Recs if you like Beartown...

For all the multitaskers on here (including myself): books featured on 2+ quests! Go get those badges everyone

Are you currently not crying to the point of vomiting, but you want to be? Need to conduct a science experiment to find out if you are in fact the ugliest crier in all of Pagebound? Well, do I have the list for you! Brought to you by the fine, very sad, folks of Pagebound! These books have been frequently suggested or upvoted in PB club posts about sad books! Suggestions in any genre, and extra tissues, are welcome!

Fiction & nonfiction books that explore the complexities and traumas of mother-child relationships or in which such relationships play a central role. While many books on this list are what I’d classify as including “mommy issues” there are others that are more about the different perspectives and nuances of the mother-child (often specifically mother-daughter) relationship. Some books center the child, some the mother, some both.

Suggestions are welcome.

you can enter a space. you are a regular guy, you can enter a room. you are a regular guy, you can do that transaction. you are a regular guy, you know how to answer the phone. you are a regular guy, you know what sleep is. you are a regular guy, you know what it means to be you.

all of these books have regular people as the protagonist doing all sorts of things, from kissing to killing!

as always, open to all suggestions!

A librarian's favorite response to asking what book a patron is looking for...

Books in this list are in at least two quests. Thus helping to earn more badges. Books will span different genres. Once I scan through all the quests, I plan to further organize the list. I am thinking of creating a seperate list and moving the books with three or more quests to the new list and keeping the two badge books in this list. Are there other ways you would organize a list this big?

books that feel like you are driving 60 mph down a country road on a late summer day (leaning closer to a crisp fall day) while feeling complicated, nostalgic, and a little messed up inside 🍂🐛

(posting because i am TOOO excited about the release of noah's new album!! additional recs are more than welcome!)

Social commentary under patriarchy

Acclaimed or well known books from Scandinavia. Only works that have been translated to English. General vibes are dark, depressive books, some fairytales and crime novels.

Ah yes, this ol' issue that has plagued librarians and bookstore clerks for decades.

And sometimes you find the right book, but... can you even call that shade blue?

All fiction books that appear in the Tiny Bookshop catalogue! Would sort them by genre as I read along.

bildungsroman if ya nasty

A small selection of the over 2000+ banned books recently brought to the attention of Texas' Lt. Gov and a conservative organization for their for "vulgar" material 🙄 including topics of history, race, LGBTQ+, gender identity, feminism, mental health, and sex education as well as romance, horror, science fiction, memoirs, YA, and classic genres. Aka my new reading list 💅 **Includes all the books I've read/on my TBR and other popular books, comment others if you want!!

Goodreads 80 of the Past Decade’s Very Popular Fiction from 2016 - 2025

2025 Broken Country - Isola 2024 The Women - Real Americans 2023 Tom Lake - Weyward 2022 Demon Copperhead - Diamond Eye 2021 Reading List - Cloud Cuckoo Land 2020 My Dark Vanessa - Vanishing Half 2019 Giver of Stars - Girl, Woman, Other 2018 Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - Where the Crawdads Sing 2017 Stay with Me - 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo 2016 Lilac Girls - Behold the Dreamers

Books featuring snowy weather as the backdrop for stories, mix of genre: thriller, mysteries, historical fiction, etc.

love sad books all day every day

Sports Books come in all shapes and forms. Maybe you want an athlete’s memoir, a literary drama, a sports romance, a mystery, an endurance adventure, a manga, or a book about the science and culture of sport - we have it all! This is not a comprehensive list of all niche genres, but a little map of the many ways sport can show up in literature. Recommendations are always welcome - just remember: variety is the key! 😉

Books that are banned, censored, removed from bookshops, marketplaces, and libraries, and writers that are considered as a threat to the authorities. Some called it a "Fahrenheit list".