Why is it a problem that different authors decide to portray fictional beings in different ways? Reminds me of the "real vampires don't sparkle" comments from the good old Twilight days. Sure, it was silly, but real vampires don't exist and you can take all the liberties you want when writing them. Same goes for zombies.

I think all the problems you mentioned are not specific to zombie novels, I have come across unrealistic behavior (in my opinion, based on my personal experience) in pretty much every genre I read. It's not a zombie problem, it's a bad writing problem.

The same can be said about not explaining how a zombie outbreak really happened. That's only an issue when the writing is bad. With good writing, the lack of knowledge might be chosen on purpose. Like, by having a narrator who is not an all knowing scientist but a regular person who has to go by whatever the government chose to leak to the media.

​

> Even though zombie fiction has become more and more popular over the years,

Really? I was under the impression that the zombie trend has slowed down significantly. Is there anything new I should read? I think The girl with all the gifts was the last one I read in the genre.

What about white noise? Because I mean, it hardly ever is 100% quiet. I live in a very quiet street but right now I can hear the wind and it has been raining several times today and when I open the window I can hear the birds ... but only if I focus. Normally it all just fades in the background.

If you don't mind these kinds of noises try ambient videos to cover the noises you do mind.

Get an audiobook and connect listening to it with a physical activity that wouldn't allow you to read an actual book. Take a study break, go for a walk and listen to something for pure entertainment. And return refreshed and with better ability to concentrate.

Yes. And this is great in business relationships etc. ... but with my friends I don't have to consider these things because they know I'm not trying to antagonize them.

1. Don’t argue!

You don't win real friends by playing an agreeable role. This might work for superficial contacts, acquaintances, business partners and other types of small talk relationships, but not with friends. At least my idea of a friendship is, that I can be myself and totally honest with my friends.

Maybe because information/entertainment is offered in smaller and smaller bits? Like, there is Tik Tok now because Youtube videos are apparently too long for some people. Or online articles that tell you it takes 3 minutes to read them or "online watch parties" because just watching a movie without some entertainment on the side is apparently not enough anymore.

Just a guess, but I bet this has some kind of effect on how people consume other types of media as well.

You know it's kind of a little fucked up that you are not able to separate FANTASY and reality. Right?

We are talking about FANTASY here, not earth's humanity. Is this so hard to understand?

I would like to see some scientific evidence for your claims though. Why is Africa the only place where the human race could have developed? Why couldn't this have happened in another place? And if we knew the perfect conditions for the human race to develop (spoiler - we don't), why is it not possible for these conditions to be found in a darker and colder part on our FANTASY planet?

>In such a setting there shouldn't be any white people, as pale skin didn't develop until fairly recently.

You are talking about earth, the real world. In a fictional world, it could work the other way round as well. Light skinned races becoming darker over time if they migrate to a sunnier part of their planet.

I don't know. The excerpts I read from the book are quite comedic already, I'm not sure if a parody book could do it better.

The logical reason might be, that "people of different races" - by this I guess you mean humans, not dwarfs of elves - just don't exist in a fantasy world. I mean, if you look at human history - the reason why human "races" exist at all is because of migration to different parts of the planet where different types of features were better for survival. In a fictional universe, this might not have happened (yet).

The only positive things I have to say about this book is that I got it for free and it was a very quick read.

I hate everything else about this book. Yes, it is selling a very simple "moral". It's so simple in fact that you could condense it down to one of these stickers people put on walls. Like "Live, laugh, love" or "Carpe diem".

Sure. Sometimes a book just isn't a good fit at the moment. And there can be all sorts of reasons for that. Like, I'm a seasonal reader when it comes to horror. I usually collect a few spooky novels on my TBR throughout the year and wait for Halloween season to read them.

And like you, I also feel that classic literature requires a bit more time and focus. There are times when I'm just not in the mood for it.

Medimops is located in Germany but ships to other European countries as well. And they have a fixed price for shipping if you order like 5 books or more.

It's not a competition, you know? All these reading competitions and goals we see on the internet can be fun and help with motivation, but they can also create problems where there are none.

You do you.

Well, if you are an adult and reading in your native language and don't have any kind of cognitive limitations I don't see why "reading comprehension" is even a topic. I have only ever heard that talked about when studying a foreign language and moving from lessons and textbooks to regular books.

And of course your mind wanders and you find a book "hard" if you don't actually like the story. Happened to me more and more with the basic thriller, which is why I took a break from the genre. And these are definitely not "hard" books.

Well, if I want a book with signs of use I can usually get a better deal than buying it new from Amazon. If a corner is slightly dented, OK, that can happen during transportation but I have seen customer pictures of books that were clearly already damaged when they were sent off. That's what I wouldn't tolerate.

If We We're Villains (love it!) isn't a classic thriller or murder mystery though. Maybe that's the way to go with this genre - find the books that don't follow the very well trodden paths.

In My Dreams I Hold A Knife shows up in my recommendations quite frequently and I have to say I'm tempted to get it.

I prefer the best looking cover. I hate movie / tv-show editions and I hate it when they put all these advertisement things on the cover, like quotes and "stickers" that are printed on.

Which means I often prefer original art from the time before the book became a movie or a "TikTok sensation".

Thrillers really bore me lately. So many rely on really gory and weird crimes and the person in charge of solving that crime is always fucked up on a personal level but somehow still manages to get the job done brilliantly when no one else can ...

I'm going to clear out my TBR shelves soon and a lot of thrillers will go back to the free book places. I'd rather re-read my Sherlock Holmes collection than try out one of these.

The right to a book cover that is just a book cover and not an advertisement ... yeah I know, that ship has sailed ... but still, would be nice.

It's one of these Hoover books. I can never remember which one is which. This means I get half a point, right?

I don't know the book but I have seen the whole vicious circle of domestic violence and emotional codependency happen to a person I thought was way too smart to get sucked into this.

I still don't think I fully understand how this works on a psychological level, but if I bet the people who are making these judgements have no idea at all.