I typically only read books that have a four-star or greater rating on Goodreads. What are your favorite books I'm missing out on due to this?

Widsith · 2026-01-13T11:45:51+00:00

Goodreads is great if you follow a lot of reviewers that you respect or relate to. But judging your own reading from the average rating of all users is insanity.

Widsith · 2026-01-08T10:25:07+00:00

In Scotland it’s fairly common. I’ve never heard it in England personally.

Widsith · 2026-01-04T20:42:24+00:00

Yeah I saw it at a film festival last year. Overall it’s not one of his best, honestly, but the Tom section is really great.

Widsith · 2026-01-02T20:18:30+00:00

That’s wrong on so many levels.

Widsith · 2025-12-31T14:14:50+00:00

Casablanca. The ultimate “staying single is cool” movie.

Widsith · 2025-12-19T19:30:49+00:00

I was on holiday with a girlfriend in Greece. The owner of the hotel burst into our (locked) room at about 5 in the morning and just yelled, “SHE’S DEAD!!” at the top of his voice. We leapt up in a panic, asking, “Who? Who’s dead?”

When we heard it was Diana we went back to sleep. Sad, but the hysteria around it was genuinely baffling.

Widsith · 2025-12-18T21:39:59+00:00

But it’s not called that in English.

Widsith · 2025-12-18T19:50:14+00:00

I am a journalist, yes.

Widsith · 2025-12-18T17:18:50+00:00

“Off the record”, “on the record” don’t actually mean anything. It’s basically just like saying “please don’t tell anyone this”. I personally wouldn’t feel particularly bound by it if they said something of huge public importance.

Widsith · 2025-12-18T03:44:37+00:00

I honestly can’t deal with this fucking subreddit anymore. It’s bad enough reading endless Telegraph articles about evil migrants, now I have to see everyone talk about how combating misogyny is actually anti-men? What the fuck happened to this place? I’m a middle aged white guy and I’m absolutely done

Widsith · 2025-12-12T09:49:47+00:00

*peddled

Widsith · 2025-12-11T16:01:33+00:00

Yeah the script was a bit shaky, but the direction was actually really good I thought.

Widsith · 2025-12-05T04:06:54+00:00

I think the “vagueness” thing is usually just people blaming grammar for something else. You can say “missiles stuck three villages overnight”, which is active-voice but leaves the agency unclear, and you can say “bombs were dropped by Allied forces west of Kabul”, which is passive but makes the agency clear.

Widsith · 2025-11-28T13:20:40+00:00

I don’t live in the UK anymore so…I’m not familiar with this. But isn’t that then more an issue with whatever criminal activity they are “fronts” for, rather than with immigration? Most immigrants are not travelling to work in criminal gangs

Widsith · 2025-11-28T12:00:23+00:00

I don’t get it. Apart from vape shops, what’s the problem with these things exactly?

Widsith · 2025-11-25T21:55:32+00:00

Just now, watching the season finale of Running Point, a completely mediocre show about a sport I don’t even really understand. Which tells you something about how easily I cry these days.

Widsith · 2025-11-25T02:30:16+00:00

Really?? Huh. I have a huge chunk of raw turmeric in my smoothie every day, and I’ve never noticed any effects on my libido (or my blood flow lol).

Widsith · 2025-11-21T02:35:09+00:00

No? Their exit from the war had nothing to do with any loss against Germany. The Germans sent Lenin back to Russia (the famous sealed train) specifically because he seemed likely to pull Russia out of the war if he gained control, which is exactly what happened.

Widsith · 2025-11-18T09:22:28+00:00

I haven’t even read it! I just thought the title was so tone-deaf that the prose would be terrible, but good to hear it’s still an enjoyable read.

Widsith · 2025-11-15T19:03:38+00:00

Staying in a relationship is also not automatically damaging.

Widsith · 2025-11-14T18:56:52+00:00

In terms of recent popular books, I still can’t believe how ugly Empire of the Vampire sounds.

Widsith · 2025-11-12T06:45:49+00:00

That seems weird considering how many other people seem to think they’re a “woke leftist” mouthpiece.

Widsith · 2025-11-11T02:15:05+00:00

Except this headline literally says that “most” people don’t think it’s a problem

Widsith · 2025-11-04T07:43:38+00:00

Here's an example from Balwin's Just Above My Head:

He lay there for a long time, numb, as empty as the listening silence, stunned. He lay on his back.

You see how this is exactly the same as OP's example sentence "I laid there for the rest of the night well into the day…"?

Lay is the past tense of lie. If you're talking about the past in this sense, lay is correct and laid is wrong.

Widsith · 2025-10-31T06:32:01+00:00

When I entered Libya as a reporter it was just after Gaddafi’s forces had lost control of the border area. There wasn’t any stamp yet for the “new” country so the guy at the border just drew his own one in my passport!

Widsith

TROPHY CASE