, philanthropically funded, to change this.
Ah yes the real New Yorkers, who spend November June in Martha's Vineyard and GREECE
Bret Stephens Is Big Mad at the Best Writers He Hasn’t Read - Electric Literature Are Book Awards Dictated by D.E.I.? Stephens has some... Controversial... Views that I would not agree with, which...
Stephens has some... Controversial... Views that I would not agree with, which make me suspect of his criticisms just on those grounds alone. And I think is oh so very clever rhetorical trick was dumb.
I think that the books he listed are reflecting the market and I suspect the propensity of women to read more than men has skewed this even further in his perspective. But mostly he'd have helped his case more if he'd read any of the work, instead of assuming he knows why it won. (And wonder if he would give up his Pulitzer under the assumption he's also just "a token". )
Also in the past 5 years two white men won the Pulitzer, two won the Nobel for Literature and I believe 3 won the Booker? So he's upset about the nominees but not lauding the white men winning, why.. because it would break his narrative. Also his narrative treats all POC as a block, and treats all stories about them as political. Because there are white men and there are political people.
The If Books Could Kill podcast did an episode covering him and IMO he's just one more proof that the NYT has no standards when it comes to conservative columnists.
His implication is that people aren't reading anymore because the books are too much about identity. As if these are the only books, as if no one is reading these books. As if he's not the problem as he's not reading these books and discouraging others from reading by disparaging books. As if the people banning books in schools aren't predominantly on his "team."
Edited to fix a word because autocorrect keeps getting dumber
Yes, I absolutely eventually found things, but I was surprised by the gender balance, especially when I was looking for something published recently instead of a classic.
Yes, I absolutely eventually found things, but I was surprised by the gender balance, especially when I was looking for something published recently instead of a classic.
Gotcha, my niblings are younger still, but I haven't had an issue myself yet. I do encourage boys to read books about girls too, reading helps create empathy, and anything that slows or stops that...
Gotcha, my niblings are younger still, but I haven't had an issue myself yet. I do encourage boys to read books about girls too, reading helps create empathy, and anything that slows or stops that "girls are gross" sort of vibe is a big win IMO.
I've noticed that some of the middle and YA books that I like best tend to have fairly balanced boy and girl protagonist pairs, often entirely platonic. I think there's a lot to be said for that...
I've noticed that some of the middle and YA books that I like best tend to have fairly balanced boy and girl protagonist pairs, often entirely platonic. I think there's a lot to be said for that approach.
I got some for you fam: A series of unfortunate events Eargon (series) The Timewarp Trio (series) The Hatchet Artemis Fowl (series) Redwall (series) The Hobbit Lord of the Rings Enders Game...
I got some for you fam:
A series of unfortunate events
Eargon (series)
The Timewarp Trio (series)
The Hatchet
Artemis Fowl (series)
Redwall (series)
The Hobbit
Lord of the Rings
Enders Game (controversial? I don't like the author but liked the series)
Harry Potter (again controversial but at the time this series made me fall in love with reading but also fuck JKR)
Jurassic Park
The Great Gatsby
My Side of the Mountain
Goosebumps (spooky season)
Warership down
The Chocolate Wars (as a guy who went to a private all guys school this one was close to home)
I could go on, but I think that's fine. My millennial bias is showing! It's tough out there for guy readers. Went to the bookstore the other day more than half of the sci-fi was just romance or smut. Not really my cup of tea.
Those are all great, and I did eventually find things. It's worth mentioning that everything on your list (with the exception of The Timewarp Trio) was out when I was a kid. If you look at new...
Those are all great, and I did eventually find things. It's worth mentioning that everything on your list (with the exception of The Timewarp Trio) was out when I was a kid. If you look at new releases - - the books specifically marketed to today's children - - they're almost all aimed at girls. Most of the exceptions are chapter books about other media (like Bluey or Paw Patrol).
Yeah, I know my millennial bias is showing. But that's also why I suggested the books I did. I can't find much today that isn't some odd/horny/romance book
Yeah, I know my millennial bias is showing. But that's also why I suggested the books I did. I can't find much today that isn't some odd/horny/romance book
Early on, besides Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, my son was really into the I Survived books. Some are graphic but some are chapter books. He liked them all. I agree with your overall point though.
