I live in Australia and so their are only a few major online booksellers who have a decent selection of everything, excluding the more specialist sellers and amazon. I have not ordered anything for a couple of years from them but I place a small order last week about $120 in all. Like always their communication is awesome, they send it out and it arrives, no dramas whatsoever.

But I get a surprise inside when I open it, inside my brown cardboard parcel is a tiny tube of 'white glo' toothpaste, the tube is in tiny cardboard box of its own, its half open and toothpaste has spilled out - but not damaged any of my books, just soiled the inside of its on cardboard sheath. And each of my books had several discount wine coupons and Uber delivery coupons inserted in them as well, as is standard these days.

I am kind of miffed at this and wondered when the book seller suddenly cared so much about my dental health, does my purchase record indicate dental decline?? The wine and food coupons sure okay...but toothpaste??

Then I discover a book mark included too, bonus...no its an advertising mark made by the white glo toothpaste people telling me how amazing their products are on both sides. I chucked it in the bin along with the toothpaste.

The same week I happened to order a single second hand book (total value $11) from ebay from Book Express in New Zealand, never dealt with them before. It arrives the day after the toothpaste order. Its well packaged and inside its wrapped in pretty paper, tied with twine and inside a beautiful bookmark with native New Zealand bird on it and a handwritten note saying thank you for your business.

The toothpaste did not harm, apart my my books smelling minty fresh but it kind of irks they try to foist this stuff on us, after we spend money with them. Yet the smaller guy is the one who goes out of his way to provider superior customer experience.

I appreciate both occupy different places in the book seller mass market place and that I can vote with my wallet to somewhere else. I just find it amusing they think its worth risking getting toothpaste on lots of people's books for some kind of secondary commercial consideration from white glo!

Has anyone here read Till We Have Faces? If so, what is your opinion? I just finished it and I am unable to say anything positive about it. I was familiar with the Cupid and Psyche myth upon which it is a variation and I wondered what Lewis, with his talent for myth and fantasy would do with it. I considered putting it down and quitting often throughout my read but kept on hoping to arrive at some 'aha'. It never came. Reviewers (professional and Amazon) rate it highly. Based on that I'm considering re-reading it to see if a deeper understanding or 'aha' will come. I've never re-read a fiction tale I didn't like on first read hoping to see what I missed. So to other readers of Till We Have Faces, both pro and con, thoughts?

This is inspired by my recent reading of Patti Smith’s M Train. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so disappointed by a mostly beloved book. I found it pretentious and boring. I did not find it poetic or profound. I spent every page wishing and reading only to hasten the end. There was one particular line about her Rockaway bungalow surviving the first major storm of the 21st Century and I was irritated by her dismissal of Katrina. I think I am very alone in my opinion towards this book, but I couldn’t throw this one in a donation pile faster.

Please tell me your experiences with renowned works!

It took me a long time to finally read Brave New World but Im quite happy I didnt read it earlier in life. Im still trying to gather my thoughts on this book and Im very curious of how other people have interpreted it.

So first of all, let me start by saying that Huxley was way ahead of its time. The whole society he built - a society where every the individual doesn't matter and you are very much replaceable, where capitalism is what moves society, where people do everything to only feel the good parts of life - is something we see in 2026. The fact that he wrote this book just 20 years after Henry Ford created the assembly line is kind of insane tbh and I think the world building is clearly the biggest strenght of the book. Also, writing this openly about sex, including between children, religion, politics and State propaganda and drugs in 1920s was very brave, even though the UK was of course more open than other countries back then.

The second point I want to make is that the book is not an easy read at all. Not so much in terms of content, but in terms of language and pacing. Im not an English native, but usually read everything in English and this book had so many words I've never heard of before. And the pacing is my biggest beef with this book. I think its suppose to be on purpose tbh, just like an assembly line, everything happens fast, there's no time to focus too much time on an individual character. But it did make it harder to read and Im still not 100% sure I got everything correctly and there's some characters Im still confused about (Henry Foster, for example, I dont get this character at all).

Now, the part I want to ask about is people's thoughts on John's character. He's of course supposed to represent the exact opposite of the people who were conditioned since birth to be part of the new society. But he is the exact opposite, meaning that - in my opinion - he is his own kind of extremist. While the "civilized people" want 100% comfort and happiness, he seems to want 0%, to prove to God he is worthy. He allows himself zero satisfaction, he ignores Lenina's advances, he doesnt try somma, he prefers to isolate himself from society and torture himself. He's flawed on his own way, which I quite liked in the book: Huxley doesnt give us any character who is the beacon of morality, who we should want to be like. He gives us two-sides of the same coin, though I guess Bernard Marx and Helmholtz are somewhere in between the two.

Finally, Im curious to know whether anyone has seen the BBC adaptation. The book is paced so fast and with so many technical/old words that Im kind of confused about some parts and would love to see an adaptation of it, but only if there is one that is actually good.

Read this recently and was surprised just now to find virtually no discussion of it here. I thought it was very good. The prose perfectly went from thrift to flowery to suit the mood and was frequently breathtaking. I was captivated by Enda’s story and I enjoyed the chapter formatting where the one chapter wherein she tells her story is basically the entire novel.

I found the commentary into human lives and relationships incisive if a little sentimental- Enda and the priest seemed to fall for each other rather quickly. Overall though I enjoyed the exploration of Father Declan’s mind, especially since it’s not immediately obvious that his regrets are the focus of the story. Reminded me a bit of Ishiguro with the focus on the inner worlds and wearies of the characters.

Thoughts?

Welcome readers,

Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

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Hello readers and welcome! Every month this thread will be posted for you to discuss new and upcoming releases! Our only rules are:

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