Slashdot Mirror
One Sci-Fi Author Wrote 29 of the Kindle's 100 Most-Highlighted Passages
An anonymous reader writes "Today Amazon announced that a science fiction writer has become the Kindle's all-time best-selling author. Last June Suzanne Collins, who wrote the Hunger Games trilogy, was only the fourth author to sell one million ebooks, but this month Amazon announced she'd overtaken all her competition (and she also wrote the #1 and #2 best-selling ebooks this Christmas). In fact, 29 of the 100 most-highlighted passages on the Kindle were written by Collins, including 7 of the top 10. And on a separate list of recent highlights, Collins has written 17 of the top 20 most-highlighted passages."
It's pretty interesting to go through the top-100 list and look at the passages people think are worth highlighting. Taken out of context, many of them could be patched together and re-sold as a self-help book. None are quite so eloquent as #18 in the recent highlights.
Speaking of dumb shit: it's `they're,' not `their'
Violence is OK. They just have to keep sex out of it.
'The Gun is good. The penis is evil'
(Anybody remember Zardoz? You do? I'm very sorry.)
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The Kindle Reader app does not make the ability to disable this visible or obvious.
It's also not visible or obvious on all versions of the Kindle.
I think you need to go take a better look at the software on the different Kindle models.
@Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
Seeing what statistically significant humans think is highlight-worthy is incredibly depressing. Is it any wonder the One Percent can manage to stay in control? Humans have opposable thumbs and can manage language, but wise they aren't. They can't discern platitudes and doublespeak from actual wisdom.
As the relieved father of a young woman who has finally made it into her twenties, I am keen to read some books where awful stuff happens to teenagers.
Especially goths. Does anyone know if these books have awful stuff happening to goths? Oh, and horny teenage boys who are always hanging around. I could do with a book about awful stuff happening to horny teenage boys with adams apples and their parents' cars who are always hanging around trying to get daughters to go to parties at the homes of absent parents. That could be very entertaining. Dismemberment, maybe brutal beatings with baseball bats, like that. I may have to check out these books.
Hey, they're making a movie of this Hunger Games stuff, right?
You are welcome on my lawn.
anyone? doubtful. most? also doubtful.
amazon tracking and collecting this sort of data is not any different than tivo and cable companies doing the same with dvr's (and not any less spooky), what programs are recorded and watched, when they're watched, what parts get replayed, skipped-over or paused on. and like tivo, amazon defaults to opt-in instead of opt-out (which is not exactly convenient to do with tivo.. and near or completely impossible with cable company boxes). tivo took a lot of heat after that most unfortunate of superbowl half-time performances -- amazon should here as well.
Don't worry, no one here is impressed with your intellect. You're free to read something purely for enjoyment.
i've read battle royale 2 or 3 times and seen the film, and the hunger game trilogy. they have a number of striking similarities in events, situations, and themes, (of which i won't get into due to spoiler concerns) but are stylistically quite different. hunger games is more informed by celebrity culture and reality tv, and written for a young teen audience, battle royale is japanese pulp written for adults and gets more cerebral among a wider variety characters. hunger games is larger in scope then battle royale. running man, truman show, lord of the flies all sorta come from this tradition too, and share themes and situations as well. i enjoyed them both, found they were written competently and had fun, i wouldn't mistake either for high literature though
nobody's perfect
This article came at a fitting time as I had recently picked up the bad habit of writing. It's a peculiar problem I have; it sneaks up from time to time, usually as the result of a new gadget which had the misfortune of including a keyboard. The impulse afflicts me for a few days or weeks until I finally convince myself, in no uncertain terms, that I am really a irredeemably terrible writer and should, in a just universe, have long ago been issued a restraining order against the whole of the English language. As this is, alas, an entirely unjust universe, over the years I have left a terrifying path of half-finished video game plots, reimagined TV shows and fan-fics in my wake.
But I digress. When I stumbled upon this article I thought that it would be my rescue, as my recent purchase of a Bluetooth keyboard for my smartphone had me again fancying myself an auteur while the tiny rational part of by brain helplessly fought the controls. While I had never read any of Suzanne Collins work, surely anyone capable of penning a third of Amazon's top quotes must have a rapier wit and a stunning insight into the human condition. It would be a delightful chance to reaffirm my own incompetence and move on with my life. And I'd even get a new collection of bon mots to use at the water cooler. What could possibly go wrong?
Oops, I'm starting to digress again and souls don't crush themselves, after all! Bring on the quotes!
Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.
Ah, well, that's...very true. Very applicable to lots of...things.
It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.
That's true, too! I've heard the same message plenty of times before, but that doesn't make it less insightful.
“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever,” he says.
Okay, maybe a bit trite, but still a nice sentiment.
“I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you,” Peeta replies.
Ah...um, okay, now my secret My Little Pony fan-fic is starting to look good. Uh...moving on...
We’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.
...Dear...
“Having an eye for beauty isn’t the same thing as a weakness,” Peeta points out. “Except possibly when it comes to you.”
...God...
Life in District 12 isn’t really so different from life in the arena. At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.
...this...
The berries. I realize the answer to who I am lies in that handful of poisonous fruit. If I held them out to save Peeta because I knew I would be shunned if I came back without him, then I am despicable. If I held them out because I loved him, I am still self-centered, although forgivable. But if I held them out to defy the Capitol, I am someone of worth. The trouble is, I don’t know exactly what was going on inside me at that moment.
...is...
I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun.
...all...
“District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety,”
...complete...
That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
How do you know if someone has read Schopenhauer? Don't worry, they'll tell you.
"Be nice, veer left, and never stop thinking" Iain Banks - Walking On Glass