Reader discussion: The Bat

Public reader discussion about The Bat in the WeRead Catalog by Stephen Vincent Benét.

Issues reading books with silly protagonist names?

By novel21

I’ve caught myself grabbing books like Jo Nesbø’s *The Bat* just because they’re sitting on the recommended shelf at my local store. I’ve read enough reviews to think they’re actually good, but I still can’t bring myself to buy them—mostly because the title is so ridiculously weird that I feel like it would get in my head the whole time. And the main character being called Harry Hole doesn’t help. Am I the only one who’s weird about this, or is it totally irrational?

YA fantasy series with a talking bat sidekick

By juniper_enzyme

Female lead from the modern day ends up in some medieval-ish fantasy place, maybe getting there through a bathroom or something? A lot of it happens in a castle, and she has to get out while basically everybody there is chasing her. There’s this bat that can talk and it writes her little notes in “batty latin,” which I remember for some reason. Also there’s a guy and I don’t think it’s ever clear if he’s really on her side or not. I feel like at one point they travel somewhere with zip lines between mountains or something like that. There’s also stuff about an old king and some battle from the past, and finding out what happened there and what all the fallout was. I think near the end of the book, or maybe the second one, they go to some darker area of the land to rescue the guy? I’m pretty sure it was a series since I never finished it and never found out what was going on in that “dark” place. I read it sometime in 2005-2010 from the town library. It was a black paperback, but I can’t remember the cover, just that there was a map of the city/castle or whatever in the front.

I am starting a book club!

By ticket-paper

I’m starting a book club at my high school and I really need some ideas for what to read first. I was thinking we could do a “genre of the month,” and everyone suggests books they want to read in that genre. Then we vote and meet each month to talk about it. I’ve always wanted to be in an actual book club, so I’m super excited. Any tips or book suggestions for our first pick? I was thinking we start with realistic fiction so it feels lighter and more fun—what do you all think?

Song For Three Soldiers - Stephen Vincent Benet [POEM]

By mountainSpring2720

So who are you, huh, soldier? Looking all sharp in that brand-new uniform, helmet on, gun slung like you’ve always been there. Where’d you come from, really? I’m coming from the mess that was yesterday—still got a bullet sitting in my chest, kind of dull but there. The fight went on forever and it sucked, but I was out there with the bravest, with the best. Then what about you—ray-gun, sun-bomb, all this brand-new stuff, and a face like it was carved out of stone. Tell me straight, where are you coming from? My gear’s different, my uniform’s not like anything you’ve seen before. I’m supposed to be your future, and I’m also your brother. Basically, I’m the next war that hasn’t happened yet. And now you, gaunt soldier, with weapons I can’t even wrap my head around. Tools so deadly that if the world doesn’t get kinder, it’s just going to start getting older and fall over right there. Stand aside and be quiet. Nobody comes after me—enemy or friend. I got called up because the seed of your seed brought me out to do the job, and honestly, that’s the longest of it and then it’s over.

Starting a book club! What should we start with?

By Soft_Panda6255

Basically, I’m kicking off a book club with a bunch of different friend groups, and I’m trying to come up with ideas to get us started for the first couple months. Everyone keeps saying they’re totally fine with anything, so I’m really open to suggestions—whatever you’ve got. Any help is appreciated, thanks! :)

His Dark Materials

By black_olive73

Is anyone else a Philip Pullman fan? I read His Dark Materials when I was younger and really loved it, and now I’m revisiting it as an adult and wow—it still hits so hard. It feels like it works on multiple levels, not just for kids. I know it’s tied to Paradise Lost, but there’s way more going on too, like all kinds of literary references I didn’t notice back then. The writing is gorgeous, sometimes almost poetic. I remember getting completely swept up in it as a kid, and I’m honestly impressed that it can still enchant younger readers with the adventure and feelings, but also keep adults interested with the bolder ideas and the way it’s written. Some stuff definitely goes over your head when you’re little, but picking it up again now makes you catch more. Just wanted to throw out some appreciation—this series feels like one of those books you could totally imagine reading with your own kids someday.

Children's short fiction, read 2010s, on a baby bat and owl swapping places.

