Reader discussion: Breaking Point

Public reader discussion about Breaking Point in the WeRead Catalog by James E. Gunn.

My rules for reading. What are yours?

By looksbridge

These are kind of the “rules” I try to follow when I read. I don’t stick to them every single time, but I try. I literally copied them out of my reading journal from the first page: - Don’t act like there’s only one right way to read. Some people tear through like 100 books a year, others barely get through a few—neither is wrong. If your Ulysses is someone else’s Twilight, that’s fine. Like, if someone got something out of Twilight, that’s a good thing. The elitist move is judging people for liking different stuff. - I also think reading is just one medium. It’s not automatically “better” than film or TV or whatever. I read because I like using my imagination, and books usually feel like they do more for describing things, but that doesn’t mean other mediums can’t be smart too. They’re just different. - I like writing in the margins. You miss so much if you don’t. Plus it’s cool to look back and see what you were thinking while you were reading, and how it changed the next time you came back to the book. If you like doing that, you’ll probably enjoy seeing other people’s notes too. - Reread stuff you love. People always say there are too many books to ever reread, but… you’re still gonna die before you read everything anyway. If you love a book, go back to it later and see if it hits you differently. You catch way more on the second time. - I don’t stress over what I’m “supposed” to get from a novel, or what other people think. If you walk away with something different, that’s okay. You bring your own life experience to it, and overthinking what you “should” be doing just wrecks the experience. - But I do like hearing other perspectives. I’m sure I miss stuff every time. Talking with other people can be really eye-opening because they notice themes you didn’t, usually because they’ve lived a whole different life than you. Those “wait, that’s what it’s doing?” moments are real. - Every so often, I also go for easy/comfort reading. Like Tom Robbins, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Christopher Moore, Chuck Klosterman, David Sedaris—stuff like that. If I’m doing nothing but Faulkner/DeLillo/Joyce/Wallace/Gaddis-level everything all the time, it starts to feel depressing. Sometimes you just need a laugh. - If it sucks, move on. I’m reading for fun, not to collect the accomplishment of finishing. - I try to pay attention to how the author uses language—similes, metaphors, symbols, all that. Words get picked for a reason. - And I like sharing what I’ve enjoyed with other people. The reader community matters almost as much as the books themselves. I like being part of it. EDIT: Also—people keep misunderstanding the title. I’m not telling anyone what they have to do or how they have to read. This is just what I do in my own journal. And no, I’m not saying everyone needs to write in the margins of their book. If you think that, honestly, I’d rather you didn’t. And why does everything turn into an argument? It gets old fast.

James E. Gunn, 1923-2020

By looks_velvet

James E. Gunn died this Saturday. He was 97, and it was congestive heart failure. Also, just to be clear, not the director—there’s another James Gunn people might mix him up with. I took a couple sci-fi classes with him at the University of Kansas a little over ten years ago, and I genuinely feel like I wouldn’t be where I am as a writer without his influence. He basically opened doors to a ton of classic authors I never would’ve checked out on my own, and he got me really interested in the whole history of science fiction and fantasy. In my freshman year summer session I took one of the classes and… I actually ended up meeting the first girl I ever kissed (I was super late to that, okay). I also met one of my closest friends there, and I later stood up as a groomsman for him. We even ran a discussion group together—just a few years ago—covering China Miéville’s *Perdido Street Station* and Iain M. Banks’ *Consider Phlebas* (and yes, the three of us did our part for the whole set of books for class). What’s weird is how big his impact was compared to how much time I actually spent in the classroom with him. I honestly don’t know if he even remembers me. It’s been ages since we talked, and I was just one student in a huge pile. But the people who were close to him say his loss hit them hard—he was really loved. He also had these stories about hanging around with or talking to all these big names like Heinlein and Asimov and a bunch of others. One anecdote I still think about is him telling us he sat with Philip K. Dick at an award show. When Gunn asked Dick what he’d been up to lately, Dick supposedly said, “Graffiti, mostly.” I don’t know how it couldn’t stick with me. And he wasn’t just a writer—he helped build the whole academic side too. In 1968 he founded the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at KU, which was the first university program like that. It kicked off science fiction classes and studies at schools all over, and I think it still runs today. It’s also connected to giving out the Campbell and Sturgeon Awards. He even put together *The Road to Science Fiction*, which is basically a history of the genre with representative stories and excerpts going way back to Gilgamesh. If you’re trying to learn the history of speculative fiction, it’s hard to imagine skipping that. He wrote a lot over his whole life—his first short story sold in 1948 (that part still scares me a little), and later he had 28 books and edited 18. He also didn’t just stay in Golden Age mode; he tried different trends and styles as the genre changed over the years, including New Wave and hard SF. One of his best-known books is *The Listeners*, which people often say helped inspire SETI and also *Contact* by Carl Sagan. I guess it’s kind of fitting that he sold his final short story on the day he died.