Early on, besides Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, my son was really into the I Survived books. Some are graphic but some are chapter books. He liked them all.
https://tildes.net/~tv/1v0q/of_course_viewers_are_giving_up_on_netflix_shows#comment-i7cn Previous comment with a mix of SFF recs. I'd highly recommend the Ancillary series personally. I like the...
Previous comment with a mix of SFF recs. I'd highly recommend the Ancillary series personally. I like the post trilogy books too but they're all in the same universe.
If you have a type of SF you prefer I can make more specific recs, like Kim Stanley Robinson does the "harder" stuff for example
But I read a lot of SFF and very little of it is romance/smut comparatively.
It's just Hatchet. I would add Spud to this list as well. It is a good read for a middle school boy. While I enjoyed listening to my mother read Eargon, she said it desperately needed another...
The Hatchet
It's just Hatchet.
I would add Spud to this list as well. It is a good read for a middle school boy.
Eargon (series)
While I enjoyed listening to my mother read Eargon, she said it desperately needed another round of editing and she skipped over every other paragraph to make up for this.
Assuming you’re mostly just aiming for entertainment value and not highbrow reading, you can also try (officially) translated Japanese light novels. One thing I’ve mused on is that it seems like...
Assuming you’re mostly just aiming for entertainment value and not highbrow reading, you can also try (officially) translated Japanese light novels.
One thing I’ve mused on is that it seems like romance is purely something targeted towards girls in the English world. One reason that anime got so big in the west imo is that most romance anime or manga are for boys. That’s a big unfilled niche.
In any case the majority of light novels are aimed at the teenage boy demographic. You can find them on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles may have some as well.
Not quite sure what age range we're talking, or just how early independent. But here's a few that my boys have enjoyed across a range of levels (that I don't think have been mentioned in this...
Not quite sure what age range we're talking, or just how early independent. But here's a few that my boys have enjoyed across a range of levels (that I don't think have been mentioned in this topic yet):
Frog and Toad
Elephant and Piggy
Mercy Watson
Captain Underpants
Diary of Wimpy Kid
Big Nate
And of course there are classics like Narnia, Wind in the Willows, Henry Huggins, and Roald Dahl.
FWIW, I'm currently reading through the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series by Brandon Sanderson with my 10yo as our bed time reading. He's loving the crazy silliness of it. (He could easily read it on his own, but read alouds are something of a family bonding time thing in my household.)
Off-topic: the NYT seems to have found some means of breaking the Firefox Reader Mode, at least on Android. Entering Reader Mode causes the page to immediately reload, which seems to boot it back...
Off-topic: the NYT seems to have found some means of breaking the Firefox Reader Mode, at least on Android. Entering Reader Mode causes the page to immediately reload, which seems to boot it back to the paywall. Disabling Javascript lets me read enough of the article to realize that the rest of the article isn't going to be worth the squeeze.
On-topic: From what I read, this doesn't really seem like the sort of thing that's going to lead to a productive discussion... anywhere? It'd be nice if there were a way to flag threads the way we can flag comments; this seems primed to be one of those recurrent front-page nuisance threads that end up with lots of people getting very upset and angry.
Gift link for others I don't have easy archiving set up on my phone (and I have the app so it's annoying anyway) but for others this may help. I agree it isn't worth it, personally.
I don't have easy archiving set up on my phone (and I have the app so it's annoying anyway) but for others this may help. I agree it isn't worth it, personally.
To the first part: I had an paywall bypass for Firefox which stopped working almost everywhere roughly two years ago now and no updates on it seem to fix it. To the second part: I ignore tons of...
To the first part: I had an paywall bypass for Firefox which stopped working almost everywhere roughly two years ago now and no updates on it seem to fix it.
To the second part: I ignore tons of posts on this website and I’m not sure why people act like ignoring a post you’re not interested in is a hassle.
In this case, it'd probably be best to liken it to shooing an unwanted solicitor at your doorstep. This post goes a bit beyond "uninteresting" and seems to veer uncomfortably close to "offensive"...