By WritesClock

Not sure when this was first published, but I read it sometime in the 2010s (maybe earlier). It had this weird swap thing where a baby bat (fruit?) and a baby owl switch roles and end up being raised by the other animal, kind of like an ugly duckling situation. I’m pretty sure figs were involved too—the owl chick couldn’t eat the figs the bats brought, and then the bat couldn’t eat the mice the owl brought, which is why I’m leaning toward it being a fruit bat. I also remember the cover pretty clearly. The baby bat is hanging upside down, with the owl babies sitting up on a branch, and the baby owl is sitting on a branch while the bats hang down below. It was in a cartoon-y style, and the little owlet was super fluffy with huge eyes. It felt like a paperback more than a hardcover—really big pages and thin overall, like typical kids’ books. I read it in English. And it definitely wasn’t Stellaluna (Jannel Cannon), Owl Bat Bat Owl (Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick), or Owl Babies (Martin Waddel).

Anyone read any Colin Barrett?; or, a brief speculative discussion of certain trends in contemporary literature [mild/generic "Wild Houses"spoilers]

By cocoa7429

Just finished his first novel, *Wild Houses*. Small disclaimer: I haven’t read his short stories, so I’m coming at this mostly from what I’ve heard he’s known for. I didn’t straight-up hate it, but it honestly felt kind of… average? Like there were maybe a few genuinely good, inspired moments, and in a 250-page book that felt way too small. Most of the writing struck me as flat and kind of dull, and there were editing issues that kept pulling me out—stuff like the same words showing up over and over, or lines that didn’t really have much rhythm. The plot also felt flat and not very alive, and the character work felt lazy. Example: they tell you Dev is quiet but not stupid, and then the book sort of turns him into this boring, thick-headed guy anyway. Even the dialogue felt like it was trying to sound smart but kept landing on stock/cliché lines. And I’m side-eyeing the title too. It’s so close to “wild horses,” and then people clearly keep misunderstanding it as that, but the book doesn’t seem to have any real “wild horses” play going on. The only “wild house” thing I noticed is basically one quick mention that a party-gone-bad type character used to live in a drug-den party house that got called a “wild house.” But he’s not living there anymore, and “wild houses” don’t really show up again or matter to anything. So I kept thinking, what am I missing? I’m not even mad the way I was with *A Little Life* (which I despise, deeply), but I do feel weird about the whole “this guy is *the* guy” reputation. The endorsements and dust jacket blurbs make it feel like it’s being treated like something elevated, and I know blurbs can be political and all, but still—it makes me wonder if I’m just not seeing what other people are seeing. Like, is this basically genre fiction dressed up as literature? And are people in “literary fiction” lately trying to aim for the comfortably middle, so it can reach more readers *and* still get to feel like it’s literary? Where’s the super ambitious prose and real commitment to character/story that you usually expect from “high” lit? It almost feels like there’s a new lane forming between genre and literary, and I can’t even name it. Is there a name for this kind of thing? Do you know what I mean? Not everything I’ve read lately is like this—I posted before about Niamh Campbell’s *This Happy* and I’m genuinely obsessed with that one—but yeah, I’ve been thinking about what kinds of books are getting stamped with the “literature” label. Anyway, I know I sound like a pretentious snob. But I’m genuinely curious—what do you think about this kind of thing?

What is the densest most difficult novel worth reading?

By luckyBottle49

It kinda feels like I’m reading in the spirit of Finnegan’s Wake.

Book series that started great and got really bad.

By greencat

Once a story really jumps the shark, it’s like you’re stuck reading anyway, even though you shouldn’t. For me, the worst is Stephen King’s Dark Tower stuff—I genuinely liked the first four, but the last three were just awful. Like, genuinely insulting how bad they were. I also ended up pretty disappointed with The Expanse, so much that I figured I’d rather just watch the TV show.

What do teenagers read now

By rhymechapter1973

I’m only 23, so I’m not exactly ancient, but it feels like every year when I was growing up there was always some big book everyone was obsessed with. Some were smaller, but others were so huge it was like the whole world had an opinion about them. Off the top of my head: Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, and then near the end of high school with all the mixed reactions was Fifty Shades of Grey. I get that maybe I’m just not seeing it now because I’m not stuck in the secondary school gossip bubble anymore, but still—I’m kind of surprised I’m not noticing a similar buzz for new releases. I’d love it if someone who’s actually paying attention could tell me what teens are reading these days. Maybe I’m not the only one who feels out of the loop haha.