Yesteryear book questions regarding location

By SilverBeaver

No real spoilers, just something I can’t quite pin down and wanted to hear what other people think. I’m from south central Idaho, like about 40-ish minutes from Blaine County (so, pretty close to where Sun Valley is). When she talks about the family living in southwest Idaho a bunch of times and brings up farmland plus wooded areas in the backyard, I’m confused. To me, “southwest Idaho” is Boise/Nampa/Caldwell and kind of stretches toward Oregon, and that’s mostly rolling hills and farms. Woods in the yard feels like that’s more north, like around McCall, not down where she’s placing it. Then there’s the Sun Valley flight part. She says they fly into Sun Valley, but the airport’s actually in Hailey. I know it’s a small detail, but if you’re writing an Idaho native character, it matters. The book makes it sound like you land at Sun Valley and then drive three hours west, which would basically get you past Boise. That just doesn’t sit right—like you’d be landing at some tiny mountain airport for smaller planes, then driving across the high desert for hours to end up near the biggest airport in the state. And I really didn’t understand the prairie dress thing either, especially in the chapter about her growing up where she links it to UT. Like, if you’re going to lean into that whole religious vibe, why not set it more in southeastern Idaho and go with a fundamentalist Mormon group? Or if she wanted it to feel like a prepping community, I feel like she could’ve pushed it more into northern Idaho—the forest/rolling hills would’ve made more sense there. I did enjoy the book, but these parts annoyed me. Curious what others think.

Revisiting The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

By desertEclipse89

I’ve kind of been in a total reading slump this year—my picks haven’t gone great and it’s honestly killed my motivation to pick up books. So I figured I’d just fall back on something I love and haven’t touched in like ten years: *The Thief of Always*. And wow, it’s still just such a fun read. If you’ve read *Coraline*, you already get the vibe. It’s about Harvey, stuck in that miserable post-Christmas winter, who gets invited to this Holiday House where you can live through a whole year in one day. His wishes sort of come true… but he slowly clocks that there’s something off and creepy controlling everything behind the scenes. The Halloween parts are especially great, and the final “what’s really going on” reveal is weirdly clever and a lot of fun. It’s also a quick one—you can rip through it in a day and there’s basically no extra fluff. Harvey is a solid main character too. From the beginning you can tell he feels in his gut that something isn’t right, but he still really wants it to be normal. I also loved the bit where he opens a Christmas present and it turns out to be the same toy his dad made for him years ago and lost—that’s such an interesting moment because it ends up meaning something bigger, like his optimism getting pulled apart, but also something he can use later to push back. One more thing: if you’re going to read it, try to find a copy with Barker’s illustrations. They honestly add a ton, especially that Halloween prank scene from Harvey’s point of view where it feels like the kids finally get hit with the reality that they’re in way over their heads. Great book—one of the best kinds of “always worth revisiting” reads. Now I’m feeling like going back to some of my other favorites I haven’t read in ages, like *Jaws*, *Amazonia*, *Valley of the Dolls*, and *The Outsiders*.

Book Club Recommendations

By wolfPaperback1557

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