Public reader discussion about Vanity Fair in the WeRead Catalog by William Makepeace Thackeray.
By snow-story5
Just wondering—I'm trying to get into more classics, and I’d love to hear what everyone’s favorite is. Mine might be *Wuthering Heights* by Emily Brontë, not 100% sure though.
By clear-comet
I just picked this up recently, so I’m not really familiar with the author or anything about the story yet. The title was what pulled me in, and I also think the cover looks great. If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear what you thought.
By DustyValley
Am I the only one noticing that pretty much every book lately says it’s a New York Times bestseller? I’m not from the US, so I used to think it was some kind of big deal. But now it feels so everywhere that I can’t help wondering if it even means much anymore. Did the label lose its value, or are they just slapping it on as a marketing thing?
By WhiteFinch
My sister and I have kind of an ongoing book club for the last few years, but we don’t really hunt down “good” books. We go for the worst stuff we can find—books that are so bad you don’t even want to finish, stories with plot holes you could drive a truck through, cringe-y YA where it’s always this 18-year-old chosen one/self-insert vibe, and books where the main character is unbearable and somehow by the end you’re rooting for the villains. Basically anything like that. Is there a place (or a group) for recommending books like this? If anyone has suggestions to add to our growing list of terrible reads, I’d love to hear them.
By KindSparrow
So, if you’ve read it, what did you think? I’m going to be honest—I didn’t enjoy it at all. I think part of it is on me, because I started it even though I don’t usually read books like this. It kind of feels like there’s no real beginning, middle, or end, just this long continuous thing where you follow the main character doing pretty everyday, mundane stuff. The premise sounded kind of interesting, but it just didn’t land for me. Also, the main character was really hard to like. Not in a fun or relatable way—more like she didn’t have anything redeeming in my eyes. I know it’s gotten a lot of good reviews though, so I’m curious what other people thought, and whether I should go back to it with a different mindset.
By Early_Plate5379
I just finished two “cute summer romance” books back to back and both ended up being way more about the main characters’ trauma than I signed up for. I’m kinda burned out and now I’m wondering if I’m the only one who feels this way. I really want those easy, fluffy reads in the summer, but I keep getting tricked into heavier stuff. The ones I read: - “The Falling in Love Montage” by Clara Smyth, which was pitched like a cute romcom about finally getting the classic movie montage vibe. Instead it’s really about dealing with the mother’s dementia and how that hits her family. - “See You Yesterday” by Rachel Lynn Solomon, marketed as a Groundhog Day-ish time loop with a mystery subplot and a fun romance. But it turns out there’s basically no mystery, and the main focus is her traumatic high school stuff, and the romance felt kind of weak.
By ReadsFast2131
I always wonder about that one book that basically nobody talks about, but it really messes with you, and you’re still thinking about it years later. When I was at uni, I read *Under a Thin Moon* by Livi Michael. It follows four young working-class women living on a council estate in the UK. It was genuinely heartbreaking. I didn’t just get sad—I cried for weeks afterwards and felt pretty wrecked emotionally. Like, proper “scarred” in a way I didn’t expect. Since then I’ve read loads of books, but nothing has hit me as hard as that one. I somehow managed to track down a copy again recently, but I’m scared to reread it. Part of me worries it’ll totally traumatise me all over again, and another part worries it’ll just… not affect me at all, and then I’ll feel stupid for having obsessed over it for so long. Has anyone else got a book that’s kind of unknown/quiet but affected you in a similar way?
By oceanlost
Has anyone here read *Joseph Anton*? It’s Rushdie’s memoir about the 9-ish years he was basically in protective hiding in England and then New York. I’m finding it really enjoyable, like it’s not just heavy stuff—he gets into all kinds of his literary friends and enemies. Also, the people who helped him are listed and it’s kind of wild: Sontag, Ginsberg, Vonnegut, Bono, Pynchon, and more.
By Lake_Frog
I just finished *Vanity Fair* a little over a month ago and I can’t stop thinking about Becky Sharp—she’s kind of wild. People talk a lot about *Gone Girl* and how it finally gives you a femme fatale who doesn’t just get knocked down and embarrassed, but Thackeray was doing something similar way earlier with Becky. She really leans into that whole “dangerous woman ruins men” vibe, like the classic stories and myths where a woman just wrecks everyone around her. But what gets me is how Thackeray handles her story. I feel like the point of the book isn’t “look, here’s a bad woman, don’t be like her.” It feels more like a satire of Victorian society, like Becky can actually do well in a world that’s pretty shallow. And she does—she definitely pays for it though. She pushes people away, she seems to regret things sometimes, but she still keeps winning, even after the big shocking thing that basically flips her from anti-hero to full villain. The part that surprised me most is the structure. Right when she’s finally settled into high society, everything starts falling apart. Rawdon finds out about her cheating, leaves her, and takes the money she’s been building up. Becky disappears, her name gets trashed, and the book shifts to Amelia for a while, so you kind of assume Becky’s done. But then Amelia’s connected to Becky again and you find out what she’s been doing while she’s offstage. Little by little, with all that emotional messing with people—especially Amelia—and getting her way with Jos, Becky slides back into society. By the end, she’s sort of “back,” and her money is actually better than before, and she’s outlived everyone who was ever interested in her. So yeah, I guess I end up torn. On one hand, Becky is impressive in how she survives and adapts. On the other, it’s hard not to see her as dangerous and self-serving. Either way, she sticks in your head, and it feels like her whole situation still says something about people and the messiness of human life.
By luckyHammer
I always wonder about these stories where the “happy ending” shows up and then the author sort of shuts the curtain. Like, shouldn’t the couple still have doubts or struggle a bit? It feels like once they cross into marriage-land everything is just supposed to be smooth and sunny, and they can only stroll off toward old age all content. But with Amelia, she doesn’t seem so settled yet—she’s right there on the other side and still looking back, worried, like she’s leaving behind those people waving goodbye from the far shore.