[anathem] Discussion Thread

By wise_island7124

Go ahead, hit me with it.

That Time Twenty Years Ago When I Ugly-Cried At Reading The Little Match Girl To My Daughter

By tidebeacon1973

Honestly, the title pretty much says it. This was about twenty years ago—my daughter was around three, and she’s 22 now and just home for the holidays before she heads off to “exciting Europe.” We were on my younger sister’s bed at my parents’ place, and I was reading my daughter one of those super picture-heavy versions of “The Little Match Girl.” It didn’t even take long before I started feeling it coming on. Like, right around the second match I could feel the sobs trying to climb up in my throat, my voice started shaking, and I remember thinking, “surely it won’t be that bad,” and still hoping she’d drift off so I could keep reading through it. Then a couple pages later… yeah, it was full-on ugly crying. I don’t even cry like that at real events, not even for my parents’ funerals years later. It felt like that only happens with a story like Hans Christian Andersen—just brutal. My daughter was totally confused, like she had no clue why I was suddenly crying. I think my mom came in and told me off for upsetting her (but now I’m not even sure—maybe I’m just filling in details with vibes, because who knows). And I swear my sister was laughing at me. Have you ever ugly-cried from a book? When did it happen and what was the book?

Good Podcasts for Dissection of Lit Classics, etc.

By cafe-clear

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some podcast recs that do really good discussions about books/literature. What are your go-to favorites?

I don't get The Secret History

By distantFalcon79000

Just finished The Secret History for the first time. The writing is definitely good and I did enjoy actually reading it, but I’m still not totally getting why everyone loves it so much. I don’t really understand where the drive to obsess over it and build theories comes from—maybe I’m missing something? To me it was pretty entertaining and pretty straightforward, but it also feels like it could’ve been way better if it had been pushed further. Curious what other people think though—especially if you got more out of it than I did.

Help me understand Bats of the Republic.

By ShadowVerse1974

I should probably mention that I mostly read at bedtime just to unwind, so I’m not sure if that’s messing me up. Either way, I really don’t get how Bats of the Republic ends. I get that Zadock and Zeke are able to see each other at the wall of the Texas Republic, but I can’t figure out how everything connects. I’m honestly pretty confused—could someone explain the ending in a super simple way?

What exactly is “No.1 New York Times Bestseller” and how does it work?

By limpsy-corner

Lately I’ve been picking up more fiction, and when I’m looking for something new I keep seeing covers that say stuff like “No. 1 New York Times bestseller” or “from the author of a New York Times bestseller.” It’s gotten so frequent that I started wondering how there can be so many “No. 1” books, and how this New York Times ranking thing is even supposed to work?

I finally started my 17-book adventure to The Dark Tower with The Stand and it's a horror masterpiece

