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Comment by brwr | Hacker News Reader

I owe every ounce of my love of reading to Richard Adams and Watership Down.

Watership Down was the first book of its size that I read and it had a profound effect on me that has significantly directed my life. I enjoyed it so much that I kept reading after the book was finished. This led to reading and loving anything written by J. K. Rowling, Isaac Asimov, Ernest Cline, John Grisham, Robert Greene, Orson Scott Card (despite later finding out of his personal flaws), and many other amazing authors.

Many years later, I'm still a huge fan of books, although I no longer read as much fiction as I'd like.

Perhaps it's time to sit down again and go on an adventure with some rabbits.

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> Watership Down was the first book of its size that I read and it had a profound effect on me that has significantly directed my life.

It's on a fairly short list of books I've read more than twice, along with LotR, Dune and Hitch Hiker's Guide. There may be others I've forgotten but those four really stand out.

> Orson Scott Card (despite later finding out of his personal flaws)

I don't typically dive into the personal side of authors whose writing I enjoy, what flaws are you referring to in Orson Scott Card?

He's a raving homophobe.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card

there's also a lot of argumentation in the vein of reading Ender's Game as apology for fascism and in particular the holocaust: http://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html#postscript

"Raving homophobe" is a pretty low-resolution picture of Card. Google "Janis Ian Orson Scott Card" for some nuance. Or see this cached post from her site:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ioaWOkC...

I'm not going to defend much of his political rhetoric, which I find is aptly described by the word "raving." And like others, I don't love a lot of his views on homosexuality. Just noting a higher-resolution picture of him doesn't fit the simple description of "raving homophobe."

>Google "Janis Ian Orson Scott Card" for some nuance.

Thanks for that tip. I'm aware of the Internet's general opinion of Card (seems like a lot more people have something to say about him since the movie came out!) but have never bothered to look up anything more specific. So far, I had been assuming - based on personal experience with well-educated and well-traveled Christians and Mormons - that his position on homosexuality was pretty similar to what Janis Ian described in her post. Also that the Internet's attention - as usual - had been caught by something and blown it out of proportion. I'm glad that those assumptions seem to have been correct.

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