I’m not sure why people act like ignoring a post you’re not interested in is a hassle.
In this case, it'd probably be best to liken it to shooing an unwanted solicitor at your doorstep. This post goes a bit beyond "uninteresting" and seems to veer uncomfortably close to "offensive" considering the apparent absurdity of the author, so we're not talking about a flyer in the mailbox here.
Strongly disagree. Just because you disagree with something politically doesn't make it objectively offensive. Tildes shouldn't turn into another bluesky far-left circlejerk.
Strongly disagree. Just because you disagree with something politically doesn't make it objectively offensive.
Tildes shouldn't turn into another bluesky far-left circlejerk.
Do you mean tildes? It leans left, which is fine, I also lean left. What I don't want is for opposing views to be silenced and turn it into circlejerk. Nothing in the article was "borderline...
Do you mean tildes? It leans left, which is fine, I also lean left. What I don't want is for opposing views to be silenced and turn it into circlejerk.
Nothing in the article was "borderline offensive". I am glad OP shared it.
The bypass paywalls clean extension by magnolia1234 still works great. You'll have to Google for it and install it manually because it's been long kicked off of the Firefox extension store.
The bypass paywalls clean extension by magnolia1234 still works great. You'll have to Google for it and install it manually because it's been long kicked off of the Firefox extension store.
Well it's Bret Stephens, he who just said
Ah yes the real New Yorkers, who spend
NovemberJune in Martha's Vineyard and GREECENot his first bad take.
Bret Stephens Is Big Mad at the Best Writers He Hasn’t Read - Electric Literature
Are Book Awards Dictated by D.E.I.?
Stephens has some... Controversial... Views that I would not agree with, which make me suspect of his criticisms just on those grounds alone. And I think is oh so very clever rhetorical trick was dumb.
I think that the books he listed are reflecting the market and I suspect the propensity of women to read more than men has skewed this even further in his perspective. But mostly he'd have helped his case more if he'd read any of the work, instead of assuming he knows why it won. (And wonder if he would give up his Pulitzer under the assumption he's also just "a token". )
Also in the past 5 years two white men won the Pulitzer, two won the Nobel for Literature and I believe 3 won the Booker? So he's upset about the nominees but not lauding the white men winning, why.. because it would break his narrative. Also his narrative treats all POC as a block, and treats all stories about them as political. Because there are white men and there are political people.
The If Books Could Kill podcast did an episode covering him and IMO he's just one more proof that the NYT has no standards when it comes to conservative columnists.
His implication is that people aren't reading anymore because the books are too much about identity. As if these are the only books, as if no one is reading these books. As if he's not the problem as he's not reading these books and discouraging others from reading by disparaging books. As if the people banning books in schools aren't predominantly on his "team."
Edited to fix a word because autocorrect keeps getting dumber
Apropos of this, has anyone tried buying books for an early independent reading boy recently? 80% are marketed to girls
What age? Amari and the Night Brothers, Dragon Masters, Last Kids on Earth, Magic Tree House?
Go chat with a librarian and they can absolutely help.
Yes, I absolutely eventually found things, but I was surprised by the gender balance, especially when I was looking for something published recently instead of a classic.
Gotcha, my niblings are younger still, but I haven't had an issue myself yet. I do encourage boys to read books about girls too, reading helps create empathy, and anything that slows or stops that "girls are gross" sort of vibe is a big win IMO.
But yeah libraries are great solutions for it!
I've noticed that some of the middle and YA books that I like best tend to have fairly balanced boy and girl protagonist pairs, often entirely platonic. I think there's a lot to be said for that approach.
I got some for you fam:
I could go on, but I think that's fine. My millennial bias is showing! It's tough out there for guy readers. Went to the bookstore the other day more than half of the sci-fi was just romance or smut. Not really my cup of tea.
Those are all great, and I did eventually find things. It's worth mentioning that everything on your list (with the exception of The Timewarp Trio) was out when I was a kid. If you look at new releases - - the books specifically marketed to today's children - - they're almost all aimed at girls. Most of the exceptions are chapter books about other media (like Bluey or Paw Patrol).