By herondawn

I really wish I had picked up “The Stand” way earlier. I went in already expecting it to be great since so many people call it one of King’s best, and honestly it still blew past what I was expecting. I’ve also made up my mind to start my way toward The Dark Tower, so I’ve been doing a lot of pre-reading to try to get the fullest experience possible. Basically I’m making my way through all the books that connect to it. If anyone cares, this is the order I ended up with after way too much reading around and asking a bunch of Constant Readers what they thought... The Stand The Eyes of the Dragon Insomnia Hearts in Atlantis ‘Salem’s Lot The Talisman Black House Everything's Eventual (The Little Sisters of Eluria) The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands Charlie the Choo-Choo The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower Yeah, 17 books. I’ve got a ridiculous amount of reading ahead of me, but if “The Stand” is anything to go by, this is probably going to be one of the best reading stretches I ever have. I’m really excited to finally get to all of these, and I’m hoping to finish before King’s next anthology, “You Like It Darker,” comes out on May 21, 2024. Before I get into the actual thoughts, I did run across a lot of trigger warnings while reading, since a bunch of this is really graphic. They were… - Cancer - Suicide - Abortion - Domestic abuse (physical) - Racism - Pandemic - Quarantine - Dead animals (cars, dogs, kittens, rabbits, and rats) - Drugs - Drinking and driving - Parental abuse (mental and physical) - Vaccination - Rape - Bullying - Dead children - Burning churches - Homophobia - Death of a child - Self-harm - Cannibalism - Violence against women - Religion - Politics - Violence against animals (hens and chickens) If any of that is a dealbreaker for you, definitely skip this one. “The Stand” is absolutely a horror masterpiece, and it’s also the longest book I’ve read so far in my life. It’s 1,348 pages, which sounds insane, but it really is worth it. There are two versions of this book, the original 1975 release that had to be cut down because it was just way too huge at the time, and the 1990 “complete and uncut” version. I went with the second one because King put back in over 400 pages and revised it to get closer to the version he actually wanted out there. I really liked how he talked about that at the start too, just very him and very direct to his Constant Readers. It’s officially his longest standalone novel, and I really think it’ll stay one of the biggest horror books ever. King does not mess around here. The opening is intense and sets up the whole thing so well, and I got hooked fast. I really liked the tension right away and all the characters were so different from each other in a way that made them stick. And wow, there are a lot of characters. I had to keep notes because there were so many names and I didn’t want to get lost. That helped a lot, and once I did that, it was easy to keep up and just enjoy it. I also loved all the references in here, especially Queens, Freddy Krueger, The Lord of the Rings, Shirley Jackson, Norman Bates, and a bunch more. The book is split into three parts, and each one has a bunch of smaller stories mixed in with the main one. I thought that worked really well because you still stay connected to the big story while also getting all these side things happening. It kept me wondering who would end up mattering later too. There really weren’t any dull sections for me. The dialogue, the situations, the horror, all of it was strong. King is so good at that quiet kind of horror that creeps up on you and just keeps sitting there. And yeah, this one definitely hit harder because it feels weirdly close to what the world went through with COVID a few years ago, just pushed way further in a very King way. The descriptions, the atmosphere, the whole thing was just excellent. I couldn’t put it down, even though it took me over two weeks to finish, and I even used my days off to keep going because it’s such a huge but addictive book. If you’re someone who looks at the page count and thinks there’s no way, I still think it’s worth it if you just keep at it a little at a time. Don’t rush it. It’s the kind of book that sticks with you. I also really liked the illustrations included throughout. Those creepy little visuals made it feel even more like a full experience. It reminded me of being younger and reading horror paperbacks where there’d be drawings in the middle or at the start of chapters. King really goes all in on the horror, gore, and gross-out stuff here. Some parts had me making weird faces while I was reading because I was trying to figure out what was going on with the disease. Once that finally clicks, it opens the book up in a way I hadn’t really seen before in a horror novel. And once everything starts connecting and the final stretch kicks in, that’s where “The Stand” really goes hard. There’s even a huge violent scene near the end that I did not expect at all, and it was wild. Out of everyone, I’d probably say Frannie, Stu, Nick, and Kojak were my favorites. And yeah, Randall Flagg too. He’s terrifying. This was my first real read with Flagg in it, and I get why people hate him so much. Some of the stuff around him was completely unhinged, and now I’m even more interested in seeing where that all goes in the Dark Tower stuff since he’s such a big villain there. The ending was huge. King takes the whole good vs. evil thing and makes it feel way darker and more intense than I expected. I’m not going to spoil anything, but the ending really landed for me. I actually went back and reread the last few chapters because I thought they were that good. I did not see that coming, and I’m very happy with how it wrapped up. It hit me with so many different feelings too, like sadness, hope, anger, laughter, disbelief, and even some really heartwarming moments. It’s just a massive book in every way. I’m giving “The Stand” by Stephen King a 5/5, and honestly I’d give it 10/5 if that was a thing because this was easily one of the best books I’ve read by King and maybe one of the best I’ve ever read. The story, the characters, Flagg, the horror, the hope of it all, it all just worked so well. Anyway, on to the next step in my Dark Tower read-through, because I’m starting “The Eyes of the Dragon” next. Cough.