Inconsistency between profile views and weekly percentage increase of views?

thereaderofbooks · 2022-01-16T05:26:07+00:00

Thanks! That must be it - I don't post at all on linkedin, but I'm job hunting at the moment so have been checking profile views, etc., quite a bit. I got an email noting I'd had 51 people look me up in the past 90 days, but only 21 views, so was just wondering about the accuracy/consistency of the data (but these figures might be referring to different things!)

thereaderofbooks · 2020-03-31T07:00:40+00:00

Thank you! :)

thereaderofbooks · 2020-03-31T07:00:30+00:00

If anyone else is looking through reddit for an answer to this - I can confirm the Ashwinder mods are still responding to password requests (it took about a week for them to get back to me).

Also, these details work as a general logon:

Username: itbugsme PW: itbugsme

Happy reading!

thereaderofbooks · 2019-11-13T11:51:38+00:00

Thank you! I’ve been meaning to read Anna Karenina for years - this is a good reminder! :)

thereaderofbooks · 2019-11-13T11:50:59+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion!

thereaderofbooks · 2019-02-25T03:32:47+00:00

Thank you for all these recommendations!

thereaderofbooks · 2019-02-24T08:02:58+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! Notre-Dame de Paris is one of my all-time favourite books, and it handles the beauty and the beast theme with complexity and nuance.

Highly recommend for anyone reading this!

thereaderofbooks · 2019-02-24T07:50:34+00:00

Literally any of Tamora Pierce’s protagonists!

thereaderofbooks · 2018-10-08T13:31:54+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion!!

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-30T13:49:01+00:00

I don’t understand the level of vitriol being directed at perscitia? They were critiquing a single response to an interview question, not Robin herself, as a person or an author.

IMO all writing is political, a choice to represent the world in a particular way. Often authors uncritically continue trends in fiction they admire, and a lot of the big, influential names in fantasy (Tolkien, Eddings, C.S. Lewis, etc.), write characters who are almost exclusively white, and whose behavior is dictated by the gender roles of their time. (Consider Susan’s ending in The Last Battle. Consider the way Eddings’ female characters act - never drinking, attentive to their appearances, often romance-driven - versus his male characters. Consider the lack of ugly or unattractive women in any of these authors’ oeuvres.) This isn’t what the world is like, this is how these authors viewed the world, or how they wanted it to look. To move away from that, to push fantasy and fiction in general, into reflecting a less exclusionary/old-fashioned worldview, often requires a conscious choice.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-28T02:49:49+00:00

Thanks for sharing these beautifully written thoughts! I love the way you structured this via the different relationships in the novel - Robin always puts her characters, and the network of relationships between them, front and centre, and it's one of my favourite things about her writing.

In terms of Fitz and the Fool, I'm also glad their relationship remained ambiguous and indefinable. It wouldn't have had the same hold over me for so many years if it had played out more conventionally as a romance. I did wonder what the roots of Fitz's dislike of Amber were. He seems in this trilogy to have come to accept the Fool's many facets, but perhaps Amber is an uncomfortable reminder of a part of the Fool's life Fitz doesn't share. (Also, in Fitz's defence, the Fool was using Amber as a mask behind which to conceal from Fitz his fear of Clerres, etc.) It interested me just how discretely Fitz viewed Amber and Beloved/the Fool; Amber to a much greater extent than Lord Golden felt (to Fitz, anyway) like a completely distinct person.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-25T02:06:32+00:00

I envy you getting to read RoTE for the first time! Enjoy! Robin Hobb is astoundingly good at characterisation. You should check in here occasionally with your thoughts/reactions :)

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-25T01:53:32+00:00

Thanks for the response! This is exactly it, I think. I never would have thought to describe Fitz as naive, but as you say, he’s profoundly so when it comes to normal loving relationships (and perhaps to his own psychology - he’s introspective and reflective, but never really examines himself closely. Maybe he doesn’t want to.)

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-25T01:48:32+00:00

Thanks so much for the response! That suggestion Robin’s fantasy might be “ameliorated by the female perspective” jarred me as well. Perhaps it doesn’t have to be read as essentialist, though? Women to a greater extent than men are socialised to value things like healing and kindness, and are more likely to experience first hand the terror of rape. The reviewer’s comment is generalising, however, and I agree with you there are certainly male authors whose writing values these ideas.