Yeah, I know my millennial bias is showing. But that's also why I suggested the books I did. I can't find much today that isn't some odd/horny/romance book
Early on, besides Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, my son was really into the I Survived books. Some are graphic but some are chapter books. He liked them all.
I agree with your overall point though.
Let me know if you want SF recs!
100% would love some
https://tildes.net/~tv/1v0q/of_course_viewers_are_giving_up_on_netflix_shows#comment-i7cn
Previous comment with a mix of SFF recs. I'd highly recommend the Ancillary series personally. I like the post trilogy books too but they're all in the same universe.
If you have a type of SF you prefer I can make more specific recs, like Kim Stanley Robinson does the "harder" stuff for example
But I read a lot of SFF and very little of it is romance/smut comparatively.
It's just Hatchet.
I would add Spud to this list as well. It is a good read for a middle school boy.
While I enjoyed listening to my mother read Eargon, she said it desperately needed another round of editing and she skipped over every other paragraph to make up for this.
Assuming you’re mostly just aiming for entertainment value and not highbrow reading, you can also try (officially) translated Japanese light novels.
One thing I’ve mused on is that it seems like romance is purely something targeted towards girls in the English world. One reason that anime got so big in the west imo is that most romance anime or manga are for boys. That’s a big unfilled niche.
In any case the majority of light novels are aimed at the teenage boy demographic. You can find them on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles may have some as well.
Nobody mentioned Percy Jackson?
It's not what I'd recommend for a newly independent reader vs a step up from that, without knowing what age I aimed mostly lower.
Definitely go check out your local library!
Not quite sure what age range we're talking, or just how early independent. But here's a few that my boys have enjoyed across a range of levels (that I don't think have been mentioned in this topic yet):
And of course there are classics like Narnia, Wind in the Willows, Henry Huggins, and Roald Dahl.
FWIW, I'm currently reading through the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series by Brandon Sanderson with my 10yo as our bed time reading. He's loving the crazy silliness of it. (He could easily read it on his own, but read alouds are something of a family bonding time thing in my household.)
Off-topic: the NYT seems to have found some means of breaking the Firefox Reader Mode, at least on Android. Entering Reader Mode causes the page to immediately reload, which seems to boot it back to the paywall. Disabling Javascript lets me read enough of the article to realize that the rest of the article isn't going to be worth the squeeze.
On-topic: From what I read, this doesn't really seem like the sort of thing that's going to lead to a productive discussion... anywhere? It'd be nice if there were a way to flag threads the way we can flag comments; this seems primed to be one of those recurrent front-page nuisance threads that end up with lots of people getting very upset and angry.
I'll settle for ignoring it.
Would you be interested in a browser plugin that let you collaboratively filter users/posts?
Which browsers do you use? Firefox/Chrome?
Gift link for others
I don't have easy archiving set up on my phone (and I have the app so it's annoying anyway) but for others this may help. I agree it isn't worth it, personally.
I just disabled JS with ublock origin on desktop and the whole thing loaded perfectly. Granted, it was kind of a waste, but it did load.
To the first part: I had an paywall bypass for Firefox which stopped working almost everywhere roughly two years ago now and no updates on it seem to fix it.
To the second part: I ignore tons of posts on this website and I’m not sure why people act like ignoring a post you’re not interested in is a hassle.
In this case, it'd probably be best to liken it to shooing an unwanted solicitor at your doorstep. This post goes a bit beyond "uninteresting" and seems to veer uncomfortably close to "offensive" considering the apparent absurdity of the author, so we're not talking about a flyer in the mailbox here.
Strongly disagree. Just because you disagree with something politically doesn't make it objectively offensive.
Tildes shouldn't turn into another bluesky far-left circlejerk.
I am very curious what you think this is.
Do you mean tildes? It leans left, which is fine, I also lean left. What I don't want is for opposing views to be silenced and turn it into circlejerk.
Nothing in the article was "borderline offensive". I am glad OP shared it.
I mean "objectively offensive." How does "objectively offensive" work?
The bypass paywalls clean extension by magnolia1234 still works great. You'll have to Google for it and install it manually because it's been long kicked off of the Firefox extension store.