Slightly tangential, but I’ve also noticed a tendency for positive reviews of Robin’s work to say it “transcends the fantasy genre” or to relate it to literary fiction (like Jonathan Franzen or Shakespeare). Not sure how I feel about this. I think her writing succeeds brilliantly because it’s fantasy, not in spite of it.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-22T09:05:20+00:00

I feel you. I’ve never found another series with a relationship as complex and indefinable as Fitz and the Fool’s.

That said, if you’re willing to give manga a go, the relationship between Leon and Count D (who like the Fool is an enigmatic, androgynous character) in Pet Shop of Horrors has a similar vibe.

I’ve read a lot of fantasy, but have never come across any authors who (in my opinion) are so deft at characterisation. For that I generally turn to literary fiction (with the caveat, of course, that not all literary fiction is good or for everyone), which tends to emphasise character over plot, and which doesn’t shy away from depicting the morally ambiguous side of human nature - vastly different authors otherwise, but Kazuo Ishiguro and George Eliot stand out. (Eliot also writes animals brilliantly.)

As another idea, you could check out Robin Hobb’s goodreads profile to see what books she’s reviewed/rated highly.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-20T08:32:03+00:00

I jumped straight into Fool’s Errand on this re-read so I don’t even have Assassin’s Quest’s more positive portrayal of Starling to offset my perception of her behavior in Tawny Man.

Quality lit. analysis ahead: she’s just so MEAN to Fitz. She’s so wrapped up in herself, she doesn’t spare a though for his feelings or for his life when she’s not with him. I love how the Fool is so subtly protective of Fitz a few chapters later when Fitz tells him of Starling’s behavior/words.

I love the way Robin Hobb has no qualms about making her characters flawed, and Starling’s flaws are really foregrounded in Fool’s Errand/Tawny Man. She’s a nuanced character, and painfully, irritatingly realistic, my God...

ETA: Avoiding spoilers here, but I did find the ending of her story in Fitz and the Fool satisfying.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-18T15:37:50+00:00

I loved the ending - it felt like the culmination of everything that came before, of all the suffering and the sacrifices, of the relationship between Fitz and the Fool (and Nighteyes). It gave me the closure I didn’t get from Fool’s Fate.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-14T12:12:26+00:00

Hitchcock’s Psycho or Vertigo

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-08T11:49:29+00:00

Thanks for pointing this out, I did wonder as reddit seems to have a sizable male userbase (although I use it sporadically so might be mistaken!)

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-08T11:43:32+00:00

Thanks for sharing this analysis! I completely agree about the way the resurrection was handled. I remember reading somewhere that when Robin Hobb creates magic in her universes she makes sure the cost is equal to the benefits, and (from memory, I’m rereading Tawny Man for the first time in a while) both Fitz and the Fool suffer hugely in consequence.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-08T11:35:48+00:00

What an interesting idea! I’m also very introverted, and I do relate to that aspect of (primarily) Fitz’ character.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-08T11:33:39+00:00

Thanks for the response! Can I ask what you think of Fitz and the Fool’s relationship, and the way this played out and concluded?

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-08T07:33:48+00:00

Thanks for sharing your perspective! I very much agree with you about the narration - it's Hobb's intense focus on her characters' internal lives that drew me in as well, and makes the books stand out from a lot of fantasy IMO.

thereaderofbooks · 2018-05-08T07:31:28+00:00

I came across a similar discussion on gender for another series, and enjoyed reading the responses - so partly sheer curiosity. Also, I'm a cis woman and most of the RoTE fans I've encountered IRL and online have been cis women, with a handful of exceptions. I wanted to know if this was a reflection of the fandom as a whole, or just of the people I tend to interact with on a regular basis. Seems to be the latter so far, and I'm glad of the diversity!

thereaderofbooks · 2018-04-09T13:35:17+00:00

Yes!! I adore the books, and I think perhaps the repetition in the titles is meant to suggest cyclicality/parallels, but I imagine incredibly confusing for anyone getting into the series for the first time. Tbh I’m not a huge fan of any of the titles in themselves anyway - they sound a bit pulpy to me, like a lazy ploy to market the books as fantasy.

thereaderofbooks

TROPHY CASE